Urban Decay NAKED vs. NAKED 2 palette

OK. This is my personal opinion but I do hope that it will help you to decide which one would be more suitable for you, or just buy both If you are a makeup junkie (like the person writting this) (;.

If you would like to know more detailed information about them, then check out my earlier blog posts.  This is a conclusion and more personal impressions kind of review.

The first difference is pretty obvious. The packaging! While the original Naked palette has a velvety, feminine exterior (which is more appealing to me), the Naked 2 palette is in a metal tin. It is very sturdy and provides excellent protection for the eyeshadows inside of it. It doesn't mean that the original Naked palette is less travel friendly. I brought it with me on my trips many times and had no problems. It has a magnetic closure but it holds really well.
                               

Secondly, Naked 1 first came with eye liner pencils which, unfortunately, aren't sold with it, anymore. Now you get an eyeshadow brush that I am not a fan of. I prefer the double ended brush that comes with Naked 2 because of the blending side. It is very soft and does a good job.
Both palettes contain 12 eyeshadow shades, and there is only one shade repeated in the second palette, and that is half baked. At first I didn't understand why they repeated that colour but then I did some research and realized that many people  say that that is their favourite UD eyeshadow. I am not one of them. It is a nice, versatile colour but not my favourite colour from UD.
Both palettes come with a mirror. The one in the Naked 1 is a nice size mirror but the one in Naked 2 is huge.
                              

Then, the "presents" that come with them are UD primer potion with Naked 1 and UD Lip Junkie lip gloss with Naked 2. I think that UD primer potion is a better deal because you will use it every day since it is appropriate for any makeup look, it is one of the best eyeshadow primers on the market and it is also one of the best selling product from UD in general.
On the other side. UD Lip Junkie lip gloss is nothing special. I wouldn't buy it separately and one thing that I would point out as a plus is the fact that it is not sticky.

                                          

And now..........COMPARISON.
Well, if you love neutral looks with a nice all over lid colour, with just a little eye liner, not as smokey, you'll love the Naked 2. But if you are a smokey eye lover, I sugest Naked 1 because it offers more colours to do it.
The matte black in Naked 2 is a wonderful and pigmented shade which everyone will appreciate in their collection but I think that most people won't use a matte black for doing day time smokey eye. It is great for tightlining or for softening eye liner, and it can be used for smokey eye but more for evening makeup looks. Most of us apply makeup early in the morning (for work or school) and we just don't gravitate towards matte black eyeshadows then. Naked 1 offers a wider selection of colours for a softer, day time smokey eye (hustle, creep, darkhorse).

There is a matte highlight colour in Naked 2- foxy. Naked 1 does not have one but foxy isn't as pigmented and versatile so I don't really miss her there. Both palettes have a light, shimmery highlight shade- virgin (in Naked 1) and bootycall (in Naked 2). They are both nice but I prefer virgin. It is the most perfect shimmery highlight colour. Bootycall is peachier.

I also think that naked and buck (matte shades from Naked 1) are great for creating a matte look with some dimension. Also something that is not possible with Naked 2.

Sooooooooo.......

Is all the hype about Naked palettes understandable?
Definitely, YES. The shades in both palettes are beautiful and good quality.
Which one is better?
Well, it is a matter of taste and your preferences. If you prefer lighter looks with just one lid colour and some eyeliner, you will love Naked 2. It also offers some taupes. But if you enjoy your smokey eye, then I would suggest Naked 1.
Should you buy both?
Definitely, NO. But if  you do, you'll enjoy them for sure.

I hope I helped you.
What do you say? Do you have these palettes? Are you planning to get them? Which one do you like better?

Love, beautyandbrains007

URBAN DECAY NAKED 2 PALETTE

After all the hype about the original NAKED palette, Urban Decay decided to launch her baby sister NAKED 2 palette. It is an extension of neutral eyeshadows but more on the cooler side, marketed as taupes and neutrals, but I don't entirely agree with that claim. Why? I will get to that in the post. Please, just keep reading.

The exterior of the palette has changed. It is no longer velvety, now it is a metal tin which I am not crazy about, but as kentralmakes3 (great YouTuber, please, check her out) said: "If you have children, you'll prefer this packaging!" And I agree with her. It is very sturdy, closes really well (great for travelling).

                                     

It once again contains of 12 eyeshadows : FOXY, HALF BAKED, BOOTYCALL, CHOPPER, TEASE, SNAKEBITE, SUSPECT, PISTOL, VERVE, YDK, BUSTED, BLACKOUT. Three of them are with a matte finish (FOXY, TEASE and BLACKOUT) and the other nine of them are with a satin or shimmery finish. HALF BAKED is the only shade that was in the original Naked palette, too.

