Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hello everyone,

This review is on the much-awaited and much-anticipated brand new release from Urban Decay  – The Naked Smokey Palette.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Smokey eyes have always intimidated me. I used to think that smokey eyes were absolutely the most difficult thing to be created and best left to professionals, but as a makeup reviewer by hobby and makeup junkie by personality, I take it on me to try my hand at everything. So slowly with practice, I have gotten more and better and this new Smokey palette from UD couldn’t have been released at a better time for me. I have found that creating the most amazing eye looks is all about using the right brushes, good quality products, and a little bit of practice, and anyone can be a pro at this.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Product Description:
A palette with 12 smoky neutral eye shades, a double-ended brush, and a detailed lookbook with four chic looks. Sweep on popular smoky eye looks with Urban Decay’s Naked Smoky. Packed with all the essentials needed to create the perfect neutral smoky eye, it offers an array of shades, a double-ended brush, and a detailed look book that breaks down four amazing ways to nail any smoky look. The eye shadow pans offer a smoky, transparent base, the magnetic closure on the case prevents shadow from spilling your bag, and the full-size mirror makes it easy to get a sultry look whenever the urge strikes.  With a dozen alluring, smoky neutrals, including nine never-before-seen shades and three exclusives from past palettes, these shadows range from warm bronzes and dimensional grays to rich browns, gorgeous taupes, and a deep black. From mattes and satins to shades with sparkle, each shade in this palette features Urban Decay’s Pigment Infusion System™, a proprietary blend of ingredients that gives every shade its velvety texture, rich color, staying power, and blendability. The exclusive double-ended brush, with a tapered crease brush on one end and a smoky smudger brush on the other, makes application easy.  The case and brush feature a cool, floating smoke effect, with “Naked Smoky” engraved in gunmetal foil.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Price:
$54

My Experience with Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette:

This is my first Naked palette. I do not own the previous 3 variations of this palette and now after being so impressed with this one, I truly am thinking of splurging on them. In my mind, Naked eyes is all about natural, “no-makeup” makeup eyes, but with so many variations of this including a pink toned palette (Naked 3), Brown toned palette (Naked 1 &2) and now a Smokey one, some might wonder whether Urban Decay is stretching the “Naked” concept now a little too far, but I’ll say “If it isn’t broken, why fix it!” 😛

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Packaging:  The best packaging on a Naked palette yet. This one is so much sleeker, sophisticated, and eye catching. The outer case mimics smoke and haze with the words “Naked Smokey” embossed on it. The lid closes magnetically. The case is not too heavy, has a very good sized mirror, and comes with a dual-ended brush. The brush is of very good quality.  It is soft and has the right amount of density and unlike brushes which come with other palettes that are usually thrown away, I find myself reaching for this brush every time I use this palette. One side is a blending brush, perfect size for my crease and other side is a smudge brush, perfect for lower lashes.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Texture and Pigmentation:  Fantastic, smooth texture with amazing pigmentation, and I expected nothing less from Urban Decay’s most popular range. I do find the metallic shades to have the strongest color packing ability whereas the matte shades are sort of sheer, but they are easily buildable, which is a good quality to have as this helps them be good blending/transition/crease colors. The satin shades are somewhere in between with good pigmentation.  I do find when creating smokey eyes, it is best to use a corresponding colored cream shadow base underneath. This helps intensify the color and also reduced unevenness in application, and it also improves wear time.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Shades:  The 12 shades can be roughly divided into 4 metallics (High, Dirty Sweet, Armour and Slanted), 4 Satins ( Radar, Black Market, Smoulder) and 4 Mattes (Password, Whiskey, Comboust, Thirteen). There is a good mix of brown, greys and neutrals).

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

High (champagne shimmer micro-glitter):  This is a highly metallic shade. It is very reflective and shimmery, can be an all-over lid shade or an intense inner corner highlight.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette

Dirtysweet (medium bronze):  This shade is very similar to High in terms of the high metallic shine, shimmer and reflect. It has a golden undertone and looks beautiful as an all-over lid shade.

Radar (metallic taupe iridescent micro-glitter):  This is a satiny shade. It is a beautiful medium brown with some shimmer particles which do not translate as metallic on the eyes. I have used this as a crease shade, but also love it as an all-over the lid.

