Review: Urban Decay Naked On The Run

Sometimes in life, it’s not your birthday, it’s not Christmas, but you need a present. And if you need a present, make it something worth getting!

I’m pretty shameless about ‘self-gifting’ (my logic is generally: “I work hard, I deserve it) and you know by now I can usually justify most of my beauty junkie desires! One thing I had wanted for quite a while was Urban Decay’s Naked on the Run kit.

And something in me must have snapped, because although I’ve been telling myself since it was released that I don’t ‘need’ it (note: when has that ever stopped me before?), I went ahead and ordered it anyway the other week.

I’m so glad I did. Not only is it a thing of sheer, unadulterated beauty, it’s also a great value and a very practical set to own.

 As a massive fan girl of the whole ‘Naked’ range, I don’t quite know how I put off buying this for so long anyway. I use (and love) the foundation (my holy grail base), the lipsticks, the liners and the eyeshadow palettes, but that was sort of why I thought I didn’t need the On the Run kit.

Didn’t I already own everything in it? Wouldn’t I just be duplicating? The answer is sort of both yes and no.

From the very first unboxing, as with most Urban Decay products, I was in raptures. They are just sooooo FREAKING GOOD at packaging. There’s not many brands that beat them on sheer shelf appeal.

The kit is encased in a very sleek rose-gold and tortoiseshell style case that is a work of art. I love it unreasonable amounts. I’m already terrified of using the products up and plotting if I can somehow re-purpose the travel case afterwards (any ideas?). Behold:

Its quite well made and feels fairly sturdy, which is a must if you’re planning to take it on your travels.

I know from drooling over many photos of it before I took the plunge and purchased that its difficult to gauge the size on sight, so if you take your hand and spread the fingers wide its about that size. It wouldn’t fit in a little clutch bag or anything, but its pretty compact considering all it contains.

Inside the case of wonder are an array of products that are both highly functional and very beautiful also – there are 5/6 shadows, a bronzer, blush, highlighter, a mascara, an eyeliner pencil and a lipgloss.

So all you really need to add is base and brushes and you’re set to travel (unless you are Kylie Jenner, in which case you will definitely need a lip liner as well).

So for convenience, you can’t really beat this – as per the Naked ethos, all the shades are so darn wearable that could just take this and have everything you need.

But do the products live up to the promise of the packaging?

Although Urban Decay is generally quite wonderful, I have purchased a couple of their items in the past that have left me disappointed – the Super Saturated Cream Liner, the Naked Skin BB cream and the Naked Flushed blusher palette that all failed to set my world alight.

Thankfully, the Naked On The Run kit avoids that delivers well on performance, pigment and pow. Plus its so pretty that I’ve just been opening it up to gaze at. Let’s take it item by item:

Shadows

You get five square pans of shadow, two matte and three shimmer, which I think is a really good balance.

I normally take my Naked Basics everywhere but it is lacking in the shimmer shades, so its nice that’s remedied here.

The other nice thing is that although the shadows are very much in the ‘Naked’ tradition, so you know you’ll love them, but they’re also unique to this set. So you aren’t getting exact duplicates of shadows you already own, but they’re close enough to your favourites not to disappoint.

The shades are:

Dive -  a stunning rich rose gold, coppery shimmer, similar to ‘Trick’ in the Naked 3 palette, but a little cooler

Fix –  a cool light matte taupe, similar to ‘Naked’ in the original Naked Palette, ‘Faint’ in Basics or ‘Primal’ in Basics 2

Resist – a cool toned shimmery beige, similar to ‘Sidecar’ in 1 or ‘Pistol’ in 2

Dare – a rich medium brown matte, similar to ‘Buck’ in 1

Stun -  a warm golden brown shimmer, similar to ‘Darkhorse’ in 1, ‘Snakebite’ in 2 and ‘Mugshot’ in 3. The glitter is a bit chunkier here and really stands out.

‘Similar to’ but NOT exactly the same – there’s enough variation in tone to keep neutral lovers happy.

Of course, all the shadows are gorgeous, beautifully pigmented and utterly desirable. If you can only travel with five shadows (a lot to some people, nothing to others!) these are a good five to have.

Cheeks

There are two larger oblong pans here, a bronzer and a blush. I believe they are the same shades as the Naked Flushed set, which I didn’t like, but they do seem more pigmented here than in that set for some unknown reason.

The bronzer is a medium tone and quite on the orange side, so its unlikely to suit paler skins or those who are darker either. That’s a lot of people to alienate!

This is always the tricky thing with supplying ‘skin products’ in a one-size-fits-all compact. With a very light application, I can make the bronzer work for my medium beige skintone.

