Urban Decay Distortion Eyeshadow Palette ($48.00 for 0.90 oz.) is a new, limited edition palette that launches at Sephora on 12/1 and will be in-stores on 12/11. It will only be available through Sephora or Urban Decay directly (and they’ll have it 12/11 online and in-stores on 12/14). The concept behind the palette is that the first row of eyeshadows are “transformers,” which can be layered on top of the other 10 eyeshadows to “instantly transform” them.
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Having seen xSparkage’s review last and these swatches here, I’m now less certain that I will get this. I definitely get that the base shades should be as these appear to be; sheerer and thinner, so that the transforming shades have the desired effect. Just don’t know if that would make for a lot more work, or perhaps way less.
J
The transformer shades look good but the majority of the regular shadows look weak in pigmentation!
Fair, Pink, slight pink undertones. Normal skin. »
These swatches are not exciting me. Glad I don’t have to be tempted by this palette since I am sure I have tons of dupes across the rest of my palette selection. Shame though, it’s a nice concept.
KLB
Thanks for the hard work on the swatches! Seeing the shades by themselves, I thought it might be a pass. But seeing them transformed, I’m tempted. I’m going to see if I can get the same effect with my KVD alchemist palette If not, this is gonna be mine.
It’s amazing how some of the shades shift so drastically, like Blackout and Hot Box, and some don’t. It’s a very cool concept, but for me it just seems like a lot of extra work in my makeup routine.
I have to say I love the way you’ve formatted the page to show how the palette works!
I appreciate the work you put in these swatches so we can see how each base shade transforms with each topper! It’s certainly a fun palette for people who like to experiment, however seeing how the most impressive shade transformations happen with the mattes, I still wish they had included way more matte base shades.
When the KvD Holographic palette (I think that’s what it was called) launched, I commented then about just not having time to layer on another product on top of my shadows (or blushes, I guess) and the same applies with this one….I’d rather have a shadow that has a duo-chrome effect built in rather than needing to pull out a “transformer” type product. It’s generally not a look I go for, even though I love shimmers and such. I guess for those who do go for this look often, it’s worthwhile to have a few of these in an eyeshadow palette. I see a few eyeshadow colours that really “speak” to me, though I have the feeling their dupe siblings in my stash are yelling even louder “You don’t need MORE of me!” but Hot Box, Rogue and Territorial look really nice in the pan; Hot Box and a few others look very disappointing once swatched, though.
The concept really speaks to me, but the quality of many shades seems underwhelming. I watched Leesha’s video yesterday, and her swatches (over primer!) were poor too.
Thank you for showing us the layered swatches, Christine!! You’ve designed a great layout and it’s very helpful.
Fantastic swatching method! Hot Box and Blackout show stunning changes with the toppers — I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. Unfortunately, I have most of the non-topper colors. This *does* make me want to explore the idea of finding some toppers to do this with (maybe KVD Alchemist).
Lovely range of shades, but some of them seem to be more patchy than others eg the beautiful green. Thank you for the preview and that gorgeous eye look.
Katie
This product marks the beginning of my palette fatigue.
I was sure I was going to order this. Now…not so sure. I’ve recently bought palettes that cost me $4.99 that performed better on swatching. Sigh. So conflicted.
I’m debating on whether or not to get this palette!Your eye look is beautiful.I watched Leesha’s video and I loved the eye look she created also.Some of these don’t swatch well but i need to wait to see if they perform on the eye.Im torn.Still very much so undecided at this point.I pretty much buy every eyeshadow palette Urban Decay releases but I want to make sure the quality is there.
Christine the swatches have given me so much inspiration, I can’t wait to play with the Alchemist and my eyeshadows. I’ve already figured out how to incorporate Amethyst into tomorrow’s eye look.
thank you for taking the time & effort in giving us a full array of swatches in a very accessible layout. it’s only by seeing all the transformers on all the base shadows that we can truly make an informed decision and yours is the only one i’ve seen this far that has done so.
some others here have raised good points on pigmentation and time. judging by the fact that i rarely layer the shadows in my KVD Spellbound palette nor use my Alchemist palette as anything other than inner corner highlight, i should control myself & skip this palette!
