I bloody well caved, it's just too darn pretty. God knows I don't need another warm toned eyeshadow palette, god knows my bank account was practically begging me not to buy it but god also knows that common sense is no match for beautiful packaging. The heart wants what the heart wants.
Just look at it. Isn't it the most satisfying colour scheme. It's such a great mixture of mattes and shimmers and there's a good range of colours here, from transitions to lid shades. I have to say in the past I haven't always been the greatest fan of UD shadows in particular the mattes. I don't think they are terrible by any means, just powdery. The shimmers I always find so buttery and pigmented they definitely have them down to an art. I even think that they have improved in quality from their prior palettes. Regardless of how I feel towards the texture what always brings me back to UD is the colour range. They always create great palettes that can create a multitude of looks, which is so handy that you don't have to dip into loads of different palettes. Not saying that I won't because I love to mix and match but when travelling its a big bonus. The packaging is clearly FIRE, I love it so much more than the previous tin packaging, it will wear so much better.
Let's talk about stand out shades for me. I'm ranking ember (very last shade) No1 based on the fact that the pigmentation is out of this world and I probably use bronzey shades the most, so this will be most wearable for me. I have to mention dirty talk because of its sheer beauty even though I don't think its a shade I will use very regularly. It's such an intense rose gold colour and that alone makes it a stand out shade. I'm going to mix it up and go with a matte and I choose Low Blow because I really like its orangey undertone. It remind me a lot of sable from MAC and I've lived for that shade for years so its no surprise it's one of my favourites. Ashes is the darkest shade in the palette and I struggled a little with the pay off on this one, I bloody love the colour but my swatch required multiple dips into the pan. Which is a shame because if the consistency was correct this shade would be up there for me. The only shade I feel is a bit of a flop is ounce, it doesn't show up on my skin, it's far too light. I honestly thought it was a matte shade because the reflects are so subtle. I just think if they were going to have it this pale then keep it matte as a blending out and correcting shade. But if they wanted a shimmer they should have went whole hogg and gave us a blinding highlight, think kitten by stilla. However its neither nor, it's in limbo between both of those concepts and that to me makes it a little useless.
My camera really didn't want to focus of these swatches so please bare with the crappy photo. Hope you found this first impressions useful and keep your eyes peeled for an eye look coming up soon!
