Urban Decay Smoked Eyeshadow Palette ($49.00 for 0.30 oz.) includes ten eyeshadows: Kinky (soft ivory peach with a matte finish), Freestyle (light pantyhose nude with matte finish), Mushroom (warm grey with shimmery finish), Back Door (true dark brown with matte finish), Blackout (blackest black with matte finish), Barlust (dark golden brown with metallic finish), Rockstar (deep aubergine with shimmery finish), Evidence (deep navy blue with shimmery finish), Loaded (deep emerald shimmer with metallic base), and Asphalt (deep gunmetal with silver micro glitter and metallic base); one eyeliner in Perversion (blackest black); and a mini Primer Potion (in Original).
Kinky is a pale, neutral beige with a matte finish. It had good color payoff and was soft to the touch, though slightly powdery. This is a new and exclusive shade to this palette. Urban Decay Booty Call is slightly darker and more orange. MAC Vanilla is a little darker. MAC Chamomile is yellower. Bare Escentuals Chance is a smidgen more cool-toned but very close. MAC Blanc Type is very similar.
Freestyle is a light-medium brownish peach with a matte finish. It had good color payoff, but it was a little powdery. This is a new and exclusive shade to this palette. Bare Escentuals Stealth is more orange and shimmery. Inglot #341 is darker and a little pink.
Mushroom is a gray-brown–it’s a very intense taupe. It had good color payoff, and a really soft, dense texture. This is part of the permanent range. MAC Keep Your Cool is more muted. Chanel Illusoire is less brown.
Blackout is an intense, deep dark black with a matte finish. It has good color payoff and doesn’t have any powderiness. This is part of the permanent range. Milani Pitch Black is slightly softer. Sugarpill Bulletproof is comparable.
Barlust is a shimmery red-toned medium-dark brown. It has a soft, buttery texture with great color payoff. This is a new and exclusive shade to this palette. If the name sounds familiar, it was used for a nail polish that was similarly colored. MAC Havana is lighter. Bare Escentuals Pumped is more matte. MAC Roasted Chestnut is lighter and warmer. MAC Make Your Mark is softer, lighter. MAC Carbonized is similar but less metallic. Urban Decay Lost is less red-toned.
Rockstar is a dark, smoky purple with subtle red undertones. It has a very buttery and smooth texture with great color payoff. This is part of the permanent range. MAC Indian Ink is almost like a matte version, though it is a little darker. Lancome Zip Me Up is a bit lighter. Estee Lauder Cyber Lilac is a touch lighter.
Loaded is a blackened green-teal. It goes on very, very dark–you will lose some of the strength of the overall green/teal if you blend it out, but it doesn’t look full-on black. This is part of the permanent range. Bare Escentuals Max Volume is a bit lighter and greener. OCC Poison is greener. theBalm Jealous Jordana is less intense, slightly greener.
Asphalt is a medium-dark gray with very, very fine teal and silver micro-shimmer. The color payoff is decent, but it’s a smidgen sheer and not as buttery in texture as some of the other shades. This is a new and exclusive shade to this palette. If the name sounds familiar, it was used for a cream eyeshadow that was similarly colored. Tarina Tarantino Lovely Jewel is lighter. Make Up For Ever #1 is a smidgen darker. Bobbi Brown Gunmetal is very similar. Estee Lauder Black Chrome is a fraction darker. Urban Decay Gunmetal is a smidgen cooler-toned–a hair more silvered. theBalm Inspirational is less shimmery, grayer.
Overall, it’s a good palette; the best performing shades were Mushroom, Barlust, Rockstar, and Loaded. The “worst” (which weren’t bad!) performing shades were Evidence and Asphalt, which were both a little dry. Kinky and Freestyle were a marginally powdery but applied well and had good color payoff, despite being lighter in hue, which was impressive. Three of top Urban Decay eyeshadows are in the palette, too (Mushroom, Rockstar, and Loaded) along with the lovely rich black Perversion eyeliner. I tried a few different combinations (none of which I ended up liking, but for testing purposes, still worked), and I averaged around eight hours of wear with minimal fading but no creasing over bare lids. With a primer, the wear was perfectly intact after eight hours of wear.
One thing I disliked about the palette was the composition. This has no impact on the rating at all, because it’s very subjective and doesn’t affect the quality of the product. Like The Black Palette, it has lots of dark, smoky colors–totally appropriate for the palette–but it seems like this is a palette you’d tote around with you, as if it was an all-in-one palette for great smoky looks. There are too many dark shades to build more diverse looks. I would have loved to have seen one or two more shades (perhaps something cool-toned–maybe a silver, silver-blue–hey, Strip would have been a great addition to the palette).
