Urban Decay

Shedding Some Light on the New Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencils in Cult, Lure, Lush, Minx and Plushie

July 24th, 2014 by Karen 13 Comments

Your kitty nephew is shedding like crazy!

This happens every summer. The hair — it’s everywhere! I can’t escape it. It’s on my clothes, on my face, in my nostrils, on my lips, and it may or may not be in my belly button.

Speaking of shedding…these new $20 Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencils shed a lot, too.

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencils from the left: Cult, Lure, Lush, Minx and Plushie — From the left: Cult, Lure, Lush, Minx and Plushie

Within minutes of applying any of these five (there’s also a black shade, Black Velvet, previously released and not shown here) intensely pigmented liners on my lash and/or water lines, once they’ve dried down, little flecks and specks appear under my eyes, on my nose, on my cheeks, chin and upper lip.

That ish is all up in my grill!

New additions to UD’s famous 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil family, these Velvet cousins, which are waterproof and paraben-free, have a soft, powdery texture and a matte finish designed to create smokey, smudged out, super blended eye looks sans drama. #smokeyeyetillidie

You might recall the original smokey 24/7 Velvet shade, Black Velvet, which came out a while back. The five new shades here — Cult (a forest green), Lure (a gunmetal gray), Lush (a coffee brown), Minx (a sapphire blue) and Plushie (a deep eggplant) — are like her sassy sisters. They’re $20 each and new members of the permanent line.

Urban Decay 247 Velvet Glide On Eye Pencil Swatches clockwise from the purple shade in the lower left: Plushie, Cult, Lure, Lush and Minx — Swatches clockwise from the purple shade in the lower left: Plushie, Cult, Lure, Lush and Minx

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Calling Mrs. Mia Wallace! The Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette Marries Dark Themes With Dark Neutral Eyeshadows

July 17th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

If…

You like carrying on entire conversations with friends and family via Pulp Fiction movie quotes (“Bring out the gimp!” “I love you, Honey Bunny.” “All right, everybody be cool. This is a robbery!”).
Your Urban Decay cup runneth over, and yet despite owning all three Naked palettes, you still want more, more, MORE!
You dream of wearing brown, black and/or beige eyeshadow while doing the twist with John Travolta at a 1950s diner.
You don’t mind a little fallout.

Then you might want to say “What happened to my Honda?”

Wait — that’s from the movie. 🙂

Let’s try that again…

You might want to say “I do” to the new $34 Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette.

Inspired by Mrs. Mia Wallace herself, Uma Thurman’s character from the movie, this five-piece (three new shadows and two re-promotes) limited edition palette, which is part of UD’s fall collection, is all about the Mrs. and recreating her look.

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Collection Palette — Inside the palette…

I’ve found that when I wear the shadows in this palette — Righteous (a matte light cream), Tyranny (a matte warm brown), Vengeance (a deep, satiny matte taupe-brown), Furious (a satiny white) and Anger (a satiny black with a slight sparkle) — things get very dark, very quickly, just like they do in the movie.

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette Swatches — Swatches…

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Be Cool, Honey Bunny! The New Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Collection Is Coming Soon

July 11th, 2014 by Karen 34 Comments

Be cool, honey bunny. Be cool!

Try to contain your excitement (“try” being the key word here), Pulp Fiction fans, when you check out the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction collection.

The fall launch commemorates the 20-year anniversary of the movie that gave us phrases like, “Bring out the gimp,” and the products are all designed around one of the flick’s iconic characters, Mrs. Mia Wallace (played by the gorgeous Uma Thurman).

“I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do WHATEVER I WANTED. Now I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good.”

— Mrs. Mia Wallace

Here’s a quick look at the five-piece collection, which is coming July 16 to Urban Decay counters at Sephora, Ulta and select Macy’s stores, and online to sephora.com, ulta.com, macys.com, beauty.com and urbandecay.com.

