Personally, when I think of Urban Decay, I immediately go back to the Lip Envy lip stain and Primer Potion. But for a lot of people, their first memory of UD is the Naked palette. At the time of its release, the neutral palette was sort of revolutionary. It seems crazy now, with how many neutral eye palettes there are, but it was a big deal. And it was the first high-end eye shadow product I purchased with my own money. I used it exclusively for years.
But with success of a product comes more product, and now we have an entire Naked collection including more palettes and face products. I definitely have a favorite and a least favorite, so I thought it’d be fun to do a post ranking them, so you can figure out Naked palette would be best for you.
I also won’t be talking about the Naked Smoky palette, because I don’t have it. (: But it’d be dead last.
UPDATE 8/25: Since writing this, Urban Decay has announced they are discontinuing the original Naked palette.
Naked
Coming in at #1, we have the original Naked palette. The palette that revolutionized neutrals forever (their words, not mine). Introducing UD’s exclusive Pigment Infusion System, which offers a vehicle for color that holds tightly to pigment and allows the formula to glide across the lid, the color is able to weave itself through the eye shadow without fallout. Simply put, it gives you a velvety, suede-like smoothness and superb blendability.
The Naked palette contains 12 bronzey hued shades including mattes, shimmers, satins, and glitters in colors ranging from pale nude to gunmetal. The color palette allows you to create natural, everyday, and dramatic eye looks.
The packaging contains the palette–covered in a chocolate velvet case with gold foil lettering–and double ended blending brush. The palette also has a mirror.
The Shades:
- Virgin – cool, pale beige shimmer
- Sin – pale nude shimmer
- Naked – nude matte
- Sidecar – beige shimmer w/ silver micro-glitter
- Buck – fawn brown matte
- Half Baked – golden bronze shimmer
- Smog – deep coppery bronze shimmer
- Darkhorse – deep mocha shimmer
- Toasted – antique copper penny shimmer
- Hustle – plum-brown satin
- Creep – onyx shimmer w/ gold sparkle
- Gunmetal – dark metallic gray shimmer w/ silver micro-glitter
Naked Heat
Coming in at #2 is the most recent Naked sibling, the Naked Heat. If you’re a warm shadow girl and lose your shit over warm browns, oranges, and reds, go buy this. Like the other Naked palettes, Naked Heat offers an array of mattes and shimmer where the mattes are creamy, and the shimmers give serious shine. But this time around, it’s a warm, sultry, and hot, hot, hot color scheme. With 12 warm amber neutrals, browns, burnt oranges, and rich siennas, you’re going to be able to achieve simple days looks and night looks that are muy caliente.
The packaging, while not my absolute favorite aesthetic, is nice. It’s a good quality orange plastic. Again, you’re getting a double ended blending brush. But this time, you get a HUGE mirror that is really good quality.
The Shades:
- Ounce – ivory shimmer
- Chaser – light nude matte
- Sauced – soft terra cotta matte
- Low Blow – brown matte
- Lumbre – copper shimmer w/ gold pearl shift
- He Devil – burnt red matte
- Dirty Talk – metallic burnt red
- Scorched – metallic deep red w/ gold micro shimmer
- Cayenne – deep terra cotta matte
- En Fuego – burgundy matte
- Ashes – deep reddish brown matte
- Ember – deep metallic copper burgundy
Naked 2
By the time the Naked 2 was released, I had fell down the YouTube video rabbit hole. I was subscribed to numerous beauty vloggers and was trying vastly more makeup. I remember being entirely too excited to purchase this palette, especially because I’ve recently de-cluttered the Naked 2. To be fair, I don’t wear cool, smokey looks anymore. But when I bought this, I did. So it was much loved, for sure.
While the setup of the palette is the same as its predecessor, the Naked 2 had a different vibe. Inspired by “art school,” Naked 2’s packaging consisted of a cool to the touch, taupe metal color with embossed chocolate brown lettering as well as a hinged lid that snapped closed. You also get a large mirror and double ended brush.
As I said, this is the second Naked palette, and the colors are definitely different. Where the Naked 1 was full of everyday neutrals, Naked 2 contains 12 “never boring taupe neutrals–“shades including a grayish brown, glittery copper, and matte black.
The Shades:
- Foxy – cream bisque matte
- Half Baked – golden bronze shimmer
- Bootycall – cork shimmer
- Chopper – copper shimmer w/ silver micro-glitter
- Tease – creamy pale brown matte
- Snakebite – dark bronze shimmer
- Suspect – pale golden beige shimmer
- Pistol – light grayish brown shimmer
- Verve – oyster shimmer
- YDK – cool bronze shimmer
- Busted – deep brown shimmer
- Blackout – blackest black matte
Naked 3
And coming in #4 is the Naked 3. After the cool, smoky phase in the beauty community came the rosy pink phase. And I hopped on it, definitely. I was excited for this palette, because I’d already come to love the UD formula and had gotten use out of my previous palettes. I don’t want to be mean, but I hate this palette. The colors are great, but I found all my looks seemed the same, even when I used completely different colors. I found the glitters to be chunkier and less seamless to work with. And the color payoff wasn’t there for me. I have extremely pale skin, and I usually don’t have an issue with shades showing up. I de-cluttered it recently, because I never touched it.
As I said, I loved the color story. There were 12 beautiful, rose hued neutrals in various finishes–including matte, pearl, and metallic.
Like the Naked 2, the packaging was a sleek, rose gold metal. Again, you receive a double ended brush.
The Shades:
- Strange – pale neutral pink matte-satin
- Dust – pale metallic pink shimmer w/ iridescent micro-glitter
- Burnout – light pinky peach satin
- Limit – light dusty rose matte
- Buzz – metallic rose shimmer w/ silver micro glitter
- Trick – light metallic pinky copper shimmer w/ tonal micro sparkle
- Nooner – medium pinky brown matte
- Liar – medium metallic mauve shimmer
- Factory – pinky brown satin
- Mugshot – metallic taupe shimmer w/ slight pink shift
- Darkside – deep taupe mauve satin
- Darkheart – smoky black matte w/ rosy red micro sparkle
Which Naked palette is your favorite? And how do you feel about Urban Decay discontinuing the original?
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