Urban Decay

As much as I contemplated the Born to Run palette, there are about 5 of those very pink/orange/red shades in it which are total "no go's" for me, so I decided it wasn't a good purchase for me (we'll see how long that decision lasts!) I'd seen very high quality photos of the Beached palette at Temptalia and thought it might be more for me in terms of the colour selection but thought it was out of reach as an ULTA exclusive until I learned that it is available at select Shopper's Drug Mart stores and so off I went to purchase it.

Beached is a smaller palette (8 colours) and similar packaging to the Basquiat palettes in that it opens from the "short end" rather than the way most traditional palettes do. Packaging is cardboard with a mirror the full length of the lid. The palette itself is much as the name would suggest - a very "beachy/summer/poolside" vibe. The quality of all but one of the shadows is typical of UD - buttery, almost "liquid" feeling shimmers with only 1 matte shade (and that's also the only colour I'm not wild about as it is that sort of orange that is ubiquitous but which I'm not wild about, although I can use it in my crease)

The colours are:
Salt: an ivory with a nice sheen - not shimmer but a brightening sheen (I love this sort of shade for all over my lid)
Blaze: this is also in the Born to Run palette but the Beached version is a bit darker, more pigmented and slightly warmer - a very pretty "all over the lid" type shade
Heatwave: a shimmery coppery shade that has that almost "liquid" look to it. It reminds me of a deeper version of L'Oreal's Amber Rush
Daybreak: the matte orange shade; if you like this type of colour, Daybreak is a great version of it as it has even pigmentation and no fallout
16th Street: the one disappointment for me. I love this sort of bronzey brown shimmery shadow but this has loose glitter that I wasn't expecting and can be messy and tricky to apply
Double Dip: a gorgeous, shimmery blue shade, the kind of shade that UD does so well. As much as I love this sort of colour, I only use it in small doses as I'm a neutrals gal and at my age, a full on blue eyeshadow application looks a bit "much" but I love this pressed under my lower lashes (great with brown eyes like mine) or used in small doses on my outer lid.
Plunge: a deep peacock blue/green shade - absolutely stunning! Again, something I use in small doses though.
Wedge: not to be confused with MAC's well known shadow of the same name, this is a deeper bronzed brown shade - sort of like a darker version of 16th Street and it's similar to MAC Mulch, which is one of my favourite eyeshadows. Its quality is fantastic.

This is by no means a "must have" palette and it's not really a "basic" palette (not like Naked, for example) but is a really nice novelty palette to add to your collection and liven things up a bit. You can certainly use it on its own but generally, it's not the sort of thing you'd rely on every day or for work-related travel unless you took some other shadows as well.

The Born To Run eyeshadow palette contains the following shades; BREAKAWAY (warm ivory shimmer), STRANDED (pale rose gold with tonal micro-shimmer), BLAZE (light metallic peach with pink shift), WEEKENDER (light neutral beige matte), STILL SHOT (bright peach), RIFF (brown-nude matte with floating micro-sparkle), GOOD AS GONE (deep brown with iridescent micro-shimmer), HELL RIDE (deep fuchsia matte), BAJA (burnt orange matte), ACCELERATE (reddish copper metallic), GUILT TRIP (smoky purple shimmer), IGNITE (rose gold metallic), SMOG (deep coppery bronze shimmer), WANDERLUST (forest green with gold micro-shimmer), WILDHEART (bright fuchsia), PUNK (red-brown matte), DOUBLE LIFE (metallic rust), JET (black with deep shimmering purple shift), DRIFT (charcoal satin with tonal micro-sparkle), RADIO (deep emerald satin) and BIG SKY (frosted green shimmer with iridescent micro-sparkle).

Born To Run is designed as a one-and-done palette, that is theoretically perfect for taking with you whilst traveling. It does what it's designed for well; there are highlight shades, sparkly lid shades, a variety of crease and transition shades and dark lining shades for most occasions. There are neutral shades, warm shades & cool shades, conservative work/school shades, fun weekend/free time pop-of-colour shades, smoky date night/special occasion shades and bold party-time impactful tones [I don't know why I broke the shades into groups, I wear whatever I'm feeling at the time], this palette offers it all. Very cohesive.

Ever since buying my first shadows as a 14 year old when the brand first launched in the UK, all the way up to now as a 34 year old, I can say that I have yet to find a a eyeshadow formula that can outperform the ones that Urban Decay make; buttery smooth to apply and to blend. All of the shadows are non-fading and I haven't experienced any creasing - I apply them in the morning [no primer] and they'll still look good in the evening, when I remove it. The shimmer shades have a bit more fallout in comparison to the other shadows which have very little, which isn't a big deal for me but I still thought I'd mention it. Fallout in shadows doesn't really bother me as I do my eyes before my base - all pigmented & softer shadows have fallout, so I do think that all good-quality shadows should kick-up a bit.


I can't fault the product quality or thought that went into putting this palette together. However, on the 'personal preference' side of things, I would have liked there to have been more cooler tones in place of the warm shades we've seen before elsewhere, and some of them should have been mattes - Urban Decay make shimmers that wear well in the crease, but still... It just seems like a bit of a waste to have gorgeous cool satin & shimmer shades, but not balancing them out with co-ordinating mattes. If you have a few of Urban Decay's Book Of Shadows and/or Vice palettes, I think you'll already have similar shades to the ones in Born To Run palette, so you may want to swatch this in person before buying it.

Nope. Does not last anywhere 24/7. It has a tendency to get on my contacts and I prefer Eatee Lauder double wear pencil for the water line way above this.

Would not repurchase.

I am in love with the Woodstock eyeliner pencil. It absolutely glides on without smudging or without me having to pull on my eyelid to get it on and is absolutely the most gorgeous color EVER! Since receiving and wearing it I get told daily how my blue eyes "pop" with that color liner - will buy more to stock up so I won't run out. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I ordered other colors as well but have not yet tried those - Woodstock is my favorite color so naturally I was drawn to it like a magnet and it was the first one I couldn't wait to pull out of the box when my order arrived and use. I'm sure the others are awesome as well. Over-the-top best eyeliner I have ever used.

I prefer more natural-looking makeup without shimmer, glitter and suck, so this palette is simply ideal for me. I have neutral skintone, maybe leaning slightly more to cool tones, and, to my surprise, every single shade looks good on me. I really like how buttery and matte these eyeshadows are, with one satin-finish lighter color.
The colors are not chalky at all, very easy to blend, stay put all day (I do always use a primer, for the record). Really easy to do makeup.
The packaging is nice and sturdy, easy to open- don't need to worry about breaking nails, and has a nice useable mirror.
Very happy with my purchase. Highly recommend this set to all those who love no-makeup makeup, and are tired of shimmery eyeshadows.