URBAN DECAY x Kristen Leanne Kaleidoscope Dream Eyeshadow Palette ::: First Impression!!!

I keep promising myself that I will not buy limited-edition palettes anymore, but what do I do when the colors just speaks to my soul!? I really could not help but purchase this Urban Decay and Kristen Leanne Kaleidoscope Dream Eyeshadow Palette! The extreme disregard for symmetry in the layout of the palette is driving me a bit crazy but the eye-catching shades were just too hard to resist! Those two blue shadows are incredibly enticing, especially for me.

I will have to be honest and admit that before this palette, I was totally unaware about Kristen Leanne. I do watch a lot of YouTube videos, still! She is a cruelty-free Beauty Vlogger and in general, color crazy person! :-)  Her collaboration also includes a neutral eyeshadow palette, a highlighter palette and 3 lipsticks; i think there is another single eyeshadow as well.

Let's dive into details about this Kaleidoscope palette, as the name suggests it is very vibrant one. Also, beware - this post has a ton of pictures :-)

Price and availability: The palette retails for $39 for a total of 0.34 oz. of product. The price is very on-brand for Urban Decay. I also feel they did a good job in matching the pan sizes colour wise. But I do wish that the orange shade was a bit bigger; it is a stunning shade & I want more of it. The pan shape and sizes are all over the place, so here is a breakdown of shades with the product amount -

LEO + BRIXTON and STAY GOLD 0.05 oz. each.  

SPITFIRE and TAJIN 0.02 oz. each

LCW, TRM, DYE and CORONA 0.04 oz. each 

13TH FLOOR 0.03 oz.

LIME TIME 0.01 oz.

It is a limited-edition palette and currently available on Urban Decay, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Macy's, Nordstrom and JC Penny (in store). I am not entirely sure how long it will be available though!

Packaging: It is a pretty palette to look at, of course! Kristen was talking about how they created the pattern on the packaging by photographing squishing lipsticks; quite interesting! I think the palette is made of paper which feels like lower quality than their standard packaging. And as you can see, the layout is extremely asymmetrical! It literally hurt my eyes the first time I saw this palette in store. But now that I have been using it, I am getting used to it. Kristen mentioned in her video that this layout encourages to flow through the colors and create more unique looks but I did not find that to be the case for me. I also feel that the layout takes more space; it is a smaller palette but there is a lot of unused space! The lid/mirror does stand in its own!

Formula, Quality & Weartime: It As you can see, the palette has different shades in different finishes. When you touch the shadows, they do not feel that smooth; that is kind of weird. I also experienced a bit of fall-out. Quality-wise I think they are per Urban Decay standard. The mattes really impressed me. The metallics needed a little bit of work. When I was working with the blue shades for the look below, it was a bit of work. There was a lot of fall-out, so much so that I had to use a makeup remover to wipe out my under eye area before applying my foundation/concealer. But I absolutely loved the look at the end, so I think I am ok with having to put up the extra work. Weartime also varies depending on how I applied it. I used TRM over hastily applied MAC paint pot on my upper lash-line as an eyeliner and after 4-5 hrs it transferred to my lid, above the crease. But for the bold blue look I created, I took my time and applied my primer with patience and the shadows stayed in place till I removed my makeup.

Shades: 

Corona: It is described as metallic soft bronze with gold shimmer. I have been wearing it every day past week to work. I love how I can shimmer down the metallic-ness of the shade to make it more work-appropriate.

Dye: It is described as violet satin. Again beautiful shade, I have not played with it much so not really that sure if it also has a lot of fall-out. But it is not really unique.

TRM: It is described as metallic deep navy blue. If you read my blog regularly, you know that my heart just explodes when I see these type of shade. But it is a familiar blue and I do have similar shadows from other brands.

LCW: It is described as metallic teal blue. I thought this was more of a sky blue but it is actually a teal. Teals are not my favorite among blue eye shadows but it is a lovely shade.

Spitfire : It is described as bright pink satin with purple shift. I absolutely love the shift in this shade; it is very pronounced and of course, I love it. I want to wear it all over my lid :-)

Stay Gold: It is described as metallic yellow-gold. Another common shade; with the over flux of warm eye shadows in the market, this is a common shade to find. This shade feels even more rough-er but that does not really affect on the performance. 

Tajin: It is described as orange matte. This is my absolute favorite shade from this palette. It is a true orange and a true matte. So easy to work with; it is so pigmented and yet blend like a dream. I feel like I will use it a whole lot. Morocco from Makeup Geek Cosmetics is very similar but Tajin has more punch to it.

Lime Time: It is described as metallic neon green. Although, I am a color crazy person, but I don't really play a lot with green shadows. This has a much softer texture than the rest of the shadows. Very easy to work with as well.

13th Floor: It is described a matte black. Very black, very matte, but its not too harsh. 

The next two shades are undoubtedly the most unique shades; I went through my collection and I did not really find anything similar to these; love the formula as well. I applied LEO on the center of my lid for the blue look and it adds so much dimension to the look. I applied Brixton over Diorskin Luminizer 001 with an extremely light hand. I applied Mac Fix+ Spray, and it started beaming like no other :-)  ha ha. Love it!

Leo: It is described as holographic green pearl shift. 

Brixton: It is described a holographic red-green pearl shift. 

DUPES:

I really don't have a strong faith on the concept of dupe. But as you can see there are a lots of similar shades in the market. I have a medium-size collection for a beauty blogger, but i was able to find some similar shades. I like to mention that except for Morocco, I would not call any other shade as dupe; they were very similar but not dupes. As you can, some of they "look" similar but they don't swatch similar. But I am pretty sure, these similar shades can be used interchangeably. I think the brilliance of this palette is the shade selection; although I can see many colored palettes these days, personally for me these are the best shades per my personal choice.

Check out the photos below. (FYI - CP SSS: Colourpop Super Shock Shadows, AI: Aredency Inn, MUG FS: Makeup Geek Cosmetics Foiled Shadows, CP PS: Colourpop Pressed Eyeshadows)

All the left over swatches from the palette

This was more a first impression post than a full review but I think I will continue to love this palette! It is interesting that I do not have any interest in the other items from her collection :-)

Love,

~Arrru