Follow the Yellow Brick Road with Urban Decay’s Oz the Great and Powerful Palettes
Urban Decay has always shown a penchant for fancy and fantasy — nearly three years ago, its Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows sold within hours of its pre-release, with fans marveling about the intense eyeshadows housed inside a collectable palette with a flip top that revealed a pop-up universe replete with giant mushrooms and a message in a bottle. Now, with the release of Oz the Great and Powerful, an imaginative prequel that attempts to explain how circus magician Oscar Diggs transformed himself into the Wizard of Oz, Urban Decay has released two limited-edition palettes that will take beauty lovers over the rainbow: Urban Decay’s Oz the Great and Powerful The Glinda Palette and the Oz the Great and Powerful The Theodora Palette (each $49 at UrbanDecay.com).Glinda is, of course, the Good Witch of the North (played in the film by Michelle Williams), while Theodora is the Wicked Witch of the West (played in the film by Mila Kunis). Interesting side note: the Wicked Witch of the West was never given a name in the original text by Frank L. Baum but has been given several aliases during theatrical and cinematic productions, including Miss Gulch in the original 1939 film, Elphaba in Gregory Maguire’s book Wicked and the subsequent theatrical production, and now Theodora in Oz the Great and Powerful. But back to the subject at hand: these Urban Decay palettes are meant to help you create your own brand of beauty magic — whether you choose to
Each palette is packaged inside a metal case featuring a print that corresponds to its overarching theme, with the Theodora Palette featuring a view of a cryptic, sinister, and foggy gray, purple, and gray sky through a black, shadowy forest, its black leaves sprouting from the top and bottom rims of the case; and the Glinda Palette featuring a luminous and pretty celestial sky in light pink, purple, lilac, and yellow tones reminiscent of an aurora borealis, with twinkling stars adding a magical quality to the design. The words “Oz the Great and Powerful” are, of course, embossed along the center of each palette’s top lid, as they are on the accompanying boxes.
When you open the top lid of each palette, you’ll find six brand new Eyeshadows, including a couple of duo-chrome shades; a 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil; and a Super Saturated High-Gloss Lip Color lip pencil. The shadows, eyeliner, and lip color pencil in each palette correspond to its theme, so that the Theodora Palette includes woodsy shades of muddy brown, light taupe and fawn, light fern, forest green, and sandy cream, along with a high sheen red lip color, and the Glinda Palette incorporates lavender-tinged pink and peach hues, metallic gold and silver colors, and hints of purple and sky blue, along with a pinkish nude lip color.
Best of all, each is designed in a “Build Your Own Palette” format so that you can pop out any eyeshadow shade and swap it with a different hue as desired, making it customizable.
Below, you’ll find more details on each palette, along with swatches and sample looks. Time to leave Kansas, ladies!
THE GLINDA PALETTE
As previously mentioned, the Glinda Palette incorporates angelic shades that feel luminous and pretty in an innocent and cherubic way. Darling shades of pink and shimmering peach deliver this fresh-as-the-morning-dew effect. The pink Magic eye shadow, for instance, has cool, lavender undertones that make the color reminiscent of lush peonies and the finish is mainly matte with just a hint of shimmer for a dose of, well, magic. The Illusion eye shadow, a golden peach color with an ephemeral sheerness and a delicious shimmer, is similarly angelic and benevolent. One of the most intriguing shades is Aura, a split-personality eye shadow that incorporates two colors, each given half of the circular shadow’s pan. Both the shades in the Aura eye shadow have a captivating iridescence — one a whitened aqua tone that’s almost completely sheer, save for the silver and teal sparkle that makes the shadow change its appearance depending on the way the light hits it, and the other a whitened peach cream tone with minuscule hot pink micro pearls that again give the shade an enchanting iridescence.
Metallic shades abound, as with the duo-shade Oz, which is half silver and half gold for a Tin Man-meets-Yellow-Brick-Road look. These are, of course, a necessity given that many have long posited that The Wizard of Oz was an allegory for monetary reform, with references to the gold standard, greenback money, the populist movement, and the prominent bankers of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The South shadow, meanwhile, has a grayish taupe-meets-pewter hue with a gorgeous metallic finish.
