January 26, 2009

Urban Decay Cream Shadow Review, Swatches, and FOTD

Who was it that said if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! It was actually W.C. Fields..my mum would be proud and stuff for knowing that type of trivia! She’s some sort of big supporter of W.C. Fields….shrug.

Anyway. The moral of the story is that most times, with makeup, I don’t try, try again. If I use something and it fails to work the first time I’m normally tossing it across the room and sighing in frustration. This actually happened recently with the brand new Urban Decay Cream Shadow released for Spring.

Oh my god…so frustrating and irritating as hell to apply! I was at my wits end and trying again was NOT an option.


Read ahead to find out why…

Cream shadows are not a new product as Urban Decay actually had the line a few years ago but it was discontinued from the main catalog and slowly disappeared to wherever unwanted makeup goes (the land of misfit toys maybe?). I actually can’t recall trying the cream shadows back then but it’s fitting as I was on my passionate dislike of all things cream at the time.


As of recent the Urban Decay Spring Collection has reintroduced cream shadow to the scene in twelve new bold, vibrant shades. Exciting for me as I’m now Miss fan girl when it comes to cream shadows!

After getting my haul of cream shadows I quickly uncapped, swatched, and proceeded to be delighted by the awe aspiring vibrant shades! These were special! Shimmery, vibrant, bold, and pigmented makes a girl happy indeed. The formula manages to be creamy and thick yet also have a thin consistency…trying to explain exactly would do my head in just trust me that the formula carries some interesting aspects. All 5 shades I tried were extremely pigmented which made me quickly eager to test on my eye.

And test I did and disappointed I was. Oh my god! To say they sucked was an understatement. After layering the product on my eye I proceed to pat and blend with my fingertip which causes the product to streak, slide off, and create one big hot mess. I was so frustrated after 10 minutes of trying to get fifty layers of product to look somewhat presentable on my eye! No matter how I blended the shadow simply would NOT stay on my eye and presented a streaky strange mess. I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I was. I couldn’t help but feel amazingly impressed with my swatches but what the hell was going on during application? The shadows quickly sailed across the room and luckily didn’t land in the trash bin at the rate I was going.































After a week of sulking I did something I never do…I tried again. To my utter delight I finally figured out the correct and proper way to get the product on and boy was I ever happy because the finished results were stunning!

So there is a trick to application…listen closely and you’ll fall in love with Urban Decay Cream Shadows like the Muse soon enough minus her initial frustration. No fingertips required…that’s the key to application. Do not, I repeat do not try to blend with your fingertips! The shadows come in a tube with an attached sponge applicator you’re going to be very thankful for the sponge tip applicator as it layers product and creates a deeply pigmented, shiny eye look. To start the application prep with Urban Decay Primer Potion, wait to dry a few seconds, and proceed to layer Urban Decay Cream Shadow in the color of your choose onto your lid. Start slowly and follow your lid up to the crease with one layer. Wait a few seconds until the product is slightly dry and proceed to apply a second layer of the shadow, wait a few more seconds, and complete with one last layer. One layer is perfectly fine but I find that the product blends into the crease much better and creates a super intense eye look with three layers in place. With lighter shades you can pat a tiny bit with your finger tip but with darker shades don’t bother as it streaks so stick to using the sponge applicator for application. Possibly sounds strange and maybe difficult to do but the fact of the matter is the sponge applicator works fantastically well at applying the product correctly minus the streaking and mess I get with my fingers the first time around.

After using the sponge applicator for application I ended up with a fantastic eye look that was bold, vibrant, and shimmery! Yums!

As I mentioned I tried out five of the shades but I def want to add more to my little stash! The colors I tried were:

  • Weeds-Smoky dark, forest green
  • Whipped-Shimmering Peach
  • Radium-Metallic Blue
  • Sphynx-Shimmering pink with silver
  • Midnight Rodeo-Pink champagne beige





Weeds was a particularly favorite as it gives me a smoked eye green eye look that lends a certain mystery to my brown eyes. I also adored Midnight Rodeo as it’s such a unique shade that’s a cross between pink and beige, I’m hoping we’ll see this in powder form one day soon! And finally I was loving Whipped as it has a ton of lovely shimmer and is quite different from any of the other peach shades in my collection.

All in all after my dramatic start I ended up falling quite in love with these and I’m Muse Approving them for purchase! Remember if at first they don’t work try, try again as the Muse promises after practice you’ll get the knack of application!

Loves ’em!

Get yours at www.urbandecay.com

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4 Comments

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Shannon

    How funny! You said you hoped Urban Decay would release a powder version of Midnight Rodeo and now they have in their 15th Anniversary Shadow Collection!

  • Jane L

    Hi, fantastic blog and review! I was JUST about to buy these in Sphynx and Moonshine when I read this. I know you were disappointed with them, but you do look fantastic with them on and your eyes look really pretty. Just by the photos here, I wouldn’t have been able to guess that you weren’t happy with them, because they look great.

    • the Muse

      aw cheers Jane thanks so much for the lovely comment. If you can get them on sale they are def worthy of a haul ;-D! They are an ickle difficult to work with but they do create a very nice eye look overall ;-D!!!!!!!!!!! thanks for the lovely comment <3!