Down and Out Beauty: Naked2 Palette

I know all the beauty blogs out there are flooded with Naked2 reviews and I look a little bit late to the party. However, I wanted to use every color in the palette, see how they wear, and how they photograph before I did a review. Overall I'm incredibly happy with my purchase.

Let's start with the price. At $50 for twelve eye shadows, a double ended brush, and a mini lip gloss, this palette is a steal! Each shadow contains .05oz, the same weight as a single MAC eye shadow that retails for $15. If you bought twelve MAC eye shadows you'd be out $180. Enough said there.

The metal case has a inside mirror, houses the brush but not the gloss, and closes firmly. The only negative is that it will not sit open without flopping over and that certainly is no deal breaker for me.

The first Naked palette was based on bronze neutrals and worked beautifully on medium to dark skin tones. The Naked2 palette focuses on taupe/ gray beige neutrals to suit all skin tones. The palette contains three matte colors: Foxy (pale yellow bisque), Tease (neutral pale brown), and Blackout (very pigmented black). Two shades with microglitter: Chopper (copper shimmer with silver glitter), and YDK (cool bronze with metallic glitter). Seven shades with a metallic finish: Half Baked (golden bronze), Bootycall (very pale cork), Snakebite (dark bronze shimmer), Suspect (pale golden beige), Pistol (perfect taupe grey/ brown), Verve (oyster shimmer), and Busted (deep chocolate shimmer).My personal favs are Pistol, Verve, Suspect, and Blackout.  I could totally live without Half Baked and Chopper as they do nothing for fair skin.

I really love the wide range of looks you can achieve with this palette. I've done everything from a matte 50's eye with kitten eyeliner to a grungy black smokey eye and even the most naturally beautiful bridal look. The versatility of neutrals with varying finishes is outstanding.

The shadows are intensely pigmented and tend to drop a bit during application. I'd recommend using Urban Decay Primer Potion as a base and tapping off excess shadow from the brush before applying to the lid to keep the shadow from falling on your cheek and creasing. The shadows wear very well all day and stay true to the original color.

This has to be the first time I've bought a makeup palette and didn't immediately toss the brush. It comes with a cruelty free taklon fiber, double ended brush. One side is a flat lay down brush for packing on color and the other is a domed crease brush for blending and crease work. The taklon fibers are stiff on the brush and if used correctly, work perfectly. Use the flat side in a patting motion and the crease side with a gentle sweeping for blending. Your skin should not move when applying or blending color!

The tiny lip gloss included in the palette is also called Naked and is very wearable nude. Unlike most nudes it isn't lighter than a natural lip tone so it doesn't make you look ill or washed out.The gloss has a thick long wearing formula and tastes of vanilla mint.

I think Naked2 is well worth the money and would make a perfect gift or a splurge for yourself. If you already have one, let me know what you think.

-Layne

Layne is a licensed aesthetician and makeup artist working at Urban Sanctuary in Athens, GA. She writes the makeup and beauty column Down and Out Beauty. Click here to read her previous posts.
images: 1&2) taken by Layne 3) via Sephora