Thursday 27 September 2012

Urban Decay V MUA: Eyeshadow Primers

I've seen a lot of comparison between Urban Decay's Naked palettes and MUA's Undressed and Heaven and Earth palettes, and as I've heard rave reviews about MUAs palettes, I thought I'd compare my favourite Urban Decay product, their Primer Potion, with MUAs version. 

Urban Decay's Primer Potion retails at £14.50 for 11ml of product, whereas MUAs Eye Primer retails at £2.50 for 7.5 ml. 






A comparison between packaging is pretty redundant here as I have the old style potion pot, which I always thought was terribly flawed. Now UDs primer comes in a squeesy tube. I do think that MUAs packaging looks more professional and, in comparison to the old style bottle, it is a lot easier to actually get the primer out of the bottle
They also both have doe-foot applicators, and this would be my preference over the new UD style as well, as this applicator is effective in spreading out the primer over the lid.




On the left, which you can barely see, is UDs primer potion, it has barely any pigmentation at all, and only leaves a slight sheen. It also dries quickly and so it isn't the easiest to blend it over the eyelid. MUAs primer is a lot more pigmented, and is so much easier to blend and spread, as it takes quite a while to dry in. 



Here I have a comparison of eyeshadow over no primer (at the top), UDs primer potion (on the left), and MUAs eye primer (on the right). It's obvious that MUAs primer gives a much more intense pay off as opposed to UDs primer potion and bare skin. 
I tested the two primers out under eyeshadow for a day (about 6 hours of wear) and MUAs primer came out on top, it kept my eyeshadow intense and vibrant all day, without creasing or fading away, and while my UD primer potion did this too, the colour intensity wasn't the same as with MUAs primer. 

MUAs primer surprised me with how good it was, easily more effective than Urban Decays, and although you get 3.5ml less product than in UDs, but, being £12 cheaper, I don't think that matters too much.

<3

Sunday 9 September 2012

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I was given this last week from my friend, a very generous gift! I am so happy to have Naked 2, I've been wanting it ever since its release. 
I have the original Naked, but I feel that the shades in 2 are a lot more suited to cooler and paler skins than the original, and so I thought it would get along with me better. 

The actual case is definitely an upgrade from the original. A cool, taupe tin with a 'lock' closure, as opposed to the velvety (dust magnet) cover with magnetic lock (the magnet was very strong, and never opened on me, but i'm sure they've opened on someone and that's a horrible thought :( ).
~I just realised the colours of the cases of the two palettes sort of represent the tones/colours of the eyeshadows in them. Which is a pretty cool idea :)

The palette holds twelve shadows, 3 mattes; Foxy, Tease and Blackout, and 9 shimmer and glitter shades; Half Baked (which is also in the original Naked), Bootycall, Chopper, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, and Busted.
It also comes with a free double ended shading and crease brush and a mini Lipgloss Junkie in 'Naked'. I was really peeved that they decided to include a lipgloss instead of the usual mini Primer Potion, I love getting the free primers as they are my top eyeshadow primer, and I felt this was a bit mean of UD.  However, when I opened up the packaging, I could instantly smell a wonderful minty smell, the lipgloss! I adore lip glosses with a minty smell and it has a cooling effect too, which I also love. So it redeemed itself in my eyes. 

Foxy: is a very pale matte beige that practically matches my skin colour! I guess it could be used as a highlighter.
Half Baked: a light bronze shimmer. I tried it out against the original Half Baked and it feels much creamier, gives a lot better coverage and is wonderfully blendable.  
Bootycall: I think this is one of my favourites out of the palette. A delicate icy rose with a lovely shimmery transfer. So pretty!
  
Chopper: an intense silvery copper that is almost glittery. 
Tease: the second matte of the palette, a lovely pale taupe. 
Snakebite: a rather understated, but gorgeous, dark bronze. 

Suspect: a warm shimmery beige
Pistol: dark, grey with a touch of taupe. My no.1 from the collection. :)
Verve: shimmery, silvery white. Used sparingly, it would make a lovely highlighter. It would be gorgeous all over with a black liner as well though.

YDK; absolutely stunning! So so shimmery, a coppery gold. Looks as if it has little flecks of gold leaf in it. I prefer silver over gold, so I don't know how much use I'll get out of it, but it is the most eye catching out of the palette.
Busted: A cool, dark, shimmery brown. It is very similar to Dark Horse, just a tad lighter and the shimmer is a lot more prominent. 
Blackout: I was really pleased to see a matte black in Naked 2, as I really dislike the shimmery black from Naked. It has a very sparse amount of silvery glitter, but when you wear it the glitter is barely noticeable. 



L-R
Foxy (you can just about notice it!)
Half Baked
Booty Call
Chopper

Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol

Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout

I feel that many of the colours, particularly the lighter ones, seem to be slightly less pigmented, and need to be built up to achieve a good coverage. Though they have a lovely formula that is so easy to blend, so I guess it doesn't matter so much.



The brush that came with the set is really lovely. On one side is a small, slightly stiff crease brush and on the other, a more relaxed and longer blending brush. Both sides are really soft and lovely to use. The brush that came with Naked was a little too stiff and I never really liked using it.

I personally prefer the shades in Naked 2 to Naked. The formula is creamier and easier to blend, but some of the lighter shades aren't as pigmented as I'd hoped they would be. Despite the Lip Gloss having a lovely smell, I would still have preferred a mini Primer Potion. However, the double ended brush is really, really lovely and I know I'll get a lot of use out of it, as opposed to the brush that came with the original Naked.
Although there are a few warm shades in it, I think Naked 2 would be more suitable than Naked for cooler skin tones, as it features a lot more taupey and silvery shades.

x