One of the recent launches from Urban Decay (which was overshadowed by the LE Alice Palette! Pun completely intended…) were these uber glittery Stardust shadows, two of which recently landed on my doorstep for reviewing. 

Given the let down that the Midnight Cowboy/Girl and Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (the only place these ride is down the face, leaving a trail of glitter behind them…) shadows were, I was a little unsure what to expect from these. 

I was sent the shades “54″, a shimmery lilac shade, and “Atmosphere”, a bright sparkly blue.

I really like the packaging of these shadows – a squeeze either side of the packaging pops the lid open, and I’m also a fan of the fact that you get a whopping 3.5g of product, which Urban Decay say is over twice the amount in a regular UD shadow. They also claim that these are packed with 40% more glitter than their standard shimmer/glitter shades, but with no scratching or fall out. 


The shadows are available in 9 shades, and there are a nice range of colours, varying from black (Void), a couple of neutrals and some bright shades. The shade “Diamond Dog” looks particularly lovely to me – a sparkly brown which would look great dabbed over a neutral eye to add a night time twist


The glitter in the shadows is very finely milled and I agree with UD’s claim that these are non-scratchy too. On swatching the shadows (without a base) appear a lot more subtle than they are in the pan;

They do catch the light very nicely, which is something that is pretty difficult to catch in a photograph. If you are planning to wear these shadows alone, They definitely work better over a sticky base, such as a MAC paintpot. They also look truly stunning over a black base (I used Illamasqua concealer in shade 350)

The shadows are very soft and slightly crumbly in texture, and are a great way to add a sparkly finishing touch to a look. Great for night-time looks too. They can be used wet for added intensity as well. 

For the look above, I created a quick smokey eye using Benefit Creaseless cream shadow in Skinny Jeans and then patted “Atmosphere” stardust over the lid and into the inner corner using fingers, lashed on the black mascara and black liner. 


Best of all, I’m happy to report there was no fallout! *does happy dance*. In short, these are great way of jazzing up other looks, and well worth a look if you like sparkle… Neutral fans may need to be slightly more selective over colour choices though!


Urban Decay Stardust shadows retail at £13.50 and are available in Boots, Debenhams, House of Fraser, or online at hqhair.com, beautybay.com, asos.com and Lookfantastic.com
If you are in Ireland, they retail at 19 euro’s, and are also available in Amotts and Cara Pharmacy. 

 

This palette actually comes with two covers – the version shown above (Show Pony), features artwork by Kime Buzzelli. This version appears to be exclusively available at Debenhams.  IncidentallyDebenhams appears to be the place to be for UD exclusives, what with the Alice Palette being an exclusive there – check out the blog UK exclusive over at Lipglossiping, who was lucky enough to be sent the only blogger preview of this palette… 
The other version is the Preen palette, which is the one with an art deco style peacock on the front. Both look rather nice as palettes go, but more importantly are both exactly the same inside… 

As well as the palette of six shadows, you also get a mini bottle of primer potion (3.7mls complete with the new shaped doe foot applicator), as well as a mini 24/7 glide-on pencil in Zero (black). The palette retails at £18 in the UK.  

Click on the link for swatches, pictures and review…

You get six shades in the palette;

• Snatch is a pale metallic pink with gold glitter – this reminds me slightly of Midnight Cowboy which is well known for its issues with fallout, but pinker. 
• Mildew – a deep olive green with a golden sheen to it. 
• Flash – a rich purple shade with a satin finish.
• Painkiller – a metallic turquoise. 
• Smog – Golden bronzed brown.
• Toasted – Metallic mid-brown. 

All six shades are smooth and creamy in texture, well pigmented, and very blendable – all the features we have come to love from urban decay. My personal favourites are Toasted, Smog, and Mildew, but I do have a soft spot for Painkiller too – the only shade I doubt I’d miss much is Snatch, as it suffers from those dreaded fall-out issues. Its a nice enough colour though, and would be a good highlighter shade provided all glitter was tapped off…

These products were sent to me by Urban Decay for review purposes. I am not affiliated with Urban Decay, nor paid for these reviews, and my opinions are honest and based on my experiences using the products. I would always encourage people to read as many reviews as possible before purchasing a product, as everyone’s skin reacts differently to products. 
With the current desperation on both sides of the pond to get the Alice Palette (it launches in Debenhams in the UK on 1st March… I literally can’t wait for this palette – I predict I will become fully obsessed with Alice and all associated merchandise), it seems like an appropriate time to review some old faves…

I have to say, I’ve been a fan of these eye liners for a long time, and have been picking up the LE sets of mini pencils that they release (I gave the super-stash a miss as I had most of the colours already. I find them smooth and creamy in texture, and they have great staying power on the waterline. 

Of the three shades I was sent, the two metallics (Covet and Electric) seem to be slightly better pigmented, requiring only one swipe over the waterline, while the purple shade, Ransom, took a little more work, however once on they last well. They can also be applied and smudged before they “set” (I find they set and stay in place after a couple of minutes…). I find once on, they last a good 5-6 hours on my waterline without needing to be re-applied, if used on the lashline or upper lid, they last a lot longer.

