This is a legacy post that has been given a facelift and some 2018 updates! Enjoy.
When it comes to finding products that really work for you, you tend to sift through a lot of BS:
overpromising, underdelivering products;
overhyped (by the community) products;
or things that just, through by no fault of anyone, don’t work for you.
Trying new things can be fun, too, but when you find products that REALLY work for you, you tend to cling to them. I do, anyway. Here are my recent repurchases.
After eight years, Urban Decay is laying to rest the groundbreaking Naked Palette. That’s right, a favorite of mine, maybe yours, definitely thousands of others – is facing discontinuation.
Gasp.
The Naked Palette Announcement
Cheekily, Urban Decay even went as far as to make a funeral video for the iconic palette o’ neutrals.
Wende says, in essence, that it is time to move on. Naked was a huge milestone back in 2010, but it is time to retire it and move onto other things.
I’m desperately hoping they surprise and delight. One one hand, if the Aphrodisiac palette is any indication, we’ve got good things in store. On the other, Trendmood leaked a brand new Naked Cherry palette … that I can entirely do without.
Nobody likes a tryhard, yet so many brands are trying to be edgy lately. I’m not offput by crude humor in the slightest, but I can’t help but feel like brands are desperately grasping more and more for attention via punchy names and claims.
Isn’t it a little tired? Isn’t it enough to have a great product and solid marketing?
Brands
NARS Orgasm has been out for ages and the name makes sense for the color they are suggesting it is inspired by. It doesn’t strike me as tawdry even if the average shopper would feel unnerved asking for it by name in Sephora.
Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara isn’t a particularly nice formula – but oh man, such an edgy name! There are plenty of other products out there that are trying a bit too hard. Some are good, some are clearly banking on their shady name to make sales.
Trying to be Edgy
Oh, marketing. Urban Decay has a history of products with shady names. Okay, it’s one thing to name a color something off-beat. They’ve teased their new Troublemaker mascara which is, allegedly, “sex proof.”
Okay Urban Decay; I know that Wende founded the brand with the aim of going against the grain. With an effortless edginess in mind. But in their tagline, “Beauty with an Edge.” But isn’t marketing, “sex-proof,” mascara trying to be edgy a little (a lot) harder than is necessary?
Urban Decay themselves state on the product site:
Troublemaker holds up in hot and heavy situations and still looks good in the morning. We tested it ourselves, and it lasted through saunas, snowboarding and sex!
Over the past week, I’ve seen entirely too many articles decrying Sephora for selling an eyeshadow named, “Druggie.” I anticipate my opinion on this matter to be fairly unpopular – and while I welcome dissent and discussion in the comments, let’s keep it civil.
Making Light of It
Those upset say that the shade name is insensitive; that it makes light of the losses so many have experienced related to addiction. There’s even a Change.org petition with over a thousand signatures begging Sephora to pull the shade. They even go so far as to suggest alternate names.
Interestingly enough, these articles and people are largely targeting Sephora, like they made the damn shade name. Fun fact, people: Sephora doesn’t own Urban Decay or Urban Decay Druggie eyeshadow or the After Dark palette. Efforts would be better focused there, or at their parent company, L’Oreal.