W7 In The Buff Natural Nudes Eye Colour Palette* - A Perfect Dupe For Urban Decay Naked 2?

I've said it before and I'll say it again but at the moment I'm having a major love in with more budget friendly makeup. I love buying and owning high end products but at the moment I'm just not feeling the need to splash the cash. In my mum's day, cheap makeup was exactly that cheap - you just didn't get the quality and you didn't get the technology but thankfully now things have changed, and a cheaper product doesn't necessarily mean a bad one.

There seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment of budget brand producing palettes, and products inspired by higher end items. I know this has caused a bit of controversy in some quarters but personally I don't see the problem. Everybody from catwalk designers, to musicians, to bloggers and make up brands get their inspiration from somewhere, so at some point in time everybody is influenced by someone else or something else. It happens and as consumers in this case we're the ones that benefit, we can buy high end or we can hopefully buy something just as good at a cheaper price.

One budget brand that have consistently produced more affordable versions of high end products is W7. I have to be honest and I've only tried a couple of things from the brand mainly nail polishes, but  I've read a lot of good things and by and large I've been impressed. Recently I was lucky enough to be sent one of their most popular products to try out - The W7 In The Buff Natural Nudes Eye Colour Palette.

You know me I'm all about the nudes, so before I received it I did a little bit of online nosing and I found out that several people had described as a pretty much perfect dupe of Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette. So as soon as I got it I dug out Naked 2 and did a little bit of comparison work.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between the two does there? I'm sure you've already either got a Naked 2 palette or seen a zillion posts on it already but in case you haven't, it's brilliant the shadows are smooth, creamy and pigmented and it's a neutral shadow lovers dream, but it retails at around £37 putting it out of the price range of a lot people. Compare that to the W7 In The Buff Palette which has a retail price of around £6.95 than you could be on to a winner, how does it perform though?

Well we'll start off with the packaging. The palette comes in a similar vintage style metal tin. It doesn't feel quite as sturdy as the Urban Decay version, and it doesn't contain a mirror, but it looks nice enough on a vanity and it does the job. It also comes with a double ended brush and sponge applicator. I would have preferred a double ended brush as oppose to the sponge end but it's not bad, and I would definitely use it.

The palette comes with 12 shadow, all of which are named which is a nice touch. The colours are almost identical to those in Naked 2, you get a nice combination of mattes and shimmers, featuring everything from matte highlighting shades, to bronzes, and golds, and shades that you could even use to create an alternative smokey eye look.

I don't think I really need to tell you this as I think it's pretty obvious from these pictures but the pigmentation is superb. All the shades feel very soft and creamy without being powdery. The matte shades in particular were a pleasant surprise. They feel very soft, and there is no chalkiness just smooth pigmented colour. All of the shades blend really well, and the wear time is pretty decent.

Basically if I'd had this palette before I'd had Naked 2, I wouldn't have bought it. There shades are almost identical, the pigmentation is easily on par, and every look with Naked 2 you can do with W7 In The Buff. Yes, it's nice to have a high end product and the packaging of  Naked 2 is definitely better quality but as often as I buy products for the packaging, it's the colours and product inside that matters. If your on a budget I would recommend this product and even if your not I can't recommend this palette highly enough. W7 In The Buff Natural Nudes Eye Colour Palette has a recommended retail of around £6.95 and is available from various outlet including the official W7 website where it retails for a slightly higher price. I've also seen for less so it's worth having a little search on the internet before you buy x

After this 100% positive W7 experience I'm definitely going to be trying more from the brand. I'm quite fancying the Honey Queen Bronzer Box, the new Make Up & Glow Bronzing Base, and the In The Nude Eye Colour Palette for starters, but if you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them. so leave me a comment and let me know what you love x

(*Press Sample)