Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencils: Part 1

For spring, Urban Decay’s launching a brand new product: 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencils ($20.00 for 0.10 oz.), which come in twelve different shades. There are six included in this post: Sin (champagne shimmer), Lit (sunny bronze shimmer), Midnight Cowboy (beige with fine gold sparkle), Rehab (taupey brown sheen), Wasteland (dark brown sheen), and Mercury (gunmetal grey sheen).

• Sin is a light-medium pink-beige champagne with a frosted sheen. It swatched very comparably to Sin Primer Potion–it seemed less frosty.
• Lit is a softened orange-gold with a frosted sheen. It’s actually similar to Guerlain’s Gold Eyeliner, but it has no similarity to either Eldorado (which is a yellow gold) or Baked (much darker, bronzy).
• Midnight Cowboy is a medium beige with flecks of gold glitter. The glitter seems finer than what is in the eyeshadow. I was crossing my fingers that this would resemble Midnight Cowboy 24/7 Liner (which is exclusive to the 24/7 Liner Anniversary Set), but it’s not. The liner is definitely lighter, a little warmer.
• Rehab is a dark red-toned chocolate brown with a smidgen of taupe. It is similar to Underground 24/7 Liner–a hair darker, cooler, perhaps, but it could be a potential skip in lieu of other shades that are less similar.
• Wasteland is a cool-toned olive brown with fine gold shimmer. It didn’t match up with any of the 24/7 Liners. It’s more like a mix of Stash and Bourbon but compares to neither alone.
• Mercury is a silvered gray with frosted sheen. It seemed warmer when swatched next to Gunmetal 24/7 Liner, which also looks bluer.

These really do feel like jumbo-sized 24/7 Liners–they are smooth, creamy, and glide across the lid with ease. I will say that these seem more pigmented than the 24/7 Liners. You really get true color with one stroke, and even lighter shades go on opaque. I wore Clinic (to-be-reviewed) on one eye and Midnight Cowboy on the other eye for twelve hours yesterday, and I didn’t experience any creasing. I wore them both all over the lid and above the crease, applied with the pencil itself, and straight on the lid (no primer).

I later wore just Rehab all over the lid and above the crease, blended out with fingertips, with Rehab over Urban Decay’s Primer Potion on one lid and by itself on the other. This test was more about blendability and how it would work over a base. It dries down quickly; it’s smudgeable and blendable for 15-20 seconds, but you’ll want to work pretty fast if you’re blending two or more of the Shadow Pencils together. Lighter shades like Sin, Lit, and Midnight Cowboy are beautiful all-over lid shades–for those mornings where all you have are two minutes to spare.

I thought it was interesting that there was very little overlap in the names. It seems like Urban Decay often uses the same names (and the corresponding shade) across product types (e.g. Ransom 24/7 Liner, Ransom Eyeshadow), but most of these are new names. Meaningless in terms of the product itself, but it made me curious as to what else we might see from Urban Decay in 2011. It also made me curious given that there are some shades that are rather close to existing 24/7 Liners.

They are shorter than 24/7 Liners (just over 5.5″), but they are definitely fatter–they also contain over twice the product (.10 oz. vs. 0.04 oz.) and only cost $3 more ($20 vs. $17).  In terms of high-end products, they compare to NARS Shadow Pencils in look (doesn’t migrate), but they perform well, like MAC Shade Sticks (creamier, though). I’m pleasantly surprised at how the price/quantity worked out here. All in all, I’m liking these so far, and they make excellent colored eyeshadow bases that can also double as eyeliner. So far, I’ve found they adhere well to the lid without creasing or fading.

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• Product: 29/30
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 5/5

RECOMMENDATION: If you like Urban Decay’s 24/7 Liners, I think you’ll like these. Whether you use these as eyeliner or as an eyeshadow, they work as well, if not better, than the 24/7 Liners–since they’re more pigmented but wear just as well.

AVAILABILITY: January 2011 @ urbandecay.com; early February 2011 @ Beauty.com, Macy’s, Sephora, & ULTA

See more photos & swatches!

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy, Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy, Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy, Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy, Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy, Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy, Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Sin, Lit, Midnight Cowboy

24/7 Shadow Pencils: Rehab, Wasteland, Mercury

Lit (24/7 Shadow), Midnight Cowboy (24/7 Liner), Midnight Cowboy (24/7 Shadow), Midnight Cowboy (24/7 Liner), Sin (24/7 Shadow), Sin (Primer Potion)

Underground (24/7 Liner), Rehab (24/7 Shadow), Bourbon (24/7 Liner), Wasteland (24/7 Shadow), Corrupt (24/7 Liner)

Mercury (24/7 Shadow), Gunmetal (24/7 Liner)