UD Black Palette + FOTN

Colors are much darker in person.

"A gorgeous palette of eyeshadow... dipped in black. Dangerous sparkly-shift jewel tones and a sooty, blacker-than-black matte.

This provocative, stimulating palette of sexy black-based shades comes in a compact so dangerously cool, you'll want to put it on display. Everything you need to create a range of alluring looks (from a smudged rocker eye to a chic cat eye) is packed inside, as well as a built in mirror for on-the-go touch ups." (Urban Decay)

The compact sleek packaging of the Black Palette houses 6 shadows (.04 oz each), a travel sized 24/7 Gilde-On Eye Pencil in Zero (.03 oz) and a mini sized primer potion in Eden (.13 fl oz). It's conveniently sized for traveling. The shadows apply evenly and smoothly while offering great pigmentation which didn't come as a surprise, this is what the UD shadows are most famous for. All the shadows are packed with flecks of glitter with the exception of Black Dog. Since these are pigmented dark shadows I do recommend tapping off the excess or applying a base before applying your eyeshadow.

NOTE: colors in pictures of the palette are not true, they appear a bit lighter. (Blame it on bad lighting)

Color Descriptions:

• Black Dog is a dark black matte shadow. (Does not contain any glitter. Glitter seen in swatch is fallout glitter) It is very intense, these pictures don't do it justice. (See pics of swatches down below)
• Barracuda is a steel grey with flecks of grey glitter. 
• Jet is a dark purple with blue glitter flecks. (ShugaAndSpice favorite)
• Sabbath is a dark blue with blue fleck of glitter. (ShugaAndSpice favorite)
• Cobra is a deep antique gold. When swatched it looks as if its a black base with gold flecks of glitter.
• Libertine is a darkened base with green glitter. My least favorite of the palette, instead a nice transitional color would have benefited in its place.

Color close-ups

All in all I am of a fan of the palette but just when it comes to the individual colors.  I do think that they missed out on including some transitional colors themselves. We all know that no smokey look is complete without  a transition color so that it is smokey yet soft at the same time. It doesn't seem worth having both Cobra and Libertine as part of the palette since they are so close in color when applied. It appears they're a black base with flecks of gold and green glitter. I also wouldn't use more than 2 colors together on a smokey eye, actually the only 2 colors I would use in one look is any one shadow with a pop of Black Dog on the outer v or lashline of my eye. As with any dark smokey eye, I apply a dark base before applying my shadow, whether it be cream liner or pencils. NYX's jumbo eye pencils work great for this purpose. My favorites for smokey eyes are Black Bean and Knight.

For my FOTN I used Black Bean and layered Cobra over it. I made this smokey look a bit more dramatic by popping on a bright red toned lip which was made up of a few colors. (See details below)

SCROLL DOWN FOR SWATCHES!

UD 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (Zero)

UD 24/7 Glide-On Pencil Comparison (Zero & Perversion)

The palette comes with a travel-sized 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Zero. It is described as a zealous black. Initially swatch, one would assume it's pretty much a deep black but swatched next to Perversion, you'd think twice. If you're looking for a very deep black matte liner, then Perversion will become your new best friend. I posted a review on Perversion not too long ago. (Click here to check out that post)

MORE PICS & BREAKDOWN OF MAKEUP DOWN BELOW!!

Left to right: Black dog, Barracuda, Jet, Sabbath, Cobra, Libertine
No flash

Left to right: Black dog, Barracuda, Jet, Sabbath, Cobra, Libertine
With flash

Shirt: F21 / Belt: J Crew / Shorts: Express / Earrings: F21 / Necklace: F21 / Shoes: Steve Madden

FACE:

Tarte Clean Slate Poreless Primer

Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Concealer (medium)

MAC Studio Fix Fluid (NW20 & NW22)

Amazing Cosmetics Concealer (medium golden)

Airspun Loose Face Powder (translucent)

MUD Cosmetics Bronzer (endless summer)

theBalm Betty-Lou Manizer Bronzer

Laura Geller Blush-n-Brighten (apricot berry)

theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter -- inner corner of eyes, top of cheekbones, bridge of nose, cupid's bow

BROWS:

MUFE Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector (0)

Ardell Brow Powder (taupe)

