Urban Decay

My Lips Would Stage a Coup for These New $22 Urban Decay Revolution Lipsticks

July 16th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Urban Decay Streak Revolution Lipstick — Wearing Urban Decay’s coral pink Revolution Lipstick in Streak, one of 22 shades in UD’s new Revolution Lipstick line

A couple weeks ago Urban Decay started a revolution. They unleashed a new line of lipsticks unto the world and their permanent collection — the Revolution Lipsticks — and I kid you not, I’ve been wearing them almost every day since.

Renowned for their iconic palettes (hello, Naked!) and eyeshadow singles, UD decided to show some love to lips, and mine certainly love what they’ve done here. This new line of 22 lipsticks keeps the brand firmly near the front of the pack.

Costing $22 each but looking and feeling more extravagant than that, they seem like a bargain next to lippies from Tom Ford and Dolce & Gabbana.

With their concentrated pigments and creamy, smooth formula, even colors that can normally be tricky and uneven, like beiges and pale neutral pinks, apply without a hitch. A single swipe is all it takes.

I find myself having to reapply them after meals, but they easily handle tea. Between meals, I get at least 4-5 hours from them.

Thicker and creamier than Urban Decay’s old lipsticks — the ones with the swirls on the packaging and the silver dagger — they feel more significant (and better) on my lips, but aren’t what I’d call heavy. Not like a ton of product plastered on my pout. I think of them as lipsticks for lipsticks lovers, but if you gravitate toward featherweight glosses and lip colors that look barely there, these are probably not what you need.

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick ($22 each)

Urban Decay Shame Revolution Lipstick 1 — Shame, a deep berry

Urban Decay Venom Revolution Lipstick 2 — Venom, a bright plum

Urban Decay Jilted Revolution Lipstick 3 — Jilted, a deep fuchsia shimmer with blue shift

Urban Decay Anarchy Revolution Lipstick 4 — Anarchy, a bright fuchsia

Urban Decay Turn On Revolution Lipstick 5 — Turn on, a rosy pink

Urban Decay F-Bomb Revolution Lipstick 6 — F-Bomb, a classic red

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The New Urban Decay Brow Box and an Open Letter to Raul

July 11th, 2013 by Karen 15 Comments

Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar — Wearing Urban Decay’s Brow Box in Brown Sugar

Raul. You @sshole. You just don’t get it, do you? This isn’t working out.

I mean, what else is there to say? I’ve been putting up with your nonsense for six years. The taunting in the mirror every morning — “Ooh, look at me!” — the following me to work.

I kept telling myself, “Come on, Karen, he’s just a bald spot in the arch of your left eyebrow. Give him another chance.”

But that’s just it. You’re always IN MY FACE!

And I’m sick of it.

You need to move on. Go find someone else’s eyebrows to torment.

I don’t want to see you anymore when I look in the mirror. I don’t want to see that bald spot there in my left brow.

Just leave. I’ve taken care of everything. You won’t even have to lift a brow.

I’ve actually been seeing someone new…Urban Decay’s recently revamped $29 Brow Box (available in two shades, Brown Sugar and Honey Pot), and he takes care of my brows.

He’s a two-tiered box containing everything I need to fill in sparse spots like you and fatten skinny brows — two powder shadows (which can be mixed to customize a color); a soft, colorless wax to herd stray hairs and set them in place; as well as two brushes and a tiny tweezers.

Urban Decay Honey Pot Brow Box — Honey Pot Brow Box

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Years From Now Lip Lovers Will Say, “The Revolution Started at Urban Decay.” New Products For Lips, Brows, Faces and Nails From Urban Decay for Fall 2013

July 7th, 2013 by Karen 43 Comments

From the Urban Decay Fall 2013 collection, Revolution Lipstick in Bag, Naked Skin Ultra Definition Pressed Finishing Powder in Naked Dark, and Brow Box in Brown Sugar

Â¡Viva la lipstick revoluciÃ³n!

Say hasta luego to products with paltry pigments and sapless shine. A new line of lipsticks leads Urban Decay’s pack of fall products to shelves, and they’ve got plans to plant plenty o’ creamy, pigmented kisses on lips.

The Revolution Lipsticks

A completely new line of permanent collection products, the Revolution Lipsticks ($22 each) are the stars this fall.

Available in a range of pigmented, shiny colors from nudes to bold brights, and with a creamy, moisturizing formula that contains jojoba oil, avocado oil, cocoa butter and shea butter, there’s something for everyone.

I’m really impressed by the formula and thick texture with these. SO rich and smooth. Even the pale nudes, which can often apply patchy, go on smoothly with even coverage.

I’m still testing, but I have high hopes for these… From what I’m seeing so far, these could be nice alternatives to full-coverage Dolce & Gabbana-style lipsticks at a lower price point.

