Urban Decay NAKED: comparison and dupes!

this is the "ultra-light" version of how it looked when i did all the comparison swatches for the Urban Decay Naked palette :D
so maybe you get an idea that this palette is not *too* essential to me - i won't miss it when it's gone, except for the one shade i really like in there, Darkhorse ;)

click here to see my overall review and swatches of this palette.

now let's begin with the comparison swatches of each shade - at the end i will show you my version of a dupe palette to the Naked, like i have also previously done with the Chanel Ombres Perlées palette here.

Virgin

is a pearly cream shade with pink undertones. a bit too much pearl to use as brow bone highlight for my taste. it's finely milled and pigmented.

 i think MAC Shroom is a nice dupe for it but it's not a very unique shade in general (which i will have to say much more often than i like with this palette). Shroom has a better shimmer - fine but not as flat as Virgin.

MAC Shroom - UD Virgin - NARS Abyssinia

MAC Shroom - UD Virgin - NARS Abyssinia

Sin

is a light peachy pink flesh shade with frosty, almost metallic finish. it's highly pigmented, soft and blendable.

i think it looks like MAC Grand Entrance a lot - same frosty metallic finish, both soft and fine in texture. Grand Entrance still has the better texture and more flatshimmer - it's like a pale gold shimmer compared to Sin's almost white flat sheen.

top: MAC All That Glitters and MAC Grand Entrance, underneath UD Sin and Giorgio Armani Mediterranean palette (LE this summer - the light peachy shade), bottom: NARS Nepal (in Pleasures of Paris palette)

MAC Grand Entrance - MAC All That Glitters - UD Sin - Giorgio Armani - NARS Nepal

Naked

is a matte tan beige. it's finely milled and has medium pigmentation. it applies a bit blotchy on bigger areas and directly on primer or skin, but is nice when used over a base powdery shade. this is a good sculpting shade, looks a bit like bronzer to me ;) it's great that they also added a few matte shades in this palette. working with different finishes allows your eye make up appear much more dimensional than using only frosty or matte finishes.

it's like a matte version of MAC Era eyeshadow, i also swatched it against bronzers since i don't own so many matte shadows. but i think the closest shade in my collection is a satin eyeshadow in my nude-28-pan palette from Zoeva (same as Coastal Scent's).

Benefit Hoola - MAC Era - UD Naked - NARS Zen -  top: Dior old "The Browns" palette (bottom left shade)

some shade in 88-palette - a shade from the nude-28-palette - MAC Era - UD Naked - NARS Zen - Benefit Hoola - Dior palette

Sidecar

is a frosty peachy-golden taupe with lots of fine silver glitter in it - FALL OUT city!!! the glitters end up all over the face - you have to wear it bravely as an intended glitter sun-goddess look if you don't want to re-do your foundation. otherwise it's soft and highly pigmented.

it reminded me of some MAC Pigments, especially Sunnydaze since this also has the silver glitter. Sunnydaze is more cool gold than Sidecar. if you have purchased the pigment set with Jigs&Jives from MAC's last holiday collection: it's pretty similar to Sidecar without the annoying fall out. in real it's much more similar than on my swatch pic, you can't see it's sheen on there.

top: some loose eyeshadow by Rival de Loop - MAC Jigs&Jives - bottom: MAC Mauvement - UD Sidecar - YSL Pure Chromatics palette #3 (taupe shade)

loose eyeshadow by Rival de Loop - MAC Mauvement - UD Sidecar - MAC Jigs&Jives - YSL Pure Chromatics palette #3 (taupe shade)

Buck

is a medium milk chocolate brown with a matte finish. it's finely milled  and has a good pigmentation but applies not as well as Naked.
this shade gave me a hard time finding a dupe as a result of my rather small variety of matte eyeshadows. i ended up swatching it next to bronzers and blushes and some shadows of various Zoeva/Coastal Scents palettes.

top: NYX blush in Taupe - MAC Harmony blush - bottom: Benefit Hoola bronzer - UD Buck

some shade in 88-palette - some shade in 28-nude palette - UD Buck - MAC Harmony - NYX Taupe - Benefit Hoola

Half Baked

is a metallic rich gold which pulls a little too much orange on me. very high pigmentation but it seems not to be hard to do a good rich gold shade - you find gold shadows which are just as nice in most Zoeva/Coastal Scents palettes.
here i only show you a swatch next to the shadow in the Giorgio Armani palette (which shimmer looks much more classy than UD's) - but i ended up choosing a shade from the 88-shimmer-palette as better dupe since it's always nicer to have an affordable alternative. see its swatch at the end of this post.

