Thursday 1 December 2016

♥ Urban Decay Ultimate Basics Palette | Swatches and First Impression



Oh no, not another eyeshadow palette post I hear you groan. I'm sorry, but I just can't get enough. The day after the release of this palette, I found myself walking down Oxford Street, and passing a huge Debenhams. Obviously, I spied their Urban Decay counter through the window and of course, I had been eyeing up the new Naked Ultimate Basics palette since its announcement. I couldn't resist and had to pick it up there and then. I'm all about the Naked palettes - I own each of them, with Naked 3 and the first basics palette being the only exceptions and I've been blown away by every shade range and every formula of shadow from the brand. This brand new addition to the Naked lineup hasn't been any different.


Firstly, I have to mention the pigmentation. There just seems to be a bit more oomph to this palette when I compare it to the many other Naked palettes. They all give an insane amount of colour payoff, but the rate at which these shadows covered my eyes still blew me away upon first use. Even the nude shades are impressive and give an obviously there look to the lids. The formula? Just as buttery and blendable as every other palette Urban Decay offer and not chalky at all. The only qualms I have with the formulation of this palette is the disregard for the 'all matte' tag line that comes with it... The existence of the shade Blow annoys me a little, as it goes against what we, their customers, had been dying for. The use of a demi-matte formula in a palette that was supposed to be the all matte Naked palette we'd been dying for annoyed me a touch, as it's unnecessary for those of us who have all the others. Although, each palette does come with a shimmery highlight shade, so should we have expected anything less? However, for me it diminishes the right of UD to even call it an all matte palette and I definitely didn't need the shimmery highlight shade... I would have preferred another matte highlight or base shade. Of course, it's something we can all get over, because the shade is still perfectly places amongst the others.

The standout shade, for me, is definitely Extra Bitter. Its a burnt, peanut butter orange shade and if it weren't for this shade I maybe would have walked away a fair few times before purchasing this palette. The browns are unlike the others I have in my Naked Basics 2 and offer me a completely different tone of both cool and warm browns. They're all unique and bring something new to the UD lineup - something they desperately needed to do with this palette. Though there are a ton of brown neutrals, the overall variety of shades in this palette is brilliant. There's a pink and a plum within Instinct and Lethal (which is a beautiful shade to use to smoke out a look and take it from day to night) and the navy shade Magnet offers yet another tone to work with. There are so many different looks that could be created with the range of shades and tones within this one so it's well worth every penny. Each shade is brand new to the Urban Decay lineup, so that's an easy way to justify your purchase of yet another neutral eyeshadow palette.

The packaging is definitely my favourite that Urban Decay have produced to date. It is super simplistic - something the Naked Basics palettes have always been - yet it stands out amongst all their other palettes and screams look at me! The brush is good, it's got a mini shader or smudger on one end and a simple large shader on the other, but it is synthetic and hard to use to blend out these shadows and if you ask me, I'll stick to my favourite Zoeva brushes!


(Top Row L-R: Blow, Nudie, Commando, Tempted, Instinct, Lethal)

(Bottom Row L-R: Pre-Game, Extra Bitter, Faith, Lockout, Magnet, Blackjack)

I'm terribly sorry for the delay in this post. I wrote the intro to it way back in October right after purchasing it, but I've been so busy with work and moving out (more on that in a Life Update, maybe?!) that I ended up neglecting my blog for a rather long time. I am back, though, and determined to do Blogmas, so expect a post from me every day in December. I have lots to talk about!

Em x



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2 comments:

  1. YAY! So glad to have you for a whole month!! Love the palette, so so stunning! :)

    Erin || MakeErinOver || Happy Blogmas!

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  2. Peanut butter orange is a great way to describe extra bitter, definitely love that shade too!!
    Kathy x
    Alongcamekathy

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