Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette Review & Swatches

Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette ($49) is a new, permanent 12 shade eyeshadow palette that contains warm golds, warm, and rich browns. The palette is one of a few new style Naked Eyeshadow Palettes that was leaked on social media last year. The first palette, Naked Cherry, was launched quickly after details became available via social media and Instagram about it, Naked Honey, and a third yet to be released palette called Naked AF.

I was pretty excited about Urban Decay Honey however, a little wary as well because I didn’t really love the Naked Cherry Eyeshadow Palette. Thankfully, enough I was pleasantly surprised and did enjoy this one.

I think most people would agree that Urban Decay has reached the extent of all they can do with Naked Eyeshadow Palettes so, it is nice to see them launching something completely different after an endless round of nude, natural palettes. Granted, Urban Decay Honey is still very much a warm palette but at least it’s not a ton of all brown eyeshadows yet again. It’s interesting to see them veering away from the smokier brown eye look a lot of the older Naked Palettes would get you. Perhaps in the future we’ll see more colorful options in the Naked Eyeshadow Palette Collection as they continue to release these.

One thing that has had a dramatic change would be packaging and price. The original Naked Eyeshadow Palette was $44, contains 12 eyeshadows which were 0.05 oz each plus a double-ended eyeliner and a small Primer Potion (0.13 oz). That was 12 full-size eyeshadows! You got a lot of bang for you buck nearly ten years ago. Nowadays, the Naked Palettes are smaller and will set you back a bit more cash. Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette contains 12 shades that are 0.033 oz each and a double-ended brush and no primer, no eyeliner. It’s priced at $49. You’re getting a hell of a lot less product in 2019 than you did back in 2010. Not to mention the quality isn’t the same either as the original Naked Eyeshadow Palette was one of the best palettes in the Naked line in my opinion.

One thing that has changed for the better is an addition of a brush and better packaging. The original palette came in a velvet lined magnetic compact. I hated it. It collected lint and gunk and it was just awful. They did change the packaging a few years later but none the less I still remember the horror story of the original. Nowadays the palettes are typically made of a heavier plastic and with a click to shut closure. I do think the newer packaging is much more sturdier plus it keeps the shadows sealed nicely when not in use. I’m also a big advocate the the addition of a brush versus an eyeliner. The brush includes is dual-ended with soft bristles and comes in very handy for blending and application. I honestly have plenty of eyeliners already and I actually like the brush addition versus the liner but I may be in the minority feeling that way. Naked Honey’s compact is particularly pretty with a spilled, wavy design that looks like spilled honey. It feels very 70s and gives me Boogie Nights vibes.

The palette didn’t disappoint me when I opened it. It’s just as beautiful as the promo images and as I had imaged it to be. A lot of the shades are warmer, yellow tones but they didn’t include a ton of orange or cooper shades to offsets those yellows. Instead they went with brown which is always a rather fantastic shade to play off warmer golds and yellows. I think on some levels that makes this palette rather unique as most of the gold palettes you own likely rely on coppers and cranberries. This plays with a lot of chocolate-y browns and I like that. It makes it a rather great pick for Fall eye looks (even though it seems to be promoted for Holiday 2019).

I was also impressed with how well the shades pair up together. One of my biggest complaints when the Naked Heat Eyeshadow Palette launched was I felt compelled to bring in shades from other palettes so I could create a look as the shades all ran together. I do feel like Naked Honey is very much a solid palette with good transitional and contrasting shades that you can easily create a solid look with. If you star from the shade Swarm (third shade in the palette) you’ll notice that you have a good trio of shades that work together. I mean, you can combine shades anyway you want but the palette seemed to be grouped in trios that work well together. Like Swarm, Amber and Keeper go well together and Golden, Honey, and Queen Work great together…it’s really a no brainer to create a look without having to think too hard about what works well with what.

Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette (Hive, Drip, HBIC, Sting)

Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette (Flyby, Sweet, Swarm, Amber)

Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette (Keeper, Golden, Honey, Queen)

Some of the peanut butter like shades are really stand outs for me. Swarm and Keeper are two warm orange and warm brown shades that remind me of peanut butter. They are pretty shades and quite unique. I like Amber too as it isn’t your run of the mill cooper! It’s lighter yet warm and pairs up nicely with Swarm and Keeper. In some ways, the palette isn’t quite what you might envision as a golden honey one but more of a brassier honey or an amber honey or even a dirty honey (yeah, that actually perfectly describes it).

As with most Urban Decay Palettes nowadays this isn’t quite the formula I “grew up with”. It’s a lot thinner, a lot less velvety, and considerably more drier. I just remember Urban Decay Eyeshadows having such a beautifully velvety formula with ridiculous pigment and some of the newest palettes simply haven’t recaptured the magic of that formula.

The good news it isn’t the worst palette I even tried. I just feel the formulas of the shades is a bit thinner and dustier than I’m used to. None the less, the shadows apply well and blended easily however, I did experience a surprisingly amount of fall out. It wasn’t really a chunky or sparkly fall out but some of the metallic shades just created a dusky kick up around my eyes that was a pain to remove. The mattes were firm and had less fall out with a very easy to blend formula that wasn’t patchy.

I think an interesting aspect of the palette, which I don’t find myself minding, is the fact that there are 7 out of 12 matte shades here. That’s quite a lot of matte shades and sometimes they can be a tad difficult to pair up together. I find mixing finishes is always easiest to create a look and this does leave a lot more desirable finishes like metallics, satins, or shimmers. I personally like that matte dominates the palette because I tend to use only one or even two sometimes three shades in a look and I’m done. But if you’re more intricate with your looks and use four or more shades you might find that it lacks enough finishes to complete the look. I was fine with it though and was able to easily pair up shades to create looks. I just really like the color scheme a lot in this palette!

So, honest opinion as always, this isn’t the best palette I ever tried in my life (and not the worst) but I think the colors are unique enough to warrant a purchase and I do think you’ll get a lot of use out of it if you like warmer shades. Keep in mind it isn’t your typical warm, natural palette which is one of the things that might push you into a purchase. I liked it. I do wish the quality was a little tiny bit better but it applies and blends well so, I give it a go ahead to buy! I think it’s worth picking up if you like these types of shades!

Is the Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette on your list?

Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow is available now at Sephora.

Where to buy

Ulta Sephora