Great Lash Clear Mascara

EYES:

UDPP (eden)

Physician's Formula Organic Wear Mascara (ultra black) -- top lashes

Covergirl Lashblast Volume Mascara (very black) -- bottom lashes

NYX Jumbo Pencil (black bean)

UD Black Palette (cobra) -- eyelid

Wet n Wild Coloricon Palette (comfort zone) -- brown crease & green crease for outer v

NYX Eyeshadow (highlight) -- browbone highlight

LIPS:

Covergirl Lip Perfection Liner (passion)

Wet n Wild Mega Last Lip Color (cherry picking) -- outer ends of lips

Wet n Wild Mega Last Lip Color (purty persimmon) -- center of lips

Covergirl Lip Perfection (hot) -- used to blend all colors together

theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter -- center of lips for fuller effect

Pricing & Availability: On sale for $16, original $36 @ Urban Decay

*Products shown here were purchased by me. I am not being sponsored or paid to review these products.*

Run Breast Cancer Out of Town. Please Read.

Dear Follower,

This year has been a hard and testing year for me. On April 24th (her birthday), my mom had to undergo breast surgery, a lumpectomy to be exact. A month prior she went in for a routine mammogram/sonogram. I'll always remember the day she was told that she needed to go see the surgical oncologist. Then the letter came, where it stated that there had been some suspicious malignant finding in her left breast. I remember crying with her from seeing the fear in her eyes and I can't front, I was scared too. A whole week had passed and the thought of that doctor's appointment kept popping in my head no matter what. We kept reassuring her that everything will be alright and that it was most likely nothing.

But, it was something. I will also never forget the moment that the doctor said, "unfortunately, it is cancer." I was sitting off to the side in the room waiting for him to just leave. The moment he did, the tears came rushing down. I didn't know what to say to her.

From that day on all I could think of was how unfair for her to have to go through this ordeal. She was put through test after test after doctor(s) visits and to top if off another surgery. This time to remove a central lymph node to see if the cancer had spread to her armpits as well as to remove the surrounding mass where they initially removed the cancer mass. Depending on her margins from that mass, we would find out what stage she was in. Let me just say, that period was by far the worst and toughest time my family had ever gone through, especially me in particular. I'm already a very stressful person to begin with and this just made my anxiety worse. All I could do was pray and pray every little chance I got.

Fortunately, all tests came back with good news, to say the least. My mom was diagnosed with stage 1B cancer and it had not spread to her lymph nodes and she would not opt for a mastectomy. This was the best news I've ever heard in my life (aside from my sister coming out safe from the world trade tragedy). Her risk of recurrence in the next 10 years also came back low, canceling out the need for chemo.

She does however have to receive radiotherapy everyday, 5 days out of the week for 6 weeks. She finished her 4th week today and thankfully has not had any skin reactions to the radiation. (knocks on wood) After she is done with all her radiation, she will go on a hormone drug for the next 5 years which will prevent any cancer cells from multiplying. Although this has been hard for her, I am forever grateful that she has come out a survivor and grateful that she was  diagnosed early.

I know you might be thinking.. why is Aida telling us this? I want to share the difficult time that has been transpiring throughout the last 6 months. I also ask you all to make sure you and your loved ones get checked regularly. Breast cancer has been popping up so vastly in women and some don't get diagnosed until it is already too late to treat. Don't wait! Talk to your doctor about the right time to get checked for you if you are young and have yet to get to that stage in life. The age to get checked has gone done to 35 now, please just be aware and don't ignore it. 

This coming Sunday (Sept. 9th) my family (including my mother) and I will be participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, here in NYC. I've never been a part of a fundraising race like this before and am happy to join. I would invite any of you to join our team but I know that most of you are from other parts of the states and world. If you would like to donate to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, my family and I would greatly appreciate it. (All donations go to Susan G. Komen foundation, not to my family) We set a goal and are close to achieving it. I will link our team page here: "Team Luceritos"

If you do decide to leave a donation, please let me know in the comment section down below. I don't know many of you by name and would like to be able to thank you personally. Also, please leave your name or nickname (whichever you'd like) on the donation page.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me and please take care of yourselves and loved ones.

Love,

Aida

My mom and I