I've got to say, today's review was a definite freak-out-moment product for me. I was completely unprepared for the next sibling from Urban Decay's NAKED clan to have appeared already (If you want a full side by side, here's my comparison of the past 3.) and she's just as lovely as her predecessors. I'm talking about UD's NAKED SMOKY Palette.

Let's let that sink in. An entire smoky palette.

Yes, we've seen some smoky companions in the past like the Smoked Palette but Naked Smoky has every piece you need for the perfect smoky eye including a stellar highlight shade, a few shimmers to make the lid pop, and a plethora of sexy smoky colors so you can create a proper variety of smoky eyes and everyday looks alike.

Now, I'm a bit biased. I always use a darker shadow even on my less-makeup days due to my monolid eyes so I'm constantly on the lookout for browns, grays, and blacks that will go on properly opaque and true to the pan.

Drumroll, please...

I bet you didn't know you were applying your lipstick wrong!

Well, okay, maybe there's no wrong way to apply lipstick but I didn't realize that there was a technique until I was recently helping my lipstick-novice friend try a dashing new shade of scarlet and she asked "How do I apply it?"

Woah. Lightbulb moment. Bright lips take some serious planning to make application look perfect. After years of experimenting with every lipstick shade under the sun, I took this fact for granted and completely glossed over the fact that there indeed are steps that make the process way easier!


Therefore, my Lipstick 101 tutorial was born. (If you haven't seen the rest of my 101 Basics series, you can check them out on youtube or on the blog here.) Some of you might be like me and usually apply it straight from the tube but then need to amp it up on date night so I shared two different ways to have the perfect (and easy) lipstick application. Check out the video & swatches below!