Beauty: Urban Decay Born To Run palette review

Omg you guys I've been gone so long! September 2018 seems to have been cut from my life just because I was travelling through California for three of its weeks, and either stressed out finishing everything up at work or jetlagged for the remainder of the month. I come back from holiday and suddenly it's almost Christmas, say what??

Yeah I'm exaggerating but that's kind of my thing. Comedic hyperbole.

Anyway, I'm back in Belgium after our roadtrip through California, many Euros poorer but also richer in knowledge and experiences. I did not eat as many fish tacos as I had anticipated (only twice), but I did buy more handbags than I had expected (also two). WIN SOME, LOSE SOME.

I've missed my blog and here I am with a new beauty review, arguably my favourite type of post to put together. Today I'm introducing you to the newest hyped Urban Decay palette: Born To Run. Enjoy!

Things I love about Born To Run at first glance:

- a lot of value for your money, with 21 shades for about 50€

- a range of eyeshadows that combines wearable neutrals with stronger statement shades

- and, for an Urban Decay palette, relatively many mattes

Things I'm more ambivalent about:

- the colour range seems a bit typical for Urban Decay palettes (strongly revolving around purples, blueish greens and golds

- the way the colours are arranged doesn't inspire me straight away, it takes some thought to think out of the typical box with this palette

Let's get swatching! I swatched the eyeshadows in three goes, one horizontal row from left to right at a time.

There's a lot to love here. The shimmers/metallics are gorgeous, creamy and perfectly pigmented in one simple swipe, as we can expect from Urban Decay. The mattes seem to be very pigmented and more loosely pressed than I'm used to from this brand. I prefer more loosely pressed mattes since getting used to ABH's palettes, instead of having to swirl around my brush in the pan. The more work a look requires, the messier/muddier the end result is in my experience. I also like how the colours are very rich and deep.

Of course, a palette proves its worth in using it, so let's go! 

First, I created a bronze/gold look since I'm very into simple gold smokey eyes lately, since getting my hands on the UD Beached Palette (those gold tones are so perfect). I think I used Stranded and Ignite for this look, with some Still Shot and Baja in the crease, and Punk and Jet in the outer corner. To finish, I used Breakaway as a highlight in the inner corner.

As expected, the shimmers perform great, as do Punk, Jet and Breakaway. I was less impressed with Baja and Still Shot, which somehow seemed to chalky or dry to really "grab" my eyelid without a primer underneath. Adding more eyeshadow just made me blend away what was already there. So definitely use a primer like Primer Potion with these mattes. I usually don't bother with primer anymore because I don't need it with my favourite eyeshadows, and because I prefer showing the performance of a product without any help from a base.

Second, I wanted to get into those plummy purples that are always so popular, and also focus on the mattes since good mattes to me are the benchmark of great palettes. High quality shimmers are relatively easy to find at a lower price point, but for good mattes you have to pay. 

Again, I used Breakaway as an inner corner highlight, and built up Hellride and Guilt Trip for maximum saturation.

Am I impressed with the application? Are you? I had to work HARD to get to this level of saturation, using brushes as well as my fingertips, and I still think my eye look is patchy and relatively sheer. I definitely expected more here. Again, the formulation of these mattes seems to require a primer to get to a point of real pigmentation, which always lets me down a bit because I know it doesn't have to be like that. ABH's Modern Renaissance and Subculture never have me bother with primers.

Finally, the look that everyone with this palette seems to do: a mix of warm and cool tones with Still Shot, Baja and Jet along the edges, and Big Sky across the lid.

I love the way this look turned out, but my issues with the palette remain so next time I'll use it, I'll revisit it with a primer underneath and maybe try some different brushes to get more out of the shades. I'm eager to play around with Riff, Accelerate and Punk for a grungy autumnal look.

All  in all, I think this palette is great value for money if you want to start a wider collection of shades. The shimmers here are top notch, and some of the (semi-)mattes also perform very good. It probably just won't become a favourite in my collection because I'd sooner grab ABH's Modern Renaissance and Subculture to get a similar range of shades that do not need a primer underneath and are more easily applied to be opaque on the lid.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Edit: I have since applied some of the mattes using a more fluffy, full brush, and this has absolutely boosted their performance. Do play around with different application methods to get the most out of this palette!