Kinky and Freestyle are the lighter shades in the palette, but it’s missing a genuinely cool-toned one, and perhaps one with some shimmer/satin in it, rather than matte. I tried layering Kinky over a few shades, but it seemed to make more of a mess than lightened the underlying color. Freestyle read a bit too warm against most of the colors when I tried playing with it. If you want a one-and-done palette, maybe this isn’t it. If you want lots of Urban Decay eyeshadows, it could be a great choice.
Each eyeshadow is 0.03 oz. (compared to 0.05 oz.), which means the palette contains $108 in eyeshadow, plus a full-sized eyeliner, which normally retails for $19, and then a small primer potion containing 0.13 fl. oz., which is worth $7. The palette contains $134 worth of products for the $49 price tag. It’s still a great deal–it’s just not as good as previous palettes, such as Naked and Naked 2, which both contained 12 full-sized (as in 0.05 oz. each, so 0.60 oz. worth of eyeshadow–double this palette) eyeshadows, plus two comparable extras (brush and primer).
Honestly, I don’t mind that the eyeshadows aren’t full-sized; it’s hard to get through a full-sized eyeshadow, especially some of the darker shades, of which there are plenty of in this palette, but at this price tag, it’s a little tougher to swallow, given that they’ve done much more value-packed palettes. It’s something to pay attention to in case this a trend of things to come, but the palette on its own is still a good value and well worth the price tag–assuming you want more than 3 shades!
If you want a one-and-done palette, maybe this isn't it. If you want lots of Urban Decay eyeshadows, it could be a great choice. The palette on its own is still a good value (but not as good as palettes have been in the past) and well worth the price tag--assuming you want more than 3 shades!
Product
9/10
Pigmentation
9/10
Texture
9/10
Longevity
9.5/10
Application
4/5
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Where to Buy
This product can be purchased at the following retailers:
Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.
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Urban Decay New Eyeshadows (Reformulation) Review, Photos, Swatches
Urban Decay Eyeshadow ($18.00 for 0.05 oz.) has recently undergone a reformulation so that they’re “richer and smoother” with better color payoff. I compared the original and new formulas for the four shades I have, which were Last Call, Loaded, Mushroom, and Rockstar. Chase has only been released in the new formula, I believe. I could not find Shattered (and I tried to see if I reviewed it previously but only found the Loose pigment version).
Last Call is a plummy burgundy with a hint of pink sheen. Inglot #450 is redder, less purple. I couldn’t think of a dupe for this one–everything is either too red or too purple!
Loaded is a blackened green-teal. It goes on very, very dark–you will lose some of the strength of the overall green/teal if you blend it out, but it doesn’t look full-on black. Bare Escentuals Max Volume is a bit lighter and greener. OCC Poison is greener. theBalm Jealous Jordana is less intense, slightly greener.
Walk of Shame is a pink-tinted light beige nude with a matte finish. I imagine it will work as a nice highlighter on lighter, cooler complexions. When I tried to use this, it looked a little chalky. It reminded me of a matte version of MAC Phloof!.
Consistently, all four reformulated versions were better than the original versions, but the difference is minor. They’re better, but not so much better (because they were already rather good) that I’d rush out to replace them. Primarily, the difference is a softer texture that has a little more give, so it almost feels creamy to the touch. The softness can result in a little more powderiness, but it is such a small amount that it is a minor concern. With Walk of Shame, there was more powderiness than with the more shimmery shades–if you’re familiar with the softer matte textures, it’s as much as expected.
I tested the wear, specifically, of these shades: Chase, Last Call, Shattered, and Loaded. None of the shades I did in recent testing (in actually comparing the formulas) had Urban Decay’s famous (or, perhaps, infamous) micro-glitter, so I’m not yet ready to do a full review on that finish. The original launch date for this was supposed to be a week out yet, which was when I was going to do the bulk of my testing, so I’m really sorry for having to scramble a bit! With a primer, I didn’t have any wear issues, and I didn’t have wear issues with the originals previously. Without a primer, these did seem to adhere better to bare skin than the original formula, and after eight hours of wear, there was only minor fading (it wasn’t particularly noticeable except at a very close distance).
I’ll be testing additional shades in the next few weeks and will keep you informed on how the wear goes with those! These particular shades are some of Urban Decay’s best, so they may represent that end of the spectrum, while other shades more prone to being troublemakers may not do so well in a wear test.
I really appreciate the color accuracy between the original formula and the new formula--I couldn't detect any differences between the four I was able to compare side-by-side. The new formula does wear a bit better without primer, though the results were the same when used with a primer. These are softer, smoother, and as a result, more pigmented in a single pass.