Yasmine
Hi! Just had a question. I was so tempted to add this to my Christmas list but seeing your brilliant swatches really gives me pause because of the lack of pigment and shift. My question is, do you think that it would make more sense to just add the KVD Alchemist palette to my list instead so I can transform my current eyeshadow shades instead grabbing this palette? So confused now lol and thanks for all you do!!
Alchemist will certainly yield similar results, but you might explore some indie brands, too, as they tend to do the most duochromes and often do them better and more cheaply! I know Fyrinnae (http://fyrinnae.com/eye-shadow/categorized-by-shades/dualcolours/) has some, and they’re a brand that I can definitely vouch for!
Thanks so for the advice!! I appreciate and will be sure to check these out. I just read your review of the Alchemist palette and was not enthused I and so grateful you shared these others with me. Thanks so much!
Christine, thank you so much for these swatches. A lot of work at your busiest time of the year and it is truly appreciated. I love Velvet so will await dupes otherwise I think I am good without this palette. I do have KVD Alchemist so I am sure I can get similar affects.
If one has KvD Alchemist or Any holographic palette they don’t really need this…I really start feeling that brands are just throwing new and new palettes all the time instead of making something really good.The heavy metal looks good tho
I agree that with what others have said about the swatches not looking extremely pigmented but Urban Decay shadows almost always seem to do a far better with a good eye primer. These look like they go on smoothly and not patchy so I’m thinking using with a primer they should look great. I am a sucker for duo-chromes and jewel tones and this palette is loaded with both, so it’s definitely on my wish list. 🙂 I don’t need any more eye shadow but I can’t help myself! lol
I really wish that the Distortion Palette was just a palette of transformer shades. That would have been the way to do it.
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Works pretty well. Great way to showcase it.
Having seen xSparkage’s review last and these swatches here, I’m now less certain that I will get this. I definitely get that the base shades should be as these appear to be; sheerer and thinner, so that the transforming shades have the desired effect. Just don’t know if that would make for a lot more work, or perhaps way less.
The transformer shades look good but the majority of the regular shadows look weak in pigmentation!
These swatches are not exciting me. Glad I don’t have to be tempted by this palette since I am sure I have tons of dupes across the rest of my palette selection. Shame though, it’s a nice concept.
Thanks for the hard work on the swatches! Seeing the shades by themselves, I thought it might be a pass. But seeing them transformed, I’m tempted. I’m going to see if I can get the same effect with my KVD alchemist palette
If not, this is gonna be mine.
It’s amazing how some of the shades shift so drastically, like Blackout and Hot Box, and some don’t. It’s a very cool concept, but for me it just seems like a lot of extra work in my makeup routine.
I have to say I love the way you’ve formatted the page to show how the palette works!
I appreciate the work you put in these swatches so we can see how each base shade transforms with each topper!
It’s certainly a fun palette for people who like to experiment, however seeing how the most impressive shade transformations happen with the mattes, I still wish they had included way more matte base shades.
When the KvD Holographic palette (I think that’s what it was called) launched, I commented then about just not having time to layer on another product on top of my shadows (or blushes, I guess) and the same applies with this one….I’d rather have a shadow that has a duo-chrome effect built in rather than needing to pull out a “transformer” type product. It’s generally not a look I go for, even though I love shimmers and such. I guess for those who do go for this look often, it’s worthwhile to have a few of these in an eyeshadow palette. I see a few eyeshadow colours that really “speak” to me, though I have the feeling their dupe siblings in my stash are yelling even louder “You don’t need MORE of me!” but Hot Box, Rogue and Territorial look really nice in the pan; Hot Box and a few others look very disappointing once swatched, though.
