Urban Mermaid - Urban Decay Razor Sharp Long-wear Liquid Eyeliner Demo

Urban Decay is launching 20 shades of colored liquid liners, which will replace the existing 24/7 range. And they are great fun for color lovers, especially if you like experimenting with different graphic liner looks.

Urban Decay Razor Sharp Long-wear Liquid Eyeliners in Street (deep matte teal) and Deep End (bright metallic teal)

I do need to check if those ultra-fine, short brush tips really give better control (and razor sharp flicks) so I put these to the test.

I decided to play with two teals in the range today - Street, a dark blackened non-shimmery teal, and a paler, brighter metallic teal blue shade, Deep End. The challenge was to not only do a double-winged look but to do ultra-fine lining.

What I did was apply the dark color first to the outer corners, extending into a low medium-length wing, at a low angle. Then I applied the metallic bright teal like a regular winged flick from inner corners out to a curved, upward-point.

Urban Decay Moondust - a sparkly obsession

I must admit when I first saw a visual of the new Urban Decay Moondust palette online my heart started going a hundred miles a minute. Sparkle - yass!

If you're like me you'll be happy to know that I personally think they rock.

Urban Decay Moondust palette contains all-new shades in their Moondust formulation, a silicone-based glitter shadow formula made up of synthetic mica, similar to sparkly shadow overcoats you find from brands like Tom Ford and Shu Uemura.

Urban Decay Moondust palette swatches

The typical way to wear these is to layer them over other shadows as a glittery topcoat for your lids. On their own, they can look like a sheer wash of sparkle, or when they are pale, like gleaming "wet" lids. You apply them with fingers - this is important - not a brush. Because the formula is made to cling to skin, not bristles.

That is - until you wet them.

This is orgasmic.

They look like foiled shadows or stuff you might find from Colourpop. Mucho intensity.

So I decided to apply them all damp for the most intense effect, because I want to do a look using nothing but Moondust shadows. I didn't want to layer them over other shadows or you wouldn't be able to see how they really look.

Can we say BLING?!

If you plan to use them in a more subtle way, just dab on with a finger. These shadows are formulated with silicone in the base, and designed to stick to skin, not brushes, when dry. So don’t complain about there being no pigmentation if you try to dust them on with a dry brush. Damp, these are incredible foiled shades with plenty of duochromatic magic. Every shade has a different color shift when it hits the light. Click each image to expand or right click and “open image in new tab” to see everything in higher res.

Do expect plenty of sparkly fallout though. More than if you rubbed these on with a finger, ironically. So do your foundation AFTER you do your eye makeup. I don't think it's a big deal though.

Urban Decay Alice Through The Looking Glass palette

Urban Decay's released their Alice Through The Looking Glass palette (SGD$88) in Singapore and here are swatches and a couple of quick eye looks, plus my first impressions on the shades.

The presentation is beautiful if you have a predilection for fantastical, psychedelic dream-scapes. The material is cardboard so this is not a heavy palette. Everything is in theme with the visuals in Alice Through The Looking Glass. 

The palette itself comes with a mirror, a quote from Alice, and a foldout that reveals a big blue butterfly within.

It's no surprise that the colors in the palette echo the tones seen throughout the movie. But aside from 4 brighter shades, the palette is filled with lots of neutrals. This is actually a rather versatile palette. There are plenty of options to create either bright and colorful, or soft and wearable looks.

What I always like doing is to combine neutrals and color. This allows me to create flattering, wearable looks that have just enough of a pop of color to make things fun and eye-catching. If you want, you can go to town with mostly bright colors, or play it safe with neutrals.

Shades used below:

A little navy pencil along upper lash line and outer 1/3 of lower lashes
 Bandersnatch and Metamorphosis around lash line
Dormouse as transition along socket
Duchess on lid
Royal Flush on inner corners

Lashes used: Ardell 120 Demis

I wish I could say all the shades are consistently good, but as with many palettes, there are some stellar shades, some so-so, and one so poor quality that I was actually shocked.

In the first row, the two greens, Hatter and Heads Will Roll, were so-so. Time, the gunmetal with a slight blue sparkle, is incredible. I got that swatch in just a single touch.

Dream On - now how did this shade make it into the palette??!
I had to rub a few times just to get that faint grey sparkly stain you see in the image. It's not really an overcoat type of shadow - the texture is too dry and the color is too deep. I'm just puzzled why this shade made the grade; shouldn't there be a minimum quality requirement for Urban Decay shadows?


That aside, most of the other shades are pretty nice in this row. I love Gone Mad and Duchess, and Reflection is a can't-go-wrong matte beige.

As for the warm-themed third row. These 5 shades make a perfect Fall palette.

I had initially expected Metamorphosis to be a bit bright and garish, but it's actually a nice periwinkle satin blue. Pretty.

Also, Cake looks very bright but if you blend it in with other shades it's just a soft warm rose shade, as in the look below.

Shades used below:

Cake in the socket and blended out towards the temple
Paradox on the lid
Gone Mad in outer corner
 Lily around inner corners
A little black liner smudged along the lash line, and a bit of Time blended over it to smoke out the line 

Lashes used: Ardell 110s

Both looks were done using a mix of brushes and without any eyeshadow primer.

