Your Love For Urban Decay Will Grow Stronger With These New Eyeshadow Shades

If I had to pick a song to describe my relationship with Urban Decay it would be Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now).”  Yes, my life with Urban Decay has been wonderful — after all, the brand has consistently delivered richly pigmented, multi-dimensional, striking eyeshadows that blend exquisitely, eye liners that glide right onto the skin and deposit budge-proof color, and rich and saturated lipstick shades that enable me to create a statement-making pout in a matter of instants. How long have I been loving Urban Decay? So long that, until recently, I still had the original lipsticks, which included dagger-like silver-toned metal “handles” along their bases and clear caps with intricate purple swirls. So long that I still have the old-school eyeshadow singles, which come in oval-shaped compacts with funky street art along the top surface (don’t worry: I don’t apply the product atop my eye since, well, that would just be foolish). My stack of Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes is actually taller than my pile of recipe books, which says a lot about my devotion to the former and about my lackluster cooking! Yes, I’ve been loving Urban Decay for a long time, and I can’t stop now — especially when they keep releasing products that make me weak in the knees. I guess that’s the difference between me and Otis Redding —Urban Decay’s love hasn’t grown cold, which gives me even less of a reason to stop loving the brand. Take, for instance, their 10 new Eyeshadow shades ($19 each at UrbanDecay.com), eight of which can be purchased at UrbanDecay.com, along with Sephora.com and Ulta.com, and two which are UrbanDecay.com exclusives.

I’ve been honeymooning with four of the new single eyeshadow hues: Fireball, an incandescent peach hue with pink shift, which means it has a duo-chrome quality that makes it appear to change color as the light hits it from different angles; Dive Bar, a medium-intensity blue hue with pink-purple shift that, again, gives the shadow depth and dimension; Tonic, a galactic lilac color with blue shift that transforms more often than Optimus Prime, appearing silver in some lighting while taking on an icy, pink-y lilac tone from other angles; and Backfire, a burgundy-tinged plum with purple shift.

Here’s a look at the shades, starting with Tonic, and then moving on to Fireball, Backfire, and Dive Bar:

Next, it’s time to examine some swatches! I was floored with the velvety texture of these shadows, the intensity of their color pay-off, the uniform manner in which the color was distributed, and their overall longevity (no creasing, smearing, fading, etc.). Unlike other shadows that are so powdery they practically bounce off the eyeshadow brush, in the process landing on cheeks and below the eyes, these manages to adhere to brush bristles and then transfer easily onto eyelids, gliding easily on skin then locking in place for a mess-proof, long-lasting look. Because all of these four shades are duo-chromes, they’re all the more fascinating because they never appear flat or even expected. They’re unpredictable, dynamic, electric. Just check out the swatches:

Next, let’s take a closer look at Tonic and Dive Bar:

And here are some close-ups of the Backfire and Fireball shadows:

Pretty spectacular, right? I’m smitten with all four shades, but I must admit to being particularly enchanted with Fireball and Tonic since they’re the most unusual of the four hues.

These shadows are so lovely, you can wear them alone and still pull off a stunning look! Check out a few shots of me wearing the Backfire shadow, with just a bit of black eyeliner and mascara:

Here’s an equally simple look with the Dive Bar eyeshadow:

Next up we have a science fiction-inspired look I created with the Tonic eyeshadow and a lipstick from the Covergirl x Star Wars collection:

Lastly, here are some photos in which I’m wearing the Fireball eyeshadow shade. As you can see, the peachy color really warms up the complexion whereas the Tonic shadow creates a frosty, almost Ice Queen effect. They’re on opposite sides of the spectrum, but they’re both killer shades that are as eccentric as they are intriguing and beautiful.

See why I’ve been loving Urban Decay for such a long time? And, like Otis Redding, I won’t stop now.