24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils

Joining the Revolution Lipsticks are 16 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils ($19 each) being relaunched into the permanent line. Ozone (the clear shade) and Naked (a revamped version of it) are holdovers from earlier appearances, but the rest of the colors are new. Containing vitamin E, jojoba and cottonseed oil, they’re designed to deliver moisture to parched pouts while keeping the color from feathering.

Naked Ultra Definition Pressed Finishing Powders

But lips aren’t the only stars lighting up the sky above Urban Decay headquarter. The company is also launching a new line of face powders to go with their Naked Foundation and Beauty Balm called the Naked Ultra Definition Pressed Finishing Powders ($24 each).

Designed to be virtually invisible on the skin, the powders have optical blurring pigments to minimize imperfections, cut shine and create a soft-focus effect.

They’re oil-, paraben-, alcohol- and fragrance-free and come in five shades — Naked (works well with shades 0.5-3.0), Naked Medium Light (for shades 2.0-4.0), Naked Medium (4.5-6.5), Naked Medium Dark (6.0-8.0) and Naked Dark (8.0-12.0). All are en route to UD’s permanent line.

Brow Box

The fall bold brow trend also gets some lovin’ with the newly redesigned Brow Box ($29).

Urban Decay revamped their existing Urban Decay Brow Box by including an additional angled brush, so now there are two — one for powder and one for wax.

That’s not all. The kit also comes with two shades of brow powder to mix and match your own custom color, as well as a pan of setting wax for precision shaping and to keep hairs in position, and a pair of tiny tweezers, all to create defined, natural-looking brows.

The Brow Box comes in two shades — Brown Sugar (dark brown and a light brown) and Honey Pot (dark blonde and light blonde), and yup! — it’s permanent.

Nail Colors

But wait, there’s more. 🙂 Nails.

Two limited edition, seasonal Nail Colors at $15 each in Vice, a rich, deep purple with red and blue micro-shimmer, and Addiction, a smoky, metallic gunmetal with multidimensional, high-shine micro-sparkle.

Dang… Multidimensional, high-shine micro-sparkle? Now that a cool phrase.

Each one has a 400-strand brush, which is supposed to help ’em latch onto more product for clean, precise application. All of them are toluene-, formaldehyde- and DBP-free.

According to Urban Decay, we can expect to see two new Nail Colors every fall and spring, so if you’re a collector, this could be a fun place to start.

Availability

Fall 2013 arrives on Urban Decay counters soon, and should be popping up on urbandecay.com Tuesday, July 9.

Are your eyeballs braced for pics? I hope so, because here they come! Pics and swatches of the entire collection down below.

I wonder what the standouts will be… Let me know what you think.

Revolution Lipsticks, $22 each

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Urban Decay’s New Skincare-Themed B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray and Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging Aim to Bring the Noise to Your Beauty Routine

June 24th, 2013 by Karen 27 Comments

Urban Decay B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray and Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging — Urban Decay’s new B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray ($33) and Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging ($24)

“BOOM!”

Something exploded off in the distance across the Bay. “What was that?” my brother said, jumping an inch off the ground.

“Holy sh*t!” exclaimed El Hub.

Three three of us were just strolling along the water in downtown Sausalito last Saturday when it happened — a loud boom that rang out across the Bay.

I was wearing two new skin-lovin’ Urban Decay products at the time, B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray ($33) and their Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging ($24). “If this is the end,” I said, “we should probably go rescue Tabs before the traffic [on Highway 101] gets too bad.”

Then the mental calculations started… How long would I be able to stretch out the makeup I had with me in my purse if this was, in fact, the start of something big (World War Z sprang to mind)? A week? Two weeks? A month?

Luckily, I was testing both of the new antioxidant products from Urban Decay and had them in my bag, a spray and a wrinkle-fighting primer, so it definitely could have been worse.

Priorities. #tmoney #makeup

We never figured out what caused the loud sound, but El Hub said that he thought it was a canon…

Don’t ask me why a canon would be firing in the San Francisco Bay, but strange things do happen here from time to time. 🙂

Urban Decay’s two newcomers come bearing skincare benefits to add extra BOOM! to your makeup routine.

B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray ($33)

The first, the B6 Vitamin-Infused Complexion Prep Spray, is the latest recruit on UD’s team of Setting Sprays.

Instead of applying it after you’re done doing your makeup and getting everything set in place, you’re supposed to apply it on your bare skin before you start, although you can also spray it on throughout the day to freshen up without messing up your makeup, or at night before your regular skincare routine.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Smog

May 13th, 2013 by Karen 39 Comments

Sometime in the not-so-distant future…

“Remember smog?”

“Smog! Of course I remember smog. It was one of my favorite things about the early twenty-first century.”

“Mine too!”

