The product reviewed in this post may no longer be available as it was a limited edition product.

Urban Decay X Kristen Leanne Kaleidoscope Dreams Palette - Review + 4 looks | Life of Dahlia

Urban Decay is a staple in many peoples makeup collections and in the past they have been known for their edgy asthetic, not so much these days but anyway I feel like this collaboration between Urban Decay Cosmetics and Kristen Leanne definatly gives me some retro Urban Decay vibes like their informas ‘Electric’ palette. While this doesn’t have the neon vibes of the ‘Electic’ palette it is filled with some very unique shades in a range of finishes which I’ll talk more about later.

But first lets talk a bit about Kristen leanne and the collaboration with Urban Decay. If your not a frequent viewer of Youtube then you may not know who Kristen is, She has a popular channel on Youtube and is also the owner of Arctic Fox a cruelty-free hair dye company. She also does alot of reviews and tutorials on her channel using cruelty-free beauty and makeup products.

This collaboration is a huge milestone for Urban Decay because it is their first ever collaboration with an Influencer. I’m so glad that they choose someone like Kristen to be their first because I knew she would create something fun and interesting.

The Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne ‘Kaleidoscope Dreams’ Eyeshadow Palette

I know a lot of people had very mixed thoughts and feelings on this palette because of the palette layout consisting of different sized and shaped pans, I also had mixed feelings initially too but in all honesty it doesn’t bother me that much. I personally love makeup that challenges me and I love creating dramatic looks with colourful eyeshadows, so I feel like even with the strange layout the ‘Kaleidoscope Dream‘ eyeshadow palette was right up my alley.

Packaging

This palette comes in a neon pink clear plastic outer cover which gives me serious nineties vibes (remember the clear vinyl inflatable furniture of the late ninties) and has ‘Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne Kaleidoscope Dream eyeshadow palette‘ printed on the front cover. On the back it includes a lovely description for the inspiration behind the palette, describing its as a colour lovers dream with a whimsical flair, it also includes a picture of each eyeshadow included inside. You can also find the palette information including weight and ingredients on the outer packaging.

The palette its self is made from a thick cardboard and features a swirl of pink and purple in a marbled effect on the outer packaging as well as ‘Urban Decay X Kristen Leanne’ printed on the front and the palette name and information on the back.

On the inside is a black and white jellyfish print, with a large mirror as well as the kaleidoscope of eyeshadows and a duel ended eyeshadow brush.

The Eyeshadows

The way this palette is laid out, gives you some great colour combinations, like the blues and purple would look fabulous with ‘Spitfire‘ which is a gorgeous magenta shade. I also feel like ‘Corona’ would look interesting with either ‘DYE‘ (purple) or with ‘Tajin‘ the matte orange but it would also pair great with ‘Lime Time’ the green shade.

‘Stay Gold‘ would pair great with the cooler or warmer colours like a pop on the centre of the lid or inner corner. ‘13th Floor‘ is great to deepen up a look or could be used as a shadow liner and ‘Leo+Brixton‘ is a split pan with a blue shift and pink shift which would pair great with any combination as a topper or on the inner corner.

My Thoughts on The Kaleidoscope Dreams Eyeshadow Palette

I have been able to create a multitude of looks with this palette, some more wearable in combination with other palettes and some more bold using colours like ‘LCW’ (lighter blue) and ‘TRM’ (darker blue).

I feel like this palette has really challenge me because I’m not used to using shimmery eyeshadows all over the lid, like most people I tend to use them on the lid portion of my eye and I use matte shadows in my crease and outercorner, etc. So using a palette that only contained two matte eyeshadows was a new thing for me. For me, though a palette not having these doesn’t bother me I can always use another palette from my collection that has eyeshadows that I can dip into to help me with those extra additions.

I could have bought the ‘Daydream‘ palette for some extra transition shades but I felt like it wouldn’t add anything new to my collection so I decided not to. When I created the looks for this post I tried to keep it to just using the shades in this palette, and not adding in too many outside shades just so I could see how versatile it actually was.

I was quite surprised actually, while some of the looks I created may not show it but I felt like some of the metallic/shimmer shades in this palette actually blended out quite well, though many of the looks I created were quite bold. I wanted to try some more dramatic looks so I didn’t blend them out too much just along the edges.

When using this palette I find that the shades are easy to build up to get an opaque application, I thought they showed off quite well without using any setting spray but when I did use it holy moly they looked so good.

