Review -- Urban Decay Vice 3 Eyeshadow Palette

I admitted in my last post that I'm an eye shadow palette addict.

I am particularly bad when it comes to limited edition items.

In all honesty, though, that doesn't just apply to palettes. As soon as you tell me something's only available for a limited time, I panic and make rash decisions about whether I need it or not.

In most cases, the answer is a resounding yes.

I'm sure fellow makeup collectors understand.

That's what happened with the Urban Decay Vice 3 Eyeshadow Palette.


I have the first two, so it seemed like I "had" to have the third one too -- gotta complete the set, right?

But the Vice 3 is really a lovely palette, just like the first two Vice palettes, so I've kind of been obsessed with it since I got it.

Let me start by discussing the packaging -- the palette is probably the thinnest of the three so it's relatively easy to store. But it's also got this cool metallic finish with fun rainbow stripes in the center and cool raised, jewel-like letters in the center spelling out Vice. The mirror on the inside is large enough to do your makeup in, and the palette stays open by itself so you don't need to prop it against anything.

Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette

The Vice 3 also comes with a coordinating bag that you can place the palette inside of for protection or just use as a makeup bag for other odds and ends.

Like the other Vice Palettes, there's a double-ended synthetic brush inside too.  One end is a flat shader style brush, while the other is a fluffy crease style brush.  I particularly like the fluffy end for dusting a blending shade along the outer edge of my crease color.

Urban Decay Vice 3 bag

Urban Decay Vice 3

As far as the shadows go, there are 20 shades in matte, satin, shimmery, and metallic shades.

The shadows include: Truth, a matte light pink; Dragon, a shimmery kelly green; Vanity, a satin-y plum with fine silver glitter; Alien, a metallic bubblegum pink; Last Sin, a metallic light rosy taupe; Undone, a matte light rosy brown; Freeze, a metallic turquoise; Lucky, a metallic copper; Alchemy, a satin cranberry; Angel, a matte cool taupe; Downfall, a matte mid-tone brown; Heroine, a matte navy blue with fine silver glitter; Reign, a metallic dark golden brown; Bondage, a satin dark eggplant; Defy, a matte charcoal; DTF, a matte cool brown; Brokedown, a metallic bronze-y brown; Bobby Dazzle, a shimmery white with fine gold glitter; Sonic, a metallic rust-y red; and Revolver, a satin-y black.

Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette

From l. to r.: Truth, Dragon, Vanity, Alien, Last Sin

From l. to r.: Undone, Freeze, Lucky, Alchemy, Angel

From l. to r.: Downfall, Heroine, Reign, Bondage, Defy

From l. to r.: DTF, Brokedown, Bobby Dazzle, Sonic, Revolver

As I mentioned, I have all three Vice palettes now, and I really think this one is my favorite.

That's because 1) the color selection is fantastic -- with plenty of neutrals but still lots of fun shades and jewel tones thrown in so you get pretty creative and 2) there isn't a single super chunky, glittery shade like there usually is in UD palettes, so all of the shadows are easy to work with and you don't really have to worry about having tons of glitter all over your cheeks.

When I first saw promotional photos of the palette, I was super intimidated by Sonic. I don't experiment very much with red tone shadows because I'm so fair and they usually make me look pretty sickly.

Now, having had the palette for several weeks now, I think Sonic is my favorite shade. I like to dust a small amount along the top of whatever crease shade I'm wearing (usually neutral tones) to warm up my eye look. It's a really subtle touch but it helps bring out my blue eyes big time.

Some other favorite shades are Vanity, Last Sin, Lucky, Alchemy, Heroine, Bondage,and Brokedown.

I don't know that there are a ton of unique shades in the palette, though, so if you've got a large shadow collection, this may not be an essential palette.

But I definitely recommend the Vice 3 -- the shade range is beautiful and the quality is definitely high with these shadows.

It's $60, and you can purchase it at Urban Decay, Sephora, Ulta, and anywhere else you can buy Urban Decay products. The price is a little steep, so it's definitely a good item to put on your holiday wish list.

Do you have your eye on the Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette? Which shade is your favorite?