Electric Shock!

Today is all about Urban Decay’s Electric Palette!

Wowza, this really is an eye-catching palette. With ten neon shades you are spoiled for choice with colour. If you are the kind of person who shies away from bright and bold colours then this palette may be a bit extreme for you. Recently I have been leaning toward neutral shades and smokey nudes so I felt I needed an injection of colour, and Electric was the way to go. In the shop the palette looks so much fun and very tempting but when I got it home I panicked! I thought how am I going to use a lime green or neon pink eyeshadow? After a few days playing with this palette all my fears are gone! It is so much fun and the colours are stunning, the pigment is so intense as you can see from the swatches below.

             Top row of shadows

Bottom row of shadows

You will not achieve a subtle look with this palette. You can go all out and have a really bold colorful eye, or you can go a bit tamer, either way it will be a very eye-catching makeup look. My favourite thing about this palette is that you can layer the shadows and because of the intensity of the pigment you will get amazing dimension. For those of you who have purchased Electric already, I will do a step by step guide to achieving two different looks, the first is a very flashy and fun look, and the second is more conservative, but still full of colour.

I wouldn’t recommend this palette to everyone, it is costly at €45.00 and it can be difficult to make use of the bright colours. If you are feeling brave and want to have some fun with neons for the Summer then go for it, definitely, but if you’re style preference sees you avoiding the brights, Electric will shock your senses! Have a look at the pictures I post below and see if it is your kind of thing before you purchase.

First look: Having prepped and primed your eyelid, take Jilted and apply it all over the lid, go up as far as the crease but not passed it. Then take a neutral colour, (I use Limit from the Naked 3 palette) and use this in the crease. Use windshield wiper motions to blend out the Jilted shadow and take away any harsh lines. Next take Urban and apply it all over the lid the same way you did with Jilted. Without adding anymore of the neutral shadow to your brush blend the crease again.Layering these two colours will give an amazing result with loads of depth. Next, take Savage, and using a very compacted brush pack this shade into the inner corners of your eye, blending out. This pink shade is fantastic and when blended well with the purple it stands out so much. What’s really important with this look is a strong eyeliner. Because this is such a flashy look go all out and give yourself an awesome wing with the eyeliner too. I did a post on applying eyeliner recently so don’t forget to check that out. Next, take Fringe and apply it to your lower lash line, the most important aspect of this step is to blend, blend, blend! Make it really smokey, and finally add that amazing colour, Freak, to the inner corners of your lower lash line. If you want a look bordering on grunge line your water line with a black pencil, if you want to be all about the colour line it with a nude pencil. The former will make your eyes extremely smokey and the latter will make them really bright. This is a fun look, ideal for the summer time, but not really a look for the office, have fun with it, but be responsible too!

Second look: What I have really enjoyed doing with this palette is using the shadows as eyeliner for a simple pop of colour. This has made the palette versatile because you can wear a colorful liner anywhere, day or night without creating a look that is too intense. Use Savage as an upper lid liner, with Urban on the lower lash, this is super pretty and will make green and blue eyes look stunning. You can use any combo of the colours for this look really, the greens will make brown and hazel eyes really stand out. You can also mix two colours for one line to give a gradual fading look, I love doing this with Urban and Jilted, or Fringe and Freak. The possibilities are endless! Today, for example I have decided to do a nude smokey eye and I used Urban and Jilted to line my lower lid, (see picture below) this look is so easy to do.

Smokey nude with a pop of colour

Next on my list of options to try is a very smokey navy lid with Thrash on my lower lash line. Lime green is such a popular colour this summer and why not incorporate it into your eye makeup?

While I am really fond of this palette, the one thing I will say is that the neon colours are hard to wash out of brushes, and because of the intensity of the colours you will have to use different brushes for each different step. Patience and a good cleanser will get those brushes back to their normal colour!

Having said that, this palette is a lot of fun, so don’t be afraid of it, go mad!