The palette also comes with a dual ended eyeshadow brush. One side is for packing eyeshadow on and the other one for blending. The brush is a regular size UD brush, made out of synthetic fibres. Personally, I am not crazy about the brush, at least eyeshadow packing side, but the blending part side is nice.

                                       

And to cheer us up, we also get a travel size UD lip gloss- Lip Junkie in the shade Naked (how appropriate). It is an OK gloss, quite neutral as expected and although it looks like a berry colour with shimmer it is a bit flat on the lips. It is also a plumper so it has a minty smell and cools your lips, but in my opinion it is sheer and I wouldn't spend my money on buying it on its own. I would recommend Too Faced plumping lip glosses, they are much better as far as I am concerned. Still, nice to get it with the palette.

Time to go back to the eyeshadows......

                                    

Foxy is a creamy shade with a matte finish. It is a bit powdery and it will not appear nicely on some of the skin tones. You will see in the swatches below that it is a bit yellow but it doesn't appear like that on my skin under natural light.
Half baked is the only shade that was in the original Naked palette. It is a bronzy brown shade with golden shimmer. Nice as all over lid colour but I don't understand why they chose it for this "taupe/greige palette"? It is definetely not on the cooler side (perhaps a bit orange, depends on the angle).
Bootycall is a creamy beige with a little bit of peach undertone shade. It has a satin finish and would be nice as a highlight. It blends well and it is not too shimmery to age more mature eyes.
Chopper is a coppery brown with shimmer. Also not on the cooler side. The texture is nice and creamy so it blends really well.
Tease is another matte shade. It is a little cooler shade of brown. Taupy, I would say. Not really sure how to describe the texture of it. It is soft and goes on well, but at the same time a little bit dry and not as pigmented. I personally like that because it is very subtle for my light skin tone to create a smooth transition when doing a smokey eye.
Snakebite is a crazy pigmented dark brown. It has a satin finish. LOVE IT!!! You will find it useful in many ways.

                                        

Suspect is not as creamy and smooth as snakebite but has a good pigmentation. When applied, it looks exactly like in the pan. Champagne colour, nice all over the lid.
Pistol is the one on the cooler side. It goes on smoothly but has some fallout. Light grey colour with a touch of brown.
Verve is the one that I was immediatly attracted to when I first saw this palette. It is a beige and grey colour with shimmery finish. I did lots of looks with this one and love it.
Ydk is the colour I have heard a lot about on YouTube. Everyone used it in tutorials but it didn't seem spectacular to me just by seeing it in the pan. It is a coppery brown colour with shimmer. Well pigmented and I liked it much more when I swatched it.
Busted is a deep brown colour with a satin finish. It blends nicely so I think it would be great for creating outer V when doing smokey eye.
Blackout is an intense matte dark black. CRAAAZZZZYYY pigmented!!! I think this is the best black/matte eyeshadow that I own. Love it!

                                   

I am posting swatches below so you can see what I am talkig about. Well, they are not perfect but I couldn't get my camera to work with me.

                                    

After seeing all the swatches and colours I think that you understand why I can't completely agree that it is a cool toned palette. It has so many warm tones! I like it but it is, as I said, an extension of neutral shades from the 1st palette.

So. How do you like this palette? Do you think it is on the cooler side? Which one do you prefer?

I will post my personal opinion, soon.

See you then.

Love, beautyandbrains007

P.S. Have a great weekend!!!

URBAN DECAY NAKED PALETTE

URBAN DECAY NAKED PALETTE....

Yes, yes I know. Old news. But this is how the story goes....

Once upon a time there was this young woman who saw a beautiful velvety palette full of neutral eyeshadows. The woman wanted this palette so much but couldn't get it in her land. So she searched and searched for it all around the world. She saw it on Ebay but it was 69.99$ or more plus shipping, plus possible custom expenses so she thought to herself: "No, I must wait, now, BUT some day we will meet." And that day came.


YYYYYAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

I told you I love makeup!!! :))

I found it on hqhair for a good price (I LOVE COUPON CODES) and bought not only original NAKED palette, but also NAKED 2. Now I have them for a couple of weeks so I am ready to say a few words about them.

At first I thought that I'll write a comparison but it was too long, so I decided to do a NAKED series. This part will, obviously, be about original NAKED palette, than NAKED 2 post will follow,  and at the end I will compare them.

