Hi guys,
I am sitting outside, on my beautiful terrace where the sun is shining…not a single cloud…it has been such fantastic weather here this past week. Honestly, I am sooo glad that spring got lost on its way to other countries, and currently resides in the Netherlands. Don’t be jealous guys! Most of the time the weather here sucks all year long, so we deserve a week of happiness 😛
Even more, I am in the mood for blogging again! 🙂 It’s very difficult to be in that mood when you have a nasty flu and a fever. Finally today though, I woke up energetic…I think the fever is gone! And, as I have been planning this post since last Friday, I figured it’s about time to work on it because it concerns one of the most loved palettes of last year: the limited edition Urban Decay (=UD hereon) Vice 2 palette.
I saw it on teaser photos of Urban Decay shortly before it actually came out…and I fell in love! I think I even mentioned it on one of my posts back then. I hesitated a lot…my heart desired it, my mind told me “c’mon, do you really really need it!?” But as we all know, humans are weak creatures who tend to follow their hearts, rather than logic and reason.
Well then, without further ado, here it is (although, surely you have already seen it plenty of times):
The palette comes in this pretty carboard box, with the photo of the “crushed” eyeshadows on the back, and an inspired message by UD in the left corner.
Inside you find this luxurious purple box with a jeweled inscription (if I may say so) of “UD“…I have to give it to UD, their packaging is always flawless, spot on, so well-done!
The next smart move by UD, that will make you squeal, is dat button (see the arrows!!! hahaha). You press it…and oh magic, the palette opens…slowly…but not all the way until the mirror hits 180 degrees..oh no no, it stops at approximately 110 degrees…so that you can actually use it while applying your makeup. How very convenient!!! Bravo Urban Decay!
The palette itself contains 20 new eyeshadows, or so does UD claim. I do not own, or have in-depth knowledge of ALL UD e/s, so I will take this promise for granted. There is a also a dual-ended brush: one end for packing e/s, the other for blending. It’s quite ok for a brush that comes with a palette, as normally those are pretty useless. This one is in fact not so bad!
Now let’s proceed to swatches and some thoughts on each individual e/s. I have split the swatches into 4 rows (as they are horizontal in the palette itself) of 5 e/s, applied over Hema base.
Row 1:
Smokeout is a dark satin brown with shimmer, in sunlight it looks like multi-colour shimmer (you cannot see it here, as it was cloudy the day I took this photo). This shade is very smooth and very pigmented.
Lovesick is a black- dark grey matte with silver glitter. The glitter disappears if you blend too enthusiastically, but otherwise it does stick around. This is a really pretty shade to create a non-boring smokey eye look (because of the sparkles of course! hehe).
Shellshock is a light silver shade with a very metallic finish. It is extremely potent! I find it (together with a few other shades in this palette) to be a bit too much on the metallic side…I like my finishes a little less metallic, whatyagotta do!
Coax is perhaps one of the shades that most drew me to this palette. It is a dark-ish pink shade with a frost finish. This is where the slight let down came for me…it is a tad too frosty and metallic-y. I would have preferred this shade in a more satin finish. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it! I still am a total sucker for this colour 🙂
X-Rated ia baby pink velvet-matte shade, among the very few mattes in this palette. It is very pigmented, not chalky…me likey.
Row 2:
Prank is one of the really gorgeous shades here. A dark navy blue with turquoise sparkle bursts. Super pigmented, and just awesome for a smokey eye!
Madness is a to die for! It’a mid tone aqua blue with a frosty-satin finish. The pigmentation is very intense…the texture so smooth. No words, hands down one of my favourites from the palette.
Strike is a light gold with a frost finish. I was actually hoping that this shade would be more light yellow satin, rather than gold…but it does come out as gold, perhaps due to the more metallic texture. I still like this shade a lot. It makes a killer combo with Lovesick.
Stash is a true olive green, not gold undertoned (as it often is the case with these olive shades) but really green olive. I have a similar e/s from Inglot, but that one is a bit more on the golden side..so I couldn’t be happier that this one isn’t.
Poison is hmm dark grey matte with sparkles? I don’t even know why they added this shade given the presence of Lovesick…I would have done another colour here, but ok UD..that was your choice 🙂
Row 3:
Radar is sort of a bronzy shade with glitter. This fella is kind of disappointing in terms of texture. It feels really chunky, not smooth at all…All in all, my least favourite in the whole palette.
Damaged,on the other hand, is simply gorgeous!!! It is perhaps the second reason (after Coax) that convinced me to get Vice 2. I am addicted to greens 🙂 Damaged is a beautiful satin finish deep forest green. The pigmentation and texture are amazing too!
Voodoo is a really interesting e/s. It looks like a black-based purple with bursts of purple sparkles.
Betrayal was the real surprise for me in this palette. A real unexpected gem…a blue-purple duochrome with a frost finish. Such a unique shade! As you can see, very intense and smooth.
Derailed is brown-taupe colour. Yes, that’s for you, neutral people out there. Not much to share about this shade…I am not a taupe person, sorry 😛
Row 4:
This whole row is dedicated to the nude makeup lovers, and it is also what makes this palette so complete..it adds the transition brown matte, the matte highlight and the shimmery highlight.
Dope is champagne highlight colour with a satin finish. It can be used all over the lid or just as an inner corner/highest point of the brow highlight. Multifunctional 🙂
Toxic is a salmon pink shade which reminds me a lot of MUG’s Cosmopolitan and MAC’s Expensive Pink eyeshadows. It’s in general a really pretty colour because it tends to look good on just about everyone.
Habit is a skin-coloured velvet-matte (thank the Gods for that!), which is prefect for blending under the brow bone. I am very happy they have included this in the palette, and that it’s matte. It’s what makes a palette like this one so complete…you just need everything you need in one box! It’s quite powdery when taken on the brush but the texture is very soft and smooth.
Ambush is a brown bronze shade with fabulous pigmentation. I rarely wear these sort of colours but I guess neutral makeup lovers will love this shade.
Rewind is a mid-tone brown velvet-matte shade. This is the other really clever choice that makes this palette an all-in-one deal. A mid-tone brown is perfect for blending out, or toning down any of the really bright, colourful shades…and the fact that it’s matte is what brings this palette to a whole new level!
After showing you all the shades, I’d like to put in my conclusive thoughts…
All e/s in the Vice 2 palette are pigmented, smooth (one exception: Radar), and last 8-10 hours over e/s primer (I hardly ever wear makeup longer, so I cannot attest to longer that 10h wear).
The colour choice, in my opinion, is extremely well thought-through, because if you are someone who wants to experiment with colour, but still have your neutrals…this covers all your bases.
No matter whether it’s a night-time dark smokey eye, or a slightly colourful day-time makeup, or simply a nude look, that you want to create..this palette has it all. Perhaps, I would have prefrerred somewhat more matte e/s, but in general people prefer shimmery finishes, so I guess UD served the majority.
It is a limited edition palette but I was still able to obtain it from the beautybay webiste
in a sale. They still have it at this moment, although not in discount…at least delivery is free 🙂
in a sale. They still have it at this moment, although not in discount…at least delivery is free 🙂
I am going to show you looks that I have created using only this palette in the course of the month…so in a way, Vice 2 will guest start on longlivemakeup in the whole month of March (what’s left of it, anyway)..a bit like the Sugarpill week, but spread over the whole month instead.
What do you think about the UD Vice 2 palette? Which are your favourite colours? Would you like to own it?
Let me know in the comments 🙂
P.S. Sorry for the terrible layout of the post, wordpress keeps reshuffling my text, cramming everything together…let’s hope it starts looking normal at some point!
longlivemakeup 