Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Eye Shadow Palette

This was a rare impulse buy. Normally I plan my makeup purchases carefully, keeping lists and spreadsheets that help me decide if a certain item has its place in my collection or at least is important enough for the blog. I didn't give much thought to the recently-launched Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Eye Shadow Palette because the first Naked Basics was not right for my coloring and failed to impress me. But with Basics 2 Urban Decay hit it out of the park. It's beyond perfect.

Urban Decay N. Basics 2 is rather moderate in size for a six-pan palette and can fit into a clutch or a large makeup bag. But that's really the least important part about it. The story, beyond the attractive and wearable neutral colors, is the texture. All six colors are verging on creamy-smooth. They look and feel much more luxurious than the palette's price tag, apply and blend beautifully, and give the appearance of professionally-applied makeup (good brushes help, too. The swatches were done with a couple of Hakuhodo S100 brushes--- S121G, S133, and that's what I use to apply these eye shadows).

The colors in the Urban Decay N. Basics 2 palette:
Skimp- the only non-matte color. An ivory gleaming satin for highlighting without any actual shimmer.
Stark- Nothing to do with Game of Thrones. Basically it's my natural skin color, matte,  has a pinkish leaning on my eyelids and works to even them out and cancel the natural green skin.
Frisk- a slightly darker and perhaps more gray version of Stark. Matte and perfect for a No Makeup look.
Cover- Matte, slightly warmer mauve brown.
Primal- A matte taupish  thing that creats amazing depth, incredibly pigmented.
Undone- Smoky brown, matte, the ideal lining and contouring color for this group of hues.

Bottom Line: The best $29 I've spent in ages.

Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Eye Shadow Palette ($29) is available from urbandecay.com, Sephora, and Ulta.