Urban Decay Fun Eyeshadow Palette (2012) Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:41:13 +0000

Urban Decay Fun Eyeshadow Palette (2012)

Have a Little Fun, Won’t You?

Urban Decay Fun Eyeshadow Palette (2012) ($36.00 for 0.18 oz.) includes six eyeshadows: Maui Wowie (metallic golden beige with silver glitter), Deep End (bright teal shimmer), Sellout (pinky champagne), Fishnet (bright pink with purple shift), Stray Dog (cool metallic ash brown), and Freakshow (deep royal purple pearl) and one Lip Junkie in Midnight Cowboy (sheer nude sparkle).

Maui Wowie is platinum gold, not quite antique gold, with silver micro-glitter. It seemed less glittery than previous iterations of Maui Wowie that I’ve come across. The texture was soft, applied smoothly, and had excellent color payoff. Maybelline Bold Gold is darker and more golden, yellower. Giorgio Armani #14 is darker. Wet ‘n’ Wild Dancing in the Clouds is grayer. MAC Retrospeck is more golden.

Deep End is a blue-based teal with a frosted finish. It had a soft, smooth texture, applied well, and had great color payoff. MAC Rain Drop is similar but has more of a silver shimmer/sheen. Tarina Tarantino Ozma is quite similar. MAC Cool Heat is bluer and less frosted. theBaml Open to Offers Olwen is similar.

Sellout is a soft champagne with a frosted, metallic shimmer-sheen. The texture felt smooth and silky, while it yielded nice color payoff. Milani Champagne Toast is warmer. Giorgio Armani Madreperla is lighter. MAC Summer Haze is darker and browner. Urban Decay Booty Call is more matte. Urban Decay Skimp is a smidgen lighter, less metallic. theBalm Hiii-Yaaa! is comparable.

Fishnet is a fuchsia purple with violet iridescence. It had a soft texture that applied smoothly with good color payoff (the weakest shade of the set, but I’d say it was still good, just not great!). MAC Infra-violet is pinker. NYX Violetta doesn’t have the iridescence. Tarina Tarantino Fantastical is purpler. Bare Escentuals Boudoir is similar but less iridescent. MAC Stars ‘n Rockets is comparable.

Stray Dog is a barely gray-tinged brown with very subtle warm undertones. The pigmentation was nice, and the hue applied smoothly and evenly. Giorgio Armani #28 is warmer, no gray. MAC Havana is a bit darker. Benefit Dandy Brandy is warmer. Urban Decay YDK is lighter with no gray tinge. MAC Buckwheat is less frosted.

Freakshow is a medium-dark violet purple with subtle red-burgundy undertones and a frosted finish. The payoff was great, and it applied smoothly and softly. Worth noting, this applies much better in their new eyeshadow formula than it did when it was a deluxe eyeshadow. Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister is similar, just slightly less red-toned. Urban Decay Delinquent is lighter. L’Oreal Perpetual Purple has less red undertones.

Midnight Cowboy (Lip Junkie) is a sheer champagne beige with champagne shimmer. What it does is add a lot of shimmer and a glossy shine. Because there’s not a lot of color, any shimmery sheer gloss will dupe it. The way it sparkles is lovely, and it’s a slightly thicker formula (without feeling heavy or tacky) that’s mint-scented. I will say that I don’t care for the baby-sized packaging, because it makes it difficult to hold and apply (even the slanted tip feels odd to use). It wore for three hours when I tested it this go-round.

Yes, yes, we’ve seen these palettes before–kind of. Last spring, Urban Decay released three palettes (all with the same names). Last year’s Fun Palette included Woodstock, Baked, Uzi, Sin, Flipside, and Psychedelic Sister, plus it came with an eyeliner and primer potion. It had a total value of $80.83 and retailed for $34. This year’s palette six 0.03 oz. eyeshadows and a 0.11 fl. oz. Lip Junkie. The value of this year’s palette is $64.80 worth of eyeshadow and $6.15 worth of gloss, which results in a total value of $70.95. The palettes are similar, but not exact; I think the most obvious similarities is that there is a pink-beige, teal, and purple included. This palette doesn’t have a hot pink or a coppery-bronze kind of color, so it’s actually more wearable in some ways (but perhaps less “fun”).

It’s packaged in a sparkly teal patent/vinyl zippered pouch, and you can remove the eyeshadows entirely, so then you’d have a clutch so-to-speak. It’s pretty small, so you could fit an ID, maybe a key or two, and that’s about it. All three palettes when stacked do stick to each other a bit. I didn’t have trouble with the zippers on two of them, but the third wasn’t sewn/stitched perfectly, and it’s extremely hard not to catch the zipper on the excess fabric (I have to figure how to get scissors in there to trim it). I preferred the packaging of the previous palettes, as they slimmer.

Overall, these smaller palettes that Urban Decay releases are some of their better ones, because there aren’t so many shades that you risk getting duds, and they’re more compact thank big palettes like their previous Book of Shadows volumes. It’s also more affordable at $36 than their larger palettes at $50+ (of course, if that’s within your budget, it’s typically cheaper by the ounce buying the larger eyeshadow palettes). This is a high-quality palette packed with pigmented eyeshadows that are soft to the touch, blend easily, and apply smoothly. I didn’t have any problems with these shades, and I had barely any fall out with Maui Wowie.