URBAN DECAY "FULL SPECTRUM" PALETTE: REVIEW!
January 11, 2017One of my personal 2017 resolutions is to get better at wearing make-up. Not that I'm trying to become an MUA or anything, nor to I follow anyone in Instagram, social media that is one. I've always liked make-up, and I'm looking to grow, evolve and get better at applying it. One think I hope is going to help me with that, is investing in higher quality products. Thus, here enters the most colourful (and most expensive) eyeshadow palette I've ever purchased, the Full Spectrum palette from Urban Decay.
Stock image from Urban Decay, I do have an actual picture of my palette on Instagram, which you can see here!
COLOUR RANGE AND SWATCHES:
The Full Spectrum palette has a good range of shades and forms, from bright matte colours, to darker and lighter shimmer shades. There is a slight shimmer to most of them, aside from "BUMP" which is a pure matte white. The shade range is pretty good for mixing the bright colours together to create a vivid, unique look, or to blend the three different variants together for a full shade. They blend pretty well, but some of the shades are a little patchy and not as vivid as they appear in the palette. Now, I'm going to show you swatches of each different shade and how the different hues look on the skin.
These pink hues are probably my favourite shades from the palette. "Alchemy" isn't as vivid as it appears in the palette, and has a darker tone to it, but it compliments the vividness of "Gossip" and the light, opalescent shade "Paranoia." It does take a while to build the colour on "Gossip" but it's worth it in the end for the beautiful electric pink it becomes.
The red tones are more of a coral / orange colour in reality. "Warning" is a beautiful, burnt orange shade with shimmer and doesn't require a lot of building. "Seize" and "Jones" on the other hand are much lighter than anticipated and require quite a bit of build up to become true to the colour in the palette.
"Calavera" and "Goldmine" are gorgeous shades and compliment each other vivid. "Calavera" is probably the best shade in the palette in terms of being as bright as it appears, whereas "Goldmine" is more of a light opalescent sheen but very easy to build up. "Midnight Blaze" is probably my least favourite shade in the palette, with the gold shimmer and black base not really appealing to me.
I've never played around with green shades before, so these three tones really appeal to me. "Hundred" is much more of an emerald colour in real life and easy to swatch. "Hatter" is another shade that isn't as vivid as it appears and needs a bit of build up to become brighter. "Mean" is much greener in real life also, but again requires build up.
"Minx" is a gorgeous navy shimmer shade in real life and it disappoints me that my camera doesn't pick up just how pretty it is. I love how "Blindsided" looks in the actual pan, but it isn't the electric, vivid blue it appears to me, instead taking a lot of build up to brighten up. "Metamorphosis" is much darker in real life than it seems in the palette, coming out at more of a muted indigo shade than anything else. All in all, the blue shades are some of my least favourites in the palette.
"Faded" is one of my favourite shades in the entire palette, the combination of dusky lilac and gold shimmer looks absolute beautiful together. "Sketch" isn't actually as vivid as it appears, as I tried to create a look with it and it came out at a much darker shade than it swatched as, which was really disappointing, "Delirious" is pretty nice too and I imagine that these three shades together would look incredible.
"Platonic" isn't as matte of a black shade as I already own, so I think I'll get minimal use out of that colour. "Bump" and "Iced" would look really great together to create a whimsical winter look, however as you can see "Bump" is pretty patchy and needs a lot of build up to become to matte white its presented as.
SO WHAT'S THE VERDICT?
Well some of the shades need a bit of build up to become as bright as they seem, but they blend easy and the colour combinations look great together. There isn't a lot of fall out from the shades, except for the pink hues, for some reason they seem to just dust everywhere.
WHAT ABOUT THE BRUSH?
I'm definitely not a fan of the brush Urban Decay supply with this particular palette. The blending side is too hard on my eyes and spreads the shadow everywhere (although maybe that's just my inexperience with it) and the actual shadow brush is quite stiff and doesn't make it easy to apply the shadows. I got better results when I just used my own brushes!
VALUE FOR MONEY
At £42 the palette is quite pricey and you could get some of the shades from other brands singly, for cheaper. I got my palette at a discount because one of the shades was damaged so it came to £38.70 for me, but it's still one of the most expensive palettes I own. If you're someone who is going to use the bright colours a lot then this is the palette for you. Its also cruelty free!
Overall, I'm happy enough with the palette. I'm not too fussy so I don't mind building the shades up to get them to opacity I want. I am disappointed with some of the shades, a few of the lighter ones are hard to swatch and I definitely am not a fan of the little brush inside. But all in all, I would definitely recommend the palette to all of you creative artists out there who want to experiment with shades, colours and techniques! If you're not willing to invest in the Full Spectrum palette just yet, explore around and have a look for some dupes and try out the bright shades before you take the plunge and buy.
I'm definitely going to be getting creative with this beauty and I can't wait to show you all what I do! Until then,
Rachel
0 comments