Urban Decay Naked vs. Naked 2 Palettes

My last post was all the details that you will be needing about the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, I love mine and I really recommend that you guys all go out and buy it when it finally becomes available.  But one of the big questions with the new version of the palette is this: "If I already own the original Naked palette do I really need the new version of the palette."  I would initially agree that you need both palettes but we will look at them a big deeper and see who might want both and who might be able to get away with only buying one of them. 

Both palettes contain 12 shades of eye shadow, some of which are unique to each palette and some of which are in the traditional Urban Decay shadow range.  Both palettes allow the user to create a range of eye looks, from a light neutral to a deep smoky look.  It appears that Urban Decay was very careful when they created both palettes in that they made sure that all the shades could work together and give the user maximum benefits from their purchase.  That being said, are the shades in the palettes all that different and do really they create looks that are very different.  My honest answer is that many of the shades are not very unique and the looks created by each palette will not be very different.  That being said, the original palette contains warmer shades than the new one, which focuses on cool tones and the popular taupe and greige hues that we have been seeing all throughout the fall and winter seasons. 

As a refresh, I have included a picture of the original palette and we will quickly look at each palette in both palettes.  I am not going to discuss the brushes that are included in these palettes or the primer and lip gloss that come with, all of these products could be purchased on their own and don't really affect the palette itself.

The original palette offers the following shades...

- Virgin - nude satin
- Sin - champagne shimmer
- Naked - buff matte
- Sidecar - beige sparkle
- Buck - brown matte
- Half Baked - bronze gold shimmer
- Smog - golden brown shimmer
- Darkhorse - bronze-plum shimmer
- Toasted - taupe-bronze
- Hustle - mocha shimmer
- Creep - near black metallic
- Gunmetal - dark gray metallic

And the shades in the Naked 2 palette...

- Foxy - cream bisque with matte finish
- Half Baked - golden bronze with shimmery finish
- Booty Call - shimmery cork
- Chopper - copper shimmer with silver micro-glitter
- Tease - creamy pale brown with matte finish
- Snakebite - dark bronze shimmer with metallic base
- Suspect - pale golden beige with shimmery finish
- Pistol - light gray brown with shimmery finish
- Verve - oyster with shimmery finish
- YDK - cool bronze shimmer with metallic base
- Busted - deep brown with shimmery finish
- Blackout - blackest black with matte finish

I am impressed that the only repeat is Half Baked, it appears that Urban Decay has been listening to their fans complain that so many of the shadows are repeated from palette to palette and they are getting a massive collection of the same shades (I have Smog in three different palettes as this point and I don't need the shade three times!).  I respect Urban Decay for creating two palettes that are similar yet aren't copies of each other and both of which provide a great shade range for their fans.

The shades in the two palettes that are the most similar are the highlighters down at the left end of the palette, none of them are exact dupes for each other but none of them are all the different.  Both of the palettes contain pale matte shades which are the hardest of the shades to work with and my least favorites.  The deeper shades at the right end of the palette are where we really see the differences between the palettes and are the major reasons why you would want to purchase both of the palettes.  There are absolutely no dupes in the dark shades, Darkhorse is completely unique from the original palette (this one has very few dupes overall in the Urban Decay shadow line).  From Naked 2, Snakebite, Pistol, and Blackout have no dupes at all.

Do you need both?  I think that the answer is in the affirmative!  If you are an Urban Decay fan, you will end up buying both.  If you have blue eyes and use these types of shades all the time then you will want both palettes.  If you have brown or hazel eyes and prefer to use shadows with more color then you could get away with only owning one of them, likewise if you don't do a neutral eye look all that often then of course you will not need both palettes.  I love both of the palettes and really recommend that you purchase both as they are both beautiful and different in many ways.

photo courtesy of Sephora