After months of seeing teasers online, it’s here, the Urban Decay Naked Heat palette has landed on South African soil – hooray! It seems that whenever I receive a new palette from Urban Decay (like After Dark), I inevitably show you a few different looks that you can create, which you all seem to enjoy. So, instead of messing with a good thing, I thought I would do the exact same for the much anticipated Heat palette.

The Urban Decay Naked palettes are cult classics, something that every one needs in their make up collection, and the newest addition is no exception. Naked Heat has 12 brand new, amber-hued shadows that I found to be incredibly versatile, letting you create both subtle and more dramatic looks, but more about that later.

All of the shades contain the Urban Decay Pigment Infusion System™ which is said to give them a velvety soft texture and the ability to blend beautifully. When I initially did swatches of the colours, some of the matte shades looked slightly patchy to me, in particular En Fuego and Ashes. However, when I applied them to the lid, they weren’t at all patchy or stiff and blended well. I was really impressed with the shimmer shades, my favourite being Ember, they are pretty darn opaque and look even more gorgeous if you wet your brush with some setting spray first. In terms of kick back I didn’t notice much of that, nor did I see much fallout, except for Ashes, but I always expect that when working with a deeper colour.

In terms of staying power, when I applied the shadows to my eyes at around 8am or so, they still looked great by lunchtime. By the end of the work day (around 5pm), they had faded slightly. I have to mention though that this is without an eyeshadow primer or setting spray. I am certain that with adding just one or both of those into the mix, your eye look will still be perfect by the time you need to remove your make up for the day.

OUNCE (ivory shimmer)
CHASER (light nude matte)
SAUCED (soft terra-cotta matte)
LOW BLOW (brown matte)
LUMBRE (copper shimmer with gold pearl shift)
HE DEVIL (burnt red matte)

DIRTY TALK (metallic burnt red)
SCORCHED (metallic deep red with gold micro-shimmer)
CAYENNE (deep terra-cotta matte)
EN FUEGO (burgundy matte)
ASHES (deep reddish-brown matte)
EMBER (deep metallic copper-burgundy)

As I mentioned earlier, this palette is great for all kinds of looks and I really enjoyed playing with it the past few days. The first look that I did was a really natural one that that literally took me five minutes max to throw together.

Colours used: Ounce, Chaser, Sauced

To add a little bit more oomph to the look, I added some En Fuego and Ashes to the crease and voila, a whole new look was born! I think that this is perfect to wear to work or a lunch out. And the best part is that it only took me 2 extra minutes and a change of lipstick.

And now for a little d-r-a-m-a! I love how this slightly winged look came out. It’s exactly what I’m going to wear when we go out for dinner next and again, didn’t take too much work at all.

Colours used: Ounce, Chaser, Sauced, He Devil, Cayenne, Ember, Scorched

The Urban Decay Naked Heat palette retails for R850 and is already available at Urban Decay Menlyn. It will be available at Urban Decay V&A Waterfront on 19 August and will then roll out into the other stores including Foschini Beauty online.