Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Review and Swatches

Hey all

Urban decay is a brand I love, I have Naked 2 and 3 (reviews Here and Here) And when my other half asked if I wanted anything for Christmas the link to ultimate naked basics was one of the first things I thought of as i don't have many matte eye shadow palettes and it had a great range of light shades.

Also the packaging needs a shout out, how gorgeous is it. It's plastic so long wearing and has a huge mirror.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Double Ended Pencil in Naked Basics

Hello there!

It's taken me some time to get this written today as I'm in a post gym coma. Followed by lunch I'm in a whole world of ache and warmth so my typing is rather slow!

Being a massive fan of Urban Decay and their impressive range of palettes it was no surprise to me when they came out with matching eye pencils. I mean, eyeshadow and eye liner go hand in hand together. There's one for every Naked palette including the newest one Naked 3. Obviously I want them all, but I picked up Naked Basics for a starter.

The 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils are very much a popular product, they released a set last year called the Vault which had all 40 of the new eye pencils in the new range and it retailed for a good few hundred dollars although allegedly only 50 were made. Quite a disappointing amount as I imagine there were many who didn't get the chance to snap it up!

The 24/7 pencils are super creamy and highly pigmented, containing Vitamin E and jojoba oil they also don't drag on the skin which is a must when your eyes are concerned.

Crave and Venus are not part of the full collection as they are specific to Naked Basics. Crave matches the dark brown/black colour in the palette as does Venus, a creamy off white with a slight shimmer.

Clearly I would, in an ideal world, love to own all of the colours but this is a great way to get your make up bag full of basics without breaking the bank. At £12 each for the double ended pencils, for the most part you are getting 2 really great and useable colours for just £6 each and considering how good the quality is it's a pretty good price.

I like the design of the products too, you can clearly see the Naked Basics label in the centre so you can tell which palette it is designed to match. If you look on the internet at the other pencils (I use either Debenhams, Beauty Bay or Look Fantastic) you can see that 5 of the shades used in the 4 pencils are exclusive and only 3 are part of the original range (Zero, Perversion and Whiskey).

I think if I were to buy another it would by the one to match Naked 2 which although i don't own Naked 2 I think I would use these colours most as the matte black of Perversion and grey brown of Pistol I could wear every day with products I already own.

So how does it look on?

I've blended the pencil along the bottom of my eyes and also along the waterline. Crave is on the outer of my eye and Venus is in the inside corner.
The eyeshadow I have on in this picture is from Naked 3 and was one of the first times i used it. I can see it getting a lot of use!



I really like this look and it was so easy to blend the liners together even though they are quite opposite in their shades. I used the 24/7 blending brush from UD (review coming soon!) and as long as you do it fairly soon after application you should have no trouble. Once it sets and dries however you can be assured that they do not budge for the day! I was amazing how well they stayed on and didn't smudge or disappear.

I would definitely recommend this pencil as a starter for your make up and generally on the whole everyone needs it! Venus is great for brightening up the inside corner of the eye and Crave is great for a more dramatic look or even day wear depending on how much you apply.

For £12 you cannot go wrong and I'm sure I'll be picking up more in future. I'd love to be able to justify collecting the entire range but with 40 pencils at £15 that calculates to a quite unaffordable £600 if my maths is correct which is terrifying!

A girl can dream eh?

Which of the pencils would you snap up? Would you go for a double ended one of one from the original range?

L xxx

   

Urban Decay Product Showcase

Morning lovelies!

Hope you're not feeling too delicate this morning, I went out Friday night and came home at 5am and was feeling less than perky yesterday so today is going to be 100% productive!

Starting the day off were writing about our trip into Cardiff Debenhams the other evening where we met the lovely girls at the Urban Decay counter for a few hours of make up chat, playing with products and generally having a fun time. There were only 6 of us there at the meeting which was lovely as although we'd met the majority of the other bloggers (Georgina, Nina and Helen) it was great to meet Shelley too and get to know everyone a little better.

