When Urban Decay get it right, they get it really right. And this is one of those times that a product is just oh-so-good. For a start, it's fricking huge!!! It's about 7 inches long and 2 inches wide. It's in a brown velvet casing which feels pretty nice to touch, and the palette, despite it's cardboard interior, feels nice and resilient. It has a small mirror on the inside as well.
Yeah, yeah, get on with the colors, girl!! What are the colors like?
Urban Decay are not a brand known for their amazing neutrals - they usually leave that space to MAC and Bobbi Brown. However, the twelve colors they've put out in this are going to make you rethink that image.
Left to Right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar
Virgin is a pale, slightly shimmery nude, in the same vein as MAC's Vanilla. It is smooth to apply and would work as a wash on your lids or a highlighter.
Sin is a permanent color that I've come across in Alice in Wonderland. It is up there as all-time most awesome Urban Decay shadow ever. It's a pinky-peach toned shimmery neutral, and incredibly versatile. Again, swatched nicely, with decent pigmentation.
Naked is a matte light brown - dirt brown I'd call it - but something more pleasant. Even though it's a matte, it swatches nicely, giving off a good, smooth color.
Sidecar is a shimmery light bronze. It actually has some glitter thrown in there, so for me I'd be a little more careful with using it, but it's not like Midnight Cowboy Rides Again or anything like that.
Left to Right: Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse
Buck is a matte mid-tone brown. It's good to swatch as well.
Half Baked has been in every Urban Decay palette I've ever bought. It's nice, but really? Okay, for the 12 people in the world who have never seen Half Baked, it's a rich, shimmery, golden bronze color. I will give UD credit - it is an incredibly pretty shade.
Smog is a darker bronze shimmery shade with yummy pay off. For those MAC dupers out there, this looks like a great dupe for Bronze if it was on your must have list.
Darkhorse is a coffee brown shimmery color flecked with coppery-bronze. This color was incredibly rich - gorgeous but go with a light hand!
Left to Right: Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal
Toasted is like a darker version of Sin. It's a pinky-brown shimmer.
Hustle was the only one which gave me an uneven swatch. It's a purple-brown color with a slight shimmer.
Creep is a dark grey with a touch of glitter.
Gunmetal has also been in a couple of other palettes. It's a deep shimmery great with shimmer and some glitter. It can take up the color of base coats quite well and appear more pink toned or teal toned, depending on what it's playing with.
12 colors of awesomeness, I'm tell you. They all place nicely with each other, they can be dressed up, dressed down - I love it. The kit also comes with a mini Primer Potion (I have about 7 of those now!) and a Zero 24/7 pencil and a Whiskey 24/7 pencil. I particularly loved how the pencil is double ended, because, although I have heaps of mini Zero's around my make up, I am always losing them because they are mini.
The palette retails at $44 and is available from ULTA Beauty
