Urban Decay has been on one helluva roll lately, releasing enough products to make your head spin, but I’d have to say that none have been anywhere near as eye-catching as the Full Spectrum palette (Holy Rainbow-Colour-Wheel, Batman!). The brand’s largest palette to date, it includes 21 shades — 18 of them new and 3 exclusives from past releases, with a variety of finishes to sweeten the deal even further. For those who simply live for colour, if this doesn’t get your motor running, I don’t know what will.
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Full Spectrum (CAN $80.00) | Housed in a black rigid plastic case that includes an oversized mirror on the inner lid plus a dual-ended synthetic fibre brush, the case is etched with lines of alternating thickness in both matte & shiny finishes and adorned with a colourful faceted UD “jewel” on top. Ugh…so pretty, am I right?
Organized by colour family in vertical trios (although for convenience, I’ve opted to show them in 3 horizontal rows), there’s a nice mix of finishes that range from matte (which also includes matte/satin & matte with pearl) all the way to über-metallic, and while highly colourful at first glance, there are still enough ‘normal’ shades to keep things grounded as well. I experience absolutely no pigmentation issues with any one of these hues and they all appear to blend effortlessly. There will be some powdery kickback seen upon swirling brushes across most, but that’s easily solved by tapping any excess off first – bonus: no fall down upon application. Staying power over primer is excellent, without any noticeable fading.
Urban Decay Full Spectrum (brush detail)
- Alchemy – deep fuchsia satin
- Warning – deep metallic copper
- Midnight Blaze – black matte with yellow/gold pearl
- Hundred – deep metallic forest green
- Minx – deep nay matte with floating tonal pearl
- Delirious – deep plum matte with subtle floating pearl
- Platonic – black matte with iridescent glitter
- Gossip – bright metallic pink with subtle floating pearl
- Seize – bright metallic coral with subtle floating pearl
- Calavera – bright yellow matte with subtle floating pearl
- Hatter – vibrant green with tonal micro-sparkle
- Blindsided – bright teal blue matte with floating pearl
- Sketch – metallic medium purple
- Iced – oyster silver with shimmer
- Paranoia – soft metallic blue-pink
- Jones – metallic orange with subtle floating pearl
- Goldmine – metallic yellow-gold
- Mean – bright metallic lime green
- Metamorphosis – vibrant periwinkle blue with micro-sparkle
- Faded – lavender with gold shimmer
- Bump – white matte
Urban Decay Full Spectrum swatches (in sunlight & natural light, below)
Neutral shades are my comfort zone, not to mention the fact that I feel they’re much easier to work with and definitely more flattering as I’ve gotten older. And while I may be a tad colour-phobic when it comes to my makeup, I can’t deny the allure of opening up a palette like Full Spectrum and staring in slack-jawed wonder at all its colourful beauty. After some experimentation, I’ve discovered that I like injecting some unexpected colour into my looks … but in baby steps, please. What makes this palette a winner in my opinion, is the quality: each and every shade totally delivers. In spades.
Just a thought: When Urban Decay released their Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette in 2015, it sold out in a heartbeat — you might want to get on board with Full Spectrum while you can. And yes, this too would make an awesome holiday gift. Just saying …
Urban Decay products are available at Sephora & online
Press sample/As always, all opinions are my own
