Get Electric | Urban Decay Electric Palette + Swatches.

I thought I would do a (sort of?) in-depth post on the Urban Decay Electric Palette that I got in Sephora the other day (I was super bold and bought "un cadeau pour moi-meme" but I wanted it for ages so whateverrrr). I've only just bought it but I think with eyeshadows you can often get a pretty good idea about how you feel about it from swatches and first use etc, unlike a foundation or mascara. I have only used these shadows on my eyes once, at 1am whilst playing around with the palette in my room. I actually did 2 different looks on each eye to try out as many shades as possible and come up with some looks with the palette. I ended up using all of them except Jilted!
I want to share swatches and my overall thoughts on this palette and the shades with you guys, because it isn't like a Naked palette where everyone is gonna run out and grab it for everyday use. That being said, there has been a lot of mention about this palette online already... probably unnecessary, but I thought I'd add to the mention ;) I will be doing lots of FOTD posts with this baby when I get home from France... I think that showing you the palette in use will be the true test as to how much I like it. I have done a FOTD inspired by an Electric Palette face chart which I will link here :)

On an only very slightly related note, I'm (of course) going back to Sephora before I leave France. Unfortunately, European Sephoras don't have all the same brands as the US one. However, if you have any Makeup Forever or Sephora product recommendations that I should try in particular then I would really really appreciate it. Also, Sephora FR has started to sell Formula X nail polishes. I've seen every American blogger talking about them and I'd love to know if any of my American (or French) readers have any shades that I should try. Merci beaucoup! :D

This picture makes me go all heart eyes emoji

The cursed black and white stripes lured me in... #SephoraMadeMeDoIt

First things first (I'm da realest.. no? okay) this is marketed as a "pressed pigment palette" rather than an eyeshadow one. But let's be honest, it's an eyeshadow palette and that's what it's gonna be mostly used for. Because these are pressed pigments, the colour intensity is super dense. I don't want to talk about this too much because it doesn't affect me or most of my readers but in the states some of the shades have not been FDA approved for the immediate eye area (Slowburn, Savage, Jilted, Urban) probably due to the red pigment present. This doesn't apply to Europe and I will definitely be using the aforementioned shades on my eyes. Basically, use at your own discretion and if you have sensitive lids I probably wouldn't recommend you put them near ya damn eyeball, yo. That being said, those shades can be used as blushes, on the lips or in your hair (like hair chalk) if you do wish... you really just wanna put them on your eyelid though, don'tcha.

Next up is the packaging. I LOVE this packaging. Super sleek and compact, shiny black casing with the neon smoke/powder design on the lid. It's magnetic but feels very sturdy and good quality. It also comes with a dual ended synthetic, purple haired brush. I love all the other UD brushes that came with their Naked palettes, especially with cream eyeshadow/bases because of the synthetic hair. I had heard particularly good things about this one when used with the palette itself and it's true. I normally favour natural hair brushes for eyeshadow but this brush is fantastic when used with the shadows, I was pleasantly surprised! One end is a traditional medium size flat shader brush which is perfect for packing on shadow. The other is super super teeny and works well on the lower lashline or in the inner corner.. I may even try this as a lip brush! Both ends are pretty stiff and sturdy so they work really well for getting the most colour payoff from the shades.

But onto the good stuff... the shades themselves! There are 10 offensively bright neon shades with a range of textures - matte, satin, shimmer and glitter. 8 are brand new, and 2 are repeats (Revolt and Chaos)

1. Revolt.

Revolt is the only real shimmer with chunky glitter shade in this palette (thankfully). It's a straight up metallic silver and is semi sheer, but actually not as terrible as I had read about online. This was featured in one of Urban Decay's holiday face kits last year and so is not completely new to the Electric Palette. Like I said, it's semi sheer and has some glitter but the texture isn't as bad as I had heard it was. Still not my favourite shade in the palette, though, and I'm not really sure it sits so well in with the whole neon theme - I would have liked to have seen a yellow here perhaps.

