Review: Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

Let's face it; you all know what this is! But just in case you don't, this is the second edition of a much-loved cult favourite, The Urban Decay Naked Palette. I'll be doing a comparison on the two this month, so stay tuned for pictures of both products and my opinion on them. Therefore, this review is going to be kept pretty short, especially because I only just got it and haven't had much chance to play with it! 

I'm not the biggest fan of the packaging on this one, mainly due to how it feels. I do love the colours used as they reflect the colours of the shadows inside it (like the previous edition), but I wish it weren't quite so bulky. It does latch closed nice and tight, so if you were ever worried about your palette opening up in a bag and causing a disaster, then this solves that problem. 

I do love the addition of a much bigger mirror! I don't often take palettes with me anywhere, and if I do I usually take my own mirror, but this is the perfect size if I were to only bring this palette. The mirror is big, and I can see all the detail I need to. 

So, first of all, let me explain why there is a chunk of eyeshadow missing in the 'Bootycall' colour. When I opened the palette, there was a little tiny fuzz on the edge of the packaging; I pulled it gently off...and it turns out it was stuck way inside the eyeshadow. So it pulled some of the product out. Lame, but not a big deal as it's still pretty tiny. Anyways! 

These are the first six colours, all of them from a warmer family of shades. 

 'Foxy' and 'Tease' are both mattes, which makes me happy since sometimes the amount of frost/shimmer in Urban Decay shadows gets on my nerves. 'Half-Baked' was featured in the first edition of the palette, but I'm glad it's still in this one because it's such a pigmented, shimmery gold. It's very pretty and I haven't found a gold colour better than it yet. 

'Snakebite' and 'Chopper' are both very pretty shades of brown, my favourite one being 'Snakebite'. I like that 'Chopper', although it's leaning towards a copper colour, isn't quite orangey. I find that some coppery shadows can look a little strange on the eye, so I'll have to see if this one manages to avoid doing that or not. 

'Bootycall' may be a replacement highlighting colours for me! I love shimmery brow highlights, and this one is nice, pigmented, shimmery, but doesn't stand out as a big white streak (I used this one today). It's nice because, rather than leaning towards white, it's leaning towards skin colour, so it blends into the skin rather nicely. 

The next six colours are very obviously cool-toned in comparison to the previous six. These are also what I'm most excited for about this palette! 

I'm not particularly excited about 'Busted', simply because it's just another shimmery brown in my opinion. The same thing goes for 'YDK'; I love this colour, but it's not very unique. 

My favourites from these six are 'Verve' and 'Pistol'. I think 'Verve' is a beautiful, silvery taupe that seems like it would be so versatile. 'Pistol' is an almost green silver shadow, which reminds me of army related uniforms. I think that's so unique and I'm planning on wearing it tomorrow :) 

Finally, 'Blackout'. I'm not a huge fan of matte blacks because I think they're so hard to use, but I do love this one. I already own another UD palette that comes with this colour in it, so I've had a chance to play around with it before. It's so black! It's very strong, but if you take the time, it's blendable and can be made to fade out slightly, or be more sheer. 

Overall, I think this palette is beautiful. I loved the first one and I use it all the time, but always felt like the colours were too warm-toned for me. I'm so excited to be using this new edition with all of the cooler-toned colours it features. 

I don't think that, if you're just looking for some nice colours to wear and aren't necessarily too fanatic about make-up, that you would need both of these palettes, but if you did get them both I don't think it's a waste. I actually think you get a far more complete neutral colour collection by having them both. However, if you're looking for more matte or satin finishes, maybe rethink buying this; all of these (okay, minus three) are super frosty. 

Available at Sephora for $50. 

Tutorial: Wintery Blues

Another tutorial! 

First of all, I apologize for the less-than-great quality of both my video and my photos. I film off of my MacBook because that's the only way I can see if I'm in camera or not. My point-and-shoot, though it has amazing quality in comparison to my computer, is just too hard to ensure that I stay in the screen. I've tried a couple of different set-ups, but unfortunately, this is the only way I have to film tutorials. 

When I'm filming, I'm using a mirror that stands slanted, like I picture frame. This makes me have to face down so I can see myself in the mirror. Therefore, I again apologize for any time when I may lean too far down and you can't see everything I'm doing. I'm working on fixing this and will be investing in a better mirror soon. 

Finally, I apologize for the photos. I use my point-and-shoot, which I love and it takes amazing pictures, but I'm one of those people who has a billion bad angles on camera (not so much in person necessarily). So this doesn't help me take good pictures (I broke my nose years ago and it never got fixed; crooked nose does not like to make appearances on the internet). Though that's just me being whiny! :) Mainly, it's difficult for me to get a good photo of my full-face makeup because I, again, can't see what's in the screen, and the lighting in my room (the sun) isn't very reliable. I'm also working on this. 

