The closest I ever got to Prince — I mean, beyond this new Urban Decay collection — is the selfie I took with the lead singer of a Prince cover band during a raging New Year’s Eve party, and the following “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” moment…
See, I met a driver who chauffeured The Purple One around the Bay Area years back, and they both breathed the same air! Anywho, the driver took Prince to a bunch of secret shows where he played under a pseudonym, and, according to the driver, Prince was kind of a weird dude, which I’m inclined to believe. There just had to be a certain degree of crazy to his genius, ya know?
I wonder if Prince would have dug having his own makeup collection with Urban Decay… I can imagine him being either mildly irritated but secretly thrilled about it, or just being hella cranky about the whole thing.
The new seven-piece UD Prince LE collection drops on May 27, and there are eyeshadow palettes (side note: are we tired of eyeshadow palettes yet?), two eye pencils, a brush, a toasty tan liquid highlighter and a waterproof pressed powder. There is also, of course, lots and lots of purple.
Let’s start with the purple-est of them all, the Let’s Go Crazy Palette ($55), because how could one have a Prince-themed makeup collection without featuring his signature color? Granted, most of the purple shadows in this palette look very much alike on my skin, so I’m having a hard time “going crazy” (ha-ha-ha) over them.
By the way, there’s a shadow in this palette named after one of my all-time favorite Prince jams, Raspberry Beret. The color is more of a reddish bronze than the bright and juicy raspberry I was hoping for, but I’ll take it, since it’s the most exciting thing in the palette IMO.
The other surprise is the glittery dark blue on the lower right called Disco Nights. It’s unusually soft… I accidentally made a significant dent in it with my finger while swatching, whoops! So be gentle with it. All of the other pans feel like standard-issue Urban Decay and are soft and pliable.
About the palette, my initial reaction was…eh, it’s OK. I think I was hoping for punchier jewel-toned purples that’d be visible from a mile away.
The palette I’m more into is the one with the black cover, U Got the Look ($55), because, WHOA, PIGMENT! Yes, UD is known for their intense color, but the shadows in this palette seem more intense than usual…almost like stage makeup! I can actually picture The Purple One being really into it.
Perhaps before one of his secret shows, he’d sketch out a dark plummy wing before buffing some golden shimmer on the inner corner, then top it off with a messy smudge of black on his lower lash line, but I digress… I’m wearing this palette today, and I’m a little shocked by how wearable it is. I cannot WAIT to push it further.
If you’re a MAC Strobe Cream girl, then the Liquid Highlighter ($32) might be worth a closer look. It’s a toasty tan with a subtle pearly finish, and I mixed it into my liquid foundation for these pics. I’m wearing Clinique Even Better Clinical in Toasted Wheat, and together they added a soft glow to my skin. I like it!
I topped it off with the All Nighter Waterproof Setting Powder ($34), which also surprised me in a good way because it’s so tan. If you’re an NC42 or up, I think you could totally rock it, no problem. Might be a little dark, though, if you’re on the lighter end of the spectrum.
Last, but not least, the pencils… They’re soft and smudgy, and I like the black one because it grabs my waterlines and smokes out quite nicely on my lower lash line.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. BTW, here are my favorite Prince songs! What are yours?
For the record, I’d wear that cloud suit in a heartbeat.
Note the eyeliner
The brows, the hair, the all around fabulousness
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.
Easily in my top three
I always thought this was an underrated gem and very ahead of its time.
I sooooo wanted be Wendy & Lisa.
Another hidden gem
As soon as I saw that this was coming out, I knew I could rely on you to swatch it ASAP. ??
It’s nice, but I can’t see myself running out to snatch it up. My makeup needs and wants have shifted over the past year in ways that I haven’t even fully processed yet. I’m not investing big in anything until I have a better feel for what my new ‘normal’ is going to look like moving forward. I guess this un-quarantining process is a unique opportunity for people to reevaluate their lives (and their makeup, lol).
I hear you. I’m slowly making my way through a major makeup purge right now, and it’s getting clearer to me that my needs and wants have shifted dramatically. I say we all say YES to change!
I was stunned to see how wearable your FOTD was! I expected Prince-inspired to be bonkers with wild color and glitter (and, yes, lots of smudgy black liner). 🙂 I think he’d be pleased with a crazy, stage makeup line. But I do think UD did a good job with this. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but my fave Prince songs – and it’s because they all have funny friend memories attached – are Cream, Darling Nikki and Sexy MF. Even though typing it makes me sound like a perv. HAHA!
Those are good ones! It was Prince at his pervy best!
No for me. I was expecting deeper purples and more variety of the color. Too bad.
Right? I wanted purples that popped!
I’m actually tempted by the Let’s Go Crazy palette. I think it’d really pop on my pale, cool skin! On the other hand, U Got the Look looks great on you, but might be a bit too far on the warm side for me. Not a Prince song proper, but I’ll submit the Bangles’ “Manic Monday” because he wrote it and sang backup vocals!
I pre-ordered the set. But reviews I’ve seen so far are making me think about canceling if it hasn’t shipped yet. Yours is the most positive I’ve read. But it’s Prince, and people who I know worked with him were involved so maybe I’ll take the chance. ???♀️
Hi Camille,
Here are more thoughts on the purple palette from the most recent post.
None of this is really up my alley, but your skin is so gorgeous here! My favorite Prince songs are probably Sexy MF, P Control, and When Doves Cry.
Thanks lady! I’m using a mix of a Clinique foundation (Even Better Clinical) and the liquid luminizer from this launch. The Clinique foundation is really nice!
I’ve been so pleased that they’ve expanded their shade ranges! A lot of the indie brands coming out with wide ranges really made the big brands step their game up.
YES! The Fenty effect is alive and well at Clinique. LOL! Now if only they’d give us a purple and blue version of their liquid liner!
I have been a long time Prince fan since 1979. I was 9. So when I saw this was coming out I was so excited. I signed up for the email from UD to get notified when the pre-order was open. I got the email a couple days ago stating ordering started and ended on the 28th. So I hopped on to the site to place my pre-order. However, the site stated pre-order was closed and it wasn’t the 28th yet so how could this be ?! I am furious that I wasn’t even given the chance to pre-order ! I hope I didn’t miss out on the box set which is what I’m after. ?
Sincerely frustrated
I am new to your beauty blog, I think your very truthful in the UD PRINCE collection. I also that the purples would be more vibrant in the pigments, less shimmery… Plus I am jealous lol that you were even close to anyone who breathed the same air as the purple ? one…lol…and I would also rock that cloud suite….and my favorite prince collection of songs are basically the same, but with a few more…. Thank you for your take on this new UD PRINCE collection…Made me think do I really need it for the whole collection price…or maybe just pass…..but I thinking about it…..