The main focus of the events was Naked 3 which I'm sure all of you have seen and heard about over the past few weeks and it is obviously a gorgeous must have palette for everyone due to its super flattering rose gold shades. However we were also there to check out the new Naked lip glosses, the Naked Skin foundations and loose powder as well as their BB cream, B6 spray and so many others!

It was like a sleepover party with all of your friends bringing their make up around, my hand was covered in swatches and I managed to get it all over me in an attempt to try everything...oops!

The Naked lipglosses were a big hit with both of us, the packaging is gorgeous with the cut out design and the range of colours is pretty good. My favourite one was Streak purely because I'm a coral girl at heart but I can honestly say that every colour is wearable and beautiful! Some are more shimmery than others, some have more colour than others and some are just beautifully nude. M's was Beso which she has already mentioned in a post. She's more of a plum/dark lip colours.

I'm sure you'll be seeing posts from us when we've been using them a lot more as they're so versatile and have so many good ingredients and effects that they warrant their own post!

What I love is when brands make things completely unique, and on a beautiful stand at the corner of the counter was a selection of cupcakes each called a different shade of the Naked lipglosses and I ended up with Walk of Shame....were they trying to say something? Haha. The icing was amazing and if I hadn't have been going for tapas for a friend's birthday I'd have taken home another!

It was great fun to play around with the products and M had her brows done by the lovely Haddie (isn't her blue hair amazing?!). It was lovely to see all of the kits as I'd never seen the brow box before nor the Naked Skin loose powder and I'm fast becoming a loose powder fan!

One of the items I couldn't wait to have a go of was Naked Flushed. I know its been out for a while but I still hadn't had chance to have a go with it and I can certainly tell you it's a beautiful palette!
I often stay at friends and travel at the mo and carrying a bronzer, blusher and highlighter separately can be a pain but this is all in one and perfect for any occasion. The blusher and bronzer are so pigmented you need a tiny amount and the highlighter has been so finely milled that its like a veil on your skin, lots of love for it!

Also on hand were the new Naked pencils, each matching a palette and they're all double ended which is a really great idea. Using their brushes was also a really good opportunity as although I've tried the eyeshadow brushes in the palettes I'd never tried the Optical blurring brush which I've heard so much about and its gorgeous!

Unfortunately as the time our goodie bags were stuck on a palette inside a lorry so we had to go back to collect them the day after. But who cares about the wait the goodie bag was so unbelievably generous that we're both still a bit shocked at the contents!

We were super lucky and we're given 6 full sized products including 2 Naked lipglosses, a Revolution lipstick, 24/7 Glide on Lip Pencil, Naked Flushed palette and their B6 Complexion Prep Spray. Totally overwhelmed!

We both also picked up a few goodies on the night; M bought herself Naked 3 and I bought the 24/7 blending brush and the Naked Basics eye pencil and have been loving the results with them.

I'm sure you'll see posts from both of us in the future with reviews on all the products. We cannot believe how generous they were to us and how much fun the evening was too. Knowing that Ud products are so amazing anyway (we now own 7 of their palettes between us including the whole Naked family) we will guaranteed be back for some more in the future!

Do you love UD? Have you picked up anything from the Naked range? Which is your favourite palette?

Thanks so much to Haddie and Ffion for a wonderful evening, it was a pleasure to meet you both and you've given us some great tips and tricks!

L and M xxx

Spring Series: Make Up

This is the last in our Spring Series (you can see the rest of our posts here). Today is all about spring make up.

It's this time of your all my dark berry lipsticks get pushed to the back and my bright vibrant pinks start to make an appearance again. I absolutely love a bold lipstick and bright pinks are my favourite for the spring time.

Here are a few of my favourites

Also I start to load on the bronzer more in the hope to look more sun kissed. For me there is no better than Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer (review here). I start to use it for more than just contouring and start to add a bronzed look too my face.

I tend to apply more highlighter through Spring too. I crave that natural luminous glowy skin. I've previously raved about MAC MSF in Soft and Gentle (review here). It gives a soft sparkly highlight and blends effortlessly into the skin.

