Flashback Review :Urban Decay Elements Palette

I know this was meant to be part of my Flash back series of palette reviews, but I didn’t really wear it too much this summer unless I mixed it with Life’s A Festival or Chocolate Bon Bons. I didn’t relize how kind of an odd palette this was. I do like quite a bit of the colors , and the finishes. a few of the inner smaller pans in the palette can be a bit fussy to work with though.This was a limited edition palette from the 2018 Holiday season. The theme they were going for I think was astrological elements , the whole Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. It was originally $65 but I belive you could get it for sale for about $20. I recieved this palette as a gift from my Fiance’ . I think he really liked the shape of the palette honestly. And actually lets talk about the packaging.

So it was a kind of unique palette shape that people online either hated or loved. I’m more on the love side. Yes the giant round shape is a bit unconventional but Its not really that hard to store . I have this currently on my makeup self stacked with a few others. I guess with how slightly bulky this is you might have issues holding it one handed , I really haven’t had to much issues though. Well except for that one time I grabbed the box and it slid out, thank goodness no shadows broke. So I taped the end of the box so this wouldn’t happen.

I do really like the huge mirror , its about the size of my face. but its still very cool to have , this may be the largest cosmetic mirror that I own.

So now on to the colors.  Most of the colors here are jewel tone, metallic, with a few mattes. the color are starting from outer pans to inner are:

Heavy Water:  a beautiful metallic blue,this is probably one of my favorite colors in the palette and I would say a stand out shade.

Sapphire Dream : This is a deep colbolt or midnight blue. Its slightly pearly but can be blended with other colors to get an almost matte look. It does have a tiny bit of dust fallout though so I always do my eyes first, than the rest of my face so I can clean up.

Electric Air: probably one of my favorite colors from this palette , Its a nice silvery shimmer color that has an almost buttery consistency.

Antidote: a warm tan/peach color perfect for the brow bone for neutral looks. nice consistancey and matte.

Secret Keeper: One of the nicest Greens I own, I love this cool toned green.

Earthbound: a dark foresty earthy green with ab it of a pearl sheen.

Elemental : a matte warm tan color, its nice as a transition color

Volcanic: a bronzey orange color, its metallic but buttery

Lioness: This a color I wish they had as a single , it looks great with lighter peach colors and is a plum based brown.

FireStarter: a deep red with warmer undertones,almost like a brick red. I don’t use too often but still a nice color. it looks matte when blended out.

Dreamcatcher: So I do use this color quite a bit, sometimes with this palette, but mostly with Chocolate Bon bons. I think that palette really needed a matte pink like Dreamcatcher. its not quite the neon pink but still quite bright and can sheered out or blended with oranges or peaches for a more warm neutral look.

Ego: a plummy red based pink, it has some shimmer but not enough for me so I always top with Luna. Although in the pan it looks similar to another UD original Asphyxia, swatched I did not see any of the shift though.

Now on to the inner pans: these I think are meant to be more or less accent shadows , but some are hit or miss.

Luna: this is the white sparkly shadow at the center , and it has some pink shift to it. It does have a bit of fallout so its best to layer with glitter glue . I like using this over some of the darker shades to brighten up the look. I think this topper is needed for certain colors, to add a bit more dimension.

Hex Remedy: A dark purple with some patchiness issues , I have mixed feelings on it . I wanted it to be the same consistancy of shades like Urban or Voodoo, but its patchy. its does work a bit better layered over another color like Dreamcatcher or Antidote though.It has a bit of glitter but nothing too chunky.

Fortune Teller: This is a duochrome shadow that is almost an exact dupe of Too Faced’s Life’s Festival’s Artist Pass. Its a plummy brown with a greenish shift to it. out of the two shadows I prefer Artist pass, i think its an easier to apply shadow with less fallout , and the shift is a bit better as well. This is still a pretty color though,I just don’t use it often since I like Artist Pass better.

Silver Bullet: This shade , it makes no sense. Its the one that truley disappointed me in the whole palette, and thank goodness not all the shades were like this one. where do I begin, fallout, patchiness,and just hard to use. I do use it though in spite of this. I usually layer over another matte grey color from other palettes or blend with Electric Air or Sapphire Dream.In the pan it looks like dark silver color with specks of purple but swiped its really hard to get a nice solid swatch. I’ve tried using it wet and its still kind of tricky and doesn’t have the best coverage.

Fool’s Gold: I think this color is probably the best of the inner pans and one of the nicest colors in the palette. its this nice glittery gold witha bit of green but not too green shift. it’s also slightly similar to one of the gold’s in Life’s Festival, probably Fireflies to be exact. It works great with glitter glue and looks awesome paired with the Firestarter,Secret Keeper and Earthbound.

Moon Rock : a more bronzy warm brown color , it does look slightly similar too Tetonic. In some ways I think this color could’ve been swapped , i felt like we needed a brighter color, maybe a bright shimmery orange or true pink glitter rather than this color, it swipes on alright but I don’t use it too often. I feel others may have wanted this color in a more matte finish.

Tetonic: Its a dark chocolate with some bronze and gold sparkle. I really only use this wet and usually to highlight or line my eyes. It does look good with greens and yellows though. I usually pair it with Secret keeper or other green/yellow colors like Freak and Thrash from UD Electric.

Now on to the looks. this is really what took the most time with the review. usually when I wear colors from this palette I grabbed a few other colors from other palettes to try and make a more unique or brighter look . This was probably due to being summer I wasn’t really feeling some of the moodier shades in this palette. But Most of the looks in the below pictures were created only using Elements with a few matte shades from Chocolate Bon Bon’s for my brow.

