Oh my goodness, ok so you don't even understand my excitement for being able to write this blog post! I have been lusting after this palette ever since Urban Decay announced its release over the summer. It was released in the UK in October and ever since then I have been praying for an excuse to go and buy it. Thankfully that excuse came when I covered a shift at the Fat Face store in Stansted airport with a side-mission of blowing my wages in duty-free. It's priced at £38.50 and features 12 brand new matte shades that are exclusive to this palette, so you won't find them on any other Urban Decay eyeshadow palette. You also get a double-ended brush thrown in too, which has a fluffy blending end and a stubby brush for smudging. As you've probably guessed from my blogs, I'm a huuuuuuuuuuge Urban Decay fan (to the point where it's become a bit of a problem that I need to address). I already own the Naked 3 palette as well as an MUA Hall of Fame palette, which both feature more nude/neutral shades. They're both great products, but I feel like they do focus more on shimmery/glitter eyeshadows; if you're feeling like a sparkle queen that day then that's great, but for more everyday looks I would normally reach for matte shades, so this palette will be perfect for that!
First Impressions
So the first thing I noticed about all the shades is that they're very buttery in consistency, almost to the point where they feel like a cream. As you can see, some shades came up a lot better than others, but that's hardly surprising given some of them are quite light and I'm as pale as a ghost! You get a good mixture of cool and warm tones in the palette which is really nice.
Blow
Slight shimmer, light nude colour.
So this is the only shade in the palette that actually has a slight shimmer to it; UD usually include a highlight colour within their Naked palettes so that's why it has a shimmer rather than a full matte finish. I was quite surprised this one showed up on my skin as I'm so pale, but you can see the effect on there which I love!
Nudie
Full matte, light pink colour.
As I expected, this shade really didn't show up on my skin. #paleskinprobs. You can see it if you look closely and it is still a nice colour. It's maybe one of those shades I'd use as a transition or base colour more than anything.
Commando
Full matte, dark taupe/pink colour.
So this one showed up a lot better, I think as I move along the palette they'll get darker and will show up better on my skin. Again, as it's still a little bit pale, I'm probably going to use it more as a transition or base colour.
Tempted
Full matte, dark brown/taupe colour.
Ooh little bit disappointed with the colour pay-off on this one. I was expecting it to be much darker but it's only a little bit different from Commando! You can see the difference next to each other, but there's not much.
Instinct
Full matte, pink/taupe colour.
Wow ok so this one comes out a LOT differently to how it looks in the pan. I was expecting a lot more pink in this one but it comes out with much more brown tones. It's still a nice colour though and I'm thinking it will be good for a crease colour.
Lethal
Full matte, chocolate-brown colour.
Again, I was expecting something completely different to the colour that came out on my skin! In the pan you can really see the beautiful burgundy undertones but it comes out more of a chocolate colour. That being said, it is still pretty beautiful and the pigmentation is the best so far!
Pre-Game
Full matte, pale yellow colour.
This shade came out pretty similarly to Blow, just without the shimmer. Again, because I'm so pale I really didn't expect it to show up as much on my skin, but I think it might be a nice colour to use when I set my eyeshadow primer as it's pretty close to my skin tone.
Extra Bitter
Full matte, burnt orange colour.
YAAAAAS EXTRA BITTER!!! I think this is the shade I've been most excited about and oh my goodness it does not disappoint. The colour is stunning (I'm drooling thinking about all the autumn-inspired looks I can create), the pigmentation is spot on and it looks exactly how it does in the pan! All the heart-eye emojis!
Faith
Full matte, warm brown colour.
Yay another one that actually looks like it does in the pan! This one has quite similar orangey undertones to Extra Bitter, but it's obviously more of a brown shade.
Lockout
Full matte, neutral brown colour.
This one is only a touch darker than Faith and it's much more of a brown shade. It's a very rich colour which is nice!
Magnet
Full matte, gunmetal/grey colour.
Ooh we like Magnet! I've been looking for a matte grey colour and this is really lovely! It's got some really nice cool, blueish tones in there which are really nice and don't make it so dark that it looks almost black!
Blackjack
Full matte, black colour.
Another shade I've been after; a full matte black! The colour pay-off on this one isn't amazing, but if I'm honest I don't think that's a bad thing when it comes to really dark black shades because it makes it so much easier to build up the colour. I can't tell you the amount of times I've gone in with a dark shade and had to blend the living shit out of it because it's so much darker than I wanted!
Slight shimmer, light nude colour.