So! These were the only half-decent pictures I was able to get this time. Hopefully the colour isn't too washed out and you can see what it looked like for the most part! Also, I added transition effects in the editing cuts, as well as the name of my blog in the bottom right corner; should they stay or should they go? 

Products Used:

Eyes:

Two Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Milk'

Inglot Eyeliner Gel Matte #88

Inglot Freedom System Shadow in 'Matte 367'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Illegal Cargo'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Warm & Smoky'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Idol Eyes'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Snowball'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in 'Perversion'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in 'Binge'

L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in 'Waterproof' 

Cheeks: 

Benefit Face Powder in 'Hervana'

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Phloof!'

Lips:

MAC Frost Lipstick in 'Soft Sable'

MAC Dazzleglass in 'Pleasure Principle'

Tutorial: Neutral Purple

Products Used: 

Eyes:

Two Faced Shadow Insurance

BH Cosmetics 120 Palette: 

Inglot Freedom System Shadow in 'D.S.496'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in 'Perversion'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in 'Ransom'

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in 'Stray Dog' 

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Milk' 

L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in 'Clean Definition'

Cheeks:

Benefit Face Powder in 'Hervana'

Lips:

Stila Lip Glaze in 'Grapefruit 07'

Naked Palette 2! (XSparkage)

http://www.xsparkage.com/?p=4113#more-4113


I was completely unaware Urban Decay were going to release a new edition of the Naked palette. This makes me want it so bad, but I can't justify buying it :( 


Check out XSparkages post comparing the two palettes and showing swatches! 

Brown & Bronze + First Real Tutorial!

FIRST REAL VIDEO TUTORIAL IN 6 MONTHS!
If you can even call my half-assed attempt at a tutorial from 6 months ago a proper video at all haha! I don't think it even counts.

So I decided to go ahead and film a tutorial for once because, let's face it, a lot of people prefer to see videos than have to read a lot. So I'm going to be trying this out once in awhile. I can't promise that it will become a regular thing (especially since I'm never alone in the house and I would rather nobody be there to hear me talking to myself lol) but I will definitely be doing a video here and there. As long as these are well received and not completely dumped on!


So! Here's the look!

I'm very sorry the quality of the photos isn't very good, but my lighting (or lack of) wasn't cooperating. So my computer webcam is going to have to do for now.


Product List: 


Primer: 
Two Faced Shadow Insurance


Shadows:
MAC Paint Pot in 'Constructivist'
Urban Decay's shadow in 'Chase'
Inglot Matte #
Inglot D.S. #


Eyeliners:
Stila Smudgestick in 'Stingray'
Urban Decay's 24/7 Liner in 'Corrupt'


Mascara: 
L'Oreal Telescopic Waterproof


Blush: 
Benefit's Face Powder in 'Dallas'


Lips (applied before video):
ChapStick (Apple flavoured!)

Happy Halloween!

Now, Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. However, this time I have no parties to go to and nobody except my mom to celebrate (I'm moving in a month and don't know anybody here!). So this year, rather than dress up completely for no reason, I decided just to do an orangey eyeshadow. I did end up putting on a black maxi dress and will add some black lipstick later for the benefit of the trick or treaters though :) I'll vaguely resemble a witch haha!


Here is the look!

It's simple because obviously I'm just staying at home, but I didn't want to do nothing!


Face: 
Garnier B.B. Cream
Benefit powder in 'Dallas'


Shadows:
Two Faced Shadow Insurance
Urband Decay's shadow in 'Flow'
BH Cosmetics 120 Palette 2nd Edition (most of the oranges from the 2nd row)
Inglot eyeshadow in a shimmery white


Eyeliner & Mascara: 
MAC Fluidline in 'Blacktrack'
Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliner in 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Corrupt'
Stila Smudgestick in 'Stingray'
L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in 'Waterproof'


Most of the orange shadows I used were just to make sure the colours blended out nicely, no necessarily for their actual colour. It's simple, but I hope you enjoy it :)

September Favourites

September Favourites 2011

I know, I know, I'm extremely late on this post! But I don't remember doing an August favourites so I really didn't want to miss this one. I've been very busy the past couple of weeks and haven't been able to blog hardly at all. I'm back now though and should have some posts coming out regularly! 

On to the favourites! (From left to right):

Benefit Face Powder in 'Dallas': 

'For a natural, fresh glow lightly sweep this dusty sunset plum powder across cheekbones and chin, or anywhere you want look to linger (avoid eye areas).' 

I originally bought this to use as a contour colour and have been loving it for quite some time. Only recently did I start to use it as a blush when I wear darker looks on my eyes. I don't own very many blushes (including this one, I have three!) and the ones I have besides this are very light pinks. This one has a deeper, really nice plum colours which suits the brown colours I've been wearing for eyeshadow lately. 

This has a great, light shimmer and lasts pretty much all day (in my opinion, not many blushes last allllllll day). It's also very subtle, which is the main reason I love it! 