Below, you’ll find swatches of all the shades in the palette:
Next, check out swatches of the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Purple, which also has a metallic finish to it and which is a really intense, almost plum-y purple hue:
And, last but not least, to finish your benevolent beauty look, there’s the Super Saturated High-Gloss Lip Color in Glinda. The jumbo-sized lip crayon easily deposits color on your pout, practically melting onto the lips upon contact, and it boasts a mirror-like sheen that’s spectacular given that the color is so saturated and that the texture is so creamy. In terms of the color, it can best be described as a peachy pink nude with warm, golden undertones.
Last but not least, check out a sample look created using this palette. To create the look, I started by applying the Illusion shad, brushing the color all over the lids, along the crease, and up to the brow bone. Next, I lined the upper lash line with the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Purple, smudging it with a brush. Next, I brushed the South color all along the lid.Next, I used the Aura shade to add a celestial finish, buffing the color along the crease, and I added a touch of the dark purple Tornado shade along the outer corners to create contrast. On my lips, meanwhile, I’m wearing the Glinda color.
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THE THEODORA PALETTE
When it comes to these Urban Decay Oz palettes, to quote Billy Joel, “the sinners have much more fun.” Though both limited-edition palettes are stunning, the Theodora Palette is incredibly versatile and alluring in its mysteriousness. Since the Wicked Witch lurks in the shadows and regularly makes her way through the obscure forest, her Flying Monkey henchmen following in suit, the eye shadow shades in this palette reference the brown and green tones we’d associate with spooky woodlands regions. Cream and brown shades are essential, then, and the palette offers both matte and satin options — there’s Broken, a matte and creamy ecru color; Beware, a matte and dusty-looking, caramel-tinged camel brown reminiscent of peanut brittle; Bewitch, a grayish, cool-toned, muddy brown with silvery shimmer; and West, an ultra-saturated, shimmering russet shade with reddish undertones and a metallic finish.
But perhaps the most astounding elements of this palette are the two duo-shades: Spell, which incorporates a tarnished yellow gold hue and a Jade and dusky blackened brown with tons of yellow gold shimmer; and Jealous, which includes two shades of green synonymous with envy, one a shimmering grasshopper green and the other a luminous, light green citrine shade with yellowish undertones.
Below, you’ll find swatches of all the eyeshadows in the palette:
Sure, you can create a smoky and sultry eye with any dark-colored pencil, but nothing says sinister quite like black. Given that Theodora is a villainous sort, it figures that a palette modeled after her would include the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black. Check out a swatch of this classic shade below:
Nothing says “Beware” or “Danger” quite like a red lip, so it’s fitting that this set includes a high-voltage red color with a glossy finish reminiscent of a candy apple. Check out a swatch of the Theodora Super-Saturated High-Gloss Lip Pencil, which is likely to become one of your favorite red hues whether or not you decide to rock the eyeshadows in the Oz-themed palette.
Next, check out a look created with the Theodora palette’s eye shadows.
To create this look, I started by applying the Broken eyeshadow all over the lids, extending the color all the way to the brow. Next, once I had a creamy matte base, I applied the Bewitch shade to the lower lid are, extending it right below the crease point. I then buffed the crease region so as to blend the colors seamlessly, using the Broken and Beware colors to blend the are along the crease and create a seamless look. Next, I applied the West shade along the outer half of the lids and proceeded to line the eyes with the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black, applying the color to my lashline and also working it into the tearline so as to completely rim the eye area. Next, I blended the West color with the Bewitch shade, using circular movements to buff the two colors together. And, for a truly wicked touch, I applied the darker green color to the inner area of the lids, right by the tearducts and all the way to the center of the lids. Last, using a combination of the Broken and Beware hues, I buffed all the shadows together, using a large crease brush and moving it in circular motions from the inner edge of the eye to the outer corners and back again. I then applied two coats of black mascara and a purple lip shade, and I was good to go!
