Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette
Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette ($55.00 for 0.84 oz.) includes 21 eyeshadows in colorful hues with varying finishes. Here are swatches, and I hope to have a review up early next week.
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I can’t wait for mine, especially in light of your swatches. Mine should be arriving early next week 🙂
Most of the shades look good. I can deal with the few that are so-so. I find UD’s problematic eyeshadows work just fine over primer.
Several of the shades did not swatch well. It seems like there is a problem with the mattes.
Because I have no makeup self control I ended up picking this puppy up 😉 The pinks and oranges look surprisingly good (and that yellow!) but Midnight Blaze leaves a lot to be desired. I should be getting mine in the mail soon, here’s to hoping a primer or white base helps the struggling shades out.
I thought it wasn’t out yet?
They did an early one day release for UD Beauty Junkies. I got mine in the mail yesterday!
I was so darn excited for this palette, however even this first quick review of swatches is rather disappointing when at least half aren’t as pigmented as I would expect or like them to be.
Makes me sad that I missed the la vida loca palette last year.
Wow, some surprising hits and really weird misses in this palette! I’m surprised that the white and yellow look better pigmented than the shades of blue. I’d always assumed that they were tricky to formulate, and that blue was one of the more straightforward ones, as across brands the trend seems to be for medium to deep blues to perform well and for yellow to be sheer. Go figure.
It’s an easy pass for me, but I wasn’t looking for a rainbow palette anyway.
I was kind of getting excited over this palette seeing it all over social media (even if I rally don’t need one more palette), but I’m glad you swatched it because to me the shadows appear sub-part compared to the palettes I already have!
Even though I did order it yesterday during the UD Junkies promotion, I’m still not really feeling it. I have to test it out and everything, but too many colors are just…sheer slightly glittery nothingness. And the rest don’t pack the appropriate punch for what is supposed to be the replacement for the Electric Palette (in that its a collection of colorful hues and meant for bold looks). The EP being pressed pigments is what makes it truly special. Anyone who misses out on buying EP and buys this instead isn’t getting the color payoff and multitasking of EP. I am glad they’re making colors, but they need to make GREAT colors. Another pressed pigment palette should’ve taken EP’s place or ideally they’d make EP II (which seems unlikely now with this and the d/c).
Also, I hardly EVER complain about names unless the name is racist or otherwise offensive in such a manner (JS “Abused” for black-blue lipstick as an “other” example but generally think like….the prominence of “Gypsy” as a color name sucks). Certainly I’ve seen lots of folks complain about UD naming practices, but I almost never mind their cheeky cannabis references and whatnot. There are, however, two names I really, really hate. One is now in this palette. Bump and Yeyo (a white liner). Bump is a white. Yeyo is a white. These are names for cocaine/using cocaine. Being cheeky about Vape and Kush is one thing. Being cheeky about cocaine is kind of….terrible.
Good insight on the UD pigments. Isn’t electric still up, in the sale section of Sephora, for those who would prefer it?
Electric is indeed still up on UD’s sale section. It’s already out of most retailers but those wanting to nab it before it’s gone still can at the great sale price (I got a backup thanks to the sale). But a few reps told me once it’s gone there, it’s gone for good.
I thought the cocaine inspired names were a bit much as well. I personally don’t have a delicate sensibility, but I do notice that tweens flock to the UD display at Sephora and Ulta. I’ve overheard conversations about “why is this lipstick named backdoor??” etc. I could do without the in-your-face names. They can be a little too trashy. It seems unnecessary. Ah, I’m sounding like I *do* have a delicate sensibility.
It’s because teens love the brand in particular that the coke names bother me for sure.
And of course there’s the Speedball lipstick which is mixing uppers and downers, usually cocaine and heroine, and is known as a great way to overdose. Again, I hate to think of a little kid googling the name.
I completely agree with you about the naming. I just can’t support it anymore. Violate for a lipstick? For a company promoting women, it’s names are getting out of hand.
Yeah, they should be careful as to what they’re cheeky about. Pot and light sexual humor is fine. Violate and coke references are on the intense side and need some rethinking. They should think FUN and dirty, not just dirty and off-putting.
I feel like if this had been released years ago I would have been allllll over the colors of this! But now that I have the electric palette and a bunch of other colorful palettes (thank you MUFE and Sleek) it’s a pass for me. A few of these don’t swatch very well either, too bad! :/
“Faded” seems like an awfully apropos name …
Too many disappointing shades. 🙁 Easy pass.