Pulp Fiction Palette, an eye palette with five shades of Eyeshadow (three new, two repromotes), including Righteous (a matte light cream), Tyranny (a matte warm brown), Vengeance (a satiny matte deep taupe-brown), Furious (a satiny white) and Anger (a satiny black with a slight sparkle). Limited edition, $34.
Revolution Lipstick in Mrs. Mia Wallace, a deep blood red lipstick. Limited edition, $22.
24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in Mrs. Mia Wallace, a blood red pencil that matches the lipstick. Limited edition, $20.
Nail Color in Mrs. Mia Wallace, a deep red with a slight shimmer. Limited edition, $15.
Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner, a black with black and silver sparkle. Limited edition, $19.

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Collection Revolution Lipstick in Mrs. Mia Wallace — Revolution Lipstick in Mrs. Mia Wallace

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Collection 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in Mrs. Mia Wallace — 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil in Mrs. Mia Wallace

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Collection Nail Polish in Mrs. Mia Wallace — Nail Polish in Mrs. Mia Wallace

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Try Urban Decay Perversion Mascara for Lascivious Lash Love With Major Thickness at the Base

June 20th, 2014 by Karen 9 Comments

Wearing the new Urban Decay Perversion Mascara on my upper lashes

It would have been oddly poetic had I been wearing Urban Decay Perversion Mascara ($22) on one of the times (yes, it happened more than once) I was flashed on the sidewalks of downtown San Francisco.

It happened, not once, but twice, walking to and from work. Naughty bits and all, and both times within a six-month period.

Ewww…

I’m just saying that I think I would have appreciated the irony, is all. Witnessing an act of perversion while actually wearing a mascara called Perversion.

Or maybe that’s just me and my strange sense of humor. 🙂

The latest lash-loving mascara from Urban Decay, Perversion is supposed to be blacker than black (wait — is that even possible?), with the deepest, darkest pigments imaginable.

Lash roots like WHOA!

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara Before and After — Before (left) and after (right) one coat of Urban Decay Perversion Mascara on my upper lashes

I’ve been using it for a couple weeks so far, and it’s weird — in a way, Perversion makes me feel like a gardener.

Wait — that didn’t come out right.

I mean, this stuff is like Miracle Grow for lash roots. It’s really great at building up thickness around the base.

But that’s not all. It also doesn’t flake or smudge, and it’s easy to remove.

One coat of Perversion, and my lashes look thick and lush, as long as I follow the right procedure…

First, I position the brush at the roots, and then really slowly (like s-l-o-w-l-y) wiggle the wand back and forth as I comb through to the ends, concentrating more of the product at the base.

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara Closeup — I’m also wearing Chanel’s new Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadows in Sensation and Hesitation on my eyes

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Urban Decay’s New Clothing-Optional Naked Flushed Palettes in Native, Streak and Strip Make It Easy To Bring Your Highlighter, Bronzer and Blush With You

May 6th, 2014 by Karen 25 Comments

Wearing the new Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Native — Wearing the new Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette in Native

Coming at ‘cha! — riding on a wave of nakedness, three new ways to strip down for summer from Urban Decay.

Yup, I think it’s safe to say that UD is on something of a naked streak (get it, streak?) based on their three latest Naked Flushed Palettes ($30 each).

Native, Strip and Streak arrive to the party with a disrobed desire to enhance skin, diffuse light and give a fresh glow to yo’ face, baby cakes.

Each one comes with one powder bronzer, a highlighter and a blush.

The new Urban Decay Naked Flushed Bronzer/Highlighter/Blush Palettes, $30 each

UD bestowed a satiny bronze bronzer upon Native, the palette I’m wearing in these pics, as well as a frosty pinkish beige highlighter and a matte hot pink blush.

Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Native — Naked Flushed in Native

Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Streak — Naked Flushed in Streak

Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Strip — Naked Flushed in Strip

Swatches of Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Native — Naked Flushed in Native

The second palette, Streak, is ready for a warm roll in the haaay!. It comes with a warm, matte bronzer; a frosty peach highlighter; and a matte coral blush.

