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Showing posts with label Urban Decay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Urban Decay. Show all posts


Get this palette!! Seriously.
 I probably own about 10 Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes and with the exception of Naked2, this is hands down my favorite. The texture of these shadows is buttery (think Lorac Pro) and the pigmentation is really, really good. There's a decent mix of matte and shimmers and all perform equally as well on me. Also a huge bonus: it comes with a deluxe sized Primer Potion AND full sized Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Perversion (it was in my purse when I took these pics). I don't know about you, but I can always use another black eyeliner, especially one as pigmented and creamy as Perversion. 
The palette includes a mirror and comes in fabric zippered case, which I thought was unique. The word "Smoked" is embossed (?) on the fabric so it has a cool black on black effect. 

But here's the best part. This palette is currently on sale for $20! Put in perspective, one full sized liner from Urban Decay is $20 and you're getting that included with this palette! Last time I checked this was "temporarily" sold out on both Ulta and Sephora's websites, but 2 of my local Ulta's had this palette in stock.  

From left to right: Barlust, Rockstar, Evidence, Loaded, Asphalt, Kinky, Freestyle, Mushroom, Backdoor and Blackout. 
Overall, don't miss out on this palette. Even at full price ($49) I'd still recommend getting it. At the sale price, its a no brainer. Its got a great mix of everyday practical colors as well as some fun colors.
Essentially these are just a more sophisticated version of a glitter eyeshadow. But the formula Urban Decay uses feels silky to the touch and makes these a joy to use. The glitter itself is more finely milled and the effect is sparkly, but not disco ball level. At $20 each, they're not a necessity (I waited for a sale before purchasing) but they are a nice addition to a standard eyeshadow collection.

Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows in Stargazer and Space Cowboy.

Although I only purchased 2 of these, I did swatch the entire collection (forgot to take pics, boo!) and they all swatch more like the color "Space Cowboy." Meaning they're more on the sheer side, but can be layered over themselves or another eyeshadow to intensify the color. "Stargazer" was the only color that looked more opaque on its own to me.

Overall, these are not a must have. They're fun, but not super practical for everyday use. Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows can be found at Ulta, Sephora and most department stores.

This is a great, wearable little palette! The $34 price tag kept me from purchasing it when it was first released, but it's since been marked down to $16 on urbandecay.com and it's absolutely worth ever penny!

Vengeance is probably my favorite shadow of the bunch. Its a rich cocoa color without any red undertones, which has been surprisingly hard for me to find. If I had to choose a dud, it'd be Anger. The pigmentation doesn't seem to be as good as the other shadows. Overall though, I can see  this entire palette being used pretty much on a daily basis.
Before I washed off my makeup for the night, I thought I'd give another shot at my makeup enemy a.k.a. red eyeshadow, lol. Knowing I wasn't wearing this out, I didnt' hold back and here are the results: Me + red still = fail, but I haven't given up!

Sry for the squinty, sleepy eyes.

Face: Guerlain Parure Extreme
Maybelline Dream Powder

Eyes: All Sleek Sunset Palette- red, orange, black and pale highlight
Maybelline Falsies Mascara
UD 24/7 eyeliner in Zero

Brows: Jemma Kidd Runway palette dark brown
Anastasia Clear Brow Gel

Cheeks: MAC Petticoat MSF

Lips: Revlon Hazlenut ls

Max Factor Golddigger lipgloss
 I finally got my Sephora.com haul in the mail! So far the only thing I'm disappointed with is one of the Smashbox eyeshadow palettes. I ordered both the Iconic 4 Shadow Palette and the Classyfied 6 Shadow palette and the difference in quality between them is like night and day.

The Iconic shadows are creamy to the touch, pigmented and have a lovely finish. The Classyfied shadows are hit and miss. Most of them are hard, chalky and not very pigmented, however there are 2-3 that have decent color payoff and blend nicely.
Smashbox Iconic Palette $12

Smashbox Iconic with flash.

Smashbox Iconic without flash.
 I also added a Stila travel palette in Aspen to my order to qualify for free shipping. The colors are better than I thought they would be, and the quality is good.

