Urban Decay Ammo Eyeshadow Palette (2013 Edition) Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:00:46 +0000

Urban Decay Ammo Eyeshadow Palette (2013 Edition)

Everything Old is New Again

Urban Decay Ammo Eyeshadow Palette (2013 Edition) ($34.00 for 10 x 0.03 oz.) includes ten of Urban Decay’s bestselling eyeshadows, which are: Smog (deep coppery bronze shimmer), Mildew (mossy green shimmer with gold shift), Oil Slick (black matte with silver micro-glitter), Last Call (metallic plum shimmer), Chopper (copper shimmer with silver micro-glitter), Maui Wowie (metallic golden beige shimmer with silver glitter), Shattered (turquoise shimmer with a gold shift), Polyester Bride (white snow shimmer with silver micro-glitter), Grifter (sheer lavender shimmer with silver micro-glitter), and Sin (champagne shimmer).

Smog is a warm, medium-dark bronze with orange undertones and a frosted finish. It had excellent color payoff and a soft, smooth texture. bareMinerals Ritzy is slightly darker. MAC Mulch is redder. MAC Bronze is more metallic.

Mildew is a mossy green with an olive undertone and subtle forest green shimmer over a frost finish. It seemed a little less pigmented here than I remember the full-size pot, but when I applied it to the lid, I didn’t notice any pigmentation level differences. L’Oreal Golden Emerald is darker, greener, less yellow-toned. Tarina Tarantino Dandy Lion is yellower. theBalm Makeout Mary is very similar. shu uemura Smoky Velvet #2 is a cream version but similar in color.

Oil Slick is a dark black with a teal micro-shimmer–it looks mostly gray-black on the lid and blended out; the shimmer so fine and sparse that it isn’t visible. The color payoff was good, though, and the texture was soft though a little drier than the other shades. bareMinerals Penthouse is a touch darker and more matte. Buxom Black Lab is similar in color but a cream product. MAC Cinderfella has more shimmer. Bobbi Brown Lava is more matte and has larger sparkle.

Last Call is a pinky-plum with red undertones and a frosted, metallic finish. It had great pigmentation and applied smoothly. Chanel Harmonie du Soir #3 is more muted, less pink. L’Oreal Glistening Garnet is lighter, redder, less plum. MAC Stylishly Merry is much pinker.

Chopper is an orange-copper with a frosted, metallic finish. It is supposed to have micro-glitter, which is visible in the pan, but when I swatched it, all of the glitter was swept away. The color payoff of the underlying shade was full and opaque, and it had a smooth texture. bareMinerals Louder is a touch browner. Wet ‘n’ Wild Sparkle ‘Til Morning #6 is a bit more orange, less metallic. Urban Decay Penny Lane is a touch more orange.

Maui Wowie is a pale, not-quite-dirty gold with dark gold micro-glitter and a frosted finish. It had excellent pigmentation, and it was soft and smooth to the touch, but like Chopper, the majority of the micro-glitter disappears. bareMinerals First Class is darker, browner. Chanel Apparence is a cream product, and it is darker. bareMinerals Chart Topper is more muted.

Shattered is a bluish-teal with a green-teal sheen. It has a frosted, somewhat metallic finish. The payoff felt a little weaker here than I remember it being in the past. L’Oreal Endless Sea is similar. Guerlain Les Aquas #2 is lighter.

Polyester Bride is a brightened, creamy white with a frosted, metallic finish and silver micro-glitter. Again, the micro-glitter disappears as you smooth out the color. This shade was less pigmented than the others. bareMinerals Silhouette is very similar, slightly less metallic. Cinderella Midnight Hour is very close in color. Cinderella Ball Gown is also similar.

Grifter is a pink lavender with a frosted, metallic finish and silver micro-glitter. The micro-glitter tends to move around and disappear as you blend out the color. The pigmentation was decent, though Urban Decay did describe it as “sheer,” so it was as expected. Guerlain Attrape-Coeur #4 is less metallic. NARS Marie-Galante #1 is more iridescent.

Sin is a warmed-up champagne beige with a high-shine, metallic finish. It had great pigmentation, and it applied very smoothly and evenly. This color is the closest to a highlight shade in the palette, but it is very, very metallic/frosted on the brow bone. bareMinerals Libation is warmer. Giorgio Armani #8 is pinker. Inglot #397 is comparable.

If you have the original Ammo palette, you’ll have the exact same shades; this palette has a new design and includes all of the same shades but in Urban Decay’s revamped eyeshadow formula. Also, all ten shades are part of the permanent range, so they can be purchased individually if desired. You are almost never better off purchasing singles, because the palette is less than the cost of two individual shades. Chances are low that you’ll actually finish an entire pot of eyeshadow, though the individual eyeshadows are 0.05 oz. and each shade within the palette is 0.03 oz.

If you don’t want to deal with glitter and its fall out, you may want to skip this palette, as five of the ten shades have Urban Decay’s signature micro-glitter. What I will say in regards to the fall out is that 90% of it occurs while you apply it, so after you’ve finished the look, you can remove it and while you will see some stray glitter particles throughout the day (I found some on my nose, below it, and elsewhere on my under eye/upper cheek area), it’s not much.

Now, the reason there actually isn’t much fall out during wear is simple: hardly any gets transferred to the lid! Ahh, the secret! The reality is that if you like the idea of glittery bits on the lid, you’re just not going to get the effect–they end up looking like the base color sans the glitter applied. The sparkle just doesn’t bind with the eyeshadow, so it sits on top and easily gets brushed elsewhere. If you want the glitter, your best bet is to use a firm, flat brush and pat it over a sticky base.

Overall, the pigmentation of the shades was good to great, with only Polyester Bride coming in a bit short (Grifter isn’t opaque, but it is supposed to be sheer). The textures are soft, buttery, and dense, with Oil Slick being a bit drier but seemingly softer/denser than previous iterations of it. When I wore these shades for eight hours, I had a few sparkles of fall out, but I didn’t have any problems with fading or creasing.