Urban Decay Naked Smoky – First Look, Swatches and First Thoughts!

I’m back bishes! And I am back with a BANG. In case you’ve been living under a rock, or you don’t follow me on the social medias (*cough*RIGHT SIDEBAR*cough*), I was off crossing a few life milestones off my list, like moving house, starting a new job and GETTING MARRIED! To say I was up to my eyeballs is the understatement of the century. I pity anyone who bumped into me in the weeks before the wedding and dared to mention it, as I threw a stream of holy-shit-I-have-so-much-to-do-and-so-little-time-I’m-extremely-caffeinated-to-make-up-for-lack-of-sleep-as-last-night-I-was-up-all-night-painting-chalkboards-I-wouldn’t-be-surprised-if-my-blood-has-turned-to-coffee-twitch at them. So needless to say I needed some time to decompress after everything! I now have more time than I know what to do with, and a gaping void in my life that used to be wedding planning, so expect to see a lot more of me about the place. I hope to do some wedding related posts soon, but till then, let’s resume our scheduled programming – beauty and makeup and pretty things!

Like I said ladies, I’m back with a BANG. Yes, I have the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette in my possession. No it hasn’t launched yet in Ireland. Yes I’ve got a magic lamp and used one of my three wishes (wouldn’t you?). No I haven’t broken any type of press embargo, as this isn’t a PR sample. Incensed that the US of A once again got this palette a good month before us plebs across the Atlantic, I did what any crazy beauty junkie would, drunk on lust and WANT, and got someone in the States to send me one. Behold, The Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette. Stay tuned for my first thoughts, and plenty of swatches. You can click to embiggen all these photos to truly marvel in its glory.

First things first, the packaging has improved immensely from the first iterations of the Naked palette. Gone is the flimsy cardboard, replaced by gorgeous semi-transparent plastic casing, imbibed with whisps of smoke wafting artfully. They’re so realistic I swear I saw them swirl. The casing is heavy, sturdy, and overall very satisfying. The size of the mirror is the biggest of all the palettes yet. Shall we look inside?

On first impression, she really does take your breath away. I actually ooooohed as I opened the lid. Inside you’ll find an edit of 12 shadows which Urban Decay reckon define smoky (smokey?).  What will strike you immediately is that most of the colours in the palette are quite cool toned. If you’re not a fan of greys and blackened shades, you may want to consider whether or not you’ll actually use this palette. Another thing that’s different about this palette compared to previous iterations, is that the shadows are grouped by finish. So all the shimmers are together, all the satins are together and all the mattes are together. Four of each finish. In previous Naked Palettes, the finishes were mixed throughout the palette. I quite like this, as it’ll make pulling together a look much easier, as when I want, say, a matte for blending out the crease, I can just go straight to the end of the palette.

Are you ready for swatches? Clicky to embiggen!

So, how do they perform? Well, here’s where things get not quite so evangelical. The first thing I noticed when swatching the first few shimmer shadows, is that they’re quite powdery and loose. Not nearly as buttery soft as previous Urban Decay palette shadows. Pressing a finger or a brush to a pan kicks out quite a bit of product, which also leads to fallout when applying on the eye. Given the blackened nature of most of the shades, I would definitely recommend doing your eyes before your base with this palette. My second niggle, is with the matte shades. They’re dry and patchy. I’m not being picky, honest. Compared to the mattes of the Urban Decay Naked Basics palettes, the Naked Smoky mattes are thinner, harder, and patchier. They’re still alright. They remind me of MAC mattes, which aren’t the best. But they’re usable. They’re FINE. Just not as good as they used to be.

So here’s an eye look taken from the palette insert, the “Iconic UD Smoky Eye”. The insert handily breaks down four different eye looks for you, so I simply followed the step by step instructions and this is how it turned out. If you’d like to recreate the look, here’s what to do.

* Prime the entire lid up to the brow with Urban Decay Primer Potion.
* Apply Combust (pink-beige matte) from the socket to the brow.
* Apply Thirteen (white-beige matte) directly below the arch of the brow, and blend
Make sure to do your eyebrows later, otherwise this will look mental.
* Apply Perversion (blackest black) 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil on the upper and lower lashline, smudging with a smudge brush.
* Pack Smoulder (blackened purple satin) onto the lid with a flat shader brush and blend into the crease.
* Blend the socket with Password (taupey grey matte).
Here’s where I deviated from the instructions a little, as I felt the result of the above made me look like I had empty eye sockets, so…
* Blend some Whiskey (a brown matte) into the crease to warm things up a little.
* Smudge Smoulder(blackened purple satin) along the lower lashline.
* Soften the edges of the lower lashline with a little Whiskey (brown matte).
* Highlight the inner corner with High (peach-champagne shimmer).
* Blend, blend, blend, blend with a CLEAN blending brush like your life depends on it.
* Finish with lashings of your blackest mascara.

The above eyeball photos were taken about two hours after application. You’ll probably notice that the crease is starting to wear a little bald, which bothers me, since I used Urban Decay Primer Potion to prime the lids. That crease should be rock solid for a good 6-8 hours. Unfortunately this doesn’t bode well for the longevity of the matte shadows, which might be something to do with their change in formula.

I hate to end on a sour note, but that’s where my first impressions come to a close. I honestly haven’t wear tested these shadows long enough to come to a definitive conclusion about their performance. But the above doesn’t look promising. I’ll follow up once I’ve properly road tested them in various combinations.

While the packaging is improving year on year, I hate to say it but I think the quality of the product is slipping. Don’t get me wrong, 12 serviceable eyeshadows for around 40 quid is still a bargain. But given the sublime formula of previous Naked palette shadows, I’m left a little disappointed. Also, the very cool tone of this palette won’t be for everyone. So all in all, I’d pause to think a moment before you sharpen your elbows and brave the crush for this one. Though, honestly, you’ll probably buy it eventually, won’t you?

The Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette launches on 6th August priced at €46. Contact your nearest Urban Decay counter to be wait-listed for launch.