Stila Aspen Palette $10
 The drawings on the UD Show Pony Palette are just as creepy as I thought they looked in the online pics. I have some old acrylic paints lying around so I've decided I'm going to put my non-existent art skills to use and paint something over the package, lol.

The shadows in this palette have the same great UD quality I've come to expect and I can see myself getting a lot of use from this palette. On a side note, there is a UD Preen palette on Ulta.com right now for $16, I almost ordered it until I realized the colors are the same as Show pony, just diff, non-creepy packaging.

Show Pony also came with a mini Primer Potion and 24/7 eyeliner pencil. This was my first experience with the 24/7 pencils and I'm super impressed! My bank account won't let me drop $20 a piece on some eyeliners anytime soon lol, but a few of these are being added to my wishlist.
Stila Aspen without flash

Urban Decay Show Pony Palette $16

Urban Decay Show Pony Swatches with flash.
Smashbox Classyfied Eye Palette $15
 I know this sale is old news for most, and I'm supposed to be on a no-buy until March 15th, but when I saw these lovely palettes on sale at Sephora.com , I lost ALL my will power, lol.

I'll post swatches as soon as I get them in the mail!
Smashbox Iconic Eyes Palette $12

Urban Decay Show Pony Palette (with mini eyeliner and primer potion) $16
*The faces on this palette really freak me out, lol. I'm going to have to find a way
to cover them or depot the shadows and trash the packaging.







 This was my first time trying to copy a celeb's makeup and I have to say it was a lot of fun! Of course I look nothing like her, and I didn't get this makeup look completely right, but still I think this is something I may attempt to do on a regular basis.

I think trying to imitate something and get it just right will help improve my makeup skills and hopefully I'll learn some new techniques in the process!

Face:
Revlon Colorstay Foundation
Revlon Colorstay Concealer

Revlon Beyond Natural Concealer
Calvin Klein Concealer in Brown Sugar ( yes I used 3 diff concealers and my skin still looked wretched)
ELF Pressed Powder in Almond
Mac Prep and Prime finishing powder
YSL Faucils mascara
ELF Hollywood false lashes
*Hardest lashes I've ever used. The spine is thick and didn't want to bend to fit my eye shape, plus they feel very heavy on the lids. To get them to stay put, I wound up applying lash glue to my skin and then holding these suckers at both ends with some tweezers and my fingers until the glue dried. Won't be using these again anytime soon :(
Eyes:
Loreal HIP Cream Color Crayon ( the green one)
Lorac Money Eyeshadow
Urban Decay Graffiti Loose pigment
Black Radiance Gingersnap Bronzer (blended up to brow bone)


Brows:
Sleek Storm Palette
ELF Brow kit in Dark (wax side)

Cheeks:
Graffiti Cosmetics Blushon Spain


Lips:
Revlon Superlustrous Lipgloss in Nude Lustre (75% off at CVS!)

What celebs would you guys suggest I try next?
Was having some fun with 2 of my favorite shades - Purple and Pink! I would never wear something this bold and colorful out, but I love playing in my makeup from time to time!

* I also decided to stick with my new liner technique of starting from the middle of my upper lid, instead of the inner corner. So far I think it works well with my eye shape.

Face:
Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in 5.0
Black Radiance Complexion Perfection Concealer

Brows:
Sleek Storm Palette Dark Brown mixed with Black


Eyes:
Urban Decay Loose Pigment in Asphyxia
Mac Later Pigment
Ulta Bone Eyeshadow
ELF Cream Liner in Black
YSL Faucils Mascara 
 Guerlain Terracotta Kohl Kajal on waterline

Cheeks:
Mac Pink Glow
Lips:
Mac Violetta
Shu Uemura PR 050
During the $2 UD sale, I also managed to add these 3 brushes to my cart in the 10 seconds it took for them to sell out, lol.

