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When Urban Decay launched its first Naked eye shadow palette in 2010, it started a neutral palette arms race that is still going on today. Not to be outdone by the many copycats (and Kylie Jenner’s new Kyshadow), the brand announced to its six million Instagram followers last night that a new palette is hitting the Naked family: meet Naked Ultimate Basics. The palette will be available for $55 starting September 18th on Urban Decay’s site, then at Sephora, Ulta, and Macy’s.
This is the brand’s third matte palette, but it has twice as many shades as its first two matte offerings. The first three original Naked (and the Naked Smoky) palettes are mostly shimmery shades, and the six-shade Naked Basics and Naked2 Basics were add-ons of sorts to meet the needs of people who wanted more matte colors.
According to the brand, this new 12-shade matte palette is a direct result of requests from the rabid community of Urban Decay enthusiasts for more matte eye shadows that flatter a variety of skin tones. So Wende Zomnir, the founder of Urban Decay, took to the comments section in homage to the brand’s followers to announce the new palette:
The shades range from pale pink taupes to dark black and grey, as well as two interesting red- and orange-tinged darker browns. A double-sided brush is included. UD has also introduced a new square palette shape instead of its signature (and much copied) long rectangular case, ensuring that the neutral one-upmanship continues.