Thanks for the swatches, Christine! Some of these look really nice and some appear to be duds… I can’t wait for your review! I am very happy to see Jones, I still have my old original version of it and it will be so nice to be able to retire that for a new one lol!
I don’t understand Urban Decay…I used to associate the name with quality but now its hit or miss. Maybe Wende has lost control of quality since selling to Loreal??
I like the look of the new shades but I kind of wish the reformulated the Hatter, & Metamorphosis… I mean really they had the chance too. GOLDMINE is still pretty though from the original large shadows. 😉
The top row of jewel tones is gorgeous, but I’m not sure what happened to Midnight Blaze; and I guess Faded decided to “fade” away. Can we also have a moment for the sunny beautifulness(not a real word, however, appropriate) that is Calavera?
The colors are beautiful but it reminds me of the KVD’s Mi Vida Loca. Plus, I am 32 and I can’t see myself wearing the super bright shades 🙁
Lol, I’m older than you and I still can’t do neutrals. 😀
I definitely bought this when they had the pre-order for Beauty Junkies yesterday, and after seeing the swatches, I am even more excited.
What happened to Midnight Blaze?? It’s an obvious fail. Also Faded, Metamorphosis and Iced don’t look so good either. I was hoping for stronger pigmentation, tbh.
On the one hand, the swatches aren’t as sparkly as the ones I saw last night.
On the other hand, the swatches are even MORE patchy and the colors even MORE faded than the ones I saw last night.
I’d had hopes that this might be a nice companion palette to the Kat Von D Metal/Matte palette, but the colors are a bit too warm for that. Throw in the iffy-looking quality of the shadows, and I’m glad that I held off yesterday. Maybe if the review is better than what I’m expecting, I’ll pick it up if it goes on sale!
Why did they put hatter and metamorphosis in there again? (also does midnight blaze even qualify as eyeshadow?) I feel like the Mi Vida Loca remix from last year was a better buy… plus I have the Viseart editorial brights.
Agree, those two were not good choices. They were not the best shades from the Alice TTLG palette, and that palette was released so recently.
Right? You’d think if they were going to pull from recent bright color releases, they’d pick the good ones.
Uh oh, many of these swatches don’t look so great 🙁 Some of these shadows don’t even look like the regular UD formula. And I’m not too crazy about the “tonal pearl” in some of the mattes, looks like cheap glitter, could be fall out city. I think KVD MetalMattes is far superior in quality. Not sure if I want to pay full price for this, might be ok if I grab on sale, for the shades that do perform well. Will await your review.
wow midnight blaze looks awful. this palette looked so tempting to me but these swatches are making me reconsider.
For UD, overall, this looks quite weak and subpar. Some of the swatches look almost irreparable. They don’t outsource (e.g. to the PRC) for holiday palettes, do they? The other spectra have been far better than this, it seems. Too bad, esp for all who wished to acquire a true rainbow palette.
I’m oddly drawn to Jones. Blindsided looks nice and maybe 2 other shades. The rest look majorly disappointing. I’m really sad for Metamorphosis as this is one of my fav shades of blue. And personally, naming a white shade “bump” (as in a bump of cocaine, etc) is tacky.
I did not notice that, That is awful. Why would they name it that so trashy?
Jazzy, UD’s been using drug references in their names since the beginning. I agree it’s really awful.
Totally agree that’s one of the first things I noticed. I was like Really??? Another cocaine reference??? When is UD gonna grow up and realize that their target audience isn’t druggies. They’ve been naming white shades after cocaine for ages now. Their white 24/7 eyeliner is called “yeyo” which is a slang/street term for it. Also, their purple lipstick named “speedball” is a reference to mixing cocaine and heroine together. So lame, UD.
I love this but I already have the original Spectrum. Think I’ll get a cheaper smaller dupe like Sleek’s upcoming Rockstars Hidden Gems palette.
Man what happened to UD!?
This is really a mixed bag.
Thanks for the swatches.
