Urban Decay Shadow Box Review

Happy Easter everyone, hope you’ve all had a lovely long weekend and not eaten too much chocolate! The weather here in the Midlands is beautiful and is starting to finally look like spring. This blog post is going to be my first full review of a product so let’s get started 🙂

So http://www.feelunique.com were so generous and gave me £5.00 off my next purchase for my birthday so I thought I would treat myself to the new Urban Decay Shadow Box! I was so excited to receive this, it looked beautiful in the pictures online and I hadn’t bought myself a new palette in a while but when it arrived, I was a little disappointed.

I’ve been buying Urban Decay products for around 10 years and I forgot how small their palettes used to be! Over the past few years, the palettes have got bigger, think Naked and Vice and then before that, the Book of Shadows series. Prior to those being released was the Ammo Box which is the same size as this one. The magnet which keeps the palette closed is very strong, so strong that the two layers that make the lid are coming apart…

  

The packaging is beautiful, very very pretty and the shadows inside look lovely too, but the formula doesn’t seem the same as it used to. To get a decent colour payoff, you need to add a lot of layers, even on a wet brush and they also have a lot of fall out. I find this very disappointing as Urban Decay are my favourite makeup brand and their products seem to be going down hill, even the Eyeshadow Primer Potion doesn’t work as well as it used to, none of my eyeshadows seem to have the staying power that they used to. 

  

So let’s talk about the shades a little. 

Sin – this is my favourite champagne shade of all time and I had run out of it in my Naked palette so was happy that this was inside, the formulation seems the same as in the Naked palette so I’m happy about that. 

Indo – this is a dark forest green colour, great for a twist on the classic smokey eye or for a bit of colour on the lower lash line. I’ve not used it properly on my eyes yet as I am a bit more of a neutrals girl. 

Bordello – I was really looking forward to using this shadow. It’s a lilac/mauve/taupe colour with a little bit of gold micro glitter. The fallout from this shadow is awful and the colour really needs building up on a wet brush to get the colour to look as it does in the palette. 

Tornado – this is a grape purple that I personally think looks good on a darker skin tone and dark eyes. This would again be good for a smokey eye. I don’t think I will be using this as it has a slight red undertone which doesn’t look good on me as I am quite pale. 

Smog – another colour from the original Naked palette which I am happy about. I use this in my crease quite a lot. It’s a medium golden brown shade that is slightly metallic. This is the same as Sin as it has the same formulation as in the Naked palette. 

Blackout – this looks like a very highly pigmented matte black shadow, but it really doesn’t come out very well at all. You could maybe use this wet instead of using liquid eye liner or on top of it to soften the edges. I personally don’t use black eyeshadows as I don’t like my looks to be that dark. 

Flash – this shade reminded me of the first Urban Decay eyeshadow I ever bought! I first bought Asphyxia and loved it so much. This colour is a purpley pink with a blue undertone (Asphyxia had a blue shift) I like to add this over the top of Bordello for a stronger purple colour and add it over a light matte brown on the lower lash line.

Mushroom – a lovely metallic gun metal grey. This is good to use in the crease to add definition and to the lower lash line if you are going for a really smokey look. 

Lost – this shade is similar to Smog only it’s a few shades darker and has more of a bronze tone to it. Very metallic and good for neutral glam looks when added to the crease if you wanted something a bit darker. 

Freelove – I wanted to love this colour! It looks beautiful in the pan, a peachy metallic pink but when you add it to the eyelid, even when it’s primed and even when you use a wet brush, it looses all it’s beauty and just gives you a very light peach wash that falls out like crazy. I am very disappointed with this colour. 

Moonshadow – this is a stunning colour, midnight blue with a little bit of silver micro glitter. Will look really good when doing a dramatic smokey eye. I’ve not tried it on my eyes yet as I’ve not had an opportunity to (and I’m a little intimidated by how dark it is!)

Baked Cowboy – who doesn’t love a good gold eyeshadow? This has a lot of fallout though which is annoying (yes I tap off the excess on my brushes.) I find it’s best to apply with a wet brush, tap off the excess and then push the product onto the lid. I also like to mix this colour with Sin for a beautiful lid colour. 

  

Left to right: Sin, Indo, Bordello, Tornado, Smog, Blackout, Flash, Mushroom, Lost, Freelove, Moonshadow, Baked Cowboy.

Overall, I’m probably going to use half of the colours in this palette. The darker colours are a bit to dark for my liking and then a few of the shades have too much fallout for me to work easily with so I know I won’t end up using them which is unfortunate 😦 I bought this to add a bit more to my collection instead of neutral shades but it looks like I’m just going to lean towards the neutrals forever….

Let me know if any of you guys have bought this palette and what your opinions are. Don’t forget to like and follow my blog as it will really help me reach more people. Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll be back soon 🙂 x