The Urban Decay Naked Palettes are amazing, everyone knows that. They are great for making looks for all occasions, from a simple day time look to intense smokey eye for night, all of the palettes in the range are amazingly versatile, and there are enough of them with enough differences between them that there is one for everyone.
I love the packaging of this palette, there are some people who aren't such big fans, and enjoyed the cardboard and felt packaging of the Naked1 much better because it is lightweight, but I found that it got dirty really fast and I was constantly afraid to travel with it because if it drops it has virtually no protection. The packaging of the Naked2 and the Naked3 is rather hefty and metal, it clicks shut, rather than the (weak) magnet of the Naked1, and that makes me feel much more comfortable carrying it around because I don't worry about it opening and with the hefty metal packaging, it can take a beating. I don't worry about dropping it and all of the wonderful shadows breaking. The mirror is another huge upgrade, it is bigger and it is no where near as fuzzy looking. Given my Naked1 is old and worn down, so the mirror might not have always been this bad, but it is still very small, and there isn't much room to see your face other than your eyes. I don't like the brush, there I said it. Everyone seems to love the brush that comes with this palette, and the same one came with the Naked3 and I hate it. The flat-stiff side isn't as soft as the one that came with the Naked1 and the fluffy blending side wasn't that soft either, it was pokey and I felt like I was scratching my eyelid trying to blend with it. I have better blending brushes from the drug store. But that's just me, everyone else seems to like it, so you give it a try and see how you feel about it.
The formulas of the eyeshadows are either hit or miss for me, but the overwhelming (and I mean overwhelming) majority of them are hit, a very very high hit. Seeing as this palette does have twelve eyeshadows, I think that it warrants each individual eyeshadow get it's own mini-review, also I know that some of you might not want to fork over $54.00 (I swear every time I buy a new Naked palette it costs $2.00 more) for an eyeshadow palette that you might only like a few of the eyeshadows in, so I scoured my stash and the internet for dupes of all of these shadows (mostly MAC dupes, just because they are rather universally easy to find), and not all of them are exact dupes, but as close as I could find.
Foxy: A matte yellow-toned cream/beige. It is rather sheer, but can be built up. I'm a bit pale for it to be a highlight for me, but it does work as a nice all over lid color, for people with a medium/light to medium/dark skin tones it would work though. A good dupe is MAC Ricepaper, however Ricepaper does have a shimmer.
Half Baked: A yellow-toned coppery gold with a heavy frost. It's in the Naked1, why do I need it here? It's great for people with warm skin tones, and gold smokey eyes but it didn't warrant being in both palettes. Two good dupes are MAC Amber Lights and MAC Woodwinked (Woodwinked is slightly warmer and less yellow-toned).
Booty Call: A peach tinged champagne color, and my favorite highlight out of all three palettes. Great pigmentation, easy to work with and blend, and would work well on all skin tonesGood dupes are MAC Baby, It's Cold... (if you happen to have it or can find it) and MAC Shroom.
Chopper: An orange/red with chunky copper glitter. The same texture as Dust in the Naked3, but with a better color payoff, and tons of fallout. My least favorite color in the palette. I probably won't use it much, I just can't stand the chunky glitter texture. I couldn't find a good MAC dupe, but a (in my opinion) better dupe is a sheered out Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in #12, it has the color payoff and none of the fallout.
Tease: A matte plum-toned mauve brown, one of the three mattes in the palette. Like foxy, it goes on sheer, but it is a lot more buildable than Foxy. It does take some effort to get it to be very opaque, but I prefer that for crease/transition colors, just because I prefer to build them up, rather than have too much at once. Good dupes are MAC Malt and MAC Quarry.
Snakebite: A dark bronze, with a dark gold shimmer. Great color payoff and blendability. A good dupe is MAC's Tempting, however Snakebite is slightly darker. There is also Urban Decay Deeper (was limited edition, but a really good dupe, so if you can find it, it's a really good one), and BareMinerals Ritzy.
Suspect: A frosted and slightly metallic light bronzy brown, it swatches and applies beautifully. Soft and easily blended. MAC Patina is a great dupe.
Pistol: A frosted brown-tinged grey, so gorgeous. Soft and smooth, just like all of the other shadows. Good dupes are MAC Smoke and Diamonds (if you can find it) and a mix of MAC Knight Divine and MAC All That Glitters.
Verve: A very pale shimmery pink champagne tinted grey. One my favorites in the whole palette. A good dupe is a mix between MAC Electra and MAC All That Glitters.
YDK: MY FAVORITE COLOR IN ALL THREE PALETTES!!! This color is just... uhf so much love. Its a frosted warm, pink toned coppery reddish brown, and it reminds me of jewels in the best of ways and I want it everywhere for forever. Dupes include: MAC Satin Taupe, Inglot Pearl 402, Urban Decay Bust, and Urban Decay Stray Dog
Busted: A frosted deep burgundy brown with a gold shimmer. Very similar to Hustle from Naked1. A good dupe is MAC Mystery.
Blackout: A deep dark matte true black. It blends beautifully, and doesn't have that weird purple tinge that some matte black shadows have (cough Kat Von D Lucifer cough). It isn't just a very dark grey (cough new formula MAC Carbon cough). It is a true black, which I find very hard to find in a matte formula. It is also impressively smooth, great for lining the eyes, and blending into other colors. There are only two dupes that I can truly say match the quality of this matte black and those are: Make Up Geek Corrupt (the best out of all of them) and Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in #4.
The Naked2 is a truly outstanding palette, and at least for me the clear best of show in the Naked palette line. With my coloring, it just has the most colors that I will wear on a day to day basis, and a good range that I can play with and experiment with as well.
Rating: 9.5/10
Extra Pics and Individual Swatches:
(Foxy Swatch)
(Half Baked Swatch)
(Booty Call Swatch)
(Chopper Swatch)
(Tease Swatch)
(Snakebite Swatch)
(Suspect Swatch)
(Pistol Swatch)
(Verve Swatch)
(YDK Swatch)
(Busted Swatch)
(Blackout Swatch)
(Foxy, Half Baked, Booty Call, Chopper, Tease, and Snakebite Swatches)
(Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted, and Blackout Swatches)
(Back of Naked2 Box)
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