Urban Decay Naked Heat

The IT palette of the moment? Urban Decay’s newest launch: Naked Heat. And it just launched in Dutch stores. After a bit of a mishap with my order (my palette arrived with two shattered shadows inside), I finally got my hands on it and played around with it over the weekend. Is the Urban Decay Naked Heat eyeshadow palette the must have everybody claims it is?

Urban Decay Naked Heat

In The Netherlands Urban Decay is exclusively sold at select ICI Paris XL stores and their website. Since my local store doesn’t stock the brand, I got my online. Hence the broken palette upon arrival. The store was great about it though and I was able to return the palette to my local store and they placed a new order for me from the store, which means this arrived with just a one day delay. At €55,20 this palette is not cheap (no Urban Decay palette is) and it is the first Urban Decay Naked palette that has more mattes than shimmers.

The Packaging

Naked Heat is the first palette that comes in  a stunning box as well. A slip on case that holds the palette inside makes for some great outer packaging that I just can’t get myself to throw away just yet. It’s simply too stunning. Urban Decay has been amping up their outer boxes in recent years and that is a good thing to me.

The Product

The palette comes with a full sized mirror and a double ended brush. Inside there are 12 eyeshadows that are very warm toned and on the orange/ red side of the color spectrum. The palette comes with 4 shimmers and 8 mattes. For comparison’s sake: in Naked 1 you get just 2 mattes.

The Shades

The first four shade in the palette are all matte. Here you get some decent shades for a more everyday look and these are the shades that make this palette wearable. As you will see below, this palette can easily be used to create a safe for work makeup look.

Ounce is a matte off-white that is create in the inner corner or the brow bone. Chaser works well for that purpose as well, so depending on how dark your looks get, you have too options to make that work. Sauced and Low Blow are both the best shades for the crease or as blending shades. Especially if you want to create a more natural look, those two shades will be your go to. The only thing missing here? A light shimmer. I love a bit of inner corner glow.

The second set of shades consists mostly of shimmers that are very close in shade, but have different undertones. These are your lid colors and the shades that make this palette. The three shimmers you see here is pretty much what holds this palette together and makes it cohesive.

Lumbre is a golden toned peachy orange that is the lightest shimmer you get. I have found this works great on the inner third of the lower lash line to add some shine. He Devil is another great crease shade if you want to go for a more edgy look. Dirty Talk and Scorched are two reds: one pulls more orange/ terracotta and one pulls more reddish brown.  

The last set of shadows contains mostly mattes. These are the shades to create a more smokey and intense look. So if you are into your vampy makeup looks, then this is the row that you will reach for. None of the shadows are too dark though. Ember may look like it in the pan, but the shimmer tones this down quite a bit.

Cayenne is orange toned brown. It’s just a hair darker than He Devil. En Fuego is another stand out shade for me: this is stunning for deepening up the crease. Ashes is an interesting one, because it is a warm toned plum. This is your smokey shade. Ember is a dark brown with lots of red shimmer running through it and one of my favorite shades in the palette.

The Brush

As per usual, this palette comes with a brush. Urban Decay puts brushes with all of their palettes which is a nicely added bonus. The brushes work well, but not well enough to create a look with just this brush. The hairs on the brush are a little bit stiff, making it difficult to blend shadows with. I always pack one of these when I travel as I like using these for packing shadows onto my lid if I’m in a pinch.

The Swatches

The moment we’ve all been waiting for: swatches! As you can see the light shades are so light they barely show up on my skin, which is good, because that means you get some decent light shades. All shades swatch beautifully: only En Fuego and Ashes gave me a little bit of trouble but you can easily build them up to create more intensity.

In short, the quality of these shadows is great. As with most Urban Decay shadows, these shadows have a great soft, but not too soft texture. You can easily build them up or tone them down. That is one thing I like about Urban Decay shadows: you have a lot of control with these. The shimmers go on perfectly and I have had no issues with any of these shadows blending.

The Application

Look 1:
Scorched (lid)
Low Blow (crease)
En Fuego (crease)
Sauced (blend shade)
Chaser (inner corner & brow bone)
Lumbre (inner third lower lash line)
En Fuego & Low Blow (lower lash line)

First of all, excuse the mess that is my brows. I have been letting them grow out just to see what would happen. While messy, I am quite taking with the look, so I haven’t felt inclined to pluck them yet.

For this first look, my aim was to create something I could wear to work. I usually wear quite a bit of shadow, so I can get away with something like this. I was afraid the red in scorched would make it look like I was sick, but in the end it didn’t. I did apply some dark brown liner to my water line to make sure it wouldn’t look like pink eye.

Look 2:
Lumbre (lid)
He Devil (crease)
Low Blow (blend)
Ounce (brow bone & inner corner)
Ashes (Outer V & lower lash line)
Ember (liner)
Dirty Talk (lower lash line)

For look number 2, I wanted to go darker and smokier. And with this is so easy to create a dark vampy look. Ashes is a great smokey shade and since it’s easy to build up you have total control over the intensity. I loved Ember as a liner: it really gives that smokey, burnt look. I paired the look with a black liner on the water line and as a tight line to amp up the darkness. Because that is something I feel this palette needs: pencil liners to prevent you from looking like you have an eye disease.

Look 3:
Chaser (lid)
Ounce (brow bone & inner corner)
Low Blow (Crease & lower lash line)
Sauced (Blend)

For the final look, I wanted to go with something natural and everyday. And I like the look that came out. It looks very fresh, but I’m still missing that sparkly inner corner highlight. Of course I could have used my face highlighter for that, but I’d have preferred it if it had come in the palette.

The Conclusion

So, is the Urban Decay Naked Heat eyeshadow palette the must have palette everyone says it is? Yes and no. Yes if you simply judge quality of the shadows: this palette is outstanding and quality wise one of Urban Decay’s best yet. No if you are not into very warm toned shadows and are looking for versatility. Because of the shade range, this palette has a tendency to look very samey-samey and they do require that bit of extra work of pulling in a pencil liner to prevent yourself from looking sick.

Especially if you are pale like me, this may be a hard palette to pull off. I’m lucky because I have naturally dark brows and brown eyes. So I feel this is the palette I reach for if I want to emphasize that. But if you are fair skinned and you have light brows and light eyes, this may make you look bad. That being said however, reds and oranges are great for setting of green and blue eyes respectively, so with a light hand, you might still be able to make this work. And of course for all the olive and darker skinned toned ladies out there, this palette is a dream.

What is your favorite Urban Decay Naked palette?