In June of 2018, Urban Decay launched its Born to Run eyeshadow palette. I’m fairly late to reviewing it, but I pulled it out of my palette collection and am wearing it today for the first time in a while and it definitely deserves some raving.
Let’s start with the packaging.
On the outside, there is a beautiful collage of landmarks—some more identifiable than others—a definite indicator of traveling and adventure. This design wraps around the entire palette and is complemented by the minimal text. I will be honest, the packaging is what drew my eye when I first saw this beauty.
Inside
You’ve got 21 shades and a full-size mirror (that can be folded backward for an easier grip). It snaps closed magnetically and is honestly a pleasure to handle. The shades are all very wearable and complementary.
Shades
To describe them, I’ll make my own descriptions, but also quote the official website in parenthesis for full transparency. (I will do this without looking at theirs first).
Breakaway: a simple pale ivory/light peach toned shadow with a slight shimmer (“warm ivory shimmer”)
Stranded: a shimmery gold (“pale rose gold with tonal micro-shimmer”)
Blaze: slightly darker than Breakaway with a more visible shimmer (“light metallic peach with pink shift”)
Weekender: a tan matte shade—perfect for crease transitions, I think (“light neutral beige matte”)
Still Shot: a bright orange-toned pink matte (“bright peach”)
Riff: a slightly reddish-brown matte (“brown-nude matte with floating micro-sparkle”).
Good As Gone: a dark brown matte (“deep brown with iridescent micro-shimmer”)
Hell Ride: an interesting matte combo of red and purple (“deep fuchsia matte”)
Baja: a deep/dark orange matte (“burnt orange matte”)
Accelerate: a shimmery dark reddish-orange (“reddish copper metallic”)
Guilt Trip: a shimmery purple (“smoky purple shimmer”)
Ignite: a deep orange shimmer (“rose gold metallic”)
Smog: a bronze shimmer (“deep coppery bronze shimmer”)
Wanderlust: a forest green with gold shimmer (“forest green with gold micro-shimmer.” I swear I didn’t look at their description first)
Wildheart: Hell Ride, but slightly lighter and shimmery (“bright fuchsia”)
Punk: a dark brown with red undertones (“red-brown matte”)
Double Life: a dark bronze shimmer, maybe copper? (“metallic rust”)
Jet: a black shimmer (“black with deep shimmering purple shift”)
Drift: a dark gray with a warm brown tint, shimmery (“charcoal satin with tonal micro-sparkle”)
Radio: a pretty blue-green shimmer (“deep emerald satin.” I question them on that emerald thing)
Big Sky: a dark green—somewhere between emerald and forest—shimmery (“frosted green shimmer with iridescent micro-sparkle”)
What I’m Wearing:
Today I’ve done a very red-toned mix of several colors on my eyes, and I love it. I haven’t done a look like this in a long time (probably since I got this palette). I used Breakaway as a base and used Weekender and Riff to start shading in my crease. To add in the red, I started with Still Shot before transitioning to Baja. I put a tiny bit of Hell Ride to add some dimension (again, this is all being blended in the crease) before adding a bit of Accelerate. I followed that with Punk in the outer corner, though still blending that into the crease a little bit, then Good as Gone only in the inner corner. I put Ignite in the center of my lid (think cut crease style without bothering with concealer or anything, because I wanted it to stay kind of rough) with Stranded and Blaze both in my inner corner to brighten it slightly. It’s a look that needs a lot of blending and a lot of different colors working together for it to really work (I will say it is dark, so be mindful while you’re working if you want to keep it lighter).
Logistics:
This palette is $49 on their website, and I will say the colors are great and the packaging is so pleasing to the eye. It’s about $2.30 per shadow, and I don’t think that’s a bad deal. (Though I do think I got this palette on sale, so that’s something to look out for.) I feel like you can create a lot of different looks with this palette, and I might actually recommend it over their ever-popular Naked palettes because of that versatility. The reviews are great at 4.8 out of 5 stars out of 182 reviews. And it is cruelty-free!
Check it out here!
