Swatches and my review of Urban Decay’s new Oz Palettes are here! – Click photos to enlarge

I went to work today thinking nothing would special happen, but when I got there my manager had a special message for this UD-lover – “Jay, guess what we got? I know you’ll be happy – we got the new UD Oz palettes!” Needless to say, I took off running towards them and they are indeed fabuloussss.

Each palette features six full-size eye shadows, a travel-size 24/7 eyeliner, and a full-size Super Saturated lip gloss pencil. The Glinda and Theodora palettes each also feature their own unique palette artwork. A nice feature? The eyeshadow pots are designed to be able to pop out of the case and placed into a Build-Your-Own palette. Each palette retails for $49. When I first heard the price tag for these palettes, I was a little dismayed. However, it’s actually a great deal for UD. The shadows and the lip gloss pencil are full size – normally the shadows retail for $18.00 and the gloss for $19.00. We’ll say the travel pencil is $9.50 since it’s travel sized and the full-size pencils retail for $19.00. This means your Oz palette is worth about $136 in retail value, but is only costing you $49.00 as the palette – that sounds much better, right?

Now what you’ve really wanted to see out of this post – pictures! First up is my favorite of the two, the sultry Theodora palette. This palette is made up of darker, moodier browns and greens – and believe it or not, there were some mattes in there!

From left to right: Theodora Lip Pencil, Broken, Beware, Bewitch, West, Spell (dual shade), and Jealous (dual shade)

Theodora is a bright, juicy red lip color. Broken is a shimmery white highlight, similar to Naked’s Virgin. Bewitch is a warm, matte fawn brown; I didn’t swatch them side by side, but it reminds me of Buck or a darker Faint. Bewitch is a deeper, duskier matte brown. West is a deep burgandy-brown shimmer with amazingggg payoff. Spell is a soft black with gold and green microglitter and a dark, metallic gold. Jealous is a bright, light green and a slightly deeper green, both pearlized (they make me think of a mojito!).

From left to right: West, Spell (black and gold), and Jealous (greens)

From left ro right: Theodora lip pencil, Broken, Beware, Bewitch, and West

Below are swatches for the delicate, feminine Glinda palette. This one is made up of shimmery pinks, nudes, and metallics.

From left to right: Tornado, Aura (dual shade), Magic, Illusion, Oz (dual shade), South, and Glinda lip pencil

Tornado is a deep purple. Aura is a light, shimmery lavender and nude – this one is a little irridescent, which is awesome, even if it doesn’t really show up on my skin tone. Magic is a soft, pale pink. Illusion is a champagne peach. Oz is a dual metallic/glittery gold and silver. South is a gray/taupe with a silvery glitter to it. Glinda is a rose lip color.

From left to right: Tornado, Aura (dual shade), Magic, and Illusion

From left to right: Magic, Illusion, Oz (dual shade), South, Glinda lip pencil

These swatches are over bare skin, no primer; photos were taken indoors with overhead and accent lighting around, so shades may look slightly different in natural, outdoor lighting – however, I checked them out in all different lighting and found these essentially true to color. The shadows in these palettes were true to UD form, with a smooth, buttery formula that had great payoff and staying power. Out of both palettes, Spell (Theodora) and Oz (Glinda) will be the most likely to have fall out from sparkle/glitter. Spell has chunks of glitter and Oz is very shimmery. I love the fact that dual shades are included, but I do have one gripe with them – Oz was already getting blended in the pan from staff swatching, so you’ll need to be carefully using it unless you want the shades mixed on top. I also don’t love this palette construction, I found it a bit of a pain to close – the top has to be pulled forward and clicked down to lock shut and I prefer a magnetic snap lid or click like the Vice palette. There is also no brush here, so not as handy on the go as other palettes.

Theodora arm

Glinda arm

My verdict? These palettes are a fantastic deal! The colors had amazing, buttery textures and great payoff.  Shades in both can work great within their own palette for plenty of amazing eye looks OR can be used in conjunction with other UD palettes for more eye options. The lip pencils and liner are nice additions as well.

Well UDers, what’s the verdict? Purchase or pass on the Oz palettes?