Urban Decay Spectrum Palette

I'll just start with: Best. Palette. Ever!

When the Spectrum palette first came out, I was looking at all the reviews and very excited. Then it turned out to be Sephora exclusive, and I was super bummed. No Sephora's in Finland, and Sephora in the states has made it really difficult to order from abroad. So no palette for me, I just gave up.

Last week I was casually browsing Finnish beauty blogger's group in Facebook and noticed a post where someone was asking if the Gwen Stefani palette will come online, as some palettes had been added that day. So I went to take a look, I like Urban Decay's palettes. And there it was. The Spectrum Palette was online and at my nearest Urban Decay counter, with no previous notification!

The palette is not hinged, but a box with lovely cut details on the edges.

Now it's finally mine! I like Urban Decay's Naked palettes, but I often use colours in my looks and I especially like pinks, purples and turquoises, so I only have a Naked Basics palette of the Naked line. Electric palette had too many shades that I wouldn't use, as did the Vice palette. But the Spectrum palette is just perfect for me. Three purples, two pinks, a gorgeous teal and blues that go well with it, and a few very usable brown shades too. I've made two looks with the palette so far, and all of the shades seem to go well together. I'm also quite impressed with the quality: the shadows blend well, have plenty of pigment and are very easy to work with. I think I could survive for weeks if not months with this palette alone! The only thing it's missing is a matte highlight for the brow bone, but I'm using Sugarpill Tako for support.

Lets take a peek inside...

Ta-dah! 15 neat pressed eyeshadows inside, arranged in rows of similar shades.

The top three rows have green and teals, blue and purple. Deep End is something that I'm itching to try, but went this morning for Protest instead for a more muted office look. I'm not usually too keen on greens, but olive green shades are an exception, and Junkie is more of a teal than green.

I can already say that Madness and Evidence will be the hardest shades to use in this palette, as blues are not my thing. But then again they look like they will be perfect with the teals, so maybe I'll find new way to use these babies.

Omen, Flashback and Voodoo are all very easy-to-wear shades for me, I love purples.

The lowest two rows have mostly neutral, everyday shades, except for Backlash, the gorgeous pink. Daybreak, Burn and West make for an excellent combination, and they seem like the type of shades that look good on all skin tones. Bordello is an interesting one, it's kinda pink, but with gold shimmer to warm it up and make it more metallic. Flatline is the closest thing to a brow highlight shade, but I prefer mattes for that task. Flatline has a nice pink sheen and can be combined with many of the darker shades for extra depth and complexity.

This is such an exciting palette! I don't think I've ever been this stoked for any palette before ;D All of the shades look like very "me" colours, the quality is great, and I just love bright colours in these shades! Especially after having a difficult time with the Edward Scissorhands palette from Sugarpill, this was just what I needed. My favourite colours in a beautiful palette.