Oh boy, where to start. Having watched live swatches late last night where the vlogger had to really press the brush into her skin rather hard for many of the shades to get the shown payoff, and now these swatches here, I am not sold on this one. Not when my top 2 favorite, very honest blogger’s swatches look as poorly pigmented and faded as what I’ve seen in the past 12 hours. I will wait on your full review before I go ahead with buying this one. I do have Nyx Ultimate Brights, UD Spectrum and KVD MetalMatte, so….perhaps I’ll just order the EP. I will say that Full Spectrum will very likely fail very badly without eyeshadow primer.
Girl, here is my suggestion, since you are sizably stashed. Assuming Muse does the Viseart twofer again, wait. Get Editorial Brights as as one of the two, and think of it as a free palette. Or cruise for any markdown on Editorial Brights. It may not be as comprehensive as this, but it’s damned well better. This is disappointing, even if you don’t want it!
What blogger did live swatches Nancy, I want to see that video!
Hi Bonnie, it was Phyrra. One of only a small handful of bloggers/vloggers who, besides Christine, has a very honest take on cosmetics.
Thank you Nancy! I follow Phyrra on Instagram but I haven’t watched her on YouTube! I’ll go check it out!
I also have the NYX Ultimate Brights palette, and the mattes in there are much better than in this one, at a fraction of the price, and they apply like true mattes, not mattes with “tonal pearl”. So glad I grabbed it b/c it was LE. I had forgotten about that palette, will need to dig it out and give it some love.
That Nyx Ultimate Brights is awesome, Katherine! Super pigmented and applys very well, especially for a DS brand. I agree, it looks better than the majority of the shades in Full Spectrum. Oddly, BOTH companies are owned by L’Oreal, who along with EL just buy up companies and then things *change* for the worse in many instances for these companies.
Bummer, can’t say I’m impressed.
Not impressed. Faded is apropos.
This does not look good. We know Urban Decay can make fantastic eyeshadow. What is up with this?
I counted at least 7 shadows that based on the swatches seem to be underperforming. One third of the entire palette is a lot, but the other colors are so gorgeous! I’ll wait for your review and then decide what to do. It’s definitely my kind of palette in terms of colors. 🙂
Wow Im extremely disappointed. My rainbow colored Coastal scent palette is more pigmented than this. I will totally wait until its on clearance plus 20% family and friends coupon. Now way is this worth $55
Disappointed. I am going to wait on review to see how it performs. I really like sketch but that is it. Sadness
Oh oh – those mattes don’t look really good…….
A lot of surprises, bad and good. I think the best must be the bright yellow. I think I coudl buy the palette just for that colour.
It will be hard to chose between the palettes, this one certainly is on the want-list.
Yep, I’m totally passing.
I ordered this yesterday for my collection but I think I’m still going to prefer the mi Vida Loca palette.
Jeeeez I don’t know about this palette. I really want it and some of the colors looks fantastic. But some of them look downright dismal. Which is the same reason I passed on KVD Vida Loca. Can’t wait to hear whether or not you think this is worth purchasing Christine!
All the eyeshadows should be on point for a high price. I feel like some of my Coastal Scent eyeshadows show up better than some of these. I was drooling over this when I first saw it, however, it’s a pass for me. I thought Urban Decay had higher standards.
I have been searching for a palette with some really good shades of green and when I saw “Hatter” I thought maybe but in addition to swatching poorly, it is just a sad shade of green. I will keep looking.
MUFE has an excellent selection of greens. I’d suggest making your own green tone palette.
I bought this too quick the other day when they had it on their website. The first spectrum was soooo good! It was the first time I had been impressed with a UD palette in a long time. This looks like it is as disappointing as the Alice palette was. I don’t think I can buy UD palettes anymore and that makes me sad. They have more fun with most of their palettes than most brands.
Such fun colors, oh my gosh! Makes my heart skip a beat.
Wow those dark shades are surprisingly disappointing, and the mattes look chalky. I’ve been waiting for a rainbow palette, but none of them have swatched well enough for me to go through with the splurge.
I’m really surprised by Calavera – it seems very pigmented, which is rare for yellow shadows. That being said, I probably wouldn’t purchase this palette since many of the colours seem quite chalky.
Have you tried Sugarpill’s Buttercupcake? It’s a great matte yellow. MUFE has some great options too but of course Sugarpill costs less.
I’m disappointed that the swatches of some of the shades that would be my favorites (Hatter, Minx) look pretty weak. Fingers crossed that they’ll perform better on lids, because this is quite a spectrum of shades for us color-lovers!