The NAKED Truth

Naked 2, eyeshadow palette

Now we get to the heavyweight of the brand, one of the renowned Naked palettes. This particular one is Naked 2, and any one from the range will set you back a hefty £38, so it's definitely an investment piece, and only if you're serious about eyeshadow. I bought this one on Black Friday last year, and in the short time I've had it I now swear by it. The palette is formed of 12 shades, oozes luxury, and while I'm usually sceptical of brushes that accompany eyeshadow palettes, this is the best brush I've ever owned for applying and blending. Just be careful to use the right end, I once dipped the blending end in Blackheart and it took me forever to clean it. The shades seem bottomless, and with these colours the combinations are endless. Every shade in here is able to compliment each other, and is perfect for those who shy away from the bolder colours in Urban Decay's range. Unfortunately I have to deduct a point as it seems Urban Decay marketed this with white girls in mind. For those of you with a darker complexion such as myself, I would advise you to always put on a white eyeshadow as a base before using these colours, otherwise they won't show up nearly as well! Unfortunately, this does negate the effects of some of the lighter shades in the palette. 8/10

I'm going to do a quick one line review of all the colours in here though, as there are so many. Bear in mind these reviews are all based on my skin tone Here we go:

Foxy- disappointing highlighter, but could be worse 4/10

Half Baked- slightly grainy, bold,makes a really good look on a night out 7/10

Bootycall- even more pointless than Foxy 1/10

Chopper- for those feeling a bit more daring 8/10

Tease- Not too bad when applied thickly, works well with YDK 7/10

Snakebite- You know my views on this :) 10/10

Suspect- good when used as a highlighter 8/10

Pistol- Gunmetal just with less glitter 7/10

Verse- again, good highlighter but can work as a main colour 8/10

YDK- darker version of Chopper, doesn't show up as well but a subtle look 8/10

Busted- I use this a lot as a transition colour between Snakebite and Blackheart 10/10

Blackheart- the ultimate black, necessity for a good smoky eye. A little goes a long way and heavy handed usage will result in being mistaken for a panda. Approach with caution, and not for the faint of heart 10/10 

Urban Decay- Review

  Calm down people, this hasn't morphed into a beauty blog, the apocalypse has yet to happen. However after my previous post I did feel inspired to do a formal review of the brand Urban Decay, mostly because I felt I was plugging their products a lot in said former post. 

  Ok, so where to start. Well nearly all (and by nearly I mean all but one) of the products I own from Urban Decay are eyeshadow, so I feel this ties in pretty neatly with todays posts. I'm basically going to just rate out of 10 and say why you should buy them. I also feel the need to add in a little disclaimer that anything said in this post is my personal opinion and does not reflect the views of the brand. Ok enough of the formal stuff, let's get to the real thing.

Long Lasting Primer Potion

You guys can read the caption, this is primer. For you males reading this, firstly I'm sorry. This is a girly post. Secondly, primer is what you put on your eyes before the colour goes on. Think of it as a base paint. This particular primer is the Long Lasting one from the range. It's probably the most expensive one I've every bought, and retails at £16 in Debenhams for 11ml. Honestly you don't need very much of it for each use, a little really does go a long way. It also prevents my make up from creasing throughout the day, and 9 times out of 10 I won't need to touch up my make up. It also takes less time to remove eye make up at the end of the day. 8/10

Left: Gunmetal, eyeshadow
Right: Snakebite, eyeshadow

  I'll review these one at a time. Gunmetal is actually in the original Naked Palette, but as I only wanted this colour it made more sense to buy it separately. Honestly I was disappointed in this colour when compared to other colours I have, it's too glittery for my liking and doesn't add to any of the other colours I've tried mixing it with. 5/10

  Snakebite is my personal favourite in the range. It's part of the Naked 2 Palette which I own (we'll get to that), but I use it so much I bought it separately too to pop in my bag when I'm out and about, rather than take the whole palette with me. It's an amazing colour and is perfect for when you want a smoky eye with a bit more colour to it. The name is also pretty cool. 10/10 

Also, both will set you back a hefty £14 each, making it not the most wallet friendly option, but I won't deduct points as every penny is worth it. 

All Nighter Make Up
Setting Spray

  This is the newest addition to my collection, the Long Lasting Make Up Setting Spray. This caught my eye over Christmas when I was with my flatmate helping her shop for some friends. It's £21 for 118ml at Debenhams, and slightly more expensive in Selfridges (I think, I may have misheard the woman selling it to me but I swear she said £27. Man I was robbed). I've only used it once but all indications point to it working. A criticism would be I felt a bit uncomfortable wearing what is essentially hairspray on my face, but it wasn't that sticky and my make up didn't need retouching during the day. The only other criticism is that it made it a bit harder taking off make up, but I guess that shows it's effective. 7/10 

The Golden Rules of Eyeshadow

  So I have this friend. I've known this friend since I was 15, and even though we go long periods of time not talking, when we get together we always have a laugh. However in recent months said friend has taken to wearing garish shades all over her eyelids. Now I'm not criticising wanting to use bright colours, in fact if you're one of those people then all power to you. However I do have an issue when you girls decide to just slap a colour on your eyes and go.

  Every girl should know that make up is an art. You can go ahead and think of your face as a canvas, but girls we are not practicing any of that modernism or surrealism stuff. I personally believe less is more, and advocate minimalism when possible. However, if you're daring enough to pick out a bright blue or baby pink eyeshadow, I must press upon you some serious advice. These aren't the only things you need to know, but it's a good start. So here goes.

Rimmel London, Glam'Eyes
Quad Eyeshadow (6.99 each)

1) Pick a colour/palette and stick to it- so you wake up in the morning and reach for the neon green sitting at the bottom of your make up bag. Don't be also reaching for the equally offensive shade of orange next to it! You're already going to be looking like a lime Starburst, why go confusing everyone! If any of you are confused, Rimmel and Revlon do some really good palettes where all the colours you need for a look are there in one set.

2) Always throw in a darker colour- and by dark I mean grey, black or a darker shade of your main colour. Don't be throwing a dark purple with a light green. The lightest colour should always be inwards, and fade outwards to a darker shade. Don't just use one colour only, it looks like you put no effort in.

Urban Decay, Long Lasting
Primer Potion (£16)

3) Primer- I cannot stress how important this is. Priming your eyes doesn't just set a foundation which keeps your make up set for longer. Primer is kinda the same shade as your skin, so I use it as a guideline once it's on to know how far up the eye lid I need to put the eyeshadow. Think of it as colouring inside the lines.

Urban Decay, Naked 2 (£39)

4) Don't be cheap- As I said earlier, make up is like art. If you're painting, you won't want to go to Asda when you could be getting your paint from Hobbycraft or a specialist art shop. So why do the same with your make up? Better quality brands may be more expensive, but consider them an investment. Also, read reviews before you buy. It will save you a lot of time and money. My go to brand is Urban Decay, extremely pricey (one colour sets you back £14) but superior in quality and long lasting. The shades I use personally aren't the brightest, but if you visit their website they have all kinds of crazy colours.

Left: Urban Decay, Gunmetal (£14)
Right: Urban Decay, Snakebite (£14)

5) The Golden Rule, Blending- Great so you managed to fit all your colours on, now what? You can't be going out there looking like you have rainbows on your lids. Blending is my number one rule. I remember being reluctant at first because I was scared all the colours would blur into one, but it did nothing of the kind. Blending smoothes it all out and you see one colour blend seamlessly into the next. If I can see a definitive line in your handiwork, it's not on.