Urban Decay Naked Basics vs MUA Matte Palette

If there is one make up item I know myself I do not need to purchase more of its eye shadow palettes, but when I saw the new MUA mattepalette I couldn't leave it behind. Not only was it a drugstore entirely matte palette, which I find is like finding a needle in a haystack nowadays. It also had several shades that bared a striking resemblance to a certain Urban Decay Naked Basics palette you may have heard of!

I got the UD Naked Basic palette about a year and a half ago now and as you will be able to tell from the photos I have to say it’s one of my most used palettes. I find it perfect for natural day looks and the deeper shades to darken up the crease or add definition for a night time look. Plus, it’s tiny so perfect to wack in your make up bag for on the go touch ups.  Although this is the cheapest of all the Naked collection palettes, it is still a high end product ( at £22)  and if I can get a dupe for less than a quarter of the price I’m game.

(Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette -£22) 

( MUA Matte Palette- £4) 

Texture

Urban Decay –

So as you can see from the pictures the palette has two pale matte neutral tones, which again as you can see are my most used.  Although I love these colours for an all over wash of colour I do find the texture to be slightly chalky and with that comes fall out. Not necessarily a problem for this very light tones but no one wants to ruin their perfect base by smudging, black and brown all down their face.  They are not the worse I have used, but I defiantly would  be aware of this and make sure you use correct brushes and tap off excess before you start.

MUA –

I wish I could say this issue is totally avoided with the drugstore option but sadly I cant. The very light tones do still have a chalky texture which I find does lead to fall out. I would say ,however, that the darker tones I have less of an issue with, but that maybe due to less pigmentation meaning the fall out is less obvious.

( UD  swatches- Venus, Foxy, W.O.S, Naked 2, Faint, Crave )

(MUA swatches- Unwrap, Butter, Bare, Taffeta, Fade, Penny, Chino, Truffle, Fog, Smoke)

Pigmentation

UD-

As I touched upon above this really is where you see you value for money, the pigmentation is amazing! The colours not only apply as they do in the pan they also work together well and are easy to blend making creating a look with this palette almost fool proof.  The photos will not do this justice as of course the skin toned shades blend in with my arm but I think you can see how much the dark tones pop.

MUA-

As I mentioned above these are much less pigmented especially noticeable towards the end of the palette with the dark shadows. However, I find the light neutral tones that I use every day are extremely similar. These are not colours that you are using to stand out and so I feel a lighter but build-able pigment is totally acceptable for me. Also as you can see I have nearly completely used up the W.O.S shade which I use as my base colour for every look. To re buy the whole palette for one shade seemed ridiculous but with the MUA palette even if I only use these light colours I have saved money.

Lasting Power

UD-

 As expected for the price point theses shades lasted pretty much all day with relatively little creasing, which was totally removed with the use of a primer. I particularly noticed that the lightest flesh toned colours were still obvious at the end of the day.

MUA-

I was very surprised at just how well the darker tones lasted throughout the day, and with a primer underneath I would say they were very much comparable to the UD. However, the downside appears with the light tones which are virtually non- existent even with a primer after a couple of hours. This may not be a problem for some people as they are so similar to flesh tones but I was still disappointed. 

(Foxy and Butter, W.O.S and Bare, Naked 2 and Penny, Faint and Truffle, Crave and Smoke)

As you can see from above some of the shades are virtually identical and bar the pigmentation of some of these shades from MUA, I would say this MUA palette is a winner. I do love the UD one and if you have the budget give it a go, but if your new to matte shades and want a large section that will help you achieve a variety of looks form natural day to smokey evening, for £4 you cannot go wrong. 

Have you tried them both ? Let me know what you think in the comments below and make sure to let me know if you have any palette dupes id love to test some more out.