2. Gonzo.

Gonzo is a bright turquoise blue. It's a matte shade but with silver 'floating shimmer' that only really shows up when it's packed very heavily onto the lid, but no glitter or frost. I like these textures a lot because they look matte but are so much easier to blend which is a blessing when using shades this colourful. This shade is craaaazy pigmented and applies really densely onto the lid - this stuff is no joke.

3. Slowburn.
Slowburn is an unusual shade. It lies somewhere in between an orange and a red but it has no pink in it so it's definitely not coral. I can honestly say that I have nothing like this in my collection so I'm very happy to have it. I would say it's more of a red with orange undertones and is also a matte with floating glitter. I didn't find my fingers or wrists to be stained with this shade. One of the more unique shades in the palette, I would say.

4. Savage.
Savage is a cool toned hot pink. It's really bright and has a matte texture. This was so smooth and buttery for a completely matte shade - I was really impressed. I'm not a massive fan of straight up pinks but I like to incorporate them into transition shades for purple looks. This did kick up a lot of excess shadow when I dipped my brush in, but that's kinda to be expected when using mattes that bright. Savage and Slowburn would made great cheek colours when used very lightly, especially on medium-dark skins.

5. Fringe.
Ah, Fringe. This shade looks really nice in the pan - a very vivid metallic teal with turquoise and silver shimmer. I kinda look at it and think "ooh, mermaidy. I have tonnes of shades like that!" but oh my GOD. Scroll down to the swatches right now so you know what I'm talking about.. go on, do it. This colour (in the words of every obnoxious makeup lover) is... (pause for sigh) GIVING ME LIFE RIGHT NOW. It is. And I'm not even ashamed. This colour is SO buttery it's crazy... it feels like a cream eyeshadow when you swatch it and I genuinely twisted and turned my wrist for a good minute looking at it in the light upon initial swatch... I want to bathe in this colour.

6. Chaos.
Chaos is a matte cobalt blue with floating shimmer. It's incredibly pigmented on it's own, but just a touch chalky (not compared to a lot of other matte shades, but in comparison to savage) so I'd definitely use a sticky base with this for maximum impact. One thing I want to address now is probably my only fault with the Electric Palette... it's all SO blue. Gonzo, Chaos and Fringe seem to be the colours that overpower the palette upon initial glance. Fringe is unique enough that it does deserve a spot but honestly, I think having Gonzo and Chaos is a little redundant. I like both shades, don't get me wrong and they are different, but only very subtly. I already own Chaos so if it were me personally I would have taken out Chaos and replaced it with a neon matte purple. However, in general, I think Chaos is that type of royal blue that is hard to get right and Urban Decay have made a great shade. Gonzo is a nice colour, but I've seen a million Gonzo's before so I just think it's a little unimaginative of them to include such similar eyeshadows with the exact same finish! I would have liked to have seen maybe a bright matte purple in place of one of the shades.

7. Jilted.
Jilted is a metallic raspberry fuchsia with a blue/violet duochrome. This was another one that was very pigmented, exactly like Fringe. It's not really a colour I'm too crazy about but would incorporate it into a purple look pretty easily. This shade lightly stained both my finger and my wrist! 

8. Urban.
Urban is quite simply a bright metallic purple. Its another smooth and buttery shade, which is great because purple seems to be a difficult colour to get right among many companies. It's more of a neutral to blue toned purple and is a really nice addition to the palette. Purple is my favourite colour to wear on the eyes and I could see this working with both the pinks and blues in the palette.

9. Freak.
Freak is a frosted green with golden yellow shimmer. It's not quite neon, but it is bright and is another nice addition to the palette. I don't wear greens like this too often and I don't have anything quite like this in my collection. It's soft, buttery and pigmented (I feel like a broken record here but it is Urban Decay after all!) It's definitely not sheer, and maybe it's because it isn't a vivid neon, but it doesn't have the same dense colour as the others do. I don't mean that to sound like a con, it definitely isn't and it's a beautiful shade, but it just looks different than the other shades in terms of how it looks against the skin. The next colour, Thrash, for example, almost sits on the skin (probably because of the matte texture) whereas Freak is very finely milled and the swatch almost blends into the skin seamlessly. Another pretty unique shade in the palette!

