Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV Review

    Hello Beauty Junkies! As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently made a purchase from Hautelook.com when they had their Urban Decay sale. I'm breaking my review into two parts because the review on just the Book of Shadows IV is a fairly long one by itself. Stay tuned for a review on the rest of the product I purchased!

    The main reason I made this purchase was for the Book of Shadows IV (or BOS IV as I will sometimes refer to it). This palette came out awhile ago and while all the Book of Shadows are awesome, this one just really didn't catch my eye, especially with a $62 price tag. I assume many other UD junkies felt the same way because the last two Books of Shadow, I Heart NY and Alice in Wonderland, sold out rather quickly right off the bat and have never been a sale item. Anyway, when I saw this palette on sale on Hautelook.com for $24 I figured it was a steal. Urban Decay palettes are always worth the money because if you purchased each shadow individually at $18, it would end up costing $288. It also gives you great variety in your look instead of purchasing one or two shadows by themselves and each palette comes with a small bottle of shadow Primer Potion. This palette also came with a full size 24/7 liquid eyeliner, a small tube of Super Curling Mascara and a little speaker with a USB cable. The speaker is to be used with a smart phone. There is a little card included with QRC bar codes you can with your phone and it takes you to several tutorials.

    So far, my satisfaction with this palette has been a little across the board. I would assume all UD shadows are made with the same quality, but when I used Blue Bus (blue shade, top left corner) and Gravity (second row from top, purple second from the left) the color didn't transfer to my lid. Instead of Blue Bus being a periwinkle with a purplish shift like it is in the cake, it looked like a smudgy, dirty mess. Gravity was the same way. Instead of being a soft dark purple, it looked blackish and dirty. I ended up trashing this look and removing these shadows. On a different occasion, I used Bender (green shade, first in second row under Blue Bus) and got the same results. Instead of being a nice green, it looked like a blackish smudge with no real color definition. I have never ran into an Urban Decay eye shadow I didn't like, so this was disappointing to me.

    

     On the other hand, I have used Zephyr (white shade, bottom right hand corner) several times as a highlighter and it is awesome. Its a golden white tone that is great for the corner of eyes and under the brow bone. I also used Bust (bottom left hand corner), Missionary (right of Bust) and Lost (brown tone under black shadow, second row) in a natural look and was pleased with their texture and color payoff. I am very excited to use Crystal (light blue shadow above Zephyr). It is a very pretty light blue with a silvery shift. If anyone recalls the scene in the movie Everafter when Drew Barrymore's character is in the ball gown with the wings, she has a "mask" painted on her face that is bluish, iridescent with shimmer and glitter. This shadow would be perfect for that look. Haha sorry for the tangent, just had to share what this color reminded me of. Another perk to the shadows is this palette is not many are repeats and ten were new shades. If you are a UD fan and you have several palettes like I do, you being to accumulate a few popular repeat shades such as Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, Sin and Bake.  Anyway, while I am not 100% pleased with all the shadows, at $24 it  was still worth the buy.

     Included in this palette was a full sized tube of 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner. I have used this several times and have liked it for the most part. The brush is very small, which I like because it makes it easier to maneuver around your eyelashes, especially if they are curled. The formula is pretty black in color, another thing I like, but it tends to get a little shiny. I prefer my liquid eyeliners to dry very dark matte black. I have yet to use it on my bottom lash line and am a bit reluctant because it's more likely to get in my eye that way and sometimes that stuff really burns! What I don't like about this liner is the way it comes off. It peels off in little pieces that got stuck in my eyelashes that weren't easy to get out, even with my heavy duty makeup remover. I'm glad it came with this palette, however I'm not sure I would purchase it at $19 by itself.

    

     Also included with this palette was a small tube of mascara in Urban Decays Super Curl formula. After a few uses, this mascara is okay. It didn't curl my lashes as promised and isn't waterproof so it couldn't even hold a curl from my eye lash curler. It did go on very smooth and I liked the shape of the brush and its bristles. Every lash got clump free coating which is always nice. This formula gets great reviews on the Urban Decay website, however since it's not waterproof it's pretty much a deal breaker for me. You can buy this travel size for $10 if you'd like to give it a try. Stay tuned for a post on my favorite mascaras and eye lash curling tips!

    The small speaker is kind of cool, but it doesn't really give your phone any extra volume. I didn't find the speaker necessary to play the tutorials from my smart phone. The tutorials are useful, especially if you are a beginner and gave some fun, funky looks you can do with this palette. Overall, I feel a booklet of instructions or just the address of the tutorials would have been more effective than the speaker/USB system and the palette probably would have cost less.

     Overall, it was worth the $24 to purchase this palette. However, I would not have purchased this palette at regular price. I feel part of the reason this palette was more expensive (UD BOS are usually around $50-$53) was because they included the USB equipment and the speaker which were completely unneeded. The small primer potion and mascara were nice perks and I was very happy it came with the full size liquid eye liner because I have been wanting to try it for awhile. Not a terrible palette, but it didn't live up to the expectations I hold for Urban Decay. I've been happy with every shadow palette before this and I own seven! You can still purchase this product on UrbanDecay.com for $29.

Stay tuned for my May Birchbox review! 

    

Prime Before You Beat Yo Face!

    Hello Beauty Junkies! Today I would like to stress the importance of primers! Have you ever purchased an eyeshadow that looks beautiful in the cake, but the color doesn't transfer the same to your lid? Does your eye shadow crease halfway through the day? Does your foundation fade halfway through your day? Does your face get shiny by lunch causing you to reapply powder? Would you like a better coverage from your powder without wearing heavier foundation? Does your lipstick fade quickly? All of these problems can be solved with PRIMERS!!!


