Urban Decay 15 Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection Review and Swatches

Heya Guys, today I've got my full review of the new Urban Decay palette in celebration of their 15th Anniversary. Urban Decay hold a special place in my heart for being the brand that started of my make-up obsession. So needless to say I didn't have much restraint when this palette came out! With another BOS now announced my bank balance really will be feeling sorry for itself! Anyway on with the review, this costs £39 and is available from Debenhams. 

As always I have included a summary at the end.

The Basics

As you'll already know this is limited edition and comes with 15 eyeshadows, all unique to this palette. 14 have varying levels of shimmer, with the black being a matte black. Each shadow has 1.3g of product, slightly less than the 1.5g you get when bought individually. It's worth noting that the palette doesn't include a primer/liner/brush like usual. But I'm not going to dwell on that. The packaging is different from what we've seen before so I've dedicated the section below to talking about it, but as a summary, I'm not much of a fan. 

The Packaging

When this was new, I'll admit it was pretty stunning, but now it's covered in fingerprints! It is basically a purple and gunmetal reflective coloured box with lid.  There is some intricate designs on the side as seen above and the UD initials emblazoned on the front. I do find that the lid is a little loose fitting, falling of if held upside down, this for me makes it unsuitable for travel. Inside the lid is a huge mirror, which I think is a great inclusion. The eyeshadows also remove to leave a nice keepsake box lined with velvety purple material. 

The Colour Choices 

At first I thought this had a great mix of naturals, brights, smokeys, lights and darks. But after using this I think the palette could have done with some more brighter colours and a few less natural coloured - especially now we have the Naked palette. To make a comparisson with the Naked palette, most of the colours are fairly different, but there is some similarity with some of the bronzey colours. For me it's different enough to justify having both. 

Eyeshadow Quality

These haven't disappointed as far as quality is concerned. They have good pigmentation and last into the evening without creasing and fading. They also have minimal fallout, but there is a very small amount, with the texture being silky soft. There are a few shades that are a bit different quality wise, and are mentioned in the section below. 

L-R: Midnight Rodeo, Midnight 15, Vanilla, Flow, Chase.

L-R: Tainted, Junkshow, Omen, Evidence, Deep End.

L-R: Deeper, M.I.A., Ace, Blackout, Half Truth.

I have already gone into colour descriptions in my First Impressions, which can be found here. Below I'll talk more about the colours that don't follow what I said about the general quality. 

Junkshow - This is a little sheerer than some of the others, but is still good. 

M.I.A. - This is very soft and creates some loose powder when used due to the softness. 

Blackout - This is very charcoaly and can apply a little unevenly, but when used over other colours in the crease it works fine - if blended well. 

Vanilla - The quality is good here, but I originally saw this as the highlight shade when swatching. But after using it I find it doesn't work with a lot of the other colours in the palette when highlighting due to the strong yellow tones to it. 

Deep End - This is very versatile, apart from being a beautiful teal, if applied underneath some of the bronzey colours e.g. M.I.A. it makes a beautiful khaki colour. 

The Good - 15 never seen before shades that are mostly soft, pigmented and blendable, last all day, packaging is usable as a box when eyeshadows are finished, colourwise theres something for everyone.

The Not so Good - Packaging attracts fingerprints and doesn't close securely - so not travel friendly, for me I'd prefer some more bright/matte shades - but this is more of a personal colour preference, only 1 matte.

Would I buy again? I'm not sure. But I'll definitely be buying future palettes if I like the look of the colours. If Deep End was sold individually I would definitely buy it, I love the colour, finish and texture. 

Who would this be suited to? As the palette has a fair amount of natural coloured shades I could see lovers of the Naked palette liking this, especially if they like some kicks of colour. Long term Urban Decay lovers could like this too as it is full of never seen before shades. You'll have to like your shimmer to like this though. 

 

Thanks for reading my post, especially those that managed to stay with me through it! But if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask. Thanks again, H :)