Older readers of this blog probably know that I'm no good when it comes to doing eye makeup looks, I really, truly struggle when it comes to blending and all that jazz, and for the life of me can't figure out what would suit my eye shape and what wouldn't. Basically what I'm trying to tell you guys is that I tend to stay away from purchasing eye shadow palettes, since I feel like I don't really utilize them probably, BUT who can say no to an Urban Decay 16 eye shadow palette, along with deluxe samples and a full sized product under $25? Not this girl, not at all! Haha
First off, this 'palette' is quite literally a box, and even though it looks really pretty on my vanity, it isn't compact enough to travel with if space is an issue, but if space isn't an issue, then you can definitely chuck this in your luggage since it is very durable you won't have to fear for the life of your eye shadows. I love purple so all the art work on the packaging is right up my alley with the images and names of all the eye shadows on the backside of the outer packaging.
So once you take the palette out of the box, there is this flap you open and you're met with these super cute 3 dimensional butterflies, a decent sized mirror, 'get the look' cards and a compartment where you can fit your smart phone, so it is easy for you to watch tutorials and do the looks. I've never had a palette with these sort of features so I got super excited by them, my friends however, weren't entertained by the extra 'toys' haha. If only they knew beauty blogger lingo! Lol.
So to get to the eye shadow part of the palette, you have to tug on a ribbon that is enclosed within the palette so you can open the drawer that contains all the goodies that you can see in the image above. When I say 'tug' I mean pull like there's no tomorrow / give your hands and fingers a proper workout / put the ribbon in between your teeth (desi style haha) and pull on it and only then will the drawer open. The first time I tried opening it in front of my friends, boy did they laugh, since I was being all delicate with it at the start, but after five minute of careful pulling, I did all that is told above haha.
Now on to the beautiful eye shadows, all of them except for one that is loaded with chunky glitter, are super smooth and soft. They literally feel feel like butter when you swatch them with your fingers since they are incredibly well milled and densely packed together. The biggest disappointment in terms of pigmentation was creep, the matte black, even the lightest colors performed much better than it.
The palette basically has 16 shades, which are divided into brights (the top 8) and the more neutral ones (the bottom 8, with the exception of one). Being a neutral lover, I thought I wouldn't be getting much use out of the top 8 shades since they were soo vibrant but those are the colors I have used the most! Baked has seriously become my all time favorite eyeshadow, just look at that beautiful rusty-gold shade, seriously what's not to love?
Here are swatches of the top 8 eyeshadows, with Baked being my favorite followed by Psychedelic Sister, a true royal purple, and Grifter, a multi dimensional iridescent lilac. Hijack looks super lovely and brings out the brown in my eyes since it's somewhere between a teal/blue shade, adding alot of depth.
These are the swatches for the bottom eight eyeshadow, which lean more towards the neutral side. Midnight Cowgirl and Polyester Bride had more of a gritty texture compared to rest if the eyeshadow due to the fact that they have glitter in them that isn't as finely milled. While I don't use Midnight Cowgirl alot for this reason, Polyester Bride is beautiful as an inner corner highlight, just remember that it is very in your face and glittery so if you're going for a natural look this might not be the shade you want to use, but if you want that pop in your inner corner highlight, then this is surely a winner! Some of the shades are repeats from the Naked 1 palette which is always a plus point!
If all this wasn't enough, you get deluxe sized samples of the classic, Urban Decay Primer Potion along with their Super Curling Mascara, a full sized liquid eyeliner and a super fum portable speaker that you can attach to your phones! (reviews in a future blog post) I'm such a girl when it comes to stuff like this, so I couldn't stop oo-hing and aah-ing over it!
To wrap up this review, I'd say for the price, this palette was such a bargain, it's a shame that it was a Black Friday deal. I'll keep my eyes on the Urban Decay website next year, just in case they bring back any of the other Book Of Shadows. I give this one a double thumbs up since not only are you getting a limited edition box of wonder, everything from the eye shadows to the primer potion in this palette are the reformulated version with a few new shades that are exclusive to this version of the palette only. Rest assured, you're not getting eye shadows with UD's 5-year-old formula!
Whew, that was quite the review haha. Hope you guys didn't get too bored and decided to only look at the pictures instead of read the text haha! Until next time, tc.
