An almost empty Urban Decay Build Your Own Eyeshadow Palette
One of the first gigs I got after college was working in the filing room at a law firm, where I spent hours and hours alphabetizing case files.
Two years of that left me 1) bored out of my gourd and 2) with a chronic compulsion to put things in alphabetical order.
The condition even manifested itself earlier today, as I started sifting through Urban Decay’s newly revamped $18 Eyeshadow Singles (available in a whopping 68 shades).
Naturally, it just made perfect sense to me to place them in alphabetical order — ABC Gum with Asphyxia, Baked and Bender, and so on like that. And then I thought, what if I put them in alphabetical sets using the Urban Decay Build Your Own Palette ($18; includes a six-pan palette, the exclusive shade Walk of Shame and a shadow brush)?
Wouldn’t ya know it? Organized alphabetically like this, I think some of these palettes actually turned out pretty darn cool! Another win for the alphabet. 🙂
Before we dive in, here’s some background on the shadows:
- They represent the next generation in Urban Decay Eyeshadows, replacing the old shadows with a new formula and packaging
- Among the 68 shades (there are 64 in the pics below), there are some totally new colors, some former bestsellers, and some fan faves previously only available in UD palettes
- The shades are spread out among five different finishes in satin, shimmer, sparkle, duochrome and matte
- Urban Decay says the new shadows are softer than the generation they replace, with richer pigments, a longer wear time and colors that distribute more evenly
- Each of the shadows pops out of its packaging and can be placed into Urban Decay’s Build Your Own Palette ($18; includes a six-pan palette, a pan of Walk of Shame and a brush)
- I felt that UD’s original eyeshadows were pretty soft and pigmented, but these new versions seem even more pigmented and buttery than before, yum!
- If you don’t feel like building your own palette, right now on urbandecay.com, you can also find five palettes pre-filled with colors selected by bloggers and v-loggers
A-B:
ABC Gum, Asphyxia, Baked, Bender, Blackout, and Blunt
From the left, top row: Baked, Asphyxia and ABC Gum; Bottom row: Bender, Blackout and Blunt
From the left: ABC Gum, Asphyxia, Baked, Bender, Blackout and Blunt
B-C:
Bordello, Buck, Bust, Busted, Chase, and Chopper
From the left, top row: Bordello, Buck and Bust; Bottom row: Busted, Chase and Chopper
From the left: Bordello, Buck, Bust, Busted, Chase and Chopper
C-F:
Cobra, Darkhorse, Evidence, Fishnet, Flash, and Foxy
Top row: Cobra, Darkhorse and Evidence; Bottom row: Fishnet, Flash and Foxy
From the left: Cobra, Darkhorse, Evidence, Fishnet, Flash and Foxy
F-H:
Freelove, Gravity, Gunmetal, Haight, Half Baked, and Hijack
Top row: Freelove, Gravity and Gunmetal; Bottom row: Half Baked, Haight and Hijack
From the left: Freelove, Gravity, Gunmetal, Half Baked, Haight and Hijack
K-M:
Kush, Last Call, Loaded, Lost, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, and Midnight Cowgirl
Top row: Kush, Last Call and Loaded; Lost, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again and Midnight Cowgirl
From the left: Kush, Last Call, Loaded, Midnight Cowgirl, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again and Lost
M-P:
Mildew, Mushroom, Naked, Oil Slick, Peace, and Pistol
Top row: Mildew, Mushroom and Naked; Bottom row: Oil Slick, Peace and Pistol
From the left: Mildew, Mushroom, Naked, Oil Slick, Peace and Pistol
P-S:
Polyester Bride, Psychedelic Sister, Radium, Roach, Rockstar, and S&M
Top row: Polyester Bride, Psychedelic Sister and Radium; Bottom row: Roach, Rockstar and S&M
From the left: Polyester Bride, Psychedelic Sister, Radium, Roach, Rockstar and S&M
S, Part I:
Scratch, Secret Service, Sellout, Shattered, Sin, and Smog
Top row: Scratch, Secret Service and Sellout; Bottom row: Shattered, Sin and Smog
From the left: Scratch, Secret Service, Sellout, Shattered, Smog and Sin
S, Part II:
Snakebite, Snatch, Stray Dog, Suspect, SWF, and Tease
Top row: Snakebite, Snatch and Stray Dog; Bottom row: Suspect, SWF and Tease
From the left: Snakebite, Snatch, Stray Dog, Suspect, SWF and Tease
T-W:
Toasted, Twice Baked, Vanilla, Verve, Virgin, and Walk of Shame
Top row: Toasted, Twice Baked and Vanilla; Bottom row: Verve, Virgin and Walk of Shame
From the left: Toasted, Twice Baked, Vanilla, Verve, Virgin and Walk of Shame
W-Z:
Woodstock, X, YDK, and Zephyr
Top row: YDK, Woodstock, and X; Bottom row: Zephyr
Swatches from the left: YDK, Woodstick, X and Zephyr
A-B-C. As easy as 1-2-3… 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Meh, the whole thing is a rip off. Rachel already made a rant video on YouTube about it so if anyone wants to hear it, you can just search “urban decay rant’ or something.