Time to start!

                                      

                              
The palette has a velvety exterior which I personally love. Inside you get 12 eyeshadows (2 matte shades and 10 shimmery ones). There is also a cruelty-free Karma eyeshadow brush, an UD Primer Potion (3.7 ml/0.13oz) and a good size mirror.

                                              

The colours inside are: VIRGIN, SIN, NAKED, SIDECAR, BUCK, HALF BAKED, SMOG, DARKHORSE, TOASTED, HUSTLE, CREEP and GUNMETAL

Virgin is a creamy shade which also has a creamy texture. It is a great highlight shade and it can also be used as a lid colour for more subtle look.
Sin also has a creamy texture. It is a great lid colour and the shade is somewhere in between light skin tone colour and apricot. It has a shimmery finish.
Naked is a very versatile light brown/grey matte shade. It is great for hooded eyes because it can lift them up if applied just a little bit higher than the actual crease. It is also perfect for blonds and lighter brunettes if used for eyebrows (it is not a dupe for velvet revolver by Too Faced but it is the same kind of eyeshadow).
Sidecar is a shimmery brown shade that looks kind of bronzy when applied.
Buck is a darker brown matte shade. It can also be used for eyebrows (for darker hair) and it is a great crease colour because it gives more depth to the eyes.
Halfbaked is a bronze shimmery shade.
Smog is a darker brown shimmery shade with a golden gleam.
Darkhorse is even darker brown shimmery shade but without that golden gleam. Great for outer V.

                                         

Toasted is a bronze brown shimmery shade.
Hustle is a dark brown shimmery shade.
Creep  looks beautiful in the pan and it is a great shade but I find that it is the least pigmented. You can achieve that darkness but you will have to work a little bit more to do so. It is dark grey with very fine silver glitter.
Gunmetal is a perfect silver/brown shimmery shade. Highly pigmented.
                                         

When all things considered, this is a nice neutral palette. You can do lots of different looks with it. All the shadows have good pigmentation, they are creamy and easy applied. They wear really well during the day. It is a warm palette because most of the shades have golden or bronze gleam. Even creep and gunmetal look warm when applied, although they are silvery grey shades.

The only thing I am not impressed with is the Karma eyeshadow brush. It is not the greatest for applying eyeshadows but it can be used for concealer. I would prefer double ended 24/7 glide on eyeliner pencil but unfortunately they are no longer a part of this palette.
All things considered, most women would like this palette if they are looking for something school/work appropriate.
                                         

The price is acceptable in my opinion. Here is the thing. I love watching gurus and reading blogposts from USA but everything is much more affordable there. So, to get 12 eyeshadows of this quality from a good brand, is a good deal by European standars. I got mine from http://www.hqhair.com/ for about 33 Euros (shipping was free). It is more expensive but hqhair has frequently coupon codes so I advise you to search for them.

That is all for now. If you have any questions, please, don't hesitate to ask me.

I wish you a great week and bye!!!

See you with a new post :)

LOVE beautyandbrains007!

Well....HELLO WORLD!!!

I am starting this blog because I want to have a place where I can share my passion for makeup, fashion and all the other things that make our lives a little more fun. I think that these days people are working very hard and to have a place where you can express yourself and communicate with other people with  similar or same interests is wonderful!

Let me just start by saying that I am not a makeup artist, at least not officially. BUT..... I love makeup!!!

So, as many other beauty bloggers and gurus (don't you just hate that name?) I am forming my small little world in which I will share with you my opinions about cosmetics and all the other fun findings in my life.

I follow other blogs and I've heard all about Rite Aid, Walgreens etc. Now, I will introduce you to DM, Kozmo, Bipa and other shops that are available in Europe. Don't be sad ;). We also have Sephora, Inglot, Illamasqua, and internet shopping is always fun. Isn't it?

I do have a larger makeup bag than an average girl but I am still kind of a normal "gal". That means that by YouTube standards my collection is lame. I am not sad about it, on the contrary, I hope that it will stay that way because I like to use the things I own and there is no better feeling than using up a product completely. Money well spent.

That is it for now. Sorry to my Croatian girls that I am writting this in English but I formed many international friendships so I want to communicate with all of my new friends in the world and think that that will be more possible if I'll write my blog in English. My mother language is Croatian so bear with me if I make some mistakes. I'll try to keep it simple :)....

It is so funny, I am already addressing more people and still don't know if anyone will even find my little blog?! But I don't mind. I think I will enjoy doing this.

Bye bye for now.................