Apparently, the original Urban Decay Naked palette is the best -selling eyeshadow of all time and its sequel, the Naked 2 palette was eagerly-awaited with a Twitter buzz even on my timeline around its release last weekend.

Now, I have plenty of eyeshadows as it is, and was not really in the market for more, but my current Chanel ones can be a little high on the shimmer for a dog walk-Waitrose-sit outside school for half an hour waiting for Eliza-some evening activity typical day and the most flattering make-up look for those of us in our Prime is to look like we aren’t wearing any, right? Yes, I know we don’t ACTUALLY want to look like we aren’t wearing any. (Apologies to those who never wear make up: you are obviously more bien dans sa peau than me.)

I’m one of the three women in the developed world who does not have the original Naked palette but, having heard that Naked 2 was more cool-toned taupe and greige than its predecessor, off I popped down to Debenhams to give it a go.

Now, make-up counter women always have a problem with me because there’s obviously no such thing as “Indian” skin in the same way that there’s no such thing as English skin or Italian skin: we all have different colour bases and sometimes defining them is difficult. It’s true that my skin is yellow- rather than pink-based but that’s true of most skin colours. There’s always some confusion between whether warm or cool colours suit me though, in fact, I seem to be able to wear both within reason, depending on my mood and the look I want to achieve.

The full Naked palettes contain 12 eyeshadow colours and include shimmery shades that I neither need nor want so I opted for the Basics palette of 6 matte colours ranging from the palest, Skimp, which might be useful as a non-shimmery highlighter – those flash photos where the part of your eyelid nearest your eyebrows outshines the rest of your face are embarrassing – to darkest Undone, which I’ll use to create a smoky eye. This palette costs about £22 and does not include an eyeshadow brush. Beware that the palette can be a little difficult to open, particularly if you have nails and are in a hurry.

I’ve only used this palette a couple of times since I bought it, obviously, and it’s quite flattering for an everyday look but my main problem is that the adequately colour-saturated shades don’t seem to last long. Following a hot tip from the Chanel ladies, I normally brush the remains of my foundation over my eyelids to avoid having to buy an extra eyeshadow primer and this is more than enough to keep my Chanel shadows on all day but I’ve found that the Urban Decay shadows crease like a linen T shirt within a couple of hours. Which is ironic because that means they no longer look naked, of course, and have to be reapplied to achieve the perfect nudey look. So a boo on that score.

Otherwise, I like.

***post not sponsored***

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