So, I'm a little delayed in posting this, but that's not due to lack of interest in this palette. Let's just get right into it. I have to say, this is probably my favorite of the 3 (now 4?) Vice palettes that have been released. It seems to have a really great mix of wearable neutrals, some shades just outside of neutral, and 3 or 4 crazy shades. I prefer that in a palette. If I don't feel like I'm going to get a lot of use out of around 75% of a palette, I start to get disinterested. But it's nice not to play it safe all the time so having the occasional couple of oddball shades in a palette keeps things interesting. Here, I believe Urban Decay delivered when putting together the color selection for Vice 3.
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| Kuddos to their packaging designers. I don't know what it is about these shadow pics on the box that always make me want to just dive into their palettes. |
New this time around, they've included a makeup bag. The palette comes packaged inside the bag. The bag itself is big enough to hold the palette and a few other items (say a blush, a gloss and mascara). I checked and the past Vice palettes do fit in the bag as well in case you wanted to swap them out.
The palette this year has a reflective type top with neon green vice imprint. The past two palettes had the UD symbol with Vice written underneath. The design itself has a strong 80's feel to it. This palette is slightly slimmer than the past two Vice palettes. Probably due to the fact that the closing mechanism is different. This palette does not have the click button that allowed the past Vice palettes to smoothly swing open.
Inside you are getting 20 shadows in a range of finishes. There are 6 mattes, 10 shimmers, and 4 glitter shades. I love the mattes they included in this palette. There are some great basic browbone and crease transitional shades that make using the other colors in the palette a lot easier. And the shadows that do contain glitter, I'm not getting as much fallout as can sometimes happen with the Urban Decay glitter shadows. They seem easier to work with than some of the past shades in other palettes.
Now on to the swatches. These shadows all swatched great. I don't think there is a dud in the bunch. I did lay down a base of Laura Geller Spackle on my arm to recreate how the shadows would play on top of eye primer.
m = matte
s = shimmer
g = glitter
First two columns, from left to right - Truth (m), Undone (m), Downfall (m), DTF (m), Dragon (s), Freeze (g), Heroine (m), Brokedown (s)
The first column is similar to that of an Urban Decay basics palette. I love that this is included so that you don't have to go reaching for another palette in order to complete your eye look. To have a row of basics could be seen as a con for some since they would rather see another row of fun shades, but I think these are shades that can be worked into literally every look you do. I've gotten a lot of use out of these shades so far and I've only been using the palette for a week or two.
The second column is where the palette steps out of the comfort zone for most. This is a good thing since the Vice palettes are not the Naked palettes. I don't expect to get a palette full of neutrals when it comes to my expectations for the Vice palette. And can we just admire how gorgeous Heroine is? That's a gorgeous navy matte with awesome pigmentation.
m = matte
s = shimmer
g = glitter
Third and fourth columns, from left to right - Vanity (s), Lucky (s), Reign (s), Bobby Dazzle (g), Alien (s), Alchemy (s), Bondage (s), Sonic (s)
The third column contains some gorgeous very wearable shades. Lucky is a copper shimmer. And I really love Reign which is a cocoa shimmer. Vanity is also a very wearable purple. Bobby Dazzle is a glitter shade with a little fallout. I like to use that one as an inner corner highlight.
The fourth column though. Wow, I love this one. This one is what made me buy the palette. Such awesome warm fall colors! Alchemy is a lovely warm true rosey shade and Sonic is kind of a coppery rose. I expected Sonic to be a bit more red based on how it looks in the palette but I find it more useful to me as a coppery rose.
m = matte
s = shimmer
g = glitter
Last columns on the right - Last Sin (g), Angel (g), Defy (m), Revolver (s)
This last column is the basic smokey eye column. Again these are great neutrals that can be worked in with a lot of the other colors in the palette. Last Sin and Angel do have some glitter in them but I think it's slightly more finely milled than usual. I was not getting a ton of fallout with them. Defy is a matte mushroom brown shade. And Revolver is a gorgeous charcoal grey shimmer.
Overall Thoughts:
Pros - Great mix of wearable and fun shades. Colors arranged nicely into groupings by column. Makes it easy to see what colors go together. Great pigmentation. Not a bad shade in the batch.
Cons - Cost. For me, I thought the $60 price tag was a little bit high although probably in line with other price points for the brand. I did wait until I was able to purchase for 20% off. Packaging is okay. This palette doesn't have that little button that you push to open the palette. It just folds shut. It also does feel slightly skimpier in terms of the quality compared with the previous two Vice palettes. It still does have the nice giant mirror inside. I feel for the price - the packaging should have been a little more high quality. And since the slightly larger past palettes also fit in the included bag, there wasn't a need to reduce the size and get rid of the button closure just to get it to fit.
Overall I do recommend this palette because the shades really are gorgeous and you are getting 20 of them. The packaging isn't something that really upsets me but I thought it was worth mentioning as I do see it as a con in comparison with the past Vice palettes. The included shades are all gorgeous though and are totally why I feel the palette is worth getting. If cost is a concern for you, try to score it with one of the many sale coupons that are going around this time of year. If you are a VIB or Rouge at Sephora, you should be getting or already have a $25 off coupon that could be used on it.
What are your thoughts? Let me know if you've picked up the Vice 3 palette in the comments below.
