When I heard about the Urban Decay Spectrum Palette, I got excited, but Urban Decay brought out a fair few palette this autumn winter so I had to navigate them carefully. First there was the Naked Smokey palette, the latest iteration of the Naked series. As a purple eyeshadow fan, I got excited. You cant do a smokey eye without a range of purples shades right? I was wrong. Urban Decay think that you can, so in a moment of lucidity I decided that my YSL Tuxedo 2 Palette (which I am very happy with) was with very similar so I would stick with that.
Then there was the Vice Four palette. I was ready to get excited about this palette, having seeing the first three versions… but then I didn’t because I really didn’t feel drawn to the colours. There were lots of white based tones that I did not think would work for my skin. Anyway, I had my Marc Jacobs palette. Look at me getting all sensible – who says I have a make up addiction?
Most recently there has been the Gwen Stefani palette. I love Gwen. I spent a whole summer singing Don’t Speak and I LOVE the shoes from her LAMB range but the palette…. it was just meh to me. Sorry, but one blue and one pink eyeshadow just doesn’t do it for me.
Which brings us back to the Spectrum Palette. I spent a lot of time on Instagram catching sneaky peeks of the palettes before they were launched which made my decision about which palette to buy it quite easy. It had to be the Spectrum Palette and here is why:-
- Fifteen full sized eye shadows for the price of two and a third eye shadows. I got a discount using my Debenhams Beauty card so is fifteen shadows for the price of two. Bargain!
- I must have been a mermaid in a previous life because the colours in this palette are giving me life. Jewel tones of blue, green, teal, pink and purple and wearable browns. I can wear every single shade in this palette, which cannot be said for every palette that I own.
- The jewellery box type packaging means that once I have finished with the shadows I can use the box for storage (I would probably store make up rather than jewellery in this)
There are no matte shades in the palette – not an issue for me, but for some it will be. There are a mixture of satin and shimmer shades in each row. I find that there is a bit of fall out with the glitter shades (definitely do your eyes first with this palette) but the colours are so gorgeous that I really don’t care. They blend like a dream stay on the lids all day and are pretty pretty pretty. This is not a palette to travel with. The filligree detail on the lid of the box is very pretty but the lid does not stay secure on the box. The eyeshadows can be removed (get a pen into the hole underneath the West shadow). Don’t attempt to use your nail as you will end up putting your finger into the polish as I did). The Spectrum Palette is also cheaper than the Naked Smokey, Vice 4 and Gwen Stefani palettes. I am loving this palette. If you like a neutral palette – the colour overload that you are going to get from the Spectrum Palette may be too much for you. If like me, you love colour and sparkle on the lids, you NEED this palette.