Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette Review & Swatches
The Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette ($58) is a limited edition eyeshadow palette created by Gwen Stefani herself along with Urban Decay. The Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette is actually the first celebrity designed collaboration that Urban Decay has every done so that makes this launch special and unique. When can you get it? Have those trusty credit cards ready on November 22nd at 12AM PST as Gwen’s Palette launches on Urban Decay’s website exactly at that time and will likely sell out fast.
If that fact that Gwen is the first celebrity that Urban Decay has collaborated isn’t special enough for you, it might interest you to know this was all hands on deck for her as every detail of the palette down to the palette’s design and case were designed by Gwen. Urban Decay, of course, lent a helping hand bringing their awesome eyeshadow formula to the table but Gwen choose the shades that would go into her palette and as I said her creativity was let loose on every aspect of the palette from packaging to the eyeshadows inside.
The Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette pays home to 15 shades and according to the brand Gwen had a hard time keeping it to just 15. Let’s face, if Urban Decay told me, “Hey, wanna create a palette with us?!” I’d likely have a hard time just choosing 15 shades too.
Let’s take a look!
The Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette is an interestingly designed palette featuring a gold casing with a UD Gwen Stefani face palette located on the right hand side of the palette. The palette has an “empty palette”-like look viewing it from the outside. It has a dual face plate design which features a clear face that covers a circular design of 24 empty wells or circles. It almost looks this is some sort of newfangled Z-Palette or an empty eyeshadow palette waiting to be filled up. It’s an interesting design and one that was designed by Gwen herself as she has a great love of black and white graphic prints. Inside you’ll find a generously sized mirror with a printing at the lower right hand corner that reads “Magic in the Makeup” which is a little nod to the No Doubt song.
Now the palette comes fully loaded! You’re getting 15 eyeshadows that weight in at 0.04 oz each (nearly a full size which is typically 0.05 oz). Three shades are repromoted (Blackout, Skimp and Stark) and available in Urban Decay’s permanent eyeshadow range and twelve are brand new shades. Gwen did name each of the shades herself aside from the permanent colors.
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette shades:
- Blonde (pale beige w/pink iridescent shift)
- Bathwater (pale beige w/gold pearl)
- Skimp (pale nude satin)
- Steady (medium rose w/metallic gold shift)
- Punk (reddish brown matte)
- Baby (cool metallic rose)
- Anaheim (light taupe-brown matte)
- Stark (nude-pink matte)
- Zone (medium brown matte)
- Serious (smoky gray w/iridescent floating pearl)
- Pop (pale coral w/iridescent sparkle)
- Harajuku (metallic blue-pink w/iridescent micro-shimmer)
- Danger (deep metallic royal blue w/blue micro-sparkle)
- 1987 (bright metallic yellow-gold)
- Blackout (blackest black matte)
The palette contains half matte shades and half shimmer shades two finishes that go well together in my opinion. What the palette is not dominated with would be color. There isn’t a lot of vibrant, crazy, pigmented colors here. Gwen’s personality comes across colorful but her look was never about color and this palette is all about Gwen’s look which has always been fairly simple. She’s a bare eye kinda girl with a winged eye but she’s never worn outrageous shades of eyeshadow. I can see Gwen totally creating eye looks using every single shade in this palette, they really are her signature colors. This could potentially be disappointing as Urban Decay fans expect loud and outrageous from the brand and combine that with a name like Gwen Stefani and fan’s might expect something bold, vibrant, or even maybe a little crazy. But that’s not Gwen’s look at all.
I, for one, adore the shades in this palette but I don’t think it is a palette for everyone. Many of the shades are difficult to differentiate between when you’re applying and blending out. They kinda sorta all begin to look the same if you’re using a few in one look. It’s hard to get any definition or contrast since the colors gradate from light to a smidge darker. On that note I will say this is packed with essential shades you’ll likely reach for often if you’re a nude, natural, or minimalist kinda girl or guy. As I’ve gotten older I appreciate shades like this more and more and more as I can use these for a week straight to create an endless array of really soft focused nude looks that look amazing without every being bored. I feel like they are foolproof in that aspect. And hey, there are a few pops of color here too like Danger and Harajuku.
Now another problem, this palette isn’t the best pick in the world for our dark skin lovies out there. Some of these shades won’t work well on darker or event tanned skin tones. It will work well on pale, fair, and lighter medium complexions but those with darker medium or tanned skin tones might feel like some of the shades are a bit too pasty or don’t show up on their skin.
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette Swatches (Danger, 1987, Blackout)
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette Swatches (Baby, Anaheim, Stark, Punk)
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette� Swatches (Harajuku, Zone, Serious, Pop)
Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette� Swatches (Steady, Blonde, Bathwater, Skimp)
I think a majority of the eyeshadows are fairly sheer and some produce no color at all. For example, Pop has a bit of shimmer but I can barely see the color show up on my lids. Harajuku is also a shade that swatches nicely, looks good in the pan, but sheers out considerably on lids. The colors aren’t exactly packed with pigment but they are fairly buildable and I do enjoy the fact I can apply a matte and use one of the shimmer shades as an overcoat to add intensity and drama to lighter colors. The mattes are quite lovely here! They are soft, silky, and easy to apply.
Depending on how you feel about it you might wish the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette wasn’t directly inspired by Gwen’s look but maybe translated from her body of work which tends to a lot more colorful than her makeup. Personally I actually like the fact that the palette is all about achieving Gwen’s signature look which has always been fairly minimalist yet super elegant. I think the palette is chock full of shades you’ll likely reach for quite often for your more work friendly looks! Dare I say I feel like I might need a back up of the palette as some of the shades seem like I’ll run through them rather quickly.
For my first look below I used Skimp as highlighter, 1987 all over my lid and crease, and Danger at the outer lid and blended slightly into the crease. The second looks is more natural with Skimp used again to highlight and Anaheim all over my eye with Zone blended into the outer eye area and Punk layered with Blackout smudged across he upper lash line.
If you’re a natural kinda makeup lover I think you’ll be right at home with the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette.
Get the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette at urbandecay.com on Novemver 22.
Do tell me if you plan on purchasing it!