NAKED 2 vs W7 IN THE BUFF

I spent so long staying away from eyeshadow, relying on just winged eyeliner, which I still do now and then. But as we all know, eyeshadow brings so much definition to the eye and brings so much more attention to the eye area. I had heard so many good things about the Urban Decay Naked Palettes. After a long period of research into what each palette offered, I decided the Naked 2 palette was the one that I would get the most use out of. The Naked 2 palette is more cool toned which would suit my skin, I also thought the colours were more beautiful than the Naked 1 palette. I found a perfect dupe online, the W7 In The Buff palette, which is a fraction of the Naked palette price at £7.50. It has almost identical eyeshadow colours to the Naked 2 palette so I thought it would be perfect to try out the Naked 2 colours before spending nearly £40 on the Urban Decay palette.

Urban Decay Naked 2 

After spending 4 months using the W7 palette, I upgraded to the one and only Naked 2 palette. The packaging is beautiful and sleek, a sturdy metal case (17 grams roughly) but doesn't feel clunky, it also comes with a huge mirror inside the case. The brush is amazing quality, a soft double ended brush including a thick and thin brush. The brushes do an amazing job of blending and feel super soft on the eye during application. In the Naked 2 palette, the colour are more beautiful than they are in W7 palette, they blatantly are much better quality than the W7 palette, with better pigment and shadows that last forever on the eyes (especially used with the legendary Urban Decay Primer Potion). These shadows blend easier, look better and are so much easier to use, due to the better range of colours. I use this palette everyday without fail, I adore this product and I am always discovering new ways to use the shades in the pan. This is perfect for a simple but beautiful and classic cut crease, I have been been testing cut creases out with all different shadows in the palette, receiving so many compliments from others after doing so.  Despite costing a lot of money, in my eyes, it is worthwhile, I have got so much use out of it and it comes with so many beautiful colours that can be suitable for any skin tone. The shadows offer so much pigment that it takes a long time to use up each shade.

W7 In The Buff 

The palette's packaging is a metal case, it's sturdy (around 15 grams) and is very protective for the eyeshadows inside, but it doesn't come with a built in mirror (gutted!). The brush that comes with the palette is pretty useless to me, with a sponge applicator at one end and a brush at the other. The brush felt rough on my lids, this may be due to my sensitive eyes. I resulted to using my Real Techniques eye shadow brush, which is feels softer on my lids. The formula of the shadow itself has a soft feel but it takes longer to build up on the lid. Once it has built up, it gives a really nice colour. The wear doesn't as long as I would like, before the end of the day, it had started to rub off. The palette gave me the opportunity to grow to love all the shades in the Naked palette, even though they are an exact match, and discovering different techniques on how to blend the shades and creating new looks. But I did notice in this palette that a lot of the shades looked different in the pan, looked very similar on the eye, which I didn't find when I started using the Naked 2 palette. After experimentation, I found that when these shadows are used with a good primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion is one I would recommend), they last the day. Very impressed with this eyeshadow palette for how cheap it is, such a bargain.

(top-Naked 2, bottom- W7 In The Buff)

Overall, for me, the obvious winner is the Urban Decay Naked 2. Despite the high value, it makes up for it with high quality! I reach for this palette everyday, its so versatile that I use it on nights out too. Nevertheless, the W7 is a good starter for someone who wants to get comfortable with shadows before spending a lot of money on a good quality palette.

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(All images are my own)