So this is the only shade in the palette that actually has a slight shimmer to it; UD usually include a highlight colour within their Naked palettes so that's why it has a shimmer rather than a full matte finish. I was quite surprised this one showed up on my skin as I'm so pale, but you can see the effect on there which I love!
Full matte, light pink colour.
As I expected, this shade really didn't show up on my skin. #paleskinprobs. You can see it if you look closely and it is still a nice colour. It's maybe one of those shades I'd use as a transition or base colour more than anything.
Full matte, dark taupe/pink colour.
So this one showed up a lot better, I think as I move along the palette they'll get darker and will show up better on my skin. Again, as it's still a little bit pale, I'm probably going to use it more as a transition or base colour.
Full matte, dark brown/taupe colour.
Ooh little bit disappointed with the colour pay-off on this one. I was expecting it to be much darker but it's only a little bit different from Commando! You can see the difference next to each other, but there's not much.
Full matte, pink/taupe colour.
Wow ok so this one comes out a LOT differently to how it looks in the pan. I was expecting a lot more pink in this one but it comes out with much more brown tones. It's still a nice colour though and I'm thinking it will be good for a crease colour.
Full matte, chocolate-brown colour.
Again, I was expecting something completely different to the colour that came out on my skin! In the pan you can really see the beautiful burgundy undertones but it comes out more of a chocolate colour. That being said, it is still pretty beautiful and the pigmentation is the best so far!
Full matte, pale yellow colour.
This shade came out pretty similarly to Blow, just without the shimmer. Again, because I'm so pale I really didn't expect it to show up as much on my skin, but I think it might be a nice colour to use when I set my eyeshadow primer as it's pretty close to my skin tone.
Full matte, burnt orange colour.
YAAAAAS EXTRA BITTER!!! I think this is the shade I've been most excited about and oh my goodness it does not disappoint. The colour is stunning (I'm drooling thinking about all the autumn-inspired looks I can create), the pigmentation is spot on and it looks exactly how it does in the pan! All the heart-eye emojis!
Full matte, warm brown colour.
Yay another one that actually looks like it does in the pan! This one has quite similar orangey undertones to Extra Bitter, but it's obviously more of a brown shade.
Full matte, neutral brown colour.
This one is only a touch darker than Faith and it's much more of a brown shade. It's a very rich colour which is nice!
Full matte, gunmetal/grey colour.
Ooh we like Magnet! I've been looking for a matte grey colour and this is really lovely! It's got some really nice cool, blueish tones in there which are really nice and don't make it so dark that it looks almost black!
Full matte, black colour.
Another shade I've been after; a full matte black! The colour pay-off on this one isn't amazing, but if I'm honest I don't think that's a bad thing when it comes to really dark black shades because it makes it so much easier to build up the colour. I can't tell you the amount of times I've gone in with a dark shade and had to blend the living shit out of it because it's so much darker than I wanted!
How It Looked
So I thought I'd try out two different looks again; the first one is more of an everyday kind of look with more warm tones and the second is maybe more for night time and I've used a couple of the cooler shades for that. I did use Pre-Game as a base colour for both looks and I found it gave me a nice, even base to work with! I've just photographed my eyes for this one as I wore a lot of make-up the night before and wanted to give my skin a bit of a break rather than layering on foundation and primer as well!
Ok so I went straight for Extra Bitter with this one as I loved it so much. I stuck with the brownish colours for this look as I tend to go with those kind of shades if I'm doing everyday make up for work.
Crease - Extra Bitter and Faith
Outer Corner - Lethal
Lid - Blow
Crease - Extra Bitter and Faith
Outer Corner - Lethal
Lid - Blow
Crease - Magnet
Outer Corner - Blackjack
Lid - Pre-Game and Roadstripe
Lower Lashline - Blackjack and Roadstripe
Word of warning: the darker colours in this palette are really really pigmented so I would 100% recommend going in with a little bit at a time and making sure you have a good blending brush handy! They were all really easy to blend though as they're so buttery. I wasn't a huge fan of the blending brush end you get with the palette. I think because it's so densely packed you get loads of product on it. I ended up using it to just blend all the colours at the end rather than actually try and apply eyeshadow with it. The smudger end is brilliant though! I used it on my lower lashline and also to pack on Blackjack to make it more pigmented and it worked really well for both! My only criticisms for this palette would be the paler shades; if you're really fair like me then you might struggle to get the colour pay-off you want. It makes it quite difficult to create a look using this palette alone, but as individual neutral shades it's pretty good!
Rating - 4/5
Comments
Post a Comment