mega palette

UD XX Vice Ltd Reloaded is Actually Pretty Cool

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I’ve expressed my boredom with the litany of Vice Palettes from Urban Decay, but I’m actually excited about their newest one, UD XX Vice Ltd Reloaded.

UD XX Vice Ltd Reloaded celebrates Urban Decay’s twenty (…what?!) years in the industry, and features a mix of vintage (read: discontinued shades that people pine for), bestselling, and new shadows. Check it out:

UD XX Vice Ltd Reloaded
UD XX Vice Ltd Reloaded

Of course, stock photos never do products justice. Regrettably, I don’t have one (and probably won’t be able to get my mitts on it) – but there are some sneak peaks from people who have already secured one or gotten a PR kit.

The $56 Ulta-exclusive UD XX Vice Ltd Reloaded features three new shades, five vintage shades (Gash!), five previous Vice-exclusives, and seven bestsellers (like Smog, Midnight Cowboy, Twice Baked).

The full complement of shades, according to Ulta’s site:

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Urban Decay Vice 4

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If you’ve been reading for a while, you know I really enjoy Urban Decay. They’re produce reliable, quality products; I’ve never feared that I made a poor investment when I bought one of their products.

Despite their edgy presentation, they created a (wonderful) monster when they released the Naked palette (of neutrals that, ‘everywoman,’ can feel comfortable with) all those years ago. They’ve not only released four full, “sequel,” palettes…they’ve created an entire product line based on the success of that palette. They’ve been the inspiration for hundreds of dupes – damn near every brand has some sort of 10+ shade neutrals palette now. Admittedly, I was disappointed with the release of Naked Smoky; it just isn’t unique enough to stand on its own and be worth $54 (unless you’re just starting out and don’t own other similar shades already).

They also have their mega-palettes, the Vice line. So far, there’s Vice, Vice 2, Vice 3, and Vice LTD.

Five days ago, Urban Decay shared this…

and Wende Zomnir posted this…

A photo posted by Wende Zomnir (@udwende) on

Urban Decay Vice 4 Swatches

The timing isn’t inappropriate; LORAC just announced their mega palette (more on that next week) for this holiday season, but my point is…

Why?

The colors are not remarkably different from the previous iterations of Vice – just like my complaints about Vice LTD. Vice 4 will be the fifth Vice palette from Urban Decay and I just can’t help but think we’re beating a dead horse with these considering their contents are so similar

What are your thoughts on Vice 4? Props to them on the packaging (as always), but that isn’t enough.

Vice LTD from Urban Decay

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Hark! Another Vice palette. Yes, really. Vice LTD.

Urban Decay Vice LTDUrban Decay Vice LTD

I had other content scheduled to go live today, but I wanted to talk about this while it is relevant, so…here we go! Vice LTD makes Urban Decay’s fourth Vice mega-palette, following Vice, Vice 2, and Holiday 2014’s Vice 3.

Edit: I’m an idiot, this has been out for almost two months BUT my point is the same.

Which is…they released it entirely too close to Vice 3.

Frankly, even as a fan of Urban Decay products (I may or may not have just picked up Naked2 Basics for myself, more on that later this week), I can’t help but raise my eyes and sigh a little. It isn’t a unique offering for them. Sure, the shadows in Vice LTD aren’t identical to those in its predecessors, they’re so similar; unless you’re a collector, it is pretty well pointless to get all four.

I’m having a little trouble finding, “stock,” manufacturer photos from the first three and I don’t want to jack a photo from someone else’s work, but if you search Google Images for the Urban Decay Vice, Urban Decay Vice 2, and Urban Decay Vice 3 – compare it to what you see above; you’ll see what I mean.

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Too Faced Everything Nice Swatches

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Remember this?

DSC_0126

I hope so, I shared its unboxing last week. That was exciting and all, but more exciting (in my opinion) would be looking at this limited-edition mega-palette in a bit more detail.

Let’s just jump right into the Too Faced Everything Nice Palette Swatches and review!

Starting with the top row of shadows:

Everything Nice Swatches - Row 1Too Faced Everything Nice Swatches

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Too Faced Everything Nice Palette Unboxing

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I listed the limited edition Everything Nice Palette from Too Faced in my 2014 Prestige Makeup (Holiday) Gifts. Fortunately, my awesome husband not only got it for me, but gave it to me early (we’re kind of bad about that). I’ve had a few weeks to play with it now, and I have a ton to say – but for now, we’ll just unbox the Everything Nice Palette to avoid TL;DR.

Here’s the box, front (left) and back (right):

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Box Front and Back

Let’s crack it open. It says, #own your pretty. Or is it #ownyourpretty?

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Unboxing 1 - #ownyourpretty

The glittery, hot pink clutch is safely tucked in along with a deluxe sample tube of Too Faced Better than Sex mascara.

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Unboxing 2

Get rid of those and lift the flap…bingo!

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Unboxing 3

“That’s what pretty girls are made of,”

Too Faced Everything Nice PaletteEverything Nice Palette by Too Faced

Glorious makeup, out of its box. Twenty shadows, two blushes, a bronzer, a highlight, three brushes, and an impossibly glittery clutch.

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - All Unboxed

For cheap tools included with a value palette, the three included brushes aren’t bad. It includes a shader, an angled brush, and a flat face brush.

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Tools and Clutch Detail

And here’s a closer, top-down view of the Everything Nice Palette, opened:

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Top Down

Although the Everything Nice Palette is similar in format and color scheme to last year’s Too Faced mega palette (which was Too Faced My Favorite Things), it is different enough to be worth buying if you have last year’s edition (I do not have it). Retailing exclusively at Sephora, it goes for $56 in stores and online (when it isn’t sold out)! I’m curious to see if it will linger after the holidays for a little while as its predecessor did.

Review and swatches to come soon!