Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette - It's finally here!

Ok, I will just come out and say it. I was SO excited when Urban Decay announced the Naked Smoky palette...perhaps even unhealthily so! But I certainly don't think I was alone given that #NakedSmoky was trending on Twitter and nearly every blog and vlog I stumbled across in the last couple of weeks was talking about it. Although this palette was released on the 8th July in America, us poor Brits were left waiting till the 30th July to get our hands on it!! Even now, the palette is only currently available at their flagship London stores and online until full release on the 6th of August so it has built up a considerable amount of suspense. 

So needless to say, when Urban Decay sent an early release email on the 29th July, I, along with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of other people went straight to the Urban Decay website to try and bag one of these beauties. After half an hour of repeated refreshing and rather fraught conversations with my fiancé (I'm sorry!!!), I became one of the lucky ones who could expect a rather beautiful delivery in a few days time...and my goodness was it worth it!!

My poor work colleagues must have thought for a moment I was starting to hyperventilate with the ridiculous amount of excitable squeals going on when my parcel arrived. I am an absolute sucker for good packaging and if there is one thing Urban Decay do well, it's exquisite design of the entire package of their product. At £38 it certainly isn't the most budget friendly buy but the sheer craftsmanship and attention to detail that has gone into Naked Smoky is apparent in every aspect and definitely makes the price feel justifiable. The outer box was pretty enough but when I saw the palette itself, I was in love. At this point I was practically shoving it at anyone who would give me 2 minutes of attention and proclaiming it to be the love of my life. Alas, noone in the vicinity was quite as excited as I was but bless them they did such a good job of humouring me while I yabbered on and on about it!

The palette itself is a taupe, translucent masterpiece with a smoke pattern running across it. As is always the case with Urban Decay, the palette feels well made and has a certain sleekness about it. It has a magnetic closure which again just oozes a certain touch of sophistication. There's also a guide included to help you create a number of different looks which I thought was a brilliant addition. All in all, if a palette could be sexy, this one would be seriously hot stuff.

Within the palette itself, you'll find an array of the most perfect eyeshadows that will help to create quite a variety of looks. There's a great selection of grey, bronze and even purple shades which will all lend themselves well to an intense smoky eye. From highlighters, to transition colours to crease colours, it's all there in one handy set. As an added benefit, there is also a great double ended brush. With one end being a pencil brush and the other a blending brush, if you were travelling this palette would probably be all that you'd need.

Apart from just three shades (Radar, Armor and Black Market), all of the colours are brand new and absolutely stunning. There are 4 shimmers (High, Dirtysweet, Radar and Armor), 4 satins (Slanted, Dagger, Black Market and Smolder) and 4 buttery mattes (Password, Whiskey, Combust and Thirteen) which gives a lovely variation for a number of looks.

The shimmers from left to right - High, Dirtysweet, Radar, Armor

The satins from left to right - Slanted, Dagger, Black Market, Smolder

The mattes from left to right - Password, Whiskey, Combust, Thirteen

Every shade has really impressive pigmentation and is incredibly easy to work with. They blend well with barely any fall out (apart from the glitter in Armor) and I truly cannot wait to experiment with them! The only eyeshadow I was just slightly disappointed with was Smolder as I was hoping for just a slightly stronger purple pigment but it is still beautiful nonetheless.

As someone who much preferred palettes from Urban Decay like Vice and Electric over the Naked Palettes (which I am aware is practically blasphemy for some!), I am really glad that this latest palette mixes things up a little. Considering Urban Decay's tagline is "Beauty with an edge", I couldn't think of a more appropriate palette for this brand. The smokey eye is without a doubt one of the edgiest makeup styles, full of mystery and sex appeal, so what could be better? Take it from me, this palette is worth every penny and your makeup collection isn't complete without it!

Over the next couple of weeks I will certainly be trying out some new looks with the help of the Naked Smoky palette and will have a tutorial up soon using these babies!

Have you got your hands on Urban Decay's latest offering yet? What do you think of it? Do you think it's worth the hype or are you a little underwhelmed? Let me know in the comments!