Swatches of Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Streak — Naked Flushed in Streak

And Strip, the third palette, glimmers with a frosty golden tan bronzer (so shiny!), a gold highlighter and a matte mauve blush.

Urban Decay Naked Flushed in Strip Swatches — Naked Flushed in Strip

The new Urban Decay Naked Flushed Bronzer/Highlighter/Blush Trios…

Micronized, jet-milled powder formula free of parabens, fragrances, alcohol and mineral oil
The bronzer, highlighter and blush are all full size
UD designed them to work with all skin tones
New to the UD permanent line for summer 2014

I wear bronzer, blush and highlighter on a pretty much daily basis, so I like the idea of these, especially late in the week, when my brain is usually so fried that small decisions like which bronzer/blush/highlighter to wear is more than I can take, haha.

I think all three color combinations are super flattering, but my favorites are probably Native and Streak. For uber-natural looks, I like those two the most.

Urban Decay Naked Flushed Packaging — Packaging

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The Urban Decay Summer 2014 Collection Puts on the Glitz With Majorly Blinged-Out Loose Glitter

March 20th, 2014 by Karen 34 Comments

If I can’t come back in my next life as Wonder Woman, I’m sure as hell coming back as a Vegas showgirl. ‘Cause it ain’t happening in this lifetime, that’s for damned sure. I’ve got the flexibility of a concrete pretzel and a high kick that barely clears the height of a footstool.

But you know what? Even though I will (probably) never don a big feathered headdress and dance around in a sparkly outfit on a Vegas stage, at least I can say that in this life, in the summer of 2014, I will have glittered and sparkled, and for that, I gotta give big ups to Urban Decay.

The Heavy Metal Loose Glitters in their new summer collection are so bling, so BAM! — that you sparkle all day and night LIKE YOU FRICKIN’ MEAN IT, MAN, when you wear them on your eyes.

They’re coming soon to UD counters but glittering now online with the rest of the summer collection.

Lots of fun things to play with here. Along with the six loose glitters, there’s also a weightless liquid glitter glue (to keep your glitter in place), a crop of several new liners for smokey eye looks and two new polishes (there’s also a small polish kit not shown here).

Are you ready for a quick tour? Here, take my hand… 🙂

Heavy Metal Loose Glitters ($12 each)

The new Urban Decay Heavy Metal Loose Glitters ($12 each)

These are my favorite things in the launch! Even if you don’t fancy yourself as a glitter gal/guy, you still may want to boogie down with these.

They’re just so fun and sparkly! — and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. 🙂

The flecks of glitter are bigger than the flecks in Urban Decay’s Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliners, so I’m warning you — brace yourself for major glitz.

Here’s the idea: you’re supposed to apply a small amount of Urban Decay’s clear Bondage makeup adhesive ($14) to your lids (or wherever else you’d like to wear loose glitter) first, and then pack your choice of glitters on top.

Once the glue dries, that glitter isn’t going anywhere.

I appreciate the sifter caps, too, which make it easy to regulate how much glitter I’m using. Don’t forget to remove the tape that covers the holes the first time you open it, though, because I didn’t see it at first and kept wondering, “Hmm… Why isn’t the glitter coming out?” I was just about to bite the sifter when I noticed the tape, haha! #schoolforthegifted

Also, if you plan to line your eyes with one of the new liners in the launch, you may want to do your liner before applying your glitter.

Why? Oh, because I think it’s just a really, REALLY big pain to apply liner on top of glitter. I’m just sayin’… Save yourself the drama by lining first.

Urban Decay Catfight Heavy Metal Loose Glitter — Urban Decay’s pink Catfight Heavy Metal Loose Glitter ($12)

Urban Decay Goldmine Heavy Metal Glitter, a yellow gold glitter ($12)

Urban Decay ACDC Heavy Metal Loose Glitter, a bright purple ($12)

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Scorch

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 39 Comments

Dear UD Scorch,

‘Sup, boo? I’ve been missing you. We haven’t talked in a while (six months, give or take, but who’s counting?).