The blusher is a bright dolly pink. It’s the sort of colour I normally run a mile on (pink blush is generally NOT convincing on me).

Its shot through with a very slight, subtle shimmer. Again, I can get away with the merest hint of this, but anything heavier in this shade looks stupid, so I’d most likely skip it.

Then we come to 50/50. As the name implies, its billed as an ‘all over’ shade – so it works as a highlighter, or as another eye shadow, and its gorgeous as both.

It’s a light peach champagne shade with delicate shimmer – perfect for dabbing in the corners of your eyes to add sparkle or for defining cheekbones. I adore this shade and I wish it made an appearance elsewhere as well.

Mascara

The palette includes a large travel size of the Perversion mascara - it’s a generous amount. Billed as bigger, blacker and badder than your other mascaras I was rather worried this would leave my eyelashes bound, gagged and begging for mercy from the sounds of it.

Its another one that claims ‘triple black pigments’ (just like my favourite, Mac In Extreme Dimension). Just how do they measure this extra blackness anyway?

I always say I’m not usually a fan of mascaras that use a bristle style brush, I much prefer a plastic comb type jobby, and this isn’t going to change my mind. The formula is extremely wet, so clumps and smears of mascara on your face are a real hazard here -  so apply carefully.

The formula is lightweight and it really doesn’t float my boat much.

From the claims UD make – and their marketing copy is ridiculously OTT, but sometimes the hype is true – I thought this was going to be a transformative lash experience. It was not. Its actually pretty underwhelming – nothing to complain about, but not front page news either.

There are a million better mascaras out there, in my opinion. The other thing that seems a bit of a ‘miss’ here is not making the mascara waterproof. As a travel set, its likely that you’re supposed to be taking it on holiday, right? And in any kind of holiday, humid, pool, sea situation, if you can be arsed to wear mascara at all, its going to need to be waterproof.

So I wouldn’t be taking this without another mascara also packed. However, its good to have it included in the set for emergencies and daytime use. Its certainly not terrible by any means, and gives nice curl without smudging or flaking once dried.

Eyeliner

The 24/7 Glide-Ons are the king of all eye pencils – creamy, densely pigmented, perfection. So the inclusion of one in this set is a must.

Again, it’s a large travel size -  very generous, its no stubby little useless thing like you get in some travel sets.

Here the shade is ‘Stag’ which is very darkest brown/black – dark enough to pack a real punch and smoke out an eye look perfectly, but actually the shade has more dimension than a flat black and is more wearable.

It lasts really well and it’s a very useful addition to the set, which wouldn’t feel complete without something to ramp up the raunch for your evening make-up.

Naked lipgloss

This is full size, and bloody gawjuss in its rose-gold tubing. I would marry this lipgloss and have its babies.

The shade is ‘Sesso’, a medium rose pink shot through with subtle gold shimmer. This is infinitely a good thing as it makes your lips look fuller and very alluring, without being overly ‘sparkly’.

At first, I thought I wished it was more of a flesh coloured nude, but actually with the selection of shadows they’ve included, a rose tone works much better (clever Urban Decay).

It’s a subtle enough colour to layer, but its not without enough of a tint to wear alone, which is the perfect balance. The formulation is smooth and long wearing.

Verdict

This palette is extremely strong on quality, quantity and in its power to delight.

The eyeshadow shades will suit most everybody and I love that they’re new but not too far removed from your Naked palette favourites, with a good ratio of shimmer to matte.

Similarly, the gloss is a great shade and you won’t find many people that don’t love it, and the liner is perfection and a clever choice of colour.

Where I think this falls down a bit is the cheek selection, which won’t suit A LOT of people. It was always going to be difficult to get shades that please everyone here, but the bronzer is very orangey and the blush is VERY pink. They’re good to have and I think I could just about make them work, but they are the weak point of the palette.

The mascara is a bit of a let down, but again, I’m sure there are some out there who love the stuff – its just not for me formula wise, and the lack of waterproof-ness seems like an oversight. But on the whole this palette is amazing, and it will certainly solve a travel dilemma.

I have heard some people complaining that its too big to fit in a handbag, but I don’t see that is the point of this – it’s a travel kit in terms of going away on holiday or for a weekend, not to cart about with you everyday (well, you could if you had a ginormous handbag I guess…).

I personally wouldn’t need to take that amount of stuff around with me all the time. Urban Decay produce quality formulas with great lasting power, so its not like you’ll need to constantly touchup your eyeshadow – these will easily last 8 hours plus.

But I do think this is useful for travel and furthermore, even if you already love and own the whole Naked collection, this does offer something new – either in terms of portability or the shade selection. Certainly enough to justify falling in love with it.

Have you tried Naked on the Run? What do you think?