My absolute favourite of the three I was sent (and my favourite of all the shades I own) is Electric – I love using this to add a flash of colour to a nude or smoky eye for a bit of interest. 

These cost £10 for a full sized pencil, although you can get a “superstash” of 9 mini pencils to try these out for £18, and there are often LE boxes of 5 mid sized pencils on sale for approx £15 too, which are well worth keeping an eye out for. 

One think I’d say to be aware of with the pencils, is not to make the mistike I did with my Zero (black) shade, and loose the top – the creamy texture of the pencils means they dry out really fast, rendering them fairly useless… But provided you have a modicum of sense and don’t do that, you’ll be fine!

I was recently sent a few pieces by Urban Decay for review purposes – First up, we have their “Smoke Out” kit in “Yerba”. The Kit is also available in “Juju” which contains smoky browns and greys. Yerba on the other hand contains white, nude, grey and very dark green shadows. The kits retail at £22.00, and are available at Boots, Debenhams and House of Fraser…

Lets take a closer look at the contents…

The shadows - 

The bottom left shade has come out as almost black on camera – in reality its a very dark green shade, the grey shade has a green undertone as well…The swatches below show the colours better…

As you can see, the grey and dark green are well pigmented – the white and nude shades required heavier swatching to show up – this is partly due to their colour, and the corpse like paleness of my skin!
The liner and brush look like this - 

While the mascara is a mini tube of their Multi-benefit mascara…

As you can see, it is a very dark, black mascara, which claims to “lengthen, curl, strengthen, brighten and thicken” – Big claims!
The leaflet in the kit gives pictoral and written instructions…

I followed the diagram/instructions in the kit, and this was the result…

I mainly used the products in the box to create this – a smoky eye is a popular look, and I think this kit definitely “demystifies” it for beginners… The brush included in the kit, as expected, proved useless (the handle was too short and it was not the greates for either application nor blending) – I used MAC and Illamasqua brushes to apply and blend this (Flat shader brushes, blending brushes and a pencil brush). The instructions were reasonably easy to follow (however the picture was a little confusing at times), and there was no complex crease work – again making this good for beginners, although obviously you could customise a different shadow layout…

The mascara was better than expected too – the pictures don’t really show it off, but this is lengthening and volumises realistically without clumping. I didn’t find it particularly curling, but my lashes seem resistent to curl… 
The shadows themselves were easy to work with and reasonable soft on testure. They blended easily, with no fallout, and I liked the end result. The inclusion of the nude shade was really handy too, making the transition between the lid shades and the highlighter shades a chinch…
One criticism I have of this kit is the price – at £22 this seems a little highly priced to me, given that their book of shadows, which contains 16 shadows, and two 24/7 pencils retails at £27, while the six shadow palettes more regularly released are around £18. 
You do get a decent selection of products from the brand though, so this is good for people who have not tried the brand.This would also be a great gift too…
Have you tried this kit? How did you find it?
More Urban Decay reviews coming up!

Since picking up the shade “Oil Slick” from Urban Decay recently for my post on dark makeup I decided I like these lipsticks a LOT – from the dagger style packaging to the formula, and the colours… Well, some are not exactly everyday shades, but reds in the range are definitely worth a look…

I picked up a couple the other day in the shades Tease and Gash (nice colour, name, not so appealing possibly?)

Tease is definitely the more wearable of the two, it reminds me a bit of MACs “Kinda Sexy” but is a bit less drying on my lips…

It looks like a reddish-pink nude in the tube, slightly teracotta like…

However, on the lips it is a lovely peachy shade, perfect with a smoky eye – I love this shade, and it may be that I have found a (kind of) nude shade I can work with….

I also picked up the shade “Gash” a deep dark red shade – vampy but wearable for night time, and I’m thinking false lashes, simple black liner, and a slick of Harlot blusher from Illamasqua will set this off nicely…
Apologies for the freaky swatch above – I tried to take a full lip shot, but my lips were all blotchy and it looked like a five year old had applied it, but hopefully this gives you a good idea of the colour.

I find both shades reasonably long lasting, and non-drying. They cost around £11.50 each at Boots, and are also available in department stores.

Do you own any Urban Decay lipsticks? How do you find them?
MizzWorthy xxx

I have to say, since I started blogging and trying different products, for me, the whole “MAC=amazing” idea that runs through so much of the blogosphere no longer rings true. Now I’m not saying MAC isn’t a great brand, it is, but their LE collections have failed to inspire me for a LONG time – the last few months have seen a dirge (in my opinion!) of badly pigmented and disappointing products. The last collection that inspired me in any way was BBR. Outstanding MSF’s and fab brushes (although in a way, I find the LE brush thing annoying too – why do you do that to us MAC? Why!?).When I first saw the images and products of the Style Black collection, I have to say, I felt the old interest in MAC stirring again, and I was so excited to have a look at the collection. I was sadly really really disappointed. I got to my local MAC counter on LAUNCH DAY to find that all the eyeshadows were already crumbling and smashed up in the containers. This did not bode well. The one intact shadow swatched well, but I personally found it too glittery – the one shade I was really interested in was the Gilt by Association (sadly the sample was smashed to smithereens), and I may still purchase this one, as it appeals to me for the Christmas season, and looks like it would make a wicked smokey eye over a black base.

