Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne Makeup Collection Swatches, Review + Looks

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Ripples of the Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne Makeup Collection have been buzzing through the air for awhile now. For me, it sprang up out of nowhere because I was completely immersed in holiday la-la land. One of the first things to land on my doorstep when I got back to the “grind” was this collection. Because there are so many looks to be had with this line I’ve teamed up with my good friend Courtney from Phyrra.net to make sure you get a ton of looks, swatches and more than one point of view on the release.

who is Kristen Leanne

The collaboration really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. Kristen Leanne is an amazing makeup artist and Influencer with almost 500k subscribers to her YouTube channel and almost 800k to her Instagram. She’s also behind the hair color brand Arctic Fox (which my daughter saw me looking up and is now insisting on neon pink hair… so watch for that post) which is a 100% vegan & cruelty free company who donates 15% of their profits to help prevent animal abuse. You can read more on that here.

what is this collab

The Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne Makeup collab was brought to life because (as stated by Urban Decay) “Kristen embodies the UD spirit inside and out – from her colorful hair and killer tattoos to her super-authentic, down-to-earth personality. A UD junkie and big advocate of self-expression, she also has a distinct point of view that we completely dig. Working with Kristen was a total blast and a true collaborative effort. Once we started coming up with the ideas, we couldn’t stop!”

I have the entire core collection below swatches, worn and reviewed for you. For your convenience it’s all in sections so if you’re just interested in certain parts you can jump around.

The packaging is girly, yet vibrant and creative (much like it seems Kristen’s personality is). Even my husband said it was really pretty. The outer boxes are a simple neon pink while the products are housed in decorative, sturdy cardboard or stunning pink cylinders (for the lipsticks). The palettes also have a generously sized mirror on the inside of each.

review + swatches

Kaleidoscope Dream Eyeshadow Palette ($39.00). Kaleidoscope Dream is a colorful, 10 pan eye shadow palette housing 11 new eyeshadow shades (because one is a duo) in Spitfire (bright pink satin with purple shift), Stay Gold (metallic yellow-gold), Tajin (orange matte), LCW (metallic teal blue – a nod to KL’s fave song, “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” by the Hollies), TRM (metallic deep navy blue – The Ryan Morgan!), Leo + Brixton (holographic green pearl shift + holographic red-green pearl shift. The Instagram handle for Kristen’s animals), Lime Time (metallic neon green), 13th Floor (black matte – the name of one of Kristen’s favorite Twilight Zone episodes), Dye (violet satin) and Corona (metallic soft bronze with gold shimmer).

I’m actually shocked and impressed this palette is only $39. I really thought that the pricing would be bumped up and I’m excited to see that it’s not. If I’m being honest, when I first saw an image of the palette itself I was into the colors, but not the layout. As I perused around several Facebook groups I saw that I wasn’t alone. The weird thing is, in person it doesn’t bother me. It’s definitely still got a ton of space between the shadows, but it doesn’t have me cocking my head in confusing like the images (even my own) do.

It’s meant to look like a Kaleidoscope and I think it does do a decent job of that without the pans being too small. When I did the swatching every single shade impressed me, particularly TRM and 13th Floor. With brush swatches (which I shared in the Phyrra Facebook group) Spitfire became much less intense while 13th Floor and Dye were a tad less intense. With Leo & Brixton swatching with a dry brush made them chunk up a little but but I didn’t have issue with them on the eye (when used with a wet brush). Like I said in the group you can’t base shadow performance off of brush or even finger swatches. What really matters is how it all plays out on the eye.

The swatches below are done dry and on bare skin (no primers):

This palette also has a small pink dual-ended brush that was soft and worked nicely to blend and apply shadows.

(applied in this order): Smashbox 24hr Photo Finish Shadow Primer, MAC Painterly Pro Longwear Paint Pot, KLxUD Daydream Subscribe (transition & up), KLxUD Kaleidoscope TRM (inner & outer corners of eye), PUR Cosmetics Get a Grip (to the center), Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray (to wet brush for Leo), KLxUD Kaleidoscope Leo (center of lid), Benefit High Brow, KLxUD Daydream Lucy (to blend Subscribe into Benefit High Brow), KLxUD Kaleidoscope Leo (at brow arch), Urban Decay Sabbath 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (top & lower liner), Urban Decay Cuff 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (lower waterline), KLxUD Kaleidoscope Leo (inner corner of eye & smudged over Sabbath on the lower lash line), Urban Decay Troublemaker Mascara, Benefit Gimme Brow, Benefit Goof Proof.

