Well, for starters, the boxing looks pretty cool. For one simple reason. Because it’s different. Yes, there’s all the shiny gold here, but it mixed with white in an art deco like kind of way as opposed to all the shiny gold we’ve just witnessed in holiday collections.

 

It’s cool. It’s stylish with a punk twist. It’s very Gwen Stefani. I like it. A lot. It sets the right mood for sure.

 

As usual, when it’s about Urban Decay, I look at the back to get a feel for the shades that are coming my way. I see a lot of pretty greige browns there. Yummy.

 

The design of the inside of the box is cool too in a girly kind of way. Very nice.

 

When I look inside the first thing that comes out is not the palette itself, but this sampler thing for Gwen Stefani lipstick. Black and gold design. All good. Four shades to try and eight shades listed in the back.

 

I’m all excited now to see these shades. Unfortunately, I find that such testers don’t have enough product in them to actually make out what it’s like. So, I’ll just wait to get a full size of these to form an opinion. It’s a good tease though 🙂 I mean, just look at this black and gold patterned tube. Wow 🙂

 

And there’s the palette. Once again, it’s modern and art decoish in a way. Very fresh. Off the beaten path. A good introduction to the shades. A nice thing to have and hold in your hand. Also, it’s small. Smaller than I expected. Small in a good way. Compact.

 

Finally, I open it all curious to really see the shades. I look at them… and get kind of bored, to tell you the truth. The shades look lighter than they did on the photo. They are all beige and nude, most of them. So many nudes… So many. Too many, if you ask me. I like nudes, I wear them, but they aren’t my favourites. If you are a fan of nude eye tones though, you’ll be ever so happy on seeing this palette. And you’ll wear all those shades.

 

Then I see the bottom row, and I feel a little better 🙂 There is something interesting here. Something that’s not really nude. Some zesty shades. Ok, I’m all for that. Even in nude eye makeup, personally, I could use a little bit of a colour accent.

 

Notice how this palette is so compact there’s no brush in it. So, prepare you own tools 🙂

 

I’ll say right here before I plunge into the whole shade swirl, that the eyeshadow is this palette is solid professional quality. Soft without being too soft. Easy to apply. Different in texture depending on the shade.

 

I’ll go here in batches of three, that is, in vertical rows.

 

Blonde would be an off white base shade, if it were matt, but it’s actually satiny, which might make for a nice highlighting shade.

 

Baby looks like a very cool beige in the palette, but once I swatch it, it gives off a very pretty pink undertone to it. It’s a very flattering, very delicate shade. I like it. Noble.

 

Pop looks warm beige in the palette. There’s little colour to this shade though. It swatched almost like an off white. A whisper of beige. But… turns out, it’s not that simple. It’s loaded with beautiful sparkle. I want to pair it up with Baby. Modern romance is this spring trend. These two shades in one look will give us the ultimate modern romance 🙂

 

Those were the first three.

 

Moving on. Next three.

 

Bathwater is yet another light beige in the palette. When swatched, proves to be a shiny in a delicate way off white shade with a light yellow barely lingering undertone. I have to say, it’s a very appealing shade. If there were more of this yellow in it, I’ll get all over it 🙂

 

Anaheim Oh, I love this. Matt and classy milk and coffee. It’s a beauty. So rare. I think it’s one of the few shades that look good on everyone out there. And you can go from a nude look to building it up and doing a mysterious smoky. An awesome shade.

 

Harajuku now we’re talking 🙂 Satiny medium cool pink. Just a little sparkly. Gorgeous. And by the way, this season pink eyeshadow is trendy. We’ve seen it in a lot of collections. I know, not many people like pink eyeshadow. But this is a very mild version of pink. And it’s very becoming. And it looks great with red lip on dark haired girls, believe it or not.

 

All three shades.

 

Moving on. The third row.

 

Skimp is another off white shade. There’s just a touch of beige, pink and yellow in it. It’s matt. Can be a good base shade. Will work well for a nude eye look. Other than that there’s really nothing here to write home about.

 

Stark is a matt warm beige. Actually, this shade is interesting. Can be very special. If you add a warn brown eyeliner to it or something. Very rare too. Greige rules the makeup world at the moment, so such warm matt beige colour gets released only rarely. It’s definitely a keeper.

 

Danger uh, here we go, something to shake up the whole nude thing here. And to attract the attention of blue eyed girls. A beautiful blue. Truly beautiful. Darker, but not really dark. That’s the key to doing such blue. It can’t slide all the way into navy blue. Then it’s more of an eyeliner. This here is the right way to do darker blue. It’s bright. And it shines from within. And there’s delicate sparkle to it too. Smoky eyes with this shade will be a killer. And not only on those whose eyes are blue. It will be enough to wear a blue dress to make it work. Yes, this shade is dangerous, dangerously hot, that is.

 

Here we go.

 

And the next batch of three.

 

Steady looks warm beige like in the palette. When I swatched it, it became clear that, for starters, it’s very pearly, and also there’s more orange and bronze in it than it seemed initially. It’s not beige, it’s shiny orangey bronze. I don’t like orange eyeshadow. Even when orange is a strong enough undertone I don’t like it. It looks good on me, I just don’t like it. But it’s a very nice shade, because it’s well balanced, not too light, not too dark, not too orange, not too bronze. Perfect balance.

 

Zone is yet another pleasant surprise. It looks warm beige in the palette. There’s a little more colour in it than in the other beiges. But then it turns out to be this beautiful matt warm light brown. You know what it is, it’s a version of Anaheim, only a warm one. Smoky eyes with this shade will be really something. And you can pair it up with Steady for a more of a red carpet look. Beautiful thing 🙂

 

1987 here’s another distraction for those who are falling asleep already with all the nudes and beiges going on here. A classy golden eye shade. For once 🙂 Lush. Darker. Elegant. Istead of going into the shiny and sparkly world to the point of no return. It’s sexy. It’s sophisticated. The way gold was meant initially. Another good shade to match Zone.

 

And that’s that.

 

The last three.

 

Punk ok, so, we’re getting here into the eyeliner/smoky eye look territory. This shade is a very interesting matt brown. It’s not really warm, which it seems to be at first glance. And which is what brown mostly is that gets released as eye colour in makeup universe. It’s more like brown mixed with greige. Understated brown. Mysterious brown. Love it.

 

Serious is a matt darker grey. Eye liner shade. Smoky eye shade. Just don’t forget to add something to it, if you want to have an interesting twist to your look. Also, obviously this shade is the kind of shade that can add depth to you classical black smoky eyes.

 

Blackout yes, it is blackout. Yes, it is black. And it’s the shade we know to be Urban Decay version of matt black smoky eye shade. If smoky eye is not your kind of thing, or you don’t like black smoky eye, but prefer something more artsy, or if you do this look only rarely, this matt black is always a good eyeliner option.

 

Here are the three matt darker shades of the palette.

 

Fifteen shades in such a small paltte. That’s a good result. And there’s quite a bit of eyeshadow there.

 

All in all, the palette will be a good catch for you, if you like nude makeup in general and nude eyeshadow in particular. Those extra shades, those bright spots in the palette – pink, blue, gold is something that appeals to me personally. And of course, those two matts – greige and light brown are exquisite. This palette can never be my favourite – too many nudes – but it’s a pleasant distraction for when I get tired of more vibrant colours or colour proper.