Update January 2020: I can’t believe Urban Decay has actually discontinued some of their palettes! All is well – I haven’t used them in year’s anyway. My favorite palettes now are Aether Beauty eyeshadow palettes ! They make gorgeous colors in non-irritating formulas. Read my eyeshadow reviews for more info.
One of my favorite ways to distract from the pigmentation issues on my face is to focus on great lip colors and beautiful eye makeup. For a long time, my eye makeup go-to was anything Urban Decay.
I had a very different Christmas this year: no beautiful Urban Decay Naked Palette under the tree for me. I had filled Santa in a few weeks earlier about an honest revelation: the colors are beautiful but the eye shadows and eye liners are also irritating for my sensitive skin.
What ingredients exactly? I’m not entirely sure, but I think talc has something to do with it. So I’ve been embarking on a talc-free makeup journey.
I try not to live in fear or make up too many rules for myself when it comes to cosmetic ingredients and food, but I have to go with my gut when something seems like it continues to irritate my skin and lead to more stress I don’t need. How can eye shadow be stressful? More dry eyes and more blinking can lead to eye strain (I’m at a computer screen most of the day), further irritating my facial muscles causing tension and exacerbating my TMJ.
I’m cautious of ingredients, but more so when I’m using a lot of something. I’m going to care more about the toxicity of the ingredients in my foundation to cover my melasma and vitiligo than a few swipes of powder on my eye lids. Should people be concerned about talc and other ingredients in their eye shadows: probably. But even putting that aside, I’ve found talc to be irritating and so I’m working to not use eyeshadows with talc.
Keeping up with this blog and cataloging all the great and not-so-great products I’ve used over the years has tremendously helped me to be more mindful of the products I use and the amount I buy. When I look back at the products I used to use that I don’t anymore that are nowhere near finished, it’s hard to not feel wasteful and ashamed. What else could I have bought that could be more sustainable? What charities could this money have gone to? Yes some of my makeup – especially palettes – were gifts. And I’m very adept at shopping on the sale. But I still feel a bit guilty.
I’m loving the #useyourstash #useitup #projectpan and #panthepalette beauty movements right now. I’m hoping I still have a few non-irritating products left for my own pan challenge, and I’m trying to be more compassionate with myself on the products like my beautiful and beloved Urban Decay Naked Palettes that I won’t be able to finish.
Urban Decay Naked Palettes Ingredients
As far as I can all of these top-reviewed palettes on Sephora.com contain talc and mica. Many of the shades also contain PTFE – a form of Teflon, which I’m not wild about.
All Urban Decay cosmetics are supposedly cruelty-free too which is awesome.
If you want to know more about the ingredients, the Sephora.com product pages don’t cover everything. They all seem to possibly contain aluminum powder. I’ve been avoiding aluminum in my deodorant for years now, but I need to be keeping a closer eye on it in my other beauty products. That could be the likely eye shadow irritant along with talc.
Are Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palettes Paraben Free?
Unfortunately, some of the shades in the palettes do contain parabens.
The original Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette is not paraben-free: Gunmetal, Half Baked, Sidecar, Sin, Smog and Toasted all contain parabens.
Naked2, Naked3 and Smoky palettes don’t appear to contain palettes, but I would suggest investigating the ingredients more in-depth if you are concerned.
Urban Decay Original Naked Palette Review
So much joy from this original palette! I used “Virgin” frequently to highlight the brow bone. “Naked” was the perfect light neutral matte eyeshadow. Other well-worn colors:
- Sidecar: A metallic light brown rosy gold
- Toasted: A beautiful warm rosy chestnut
- Hustle: A deep semi-metallic cool brown
- Sin: A very pale pink metallic
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Review
I’m drooling over these taupey colors just as much as I did a few years ago.
My absolute favorite: YDK a beautiful light, multi-faceted metallic brown-gold. Less rosy than “Toasted” from the original Naked palette.
Other gems: “Chopper” – a copper. Pale and beautiful “Bootycall”. “Tease”: another great matte neutral. I also loved “Suspect” and “Busted”
Urban Decay Naked Palette 3 Review
All of these shadows are so rosy and becoming. I never wore many pink eye shadow shades before this Naked 3 palette.
- “Limit” and “Nooner” were beautiful matte’s and my most well-worn pans in this Urban Decay palette.
- “Strange” was another great matte althought very pale and hardly noticible.
- “Trick” was fun – similar to “Chopper” from Naked 2 palette.
- I don’t remember using “Liar” much but apparently I did. “Factory” has a good dent in it as well but “Mugshot” was my favorite deep plumy-brown. Like YDK from Naked 2 but richer.
Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette Review
True to it’s namesake, this eye shadow palette is filled with richly pigmented shades perfect for creating a great smoky-eye look. My favorite thing about this Urban Decay palette: the brush! I use this brush most days I wear eyeshadow to create a messy and mild eye liner look with eye shadow.
The last received Naked palette in my collection, I rarely used this one. In part because the colors were a little too smoky for me and tended to smudge easily and leave residue on the rest of my face. Also this palette helped open my eyes – literally – to the fact that Urban Decay eye shadows are irritating to me.
My favorite shadow in this paleete is Armor – once it’s applied this muted metallic is more lavender than it appears in the palette.
“Combust” and “Thirteen” are also great, bendable neutral matte colors.
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil Eyeliners Reviews
I miss these color-intense long wearing eyeliners so much! Maybe I should have been concerned at just how long lasting they were?
I’m not sure which ingredients in these Urban Decay pencil eyeliners irritate me. Lots of mica, synthetic waxes, silicons and hydrogenated cottonseed oil in all of them. Having not used many of these for a while, they smell very chemically – like pain or pain thinners.
My absolutely favorites:
- Asphyxia: An incredible iridescent ultra-violet purple. Truth be told this color may have been to juvenile for me anyway.
- Mushroom: An exquisite muted light brown that works well for any eye color, any eye shadow blends and is an absolute dream.
- Hustle: A perfect deep but light brown semi-metallic pencil eyeliner.
- Sabbath: A chic and matte deep midnight/navy blue pencil.
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil
These made me fall in love with eye shadow pencils. The colors were so rich and blendable. My absolute favorite was “Rehab”. I used this lovely brown taupe color most days for years.
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