Beached Eyeshadow Palette

2 Reviews

1. 

   relievedGnu9

   Reply

   I’m a real Urban Decay junkie, however, as I already have a pretty extensive make-up collection I tend to forgo most of their eyeshadow palettes. But the beached palette has a unique combo of the warm reddish colours which have been popular the last couple of years, the shimmery dark browns which are always “in” and then these stunning blue shades.

   Let’s start with the packaging which is absolutely breath taking. It was the first thing that drew me in. The design is gorgeous, I love how not only the outside is decorated but the inside has a wave pattern as well. The names of the shades or right below them which is very handy. It’s quite sturdy, I’ve took it with me a couple of times and just threw it in my bag without a care and it didn’t get a dent despite being made of cardboard. Definitely travel proof. The only downside is the mirror is vertical which isn’t handy to apply make-up, but I use a real big mirror anyway so that doesn’t matter but what does annoy me is how i keep opening this on the wrong side for some reason. It’s no big problem by any means though. And I adore the magnetic closure because I always break my nails when it’s a palette that clicks shut.

   About the shades, I’ve tried these with and without primer (using UD primer potion btw) and without primer they stay a good three hours when I apply them only on the lid, and about 5 hours without budging when I apply a full eye look so the color doesn’t get absorbed by my bare skin.
   With primer they stay until I take them off without losing intensity so as long as you’ve got a proper base, the colours will look as bright as they do in the pan.
   To get the maximum out of them however, I suggest applying them with your fingers or with a wet brush, if you use a dry brush they don’t transfer as well onto the skin, especially the dark blue doesn’t apply well with a dry brush. The best part of this palette is definitely the shimmer the shadows give so I would highly recommend it.
   The shadows don’t have any fallout except the brown ones. Especially 16th str. suffers from this, it’s a golden brown shimmer shade and if you don’t apply it wet or tap off excess product the golden glitters will fall down, but yeah, the brown ones are the only ones that misbehave.

   All by all it’s a lovely palette with some minor downsides. it’s on the pricier side, though it’s cheap for Urban Decay standards, the colours need a primer to perform, two shades have a bit of fallour and the mirror is a bit unhandy, but that’s all.

2. 

   tautSeahorse8

   Reply

   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. I bought it on a Thursday so – yay – 20% off and then I paid much of the balance with Optimum points so this cost me very little indeed. However, I imagine the dearth of reviews (very rare for a UD palette) illustrates that maybe this “Ulta exclusive” marketing ploy isn’t the most successful for Urban Decay.

   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 don’t like, 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 St.: 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.