Urban Decay Naked Honey review

It’s the perfect time of year for warm tones. Mustardy browns, warm burgundies, berries: it just screams fall to me. So when Urban Decay released the Naked Honey palette I was all ears. Because I realized that while oranges may not look great on me, yellow tones do! So if I have to go warm toned I just knew this would look much better on me. Here is how I fared with the Urban Decay Naked Honey eyeshadow palette including swatch and three makeup looks.

Review: Urban Decay Naked Honey eyeshadow palette

Urban Decay Naked palettes do not come cheap. At €55 a pop you could say that it is a bit expensive for what you get in most cases, but the formula of the Naked Honey palette is on point. This the UD eyeshadow formula that I know and love: pigmented but still easy to work with. These shade can be build up and blend like a dream. It is why the Urban Decay Naked formula is one of my all time favorite eyeshadow formulas. It is not as buttery smooth as some other brands currently on the market, but for a palette that is called Naked we don’t want anything too intense of course.

What does the Urban Decay Naked Honey have to offer?

I already mentioned this before in videos and I’ll say it again: I love this color story. I just think it is horribly misnamed. If this would have been called the Naked Mustard it would have be much better named, as I feel this palette is mainly a bunch of warm toned yellows that are different renditions of mustard browns and yellows. Some of these shades even have a green undertone to them. Who has ever seen green toned honey? Not me. The palette is very neutral and doesn’t go too deep either. The darkest shade is deep but not so deep that a fair skinned gal like myself can’t make it work.

What is the color story like?

In this palette you get a range of shades in a 12 pan palette that has an even split between mattes and shimmers. The two yellow tones in the middle are gorgeous, but I wished that the Honey shade was perhaps a bit better in quality. It is for sure the weakest shade in the palette: great as a topper, but if you want to wear it by itself you have to put in some work. When I reviewed this palette against the other palettes in the Naked line in a video last year, I swatched this Honey shade against an older one I have. Despite that older shadow being easily 10 years old, it outperformed this new one.

What does the palette swatch like?

I think you can see here what I mean: while all the shades go on intensely pigmented the Honey shade looks a little sheer and just not as vibrant. All the other shimmers are great though and you get a few different textures in the shimmer range which I appreciate. The mattes is where this palette truly shines though: these are some of the best mattes Urban Decay has ever done. Not only are they very stunning and smooth and blendable, they also build up easily and it takes mere seconds to lay down the base for a look. My only gripe? Hive and Drip look nearly identical on my skin tone, but that is an issue that many Naked palettes have.

3 Looks, 1 Palette

I of course had to try out every single shade in this palette. So guess what I did? I did three looks using these shadows.

This first look is the most warm toned look of the three. It uses all the techniques I love: a deeper shade in the outer V to create a more cat eye shape and I used Golden in the inner corner, which is what I think gives this look a more glamorous vibe. Overall I really like how this turned out and I think it looks really stunning with my brown eyes.

Of course we had to do a mustard look. Here I used Honey in the inner corner and as you can see it looks a tad sheer, but it makes for a good inner corner highlight nonetheless. I like that almost cool toned looking shade. That would be queen: the deepest shimmer that has a hint of green to it and which is super special. Still a glam look, but a little bit more toned down and wearable for everyday.

With this palette I went lighter and lighter as the days went on. I used the lighter mattes in this and I used a bit of Honey on the center of the lid to top off the look. I really like this one. It pairs so well with an orange toned red lipstick like I have on here. (Sorry no longer remember which lipstick this is). While very yellow toned I think this is easily the prettiest look I did with this palette.

My Final Thoughts

I get why so many people were happy with the Urban Decay Naked Honey eyeshadow palette when it first released. It is a more unique color story and especially for a palette that from Urban Decay the formula is outstanding and can definitely measure up to ABH and other more mainstream brands. To me, this is the palette that put Urban Decay back on the map. Because while very yellow this can easily be worked into a daily makeup routine.

Would I recommend the Urban Decay Naked Honey eyeshadow palette?

If you like warm tones, but don’t like oranges, I’d say yes. There aren’t many yellow toned palettes on the market, especially ones that can still be this wearable. While we have the Colourpop Uh Huh Honey, I feel this just toes that wearable, everyday more neutral color palette so much better than that. This is pretty, has enough neutrals to make my heart sing AND it has enough options to create a variety of looks. If you are looking for a good yellow toned palette: this is it.

What do you think of the URban Decay Naked Honey palette?