    First I would like to discuss eyeshadow primer because I feel this is the most important of all. I've been asked what beauty products I couldn't live without and eye shadow primer is definitely one of them. We've all purchased eye shadows, absolutely in love with the color in the store and on our hand until we go home and apply to our lids and the color magically disappears. Another conundrum with eye shadows is you find a shade you love, apply in the morning and by lunch half of the shadow has migrated on your lower lash line and the other half has weaseled its way into your crease. GET A PRIMER!!! An eye shadow primer can fix all of these problems and I promise it will change the way you wear eye shadow. Your eye lid gets oily and is relatively smooth, so when you apply eye shadow it has nothing to stick to which results in lack luster color and creasing. You end up with a color that isn't bright, isn't defined and is uneven. When you use a primer, you are giving the shadow a surface to stick to. This makes your color pop and your shadow lasts all day looking as fresh as it did that morning!


     My favorite eyeshadow primer is Urban Decay's Eye Shadow Primer Potion. It comes in four different shades to best suit your shadow needs. I have all four and love each one of them for their specific purpose. The classic potion (purple tube) is nude and goes on invisible and is great for any shadow colors. Greed (gold tube) is a gold shade with a hint of shimmer that goes great with golden toned shadows or it wears great by itself for just a hint of shimmer especially on darker skinned ladies. Sin is a champagne hue that goes great with neutrals and earthy tones. Sin (tan tube) can also be used to highlight cheek bones on lighter toned ladies. I love Sin because it looks the best by itself out of all the shadow primer potions. Eden (beige tube) is a matte tawny shade that is meant to make dark shadows pop. It is great for bringing out color because its matte, lighter shade makes shadows appear brighter. Think painting... colors look brighter when painted on top of white rather than grey or tan. However, because of its light color I wouldn't wear it by itself. These may run a little expensive for some junkies taste, but for $19 a tube it drastically changes your eye shadow looks and lasts a pretty long time. If you are a beginner, I suggest the classic potion or Sin. These are the most useful and versatile. I love Green and Eden, but I just don't use them as much as classic and Sin. I discovered this primer while just beginning to experiment with makeup and because I was so pleased with it, I haven't used other eye shadow primers. However, I have heard that Too Faced and Smashbox both make excellent shadow primers as well so they may be worth a try depending on what works for you.


     As I mentioned in my post before about exfoliating, I love smooth skin. When your skin is smooth it helps your foundation look natural. When skin is rough and unexfoliated, foundation clumps around dead skin cells, making your foundation appear uneven cakey and unnatural. The first step to smooth foundation application is exfoliating and the second is a primer that works for your skin. Just like the eye shadow primer, face primer gives your foundation something to stick to and also prevents it from fading and creasing throughout the day. The right face primer for you is going to depend on your skin type. If you have oily skin, a primer that contains the words matte or mattefying is going to work best for you because it will reduce the oiliness and will prevent your foundation from sliding off. I have used Urban Decay's De-slick In A Tube and it did the job, however my skin is not very oily so it was a little too dry for my taste. I could see it working very well for someone with oily skin. If you have dry or combination skin, a soft gel like primer will be best for you. These are usually clear and may feel a little slick at first, but the way your foundation goes on after applying is amazing. A little goes a long way, so you can make them last awhile.








      My favorite face primer so far is Tarte Clean Slate. It's fragrance free, has a lot of natural and beneficial ingredients, last a long time and makes my foundation last all day.  Another primer I used recently after receiving a sample is the Sephora Collection Perfecting Ultra Smoothing Primer. This is very similar in look and feel to Tarte's Clean Slate, however I found it's lasting power wasn't as long as Tarte's. After logging onto Sephora.com I just found out that Tarte no longer makes just the Clean Slate primer. They now have two different formulas, one that is mattefying and one that is brightening. As of right now, I do not think either is similar to the original formula which disappoints me. Tarte's primers are close to twice the price of the Sephora Collection primer, however you get 0.5 ounces in the Sephora bottle and 1 ounce in the Tarte bottle. All in all, I feel Tarte is better to use because of the natural ingredients. Shop around and find a primer that suits you. If you are skeptical, next time you are in Sephora purchasing something, ask the cashier if there are any primer samples they could give you. If they don't have any samples, purchase what you think might work and if it doesn't, Sephora has a great return policy.

     There are two other primers that can prove useful depending on your beauty routine. I do not wear lipstick AT ALL so a lipstick primer isn't something I need. Just like shadow and face primer, I'm sure lip primer helps your lipstick last and prevents it from s feathering out from your lip line. Urban Decay makes a lip primer that has pretty good reviews. It can also be used with lip gloss.The other primer out there to discuss is eye lash primer. It is meant to condition your lashes and create a coating around them so they appear to have more volume. My own experience with lash primers is the majority of them are white, so you have to be sure to cover them completely with mascara. I like to curl my lashes and priming them makes them way too heavy to hold the curl, so while I have the Urban Decay Eyelash Primer Potion I never use it. If you don't curl your lashes and are looking to thicken your lashes up a bit, this might be the product for you.


     In closing, any good painter will tell you they prime whether its a canvas or a car. Any good make up artist will tell you they prime their artwork as well. Experiment and find what works for you, just remember to be familiar with the vendor's return policy just in case you aren't happy with the product. We all know it really sucks to spend money on a cosmetic that doesn't work for you.


Stay tuned for my next post.... I will be reviewing the May Birchbox... it's an awesome one!