Naked Heat Palette Review

The palette in sunshine, the first two colours are a bit washed out (I'm sorry) but I felt that many pictures of the palette online didn't show the shimmers and redder tones well. Worth noting that in this picture He Devil and Dirty Talk look almost identical, but Dirty Talk is a shimmer and He Devil is matte.

I know the hype around this palette was huge a year ago and is basically non-existent now, but I only recently got my hands on it (uni student problems) and really wanted to tell you guys what I think of it.

First and foremost, this isn't my first Naked palette. I've had Naked 3 since just after it was released, and I got the original Naked palette for Christmas last year. I'm a massive fan of both the palettes, but

I definitely recognise their shortcomings (fallout being a major one). That being said, I did a lot of research before actually ordering Naked Heat, and most of the reviews seemed to imply that this was an improvement on the old Naked palettes.

Of course, this isn't an entirely revolutionary palette. Warm tones have been the craze for awhile now, and there were plenty of palettes like this when it was released. I hadn't owned one before though, and with my generally positive experiences of Naked palettes I was willing to spend a bit more money on this particular one.

I included both these pictures because I feel the lighter ones show more true on the left, and the shimmers show more true on the right. As you can see, Cayenne and Ashes (the second and third from the bottom) swatch quite patchily.

Generally speaking I've really enjoyed this palette. It's made warm toned eyeshadows feel approachable to me, and it's helped spark more creativity in terms of the looks I create. Before this I had two very warm toned eyeshadows in my collection, that was it, and I barely touched them because honestly, they intimidated me. I was always a bit scared of looking like I'd been punched in the eye or was suffering from really bad seasonal allergies. This palette has a good range of light to dark colours though to make a warm toned look feel approachable. My one gripe on the colour front though is the lack of a true light highlight colour. The lightest colour in the palette, Ounce, is a slightly pearly white, which is nice when I'm doing a more matte look, but falls a bit flat if I've used the more metallic colours.

Speaking of mattes, they're part of why I feel this palette is a huge step up from other Naked palettes. 1 and 3 only contain two mattes each, making it very hard to build up your crease effectively. It also means it's harder to create a really soft everyday look without reaching for another palette. Naked Heat has a whopping (by UD's standards) seven mattes, and they range from extremely muted brown (pretty much my skin tone) to a deep aubergine colour (which is admittedly a bit patchy, but can be built up well if you have time and patience). This is part of what makes the palette so approachable in my opinion, you can start really light and then build up. The first matte brown, Low Blow, isn't too warm toned, so the first few times I used this palette I used it before dipping into the more terracotta shade, Sauced. Doing so meant that I felt more confident that my eyes wouldn't look like a complete mess. Having seven allows for far more versatility, and means that I actually quite frequently create an all-matte look. The mattes are also incredibly buildable, which I think makes the palette great as a first foray into warm toned, reddish shadows. I go in with a very light hand, especially with shadows like Cayenne and He Devil so that I get the placement right, and then concentrate on building up the colour. This made me feel far more okay with stepping out of my comfort zone.

That being said, I absolutely love the metallics and shimmers in this palette. They completely blew my mind when I swatched them, and they truly don't disappoint. You can use them for a quite subtle sheen if you apply them dry with a brush, but if you go in with your finger or a slightly wet brush they pop incredibly. Some reviews I read said they all come out quite similarly, and while I feel they definitely could've been more distinctive, they're still definitely different shades. Lumber stands apart as one with far more gold reflex to it, though I occasionally like to whip out Half-baked from Naked 1 just to make it pop that little bit more. Scorched and Dirty Talk are certainly in the same family, but I find Scorched to be that bit deeper. Could Urban Decay have taken this palette to the next level by making these shades a bit more different from each other? Definitely. Is it a tragic dealbreaker for me? Definitely not. I mentioned fall out being a problem with previous Naked palettes (especially with the shimmer shades), but I really haven't experienced much with Naked Heat. With Naked 1 I end up looking like I have a black eye because of the fall out (which I'm okay with as I don't wear foundation so I know I can easily wipe it away), but Naked Heat really creates minimal fall out. I don't know exactly what Urban Decay did to the formula, but they definitely tweaked it for this palette and it's a real success.

Really, all reviews boil down to a simple question: would I recommend this palette? I definitely would if you're new to warm toned palettes. I've found this palette to be perfect for a first dip into this colour scheme, and it's helped me create completely different looks to what I've done in the past. That being said, if you already have some warm toned palettes I don't think this one is so unique that you can't live without it. Like with many Naked palettes, and Urban Decay in general, it's good quality but not entirely groundbreaking.

I'll try and post some looks I've created with the palette in the future, I just didn't want this post to get ridiculously long and I'd like to be able to go in depth about how I created the looks without feeling like I've created an overwhelming post. Until then...

xoxo
Alice