Whatever Happened to Urban Decay: A Case of Formula Changes
Whatever happened to Urban Decay? Their formulas sure has changed over the last decade hasn’t it? This weekend Christine (Temptalia) did a poll on Instagram asking which brands don’t interest you anymore and I didn’t even hesitate with my reply. Right away my fingers few over my Iphone to type out “Urban Decay”. Urban Decay hasn’t rallied since 2012 when it was purchased by L’Oreal for the sum of 300-400 million (the amount was never disclosed). Maybe they should have held out for the big money like Too Faced who got a cool 1.4 billion in 2016 from Estee Lauder.
In 2011, even before their buy out, I noticed that Urban Decay Primer Potion was having problems. That was prior L’Oreal ever entering the picture. But at the time everything was pretty smooth sailing with Urban Decay aside from my primer issues which did break my heart as it was one of my go to eyeshadow primers.
Ironically in Spring 2012, Urban Decay made the really exciting and scary announcement they were revamping their entire eyeshadow line. As much as we love blaming parent companies for the change in our favorite products this predated the buy out as the buy out was signed in Fall 2012.
Change is unavoidable especially when larger parent companies like L’Oreal take over but in this case the parent company was not to blame.
So, why the change? At the time the beauty bubble had not yet broken and the market wasn’t as saturated as it is now. Why the sudden change in a beloved formula? I personally don’t think Urban Decay Eyeshadows have been the same since the formula change and if anything they have gotten worst with each new release.
Too Faced have somehow managed to rally. For a while their formula was going downhill very quickly and perhaps they actually stopped and listened because I noticed major changes the last two Holiday seasons with their formulas. I’ve also noticed many of their newer launches have been quite good.
Why hasn’t Urban Decay rallied? I literally cringe with each new palette they release as I just know it’s going to be round of dry eyeshadows that blend poorly.
But perhaps the biggest complaint isn’t with the formulas but with the cautionary shades that are released in these palettes. Urban Decay has always been about being bold, edgy, colorful but they do play the caution card in most releases nowadays and brown, brown, brown, and more brown is the order of business. Don’t get me wrong I do love naked anything but hardcore fans of color are grossly disappointed that they aren’t tasting the rainbow lately with Urban Decay’s launches.
For me the most heartbreaking problem with Urban Decay is the formulas. Everything has changed dramatically with their formulas! You know things are bad when you can pick up a Milani Eyeshadow Palette and get better quality from it than an Urban Decay one!
Do you still love Urban Decay or have they changed in such a way you’ll never go back to them?
Do you hope they’ll one day rally?
Do share!