Urban Decay Alice In Wonderland Book Of Shadows Review

After being sold out at my neighborhood ULTA and Sephora, I was finally able to score this collector's item without paying an arm and a leg for it on evilBay. I swapped some of my nail lacquers for a brand-new Alice In Wonderland Book Of Shadows and I am glad I settled for a swap.  It's pretty but I am so glad I didn't pay retail for this because I have two other Urban Decay palettes and I have most of the colors in this palette. Packaging is beautiful although I could live without the pop-up Alice in the forest thing.

As most of you probably know, existing Urban Decay eyeshadow shades were re-named and placed in this palette to accommodate the Alice theme. This is what puzzled me from the very beginning: why did Urban Decay recycle their old eyeshadow colors for this limited edition collection? Were they pressed for time to invent new colors?  I may just be a bit used to MAC when they churn out new shades of eyeshadows in most of their collections. Some may be repromotes, but not a huge majority of them. Anyways, for those who collect Urban Decay palettes and shadows, this Alice in Wonderland palette may be a waste of money because they would already have dupes of most of these colors. However, being the collectors that they are, they would most probably snag this anyway. And yes, folks, I am describing yours truly (myself).

See the rest of the review after the jump



Ammo Shadow Box


Book Of Shadows Vol. II

I have the Ammo Shadow Box and Book Of Shadows Vol. II, and I have a lot of dupes from these palettes. From the Ammo Shadow Box, White Rabbit is Polyester Bride, Wonderland is Maui Wowie, Queen is Last Call, Drink Me Eat Me is Sin, and Jabberwocky is Oil Slick.  From Book Of Shadows Vol. II, Midnight Tea Party is Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, Mad Hatter is Twice Baked, and Absolem is Homegrown.  This is my only major gripe about the Alice In Wonderland palette.  The shades are recycled and you are bound to duplicate your Urban Decay shadows especially if you own pre-existing palettes. 

In terms of pigmentation, though, typical of Urban Decay, the payoff is way off the charts and they are a dream to apply.  A minor annoyance is the fall-out and chunky glitters in some of these shadows.  I do apply the glittery ones sparingly and mostly only during evening events. 

Of course the shadows come with two 24/7 glide-on eyeshadow pencils in Zero and Flipside.  I love Zero; it's my favorite  black liner for the waterline and tightline.  It is all I ever use.  I love that it's creamy enough to glide on the skin like butter, but is tough enough as a liner to withstand smudging.  Zero is my HG black pencil liner.  There, I said it.  Flipside is a bright teal to give a pop of color on the lashline or waterline, and also to complement the eyeshadow colors, especially for warmer weather.

So to recap:

UPSIDE:  The 16 shadows boil down to probably $3 each, with complimentary eye pencils and a tube of the primer potion.  So this is actually good value for your money, just as long as you don't have dupes of the shades yet.  Pigmentation is divine, lovely colors and staying power is good.   Packaging is beautiful and breathtaking.  It's truly a collector's item.

DOWNSIDE: repetition of many shadows from pre-existing palettes and from their regular line, chunky glitter in some of the shadows, annoying fall-out.

The Shades Of U Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

All in all, you will love the Urban Decay Alice In Wonderland Book Of Shadows, especially if you're new to Urban Decay and you want to try out the products.  Even though I already own several of the shadows, I still gasped when I first opened this - breathtakingly beautiful and ornate.  So yes, I am happy to own this, and I can't wait to create different looks using this palette .

Watch out for a look using the Alice In Wonderland Book of Shadows up next!