I have only been a makeup wearing person for a short time. In middle school, I was still the girl who didn’t understand makeup or bras or straightening my hair. My mom bought me a small amount of basic makeup (foundation and blush!) for an awards banquet for theatre my freshman year of high school. I only started messing around with cheap cosmetics after that. I covered pimples and used really horrendous eyeshadow colors and application techniques. It was that makeup experimentation period that normal people go through in middle school. Eventually I began using techniques that I learned during Stage Makeup (CONTOUR, BABY) and random makeup tutorials from friends and the internet.
From the beginning, I never really was able to buy more expensive cosmetics. I worked with drugstore foundations and wet’n wild gift sets that I was given for Christmas. But when I started making a decent amount of money (and, lets be honest, caring a bit more about my appearance), I looked for better ways to use makeup and better products.
About 3 months or so ago, I went into Ulta for the first time ever, and MAJORLY splurged (I spent more than $100, which is a lot to me) on nice makeup. One of the products I left with was the Naked 2 palette. I fell in love with the rosy and gold tones and just couldn’t leave without it. This was my first *high quality* eyeshadow palette to own, so if you’re a broke girl looking for a new makeup set, this review is for you. Let me lay down how and why this was a good investment, and what drawbacks it has too.
12 shades, baby…
The main eyeshadow that I had been using prior to this purchase was a small Hard Candy brand palette in similar colors with a grand total of 6 colors and a teeny tiny mirror that could not be used for anything. Naked 2 comes with 12 different shimmery shades and a mirror wider than my face. If nothing else, this meant I didn’t have to find a total different mirror to see everything around my eyes. Plus, I doubled my color choices, even if some of the colors were very close to being the same. There’s a ratio of about 1/2 shimmer (NOT GLITTER) to 1/2 matte in this palette, and to be honest, the shimmer made me feel a bit more professional than when I was having huge chunks of glitter covering my lids (sorry Hard Candy, I still love you). Chopper, the fourth color from the left, is my favorite, with its shimmery rose gold color, and its honestly the shade that sold me on the palette.
ALL of the blending…
My life has been significantly changed since discovering that there is makeup that is actually good at blending. No more carefully sectioning off my lids for colors, because now I can actually move them around! The brush is 100% fab, in my opinion, because the narrow end is nice for loading up and applying color, while the fluffy end is good for blending, although it has nothing on the makeup brushes I got for Christmas (thank you, mom!). And a brush of any kind is a serious upgrade from the q-tip style applicator that Hard Candy supplies. One of my makeup-guru friends recently gave me the tip that eyeshadow stays better and blends better with either primer or concealer applied on the lids beforehand. I’ve been putting Hard Candy Glamouflage concealer on before my eye makeup, and I’ve definitely seen improved wear and blending.
And speaking of wear…
I noticed withing the first few days of switching to the Naked 2 palette that the eyeshadow was a lot smoother to apply, and even before I got the tip about priming your lids, I was getting better wear from this brand. I didn’t end every shift at work with that nasty makeup build up in the crease of my eyelid, instead you could actually still see the pigment where I had applied it! And there’s definitely a decent amount of pigment for the almost-neutral type shades in the palette.
That price tho…
I actually can’t seem to find this exact Hard Candy palette alone, but a similar one on the Walmart website is about $6 and this exact one is from the Holiday Best Of Kit for $20. Naked 2, on the other hand, runs at a whopping $54 most anywhere you can find it. If you’re broke or young or unconcerned with makeup, I’d definitely recommend the Hard Candy palette as a nice dupe. It would even make a nice starter palette for a kiddo just getting started with makeup. If, on the other hand, if you are looking for a safe bet to seriously upgrade your makeup game and have the cash to do it, Urban Decay is where its at.
I have to say that I love both Urban Decay and Hard Candy equally. Even though the prices are way different, I love both brands because they have nice products. The Hard Candy concealer is to die for! Not to mention, both are cruelty free (I’m not talking about parent companies, just UD and HC). I’m making steps to be more green and healthy and kind in the things that I do and I think that cruelty free makeup is an important part of that.
So, young or old, broke or not, get out there and look fab in 2017!
-Lizzy
Veni Vidi Amavi 
Love your review! I never tried Hard Candy before, need to try their products asap â¤
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