For this look , I wanted to do like a smokey silver look.  I started out prepping my eyes with primer, some cashew chew from Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bon’s on my brow since I felt Antidote would be too warm for this look. afterwards I used a fluffy brush to blend in Sapphire dream into my crease and brow. then I went over Sapphire Dream with Silver bullet, being careful to wipe off excess powder since Silver bullet has a bit of fallout. Then I used a flat brush to place Electric Air onto my lid ,and finally blending Luna into my inner corner of my eyes.

So I’ll admit I don’t use Volcanic too often but I wanted to try it out with Hex Remedy and Lioness for a fall look . To do this look I started out with Antidote on my brow, then used Dreamweaver in my crease and brow,later I used a fluffy brush to blend in Hex Remedy. Adding Dreamweaver first made Hex Remedy a little less patchy and easier to apply . Then in the corner of my crease I dabbed in Lioness for depth. Afterwards I used a flat brush to kind of paint on Volcanic , and I went back over mybinner corner of my eye blending Volcanic with Luna . Luna added a bit of sparkle to my eyes .

So this next look I experimented around with using Ego, one of the colors I have mixed feelings on. In the pan Ego looks a lot lighter and bit more of shimmery pink lilac, but when its swatched or on lids it turns to a more red based plum color. It’s okay but I would’ve rather had a lighter color , So I always top it off with Luna or a lighter pink from Chocolate Bon Bons.  This eye look I started off with Antidote on my brow bone, and I wanteed to use tetonic since its chocolately brown but it was just too shimmery and slightly patchy. honestly this color is better used wet as a liner . So I tried using Moon Rock next it was better but I still didn’t quite like it so I buffed in Lioness since its my favorite , And I thought it looked a lot better. Next I swiped on Ego, and topped with Luna. I really liked how sparkly Luna makes Ego, much better. Up close the color kind of shifts to look almost peachy where from far away it looks more pink based. but then again it may be my hair making it seem more pink than it really is.

So this is my super colorful look inspired by my Children of Bodom shirt . The colors I used were  Antidote , Dream Weaver , Hex Remedy , Sapphire Dream, Heavy Water,Secret Keeper and Luna. It took a while to really blend Hex Remedy but it was worth it . To start out I primed my eyes , applied Antidote  lightly to my brow bone . Then used a fluffy brush to blend in Dreamweaver , afterwards I took another brush to go over with Hex Remedy . There was some patchieness but appying Dreamweaver first helped to build up Hex Remedy . Afterwards I used a pigment brush to apply Sapphire Dream to my outer and inner corners of the eyes . I used a blending brush to blend Sapphire Dream into Hex Remedy . Then I blended in Heavy Water closer to the middle of my eye lid . Afterwards I applied more concealer to the center of my eye , and pressed in Secret Keeper . I also decided to line the bottom of my eyes with Sapphire Dream and added some shine with Luna in my inner corner . Added liner and mascara and I’m finished .

This look I did while waiting for my pies to bake this Thanksgiving.  I wanted to try a pretty bold look and sort of a cut crease but it morphed into its own thing. I used  a white concealer first, started patting on Firestarter into my crease area , I then added Dreamweaver above Firestarter, then blended it out, I believe I also had Antidote on my brow and blended that into Dreamweaver with a fluffy brush. Afterwards I used concealer on my entire lid , leaving a bit of Firestarter showing. I used a flat brush and applied Heavy Water,and then Luna in my inner corner. I still wanted more color so I decided to use a liner brush to apply Earthbound to my lower lash line.  then added a black eyeliner and mascara to finish up. This look was pretty fun and  I think I’ll try this out more often with Heavywater and Firestarter, the colors contrast but still look pretty cool together.

So I wanted to end my review with this Green and gold combo. I was thinking of using Tetonic in this one but that shade applies better wet as a liner, and may have been to sparkly to use with a fluffy brush. So to startb off I used white concealer, then Antidote on my brow,(I’ve been using this hsade quite a bit) then patted on Earthbound on my crease , I would try to blend it upwards with the fluffy brush , but it came out slightly patchy. So I went back over with my pigment brush and Earthbound to darken my crease,then used a smaller fluffy brush to kind of fluffy out the edges. afterwards I decided on Fortune Teller in my V, its a bit flaky but I was able to get to blend in with Earthbound, then I pressed in Secret Keeper with my Finger brush. Afterwards I placed Fool’s Gold into my lid and Luna onto the inner corners to lighten up the look. I still wanted to do soemthing with my lower lash line, so I first lined with a brown eye pencil. then with a eyeliner brush lined the brown with Fortune Teller . And then I finished up with Nyx Eyeliner and Mascara.

Final Thoughts on Urban Decay Element’s palette: Well it has some really nice colors like Secret Keeper, Lioness, Electric Air, Fool’s Gold,Heavy Water and Sapphire Dream, a few just kind of seem meh. and its definately a palette that you would need more mattes, or even brighter shimmers to really make varied eyelooks. I usually pair it with shades from Life’s Festival or Chocolate Bon Bons . On the other hand a feel like others may have dupes of some of the other colors like Antidote, Elemental, and Volcanic, Moon Rock and Tetonic.  To me the packaging and shape of the palette doesn’t really make it that hard to use and I liked the huge mirror. Overall the color story kept me from looking into the Game of Thrones collection that was released a few months later the next year. mainly because I felt that if I bought it I wouldn’t use this palette as much ,plus some of the patchiness from these shadows have made me weary of newer Urban Decay releases. But maybe thats just holiday releases. Still Silver Burn and Hex Remedy disappointed me , since I know older Urban decay shadows formulas had much nicer Purples and silver greys . I think when it was released $65 might’ve been a bit much , the $20 sale price was probably a bit more reasonable.  I do hope that few colors like Lioness, Electric Air,  Heavy Water and Secret Keeper come out as singles. These are by far my favorites and I will be sad whenever I hit pan on them.