Urban Decay Smoked Palette- Guest Post

I am so jealous of my friend AZ who is always flaunting this gorgeous palette in front of me...it's on my wish list of course..(let me just take a deep breath to gain some self-control...okay..... that's better), I'll come around to it some day. Any how, I asked her to review it for you all and since she's had it for a while now she can give you an accurate summation.

Urban Decay Smoked Palette:

So after Urban Decay came up with the Naked 1 and Naked 2 palettes,  I think they wanted to jazz things up a bit and instead of Naked 3 (which just came out recently), they released the Smoked Palette. In my opinion, it’s very good and the best UD has to offer. This palette has 10 shades out of which 4 shades are matte finish. Some of them are metallic finish as well. It has very smooth and pigmented shades.For about 5000 Pakistani rupees or 50$ its worth the price. I also have to mention that the shade names are very funky.

Packaging : Okay so the packaging rocks, I don't have any palette with such a nice packaging. Opens like a zip, has mirror inside and shades on the bottom. It comes with a booklet, a very good guide with 12 different looks plus some guidance for the people who are new to makeup like how to smudge and blend etc.It also has a must have favorite of mine - a liner named Perversion 24/7 and a UD primer portion. I prefer having the pencil to the brush that came in the Naked Palettes.

A zipped case, a large mirror, an eye pencil and UDPP

The booklet

The Eyeshadows:

G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S

Starting from the top, here are the swatches:

Kinky: It’s a matte highlighter shade, no shimmer at all so it’s just perfect for brow highlight.

Freestyle: This is a matte finish peachy shade, you can use it as a base shade or as a highlighter.

Mushroom: I think the name says it all. I just love this shade, This is my most loved shade in the palette, it’s perfect to do day look or smoky eye. It’s a light grey, taupe kind of shade with some shimmer in it.

Backdoor: This is a great matte dark brown shade, I think works great with the crease to warm up the eye. A little of this shade goes a long way.I also like to line my lower eyelid with it.

Blackout: This is a very very deep matte black shade. Like a dark room type of black, pitch black. This black does not have fall out as well.

And the bottom row:

Barlust: This is another shade of brown in the palette but this golden shimmery brown shade. It would be your mid tone lid shade.

Rockstar: It’s a deep shimmery purple shade, it is beautiful, but one has to be careful while using this shade, if not used properly, can also look like you got punched in the eye…..ouchhh…

Evidence: Another shimmery shade with extreme deep blue color payoff, it’s very soft, and if you build it up, you get a completely opaque look. If used under the perversion pencil as a base, this looks like the mid-night sky, so lovely.

Loaded: This is an extra dark green shade with a metallic finish to it. I find though, that on me, it comes off almost black with just a hint of green. And blending it out kind of messes things up. But that’s just me.

Asphalt: This is a grey-black kind of shade. Has some glitter in it so it kinds of gives a little sheer payoff. It’s buildable though.

And now a peek at what they look like with the primer underneath...a few random swatches:

That blue is wow!

Another perk of the palette is the all famous UD Primer Potion, the small one. This prolongs the wear, intensifies and prevents creasing.

And finally the 24/7 eye pencil in Perversion: It’s the blackest black pencil, very soft and glides like butter. One thing is that you have to sharpen it. I wish it was the twist up kind that would have been more convenient.

A swatch of the liner.

Overall View: It’s a great value for money deal. If you are a person who loves to do smokey eyes, this the palette for you, but you can achieve some lovely colorful looks as well a decent nude eye. If there was just one palette from this brand you wanted, this would be it. I love this palette and a definite must have!