Urban Decay Pigments

Remember this posting?  Well now all the pigments are in and I'm ready to have a giveaway!  This posting will just be the review of the pigments and my giveaway post will be separate.


Urban Decay currently has 12 shades to choose from on their website and they are listed at $20 a piece.  Each tube contains 1.0 gram of product/0.03 US oz which isn't that much but a little goes a very long way.  You can find them for sale from time to time (which is what I did when I purchased these for $5 a piece) and they are really powerful pops of color to use as eyeshadow.


The 12 shades are:
Gunmetal - gray in charcoal base with iridescent microglitter
Rockstar - dark purple in black base with silver/purple microglitter
Goddess - midnight blue with electric blue microglitter
Smog - medium brown
Baked - rich bronze
Shag - pale bronze
X - gold with peach shift
Graffiti - bright green
Protest - dark green in charcoal base with iridescent
Shattered - bright green/blue
Asphyxia - bright pink with purple shift
Yeyo - bright white


With the exception of X, the other 11 pigments are vegan products and do not contain any animal-derived ingredients.


Now pigments aren't just for eyeshadow as YouTube vBlogger Dustin Hunter has shows in his 4 part video series (using MAC pigments), and if you have time, I highly suggest you check them out.


On to the pictures!  I've broken them up in sets of 3 and 6 - all pictures may be viewed larger if you click on them.  First I used just a swipe of color using the pigment brush included in the package and then next to it is a swatch with the Urban Decay Potion Primer in Eden (tawny matte finish) that I got out by using a Q-tip.  I highly recommend using an external brush to get your pigment out (or Q-tip) because otherwise you risk contaminating your pigment if you're using a primer to set the pigment.


Additionally, I'm not in love with the brush - it's quite short and doesn't have much give.

First up are Gunmetal, Rockstar, Goddess, Smog, Baked and Shag.

Gunmetal, Rockstar, Goddess, Smog, Baked and Shag sun

Gunmetal, Rockstar and Goddess sun

Gunmetal, Rockstar and Goddess shade

Smog, Baked and Shag sun

Smog, Baked and Shag shade

Out of this bunch, I'm very partial to Rockstar and Goddess.  Kat Von D has a palette with similar colors but her palette has so much fall out of glitter when applied.  While pigments can be messy, when you use a primer (like I did), they stay much better on your lids but you will experience some glitter fallout.  I like to use a MAC wipe (or any makeup wipe) to clean up any fallout after putting on makeup.  Shag was probably my least favorite because it's so neutral against my skin but neutrals have their place too!  The NAKED palette is a huge success for Urban Decay because it does contain so many neutral colors.

Next is X, Graffiti, Protest, Shattered, Asphyxia and Yeyo.

X, Graffiti, Protest, Shattered, Asphyxia and Yeyo sun

X, Graffiti, Protest, Shattered, Asphyxia and Yeyo shade

X, Graffiti and Protest sun

X, Graffiti and Protest shade

Shattered, Asphyxia and Yeyo sun

Shattered, Asphyxia and Yeyo shade

I thought these 6 would be my favorite but they were also some of the hardest to show up without primer as you can see with Shattered.  Asphyxia is my favorite because it's purple (I even had bought a backup) but I have to wear quite a bit of it for it to really show on my lids.

Overall, I'm a huge fan of pigments - just know that a little goes a LONG way and you'll be fine.  Also do check out Dustin's videos for more ways to use pigments other than just "it's like concentrated eyeshadow!"