Review: Urban Decay Vice 3 Holiday Eyeshadow Palette #UrbanDecay #holiday #Vice3

(photo courtesy of www.sephora.com)

I am a huge fan of Urban Decay eye shadows. Huge. I love how pigmented they are, their texture, smoothness, how creamy they are and how well they stay on. Plus, they have little to no fallout. I was very excited to try out the new Vice 3 Eyeshadow Palette that came out for the holiday season. This palette, filled with 20 new eye shadows and one eye shadow brush, is a continuation of the series that Urban Decay has come out with for the past three years. This palette comes in a zip up fabric bag. 

The eye shadows in the palette come in various textures: satin, shimmers, metallics, mattes, micro-glitters and iridescent pearls. The colors are as follows: Truth (pale pink-nude matte), Dragon (bright metallic green shimmer), Vanity (smoky metallic eggplant/multidimensional micro-glitter), Alien (pink-peach/golden shift), Last Sin (champagne shimmer/silver micro-glitter), Undone (pink-beige/matte-satin/tonal pearl), Freeze (metallic medium blue/multidimensional micro-glitter), Lucky (metallic bronze), Alchemy (deep fuchsia satin), Angel (light taupe/silver micro-glitter), Downfall (warm light brown matte), Heroine (deep navy blue/tonal pearl), Reign (rich brown satin), Bondage (deep, smoky burgundy/shimmer), Defy (smoky taupe satin), DTF (taupe matte/pearl), Brokedown (metallic golden brown shimmer/gold micro-glitter), Bobby Dazzle (metallic white/pale gold micro-glitter), Sonic (metallic red-copper) and Revolver (soft black satin/iridescent pearl). My favorite eyeshadow happens to be Sonic, as it is very creamy, has a gorgeous shift and looks amazing on the eye. The next favorite is Alien, for the same reason. Also, both look good with my blue-green eyes.

(left: fabric case middle: palette closed and right: palette open with view of eye shadows)

I am not as happy with this palette as I had hoped I would be. The metallic and shimmer eye shadows are very nice. They go on creamy and smoothly, with little to no fallout. The matte and satin eye shadows have a lot of fallout and some chalkiness. As you can see with the swatches below, the matte shades are also not as pigmented as the shimmery shades.

(left: swatches of first two rows right: swatches of second two rows)

I did do a couple of looks with these shadows to show you how they look on:

LOOK 1: 

This look was done with pinks and purples. I took Vanity and used it in the crease, then took Alchemy and used it to line the lower lid, deepen the crease and used it on the outer 1/3 of the upper lid. Sonic was used on the upper lid and then I took Alien and used it under the brow and blended it with Vanity. I then took a Make-Up For Ever Aqua liner 8 and lined the upper lid. For mascara I used Urban Decay Subversion primer and Perversion mascara. On my cheeks I used NARS Sex Fantasy blush and on my lips I used NYX Nude Lip Cream in Peaches. I liked this look a lot and like the pink and purple eye shadows a lot. The shimmers and metallics have a lot of pigment in them,go on creamy, have little fallout and definitely look nice.

LOOK 2:

For this look I chose to do a nude eye with mega lashes and a peach lip and cheek. I chose the following shadows: DTF in the crease then Reign on the outer 1/3 of the lid, lining the lower lid and to deepen the crease. I used Last Sin on the rest of the upper lid and then Truth under the brown. I took Bobby Dazzle and used it to lighten up the inner corner of the eyes. I lined the upper lid with Charlotte Tilbury The Feline Flick liquid liner in black.  For mascara I used Urban Decay Subversion Primer and L'Oréal Manga mascara. On my cheeks is NARS Love Blush and on my lips is Face Atelier lipstick in Cool Coral. The shadows used in this look are not as pigmented and I had a lot of fallout with them. I was not as happy with them as I was with the other look.

Summary:

Urban Decay’s Vice 3 Eyeshadow Palette retails for $60.00 and is available on www.urbandecay.com, www.sephora.com, and also in SEPHORA stores. Would I purchase this again? Not likely. I have many purple eye shadows already and similar ones to the ones that are in this palette. I like the some of the shadows that are in this one but not enough to justify the ones that are not as pigmented and have so much fallout. I wish this palette was as good as their previous palettes. This one is just subpar compared to their other great palettes from past years. I imagine if used wet they would work better but you should not have to use eye shadows wet to get the best pigmentation. If you have never tried any of Urban Decay’s palettes, this is not one to start out with. Try one of the Naked palettes instead, which have great shades, excellent pigmentation and durability. I have noticed that even the Naked Basics 2 Eyeshadow Palette had the same issues with its matte and satin eye shadows as this palette. I just hope that Urban Decay understands their quality is slipping and they catch it. I think their eye shadows are the best on the market and I would hate to see them end up like other brands that have gone too big (like MAC).

Once Estee Lauder bought out MAC they suffered greatly. And they are still suffering in their quality. L'Oréal owns Urban Decay now and I have seen it too many times. A large multimillion dollar company buys a smaller cosmetic company and the quality starts to suffer greatly. It sucks. It happened with Stila and Estee Lauder too, until they ended up selling Stila off. If we let Urban Decay know that they are having issues with their eye shadows they will pay attention and remedy the situation.

Until Next Time~

Marie Papachatzis

I Am THE Makeup Junkie

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