Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette Review

This Christmas was amazing, y’all. I received the Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette and I am ecstatic over it. This is the palette I’ve always wanted from Urban Decay and what I thought the Electric Palette would be. But unfortunately that palette didn’t live up to my expectations. The Full Spectrum is meant to be a full-color palette representing the full rainbow, and I think this palette exceeds at that. Read my Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette review down below!

The Urban Decay Full Spectrum palette is a rainbow palette with absolutely no natural-toned shadows. At first I thought I wouldn’t like that because I would have to go into another palette for transition shades, but I’m actually relieved. I’ve been drowning in a sea of neutral palettes lately and I feel like I can breathe again because of this colorful palette! Don’t get me wrong, neutral palettes are cool. I use them everyday and they are perfect for work. But color! Is! So! Great! I love that Urban Decay unapologetically puts out colorful eyeshadow palettes alongside their completely neutral Naked line. That’s why Urban Decay is my favorite brand.

This palette comes with 21 eyeshadows and a double sided brush. I typically don’t use the included brushes unless I’m traveling, but they are amazing quality and work really well! I do find this palette a little hard to open, though. It takes me more time than it should to figure out how to open this.

The palette is into 3 rows of 7 ranging from dark to light. UD says to use the colors top to bottom to have a coordinating look or mix around for a colorful look.

All swatches were three dips into the pan with one swipe down my arm. No primer.

Alchemy: Deep fuchsia satin. I wouldn’t call this fuchsia. I would call this a rusty red. This had ok pigmentation.
Warning: Deep metallic copper. Copper yes, metallic no. This is a beautiful, shimmering orange. This has fantastic pigmentation and was buttery and soft.
Midnight Blaze: Black matte w/yellow-gold pearl. I mean, it’s exactly as Urban Decay describes. This was chunky and not pigmented. I’m surprised they didn’t go with an old-gold or a blackened yellow.
Hundred: Deep metallic forest green. This color is gorgeous! The green is rich but dark, buttery but easy to work with.
Minx: Deep navy matte w/floating tonal pearl. This reminds me of a navy blue eyeliner they have. This was dry, but still but still pigmented. A little patchy, though.
Delirious: Deep plum matte w/subtle floating pearl. This was one of the worst colors in the palette. Patchy, dry and not pigmented. I wish it were pigmented, though. This is such a beautiful color!
Platonic: Black matte w/iridescent glitter. I’m glad we didn’t get another Perversion! I love that this has glitter. I’m sure most people would prefer a matte black, but I have so many matte blacks that having one with shimmer is a fun change.

Gossip: Bright metallic pink w/subtle floating pearl. I love this color! This is so bright and beautiful. This is more matte than metallic. More of a satin.
Seize: Bright metallic coral w/subtle floating pearl. Why can’t UD just call this orange? This was a little patchy but not awful.
Calavera: Bright yellow matte w/subtle floating pearl. Surprisingly, this is one of the best shades in the palette. This is buttery, soft, easy to blend and hella pigmented.
Hatter: Vibrant green w/tonal micro-sparkle. Great matte green shade.
Blindsided: Bright teal blue matte w/floating pearl. This shade reminds me a lot of a shade from the Electric palette. Blindsides is pigmented and I love the “floating pearl!”
Sketch: Metallic medium purple. I’m not sure what is supposed to be metallic about this shade because I can hardly see it! This was probably the worst shade in the palette. I literally said “eek” out loud when I swatched this and Delirious.
Iced: Oyster silver w/shimmer. This is another awful shade. There’s no pigmentation! I even swatched this five times. There’s nothing there. This would make a great topper for the matte shades, though!

Paranoia: Soft metallic blue-pink. I love this color! It reminds me of Woodstock.
Jones: Metallic orange w/subtle floating pearl. Finally, they say orange! This is an awesome color.
Goldmine: Metallic yellow-gold. Great gold!
Mean: Bright metallic lime green. I love this green! It kind of reminds me of Freak from the Electric palette.
Metamorphosis: Vibrant periwinkle blue w/micro-sparkle. This reminds me of a less pigmented Chaos. This was patchy and dry.
Faded: Lavender w/gold shimmer. Holy COW this is awful. Patchy, dry, not pigmented and somehow flaky?
Bump: Matte white. Perfect matte white!

First off: what’s up with UD and their awful shade descriptions? They’re always off from what the shades actually are. Let’s get some better copy UD. Second, the purples in this palette are so underwhelming. Purple is where Urban Decay strives and excels. Where are the smooth and pigmented purples I’m used to? Instead this palette offers patchy and dry purples.

What surprised me were the oranges and yellow. Urban Decay isn’t know for oranges or matte yellows. They do coppers and golds, but not oranges and yellows. These were the real winners of this palette.

I’m a little disappointed in the Urban Decay Full Spectrum palette. As the authority on color, I was expecting Electric palette quality. Instead I got mediocre blues and purples. But there are beautifully pigmented yellows and oranges. There’s a reason why this palette is on sale for $35. It’s underwhelming. However, if you’re looking for a ton of color on a budget, now is the time to pick this up. The shadows aren’t awful, just not what I expect from the brand.

The Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette is currently for sale for $35 on Urban Decay’s website.

And that’s my Urban Decay Full Spectrum palette review! What do you think of this palette? Let me know down below!