Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette review and giveaway!

I'm back!  I'm so sorry for the massive break while I was on holiday - it's possibly the longest I've ever gone without posting in six years, and it didn't feel right at all, but I was so absorbed in the crazy planning process for Florida.  I had an amazing time, so all worthwhile and I hope you'll excuse the lack of posts.  I have some Florida and Disney related content coming soon, but first I really wanted to launch this giveaway, which I actually meant to pop up before my holiday... I think this gorgeous palette has been worth the wait!

Being a lover and hoarder of neutral makeup, I of course love the whole 'Naked' range from Urban Decay, and for me getting a new Naked palette release is a total given and they never disappoint.  Back when I was much more of an eyeshadow noob I didn't get on so well with the original Naked palette and ended up passing it on in a blog sale, but I always regretted it, and am happy to have recently added it back into my collection to re-complete the set!

Now onto the newest of this palette dynasty, the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette! 

Unlike the last two instalments in the Naked series, Urban Decay have skipped the tin style packaging for a sleek plastic affair with a cool floating smoke design.  The size remains the same, and the large mirror and double-ended brush we're used to with these palettes is still present.  Personally I've never got on very well with these brushes and prefer something softer and fluffier, but a lot of people love it and it is a great quality brush.

This palette has a real mix of warm and cool shades, and combines matte, shimmer and some glitter textures too in a wide range of hues, so it has a bit of something for everyone in my opinion.  Despite the name, not all of the shades are deep and smoky, so this won't be a palette you'll need to reserve just for your full on going out-out looks as there is also a good mix of more pale and neutral shades 

The formulation and pigmentation is great as you'd expect from Urban Decay and I especially love the buttery texture of the shimmer shades.  

This end of the palette is undoubtedly my favourite - High is a beautiful shade for an inner corner highlight, and I'm really into golden hues at the moment, so Dirtysweet and Radar really appeal.  Armour is a really interesting pale lilac-grey which isn't something I'd have thought to reach for, but it's really lovely and a nice shake up for me.

The shades in the centre of the palette are least likely to be hitting pan as they are quite deep and serious - they're all beautiful shades, but I'm not so confident wearing colours like these and always fear the panda look. I'll be dipping into these now and again to intensify a crease, or for a proper smoked out look if I'm feeling brave, but they're not my every day colours.  

Fear not, the right hand side of the palette has us back into neutral territory with shades reminiscent of one of the Naked Basics palettes (which I love).  These are safe, comfortable, creamy matte shades which are a perfect compliment to the rest of the palette.  Thirteen, for a white shade applies really well with an excellent colour pay off, which really surprised me, but conversely, Combust, is much harder to work with and lacks pigmentation.  A real shame as I love the colour.  I might try applying this one wet to see if I can get it to work for me.

The Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette is £38 and you'll find it at Debenhams, Feelunique, Selfridges and John Lewis.  Or, if you'd like to take a chance at winning one, you can enter my giveaway using the rafflecopter form below. Good luck! (The giveaway is open internationally and until 11.59pm on 31 October).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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