As soon as Urban Decay released the Oz Palettes, I snatched up Theodora. I knew that the browns are different from those in my other UD palettes just by looking at them and knew that they would be put into heavy rotation as part of my shadow collection. The Glinda palette held me up though. My brain just kept repeating, “Do I need this palette? Is it just me, or do some of these shades look familiar?” After one such session of musing over the palette, I went home and flipped open my Vice palette. Aha! Tornado and South looked suspiciously familiar to some of my Vice colors. However, were they spot-on dupes? I wasn’t quite convinced.
Glinda and Freakshow
Vice
Turns out, I was right about the colors not being spot-on duplicates for one another. However, some shades were pretty darn close! For the record, the majority of Glinda’s shades are unique. I have nothing else in my shadow collection that compares to Aura or Magic; Illusion looks like other fleshy, transition shades on me just because it disappears into my skin tone; I don’t own anything like the silver from Oz, although the gold isn’t totally original.
First up, the purples. Rapture and Vice are from the Vice palette; Tornado is from Glinda; Freakshow is a standalone for me but is also found in the Fun palette. Each color is labeled – click to enlarge. Lighting is listed as a caption. As a heads up, no that is no swatching mistake – I tacked Vice on twice so that it could be better compared to Freakshow.
Natural lighting
Indoors w/ flash
Indoors w/o flash
The breakdown: Rapture is like a dark burgundy-based purple that’s been muted a little. It’s frosty with some subtle glitter. Vice is a violet-based purple, also with a frosty shimmer finish. It applied stronger than Rapture for me. It’s pretty darn close to Freakshow, which is also a violet-based purple. Both are medium, bordering on dark, and frosted with great pigmentation. I can see a difference between them but you probably don’t really need both shades in your collection. Tornado looks much different when swatched next to these shades than it did in the pan. It’s a rich, red-based purple with a frosted shimmer finish. While the undertones are similar to Vice and Freakshow, it’s a deeper, warmer purple. Close but no cigar!
Next up: the taupes. I wasn’t sure how close Armor (Vice) and South (Glinda) were, but I knew that they were both taupes that looked suspiciously similar in the pan. Again, each swatch is labeled and lighting is in the captions.
Indoors w/o flash
Indoors w/ flash
Natural light
The breakdown: Armor (Vice) is a gray-brown taupe with a frosted finish; so is South (Glinda). The difference is that South is noticeable cooler; I’d say it’s the more gray-based of the two since Armor looks much more warm and brown-based next to it. They’re like siblings but not twins. Do you honestly need both? Probably not. Does it hurt to have both? Not for me, they’ll both get used; if you aren’t into taupes though, stick with one or go buy a single of Mushroom, another close UD color that I actually don’t own.
The verdict? Urban Decay isn’t kidding when they say that new release shades in palettes are unique – technically, they are. However, some shades have pretty close matches in other palettes or existing singles. Sneaky, sneaky. If you love one or two shades in a palette but don’t think the whole shebang is worth your money, it’s probably worth doing a little side-by-side swatching to find a close comparison.
Related articles
- Swatches and my review of Urban Decay’s new Oz Palettes are here! (wayfaringbeauty.wordpress.com)
- Disney Beauty with Jay – Bring Out Your Good Side with Urban Decay’s Glinda Palette! (disneyways.com)
- Urban Decay Oz Palette, Theodora – Spring eyes for a winter day (wayfaringbeauty.wordpress.com)
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