Beautiful!
I was so excited when I found out about the great news! The palettes look really cute, but I kind of wished they left the space out for the brush and used it for other eye shadow space instead. But yeah I can see why they added it though :). The shades are really pretty!
What a fun idea! I like C-F, but I want to trade Foxy in the bottom row for X.
Ok, I know what I want for my birfday. 🙂
HOLY SHEET!!!! GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!!
I notice the single eye shadows have new packaging- will the old ones not fit in the palettes? If not it seems like a ploy to make us buy new shadows!! Though I do love me some urban decay…
I wanted a Karen UD palette….just saying
<3. 🙂 Thanks, Kaylyn.
Pretty for the eyes! Way too harsh on the pocket and price. Almost $120 for a palette Really? UD is normally really high end reasonably priced especially in palettes. Hmm… Something doesn’t add up. Great review and swatches and everything! Now, I’m gonna make my list and heck it twice. But it’ll sit for forever if the price is at what it says here.
Wow! I am super impressed with these, especially for just $18 for the palette, brush and an eyeshadow! Plus, I love the fact that they brought virgin out of the naked palette and into a separate single!
I really appreciate that they made so many palette favs available as singles. There are a few I’ve wanted, but not enough for the entire palette.
Wow, those did come out really nice! I especially like B-C and S, part II. You and Tabs should have been 2 of the 5 to make your own. 🙂
I love urban decay shadows, they are so pigmented and soft but I am disappointed that the palette costs so much. Its weird to me that you can buy the Naked palette for $50 but have to sped over $120 for six eyeshadows and the palette with no discount for buying the shadows in a palette (like Mac). Probably not going to buy these even though I love Urban Decay. 🙁
Totally wish there was a Karen palette!!!!
I love UD, but don’t know if I would spend that much on a palette. However, I noticed a lot of colors that I would buy, especially some of the bright ones! There should be a discount (a major one!) if we decide to buy a palette of 6 versus like 5 singles or something. It’s very easy to spend a lot of money in Ulta or Sephora, especially on UD stuff, so I try to keep myself in check!
1. Must. Have. “Loaded” – LOVE it!
2. Karen I’ve never been so green with envy over these “products were provided by the manufacturer…I’m such a jellyfish! So jealous 🙂
I think for your F-H, you switched Half Baked & Haight on your swatches! Anyhow, thanks for the swatches! 😀
Thanks for letting me know.
Oh my gosh! Alphabetically ALL OF THESE LOOK AMAZING! Now I really want… all of these sets as palettes. They’re so beautiful in these color combos!
I find it hilarious that we both commented within a minute of each other….lol. Just call me the old Stephanie C…lol.
Very pretty. Might consider a few shades, but generally too expensive for my personal use.
That is so awesome that you alphabetized them!
I ordered the palette + 5 eyeshadows today! Who knew that just by alphabetizing the shades you’d end up with some great color combos! 🙂
Oh, nice! What colors did you get?
Bender, Gravity, AC/DC, Hijack & Bust….although I think I’ll be needing Kush soon too!
That’s a lovely selection. Kush is really pretty. It would gorgeous w/some mint green nails, ooh la la!
How have you been? I bet things have been crazy for you since it’s tax season and all!
I’m a sucker for purples & greens! I have both Naked palettes plus the anniversary palette so I was careful not to get any duplicates when ordering the custom palette.
I’m good! Tax season is crazy busy but it’s a good thing. Hubby left last week (he joined the Navy) so I’m pretty much flying solo til he gets back at the end of August. He finished his masters degree in oriental medicine in February and now will get training from the Navy so he can practice acupuncture for them part time. He’ll open his own clinic in September. I’m so proud of him for finally figuring out what he wants to be when he grows up…even though he’ll be 38 in July! 🙂
In other news…I’m 9 weeks pregnant! 🙂 🙂
WHAT!?! Congratulations! I know you guys had been trying for a while. I’m so happy for you. 😀
Thank you! We’re super shocked & thrilled. We’ve waited 4 years for this little jellybean – I’m due late October. Think pink!!
I will! 😀 We need another beauty addict in the family, LOL!
I have ALOT of urban decay’s single eyeshadow and I love most of them. They are sooo pigmented and feel buttery smooth. I can’t imagine how much MORE pigmented and buttery feeling they can be, but I will surely be grabbing some of the new shades. <3
Will the palettes that were out previously (e.g. Naked2) be made with the new formula after a certain date? If so, do you know if it would change the price? Thanks so much for all the swatching!