10. Thrash.
Thrash is the kind of colour I'm automatically drawn to. It's a very, very bright chartreuse. It's definitely more of a lime green with yellow undertones than it is a yellow. I have a few lime green shades similar to this (Inglot, MAC, Kiko) and while the Kiko and Inglot ones are good, the Urban Decay one is just amazing. It seems to be another colour that is difficult for companies to get right (cough MAC cough) but Urban Decay have done it again, and it's feckin' amazing! It's another matte with floating pearl and it's amazing and I can't wait to wear lime green all around my eye like a lunatic and blah blah blahhhhh. Me loves. Something to note: I had heard a lot of the non FDA approved shades stained the skin, but Thrash also stained my wrist. No idea why, and I haven't heard anyone else with that problem but if you're a milk bottle like myself you may encounter it!

Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn

Savage, Fringe, Chaos

Jilted, Urban, Freak, Thrash. Please excuse the Longitude wristband that I should have cut off 2 weeks ago but refuse to.

Overall, I really love this. The packaging is nice, the shades are all very pigmented and there isn't really a massive hit in the palette. I can't see myself getting a huge amount of use out of Revolt but I'm not losing sleep over it. Slowburn and Freak are the most unique to me. Fringe, Thrash and Urban are probably my favourites. There is some staining with a few shades but nothing a paint pot, concealer or more eyeshadow over top can't cover and it's not permanent! I actually like the fact that they stain, they really last and fading is even less minimal with these than with regular Urban Decay shadows I find (even though they're long lasting already!) 

I wanted to say that I already have a lot of bright shadows from Inglot and Urban Decay but they don't perform half as good as these do. I will ALWAYS apply a white base under my bright shadows to make them stand out. I didn't pack anything like that with me on my trip and thought that the best test for the palette on my eyes was to use it with only a little bit of UD Primer Potion - that's exactly what I did and the colour payoff was insaaaaane. Like I said, I have a lot of bright shades but I'm so glad I have this because they really are such amazing quality.

Most people will look at this and think "what in the name of Korean baby Jesus am I gonna do with that". I would personally wear all of these colours on my lid, but not everyone is into that sort of thing and that's okay. However, if you don't have a lot of bright colours then this is actually a really great buy. It makes more sense to have them all in one palette where you can reach for a purple or a green any day instead of having lots of singles you never use. You never know, having them all in the one place might make you reach for them more and add more colour into your look which is something I'm alllll about! 
I think for the majority of consumers, this is going to be a "pop of colour" palette, which is fine.. and it works really well as that so keep that in mind before you completely overlook it. It would, of course, be great for makeup artists or someone who is building for their kit. You're probably not gonna use a lot of these shades in everyday beauty makeup so it's nice to have a few bright colours all in one palette if you ever need them. I really hope people don't look at this and think of it as simply clown makeup, because you can use these shades in a lot of ways other than piling them all on and heading to Tomorrowland. I'm going to be doing lots of very bright looks with this, but I'll also be doing some more subtle and/or smokey tutorials showing you the versatility of this palette. 

The Urban Decay Electric Palette is €45 and can be bought from Debenhams, House of Fraser, Sephora, UrbanDecay.com (US) and BeautyBay.com. One thing I wanted to touch on was the price point of this palette. In general, I think it's a fairy price for a high quality palette. However, I can't understand why UD priced 10 shadows at €45 when a Naked palette with 12 is €44? It probably has something to do with the Pressed Pigment formula. Realistically I was going to buy it anyway like a lot of other people, but it's just something I thought I'd mention.

What's your favourite shade from the Electric Palette? If you have it already, what are your favourite colour combinations? If not, would this be something you'd buy at all, or are you a Naked girl to the core? I'm really curious to know, so comment below or tweet me at @GraceyOConnell :) x