Armor (metallic silver-taupe tonal sparkle):  OMG, this shade is absolutely breathtaking and possibly my favorite. It has the color and the glitter payoff is similar to a loose pigment. It has a lot of glitter and shimmer particles which does cause fall out. This shade looks best when applied over some sort of dark base (you can see how I used this shade in the EOTD).

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Slanted (light metallic gray):  A shimmery metallic silver which pairs well with a dark smokey eye. Can be used as an intense inner corner highlight or over the lid.

Dagger (medium charcoal micro-shimmer):  This satin shade works best in the crease and can also be used to blend out harsh edges of the dark shadow. Can also be used as an all-over lid shade.

Black Market (jet-black satin):  This shade is not the blackest of blacks and it does have a satiny sheen. Can be used all-over lid over a black base for a deep smokey eye or can be used to smokey out your eyeliner or kohl on the lower lash line.

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Smolder (deep plum-taupe):  This particular shade is my least favorite in the palette. This particular shade doesn’t pack as much punch in the pigment department and it needs to be built up. It feels a little to dark to be a crease color and a little too sheer to be used on the lid unless I use it over some cream eye shadow. Though I appreciate a little variation in color in this palette, this shade does feel out of place and I honestly sometimes have difficulty to find the right use for it.

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Password (cool taupe matte):  This is a great shade to blend in the crease and to soften harsh edges.

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Whiskey (rich brown matte):  Perfect crease shade for everyday eye makeup looks. Goes with any brown/black eye makeup.

Combust (soft pink-taupe):  This shade closely resembles my skin color hence I use this shade to set my eye primer and will also use it as brow bone highlight.

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Thirteen (light beige satin):  A good brow bone and inner corner highlight.

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Staying Power:  The staying power is very good. The shadows did not crease on me and lasted for 7-8 hours with minimal fading. These shadows are best used over a base or a good primer because the primer increases longevity and helps the shadow not fade unevenly, which could look bad if you have done deep dark eye makeup.

Urban Decay Smokey palette swatches

Overall, I love this palette. This palette may not be everybody’s cup of tea especially if you are not someone who goes for deep bold eyes on a regular basis. The options for creating an everyday neutral eye are very limited (though not impossible) with this palette, but that is what the other Naked palettes are there for. I love how this palette is dedicated for “Smokey” eye makeup lovers and gives you a good range of shadows to play and experiment with.

I highly recommend this!

*In the EOTD (Bronzy Gold eye):

Golden eye makeup

Used High in the inner 1/3rd of the lid and in the inner corner.
Used Dirty Sweet all-over lid.
Used a mix of Radar and Whiskey in the crease.
Used Combust as Browbone highlight.

*In the EOTD (Silver smokey eye):

Golden eye makeup

Used a black base all-over lid (Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Tuxedo).
Used Slated on the inside 1/3rd of the lid and in the inner corner.
Used Armor all-over lid.
Used Password in the crease and deepened with Whiskey.
Used Thirteen as brown bone highlight.

Pros of Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette:

  • Beautiful packaging with a magnetic closure.
  • Good quality brush provided which is useful.
  • Good range of shadow colors.
  • Very good pigmentation.
  • Good staying power.
  • Perfect palette for smokey eye makeup lovers.

Cons of Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette:

  • None.

IMBB Rating:
5/5

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15 thoughts on “Urban Decay Naked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette Review

    1. Thank u so much Jomol. Yes the looks turned out so much better than I expected. Credit goes to this wonderful palette

  1. I bought this the next day it was made available to all and have become very gothic after that in my sartorial choices. It’s absolutely normal to change the way you dress to match your new eye shadow palette.

  2. OMG! It is a dream to own one of these Urban Decay palettes. Love the shades in this one too, and your EOTD is totally killing it! This is pure love. So excited to see this! <3

  3. God! These UD people are killing it with their palettes! gorgeous eye makeup look neha. I would totally have to check it out and probably resist the temptation of not picking it up. hah!! LOVEEEDDDD!!!

  4. Needless to say I was waiting for this review on IMBB and I knew you’d be the one to do it Neha! This looks so delectable and I can’t believe you don’t have any of the N*ked palettes! You need N*ked 2 in your life- now!!!

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