Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette

Today I’ll be reviewing a product that is in my opinion one of the most exciting releases in the makeup industry of the past couple of months. It’s the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette that came out a couple of weeks ago. As some of you may have seen in my What I Got For Christmas video, I received this gorgeous palette from my dad for Christmas. He asked me what I really wanted for Christmas and this was something that had been on my wish-list ever since I heard that UD was coming out with this palette.

The overall design and packaging of this eyeshadow palette is absolutely beautiful. The palette comes in a cardboard box that has white and gold stripes in a braided pattern. It has ‘UD Gwen Stefani’ written in the corner on what looks like a tag or emblem.

The back of the box tells us a little bit more about the palette and shows us all of the shadows that are inside the eyeshadow palette. Another thing I forgot to photograph that was really exciting is that the palette comes with 4 samples of the new lipsticks UD is releasing with Gwen Stefani, I can’t wait for those to launch!

The palette itself looks so luxurious and chic and is actually rather heavy. It has beautiful golden details, again with the same ‘tag’ that was on the box. The only downside of the golden details is that it gets handprints on it really easily, but that’s about the only negative point I could think off packaging-wise. The palette also has black dots on it, which look it would be eyeshadow pans, but there are less eyeshadows in the palette than there are dots, if you get what I’m trying to say here.

Once you open up the palette, which has magnetic closure, you see the 15 beautiful eyeshadows and a very large mirror. In the corner of the mirror it says ‘Magic’s in the makeup’ which I think is such a cool touch! Makeup is really magical to me, so I couldn’t agree more. That quote is actually from a No Doubt song.

About the palette:

This is the beauty collaboration you’ve been waiting for! We partnered with Gwen to create her ultimate eyeshadow collection. From her 15 can’t-live-without shades to the super-luxe case, Gwen designed and developed her perfect palette. Gwen already loves our Eyeshadow, and now she gets to have the shades she’s always wanted in our formula. Each Eyeshadow in this palette features our Pigment Infusion System™, the proprietary blend of ingredients that gives every shade its velvety texture, rich color, serious staying power and blendability.

This palette comes with 15 beautiful warm-toned shadows, ranging mattes to shimmers and metallics.   12 of the shades are new, 3 are part of UD’s permanent line or have been in previous palettes. The names of the eyeshadows are references to Gwen’s work, which I think makes this palette even more hers.

There are a lot of neutral shadows in this palette, which isn’t typical UD, but I like it. It has a few pops of color, which is exactly what Gwen’s style is, neutral with a pop of color.

Let’s get onto the swatches!

❤ Blonde: a pale beige with pink iridescent shift.
❤ Bathwater: a pale beige with gold pearl.
❤ Skimp: a pale nude satin.
❤ Steady: a medium rose with metallic gold shift.
❤ Punk: a reddish brown with a matte finish.

Blonde and Bathwater were really smooth and pigmented, whereas Skimp tended to be a little bit sheer. Steady was also really amazing and applied beautifully. Punk was just a little bit on the dry side but also with great color pay-off and pigmentation. 

❤ Baby: a cool metallic rose.
❤ Anaheim: a light taupe-brown with a matte finish.
❤ Stark: a light nude-pink with a matte finish.
❤ Zone: a medium brown with a matte finish.
❤ Serious: a smoky gray with iridescent floating pearl.

This row of shadows is my favorite, all of the shadows were really smooth, pigmented and blendeable and I can’t say bad things on any of them.

❤ Pop: a pale coral with iridescent sparkle.
❤ Harajuku: a metallic blue-pink with iridescent micro-shimmer.
❤ Danger: a deep metallic royal blue with blue micro-sparkle.
❤ 1987: a bright metallic yellow-gold.
❤ Blackout: the blackest black with a matte finish.

Pop was a little bit chunky, the glitter was really noticeable and there was a little bit of fall-out during application. Harajuku was a bit sheer but buildeable. Danger had amazing color pay-off but was just a little bit dry. 1987 is amazing, it’s super soft and smooth and the pigmentation is perfect. Blackout was also really smooth and pigmented and easy to work with.

My personal favorites are definitely Anaheim, Zone, Baby and Punk. I think I’ll be getting a lot of use out of those shadows! Also, Danger and 1987 are really calling my name and I can’t wait to incorporate those colors into a look.

Overall, I’m really happy with the quality of the shadows, except Pop which was very chunky and Danger which was a bit dry. The shadows are very pigmented and they blend beautifully onto the lids. Using an eyeshadow base (which I always do), I don’t have any problem with these shadows creasing or rubbing off.

Some of the shadows, such as the first 3 are really similar and they could’ve put some more versatility in the palette. Also, Anaheim and Zone are very close in tone, so I think they could’ve added a darker shadow or some more color into the palette.

Although I do think this palette is gorgeous, these shadows won’t suite every skin-tone. Which is normal since it is based on Gwen’s looks and what she wears and she is really pale. I just think that for darker skin-tones, this might not be the best palette and they could’ve been a little more versatile with the colors when it comes to different skin-tones.

For me and my skin-tone, this is an amazing palette and I’m really happy UD put some more neutral shadows in this palette!

I kept it rather neutral for this look since I was filming that day. I used Stark as a transition shadow, Anaheim and Zone in my crease. Then I went in with Serious on the outer V and applied Baby and Pop on my eyelids. I used Blonde as a brow-bone highlight and Bathwater as an inner-corner highlight. I finished it all off with my Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper. This look was really easy to create and neutral so I can’t wait to play around with the brighter shadows such as the blue one (Danger).

I’m super happy with this Christmas present and I can’t wait to create more looks with it and get more creative. The packaging of this palette is gorgeous, the eyeshadows are amazing and I’m just overall obsessed with my new baby!

UD is now available in The Netherlands and in Belgium at Ici Paris XL (Brussels, Antwerp & Ghent) and online. The new Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette retails for €52 and contains 21 g of product (15 x 1,4 g). That means that you pay €3,47 per eyeshadow, which in my opinion is actually really affordable, especially for the quality of the eyeshadows you get.