Swatches: Urban Decay Eyeshadows

Penelope Ağustos 17, 2021

I was supposed to be sticking to reviewing and swatching items included in my summer selection, however I felt the urge to swatch my Urban Decay eyeshadows the other day-so just went with it. I didn't realise I owned so many actually. UD e/s come in various finishes, the sparkly shades are well known for their glitter fallout, so if you don't like glitter on your cheeks-avoid! A good tip is to use a base such as UD's Primer Potion or Too Faced Shadow Insurance-I've shown a few e/s here using TF underneath and the difference in colour and finish is amazing. I would also suggest applying your eyeshadow before the rest of your face makeup, so you can brush away glitter fallout before applying foundation etc

On the image above (click to enlarge), I've written above or below each shade which finish it has (please note I guessed Roadstripe and Exhaust because they are discontinued shades);
Duotone; reflects different colours in different lights, perhaps flashing green one way, then blue the other.
Metallic; isn't shimmer or glitter, but a metallic sheen.
Shimmer; doesn't contain glitter particles, but shimmers in the light (the same shade as the eyeshadow).
Glitter; is similar to shimmer, but also contains actual glitter pieces which can be any colour but are usually silver or gold. These vary in size from microglitter to larger sparkles and the overall amount of glitter in each eyeshadow also varies.
Matte; comes in a darker outer packaging. The colours are very pigmented and contain no shimmer or glitter.

Blues; Kiddie Pool (metallic, really pigmented light sky blue shade with iridescent glitter), Goddess (midnight blue with electric blue microglitter, I found this quite chalky but it performs much better with primer underneath).

Purples; Stalker (pinky purple with silver glitter), Exhaust (very sheer, just a hint of lilac with silver glitter), Asphyxia (lavender with blue sheen, sheer but more buildable than Exhaust).

Grey; Revolver (matte, quite sheer but buildable mid grey)

Pinks/Others; Roadstripe (white in pan but flashes blue), Cherry (champagne pink with lots of silver glitter), Hotpants (medium pink, very pigmented, velvet feel), Jones (orange, pigmented, velvet texture).

Greens; Flipside (teal with green and blue sheen), Shattered (similar to Flipside but less pigmented, has strong gold sheen against the blue), Vert (another disappointing colour pigment wise, grassy green with yellowish sheen), Chronic (matte bright green), Electric (matte, peacock turquoise, very pigmented and soft), Narcotic (matte, lighter turquoise, again pigmented and soft), Acid Rain (grassy stain colour, yellowish green with gold sheen), Urb (dirty antique greeny gold with silver and gold microglitter).

Swatches; The 'greens' swatched better than the others, I just couldn't get the right lighting for them unfortunately. Kiddie Pool is much more pigmented and metallic looking than in the swatch here. You can see the obvious difference when used with Too Faced Shadow Insurance, colours are bolder, brighter, last longer and look more metallic and shimmery. I'm most disappointed with Shattered and Vert, because they look so gorgeous in the pan, but aren't very pigmented. Shattered did improve with primer, so I'm sure Vert will work better when used with that too. Also the matte eyeshadows aren't at all chalky if you're worried about that, they feel really soft.