All the palettes that were 15 Anniversary and after are made with the new formula.
Solo… Did they send you all those colors!? JEALOUS! If so, that is seriously so cool of them!
I wish the palettes were cheaper and came empty, or with your choice of the color prefilled, but honestly I’d probably not really use it.
I’m so excited blackout is sold separately now!!!
I think their idea with the palette is throwing a lot of people off. I like the idea, i just think its not executed quite right, mostly because of what people are use to with MAC. Really you only need one palette if you only use it for travel, because you can always change it, and you are paying he price of the shadow that comes in it, right? The downside is if you don’t want the “walk of shame” shade. If people don’t want the palette, they can buy singles as they always could, and depot them if they wish into a different palette.
Now I just wish UD would clearance the old packaged shadows 😛
Can’t wait to put together my perfect palette! Will definitely buy this! Very good idea!
Wow, you swatched every color!
I really want to try polyester bride. I need to bookmark this page on my browser 😀
So much fun! The idea is not new, but they’ve done it so well 🙂
This is, in one word, mind-blowing. I don’t know what else to say! I already own and love some UD eyeshadows, so this really is great news! I kinda wish they have palettes with more slots though. How can most UD fans quench their shadow thirst with 6? That’s just ridiculous :p
I am INSANELY pleased that I’ll be able to get Virgin on its own now. It’s by far my favourite colour from the Naked palette (I’m pale, so its ultra-versatile). I had visions of having to buy another Naked palette just to get a re-fill of it when I ran out 🙂
Awesome ! But I have so many eyeshadows ( esp. palettes but also mono ) that I’ll wait a moment. Urban Decay is a fantastic brand, there are so many shades available waouh !
Thank you for the swatches.
The Alphabet has so much more to offer than just soup. 🙂
You’ll be proud to know that I was scrolling through the swatches and immediately said “Rock Star”. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever recognized a swatched color. I’m telling you this because I feel it’s important to reward your hard work in educating makeup dodos like myself by sharing my small successes. HAHA!
wow @ alphabetized palettes. you are speaking to the OCD princess in me!
I love MBB – I find the randomest things that mean something only to me – today’s random: I went to the MAC counter after my makeup was stolen and said there’s a color called Roach, can I get that? They looked at me like I was an alien and laughed – we don’t have that color Maria WTF?? They know me so I know they wanted to call me an idiot, kinda surprised they didn’t! Anyway, it’s an Urban Decay color and it’s from my days at Nordstrom back in 1995 when UD was a boutique brand that had an endcap and the girl that worked for Origins (who should have been working for MAC or Urban Decay) used to show me all the pretty colors! From what I remember it looks like Club and that made the girls think I was more of a whackadoo – who names an eyeshadow ROACH?? Anyway, thanks for the info and the pix, I’ll have to think about a palette, your combos are pretty!
I truly adore UD shadows but really don’t think I would ever purchase a full size eyeshadow. I love buying the palettes and can get an EXCELLENT value when they are on sale. I’ve built a nice little collection with careful buying!
Wow! Gorgeous! That’s all I can mutter! It’s just amazing!
I love you for this! *HUGS*
You have successfully succeeded in making me want every color of Urban Decay’s shadows. DAMN! This is one of my favorites posts you’ve done. So detailed 🙂
I just picked up Urban Decay Naked palette and I’m loving the quality of the shadows! I had a ball going through the this post and if I had to customize my palette, I would choose the following –
1. Snakebite
2. Loaded
3. Psychedelic Sister
4. Bender
5. Woodstick
6. Gravity
Thank you so much for swatching these!
Wow! I am so excited to purchase Mushroom and Rockstar individually! I own many single UD eyeshadows and palettes already, so building my own palette doesn’t interest me and seems very expensive. Aweome post Karen!! 🙂
Shattered and Smog would make a really pretty laid-back summery eye combo! Quite like how they mix together. =]
Beautiful swatches! Out of curiosity, how bad is the glitter fallout from the super-glittery shadows? I love Midnight Cowgirl, Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, and Chopper, but the glitter gets EVERYWHERE. Can you tell if there’s a difference between the old formula and the new one?
great question
Thanks! I hope Karen see it, because it’s the difference between me getting the new formula of Chopper at full price versus picking up an old one at a discount! 🙂
I adore the way your sets turned out! Thinking of ordering Scratch, Secret Service, Sellout, Shattered, Sin, and Smog! The way that turned out with ice cream shades is just gorgeous!!
Damn, you should start making palettes!
where is mauwi wowie?
Thank you, thank you! I had S&M and I loved it. I got moon spoon when it ran out and I don’t like it nearly as well. Now that I can see your swatch I know why. I’ve been trying to pick out some purples and this really helped.
I love you, man…