Urban Decay Book of Shadows - Guest Reviewer Joeybunny

image from sephora.com

Howdy ho faithful Pink Sith groupies! It’s Joeybunny here again, guest reviewing for Elvira. Today I bring you the one makeup item I – along with half of Makeup Alley – have been lusting for since we first caught wind of it about two months ago: the Urban Decay Book of Shadows! Urban Decay is pretty renowned for their eye shadows – pigmented, crazy range of colors and textures, and long-lasting. I’ve only recently become a big fan, after being sent one as a gift. UD (I’ll be using the MUA abbreviation now) shadows are pretty well-priced (the regular shadows are $16, and the Deluxe shadows are $18), but one of the awesome things about the line is the palettes. UD has come out with some pretty awesome palettes that include a wide range of their shadows for a good price – you can get a ton of variety for the price of two shadows. The Book of Shadows is their biggest palette to date with 16! shadows, two brushes, and a mini UDPP. The two brushes are mini versions of their Crease Brush and Wonder Brush. I’m very impressed with the quality of them, and I intend on maybe investing in the full-sizes. I’ll leave my pure, unadultered hatred of UDPP out of this review (sort of, ha!). Anyway, before I bore the bloody hell out of you guys, let’s get to the colors! Although, before I get to that, I just need to note one thing: this palette is f*ckin’ heavy. The packaging leaves much to be desired (that’s a nice way of saying “Hey UD, this packaging is pretty dumb!”); the pop-up vanity is kind of cute but totally, completely unnecessary, and the eyeshadow drawer is really hard to pull out. I can’t see myself really traveling with this. I can, however, see myself flinging it against the wall in frustration (the drawer gets stuck! WTH!). However, the packaging is still outweighed by the awesomeness inside the bottom drawer. Like I said, there are 16 shadows here, 8 of which are new colors. The old colors are:

• Last Call: A Joeybunny favorite! Shimmery, intense reddish-plum. Kind of like MAC Star Violet but with more pigmentation.
• Grifter: Pink-lavender with silver glitter. The glitter seems fine to me.
• Baked: A very intense yellowish bronze color. I’m slightly terrified by it, but cannot wait to make it work!
• Smog: Another Joeybunny favorite! A warmer, more antiqued bronze.
• Roach: On Joeybunny’s all-time favorite eye shadows list!! Satiny shimmery red-brown.
• Midnight Cowboy: The perennial UD shadow. Beige-pink with a sh!tload of silver glitter (hey, UD! Try using GOLD glitter once in awhile! Love, Joeybunny).
• Goddess: Intense navy blue with bright blue glitter. Looks like it’d make a killer smokey eye.
• Shattered: Strange color! Not quite blue. Not quite green. Sephora calls it a bright iridescent aquamarine. Sephora people are bad with colors. UD website calls it a bright green/blue shift. This is slightly better.

The new colors are remarkable, I think, and I will definitely be buying regular sizes of a few:

• Perversion: I can’t really tell the difference between this and UD Oil Slick. It’s a matte black with very, very sparse silver glitter. It may as well have no glitter.
• Mayhem: Shimmering hot purple with very, very sparse silver glitter. I see a slight hint of blue in it.
• Sidecar: Imagine the golden-beige equivalent of Midnight Cowboy and there you go. Bonus: not as chock-full of silver glitter as Midnight Cowboy, but still pretty glittery.
• Gridlock: A new Joeybunny favorite! Golden-peachy-taupey goodness.
• Shakedown: Another new Joeybunny favorite! Jesus heard my prayers and made a powder version of Benefit’s Skinny Jeans. Silver-pewter-taupe with a slight green cast.
• Scandal: If a Salmony-pink color got it on with a beige color, this is their baby. Very strange color.
• Absinthe: Hot, hot golden green. Exactly the color I think of when I think about absinthe!
• Protest: I’m reminded of the discontinued MAC eyeshadow called Fiction. Deep olive green.

The closed palette (it’s 5x6 in.)

The palette opened (my boyfriend said “Oooh!” at all the pop-ups)

The Eye Shadow drawer

The Brushes