Cat Reviews: Urban Decay Naked Smoky

Hello! I recently received the new Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette in the mail and wanted to do an overview and a kind of first impression of it.

The palette itself costs $54, just like the previous three Naked palettes.  It is the same size and has the same amount of shadows and comes with a dual-ended brush.  It features 12 shadows, majority being new, never before seen shadows, and some fan favorites that have been brought back.

Here is the front of the Naked Smoky Palette:

The look of the palette itself was inspired by 70s smoky coffee tables (which my mom told me she had before too lol).  I love the look of the palette.  It definitely gives the smoky feel, the only thing I would change is that it would stand out more; the purpose of the palette is to create bold, smoky eyes, so wouldn't you think the packaging would be bolder? I don't know... Maybe it's just me?

Moving onto the shadows...

(this image is from the Urban Decay website)

Here are the swatches (swatched without primer):

The Naked Smoky palette features twelve shadows in this order from left to right:

High - a shimmery champagne (I used it for all over lid and for inner corner highlight)

Dirtysweet - a satin shimmer gold (haven't used this one yet but it looks gorgeous when swatched)

Radar - a deep bronze shimmer (used it to deepen my outer V to create more of a daytime smoky eye)

Armor - a shimmer metallic taupe (one of my favorites when I swatched it! haven't used it yet though :/)

Slanted - a satin silver (haven't used it yet and not that impressed with it yet)

Dagger - a satin grey (haven't used this one yet either but it was kind of chalky to swatch)

Black Market - a satin almost black (this one was also kind of chalky to swatch, but is perfect for deepening outer V)

Smolder - a satin purple taupe (just looking at this I LOVED IT but once on the eyes it doesn't look purple anymore. also it's darker than Black Market??)

Password - a matte taupe (haven't used this one yet but it seems like a really nice contour shade)

Whiskey - a matte brown (great for contour, you can definitely over do it with this one if you're not careful)

Combust - a matte champagne nude (loved it for all over lid base and also for contour/blending shade)

Thirteen - a matte egg shell white (your basic brow highlight shade, also could be used for inner third, but matte inner and center lids are not my favorite)

(As you can probably tell, all the lighter colors were harder to swatch :/)

Surprise, surprise, there isn't a matte black shadow in this palette.  Shocked?  I kind of was too, because you would think a matte black would be essential for a palette whose purpose is to create smoky eye looks right? After experimenting with this palette however, I've found that you don't actually need a matte black.  Smolder is actually darker than Black Market when swatched, which surprised me.  Smolder was one of my favorites as soon as I set eyes on the palette but I'm kind of disappointed in it.  When I used it on my eyes, it lost that gorgeous deep purple and became more of a muddy confused color.  I'll work with it more, but there is my general opinion after using it once.  

As for comparing this palette to the other Naked palettes, you can't.  This palette is completely its own, but I can definitely seeing myself mixing this palette with others.  It's great if you're creating a smoky eye, but I see that this palette has potential for other looks as well.  

Out of 10 I would give the Naked Smoky palette an 8 because I don't do smokey eyes that often, but also because I feel like this palette lacks the same quality as the other Naked palettes.  Many of the shadows don't feel as soft and buttery and the matte shadows swatched very chalky.  I definitely recommend this palette to anyone who loves a good smoky eye and is looking for a versatile palette to work with.   

Let me know what you think of the new Naked Smoky Palette!