The concept really speaks to me, but the quality of many shades seems underwhelming. I watched Leesha’s video yesterday, and her swatches (over primer!) were poor too.
Thank you for showing us the layered swatches, Christine!!
You’ve designed a great layout and it’s very helpful.
Doesn’t look super pigmented.. :/
First Offense and Velvet have caught my eye, I can’t wait to see the dupes. I’m pretty sure I have something similar to Velvet though.
Fantastic swatching method! Hot Box and Blackout show stunning changes with the toppers — I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. Unfortunately, I have most of the non-topper colors. This *does* make me want to explore the idea of finding some toppers to do this with (maybe KVD Alchemist).
Lovely range of shades, but some of them seem to be more patchy than others eg the beautiful green.
Thank you for the preview and that gorgeous eye look.
This product marks the beginning of my palette fatigue.
I was sure I was going to order this. Now…not so sure. I’ve recently bought palettes that cost me $4.99 that performed better on swatching. Sigh. So conflicted.
I’m debating on whether or not to get this palette!Your eye look is beautiful.I watched Leesha’s video and I loved the eye look she created also.Some of these don’t swatch well but i need to wait to see if they perform on the eye.Im torn.Still very much so undecided at this point.I pretty much buy every eyeshadow palette Urban Decay releases but I want to make sure the quality is there.
Christine the swatches have given me so much inspiration, I can’t wait to play with the Alchemist and my eyeshadows. I’ve already figured out how to incorporate Amethyst into tomorrow’s eye look.
thank you for taking the time & effort in giving us a full array of swatches in a very accessible layout. it’s only by seeing all the transformers on all the base shadows that we can truly make an informed decision and yours is the only one i’ve seen this far that has done so.
some others here have raised good points on pigmentation and time. judging by the fact that i rarely layer the shadows in my KVD Spellbound palette nor use my Alchemist palette as anything other than inner corner highlight, i should control myself & skip this palette!
Hi! Just had a question. I was so tempted to add this to my Christmas list but seeing your brilliant swatches really gives me pause because of the lack of pigment and shift. My question is, do you think that it would make more sense to just add the KVD Alchemist palette to my list instead so I can transform my current eyeshadow shades instead grabbing this palette? So confused now lol and thanks for all you do!!
Alchemist will certainly yield similar results, but you might explore some indie brands, too, as they tend to do the most duochromes and often do them better and more cheaply! I know Fyrinnae (http://fyrinnae.com/eye-shadow/categorized-by-shades/dualcolours/) has some, and they’re a brand that I can definitely vouch for!
Makeup Geek also has some: https://www.temptalia.com/sneak-peek-makeup-geek-duochrome-eyeshadows-photos-swatches/
Shiro: https://shirocosmetics.com/product-tag/duochrome/
Thanks so for the advice!! I appreciate and will be sure to check these out. I just read your review of the Alchemist palette and was not enthused I and so grateful you shared these others with me. Thanks so much!
Christine, thank you so much for these swatches. A lot of work at your busiest time of the year and it is truly appreciated. I love Velvet so will await dupes otherwise I think I am good without this palette. I do have KVD Alchemist so I am sure I can get similar affects.
I’m so getting this.
If one has KvD Alchemist or Any holographic palette they don’t really need this…I really start feeling that brands are just throwing new and new palettes all the time instead of making something really good.The heavy metal looks good tho
I agree that with what others have said about the swatches not looking extremely pigmented but Urban Decay shadows almost always seem to do a far better with a good eye primer. These look like they go on smoothly and not patchy so I’m thinking using with a primer they should look great. I am a sucker for duo-chromes and jewel tones and this palette is loaded with both, so it’s definitely on my wish list. 🙂 I don’t need any more eye shadow but I can’t help myself! lol
I NEED shifty as a single, to use as a highlight!!!!!
I really wish that the Distortion Palette was just a palette of transformer shades. That would have been the way to do it.