Product Review -- Urban Decay Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette

With so many nude, neutral, or natural palettes on the market these days, it's kind of refreshing when a collection of shadows comes out that actually features bolder, brighter hues.

And I say that as someone who doesn't really rock colorful looks all that often (with my incredibly pale skin, the look is usually more clown-like than fierce).

It's just nice to have some options.

So when I had a Sephora gift card that needed spending, I decided to go a little outside my usual box and pick up the Urban Decay Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette.

While most of UD's palettes seem to contain a mix of natural and brighter tones, the Urban Spectrum Palette really only has four natural/neutral shades -- but it's such a gorgeous collection of colors that I think it'll appeal to plenty of people.

The packaging is a little problematic -- the palettes comes inside a sturdy black plastic box with a lid that actually lifts off instead of flipping open. While it's definitely attractive, it's rather bulky and harder to store than most palettes.

(If you have the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette that came out several years ago, the packaging is the same as that one.)

Urban Decay Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette

Inside the cover, there is a good size mirror but because the cover actually lifts off, you'd need to prop it up against something to use it to apply your makeup.

The palette contains 15 shadows, which are a combo of new and best-selling shades: Protest, a shimmery golden forest green; Junkie, a shimmery greenish teal; Deep End, a shimmery bright teal; Madness, a shimmery bright metallic blue; Evidence, a shimmery dark navy; Prank, a matte navy with turquoise micro-glitter; Omen, a bright lilac with blue duochrome; Flashback, a bright deep purple with pink micro-glitter; Voodoo, a shimmery metallic dark purple; Flatline, a metallic light pink; Bordello, a shimmery light mauve; Backlash, a bright hot pink; Daybreak, a light bronze with silver micro-glitter; Burn, a shimmery mid-tone golden brown; and West, a shimmery dark golden brown.

Urban Decay Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette

From l. to r.: Protest, Junkie, Deep End, Madness, Evidence, Prank

From l. to r.: Omen, Flashback, Voodoo, Flatline, Bordello, Backlash

From l. to r.: Daybreak, Burn, West

The shadows are the usual UD formula -- most of them are nicely pigmented and easy to blend, though there are a couple of glitter-heavy shades that are somewhat sheer or chunky, such as Omen and Backlash.

All in all, though, the shadows are easy to work with and really look beautiful on the eye.

There are no matte shades in the palette, though, and there really aren't any highlight shades either (especially if you have fair to light skin) so you may need to supplement your look with one or two shades to get a complete look.

My favorite shades are Flatline, which is lovely brightening lid shade; Bordello, which offers a slightly smokier lid option for fair skin; and Evidence, which is the most gorgeous navy shade.

If you're a fan of blue and green shades, this is really the palette for you because there are so many options -- it's definitely worth checking out.

The palette retails for $55 at Sephora.

Have you tried the Urban Decay Urban Spectrum Eyeshadow Palette? What's your favorite look to do with it?