Product
9.5/10
Pigmentation
10/10
Texture
9.5/10
Longevity
9/10
Application
4.5/5
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Where to Buy
This product can be purchased at the following retailers:
Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.
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Urban Decay Mariposa Eyeshadow Palette ($39.00 for 10 x 0.03 oz.) is a limited edition, Sephora-exclusive eyeshadow palette for the holidays. It comes in a metal tin with a hinged lid with ten eyeshadows and a travel-sized eyeshadow brush. These are the shades included: Rockstar (deep eggplant with metallic base), Gunmetal (gunmetal grey with silver glitter), Skimp (pale nude with gold shimmer), Infamous (shifty mauve), Wreckage (shimmery dark taupe), Haight (shimmering mermaid blue), Money (silvery pale green), Mushroom (shimmering fawn), Spotlight (medium taupe with gold sparkle), and Limelight (bronze with gold glitter). New shades include Infamous, Limelight, Spotlight, and Wreckage. All other shades are repromotes.
The exterior of the palette is nice; it’s a good size, too–small enough to travel with but large enough to be easy to use with regular, full-sized brushes. There is no mirror in this palette, which is unusual for Urban Decay’s palettes. It’s not as slim as their six-pan palettes (like Dangerous, Feminine, etc.), but it is significantly smaller than the Book of Shadows volumes. It stays shut quite well, as the lid is kept on by hinges. The brushed metal finish of the tin hides fingerprints well. I don’t love the interior; it’s cardboard that shifts around a bit when you’ve plunk a brush into one of the eyeshadow wells. It just feels a little… cheap to me, and I generally don’t have issues with cardboard-based packaging so long as it feels sturdy.
Gunmetal is a dark charcoal gray with silver glitter. This shade is part of the permanent range. If you feel like you’ve just seen this shade, it’s true–it’s also in the BoS 4. It is similar to Inglot #451 but a bit darker. Because it does have glitter, it may have some fall out (I have found it less so than some of the really glittery shades).
Skimp is a beige-peach with a pearled sheen. It, too, was most recently in the BoS 4. It is similar to Bare Escentuals Serendipitous but lighter than MAC Brule. The quality seemed better here–it didn’t feel dry at all.
Infamous is a bright, plum-tinged fuchsia pink with a satiny sheen. This had a slightly drier texture than a lot of the other shades in the palette but the color payoff was still decent. It isn’t the same as Urban Decay Woodstock, which is much redder, brighter, and deeper. This is more like Woodstock and Fishnet got together and had baby. It is closer to Make Up For Ever #52 but muted and slightly purpler.
Wreckage is a muted, medium-dark brown with subtle yellow undertones and a subtle golden sheen. The color payoff was decent but not as dense as most Urban Decay eyeshadows. It is very similar in color to Bare Escentuals A-Ha. It is reminiscent of Urban Decay Toasted but not as warm.
Haight is a teal-tinged, medium-dark blue with a frosted finish. This shade is part of the permanent range, but it is a little duller than my individual pot of it. It will take on a more of a teal appearance when near greens. I can’t think of a great dupe for Haight.
Money is a silvery green-gray with a cool-toned gold sheen. It’s a really cool, complex color. It does have silver sparkles in it, so there may be some fall out. I find Money has less sparkle than really glittery shades like Midnight Cowboy, though. I couldn’t think of a dupe for this shade either.
Spotlight is a pale champagne-bronze with gold glitter and a rather chunky texture. This was the worst shade in the palette–it was dry and chunky, not just from the glitter, but the powder itself didn’t adhere smoothly. It resulted in poorer color payoff and lots of fall out. Bare Escentuals Magnetism is a touch darker (and doesn’t have glitter).
Limelight is a lightened coppery bronze with a warm golden shimmer and glitter. It’s more orange than Urban Decay Blunt but not by much. It’s a lighter version of Urban Decay Half-Baked. Funny enough, some of the lightness of the shade is due to the drier texture and uneven color payoff (which is decent but not great). I had similar issues with this shade as I did with Limelight, just not to the same degree.
Long-time collectors and fans will find this palette with too many repromotes/similarly done shades. I think Urban Decay might want to cut back on creating more browns/bronzes, because they’re starting to run together. I don’t want more Half-Baked eyeshadows, but if you’re going to just make one-offs of it, I’d rather the original so I know I’m not getting anything new. They could consider doing more browns, even in the same tones and shades, but with different finishes–like satins or mattes.
I had major issues with Spotlight and Limelight and minor issues with Infamous. I would say that two of the ten eyeshadows were misses, but the other eight were varying degrees of good to great. Like other Urban Decay palettes, though, it’s a good deal–it has $102 worth of eyeshadows, plus a travel-sized version of the shadow brush ($26), so I’d approximate the value of the whole shabang for around $120.