Lately I'm also loving MeMeMe Sunbeam. This is a cheap version of the Benefit product. I find this gives a soft highlight to the skin and is less sparkly. Perfect for day times.

During spring I usually like a slightly bright blush to match my now bright lips. This is where Sleek comes in. Hello amazing pigmentation. I love my Blush by 3 Palette in Lace (review here). I love all the colours in this and using the middle one means I don't need to highlight. The red shade looks gorgeous blended in and I surprised myself with how much I liked an orange blush.

Excuse the dodgy photos! I'm surprised how much my photos have improved over the time of the blog

I really want the sleek Pink Spirit palette now. Maybe that can be my treat after my new challenge.

Lastly base, this changes in the spring. I've also been a full foundation girl but that is definitely changing. During spring this year I'll be favouring No7 tinted moisturiser and my Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser.  If my skin does need a bit more I'll be reaching for Mac Studio Fix Fluid.

I like my skin being able to breath more than with a foundation on. I really like both of these and will definitely be repurchasing the No7 one. I've not used the Laura Mercier one enough to comment yet but can't wait to more. I find both of these pretty good even on my Oily/Combination skin. For ages I was put off tinted moisturisers so I'm glad to have found these.

As for lips it's time to bring out all the bright colours, hello corals, pinks and oranges. Here are some of my favourites

Maybelline 10 h Tint Gloss Forever Fuchsia (review) Avon Perfect Kiss Berry Smooch (review) Kate Moss No 20 (review) Kate Moss Matte Collection Shade 110 (review) Mac Shine Supreme Fashion City, Mac Amplified Chatter Box (review) Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Satins in Smitten and Rendezvous (review)

The Swatches are in Lipstick Order. 

Lastly I like to play with my eyeshadow on the weekend. When It's a bright day outside I love to play with my make up. I have a few brighter eyeshadows and I like to blend these through the crease and then smoke them out of use them under my bottom lashes to add a splash of bright colours. I do this with the colours from my Naked 2 palette making up the base and neutral shades!

Here are some of my favourites!!

What do you change during the spring months? Does your make up change to prepare for summer?

Love M

xxx

I am yet to find my perfect tinted moisturiser, I just can't seem to find one that it light enough but covers enough of my blemishes without making me oily and blotchy.

If you have any suggestions let me know!

I like using the Revlon PhotoReady Airbrush Mousse as it's light and even though it has really good coverage I don't feel like it clogs up my skin.

After this I do also apply concealer to my undereyes and any blemishes I have. My current favourite for this is Benefit's Fake Up as my skin s still so dehydrated the additional moisturisation is necessary to help it blend. 

After setting with powder I then apply my favourites; Benefit's Dallas and Coralista which hopefully on a daily basis gives me definition and glow like this:

I love using Benefit's Brow Zings too, lots of love for Benefit in today's post!

M was kind enough to give me her spare Brow Zings kit and I've completely fallen in love with it. It's in light and even though my brows are pretty much black I think it looks better than dark might because of how pale my skin is, and I can't go without my brows being defined!

Depending on what I'm doing that day, I might apply some nude eyeshadow to define my eye shape by using  my Naked Basics palette or Theodora before applying eyeliner in a winged effect.

After that it's lashings of mascara and it's time to apply some bright lippy!

Normally pink is the perfect colour so I might wear Mac's Nicki Minaj lipstick (shown below) or Rimmel Apocalips in Stellar.

Otherwise my latest purchase Vegas Volt is also a really good red/orange colour that seems to go with everything!

What are your favourite products for a Spring Make up look??

L xxx

Urban Decay Naked Basics Matte Eyeshadow Palette

As you've probably seen this beautiful palette from Urban Decay on many blogs recently, I won't go into detail tooooooo much about it.

However if you're interested it's the latest offering from Urban Decay in their Naked range and consists of 6 beautiful matte nude shades, which I assume is the reason for the 'Basics' name.