Giorgio Armani Mediterranean Palette (summer 2011) - UD Half Baked

Giorgio Armani Mediterranean Palette (summer 2011): gold shade - UD Half Baked

Smog

is a shimmery rich bronzey brown with golden shimmer. it's highly pigmented and softly pressed. it blends seamlessly but the shade is not very special.
i think from all those lookalikes, MAC Go eyeshadow probably is the closest.

top: MAC Bronze (bottom left in 6 Dashing Lassies palette) - underneath: Giorgio Armani Mediterranean palette (dark brown shade) - MAC Mulch - MAC Go - UD Smog - Estée Lauder Clove

Giorgio Armani dark brown shade - Estée Lauder Clove - UD Smog - MAC Go - MAC Bronze - MAC Mulch

Darkhorse

is my favourite shade of all: it's a cool dark brown with lots of gold shimmer and sheen. the most complex shade in the palette while the others are a bit plain. it has a very good pigmentation and applies and blends evenly. this would be a great smokey eye shade or outer corner colour. you could surely use it as a liner.
luckily maybe i won't have to miss it too much since there is a pretty similar shade in one of my Dior palettes although not as complex.

top: NARS Cordura - bottom: Dior Ready To Glow palette (dark brown) - UD Darkhorse - Edward Bess Dusk

Dior Ready To Glow palette (dark brown) - UD Darkhorse - Edward Bess Dusk - NARS Cordura

Toasted

is a frosty rosey brown. high pigmentation, soft and fine.
looks quite similar to MAC Sable.

top: NARS Fez (bottom left in Pleasures Of Paris palette) - bottom: MAC Sable -  UD Toasted - MAC Chocolate Brown Pigment

MAC Sable -  UD Toasted - NARS Fez - MAC Chocolate Brown Pigment

Hustle

is a dark chocolate brown with fine pink shimmer. medium pigmentation compared to some other shades in this palette, a nice colour for a warm smokey eye since it's not overly frosty. blends out well.
a nice shade that hasn't found a real dupe in my collection. the effect when it's applied and you don't look at it too exactly like you would look in the make up mirror is a lot easier to dupe, of course.
in the end i went for the YSL-shade as the closest although the Dior maybe is a bit more similar but is discontinued. both MAC shades are too red and too sheer.

top: YSL Pure Chromatics palette #3 (dark brown) - underneath: Dior "The Browns" bottom right shade - UD Hustle - MAC Twinks (top) - MAC 100 Strokes (LE, bottom)

Dior The Browns - YSL Pure Chromatics #3 (dark brown) - UD Hustle - MAC Twinks - MAC 100 Strokes

Creep

is a matte black with lots of fine multicolour shimmer. it's firmly pressed and very sheer so not useful as a crease/outer corner colour or for black smokey eye. also too low pigmentation to use as a liner colour. maybe as a soft grey wash. but am i wrong assuming that it was intended to be a black with shimmer? even as a grey shade it's bad, though.
all of my alternatives are superior to Creep. the shimmery black in the Hourglass Prism duo remains best and unbeaten. how can one look back after experiencing such a pigmentation? (in the swatch it's only 1 swipe in the Hourglass - while several in the others, like 6-7 for Creep)

Calvin Klein Night Dust - UD Creep - Hourglass Prism (black side) - MAC Dark Soul Pigment

Gunmetal

is a dark frosty steel grey with silver glitter bits - again fall out alert. otherwise with good pigmentation and blends out nicely. would be much better without the glitter.
out of the 3 i like NARS Tzarine best since it has that gold microglitter but also is more complex in its shimmer, but i think intensity and finish-wise, MAC Knight Divine is a better dupe.

MAC Knight Divine - UD Gunmetal - NARS Tzarine duo (silver side)

MAC Knight Divine - UD Gunmetal - NARS Tzarine duo (silver side)

i also compared the little brush that comes with the Naked palette: it's similar to the Sigma ss252 but stiffer and firmer. it's thicker than the MAC 195, but should work pretty much the same since the material is more similar - so i think you could also use it to apply concealer or cream shadow. thanks to its density it applies the pigment intensely but because the bristles are so sleek, there is not much pigment sticking to it to begin with. it works well with the highly pigmented shimmery shades by UD though but you'll find it more difficult with other brands/sheer or more firmly pressed shadows.

MAC 242 - Sigma ss252 - UD - MAC 195

MAC 242 - Sigma ss252 - UD - MAC 195

 here are the original swatches:

original Naked

original Naked

and to sum it up - here is my DUPE palette:
(i forgot to put a bit of moisturiser on my arm before i did the first part of the swatches - that's why it looks a bit sheerer and washed out in comparison to the other swatches.)

DUPE Naked

DUPE Naked: MAC Shroom - MAC Grand Entrance - shade in 28-nude palette - MAC Jigs&Jive - some shade in 88-palette - some shade in 88-shimmer-palette

DUPE Naked

MAC Go - Dior Ready To Glow palette (dark brown) - MAC Sable - YSL Pure Chromatics #3 (dark brown) - Hourglass Prism (black) - MAC Knight Divine

puuuuhhh, that was a lot! i hope you found it interesting/helpful. do you own some of the dupe shadows?