Urban Decay Naked Heat on Dark Skin + an $18 Dupe?

Despite not needing any more eyeshadow palettes and also thinking I could pass because of the underwhelming swatches that Allure magazine’s Instagram account put out, I wound up biting the bullet and bought the Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette anyway. I could have waited to see if the palette would arrive in my blogger mail, but nah—I let thirst get the better of me…lol.

Now in my defense, I’ve made a complete 180 with how I buy makeup and clothes (see how I reduced my spending here) so an impulse Naked palette purchase won’t cause me to revert. PLUS reviewing it on the blog makes it a business transaction. So ha!

Anyway, let’s get into this…

Urban Decay Naked Heat is a gorgeous 12-shade palette filled with amber-hued neutrals. Though I think the word “neutrals” is used a bit loosely here since there are a few shades I might not consider to be neutrals BUT if you think about it in terms of the shades being ones that work on a wide range of skin tones, then yes, neutrals. Obviously as with any eyeshadow palette, whether or not you need to get it depends on how often you see yourself using the colors in the palette. In this case the eyeshadow colors will look amazing on virtually any skin tone so it’s not that it wouldn’t look good on you, it’s whether you’ll actually like to use the colors and use them often enough to justify the purchase.

Note: I almost always prefer to photograph products BEFORE I swatch, but I hadn’t noticed that my initial photos had questionable focal points until AFTER I had already swatched the palette. So my bad for the finger smudges in these close-ups.

Urban Decay Naked Heat is buttery smooth just like you’d expect with UD palettes. Pigmentation is great, they last well without a primer BUT if you want to ensure all day wear without creasing, make sure you use a primer. The lighter colored neutrals in the palette even have great color payoff and if you have a darker skin tone like mine or darker, you KNOW how troublesome a lot of lighter colored neutrals can be if you find you need them in a look. (In fact the lightest colored neutral in this palette, Ounce, which looks matte in pictures and when you look at it, but it actually swatches like a shimmery light yellow gold).

You can create quite an array of eyeshadow combinations with this palette for both day and night looks. It comes with a double-ended eyeshadow brush and the packaging is quite substantial (aka even a klutz like me likely can’t drop and break this palette…lol). Overall, this is a really awesome palette.

BUT

When I first got it I immediately thought of the NYX Warm Neutrals Palette so I went and got mine to do a side-by-side. Now it’s not an EXACT dupe, but you can really get a similar warm neutral effect with both eyeshadow palettes. In fact I filmed a video of me doing an eye look with Urban Decay Naked Heat on one eye and NYX Warm Neutrals on the other and they looked very similar (the video will be up on my Youtube channel soon!) The NYX Warm Neutrals palette is only $18—that’s THREE TIMES LESS than the price of Urban Decay Naked Heat ($54). Of course the NYX Warm Neutrals palette packaging is nowhere near as sturdy as Urban Decay Naked Heat and they aren’t exactly the same, but you can get a similar look which you’ll appreciate if you’re watching your beauty coins.

See swatches and review here

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If you’re an Urban Decay superfan, you’ll probably prefer Urban Decay Naked Heat and that’s cool—it IS a really gorgeous palette in beautiful packaging.

I’ve done a post comparing Urban Decay Naked 1, 2, 3 so check it out here. The difference between Urban Decay Naked Heat and the others is of course in the tones—Urban Decay Naked 1 is bronze-toned, Naked 2 is tauped-hued, Naked 3 is rose-hued, and Naked Heat is amber-hued. I don’t have Naked Smoky but that’s of course, “smoky” lol.

See more eyeshadow swatches and reviews here

Bottom line: Urban Decay Naked Heat is a gorgeous palette, great quality, great performance and looks beautiful on just about every skin tone. I do think you can save yourself some money and get a similar look with the NYX Warm Neutrals Palette

Price and where to buy: $54 at urbandecay.com, Sephora, Ulta, Macy’s, etc. Get cash back on your purchase when you use eBates.