You know I love my Urban Decay palettes and every year when they bring out their holiday releases, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for them to be released. In the sea of eyeshadow palettes, I love my Urban Decay best. I don’t like all of them, as I explained in yesterday’s video, but I like many and that is also why I have quite a few. When I saw the Heavy Metals palette pop up on Instagram I knew: this is right up my street. Is this a case of OMG-Urban-Decay-did-it-again or one of Oh-no-they-didn’t?
Urban Decay Heavy Metals eyeshadow palette
Limited Edition for Holiday 2017
Urban Decay palettes are some of the most expensive ones out there: at 59 euros, this is more expensive than one of their Naked palettes. I paid a little more even, as I ordered mine from Selfridges. This is where I got all of my LE Urban Decay palettes online and I wasn’t sure whether the newly launched NL Urban Decay website would be carrying this. Previously, we didn’t get Urban Decay limited editions. Turns out we do now, as this palette is up and in stock on the official Dutch Urban Decay website. Good to know that it will be easier to buy from now on.
The Packaging
The outer packaging of this palette is all purple. A purple box and a purple plastic case that holds the palette. The palette is a slide out format, which was a bit different from me at the start, but I quite like that. The packaging itself however, is unncessarily bulky and not that easy to work with. This palette is quite large which makes it difficult to hold and is best used when laying it on a table in front of you. The mirror is in the middle of the two rows of shadow; looks cool, but is less practical.
The Palette
There she is! This palette comes equipped with 20 highly metallic/ shimmery shades. Some are smoother than others and only two of the shades in this palette are too chunky to pick up with a brush and need fingers to apply best. Since this is an all shimmer palette, there is no need to go into the different finishes, because you only get one. What you do get is roughly every shimmer shade a girl could possibly want. You get 10 bolder, jewel tones and 10 neutral tones. There is a mixture of warm and cool tones in the palette as well.
The Shades
Let’s start at the top left corner! Ground is a deep dark charcoal with gunmetal shimmer. This is the darkest shade in the palette and it works well for deepening up a look, as a liner and to make a look more smokey. Aluminum is a metallic silver that has a chrome look to it. Spandex is a deep purple with blue shimmer: this is another intense shade that will work well for creating depth in a look. Dive looks like a stunning cobalt blue and it is, but it is a little chunky. However, I found it worked well when I packed this onto the lower lashline with a smudger brush.
Metalhead is a lighter purple tone with a blue shift to it. This makes for a nice bridge between some of the other shades in the palette. Punk Rock is a burgundy/ berry shade that is perfect for fall!. Mullet is a forest green shade that is quite muted as it has a very distinct grey undertone. I would have loved this more if it had been a little bit brighter! Like Amp for example! This is quite possibly the stand out shade of the palette. This shimmery teal is bold and sassy. Twisted and Glamrock are two must have metallics if you ask me: a straight up gold and a straight up silver. Both look like liquid metal on the eye and in a swatch.
On to the right, more neutral side of the palette. Bass is a deep bronze toned brown with a golden undertone to it. Glory is another gold, but has that tarnished gold look with a hint of olive green. Demo is another deep brown, but this has a reddish undertone. Starfire is a stunning copper. Here I think you can see the power of this palette. Yes they are all metallic, but the array of undertones make this a wearable and versatile palette that makes it easy to pair these more neutral shades with the bolder shades from the other side of the palette.
Afterparty is a great cranberry shade. Another must have for fall looks. Paired with some of the green and golds in this palette it will also look stunning for the festive season. Angelfire is the only true highlight shade in the palette and is another one with a chunkier texture, but it is stunning in the inner corner. Roadie is one of my favorites: it is not too intense, but easy to build up. It’s a berry shade with a rose gold shimmer running through it. Maiden is a gorgeous rose gold. Scream is a taupe that pulls more purple and Acoustic is a taupe that runs more grey.
The Swatches
And these are the swatches. I already mentioned how the mixture of undertones you get in the neutrals make this palette tick: this makes them easy to pair with one another, but also with the jewel tones on the other side of the palette. At first you may wonder: but why so many neutrals, but once I started using these, I noticed why: to give you the versatility you need to create a variety of looks.
Texture wise these are all creamy and smooth. Urban Decay’s metallic formula has come a long way since the early days! If you are familiar with their OG metallic formula, then you will be surprised by how smooth these are. They are easy to work with: they blend well, but do look that amazing shine a little bit when you use these in the crease. I have experienced little to no fall out with these. Even with Dive and Angelfire, the two chunkiest shades in the palette I have had no problem with them falling down my face.
The Application
As always I am including three completely different looks with this review so you can see how these shadows work on the eyes.
Look 1: all the brights
Amp (lid)
Punk Rock (lid & outer v)
Metalhead (lid & lower lash line)
Dive (lower lash line)
Acoustic (inner most third of lower lash line)
Angelfire (inner corner)
For my first look I wanted to do something fun. This wasn’t my first time using the palette: I created a very neutral look and a purple lower lash line look for work earlier that week. So I already had a feel for the palette. I felt like doing a pink crease, so I took Gossip from last year’s Full Spectrum palette and applied that with a fluffy brush. I then packed on Amp in the first half of the lid and complemented it with Punk Rock which I blended into my crease a little bit as well. To transition those shade more nicely, I applied Metalhead to the center of my lid. I smudged Dive onto my lower lash line with a firm brush and then blended it out with more Metalhead for more of a blue/ purple vibe. I rounded off the look with Angelfire and Accoustic for a bit of added brightness.
Look 2: all the neutrals
Starfire (lid)
Demo (crease)
Afterparty (blend shade crease & lower lash line)
Roadie (lower lash line)
Maiden (inner third of lower lash line)
Angelfire (inner corner)
For my second look I wanted to play around with the neutrals. I started off by applying some matte shadows to the lid, but in the end result you cannot even see that anymore. It ended up being a ‘shimmer only’ look, but as you can see these shadows lose some of their shine when you blend them out. I personally do not mind that: this makes them a lot more workable and wearable. I went in with all the coppers, bronzers and cranberries for this one. I decided to blend Afterparty into the top part of my crease as well to create a nice halo effect.
Look 3: all the jewel tones
Mullet (lid)
Twisted (inner third of lid)
Ground (eyeliner)
Bass (crease & lower lash line)
Glory (blend for lower lash line)
Scream (inner third of lower lash line)
Maiden (inner corner)
For the final look, I went with a very autumnal look. That green begged to be used so I packed it onto the lid. After applying the gold shade, I took some more green and sprayed my brush with some Fix+. I wanted to see how these would foil. And they do!! With a wet brush these pack even more of a punch. This green is a little bit muted, which makes it wearable but a lot less fun. It’s still pretty though. I used browns and golds as I feel it would complement this shade best. The only shades I have not used just yet are the two silvers in the palette. But I might do a look with that later this week and post it on Instagram instead. So follow me @indiequeen84 on Instagram to see that popping up!
The Conclusion
Can you tell I love this palette?! I love a good shimmer and shimmer is suddenly super trending too. I think this is a great palette to bring in if you want to give your looks some more oomph. Personally, I love a matte everything with a dose of high shine on the lid and that is what this palette is perfect for. The packaging is a little difficult to handle sometimes, but the quality of the shadows in this palette make up for that 100%. Yes, I’m very happy I got my hands on this palette.
What Holiday 2017 Limited Edition is on your wish list?