It's been a while since I've gotten around to a beauty review, but this particular palette got me so excited I put together a full blogpost within six hours after receiving the delivery. I'm talking about the new Urban Decay Backtalk palette!
I have three My Lips But Better type lip products I keep going back to: Kat Von D Double Dare, l'Oréal Color Riche Érotique, and Urban Decay Backtalk. All three have a slightly different undertone. Double Dare is a mid-tone muted coral, Érotique is a slightly lighter peachy nude, and Backtalk is mauve: cooler than the other two, but still has a warm tinge. Backtalk is incredibly flattering on my complexion and really gives you that luscious pink lips look, the classy kind of pink. I love it so much I have it both in regular matte lipstick and in liquid form - and no press samples.
Not surprisingly, Backtalk has become a top-selling UD lipstick, so much so that it has inspired the launch of a new face and eye palette! And the product is a beauty, striking that balance between cool and warm, pink and neutral. Let's take a closer look.
As you can see, the palette has two sides, featuring two of Urban Decay's strongest product ranges: eye shadows and afterglow blushes. I was especially psyched to see the blushes because UD creates some of my all-time favourite blushes and highlighters. But the range of eyeshadows is gorgeous as well!BTW the mirror divider in the middle comes out, if that's what you want - I think this is the perfect travel-sized palette.
Let's zoom in on the blushes: we see Cheap shot, a cool plum with a gold sheen - Double Take, a mostly matte coral - Low Key, that type of gorgeous gold flecked peachy pink that everyone loves - and Party Foul, a beige blush/highlighter that will work great for layering and will flatter most skintones.
I swatched them on my arm without packing on the product, to get the best representation of what these will do for your face.
I'm already in love. Cheap Shot and Double Take both strike that perfect balance between colour and wearability, and blend out smoothly. Obviously the blush/highlighters on the right are total winners too, although you might want to use a more densely bristled brush to get that bright poppin' highlight if that's what you're into. I applied with a light hand.
On to the eyeshadows. Doesn't this palette look like the perfect love child of my two favourite UD Nakeds - Naked 3 and Naked Heat? YES IT DO.
The palette boasts three mattes - 3 Sheets, Backtalk and WTF; and 5 shimmers - Bare, Curve, Shade, Attitude and 180. First impressions, I'm drawn primarily towards Curve, Backtalk, Shade, Attitude and 180. I rarely use super light mattes like 3 Sheets because they disappear on my skintone, I don't get the inclusion of Bare because it's SO similar to Curve, and I feel like WTF might be slightly too warm to truly vibe with the rest of the palette. But I'm reserving my final judgment until after swatching and playing with the palette some more.
After swatching I still feel like Bare and Curve are too similar, but WTF works nicely against all the colours except Shade. That plummy metallic purple does not work next to the rusty brown of WTF if you ask me, but if you're able to make it work - more power to ya! Apart from that, my impression-after-swatching is that these will definitely need a primer to truly pop. The pigmentation is there, but the shadows are slightly dry and very easy to blend into nothingness if there isn't a sticky base underneath.
On the flipside, that means that despite their colourful appearance, these eyeshadows will be very easy to use in your daily makeup routine. Exactly the reason why I still sing the praises of the Urban Decay Naked palettes: a perfect, easy to use palette to make you look your best during the workweek.
I created a very quick-and-easy look using Shade and Attitude layered all over the lid, Backtalk blended throughout the crease and WTF + 180 in the outer corner and under the eye, finishing off the look with some sparkle in the shape of my Stila Liquid Eyeshadow in Sea Siren, applied lightly from the inner corner to the middle of the lid. This is definitely my favourite type of look for those days when I know I need a little extra to look awake but don't feel like making too much of an effort.
Of course, I'm also wearing my Backtalk liquid on the lips, and I used the Double Take and Party Foul blushes to complete the look. No primer was used for this look, I definitely could have created a brighter and neater look if I had taken more time and applied a primer, but I wanted to represent what this palette would do for me on those hurried Monday mornings.
And this is the look before adding the Stila liquid eyeshadow, using Bare as a more subtle highlight.
So soft, so pretty! I feel like this palette is going to be a crowdpleaser, just like its namesake lipstick.
I really do like it very much. I've read a lot of negative or neutral reviews out there, but only after playing around with this palette myself, so I was completely unbiased. I feel like negative reviews are a total hype right now, so don't believe the hype please.
Let me sum up my experience: if you expect a hyper pigmented performance, skip on this palette (unless you're in it for the blushes). If you want a playful pink palette that will work well for everyday use and flatter a wide range of skintones. If you want great blushes, pounce. UD does great blushes like no other, and these four blush shades are very versatile but also easy to wear and to combine.
I'm definitely feeling it, are you?