MAC Paint Pot in 'Constructivist': 

I am absolutely in love with this product! I use it with practically every look I've worn all September and all October (so far). It works great as a base for other shadows, but can be used on it's own just as well. If I'm using it as a base colour, I'll usually apply it with my fingers and spread the colour on in a thin layer. If I'm using it for an actual shadow then I'll apply it using a fluffy brush. 

This is my first cream shadow ever and I can't wait to get another paint pot! These are great! It doesn't crease at all, lasts all day, and I'm pretty convinced that if I went swimming with it then it would last really well (unless I wiped it with a towel, duh). 

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector (B.B. Cream): 

I wrote a tiny little review on this in a previous post (http://ziggybitter.blogspot.com/2011/09/battle-of-tints.html) in which I talked briefly about the texture of the product. Now that I've had more of an opportunity to actually use the product, I can say that I really like it! 

I still prefer my Origins VitaZing moisturiser, but this is a good replacement for it. VitaZing here is around £20 something. It's a little pricey. When I get more cash on my Debenhams Beauty card (which means I have to buy other stuff...grrr) then I can purchase the VitaZing for a lot less. But in the meantime, this is great replacement. 

The only downside is that it's not nearly as moisturising as VitaZing is. However, as long as you make sure to use a good night-time moisturiser, you should be fine :) 

Armani Code Perfume: 

I love this perfume! I've been wanting it for over two years! No kidding! One of my best friends used to wear it all the time and although I really loved it, I didn't want to smell the same as someone I spent so much time with! Plus, it's more expensive than the rest of the perfumes I own...put together. My perfumes are cheap! I finally bought it when I was at the Belfast Airport since it was so much cheaper and...come on...I've been wanting it for two years! 

Here's a good description of the scents if you're interested. I'm horrible at scent descriptions! To me it smells citrus-sweet? Haha! 

http://www.theperfumeshop.com/fcp/product/womens-fragrances/giorgio-armani/armani%20code/2832

EcoTools Travel Powder Brush: 

This came in a set of other travel-sized brushes (I love them all!) and I'm amazed at the quality! It was under £20 for all of the brushes (I believe there were six) and they are nothing like I thought they would be. This brush is super soft and applies powders like a dream. They have full sizes and I may just have to purchase those at some point too! 

That's all! I forgot to take a photo of the Urban Decay 15th Anniversay palette, but because I reviewed that already (http://ziggybitter.blogspot.com/2011/09/urban-decay-15-year-anniversary.html) I'll just say that it definitely has earned a spot in my September favourites! 

Phew! Super long post! Hopefully it gives you all the information you could want. Next time I think I'll just do a quick video instead of all the typing :P 

Urban Decay 15-Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Palette

Photo by Marisa

Photo by Marisa

Photo by Marisa

I kept telling myself that I did not need this palette! Kept telling myself that I have enough eyeshadow and that it was too expensive. However, these colours are unique to this palette (I'm sure one day they'll re-release them in another palette though) and I was able to get £10 off of the original price. So I caved basically :)


These are just as amazing as the colours of the Naked palette, but you get several more bright, fun colours along with some muted browns. The quality is amazing, just like the rest of Urban Decay shadows (in my opinion). The shadows are soft, pigmented, and beautiful in their shimmery and glitteryness.

Photo by Marisa (with flash)


The second, third, and fourth colour down on the first column of the palette are very sheer (you literally couldn't see them without flash). I had trouble getting good swatches of them. These were all swatched without a primer of any kind, which definitely makes a difference, but even with a base these come off sheer. 'Vanilla' makes a nice golden tinted highlight. They would all make nice washes of colour on the lid, but I think you would definitely need a cream base of some sort if you wanted powerful shimmer. 

Photo by Marisa (with flash)

Photo by Marisa (without flash)

The same thing goes for 'Tainted', 'Junkshow' 'Omen', and 'Evidence'. You can get colour out of 'Omen' and 'Evidence' if you layer enough times, but they aren't quite as bright and colorful as I would have expected for UD shadows. This is a slight letdown since these are the brightest colours of the palette, but again, maybe if I had used a base they would have slightly more colour. 

Photo by Marisa (with flash)

Photo by Marisa (without flash)

These other colours are just fine. They are similar to what you'll find in the Naked palette, but with slightly less shimmer and 'Blackout' is matte instead of shimmery. 

All in all, I think the palette was worth buying, but maybe not for the price they were selling it for. But then again I think all of Urban Decay's palettes are overpriced. Mostly you're paying for packaging, which on this palette is nice, but so overdone. Oh well. If packaging is your thing, maybe you'll like it :) I'm happy I got it though! I think 'Half Truth' and 'Deep End' are my favourite. 

Mini Haul

Carmex Mint
Aussie Curl Definition & Soft Feel Serum
MAC Paint Pot in Constructivist
Urban Decay 15 Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Palette