I just wanted to holla and ask, “How are you?” How’s my smokin’-hot, shimmery bronze liner love? Still the picture of pure perfection in a pencil?

Remember how we always loved to play in spring and summer? Whenever I’d bust out my beach bag and slip on my booty shorts (might as well work it while you can, right?), you were always right there for me, ready to help with the bronze and gold eye makeup looks I was wearing.

Urban Decay Scorch Swatch — Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Scorch ($20)

I wonder, are you the same way…?

I bet you are. 🙂 I bet you’d like me to swipe you along my lash lines, wouldn’t ‘cha? Just us, from the break of dawn till late at night, no fading, no smudging — nothing to break our bond.

I’ve been thinking about you again. A lot. And all of the things I want to do with you…like wearing you as a base for shimmery bronze eyeshadows.

Remember that time I layered you with UD’s Half Baked on top? That was smokin’ hot.

Oh! — or that time I wore you with MAC Woodwinked? Hotter than a five-alarm fire.

The 411 on Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Scorch

What is it? A silky soft $20 long-wearing shimmery bronze pencil liner with silver micro-glitter. Available now at Urban Decay counters and urbandecay.com.

Who might lurve it? Anyone who likes wearing warm bronze and gold shades on their eyes.

When’s a good time to wear it? How ’bout now? Or any time of year, but I think it comes into its own in spring and summer because it looks faboo with a tan.

What else? It’s a great liner alternative to basic brown and black.

How do you rock it? You can wear it as a straight-up eyeliner or as a base for powder shadows. It goes well with coral or hot pink cheeks and lips.

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Makeup Adventure Seekers, Prepare To Be Amped Up and Turned On by the Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette

March 6th, 2014 by Karen 21 Comments

Thunderous!

No, the colors will not shock your @ss when you touch them, and your hair will not stand on end, but the colors in Urban Decay’s new Electric Pressed Pigment Palette are very bright — like neon sign bright.

Buuut, not everybody likes brights, right? This one is for the risk takers — the guys and dolls who aren’t afraid to wear a bright teal eye to the bank on a Wednesday, which is not to say that those are the only makeup lovers who might like it. Just that they’d probably be more attracted to it immediately. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a bright teal, electric blue or chartreuse fan, however, does not mean you would not be able to rock this.

I just got back from a quick 10-minute walk around the neighborhood, and it was so beautiful outside. It rained here last night, and all of the flowers and grasses and trees are covered in raindrops from the storm. The colors are intensified because of the rain — the pinks, the greens, the blues, the yellow daffodils — but they’re also surrounded by neutrals — the brown dirt, the gray tree bark and the boring-@ss beige buildings in my neighborhood. The neutrals make the bright colors a little less shocking, but a little more at home in their environment at the same time.

Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette swatches from the left, top row: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage and Fringe; bottom row: Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak and Thrash — From the left, top row: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage and Fringe; bottom row: Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak and Thrash

Similarly, I think the brights in this palette also look that much more beautiful when they’re used in tandem with neutrals.

Sorry…I rambled on there!

My point is this: you can use your existing wardrobe of neutrals, take this palette, and incorporate one or two of its colors as accents in your looks, making the palette into something perfectly wearable.

You know, I had a feeling that Urban Decay was about to release something bright soon… I mean, shoot — after all of the Nakedness dominating the line over the past few years, it was only a matter of time.

Speaking of time…

The first time I saw Electric, I said, “Ooh! I think I have a Pop Beauty palette just like this sitting in a drawer.” It was a palette from last fall, and it’s only sitting in the drawer because I get easily distracted. Not because I don’t like it. I do (incidentally, it’s still available and much less expensive than Electric).

Then when I opened Electric for the first time, I thought, “I have to get Fringe on my lids.”

Fringe, the metallic teal all the way to the right in the first row, is all that and a bag of deep-fried chips. Deep and rich and shimmery and pigmented, and it buffs out perfectly.

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