Wishlist Purchases #5 ft. Urban Decay

If you are a regular reader round these parts you may have noticed that this week and the last two weeks posts have been “Wishlist Purchases” aka haul posts. I promise this is the last of them for a while! I have definitely went a bit mad on the spending over the last few months and with a few new releases or launches of brands that have been previously been unavailable in the UK, I have treated myself big time!

I told myself when I first started seeing the Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics palette popping up on Instagram before its release that I didn’t need it, that I could wait to Christmas etc. However, when an email telling me I had £10 worth of Beauty Club rewards to spend at Debenhams, I took it as a sign! (Side note – most of the £10 probably came from my Kat Von D splurge!).

Anyway, onto the palette and I have to say I was slightly disappointed when I first opened it. Don’t get me wrong, the outer packaging is lovely and I really like the change to a square palette instead of a rectangular one but it feels and looks quite cheap and plastic-y, something you can see especially in between the shadows. I feel like this is going to be quite a mixed review already because although I do really like the palette overall, some things, like shadow quality, fall a little short for me and I’m very glad I got this for £28.50 instead of its usual £38.50.

The Naked Ultimate Basics has a really nice mix of twelve eyeshadows with cool and warm tones that’s bound to keep everyone happy and a double sided mini brush. I've only used the brush once and I don’t really rate it, I never use shader brushes and it’s tightly packed and feels quite hard. The opposite side is fluffier but is quite stiff and I prefer something bendier to apply shadow all over the lid so will probably only get a bit of use out of this as an inner eye highlight brush.

I’m never happy with my swatch photos but I think you can see what I mean about difference in quality between some of the shades. All swatches are done on my arm with my finger and I don’t use primer for them.

Swatches l-r: Blow, Nudie, Commando, Tempted, Instinct, Lethal

Blow is the only shade that is not completely matte, it has a very soft sheen and I’ve been loving it as a subtle inner eye highlight. It’s very similar to Skimp from the Naked Basics 2 palette.

Lethal hasn’t swatched well either but I’ve been using it to darken my outer corner with Instinct all over the lid and it applies beautifully and is a nice change from my usually taupey browns with its hint of burgundy (it is very similar to Punk from the UDxGwen palette)!

My most reached for shades along with these have been Tempted, Lockout and Faith!  

Swatches l-r: Pre-Game, Extra Bitter, Faith, Lockout, Magnet, Blackjack

Pre-Game is a shade I probably wouldn’t reach for as an eyeshadow but like Foxy from the Naked Basics 1, multitasks as an under eye setting powder!

I think Extra Bitter has probably swatched the best out of all the shades – it definitely looks the most pigmented but unfortunately this just isn’t a shade I would go for.

Blackjack looks awful in the swatch, when you are used to the likes of Blackout from the UDxGwen Stefani palette it falls a little short. I use black eyeshadow every day to line my upper lid and add a little definition and use the shadow wet so it does perform a lot better this way.

Overall, I have been enjoying this palette but I definitely do not think it’s a necessity if you already have any of the previous Naked Basics palettes and I find that both of those palettes shadows are more consistent. I will be getting my use out of this palette but I’m glad I didn’t pay full price because I think overall I would have been more disappointed with it.

What do you think of this palette? Did you buy it?

See my last wishlist purchases posts here:

Wishlist Purchases #1

Wishlist Purchases #2

Wishlist Purchases #3

Wishlist Purchases #4

See my wishlists here:

Wishlist #1

Wishlist #2

Wishlist #3

Wishlist #4

Danielle xx 

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