The total value of the palette makes it a good buy, and as always with a palette, a lot of whether it's something that strikes your fancy or not will depend on how large your stash is (and how many Urban Decay palettes you may already own).
Product
9/10
Pigmentation
9/10
Texture
8.5/10
Longevity
9/10
Application
4/5
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Where to Buy
This product can be purchased at the following retailers:
Sometimes products are discontinued or limited edition, which means that a product may no longer be available at one or more retailers so you may need to shop around for those hard-to-find shades! We try to update products as they become discontinued, and if you discover a product has been discontinued, please help us help others by letting us know.
Disclosure: Temptalia uses affiliate links, which give us a small commission when you make a purchase (given to us by the retailer, at no cost to you). Your purchases help to support the site!
Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette ($34.00 for 0.34 oz.) includes six eyeshadows: Haight (dark teal with shimmer), Mildew (deep green), Virgin (satin chamois), Oil Slick (black with silver glitter), Rockstar (deep red-purple with metallic base), and Gunmetal (gunmetal gray with silver glitter). Also included is Rockstar 24/7 Liner (eggplant) and Greed primer potion (gold).
Edited @ 7:10AM: Images are fixed.
Haight is a brightened medium blue with a frost finish that pulls just an itsy bit teal. This shade is part of the permanent range and available individually, and it also appeared in the Book of Shadows, Vol. 3.
Mildew is a rich olive green with dirty bronze-brown lying underneath the richer green sheen. This shade is part of the permanent range and available individually and has appeared in the Show Pony, Preen, and Ammo palettes.
Virgin is a pale beige with a satin-shimmer finish. It’s very, very light, but it’s such a beautiful neutral. It’s a little frosty for a highlighter, particularly on darker skin tones, but it would make for a great all-over wash or pop of light on the inner tear duct. This shade was in the Naked palette and not available individually.
Oil Slick is a rich, deep black with silver glitter. The glitter is more of an overlay, so there will be fall out. It’s not as bad as ultra glittery shades like Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, but the fall out does occur. This shade is part of the permanent range and available individually and has appeared in the Alice in Wonderland, Ammo, and Sustainable palettes.
Rockstar is a deep shade of eggplant purple with burgundy-red undertones and a shimmer-sheen finish. This shade was in the Book of Shadows, Vol. 3 and not available individually.
Gunmetal is a dark gray with a deep silver sheen. Despite the glittre in the pan, it seems to disappear before you even apply it. I’ve had this shade for awhile, and I don’t find fall out to be an issue. This shade is part of the permanent range and available individually, and it has been in the Book of Shadows, Vol.2, Naked, and Vegan palettes.
my thoughts on the formula: Urban Decay’s eyeshadows are rich in pigment, apply evenly, and feel like butter. Generally speaking, their formula is excellent. I will warn and caution you against their shades with “glitter” or “sparkle” in the finish–some of these can be prone to fall out (for example, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again).
In terms of value, the palette includes 0.18 oz. of eyeshadow ($61.20 value), 0.03 oz. of eyeliner ($12.75 value), and 0.13 fl. oz. of primer potion ($6.88 value). The total value of the palette is $80.83, while the retail price is $34.
I think sometimes we lose sight of what the beauty industry and market are like as a whole — not every person purchases every palette or even much at all. Not everyone enters at the same time, so even though you may find yourself owning many of the shades, it doesn’t make it a terrible product – Urban Decay does some really excellent shades that you can get year round, but these sure make those shades more accessible and affordable to people who don’t have a lot of Urban Decay or have always wanted to try it. It would be great to see new shades, of course, but I recognize what value they may hold to others.
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Product: 27/30
Value: 10/10
Ease of Use: 4/5
Packaging: 4/5
final thoughts: Dangerous has shades we have all seen before, but ultimately, whether it’s a good value/purchase depends on just how many Urban Decay products you have in your arsenal. The palette itself is an excellent value, and if you like more than two shadows, it works out to be the same if you had bought then individually ($17 each). Oil Slick has a slightly fussy finish/texture, but the other five eyeshadows are really nice, especially Haight and Rockstar.
Urban Decay Dangerous, Feminine, & Fun Palettes: Sneak Peek
Just launched, Urban Decay has three new palettes for spring. Each features six shades of eyeshadow and a medium-sized 24/7 Liner, plus a miniature-sized primer potion. I’ll have full reviews up tomorrow, but I wanted to at least get a quick palette photo and swatches. Each palette retails for $34.
If you were using Urban Decay Rockstar Eyeshadow?, what look would you create with it?
What shadows would you use? What would you use on cheeks? Anything added to the lips? Create a look using whatever you want, as long as you include today’s look book product!
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