Urban Decay 15 Year Anniversary Palette!

palette tucked inside a faux velvet case

comes out of case-palette inside gunmetal filigree scroll work box

gunmetal reflective case-plastic jewel like UD logo

the palette inside with fifteen new shades

new shades-some similar to older shadows

the eye shadows pop out ti reveal a very small box to hold letters or something flat and tiny

up close logo

THE COLORS LEFT TO RIGHT

Finally! I had a moment to swatch and upload photos for you guys. What I thought would be the mother load of all palettes this year with angels singing loudly AHH AHHH AHHHH... Well, almost...

What am I talking about? The Urban Decay 15 Year Anniversary Palette which helps celebrate fifteen years of Urban Decay in a gorgeous commemorative keepsake box. This is part of an entire collection of limited edition products UD put out for their special anniversary as well as being a new item in the fall collection. I will add images of the entire line up in another post.  I'm a little yay and a little nay on this, read why in my results below.

What this is:

15 ALL-NEW shadows for our big 15! You get neutrals, brights AND deep shades in a sleek gunmetal collectible box (our most luxe EVER!).

It’s our party, and we’ll launch 15 NEW (and only in this kit!) eyeshadow shades if we want to! With just the right balance of neutrals and brights, darks and lights, the 15-Year Anniversary Palette is both versatile and the ultimate UD junkie collection. Shades like “Junkshow” (a bright pink), “Evidence” (a deep metallic blue) and Midnight 15 (an oyster pearl shade) mesmerize the eyes. The collectible gunmetal outer box features a luxe faceted jewel “UD” on the cover and an eye-grabbing laser-cut filigree design on the sides. Inside, the shadow tray pulls out to reveal a velvet-lined compartment that can be used to stash jewelry or personal mementos.

Included in this kit: Deeper (deep shimmery golden brown), M.I.A. (soft shimmery dark brown), Ace (dark gunmetal shimmer), Blackout (darkest, most saturated black), Half Truth (shimmery smoky purple), Tainted (pale matte purple with golden shimmer), Junkshow (bright pink w/fuchsia shift), Omen (shimmery metallic bright purple w/blue shift), Evidence (deep metallic blue), Deep End (bright teal shimmer), Midnight Rodeo (medium metallic brown w/silver and gold glitter), Midnight 15 (oyster pearl w/silver glitter), Vanilla (shimmery white gold), Flow (soft peach shimmer), Chase (metallic bright bronze)

Pro: new shades, beautiful presentation, great pigments, cruelty free, travel friendly, cute mini storage space

Con: cheaply made palette, reflective container is light plastic and fingerprints don't clean off easily, the top is super loose so you must be careful when handling the container, the shadows are not full weight-slightly smaller, no primer-liner or anything else included making it a pricey set overall.

My results: First let me start off by saying if it were not for the Urban Decay shadow quality I would be really upset with this palette finding it not worth the price even though it's gorgeous to look at and I LOVE URBAN DECAY. I'm an absolute fiend but have a few grips with this palette. I know you gals are going to grab this regardless of the faults as you should because it's still a hot item with fabulous pigments but I feel I should do a complete honest review and I'm not regretting having purchased this at all.

Gripe #1 the pigments had arrived all pressed with fingertips and customer service said it's from the manufacturer who presses the shadows down when making them using gloves. Still... Check it out before sending it to people or at least swipe down the fingerprints first.

Gripe #2 the reflective surface it has is not a mirror but a very thin flimsy reflective plastic surface that holds fingerprint stains and when you clean it off it looks murky. Yuck! For this price and your loyal customers a real mirror surface would have been ten times classier and more presentable on a vanity.  I know what your thinking, this girl is anal and ummm yes your right. Is it wrong to want quality? I'm a neat freak and don't like messed up stuff, sue me.

Gripe #3 The lid is super loose and you need to handle it with care or else your fingers will slip and bye bye palette!

Gripe #4 No primer, no liner no nothing special extra to celebrate 15 years. I know I complain I have too many primers from the previous kits but still, at least I use them up. I think tweens or teens might not care about these little things as I probably have not at some point but being more mature and growing conscious of how I spend my money I would expect more quality. This has less product than the older palettes so it's not really that super in terms of value. I do like the palette plenty enough but just feel a little disappointed.

The Formula: The shadows are nicely pigmented as usual from UD and they are silky making them easy to work with. The color variety here is also nice with something for everyone to lust after. The shades are also versatile making them wearable for day to evening. And while there are fifteen new shades some are slightly similar to older UD shadows. What I'm tired of are all the smoke shades already. I probably own 100 different variations of black shadows and hardly wear them anymore. The also need to stop adding glittery variations of midnight cowboy. I do like the three pinky/plum shades junk show, omen and tainted the best. My other faves are evidence, deeper and deep end. It would have been nice to see more vivid colors in this set but I'm pleased with the ones included in this palette. The shadows are reported in other reviews as full size, they are not full size. They are 1.3 grams and the full size are 1.5 grams. At this price with no other product included they could have made them full size for this kit.

The Packaging: It's gorgeous and presentable! I really love it! But the quality kills it for me as it feels like it was put together last minute with the cheapest material. I'm afraid to handle it and every time I touch the case my fingerprints ick it up and unlike a real mirror the surface gets murky when I try to clean it with a cloth. The design of it is beautiful enough with scroll work on the outer case as well as a pretty giant UD fake jewel logo on the top portion of the case. It's cute that it rests on a faux velvet like container and that you can remove the pigment layer sheet possibly sneaking  a little love note underneath it. You can only store something flat in the bottom but you can use the purple velvet box to store some jewels if you like. The size is about 5 x 5 without the purple case and it's travel friendly although it might damage easily so be carefully when packing it.

All in all I'm still happy with the collection and decided to pick up another one to give as a gift for someone and despite what I posted in my review there is no regret on my part for purchasing the palette. My reviews are always honest and in my opinion fair, period. I just expect more quality from UD because their eye shadows and cosmetics have always proven to be worthy of what they charge. Hopefully they will put out something more spectacular in the future. It's too bad I'm not designing these things because they would be killer gorgeous! I'm going to give this a four starfish rating and that's pretty good considering. I still would recommend you buy this for the collectible factor, for the quality of the pigments and because it still is a really beautiful palette to keep on your vanity. I just find it necessary to share all the kinks that I experienced with this set. The palette is available now at Urban Decay as well as Sephora so get shopping before they sell out.! Have one? Opinions? Stay beautiful! XOXO

Availability: Urban Decay & Sephora $55

1 RATING=WORSE 5 RATING=BEST SUPER STAR=SUPER PRODUCT!

PIGMENT VARIETY:: 4 stars

PACKAGING:: 4.5 stars

MATERIAL FOR CASE:: 3 stars

FORMULA:: 5 stars

PRICE & VALUE:: 4 stars

OVERALL PRODUCT:: 4 star

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