Years from now as you and I share a cheesecake in the middle of the night at our Miami home with the other Golden Girls — dibs on being the Sophia of the group! She’s short, cranky and carries her purse around everywhere, so I feel like I’d be a good fit — we’ll look back on this time as the era of Smog.

No, not the kind that hovers over the San Fernando Valley… I’m referring to Urban Decay’s $19 shimmery masterpiece of golden khaki bronze, the 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Smog.

“Gosh, we wore it with everything!” we’ll say. “We didn’t even touch black liners there for a while.”

It looked so good with summery golds, khakis, bronzes and browns. Even corals, purples and teals.

“Dang,” we’ll say, “that was one flexible liquid liner…”

You’ll roll your eyes as I retell the story (FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME) of how I was wearing waterproof Smog along my lash lines when I bumped into Ryan Gosling that time in Hawaii.

It was early in the morning just after dawn, hardly anyone else in the water, and I was sitting back on my surfboard waiting for the next wave. Smog’s shimmery, shiny finish caught the sunlight, which caught Ryan’s eye and prompted him to paddle over and say, “Hey girl.”

“We surfed, laughed and shared a shave ice that day,” I’ll say, “and Smog lasted from 10-12 hours.”

At some point you’ll remind me of my penchant for telling tall tales, and I’ll tap my plate with my fork, contemplating another slice of cheesecake. 🙂

What else can I say about Smog, babe? I just love it.

It’s waterproof and long-lasting enough to spend the day surfing and complements just about every eye color I’ve ever seen.

I love the way its golden khaki bronze color works with the kinds of colors I like to wear in summer.

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Makeup Playtime

May 13th, 2013 by Karen 8 Comments

Sometimes you just need it, ya know?

Get It While It’s Hot! Fresh Out the Oven, Urban Decay’s New Easy Baked Eyeshadow Serves Smokin’ Hot Bronze Shimmer in Time for Summer

April 15th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

Urban Decay Easy Baked Eyeshadow — Wearing the new $18 Easy Baked Eyeshadow… Are you ready to get Easy Baked with Urban Decay?

On the one hand, I love wearing Urban Decay’s new $18 Easy Baked Eyeshadow. The slight semblance of cantaloupe that peeks through when the light hits it just right keeps it from ending up in the run-of-the-mill bronze eye shadow pile.

And when I wear it, thanks to the soft shimmer, which works like DOPE-@ss mood lighting, I swear I don’t look half as tired as I usually feel.

But on the other hand, I hate it.

HATE IT!

No, not because it two-timed or double crossed me, Don Draper-style. I actually think it’s a great little eye shadow. Worn with a primer, this bronzed peach lasts all day long on my lids (although without one, I start to see creases after two), blends like it was born for gradients, and I just know it’ll rock the Casbah with the corals, browns and teals I plan to wear on my eyes this summer.

It’s just that every time I wear Easy Baked…I think of the Easy Bake Oven I always wanted as a kid but never got.

Wasn’t the Easy Bake Oven the coolest??

I was so jealous of those girls in the commercial baking brownies in their bedroom (I mean, baking brownies in your bedroom? How cool is that!?). My mom never baked because cooking wasn’t really her thing. It wasn’t until I left for college that I realized that cooked meat didn’t have to have the texture of an old leathery shoe (sorry, Mom!).

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The Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in Mushroom: A Neutral Shadow With a Can-Can Kick

April 12th, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

Urban Decay Mushroom 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in Mushroom — On my lids: the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in Mushroom ($20)

There’s a fungus among us, ladies and gents. With Urban Decay’s new 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in Mushroom, you’ll be able to knock out neutral looks in a flash.

And not just any old neutral looks. Neutral looks with pizzaz! — as this waterproof, long-lasting gray eye shadow also shimmers.

Right now it’s driving my Blanche Deveraux side wild, but she was mightily concerned at first…

When I showed it to her, she feigned almost passing out, raising the back of a wrist to her forehead and steadying herself against one of the posts on the veranda outside (also known as the back deck). “Oh, dear,” she declared in her thick Southern drawl, “if you’re gonna wear another boring gray shadow, I’ll just die. JUST DIE!”

See, my Blanche Deveraux side believes that neutrals should only be worn when shopping for sensible shoes, filling out Excel spreadsheets and cleaning cat barf from the carpets (seriously, Tabs, couldn’t you have aimed for the tiles?). In her mind, why bother with a boring gray when there are so many sparklier shades out there (she said, while batting her lashes at a pair of French naval officers on shore leave)?

But then she took a closer look at the tip…

And totally changed her tune. She saw an intense, warm gray with a shiny, silvery pearl finish.

When I explained how the easy-to-blend formula lasts all day long when worn with or without a primer, she snatched the pencil from my paws, and before I could protest, applied it to her lids.

Urban Decay Mushroom Noise 247 Glide On Shadow Pencil — Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencils in Mushroom (left) and Noise (right)

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