This is a 2/3 neutrals, 1/3 colors palette. I think this is a good option for those who maybe want to experiment a bit with colors once in awhile, but mainly want plenty of neutral everyday shades. The quality is generally good, aside from that strangely unpigmented shade Dream On, everything performs pretty well. The brights are all pretty sheer and blend out quite easily, so it's probably more suited to those who aren't too daring with colors yet. Don't expect an intensely bright effect from the greens, blues and pink unless you really pack on the pigments over a good primer.

Favorite Red Hot lipsticks of the moment

Some of you might have seen me mention on Instagram that I'm a bit obsessed with orange-hued reds at the moment.

They're brightening,  fun, and chirpy like orange, but at the same time they're grown-up looking because they mostly act like a red lipstick. And there are several different textures that I like right now as well.

MAC's Dangerous is a limited edition shade (bad news) which is quite similar to Lady Danger (good news), but slightly more muted. So if you are looking for a classic red-orange in a rich matte texture, Lady Danger is probably the best bet.

Many people are worried about orange-based reds making their teeth look yellow. Actually I don't find that to be the case unless your teeth are badly stained to begin with. It depends on how bright or neon the shade you choose is. If you go with shades that are more red-based (like the ones listed above) they actually aren't bright enough to make your teeth look dull and discolored, which is what some bright oranges and bright pinks do.

You can choose between glossy finishes, sheers, classic cremes, and a perpetual fave of mine - mattes. They all look great.

Orange reds are FAB when layered as well. Pop a glossy shade on top of a matte shade and you will be making a big statement with those lips.

Great orange-red mattes for velvety tomato toned lips:

• MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus 2 - slightly rosier and deeper than Lady Danger.
• Shu Uemura M OR 570 "Gangnum Orange" - this dried tomato red has a brick-toned warmth mixed in with a vivid red orange, in a lightweight comfortable finish that does not feel like typical mattes.

Great orange-red sheers/glossies for a juicier sorbet effect:

• OCC Lip Tar Stained Gloss in Meta - almost neon in tone but translucent and jelly-like.
• Dior Fluid Stick 639 Artifice - super glossy but not sheer at all; for those who want a dramatic lacquered finish. Great layered over a matte base shade.
• Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Sheer Shine in S RD 150 - a staple I've been reaching for ever since I got the press kit; the Sheer Shine range launches October 2015, and is filled with bright pop shade in gorgeous colors

Great orange-red cremes/satins where the color stands out more than the finish of the lipstick:

• Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Hot Orange - one of THE best intense orange reds
• Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Slowburn - this is actually not as "sheer" as you might think considering the name; I consider it more of a creme lipstick than a sheer. This has nice, even color-payoff in a silky texture.
• Peri Pera Cushion Lips in OR01 - this Korean drugstore brand offering is super fun; it's a slightly sheer lip cream in a creamy semi-matte texture, so you get a matte veil of color.

Weekend Smoky Sparkle: Urban Decay Naked Smoky Look

There's a single glitter-infused shade in the Naked Smoky palette by Urban Decay, and the shade is gorgeous (Armor) but weekend is pretty much the only time I would wear it!

You have to be prepared for some fallout when you wear glitter smoky shades, so if you can, try to do your eye makeup first, and the rest after you clean up or you'll have tiny specks of glitter and black on your cheeks, your nose, etc.

The four shades I picked out today were:

• Main lid shade: Armor - metallic taupe with platinum glitter
• Socket and wings at outer corners: Smolder - deep prune
• Lash line: Black Mail - satin charcoal
• Inner Corners: High - pale champagne beige

I did also use a little of the 2 palest matte shades (Combust and Thirteen) on my browbone just to clean up and serve as contrast against the metallics on the lids.

Tip:

This is a smoky look, but I didn't smoke the color up too high above the socket. In fact I stopped right at the socket line. I wanted a more elongated catty effect, rather than a full-on rounded smoky eye, so when I was blending I concentrated on sweeping and diffusing the colors outwards from the outer corners instead of upwards.

I did try using the dual-ended blender/smudger brush included with the palette. I love the smudger tip for applying shadows along the upper and lower lash lines.  It's very precise but shaped just right for getting a soft smoky liner look.

The blender tip though, I'm not a huge fan of. Partly because UD's bristles are packed too stiff and not fluffy enough to really diffuse shadows. You CAN still use this to pack and buff on color but you will get tons of fall-out using this shape for that purpose. It's better used clean to blend out edges or to buff two colors together. Which means you might need a separate packer brush to apply shadows onto the lids, before going in with this to blend.

Other products used in this look:

• Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Perversion - applied along the waterline and lash line, but smudged out a little so there is no hard defined line.
• Eyeko Black Magic mascara
• Afterglow Blush in Score - peachy-pink blush
• Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Sheer Liar - rosy beige-brown my-lips-but-better color with a creamy semi-sheer texture

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Swatches and Demo

It almost seems there will be no end to the Naked series!
The latest item to join the family is Naked Smoky, which for the first time sees the 12 colors grouped by theme, so you can easily create looks using the 3 "quads" in the palette, or by picking balanced trios just by choosing 1 warm, 1 cool, and 1 matte from the palette.

