Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette Review and Swatches
On 11/29 Urban Decay will launch their newest Naked palette, the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette
. The UD Naked Basics palette is a matte palette companion to the UD Naked Palettes 1 and 2. It’s the palette that belongs in every woman’s makeup bag because the colors let you create the perfect neutral matte look or compliment bolder looks. These 6 shades are über-wearable and will work on everyone’s skintone. The palette contains one of my favorite pale neutrals, Walk of Shame.
I love that the back of the palette has both UD’s tagline of “Beauty with an Edge” as well as “We don’t do animal testing. How could anyone?.
One of the few complaints that I’ve seen about the Naked and Naked 2 palettes were the lack of enough matte shades, so this palette is great to compliment to those two palettes. However, it really does work with any other palette you have out there because you can use these shades to highlight and contour your eyes like a pro!
The packaging is very sleek and reminds me of the new Vice palette. It’s soft to the touch. I’m surprised at the fact that all 6 shades are full size!
Venus is the only demi-matte in the palette. It’s new and exclusive to this palette.
Foxy is an all time UD Staff favorite.
Walk of Shame came from the Build Your Own 6 palette.
Naked 2, Faint and Crave are all new to this palette.
The following shades are all swatched on bare skin.
Venus – soft, off-white, demi-matte.
My Take
Perfect for at the inner corners to highlight. To me it’s a creamy white.
Foxy – very light yellow-beige matte.
My Take
Yes, definitely a yellow-tinged ivory type shade.
Walk of Shame – very light pinky-nude matte.
My Take
I feel it’s a palest peachy-pink matte. I love this for blending on the browbone.
Naked 2 – rosy taupe matte.
My Take
I’m no taupe expert, but it does seem like a taupe brown to me. This works well as a lid shade on me or to blend out colors in the crease.
Faint – warm, dusty brown matte.
My Take
To me it’s a slightly deeper than mid-tone brown. It’s a good crease shade for me.
Crave – deepest, darkest brown/black matte.
My Take
Blackened brown, or deepest brown, either way it’s an awesome shade to have in my makeup arsenal. This is my favorite shade, aside from Walk of Shame. It’s perfect for a crease shade or liner. It’s super easy to blend.
This was taken under my daylight bulbs.
This was taken with flash.
Price
$27 for 6 full-size shadows (.05 x 6 = .3).
Normally 6 UD shadows would cost you $108, so at $27 for 6, it’s a steal!
I swatched all the shadows on my bare skin. They’re made with the UD Pigment Infusion System that we first saw with the UD 15th Anniversary Palette, and the reformulated shadows this year. These mattes are a silky smooth, easy to use and a dream to blend.
Crave was used in the crease here and it was very easy to blend out.
As you can see, the palette fits in my hand. It can easily fit into any makeup bag. This palette fills a void in my makeup collection as it contains all the neutral shades in one place that I could need. The palette is perfectly sized for travel.
This look uses all shades in the Basics palette except for Foxy.
Do you need this palette?
Well, given my penchant for bold looks, I like having mattes to balance them out, so I definitely do! I love mixing textures with mattes and sparklies. Additionally, at $27 for 6 full size UD eye shadows? That’s a steal. And if you’re a neutrals girl, you’ll find that these shades fit into your routine easily. So yes, I think you need this palette.
Product sent for consideration. All opinions are my own.
I love that Urban Decay came out with this palette, because mattes are important to blend out especially when using eyeshadows with strong pigments.
I think the colors are a little too basic in this palette but for others it might have been worth it.
Hahaha, I still can’t help but be a little annoyed with UD right now for saying, “How could anyone?” when they pulled the China BS last year.
Part of me really really wants this palette because I have the other two Naked palettes, but the other part of me doesn’t because the shadows in these are similar to some of the ones in the other Naked palettes, I’ve already got WOS because of the build your own palette, but I’m still finding myself looking at this every time I go up to Sephora or Ulta.
AuttyW I do not own either of the naked palettes, but I am so glad that I have this one. It is vey versatile for me, as I use it a lot. If you’re a fan of mattes, I think you would love it.
Hi Phyrra, do you know if this palette is permanent? I have most of these shades in my arsenal already, but I’d love to pick up this palette once I’m through with a couple of my shades.
Hey Phyrra, how would you say Venus compares with Virgin?
bcrueltyfree I don’t own Virgin, so I can’t say.
I really love a matte eye, the black looks particularly well pigmented too! It’s basic, but if you don’t have anything like it, it’s a good buy!
blushingnoir I really like the brown in it and it is definitely pigmented! I love having all these shades in one palette.
I love mattes and have both Naked palettes. While I really want to love this, I wish the first three colors weren’t quite so light.
The Lacquered Lady I still haven’t figured out how to incorporate Foxy.
I’m not a huge matte fan, but I am learning their benefits. As such, I don’t think I need this one at the moment. Plus, I’m curious to see how the L’oreal thing plays out, as well.
misfitgirlie I really love using mattes to accentuate glitters.
I love that they are all matte shades! Its such a great value too I’ll have to pick it up!
krystlekouture Yeah the value is unbelievable.
Honestly at first, I wasn’t even thinking about getting this palette but at $27 I think I just changed my mind. I could grab a few as holiday gifts for a few family members who had their eyes on my Naked 1 & 2 palettes but didn’t need all the colors!
Mina Slater Yep, it is an amazing deal and a great gift.
That looks super usable! Thanks for the swatches :>
EuterpesDelight You’re welcome!
I just heard about Urban Decay and L’Oreal. I’m shocked and I will say goodbye to the brand without a doubt.
Misato I’m going to wait and see if they remain cruelty-free. I did make a post on it.
Thanks for the review. I’m liking the look of this palette. Do you use Foxy much? If so, how? I find it too yellow for me to use easily. I was also wondering what your initial thoughts are on UD selling out to L’Oreal. I’m waiting to see what UD has to say, but I’m nervous. They are currently being silent on Facebook. I’ll wait to see how that plays out (and until my credit card stops screaming from holiday deals) before I pick this up.
beautybabbling I haven’t used Foxy yet. It’s very yellow, so not sure of how to incorporate it into my looks. If UD remains cruelty-free, like the Body Shop, I’ll continue to support them.