Urban Decay Mariposa Eyeshadow Palette Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:04:27 +0000

Urban Decay Mariposa Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Mariposa Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Mariposa Eyeshadow Palette ($39.00 for 10 x 0.03 oz.) is a limited edition, Sephora-exclusive eyeshadow palette for the holidays. It comes in a metal tin with a hinged lid with ten eyeshadows and a travel-sized eyeshadow brush. These are the shades included: Rockstar (deep eggplant with metallic base), Gunmetal (gunmetal grey with silver glitter), Skimp (pale nude with gold shimmer), Infamous (shifty mauve), Wreckage (shimmery dark taupe), Haight (shimmering mermaid blue), Money (silvery pale green), Mushroom (shimmering fawn), Spotlight (medium taupe with gold sparkle), and Limelight (bronze with gold glitter). New shades include Infamous, Limelight, Spotlight, and Wreckage. All other shades are repromotes.

The exterior of the palette is nice; it’s a good size, too–small enough to travel with but large enough to be easy to use with regular, full-sized brushes. There is no mirror in this palette, which is unusual for Urban Decay’s palettes. It’s not as slim as their six-pan palettes (like Dangerous, Feminine, etc.), but it is significantly smaller than the Book of Shadows volumes. It stays shut quite well, as the lid is kept on by hinges. The brushed metal finish of the tin hides fingerprints well. I don’t love the interior; it’s cardboard that shifts around a bit when you’ve plunk a brush into one of the eyeshadow wells. It just feels a little… cheap to me, and I generally don’t have issues with cardboard-based packaging so long as it feels sturdy.

Rockstar is a smoky eggplant purple with very subtle red undertones; it’s not a fully neutral purple, but it’s close. Giorgio Armani #3 is darker, less purple. theBalm All the Way Annie and Make Up For Ever #142 are similar but neither has the blackened base. theBalm Kissy, Kissy is closer but not quite as red-toned.
Gunmetal is a dark charcoal gray with silver glitter. This shade is part of the permanent range. If you feel like you’ve just seen this shade, it’s true–it’s also in the BoS 4. It is similar to Inglot #451 but a bit darker. Because it does have glitter, it may have some fall out (I have found it less so than some of the really glittery shades).
Skimp is a beige-peach with a pearled sheen. It, too, was most recently in the BoS 4. It is similar to Bare Escentuals Serendipitous but lighter than MAC Brule. The quality seemed better here–it didn’t feel dry at all.
Infamous is a bright, plum-tinged fuchsia pink with a satiny sheen. This had a slightly drier texture than a lot of the other shades in the palette but the color payoff was still decent. It isn’t the same as Urban Decay Woodstock, which is much redder, brighter, and deeper. This is more like Woodstock and Fishnet got together and had baby. It is closer to Make Up For Ever #52 but muted and slightly purpler.
Wreckage is a muted, medium-dark brown with subtle yellow undertones and a subtle golden sheen. The color payoff was decent but not as dense as most Urban Decay eyeshadows. It is very similar in color to Bare Escentuals A-Ha. It is reminiscent of Urban Decay Toasted but not as warm.
Haight is a teal-tinged, medium-dark blue with a frosted finish. This shade is part of the permanent range, but it is a little duller than my individual pot of it. It will take on a more of a teal appearance when near greens. I can’t think of a great dupe for Haight.
Money is a silvery green-gray with a cool-toned gold sheen. It’s a really cool, complex color. It does have silver sparkles in it, so there may be some fall out. I find Money has less sparkle than really glittery shades like Midnight Cowboy, though. I couldn’t think of a dupe for this shade either.
Mushroom is a dark taupe–a little silvery, brown, and gray. It is a little less brown compard to Giorgio Armani #4 and grayer compared to theBalm Come Hither Heather.
Spotlight is a pale champagne-bronze with gold glitter and a rather chunky texture. This was the worst shade in the palette–it was dry and chunky, not just from the glitter, but the powder itself didn’t adhere smoothly. It resulted in poorer color payoff and lots of fall out. Bare Escentuals Magnetism is a touch darker (and doesn’t have glitter).
Limelight is a lightened coppery bronze with a warm golden shimmer and glitter. It’s more orange than Urban Decay Blunt but not by much. It’s a lighter version of Urban Decay Half-Baked. Funny enough, some of the lightness of the shade is due to the drier texture and uneven color payoff (which is decent but not great). I had similar issues with this shade as I did with Limelight, just not to the same degree.

Long-time collectors and fans will find this palette with too many repromotes/similarly done shades. I think Urban Decay might want to cut back on creating more browns/bronzes, because they’re starting to run together. I don’t want more Half-Baked eyeshadows, but if you’re going to just make one-offs of it, I’d rather the original so I know I’m not getting anything new. They could consider doing more browns, even in the same tones and shades, but with different finishes–like satins or mattes.

I had major issues with Spotlight and Limelight and minor issues with Infamous. I would say that two of the ten eyeshadows were misses, but the other eight were varying degrees of good to great. Like other Urban Decay palettes, though, it’s a good deal–it has $102 worth of eyeshadows, plus a travel-sized version of the shadow brush ($26), so I’d approximate the value of the whole shabang for around $120.