QC Makeup Academy student ambassador Whitney Conn is a student in the Special FX, Airbrush, and Skincare courses. She’s also a proud graduate of the Master Makeup Artistry course.
We have all heard of Urban Decay. They have been releasing amazing eyeshadow palettes as part of their “Naked” series for years. From the newest edition, Naked Reloaded, to the classic Naked Basics mini palettes, they’re all to die for. These palettes are portable and great for achieving natural and bold looks. That makes them perfect additions to your makeup artist kit!
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to each palette!
Naked – Discontinued
Ah, the original Naked palette! It’s the one that started it off! Who remembers the fuzzy cardboard palette that quickly became an international sensation?
While this iconic, bronzy palette still sits on many beauty lovers’ vanities, UD discontinued it last summer. It was a runaway best-seller that went on to sell over 30 million units. It redefined neutrals for everyday wear and showed us how to up-the-anti for bombshell night looks.
If you’re looking to get your neutral fix, Urban Decay recently launched Naked Reloaded in its place… see it at the end of this article!
Naked 2 (Buy it)
What a classic! This is the only Naked palette I’ve ever owned. This palette is overall cooler in tone compared to the original Naked palette. It spans from natural base colors to rose, natural brown, and black for a huge shadow range. With six shimmer colors and six matte colors, how can you go wrong? This taupy palette is also available in a six-shade Naked 2 Basics palette—the perfect travel essential!
Naked 3 (Buy it)
Let’s step up the basics to a warmer rose-colored palette with the Naked 3. When it was first released, it was completely different than its predecessors—the rosy hue was a winner. Starting the palette off is your base color before moving onto the peachy and pink colors. At the end are shading colors like maroon and a black with red shimmer to amp-up your look.
Naked Smoky – Discontinued
How can you go wrong with a good smoky palette? While this palette gave new-to-makeup gals confidence to experiment with sultry looks, this palette is sadly out of production. If you already have this palette sitting at home, give it the proper sendoff it deserves—play with these mattes and shimmers until you hit pan!
Naked Ultimate Basics – Discontinued
This palette is an amped up version of the Naked Basics palette. Instead of a mere six matte shades, this palette offers 12 all-new mattes. If you’ve been in the makeup community for long, you know how hard matte shadows are to come by. With a cool gray and black to round out this palette, you can create a lot of daytime and nighttime looks.
Naked Heat (Buy it)
This palette has red shadows in the warm color range. This is the perfect palette for summer time. As with all the Naked palettes, we start with the base color moving into the peachy reds to rusty, earthy reds. Ending with your dark tones in brown and purple. With four shimmer shades and eight matte colors, this palette is a great addition to fire up your kit. Naked Heat also comes as a six-shade Naked Petite Heat palette!
Naked Cherry (Buy it)
If you love purples, then this is the palette for you! Different from Naked Heat and even Naked 3, this palette leans into the black cherry range of colors. It starts with your base tones to a khaki color. Then into a few pink tone that are followed by the purples. A beautiful palette, indeed. This palette includes five shimmer colors and seven matte colors.
Naked Reloaded (Buy it)
The newest palette the Naked collection! This palette features a mixture of browns and pinks and is a direct spinoff the original. The biggest change is in the larger pan sizes for Bribe, Barely Baked, Boundaries, and Blur (see below). Of course, we have our base colors. It then goes into two khaki shades and a gold shade. Followed by four pink shades ranging from peachy pink to a dusty rose. The boldest colors are dark brown, shimmer grey and shimmer medium brown. This palette has six shimmer shades and six matte shades.
Every palette would all be wonderful additions to your personal and professional makeup artist kit. Whether you use just the palettes or use the shades to complement other colors in your makeup collection. These palettes will never go out of style and are wonderful basics to have. I have found that you can build on the opacity of the shadows when you apply with a dry brush. You also have the option of going in with a wet brush for bolder colors. Whatever you fancy, there is a Naked palette for you.
Which UD palette is your favorite? Let us know!
