Review - Urban Decay Palettes - Naked, Wallpaper, Show Pony, Foreshadow

This is a review of the following Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes: Foreshadow, Show Pony, Wallpaper, and Naked.  

Urban Decay has quickly become one of my favorite brands.  Their products are high quality and unique, and the formulation is fantastic.  They are a cruelty-free company and list all ingredients on their website so there are no surprises as to what's inside the makeup.  I especially love their eyeshadows - they are creamy, super blendable, highly pigmented, and overall gorgeous!   Website: www.urbandecay.com


All photos are hi-res, click on them for a larger image!

Foreshadow is the smallest of the palettes I have and has 4 colors - Oil Slick (black with fine silver glitter), Stray Dog (dark brown shimmer), Midnight Cowboy (gold/beige with large silver glitter), and Flipside (green/teal shimmer).  The outside is purple suede with silver mesh and it comes with a slim purple eyeshadow brush.  It closes magnetically and has a nice small shape, perfect for travel.  The brush is really nice, it is small and picks up the shadow well.  It has a nice tapered shape, soft bristles, and is a good travel brush because it can be used for an entire wash of color or more precise crease/liner work. Oil Slick is a great liner color and can be used to create a lovely smoky eye.  Stray Dog is a nice crease or liner color and works well with Midnight Cowboy - but that is the shade I use the least because of the large chunks of glitter.  The color itself is lovely but no matter what I do I wind up with glitter on my cheeks!  Flipside is a great pop of color in this palette and I like to blend it along my lash line with some Oil Slick on the outer corners for a fun night-out eye look.

Overall: B+

Pros: Small, nice mix of colors, brush is great for travel

Cons: the glitter in Midnight Cowboy

Show Pony (also called Preen) has 6 colors and features artwork by Kime Buzzelli which is really fun and cute.  I love that this palette is more artistic looking and the artwork even overlaps the mirror.  It comes with an adorable mini primer potion and a travel eyeliner in Zero. The shades are Snatch (peachy pink with glitter), Mildew (mossy green shimmer), Flash (purple shimmer), Painkiller (bright blue shimmer), Smog (bronzey brown shimmer), and Toasted (brown/maroon shimmer). Snatch and Painkiller are exclusive to this set.  This palette is great because it has 3 neutral colors and 3 fun bright colors.  Snatch is the only shade with glitter and all the others are shimmers, which is good because although I love UD shadows the glitter shades always have fallout for me. You can get rid of the glitter a bit by tapping your brush onto a tissue before applying to the eyes, but even with primer I still wind up with it on my cheeks!  The glitter in Snatch is less than in Midnight Cowboy so the fallout isn't quite as bad. The other night I used Flash on my lid, Painkiller on the outer corners and a bit of Oil Slick from the Foreshadow palette along my lash line and it made a really fun look.  I was at a concert dancing and sweating for 5 hours and when I got home, my eyeshadow was still perfect and in place!  With primer the purple and blue shades are very bright and show up well.  Snatch, Smog and Toasted are nice shades for a smoky brown or a neutral eye.  All the shades blend well and have a nice creamy consistency.

Overall: A

Pros: Nice mix of shades, handy Zero eyeliner, great for neutral or bright looks, creative but functional packaging

Cons: None! 

Wallpaper is a slim Shadow Box palette from Holiday 2004 and has 9 shades.  It comes with two sponge-tip applicators.  They eyeshadow pans are smaller than the other palettes.  It comes with Grind (pale pink with large silver glitter), Shotgun (brownish maroon with small silver glitter), Last Call (deep maroon shimmer), Asphyxia (purple with blue shift shimmer), Uzi (silver with large silver glitter), Shattered (muted teal shimmer), Smog (bronzey brown shimmer), Chopper (bronze with small silver glitter), and Midnight Cowboy (peachy beige with large silver glitter).  Asphyxia, Shattered, and Last Call are my favorite shades in this palette.  Asphyxia is a gorgeous pale purple with blue shift and looks great on the lid with Shattered on the outer corners.  Shotgun is a nice allover lid shade and is pretty with Last Call as a crease shade.  Overall this is my least favorite palette because of the high amount of glitter shades.  Grind, Uzi, and Midnight Cowboy all have large silver glitter and it always winds up with fallout, so I don't use those too often although the shades themselves are pretty.  I would not pay full price for it, but if you find it on sale it's worth it for Asphyxia, Shattered, and Last Call.

Overall: B

Pros: Shades are complimentary, palette is slim and easy to store, has neutral and colorful shadows

Cons: Glitter fallout!! 

Naked is their newest permanent palette and has 12 shades, including 5 new shades.  All the shades are neutral and it contains no bright colors.  The outside is brown suede and is stamped with NAKED in gold.  Mine came with the eyeshadow brush but the earlier version has a dual ended liner with Zero and Whiskey.  It also comes with a mini primer potion.  The brush is really nice and great for an allover wash of color, but the tapered end makes it easy for crease shading and even lining.  The shades are: Virgin (pale pink shimmer), Sin (light pinkish brown shimmer), Naked (taupe matte), Sidecar (silver brown shimmer, tiny glitter), Buck (brown matte), Half Baked (gold/bronze shimmer), Smog (brown/bronze shimmer), Darkhorse (deep chocolate shimmer), Toasted (brownish plum shimmer), Hustle (deep chocolate brown/maroon shimmer), Creep (dark gray with silver microglitter shimmer) and Gunmetal (dark silver with silver microglitter shimmer).  I am really happy I bought this palette because it is great for looks ranging from barely-there to smokey nighttime and I feel they really compliment my blue eyes.  The shades are all creamy and very blendable.  Naked and Buck are great matte shades for daytime looks and are my favorites in the palette along with Virgin and Toasted.  If I'm going natural I like a sweep of Naked, some Buck in the crease, and a bit of Virgin on my inner corners.  For a more intense look I use Sin on the lid with Toasted in the crease, Virgin on the browbones, and Creep as a liner.  I think Half Baked and Smog are going to be great this summer with a tan for a bronzey beach look.  I love that this palette has no shades with big chunks of glitter.  This palette makes it easy to create office daytime looks, bronzey summer looks, or sexy nighttime looks.  Every shade compliments the others and all can be used together - there is not one shade in this palette that I would never use.  Creep and Gunmetal are nice additions to the rest of the brown shades because Creep is a great liner and shading color and Gunmetal would be perfect for a silver smoky eye.  For $48 with the brush this really is a steal, and since these are full size shadows this will last a long time.  I think the shades would look great on any skin tone and with any eye color so this palette is very versatile for anyone, and after experiencing the fantastic formulation of the shadows I must say that it's become my new favorite palette.

Overall: A+

Pros: Creamy formula, all shades compliment each other, easy to create a wide range of looks, brush is high quality, excellent value since shadows are full size

Cons: None at all!

Do you have any of these palettes and what are your thoughts on them?  Please share your favorite Urban Decay products, or if you've never tried it then what would you like to take home?



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