Courtney and I talked about the Leo + Brixton Duo resembling a duo from the UD Great & Powerful OZ Eyeshadow Palettes. I happen to have them both here so I did a comparison pic below. Courtney was thinking Jealous from Theodora and I was thinking Aura. As you can see, we were definitely both wrong!

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Daydream Eyeshadow Palette ($26.00). Daydream is an all matte eye shadow palette with 5 new shades in Lucy (ivory matte – an homage to Lucille Ball), Daydream (soft nude matte), 12/12 (soft peach matte – Kristen’s birthday!), Subscribe (warm nude matte) and Eight (rich warm brown matte – Kristen’s Favorite number).

The Daydream Eyeshadow Palette makes a wonderful companion to the Kaleidoscope Dream Eyeshadow Palette or if you just really only like a matte eye look but still want to pick up something from the collab. Each shade was nicely pigmented and performed well when used on the eye.

The swatches below are done dry and on bare skin (no primers):

This palette also has a small teal dual-ended brush that was soft and worked nicely to blend and apply shadows. I was glad the brushes on either side were different than those in the Kaleidoscope Eyeshadow Palette, but still performed just as well.

(applied in this order): Smashbox 24hr Photo Finish Shadow Primer, MAC Painterly Pro Longwear Paint Pot, KLxUD Daydream (transition), KLxUD Daydream Eight (outer V just past the center of the lid), KLxUD Kaleidoscope Corona (inner corner to the center), KLxUD Kaleidoscope 13th Floor (to deepen outer V), KLxUD Daydream Eight (crease & blend up, also to blend Corona into Eight more), Urban Decay Perversion 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (top lid), Urban Decay Scorch 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (waterline), Urban Decay Bourbon 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (lower lash liner), IT Cosmetics Superhero Mascara, Benefit Gimme Brow, Benefit Precisely My Brow, Benefit High Brow, KLxUD Daydream Lucy (blending crease into highlight).

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Beauty Beam Highlight Palette ($34.00). Beauty Beam is a three-shade palette of highlighters perfect for everyone – a soft rose-gold pearl, a white-gold pearl and a warm golden pearl. If one of the three isn’t for you, cocktail them up and create your own.

These highlighters are so incredibly soft and buttery… the pigment is real but also gives a glow, softening effect. I applied with a fan-brush because I don’t like to overkill it, but depending on your brush you could really make your face pop. I’m in love with this and, surprisingly, it’s my favorite piece from the entire collection!

The swatches below are done dry and on bare skin (no primers):

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Vice Lipstick ($17.00). Three shades of Vice Lipstick are featured in this collection in Bun Bun (nude comfort-matte – Kristen’s nickname for Brixton, her bunny), Cloud9 (magenta comfort-matte) and Spellbound (deep plum mega-matte).

You know I’m a neutral gal so of the three colors Bun Bun is my fave. I saw it worn by Jen from My Beauty Bunny and, before the collection even hit my doorstep, knew I had to have it. It’s comfortable and, for a lipstick, impressively long-wearing. Both it and Cloud9 applied evenly opaque. Spellbound was a little bit more temperamental to apply evenly but once it gets there it’s stunning. Cloud9 & Spellbound are also long-wearing on me and both leave a slight stain behind.

The swatches below are done dry and on bare skin (no primers):

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get the look

In addition to the eye look listed above (under the Daydream Eyeshadow Palette) to get this look I also used: IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Breakout, Too Faced Primed & Peachy Primer, Huda Beauty #FauxFilter Foundation, Urban Decay All-Nighter Concealer, Too Faced Peach Perfect Mattifying Setting Powder, IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness Powder, Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer, Art On It Liquid Ecstasy Blush, KLxUD Beauty Beam Highlight Palette, Kat Von D Lolita Everlasting Lip Liner and KLxUD Bun Bun Lipstick.

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Several other products are also available but are not shown in this blog post. You’ll also be able to pick up Forgive & Forget Vice Liquid Lipstick Duo (exclusive to ULTA Beauty & Urban Decay) as well as S.G.H. Eyeshadow and Pulse Vice Liquid Lipstick (which are both exclusive to Urban Decay). Pulse is inspired by KL’s love of jellyfish, which pulse in the water and S.G.H. is a reference to one of Kristen’s favorite songs, “Sister Golden Hair,” by America.

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availability

Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne is currently available online at UrbanDecay.com. Beginning January 21 you can shop this collection online at ULTA Beauty and Sephora. January 25 this collection will be available in store at ULTA Beauty and on January 26 in store at Sephora. This collection is limited edition.

Remember to CLICK HERE to visit Phyrra.net!

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