Urban Decay Midnight Emergency

When it comes to eyeshadow palettes, do you prefer big or small palettes? This season, Urban Decay offers 2 big palettes in the form of their 15th Anniversary Palette which flew off the shelves here and the Book of Shadows Vol. IV, both of which will be reviewed as soon as I can get myself to use them. There are smaller palettes which are no less interesting as they come in pretty palettes/cases.

Their Midnight Emergency Kit comes in a zipped champagne pleather case which is as elegant as it is sturdy. I can toss this into my luggage stuffed in between clothes and I’m sure it will come out intact at the end of my flight. It’s also easy to clean and doesn’t trap dust and dirt like a cloth case would.

Open up the case and you will find 4 mostly neutral toned eyeshadows, an eyeshadow brush which looks like it’s good quality unlike most brushes found in eyeshadow palettes which I just want to throw away and a lip gloss which is my favourite product in the Kit.

The mirror is a good sized one even though it isn’t as big as the case cover. The Lipgloss is full-sized which is great – I believe this is the first time I’ve seen an eyeshadow palette with a full-sized lipgloss. The eyeshadow brush is no tiny brush and is almost the length of the case.

My first impression of the eyeshadows when I swatched them was how much glitter they contain. even the highlighter shades (Midnight Cowboy/Midnight 15) are glittery. I would have preferred at least one shade without any glitter.

Anyway, the 4 shades are:-

1) Midnight Cowboy – Urban Decay’s bestseller, champagne with silver glitter.

2) Midnight Rodeo – also in Book of Shadows Vol. IV, brown pearl with silver glitter.

3) Midnight 15 – also in 15th Anniversary Palette, pearly oyster with silver glitter.

4) AC/DC – previously exclusive to Book of Shadows Vol. II, smoky grey/purple with shimmer.

While the eyeshadows have good colour pay-off, they look quite sheer on my eyelids. I’d like to say it’s buildable but then, that would just add more glitter. I think I have to pair these eyeshadows with some other eyeshadows that are more matte or without glitter.

My favourite eyeshadow of the four is AC/DC as it is a beautiful purple, not too intense but not too pastel either. I think it is one of the nicest purple eyeshadows I have ever seen. I’m not feeling the love for the other three brown tones though but they might look good when paired with other similar less shimmery shades.

As for the Lip Junkie Lipgloss in Midnight Cowboy, this is one lipgloss I absolutely love and most definitely to its end shall we part because it adds such a lovely shine to any lipstick, gives a slight tingling minty sensation and plumps up my thin “could-do-with-some-silicone” lips. A replacement is 100% necessary once I have finished with this one.