Maybe the cray amounts of overtime Tabs has had me working lately and the 20+ hours of Friday Night Lights I’ve watched since last Friday are slowly but surely frying my brain, because choosing which eyeshadow colors I want to wear when I do my makeup has been way tougher than usual.
It’s like, I see the pans sitting in front of me as one big, nebulous blob. Does this green go with that one? Should I wear bronze or brown?
Honestly, right now, I have no idea…
Coming to the rescue, ironically with 20 more shades? — the new Urban Decay Vice Palette ($59 and available now online at urbandecay.com).
I can’t remember the last time Urban Decay released a palette with so many new colors! All 20 of them have never before seen the light of day (although a few of them do resemble existing colors).
And that’s not even my favorite part.
Somehow, the shades in the Vice palette, which is packed with neutrals and sprinkled with brights, all go together. Seriously, I feel like I can pair any two of them on my lids, pop a third shade along my lower lash line and KAPOW! — instant eye game that requires very little brain power.
Not that I’m in my right mind right now…but nothing here seems out of place.
You could start with one of the lighter colors all over your lids, add one of the darker shades in the outer corners of your eyes, and define your lower lash lines by lining with one of the bright or neutral shades.
More fun facts about Vice…
- I feel like these shadows excel in so many ways — wear time, a super soft texture, easy to blend, and little/no fading — but they do exhibit considerable fallout (tapping your brush to unload any excess product before applying helps).
- A couple of the shimmery shadows, like hot pink Noise and taupe Armor, have big-honkin’ flecks of glitter and feel a little gritty to me (just something to think about if you’re a stickler for powders with finely-milled grains).
- Some of the colors do look familiar, like teal Unhinged, which reminds me of UD’s Haight, and Deep End from the Fun palette.
- The rubbery purple packaging attracts glittery fingerprints and sure is tough to wipe clean.
Is Vice worth checking out? I think so, especially if you’re just beginning to build your eyeshadow collection. With it, you get a great balance of wearable neutrals and brights. Just be prepared to do a lot of brush tap-tap-tapping to minimize fallout.
If, on the other hand, you’re a long-time Urban Decay fan with a good collection of colors, you may see some overlap with existing shades. If you’re okay with that, though, I think the overall color palette is exceptional. You could pretty much pair any of these shades together for a wide range of easy eye looks.
PRICE: $59
AVAILABILITY: Available now at urbandecay.com; coming soon to Sephora, Ulta and select Macy’s stores
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-
Music to soothe the savage beast…
If you happened to have a rough Monday, Debussy’s Clair de Lune works like a cup of Sleepytime tea.
Not much going on here tonight. I wanted to make a grilled citrus salmon dish for dinner, but time got away from me, so it looks like I’m doing peanut butter and jelly.
Oh, and season 2 of Friday Night Lights. 🙂
Have a great night. Sweet dreams, my friend.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Eeeeh, I’m so excited about the Vice palette! You made so many looks, love it! I feel the same way about the colours, they really look so well put together and I can imagine that you can make endless combos with this palette!
Yay! I hope you like it, Teri!
That song worked like a charm…
The palette is beautiful, but you’re right, a lot of colors seem too close to the ones they already have! Oh well, my wallet won’t suffer, at least :3
Think of it this way — you’ll be able to save a few $ for holiday!
I really love your color placement with Echo Beach and Black Market. I love those two shades.
Your Blitz, Noise and Penny Lane combination is unusual and pretty.
LOL @the Catpure.
I love Chaos, Junkie and Unhinged.
Thanks, Phyrra! I love Echo Beach…it would be perfect if it wasn’t for the fallout!
Thank you for posting the video. I definitely needed the music tonight. Super duper mindgame crazy late afternoon/early evening. Sleeping pills definitely required for tonight, but the music did an amazing amount of good, too. Thank you!
Your welcome, Hyzenthlay. I hope today is better for you!
I have to admit I found my love for this track after I watched the first Twilight movie 😛 Lovely, isn’t it?
Kinda sorta thinking about getting this palette, I have Naked 1 and love it but I’d like to try some colour from UD.
Ahh, the Naked palette! I’ll always have a soft spot for it. Do you wear it often?
Only ALL THE TIME. Especially the shadows on the left, Virgin and Sin – they’re amazing base & highlight colours. And Naked is my go-to for blending the crease, very close to my skin colour.
It was love at first sight for me with this palette. And I just love Chaos!
It’s a fun shade! Do you wear blues often?
Oh noooo now I want it even more after seeing the looks you did with it! How did you make even Chaos so wearable? It’s insane!
Just pair it with some neutrals and keep it close to the lash line. 🙂
Upon seeing that picture at the top, the first words that popped into my head were “fresh” and “bright”. Love it! So simple yet stunning
Thanks, Becca!
DUDE I am loving the eye looks you did here. Could you do a tutorial on how you did the first green/goldey one and the last blue-neutral one? I want to know what brushes you use! The blending/placement is phenom!
Great job!
Thanks, Indoor Kitty!
Sure…I basically used the same techniques for both looks, so if I do a tutorial on one you could easily apply it to the other colors. Will add to my (growing) list of tutorials to write. They take a while to photograph so give me some time. 🙂
This palette was not going to be on my list for a number of reasons (have gotten swept up far too many time with the urban decay frenzy just to be underwhelmed or find myself not using the palettes very frequently), but this one speaks to me since it has a cohesive blend of colors. Each row makes up a color family, which I really appreciate. I love me some blues and greens, but sometimes I struggle with making looks that aren’t like EYES EYES LOOK AT MY EYES when I use those types of colors. I feel like it’d be easier to make a structured look with the color combinations they’ve got going on.
I might make the plunge. Thanks Karen! You always know how to tie the loose ends of a product together, so I can actually get how I’m supposed to use it on a day to say basis.
Hi Monika,
Thanks for this thoughtful comment. With bright shades of blues and greens I feel the same way; toning them down with neutrals certainly helps to make them less flashy and more wearable. What’s great about this palette is that there’s so many neutrals to choose from! Anywho, let me know if you end up checking it out and what you think of it.
Happy Tuesday!
I am scared of color on my lids. I wish I weren’t but it’s true I am. But I did love that look with penny lane on your lids… the brown’s, nude’s whatever you want to call them, is something I can easily do for me.
You make it look very easy and attractive to try color though! I do like a finely milled powder however and when I do wear color, it’s usually Chanel or Stila…
Hi Jennifer,
I know that feeling. I used to be terrified of wearing anything other than brown or beige on my eyes. I think a good place to start is maybe wearing it on the lower lash line with neutrals on the lids, like in the top pic of this post — totally not scary, and easy to do!
Sleepytime is my favorite tea! Pop two Sweet ‘n Lows in there and I’m good to go to bed! (Do you like lemon in your tea? Milk? I love a bit of milk in my tea.)
Oh, no… I had convinced myself I didn’t need this palette….. then I saw your pictures. HELP!
Well heck. $60 for this amazing palette. Yep, I’ll be buying it. I love UD palettes, and this one looks like I’ll be loving it too!
I so wish my palette were here already!
I really like that there’s a nice mix of neutrals, dark colors, and bright shades. I can see endless possibilities here!
That’s it – I’m ordering this palette as a birthday present to myself. I wanted to run out and get it tonight, but Sephora doesn’t carry it in Canada yet. *pout*
Thanks for the thorough breakdown, Karen!
Ahh! I love this palette! I got mine last week in the mail and blogged about it too. The Ocho Loco eyeliner set matches well with it too. But I’m a total, longtime UD fan 🙂