Naked Ultraviolet

Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Eyeshadow Palette ($49.00 for 0.36 oz.) includes a mix of warmer, peachy neutrals with lavender to purple hues. The palette contained two true mattes, one semi-matte, one satin, and the remaining eight shades were some form of pearl to frost. I was surprised that all of the mattes were quite light; there's no mid-tone or dark matte shade at all, which limits the versatility of looks in the palette--given that there are 12 shades, there should have been room for at least one!

The more matte shades were soft, somewhat dry and powdery but decently pigmented and really more in need of primer than a lot of work. The majority of the shimmers were firmly-pressed into the pans, thin, dry, and papery to the touch (where they were noisy!), which made them difficult to pick up, to apply (they turned patchy), and to build up. They typically needed to be applied over a primer and with a wet brush or fingertips (the latter sometimes absorbed more product than it could transfer onto the lid).

I know some might feel like because it is a "Naked" palette, it shouldn't be pigmented, except that's not how the Naked palettes have been marketed--and that includes this one. This palette is described as "hyperpigmented, velvety" that are "ultra-blendable." They describe the purples as "vivid." The tag line on the banner on the homepage reads "12 vivid neutrals with a purple pop."

There's very little that's vivid about this palette; it's the definition of a lackluster release from a mainstream brand that can and has done better. The purples in the palette are shades we've seen over the years from Urban Decay, but I have eyeshadows from as long as 10 years ago from Urban Decay that feel better and apply better. Even their core range has singles that are far better in performance in every way, like Tonic instead of Euphoric, Vice instead of Cyber Punk, 1985 instead of Warning, Rockstar instead of Digital, and X instead of Dazed.