I think my favourite shades in this palette would have to be ‘Spitfire‘, ‘Lime Time’ and ‘Leo + Brixton‘. I have a few palettes with bright greens in them but most of them are matte’s, so I love that Kristen added a metallic green in here because I’ve been wanting one for so long. ‘Spitfire’ has to be one of the most unique shades in this palette it’s a duo-chromatic magenta pink with a slight shift, its beautiful. I love using this in the centre of my lid or on the inner corner topped with ‘Leo’ or ‘Brixton’.

While this palette is quite bold and may scare some people I feel like I could use this to create some more wearable looks, for example, I created a look using ‘Tajin‘ as my transition and used both ‘Corona‘ and ‘Stay gold‘ on my lid, I put ‘Lime Time’ on my inner corner for a pop of colour. This look could also be deepened up by using ‘13th floor’ on the outer corner as well as the inner portion of your eye for a halo effect.

Makeup Looks

Look 1

Look details – I layed down my favourite eyeshadow primer and then set with an eyeshadow close to my skin colour. I used ‘Tajin’ in my crease and above as a transition, I applied ‘Corona’ all over the mobile lid and then added then popped ‘Stay Gold’ in the middle.

On the lower lashline I use ‘Tajin‘ under the lower lashline, on the inner corner I used ‘Lime Time’. I then applied mascara and and a black eyeliner on the waterline.

Look 2

Look Details – I used my favourite eyeshadow primer and set with an eyeshadow close to my skin tone. I applied ‘TRM’ on the outer corner and crease, I blended it slightly a long the edges. I then used ‘LCW’ on the majority of the mobile lid blending into ‘TRM’ for a smooth transition between colours.

On the lower lashline I used ‘TRM’ on a smudge brush and met with the shadow on the outer corner, I then applied ‘Spitfire’ to the inner corner and blended to meet the shadow on to lid and lower lashline.

I then finished off the look by adding ‘Leo’ to the brow bone and added some mascara. This would also look awesome with some black eyeliner (which I forgot to apply before taking these pictures.)

Look 3

Look Details – I used my favourite eyeshadow primer and set with an eyeshadow close to my skin tone. I applied ‘DYE’ to the outer corner and in the crease, I then used ‘Spitfire’ on the center of the lid. I used ’13th Floor’ along the lash line and winged it out to create the effect of winged liner.

On the lower lash line I use ‘DYE’ on a smudge brush and then took ‘Brixton’ and applied it to the inner corner. I finished it off with some mascara, it would also look great with some black or white eyeliner.

Look 4

Look Details – I used my favourite eyeshadow primer and then set with an eyeshadow close to my skin tone. I used ‘Tajin’ in the crease and above as a transition, I then applied ’13th Floor’ on the inner and outer corner aswell as in the crease. I used a concealer to carve out the crease to crease a halo eye effect and applied ‘Limetime’ on top.

I applied ’13th Floor’ to the lower lashline and then added ‘Stay Gold’ to the inner corner. I finished off the look with black eyeliner and mascara.

Final Thoughts & Recommendations

I think this is a fantastic palette, the eyeshadows are beautiful, they have great pigmentation and they blend nicely. You could definitely use this on its own but it’s probably a secondary palette for most people.

If your not a person who likes bold colours this may not be your cup of tea and If you prefer matte eyeshadows you probably won’t either. But if you are the type of person who loves bright or bold colours and likes metallic eyeshadows this might be right up your alley.

I also think the price point for this palette is great, the packaging isn’t like UD’s usual heavy duty plastic or metal packaging, I guess to keep the cost down they decided to go with cardboard packaging but this makes the price point better. I was super surprised to see that it was around $60 Australian Dollars on Mecca.com.au, Its great considering most UD palettes start at around $80 here.

I think the packaging is fun and the fact that its cardboard doesn’t bother me because I can still feel that its quality is nice and lets face it, its better for the enviroment, though the outer packaging is plastic but this could be recycled. The palette has a magnetic closer so that’s nice and the brush that comes with the palette is great quality.

Overall I think this is pretty good and I would totally recommend this if its something that interests and you don’t have anything similar already.

Have you tried anything from this collection? let me know what you thought in the comments below

Until next time, I hope you have a lovely day.

Disclaimer – This post is not sponsored and doesn’t contain any affiliate links, links included are for reference only in case your interest in purchasing the reviewed product. Read full Disclaimer here.

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