When I was looking at these online, I was most excited about the blush brush since I needed something with a shorter handle that would fit in my purse. Now that I see it in person, I'm a little disappointed. The brush is kinda floppy and fibers seem like they should have be cut shorter. The long   hairs make it harder to control placing and blending blush.  This thing also takes for EVER to dry, which is a huge inconvience.

I was pleasantly surprised by both the Brow and Eyeshadow brushes. From other reviews I'd read, I thought the brow brush would be too soft and flimsy to really get in between brow hairs and deposit color. Those reviews were so wrong! This brush is soft, but its also stiff at the same time. It fills my brows in perfectly with very little effort on my part. The thin, tapered edge is also great for precisely getting in between those sparse little hairs at the end of my brows.
In the 3 days I've had it, this little thing has fast become my holy grail brow brush! I'm currently scouring the internet looking for a backup since I can't imagine being without this brush ever!

The eyeshadow brush, while not as life-changing as the brow brush is also really good. Its not like a typical shadow brush in that theres nothing fluffy or full about it. Its so flat it reminds me more of a concealer type of brush, which is great for packing loose pigments on with precision and minimal fallout. Its most definitely not for blending, but thats okay because I have a million of those $1 fluffly E.L.F brushes to do that.
When I was swatching my new UD pigments, I realized that Rockstar looked like a perfect dupe for Later pigment from Mac.  Sure enough as I put them side by side on my arm I could barely tell the difference.

Although both are black based purple shadows with some glitter in them, the glitter in Rockstar is chunkier and shows up more when its applied over a primer and the pigment itself looks richer and darker with a primer underneath. Later swatched about the same with or without a primer and it also wins points for being easier to apply and for the more conveinent packaging.

* I know a lot of people complain about the Mac pigment packaging, and I was never a huge fan of it, however after using the very poorly designed and super messy UD packaging, the Mac doesn't seem all that bad anymore.
 Click read more to see the swatches side by side.
 Back in December, HauteLook had another Urban Decay sale, but this time everything was $2.00 (no thats not a typo, lol). So since I already had 5 UD loose pigments from a previous Hautelook sale, I decided to complete my UD pigment collection.

These are no different from the first 5 that I brought: the packaging is silly, the built in brush is useless and creates a huge mess, and these really need a good primer to stick to your skin.
To see the swatches click read more.

This look started out as something completely bland and wearable, but I was bored by it so I added a ton of black to the outer corners, some dramatic falsies and really packed the gold on my lid.

After all that, I kinda hated the way the lips looked with the more dramatic eyes. But since I used a OCC liptar, my lips were stained a pinkish color for hours even though I tried to wipe it off and go with a more nude lippie. Oh well, here are the final results.

Face
Keyvn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer
Rock and Republic Classic Tinted Primer
MAC Prep and Prime Powder

Eyes
Urban Decay Loose Pigment in Baked
Sleek Black eyeshadow
Sonia Kashuk Lashes
ELF Black Eyeliner
YSL Mascara

Brows
Sleek Storm Palette

Cheeks
Lorac Soul

Lips
OCC Liptar in Demure
Bobbi Brown Black Garnet Lipstick
Armani Pink Lipgloss (can't remember the name)
There was an Urban Decay sale on HauteLook a few weeks back and I snatched up five of these for $5 each. The colors are highly pigmented, but a huge PITA to apply. They get everywhere, and I mean all over the frickin place. I had heard this before I getting these but figured I'd be extra careful and it would be fine. Wrong. The shadows got all over my desk, laptop, palms of my hands - everywhere. When applying to your lids, a sticky primer or base is a MUST or these won't stay on your skin.

Overall, if I'd payed full price for these I'd be kinda upset right now, but if they go on sale again I think I'll pick up a few more because the colors really are gorgeous.







The swatches are from left to right: Shag , Smog, Goddess, Baked and Gunmetal. Pic taken in natural light with no flash. Excuse my hairy arm, lol.







*edit for part 2 of my review with the rest of the Urban Decay Loose Pigment Eyeshadows, click here: http://beautyandthebrowngirl.blogspot.com/2011/01/urban-decay-loose-pigment-eyeshadows.html