Urban Decay Theodora Palette Review & Swatches

Urban Decay has launched two new palettes inspired by the movie Oz the Great and Powerful. The Urban Decay Theodora Palette ($49) was a fast favorite for me as I’m a brunette who loves nude, natural shades of eyeshadow. Glinda would be most suitable for blond, blue eyed ladies. But really, do we have to choose? Most of us probably feel we can rock either palette and I’m in complete agreement.

I just seem to favor Theodora at the moment though, here are my thoughts about her.

So you might be peeved we aren’t getting some monster pop up palette like Alice this year. But I don’t mind in the least. The value is here, the palette itself is a heck of a lot less bulky than some of Urban Decay’s old pop up palettes, and I feel less scared to use it for some reason. Don’t get me wrong Alice, New York, etc were all incredible palettes that I absolutely adore but Theodora feels more portable, easy to travel with, and customizable in comparison.

The palette features six full size eyeshadows, one deluxe size 24-7 Eyeliner, and a full size Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color Pencil. The value is well over the $49 price tag. I think the palette can prove surprising as one would expect that merely six shades (actually eight counting the duo eyeshadows) might prove a little uneventful to create numerous looks. But in fact you can get a variety of looks from these shades from warm and neutral to dramatic and bold.

The palette contains:

• Broken (pale cream satin)
• Beware (warm brown matte)
• Bewitch (dark charcoal brown satin)
• West (deep metallic brown shimmer)
• Spell (black satin with green and gold shimmer/gold metallic with tonal glitter)
• Jealous (pale green pearl/dark green pearl)
• Plus the Theodora Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color (bright red cream) and Zero 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil (black)

Spell

Beware, Bewitch, and West

Jealous and Broken

The six eyeshadow pans come in an Urban Decay Build Your Own Palette interface. I personally love this idea. The palette is a tin and features Oz inspired art. The palette is easy enough to customize should you wish to pop in new shades to travel with or when the current shades run low you can grab six more shades and pop them right inside. You won’t be scared to travel with this as you would the bigger, bulkier pop up palettes. It’s small enough to fit easily into your bag, includes a generous mirror, and the shades are snug in their wells and won’t pop out accidentally during travel. I can’t say I felt as safe traveling with one of the bigger pop up palettes. On the down side I do wish they included a spot for the glossy lip pencil! The eyeliner has a well but sadly, the lip pencil does not.

All the shades had a soft, silky texture with excellent color payoff. Even the matte shades surprised me with their delightfully buttery texture. Urban Decay has always had a supremely excellent and consistent eyeshadow formula but the new formula seems even more buttery, more pigmented, more everything! They are truly some of the nicest shadows I’ve worked with and have always been a fond favorite, more so now.

I love the new eyeshadow duos! One wonders if these new dual split eyeshadows are something we might look forward to for Summer 2013. Perhaps Urban Decay will release more shades at some point and if this is a special preview of this product before it launches in a wider array of colors. Seriously? What’s better than one eyeshadow both two right?

Thankfully I had very little fall out with these shades and they applied and blended easily. Urban Decay includes a step by step guide and face chart to get Theodora’s look but you can of course, be as creative as you please to create your own look. Looks range from your typically smoky brown eye to a more wilder green one.

Theodora’s lip pencil is a bright cherry red with a tiny hint of shimmer. It’s extremely saturated and rich in color with a high glossy shine. Urban Decay’s F-Bomb is quite a spot on dupe for the color. It wears VERY strong and once it fades it leaves behind a colorful stain on lips. I feel a little uncomfortable in the shade as I like my reds a smidge more warmer but I can’t deny the color really pairs up nicely with a warm eye.

And finally you get another Zero Eyeliner. Ha…I have too many but it is a classic black which is possibly something you’d use daily, I know I use black eyeliner practically everyday. It has a creamy, smooth glide on lids without a skip and wears all day without smudging or fading. 24/7 is one of my favorite eyeliner formulas, they never fail to wear well and apply easily.

Overall, Theodora brings bang for your buck in a super portable palette that has a wide array of gorgeous natural colors (with a little color for pop). The eyeshadow formula all performed consistently well with a heaping dose of great pigment. I think the palette is fresh and exciting for Urban Decay! As I mentioned the pop up palettes are darling but variety is the spice of life and something new (and not so repetitive) is a refreshing change for Urban Decay. I generally loved this palette and thought it was a great value.

Must say this one is Muse Approved.

Loved it.

It’s available now at UrbanDecay.com, Sephora.com, and Ulta.com with a launch date in store later this month.

Did you haul Theodora?

Do share your thoughts!