Beauty lovers in Korea rejoice! Urban Decay finally launched in Korea last month and I didn’t know until I ran smack into the one at the Galleria department store in Seoul. I’ve been wanting to try the Naked palettes for a few years now, so you could probably imagine how ecstatic I was to see it for the first time in person. Now that I have my hands on both of them, I thought I’d do a Naked vs Naked 2 comparison for those who haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
The Naked palette has a velvet texture that closes with a magnet. I personally don’t mind that it’s not a metal case like the Naked 2 palette as it’s easy to open and close when short on time, and I’m probably never going to take it with me when I travel. Even if it had the sturdy Naked 2 casing, I would opt to take something more compact. I think the Naked palette has a more glamorous look than the Naked 2 palette, but that velvet picks up quite a bit of dust. God forbid I ever get foundation marks on it!
I much prefer the mirror size of the Naked 2 palette because it just has a clean look, and there is some extra space and a curved groove to the right of the brush tray that makes it easier to take out.
Speaking of brushes, I noticed that both the Naked palette and the Naked 2 palette had double ended brushes. Most of the reviews comparing the Naked and Naked 2 palette featured the original one sided brush for the original Naked palette so I was a bit surprised. I was also a bit miffed to see that the extras such as the primer potion sample or the gloss were not included, as those were mentioned in many reviews as well. I’m not sure if they’ve stopped including these globally or just for their product launch in Korea. Because I had purchased two palettes at the same time, I was given a mini lipstick and two primer potion samples as a gift. It still irked me that if I had only purchased one palette, I wouldn’t have gotten any samples at all.
An unexpected discovery happened while I was photographing the palettes. The Naked 2 palette sort of tipped back because of the weight of the lid. It doesn’t tip back when the brush is in the brush tray, but I was sort of amused to find that the palette wasn’t weighted properly. Now, I don’t mind quite as much as I will probably be using the brushes I already have, and keep the brush it came with in the tray. However, if you don’t have a separate brush for eyeshadow you might consider propping up the mirror in the back to keep it from tipping, as it can tip up over an inch above the ground.
#. Swatches
Now, the biggest problem I had when I was considering buying a Naked palette was choosing which one to get. While the Temptalia swatches were somewhat helpful, they didn’t exactly help me compare the shadows by color. So I thought I’d do some swatches by color, for whoever needs them and for personal reference.
Virgin is a shimmer that’s not nearly as shiny as Verve, but similar shimmer to Bootycall. I’m afraid they are looking a little matte in this photo, but they are in fact shimmers. Virgin is cooler, Bootycall is warmer. Verve is the brightest and coolest of them all. Bootycall and Virgin have a similar effect but Bootycall is slightly pale yellow while Virgin is almost a pale peachy color.
Sidecar is slightly bronze, Toasted is shiny but less so than Sidecar and YDK. The YDK is a sort of taupe I suppose.
Half Baked is a beautiful color in both palettes, but you have to choose between the Chopper in the Naked 2 and Smog in the Naked original. If I had to choose between Chopper and Smog, I much prefer Smog. Keep in mind though that Chopper is the only bright copper tone in both of the palettes combined.
This is probably the biggest problem that I had. Smog and Darkhorse are both beautiful colors in the Naked original, while Snakebite is in Naked 2. So why didn’t I just go with the Naked original? The Naked 2 palette also has a lovely matte skin color Foxy and the matte solid black that were hard to give up! I feel like all three colors combined would create a lovely brown palette that would serve you well as you could go brighter or darker depending on your mood.
If you’re not too keen on the smokey eye or haven’t managed to make it work for you yet, I don’t think you really need to get the new Naked Smokey palette. The Naked 1 has Gunmetal and Creep, and the Naked 2 has Pistol and Blackout. I’ll probably practice between these colors every blue moon, but to be honest my lids just weren’t made for smokey looks as they don’t have a crease to speak of.
There are some swatches that are missing. These swatches were more for comparing the colors in the two palettes, and to show that some of the colors are quite different. Hustle and Busted I felt were practically the same. The matte colors Naked, Buck, and Tease are clearly different in the Temptalia swatches I mentioned earlier.
#. Naked 1 vs. Naked 2
Some people recommend the Naked 1 for warm-toned people and the Naked 2 for cool-toned people, but I personally think it comes down to whether you prefer Smog(1) vs. Chopper(2), Darkhorse(1) vs. Snakebite(2), Creep(1) vs. Blackout(2). While the matte colors are all very nice, I don’t think that the matte colors would be the deciding factor for choosing one over another because the palette is shimmer-centric and most likely those who are interested are looking to buy the pretty array of shimmers.
Now, if you actually enjoy using eyeshadows, I wouldn’t be surprised if you purchased both as I did. Mainly because the pigmentation of these shadows just blew my mind, and they both had several different colors that complemented each other. This just goes to show that you can’t give a former art major two different palettes with different colors and expect them to choose only one.
#. Would I Repurchase/Recommend?
The only other brand of shadows that I’ll ever buy after these are the Bobbi Brown travel sized matte palette, and the Tom Ford quads. Simply because the Bobbi Brown mattes are beautiful with sleek packaging (their glitter is rubbish), and the Tom Ford shadows are too good to be true (their glitter is perfection). When these Naked palettes run out I will definitely be repurchasing these, and in the mean time I’ll be enthusiastically recommending them to my friends.
Edit (Year 2020) * It’s been years since I purchased the Naked palettes in 2015. I found a few months after purchase that I always reached for the Naked 1 palette and hardly even touched the Naked 2 palette after swatching. So I sold it soon after and haven’t regretted parting with it. When I had originally posted, I said that I would repurchase if I ran out. However, I have yet to have run out of the palette and I don’t know if I would repurchase. Not because they are a bad eye shadow palette necessarily, but because I now recognize that I don’t have a heavy hand with my products and as my lifestyle has changed so has the amount of product I use over time. At the time of purchase I was living near Seoul, Korea and spent most of my time in Seoul than at home. Even on days that I went for a more natural look I was practically doing a full make up routine. However, now that I have moved to a smaller city in the U.S, it seems a bit out of place to be wearing full make up when most of the people out and about are hardly wearing any at all. Another thing I noticed is that I keep reaching for the same colors when I use this palette, which begs the question, do I really need all of these colors? Clearly a select few work best with my skin tone and the looks that I gravitate towards. Yes it’s fun to experiment with new colors and sometimes you just want to buy a new color that season, but I find that I can go months and nearly a year before feeling that urge to try a new color these days. I think a big part of this is that I am no longer surrounded and bombarded by advertisements on a daily basis. So my selections going forward feel less influenced by marketers telling me what I should want to buy, and more of what I actually want to buy myself.
Your turn ♥ What is your favorite eyeshadow palette? If you were going to buy a Naked Palette which one would you choose?
*This post was NOT sponsored, though UD is welcome to send me a lifelong supply of Naked Palettes if they wish ;)
