Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Review Plus A Holiday Look

You guys, I'm officially on my two-week holiday break! I'm so looking forward to this because work had been particularly hectic for me this year due to new job role and responsibility. But I'm not complaining because I enjoy every aspect of aesthetic medicine. 2017 is going to be a blast for sure! Now let's zero-in to this week's Makeup Wars feature post, the hugely popular Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics. I snagged this palette last month during the VIB Rouge sale. Initially, I wasn't keen on procuring it because I have eleventy-seven jillion nude eyeshadows already. But impulse is weaker than logic for this beauty junkie so babble aside, I ultimately caved in. But it was a good decision after all because I really love it! If you don't know yet, everything from this palette is matte in predominantly cool shades. Scroll down for more details, swatches, including a makeup look I wore to our clinic's Christmas dinner.

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I own the first four Naked releases so adding a fifth makes my "collection" quite legit, says greedy bird. As you can see, it is packaged in a square case with rays of embossment. It has its own character, in fact the most opulent compared to its older siblings. Click open the top and you are greeted by beauty bird, well "hello self" as you stare at the ginormous mirror which by the way was designed perfectly to sit straight or adjusted back atop your table in case le vanity mirror ain't enough to say "hey girl, your makeup's on point today!".

Retailing for $54, the shades from this palette are presented in similar fashion and size as Nakeds 1-4. The dual-ended eyeshadow brush is shorter this time, it has a smudger on one side and flat brush on the other. Yes, some of them are strikingly close to the earlier releases but being that they are matte, there goes again greedy bird telling you that you do need this!

Above are swatches on un-primed arm; blow (light nude sheen matte) and pre-game (yellow toned nude matte) didn't register well on the photo because they are really nude, both of which are great to dust all over the eyelid up to the brow bone as first layer in case you're packing a second, third or even fourth shade. My favorites are lethal (reddish brown matte) as I use it mostly to define my sparse eyebrows, extra bitter (burnt orange matte) as transitional crease shade, faith (medium warm matte) to create an illusion of depth to my hooded eyes and black jack because of its rich pigmentation. Worn over eye primer, I get a good solid seven hour wear time with obvious fade (no thanks to oily lids) from the eighth onwards.

For my holiday look below, I applied blow initially (lids to brow bone), then layered with faith and extra bitter (lids to crease), then lightly blended lethal on eyebrows, outer eye corner and lower lash line. I used black jack on upper lash line to give my faux lashes further definition and volume.

Other products used:

Tom Ford Soleil Contouring Compact (reviewed here)
Tom Ford Lip Color So Vain (reviewed here)
Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay in Place Foundation (reviewed here)
Urban Decay Naked Concealer (recently purchased and already loving it)
Ghd Styler (I straightened my hair this time for a change). I reviewed it four years ago and still going strong!

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