Lets Get Naked

I used to be a makeup hoarder. 

On a scale of 'Too Many Lip balms' to 'Hoarders: The TV Show" I was about an 8. I'm talking five different foundations at the same time, countless eye shadows and sparkly palettes that I would have never used. Then I decided to start shopping my collection by not allowing myself to buy any new products and forcing myself to use the stack of makeup toppling out of my bathroom cupboard each morning. That was a few years ago, and now when buying new products I’m a lot more conscious of how I spend my money and how versatile a product can really be. Like the perfect pair of plain black knee high riding boots (no buckles, no weird cutouts or textures) I spent years trying to find the perfect everyday go to palette. Enter 'Naked Basics' by Urban Decay, which is THE 'holy grail go to everyday makeup staple.'

I love the brand Urban Decay; they are an American brand with a strict policy against animal testing, with all their products carrying the cruelty free logo. Other brands claim they are cruelty free (*cough* Jurlique *cough*) and then sell their products in China, who require any cosmetics and beauty products to be tested on animals before they can be sold in the country. So brands like Jurlique can still claim to be cruelty free because technically they don't test on animals themselves; but because they still don't want to lose that big slice of the economic market that is China, they allow their products to be tested on our poor furry friends through external testing. Those damn loopholes. 

The Urban Decay Naked Basics features 5 matte shades and 1 shimmery shade, which means it's versatile to work from day to night and unlike a lot of other eye shadow palettes, I can guarantee you will use every single shade in this baby. So lets break it down shall we?

Venus

The only shimmery shade to be seen, Venus is perfect for using to highlight the inner corners of the eyes and along the brow bone.

Foxy

Foxy is a nice sandy yellow toned nude that is great for using all over the lid as a base to build up the other shades.

W.O.S 

Also known as 'Walk of Shame', is a cream ivory shade that is great teamed with both Foxy (all over the eyelid) and Naked 2 (in the crease) to create a soft daytime look. 

Naked 2 

Best used to define the crease/eye socket to add a little bit of shadow to define the eyes in the day time. 

Faint

I use this in my eyebrows every single day with the EcoTools angled brush. It is the perfect colour for brows and is also great to be used on the lid for a low-key daytime smoky eye.

Crave

The black shade in this palette is so pigmented and great for everything from a dramatic smoky eye to a more subtle line around the eyes if you want to use something less harsh than a black eyeliner pencil.

All the shades are HIGHLY pigmented, which means that you only need the TINIEST amount on your brush to create some amazing looks. Compared to other eyeshadows where you need half of the entire product on your eyelids to show that it's actually a magenta shadow. And all this comes in a neat little palette, complete with a mirror that makes it cosmetic bag, handbag, camping, horse riding, road trip friendly. 

The only bad thing about Urban Decay is that it's one of those brands that you can't just wander into your local Priceline and pick up on your lunch break after you've got yourself a double choc chip Subway cookie. I buy all my Urban Decay prodz (and other hard to find brands in Australia) from Beautybay, a neat online site from the UK that offers free worldwide shipping. They have lots of different brands and if you feel like spending only a few dollars extra you can qualify for premier shipping which means your package will get to you a bit faster, and not only that but you also get to pick out a sample size product for free. Who doesn't like samples? People who also don't like kittens, brownies and fluffy socks, that’s who!

You can hop onto Beautybay here to buy the Urban Decay Naked Basics (and it's on sale too): 

http://www.beautybay.com/cosmetics/urbandecay/nakedbasicspalette/