Battle of the Urban Decay NAKED Palettes

After the immense success of the first Urban Decay NAKED make-up palette the second one was going to have a LOT to live up to. The first NAKED palette made such a name for itself and featured in an abundance of YouTube videos and blog posts all over the world with pretty much everyone raving about it. With the gorgeous selection of quality shadows, it was hard not to.
So finally... the NAKED2 palette, I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and assessing it very critically against the well-established first palette. Here are the results. 

On first appearance, the palettes have much in common, a rectangular case with a series of rectangular shadows lined up inside, both printed with NAKED on the front with bold lettering. However there are a number of key differences, and if we are just talking about packaging then the NAKED2 has to win. The case for the NAKED2 is much more durable, the shadows come in a metal case that locks securely shut, whereas the original is a velvet case that closes loosely together, thus making the new palette much more handbag friendly and protected. If i'm going to nitpick, the velvet on the first palette also attracts fluff, so ultimately the NAKED2 has better packaging for those with mild OCD (like myself).

Down to the nitty gritty - the eyeshadows! Ultimately, I have come to the decision that you just cannot chose between the palettes, they simply compliment each other perfectly and although it may seem slightly greedy to have both, the new palette has been designed as a follow up palette to the first but I would say it has more peachy tones.
Both have colours that I would certainly buy separately, while some perhaps I would not, but as complete sets I love them both equally and both have colours that I use more than other sets. If you are looking to get one over the other, you just have to decide how many colours from each you would wear the most and go with the one that has the most wearable colours for you.

To remind ourselves of the first palette...

Left to right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep and Gunmetal

This palette is undoubtedly brilliant and has such a cult following because of its quality and fantastic colour selection. On a side note, I do find these shadows have more fallout than many of my other favourite brands.

The colours that I personally use and would consider purchasing separately are Naked, Sidecar, Darkhorse, Toasted and Gunmetal. Unlike the NAKED2 this palette has two matte brown colours (Naked and Buck) which are brilliant for definition, there is also the gorgeously glittery Sidecar and the deep and dark glitters of Creep and Gunmetal. It is different to the NAKED2 in this respect, but the NAKED2 has some essential colours that are not found in this palette...

Left to right: Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease, Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted and Blackout

Although this palette doesn't feature matte browns, there is the mink colour of tease that is very pretty and soft to contour with, The neutral matte shadow Foxy, which is wonderful as a base colour, and the deeply pigmented matte black named blackout, which is amazing for quickly defining the eyes and creating a rich intensity. Neither these colours, or anything similar, feature in the original palette. 

There is also the introduction of the taupe colour Pistol which is a much welcomed colour for me. The only cross over is Half Baked which makes an appearance in both palettes, although not one of my personal favourites, I presume it is in here again due to it being very popular and it is great on bronzed skin. This palette also sees the addition of five brand new eyeshadows - Booty Call, Busted, Pistol, Snake Bite and Tease.

Finally, just to talk of the overall quality of the shadows, as you may already know since we feature UD shadows quite a bit, the quality is fantastic, the payoff is rich, they are long lasting, they blend like a dream and the colour selections are right up my street but as I mentioned earlier, the fallout may be a turn off for some. Also, they are very shimmery indeed so certainly would be a disappointment for the person  that prefers a matte texture

Personally, I can't pick a favourite of the two (apart from the packaging) and love having both, they offer me variety and have their uses in different ways. At £36 a pop, I think they are great value for 12 outstanding shadows in each palette. I'm pretty sure the NAKED2 will create just as much of a buzz and have the same amount of success as the first. 

What do you guys think, do you have a favourite and why?