My birthday was just over a week ago and I received lots of lovely gifts, including the new Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette 🙂

Beautifully bright colours, almost all shimmery, with the exception of the matte white in the bottom right corner which as I have found is brilliant for setting a cream eyeshadow base, or as a highlight, or in the inner corner of the eye for a more wide awake look.  A white will also make other bright colours pop.

Despite being all shimmery and very bright shades, they are not like some shimmer eyeshadows that are massively glittery, they are quite subtle but buildable.

Initially testing these shadows, I’ll admit I didn’t think the colour payoff was great but used with a cream base or applying with a wet brush, a more intense colour is easily given.  Moreover, using a white cream base like the NYX eyeshadow base, makes the bright colours really pop.

Watching some YouTube tutorials I had a go using a few different colours and the autumnal rusty colours are my favourite so far, with ‘Warning’ from the top row being the one I love! 🙂

This was purely to test the colours and see what might suit me.  I’ve often heard that with blue eyes, you can’t wear blue eyeshadow….well, I’ll be a rebel….wear whatever colour you like!  Colours can look odd in a pan, yet blend them with other shades or something more neutral and you have a completely different look.

With a few evenings out over the next week and a half, I have had chance to have a go at using colours without tutorials and have a go at what suits me.  Despite what I said about the colour payoff not being great initially, I am not one for wearing shimmery eyeshadows on a day to day basis.  The fact that they are not initially too intense makes them more wearable and more versatile.  The last few times I have used this palette, I have combined the look with neutral shades from the Ultimate Basics palette for daytime looks as well as evening looks.

Here is a look I created for Saturday night, a social dance night so needed my makeup to last as I would be dancing so used Mac’s Soft Ochre paint pot as a base, then a mix of colours from both the Ultimate Basics and the Full Spectrum palettes.  It was completed with Urban Decay’s Razor Sharp Eyeliner, Estee Lauder’s lash primer plus finished with a coat of Lash Sensational mascara by Maybelline.

Then a daytime look using  the purple/lilac shades from the Full Spectrum palette and an Urban Decay 24/7 glide on eyeliner pencil.  (Please excuse the quality of these photos!!  They’re not great but gives you an idea of the look).

I will blog another day-time look later this week.

Blogs coming up include other treats I received for my birthday including: New makeup brushes from the Bold Metals Collection, my Estee Lauder BARGAIN artist collection, and through December, I will be doing an Advent Blog!  I received the M&S beauty advent calendar which I had my eye on!!  So I will be back with my thoughts on what it contains. 🙂

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments box below or on my facebook page. Follow me on Instagram: beautyandtheballroom and Twitter: @Mazzo7 xx