Urban Decay Vice eyeshadow palette review + swatches

         What are Urban Decay girls made of? Sugar, Spice, and everything Vice! The Urban Decay Vice eyeshadow palette is the spectacular centerpiece of the Urban Decay Holiday 2012 collection. The palette has twenty brand new colors, a dual ended brush, and sleek packaging. I've been looking forward to playing around with Urban Decay Vice ever since the promotional photos came out; I just got my hands on a palette and am excited to share my review and photos with you today.

          Urban Decay Vice palette is packaged in a deep purple case with a smooth rubberized feel. A crystalline 'UD' logo is inlaid in the lid. The case automatically opens at the push of a button and reveals a large mirror that fills the entire size of the lid. The lid swings open to about 120 degrees. It's a convenient angle at which to see your face if the palette sits on a table or vanity.







          A dual ended Urban Decay Good Karma brush is included and housed within the palette. Urban Decay's brushes are all cruelty-free synthetics. I've been making a conscious effort to move away from fur brushes and towards synthetics, so I'm happy to have another dual ended brush to add to my collection. The Crease brush (which I had from the NAKED2 palette) is one of my favorite brushes. I often use it to apply eyeshadow. It's soft and blends colors well. The Crease brush in Vice is slightly smaller and less full than the Crease brush from the NAKED2 palette. The Shadow brush is has the typical full, short, and rounded shape of an eyeshadow brush. The bristles are soft and easily deposit shadow on the lid. The fluffy Vice Shadow brush is an upgrade from the more paddle-shaped eyeshadow brush found in my NAKED2 palette.

          The Urban Decay Vice palette has twenty different colors that are brand new and exclusive to this palette. There are a mix of glitter, shimmer, metallic, satin, and matte colors. Generally speaking, the eyeshadows are pigmented and good quality, though Urban Decay tends to be better at creating shimmer or metallic finishes. To give you an idea of what shadows are in the palette, I've organized the eyeshadows into two groups: neutrals and brights.

          Urban Decay Vice looks colorful, but it has enough neutrals in it to be a 'NAKED3'. The neutral colors seem to be neutral to cool toned with a pink and grey taupe theme. Anonymous is a matte off-white with a pink undertone. I like to use matte highlights so I'm happy to see it here. Laced  is a matte light beige with a pink undertone. Freebird is a light peachy pink with glitter. Provocateur is a dusty pink with glitter. Nevermind is a shimmery light taupe brown. Echo Beach is a champagne shimmer. Jagged is a gold glitter with a sheer black base. Muse is a reddish brown shimmer in a dark black brown base. The reddish character is less evident in my swatch below, as some of the shimmer was blended away. Armor is a silver taupe with silver glitter. Desperation is a dark grey taupe with a satin finish.

          The Urban Decay Vice palette has a rainbow of bright colors as well. Noise is a metallic pink with glitter. It's very similar to Woodstock, but more red. Penny is a light tangerine metallic eyeshadow with gold glitter. Blitz is a golden yellow metallic. Junkie is a blue-green with gold shimmer. Unhinged is a metallic turqoise blue. Chaos is a near-matte royal blue. Occupy is a dark grey-blue metallic. Rapture is a dark grey-purple metallic. Vice is a shimmery purple. Black Market is a black with a satin finish.

 
           Overall, I'm impressed with Urban Decay's newest Holiday offering. Urban Decay Vice has cool packaging, a useful brush, and a great selection of neutral and bright colors. I was happy to see a number of rosy and grey-taupe tones in the neutral selection, as these are my preferred fall/winter colors. While I tend to be intimidated by brights, I do think Chaos, Occupy, and Rapture are colors I'd reach for on occasion. Urban Decay Vice ($59) is now available at Urban Decay and other retailers nationwide. Thanks for reading! Is Vice on your holiday wishlist? Which of the new colors jump out at you the most? What are your favorite Urban Decay palettes from now or years past?

Love, Dovey.

Disclosure: This post contains product(s) sent to Cute and Mundane for consideration by PR. The ideas and opinions in this post are genuine and my own.