Urban Decay XX VICE LTD RELOADED palette review |

This is Urban Decay’s latest ‘Vice’ palette, and it’s meant to pay homage to all the old skool UD shadows, such as Acid Rain and Gash. It has 20 different shades that can be found in old UD collections as well as common palettes such as the Naked palettes, but the shades are in UD’s new (and better) eyeshadow formula. I’ve been playing around with this palette since about April despite its UK release date being August – my mum was in the UAE and picked it up for me there, so I’ve had a long time to form an opinion. I wasn’t expecting to love it – I’ve never really been into UD palettes but this one really is excellent. It’s the palette I go to when I’m lacking inspiration. It’s got most colour families included which is great if you’re travelling or you have multiple events that you need to get ready for and it’s especially great for asian events!

The quality of the shadows is really good – I’m very fussy when it comes to eyeshadow and this pleasantly surprised me. All the colours bar one perform well (Shallow) and have good staying power with and without a primer. My only gripe about this palette is that I always need another palette full of transition and crease shades to go with it. There’s only three matte shades and if you’re of medium or darker skin tone, the only matte shade that’ll show up in your crease is Suspend which is a very cool toned almost grey brown shade. I like to use the Too Faced Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette with this palette to get the best variety of eye looks. Some of the darker shades (Oil Slick and Twice Baked) have a little fallout but it’s not unmanageable. I’d recommend doing your eye makeup before your face makeup if you’re working with glittery dark shades anyway.

The packaging is great – it’s a sturdy plastic palette with a push button mechanism so there’s no chance of the palette falling open at every opportunity. It’s got a huge mirror so it’s good to travel with. It comes with a dual ended brush – a fluffy side for blending and a less fluffy side for packing on colour. The brush is okay, but I always use my Zoeva Rose Gold Eye Collection for eyeshadow 🙂

It is pricey – at £43 for the full 20 shades but it’s definitely worth it if you’re in the market for a new multipurpose palette (as opposed to the pink toned palettes that seem to be dominating the market ATM), or you’re an UD fan. It’s annoyingly more expensive here than in the states but so are most things when you’re a UK based makeup hoarder!