Urban Decay Eyeshadow Swatches (Part 1)

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m going through a lot of permanent eyeshadows from various brands so that we can add more swatches to the Swatch Gallery.  Here are eleven Urban Decay eyeshadows (with no real rhyme or reason), and going through all of the pots yesterday made me wish Urban Decay would sell their permanent range in refills.  It would be so much more convenient and take up less space!

• Dashiki is a medium, brightened blue with a frosted sheen. It seems like it would be comparable to MAC’s Freshwater.
• Free Love is a medium-dark coral-orange with a golden shimmer and sheen.
• Haight is a medium-dark blue with a hint of teal and blue shimmer.
• Lounge is a reddened brown with a teal shimmer and flash. It’s more of a duochrome. At first glance, it seems similar to MAC’s Club, and it is, but it has a lot more red in its base (also more pigmented).
• Mary Jane is a steely gray-blue with a silver sheen.
• Psychedelic Sister is a dark violet purple with subtle red undertones and a shimmered sheen.
• Rush is a darkened gold-bronze with antique gold shimmer and a frosted sheen. It’s similar to Illamasqua Ore but less multi-faceted.
• S&M is a medium-dark silver shimmered gray with a frosted finish.
• Shakedown is a muted, played-down mushroom brown with a matte finish. It’s a browner version of Burberry Taupe Brown; matte version of Inglot #402.
• Urb is an olive green with a golden sheen and antique gold micro-glitter. This a less-than-stellar shade because of the glittery finish; it doesn’t apply evenly and can have a lot of fall out during application.
• Woodstock is a bright, medium-dark fuchsia pink with soft pink shimmer and a pearled sheen.

Urban Decay Eyeshadows are some of my favorites–they are typically very pigmented, smooth, buttery, and blendable.  The only shades to watch for are any that have the word “glitter” or “sparkle” in the description, because they tend to have a micro-glitter that just doesn’t bind with the color base, which means it either disappears between brush and lid (best case scenario) or you end up with a sparkly under eye (worst case scenario).  (Urb is the shade that brings down the overall rating on these.)  Their matte finishes are soft and finely milled, but a note on application, these are so blendable that it’s easy to overdo it.

The Glossover

	Urban Decay Eyeshadow Swatches (Part 1) A
	With the exception of Urb, these are all really easy to use, blendable, and nicely pigmented eyeshadows. Urb lacks color payoff, has a grittier texture, and suffers from fall out.
	Product 9.5/10 Pigmentation 9.5/10 Texture 9.5/10 Longevity 10/10 Application 4.5/5
	Where to Buy
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Urban Decay Dashiki Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Free Love Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Haight Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Lounge Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Mary Jane Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Rush Eyeshadow

Urban Decay S&M Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Urb Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Woodstock Eyeshadow

The Hue of Sage Green

Urban Decay Urb Eyeshadow ($17.00 for 0.05 oz.) is a sage green with antique gold glitter flecks. It’s a very smooth shade that’s pigmented but the color itself is softer, so it’s not a bright or intense shade of green. I love the slight golden sheen that’s in the finish.

Urban Decay described it as a “metallic celedon green with glitter,” which should immediately alert you to the fact that this is a glittery shade. It will have some fall out. My experience with Urb is that the fall out is significantly less than some of the most egregious: Midnight Cowboy Rides Again.

If you want a more satin finish shade, you could try Make Up For Ever’s #34 Eyeshadow instead.

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• Product: 24/30
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

RECOMMENDATION: If it weren’t for the inevitable fall out that Urban Decay’s glitter shades are prone to, I’d really love this shade. The color itself is beautiful, and the soft flecks of glitter are lovely–when they stay on the lid.

AVAILABILITY: Sephora

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Urban Decay Urb Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Urb Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Urb Eyeshadow

Chronic, Urb, Graffiti

Can You Resist Cute Packaging?

Urban Decay Vegan Palette ($34.00) is a new and limited edition eyeshadow palette for fall, and it features six eyeshadows, one eyeliner, and a miniature-sized eyeshadow primer.  It features only products that are vegan-friendly.

The packaging is my favorite part about this product, which is creative, pretty, and functional. Otherwise, the eyeshadows are every bit of quality you’d expect from Urban Decay, but with the Naked Palette released simultaneously and featuring three of these shades (Smog, Gunmetal, Half Baked), it makes getting both of them rather redundant.

These are pitfalls of Urban Decay’s limited edition palettes, because long-time collectors often end up with multiples of several shades, since the brand reuses certain shades with great frequency. (I am personally tired of seeing Twice Baked and Baked in their palettes!) On the other hand, for newer Urban Decay fans, the palette is a cute palette with six great shades from the brand’s range. Each eyeshadow is 0.03 oz. in weight, along with a 0.03 oz. Zero 24/7 Eye Pencil and 0.13 oz. Sin Primer Potion. It’s a decent amount for the price tag, but…

The Naked Palette gives you so much for–double the eyeshadow shades (12 in total)–but every single shade in it is full sized at 0.05 oz. For $10 more, you’re getting 0.6 oz. of eyeshadow, instead of 0.18 oz. Pretty awesome, right? All six of the Vegan palette shades can be purchased individually, in case you’re dead-set on one of them. I guess what I’m really saying is if you were waffling between the Vegan and the Naked palette, I would recommend the Naked palette and not even think twice about it.

• Minx is shimmering aqua green with tiny flecks of teal glitter.
• Urb is a softly shimmered olive green with a golden sheen. It was the least pigmented shade of the six, though I wouldn’t call it sheer or lacking in pigmentation overall.
• Gunmetal is a blue-toned gray-black with silver sheen. Very pigmented!
• Twice Baked is a satin-y medium-dark chocolate brown.
• Smog is a shimmering bronze with a copper-gold sheen.
• Half Baked is a lightened copper with a near metallic finish.

The palette also includes a miniature-sized Zero 24/7 Liner (true black) and Sin Eyeshadow Primer Potion (a shimmery burnt champagne base). I need another Zero like I need another eyeliner, period, but it’s a solid black eyeliner which will work well with any of the six shadows and any combinations thereof. I find Sin very, very shimmery–so frosty that it’s hard to use as a base, particularly with frost finished shades like these. I think Eden would have been a better choice here to make it more versatile.

Minx and Urb are the only shades that are on the glittery side, though neither is a glitter bomb. The other four shades are smoother and don’t feel glittery–just shimmery. All six shades are very true-to-color with nice pigmentation and a soft, smooth texture. I really do like and enjoy the palette, and there is nothing wrong with it. It just depends on what Urban Decay palettes you already own and how much overlap you have between them all.

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!

• Product: 28/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

RECOMMENDATION: If you don’t plan on getting the Naked eyeshadow palette (how could you not?!) and you don’t have too much overlap with previously released palettes, it’s an adorably packaged palette with quality in mind.

AVAILABILITY: Sephora, Urban Decay

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Minx, Urb, Gunmetal, Twice Baked, Smog, Baked

Minx, Urb, Gunmetal

Twice Baked, Smog, Baked