Warm Neutrals:

Cool Neutrals:

Matte Neutrals:

There are plenty of soft colors but definitely more deep shades in here, considering it's a "Smoky" palette. The mattes are slightly more chalky, which is quite common for mattes. They're pretty smooth and blendable though, so you don't need to worry that they'll go on patchy and uneven.

But as usual for Urban Decay, it's really the metallics that stand out. They are smooth, pigmented, and just gorgeous as heck. I'm more of a warm neutral girl, but the grey/plum shades in this palette are just too nice. The warm shimmer shades are beautiful as well of course. (I'm a huge fan of Dirtysweet.) The good news is I didn't experience quite as much fallout with this palette as some of the earlier Naked palettes. In fact, I didn't even need to clean the skin under my eyes after doing the eye look below.

This palette has only 1 glitter shade, Armor, which is good because they have a tendency to fall off the lid and all over the cheeks after a few hours. Still, this wasn't as bad as I remember some shades being in Naked 1.

One of the fun things to do with this palette - since the cool and warm tones are quite balanced - is to do part warm, part cool looks, like the one I did above.

I do feel several of the shades, and the balance of light and dark in this palette are somewhat similar to the Naked original palette, so technically speaking, you don't need both unless you're a collector and fan of all Naked palettes. This has more deep/smoky shades than Naked 2, so you can consider it if you want deeper options. And of course, it is very different from the rosy-hued Naked 3, so it's actually quite a good complement to that palette if you want a good range of different neutrals.

The Naked Smoky palette launches 20 Aug in all Sephora Singapore stores at SG$83.

Urban Decay’s new Matte Revolution Lipstick Swatches

Intense matte lipsticks seem like a natural fit with Urban Decay, which is known for edgy intense colors. So it’s a bit surprising that it’s taken them this long to actually launch a matte lip range.

Still - better late than never! There are 9 new creamy colors (SGD$33) that will launch on 20 Aug in Singapore, each infused with shea, illipe, avocado, olive and babassu oils. Some of the shades are slightly creamier feeling than the others - several of these lean closer to the texture of MAC Satin lipsticks more than typical Mattes - but they all do eventually settle into a matte finish after the excess oils and emollients absorb or evaporate.

The shades are quite creamy and smooth-feeling, so they tend to appear creamier in my lip shots partly because of the bright lights, and partly because they’re all freshly applied when I shoot them.

I grouped the shades into neutrals/warms, and cools. As you can see, these aren't wallflower colors. With the exception of Stark Naked, most of them pack a punch and are quite dramatic looking. 

Stark Naked is a peach-toned nude. It's one of the more matte textures in the bunch.

1993 is THE 90's brown tone. And it's quite a creamy satin texture. If you want it matte, you will either need to kiss a sheet of tissue or roll your lips together a few times to get rid of the shine.

Tilt looks tangerine in the tube but goes on with a neon coral undertone. A very fun shade, with more of a matte texture when worn.

Temper is a brick red. Possibly one of the less dramatic deep colors, because it's so wearable. The tomato-brown undertones give it slightly more neutral undertones compared to typical reds.

Bad Blood is one of my faves in the range. It's not actually a matte-matte; it's quite creamy, but it's a gorgeous deep red with oxblood undertones. Very classy and something of a 40s retro-red.

UD's signature purple in lipstick format. Bittersweet might be as creamy or more creamy than Bad Blood even. It takes about an hour or two to settle into a more matte finish. As with all purples it looks much more blue and outlandish on camera. In real life, it's got more pink undertones, and is actually pretty wearable as far as purples go.

If  a proper neon pink is more your style, check out Menace. This type of shade never goes wrong in matte texture. Menace is also one of the most "matte" of the range, and you'll get minimal shine compared to the other shades in the collection.

After Dark is special because it's the only matte shade shot through with a frost. This dark plum with a blue iridescence is pretty darned cool to look at. But the blue frost actually doesn't really look that apparent in real life unless you're looking very close. It's just a very dark plum. Also one of the more matte ones among the 9.

The shade that made my heart stop the moment I saw the full range was Blackmail.

Ah, you know I love a good noir. This black-rose shade has plum undertones, but mostly just looks almost-black against the skin. For all the dramatic goth divas only! I've heard complaints that this one goes on patchy but somehow I don't seem to have that problem. Maybe it's just my habit of really whacking on a very thick layer. I didn't have any problems building it up to opacity, except maybe near the center of the lips.

These are relatively creamy and easy to apply, with the exception of a couple pf shades (like Tilt and Menace for me) which feel a bit more like traditional matte lipsticks. They generally don't drag on the lips and feel pretty smooth but - these are highly pigmented lipsticks after all. And in my experience they will all feel slightly dry and look more matte after the first hour or so when the oils have absorbed or dried up a bit.

What shades caught your eye so far?