You can never have too much of a good thing in the makeup world. Urban Decay is releasing the Naked Smoky, thus expanding its Naked palette family, and it looks and sounds like everything you could ever want and need to craft the perfect (but time-consuming) smoky eye.
Urban Decay's beloved eye shadows really feel as though they were designed to aid makeup mavens in their pursuits of smoky eye dominance. But this strategically crafted Naked Smoky palette is going for smoky eye nirvana and I am confident it shall be achieved. Smoky eyes can make makeup novices feel like artisans, for realz.
First, let me cruise down memory lane.
From 2005 through 2009, I did smoky eyes almost daily. Yes, it added about 15 minutes to my already lengthy morning routine, but it was worth it. I felt so creative and artistic when picking colors to mix, buff, and blend.
Midnight blue smoky eyes? Did those! Black and brown matte? Yep. Violet smoky eyes? Uh huh. Sunset smoky eyes mixing orange and browns, shimmers and mattes? Yep. My signature shades were MAC's icy Jest as a wash and highlight up to the brow, with Carbon (super matte black) and Typographic (matte charcoal) tapped on heavily and then buffed out. Picture Angelina Jolie's flawless eyes in Wanted .
But I also love Urban Decay's Blackout and Oil Slick as part of my smoky eye routine. And when the brand launched its Smoked palette a while back, I felt pure joy. It was 10 shadows meant for smoking out the eye, something I do less often now.
I still use it and it has lasted and I don't want to hit the bottom of each shadow pan.
It's so beat up but beautiful. I feel like you guys are peeking in my undies drawer by looking at my in-use makeup.
So, long story short, I am stoked about Naked Smoky and it might pull me back into the daily smoky eyes habit. No, actually, it will pull me back in. Here's everything we know.
1. July 8
That's the day it lands in stores. And it's critically important for the impatient, like me, to have a date to look forward to.
2. Families Not Stories
While the previous Naked palettes focused on color stories, this one is about color families. Huh? Let the brand's founder Wende Zomnir explain. "Naked 1 was a bit more bronze-y, Naked 2 was more taupe-y, and Naked 3 was warm and rosy neutrals," she told Refinery 29. "[With] Naked Smoky, you have a range of neutrals — your basic matte shades, and then a mini collection of bronze, a mini collection of taupe, a mini collection of grays and blacks, and then this one eggplant. It's a variety of color families you can dip into."
Got that?
But seriously. Smoky eyes are mistake-proof. You can just buff and add another color if you feel you went to dark.
3. No Rules
There are 12 shades: nine new and three exclusives. They are arranged from lightest to darkest mattes on one end and lightest to darkest shimmers on the other. That makes choosing colors and where to place them intuitive, according to Refinery 29.
Personally, I follow zero rules when doing a smoky eye. I do whatever I want, usually doing a light wash, then tapping dark color with a heavy hand and buffing up and out. And guess what? Zomnir agrees with me (I can die happy now, BTW).
She told R29, "[For most smoky-eye kits] when you get the tutorial card, they are usually three steps to a smoky eye. I'm calling bullshit on that — there are like 15 steps to a great smoky eye. You do three steps, [your smoky] is either too harsh or too muddy."
Exactly!!
4. Instructions x 4
Zomnir did include instructions with her kit for four types of smoky eye: UD Smoky Eye, Smoky Cat, Smoky Reality Star, and Smoky Everyday. So it's pretty much for the glam diva and the office dweller with a little edge. There's also a two-sided bush to apply and smoke x smudge as you wish. But again, do it however and whenever you want.
5. Coffee Table Inspo!
Zomnir admits to a longtime obsession "with smoky [glass] '70s coffee tables. I bought one for the back-office lounge area — a really cheesy, '70s chrome-and-smoke coffee table," she told Refinery 29. "So when it came time to do this, I was inspired by the table for the palette design. The case is a fulfillment of a childhood dream of that smoky glass coffee table." You know, I can totally see that.
Enjoy this minute-long promo video, which will further smoke, er, stoke the fires of excitement for this palette's impact on makeup counters beginning July 8.
Images: Urban Decay (1); Amy Sciarretto/Instagram (1); Amy Sciarretto (2); YouTube (5)