I love the look of the black lipsticks, but I am aware that I would probably look ridiculous in them – I am too pale to carry them off (with the possible exception of night violet) and this does make me sad – I’m all for trying out unusual looks, and I’m definitely having fond memories of my teen goth phase, but wearing black lippie when you are 16 (or in a studio with the benefit of amazing lighting and a computer airbrush) is very different to wearing it in your thities (especially when you have as little confidence in your looks as me)(*sob*).I’m definitely more open to the dark purple and red lipsticks which are a massive part of this trend.

Mooching about the beauty hall following this disappointment, I realised that there are actually a LOT of other collections which meant I could still indulge in this trend… Chanel, YSL and NARS all have suitable products to rock this look…

My interest was definitely massive in the Chanel Noirs Obscures collection.

This darkly decadent collection features a couple of dark lipsticks – both very tempting, and some very very nice dark nail varnishes, as well as a new mascara (“The Chanel Mascara”). The products I picked up were the eye palette (£37) and the lipgloss (I think it was around£15?)…

The colours are a little difficult to see but this is basically a palette of colours with very dark undertones – there is a purple, a green, a blue and a brown. The gloss is a black see through base with golden shimmer (Sounds similar to bling black?)

Swatching the shadows on their own makes them look pretty indestinct…

However, over a black base their individual colours stand out much more;

The lipgloss is very subtle – the picture makes it look much more subtle than it is in real life…

On its own the gloss deepens the natural lipcolour. It would look great over the (in my case) dreaded nude shades too…

Illamasqua is ALWAYS worth checking out for unusual and trend shades – they have many many dark shades which are bang on trend at the moment – their cream shadows make great bases and they do an augergine shade called debauch which would make a change from MAC’s blackground paintpot. I picked up their black concealer (shade 350). This is also available in the less pigmented undereye version – both make AMAZING eye shadow bases.

I also picked up a new shade by Urban Decay called Oil Slick. This looks like a black lipstick with silver shimmer…

But when worn it is much more subtle – although in this picture it looks like I applied it in the dark you get the idea!

Drugstore ranges are also well worth a look – Maybelline do a shade in their new Colour Sensation line called Galactic Mauve which looks great worn alone…

Top this off with a layer of Oil Slick by Urban Decay though and you have a perfect on shade and wearable combo..

I LOVE this combination – what do you think?

Other dark and moody collections worth looking at – YSL’s new rouge volupte and gloss volupte shades, as well as their new 5 colour eye palettes; Estee Lauder’s double wear cream shadow in midnight velvet, and the classic black honey sheer lipcolour from clinique… Any other suggestions?

Oh and by the way – Barry M do a cheap black lipstick that won’t leave a dent in your pocket once this trend passes!

MizzWorthy xxx

This is a look I’ve been wearing a lot over the last few days, so thought I’d share… I think I look so serious in the photo above, as here at Casa De Worthy, we have had a casualty of makeup proportions…

Those of you who twitter with me, will know that I had a reorganisation of my stash last night, curtesy of some flat-pack from IKEA… It is my sad duty to report that my urban decay brow box is missing… This is a definite staple product for me, and I feel like my brows don’t look quite right. Oh well, time to hunt out a replacement!

Well, here is a picture of me looking a little happier;

Products Used;

Face;
Korres Watermelon tinted moisturiser
ELF mineral blush in Coral
Rouge Bunny Rouge liquid highlighter (AKA candlelight in a bottle) blended in “C” shape around eye and up to brow bone, and also a smidge down the centre of the nose.
Illamasqua pressed powder (PP115) dusted over T-Zone.

Eyes

MAC paintpot in bare study as base,
Rouge Bunny Rouge shadow in “Unforgettable Oriole” (muted pale gold shade) over lid and blended up to browbone.
Rouge Bunny Rouge shadow in “Abyssinian Catbird” in crease and outer lid.
Rouge Bunny Rouge shadow in “Bejewelled Skylark” in outer V.
Loreal Telescopic carbon black mascara.
UD 24/7 Liner in “Lucky” (bronze-gold shade) on waterline, and upper lashline.
ABSENT – ud brow box!

Lips.

Barry M lipgloss in “Toffee” – this smells like toffee and adds a nice sheen – probably as near to a nude lip as I’m willing to go!

MizzWorthy xxx

Well, I may be completely incorrect, but I think the bronzed look is often thought of as a look for those of us with slightly more colour in our cheeks that I do naturally… Well, I like a challenge so I decided to have a little play today with my bronzer, and some metallic shadows and try to create a bronzed look that works on the pale girl…

This is what I came up with…