Urban Decay Naked Ultra Violet Palette

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Another new palette has entered the collection and this time it’s another Urban Decay offering. I wasn’t particularly excited about the launch of the Urban Decay Naked Ultra Violet palette but as I do have all of the others, it was more a necessity to keep a complete collection than it was an urge to own it. The Ultra Violet palette came out as a solo palette with no other make up products to build an Ultra Violet collection unlike other launches such as Naked Honey and Naked Cherry. I purchased my palette with 20% however at full price it retails at £43, keeping it in line with other brands that offer 12 pan palettes.

Being completely honest, I was a little underwhelmed when I first saw the palette and after having a play around with it, I do have some thoughts. Starting with the palette exterior, this is probably the most beautiful packaging that they have brought out in a long time. Shocking purple with an iridescent marble effect, the palette opens to reveal the 12 shades, large mirror and dual ended eyeshadow brush. The brush is slightly different to others in previous palettes as it has a fluffy end for blending but the end that usually houses a packing brush has been replaced by a smaller, denser brush which works better on the under eye.

The palette has been marketed with the tagline ’12 vivid neutrals with a purple pop’ that are ‘hyperpigmented, velvety and ultra-blendable.’ Now, although the palette is pretty, the shades inside are not vivid. Vivid springs to mind when I think of the Carnival 3 Love Tahiti palette or something that contains super brights. That aside, the shades in Ultra Violet are very pretty, and also very wearable but they are, to me, more subtle with a small pop of colour. The stand out shade has to be Lucid; a holographic green pearl shift which I do think is the biggest selling point of the palette. It’s a shade that I haven’t got in any other palette that I own nor can I think of anything similar.

The one big gripe that I have with Ultra Violet is the amount of work that quite a few shades need to be able to work properly. The matte shades didn’t give me any issues. Some were quite soft and easy to pick up and blend. They definitely need a primer to help them pop as applying on bare skin didn’t really do them any justice. Hacked and Mind Slip are really lovely shades and I would wear these frequently. Trippin’ did give me a few issues due to how sheer it was and it needed a good build up.

When it came to the shimmer shades, this is where I had the issues as they felt quite dry and I found that some didn’t quite pull it off on the eye compared to the arm swatch. When a shadow doesn’t work as well on the brush, I always try it either with a wet brush or by using my finger. This did seem to solve some issues but as a whole, it just makes it hard work.

The shades that I find work beautifully in the shimmers are Lucid, Warning and Euphoric and those are the shades that I seem to be drawn to the most in terms of colour and performance. I wish Digital had a bit more oomph to it as in the pan it looks fabulous but it doesn’t translate on the eye. It’s weird but I feel that the palette would be better off being marketed as a layering palette as you can make so many more fun looks using the holographic shimmers to create a shade extension

Ultimately, after a few wears of Urban Decay Naked Ultra Violet, I’ve got used to how the shades work and which ones need more attention than others. I have found that I am able to make some lovely looks with the palette and I do love how the mix of paler neutrals balances out the purples. I would have loved to see a palette that was just different tones and shades of purple. It’s such an amazing colour palette and one that I adore with my green eyes. Whilst my review may seem quite negative, it’s not actually a bad palette, it just needs a little bit of work.

With this release from Urban Decay, I feel like they are trying to go back to their roots from back in the day where colours were grungy and funky, designed to shock and be creative. I’m totally here for this, as I’ve been wearing UD since 1999 and always been there for the next release. I can’t wait to see what they bring out next.

If you wanted a little treat, you can get the Urban Decay Naked Ultra Violet palette at Look Fantastic with 20% by using my code ANOUSHKA_LF.