Urban Decay Build Your Own Palette: Cobra, Mildew, Evidence, Roach

Since putting together my first two Urban Decay custom palettes, I've been somewhat obsessed with Urban Decay's eyeshadows. Now, I realize that Urban Decay's pre-assembled palettes (e.g. Naked, Naked2, Feminine, Dangerous, Fun) give you way more bang for your buck. But I wanted to be able to choose my own shades because there are shades in the pre-assembled palettes that I don't love and therefore won't use. Let it be known that putting together a palette does not save you any money, either; the palette comes separately and is only a means to keep your single eyeshadows together in one place. I prefer to have the singles in a palette because it creates less clutter (and, let me tell you, when you have 400+ eyeshadows, there is a lot of clutter), and that's really the only reason I bought the palette along with the eyeshadows. So, while I was in Buffalo in June, I decided to take advantage of the lower American retail price and lower sales tax, and put together yet another palette.
Single eyeshadows (clockwise from bottom left): Cobra, Mildew, Evidence, and Roach
Single eyeshadows removed from their containers
I picked up another empty Rebound palette like last time, which retails for $10 USD (or $12 CAD). The palette is a brushed metal tin with a black plastic insert on the inside to fit four single eyeshadows; the palette itself comes in a white floral tattoo-style design outlined in rainbow shades, with Urban Decay's logo in the centre. As far as I know, this particular palette is exclusive to Sephora. I picked four single eyeshadows to put in the palette; all of Urban Decay's single eyeshadows are packaged in silver plastic pots with a design that is meant to mimic a New York City subway token, except with Urban Decay's logo in the centre. Each eyeshadow can be popped out of its plastic container to fit into the palette, giving you the choice to keep them as single eyeshadows or pans. Each single eyeshadow contains 1.5 grams of product, and retails for $18 USD (or $22 CAD).


Cobra, Mildew, Evidence, and Roach

Cobra is a dark cool-toned olive-brown with with gold and olive sparkles in a satin finish. This is a permanent shade. The texture is soft, silky, and finely-milled, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more sparkly than NARS Night Breed, and warmer and more brown than MAC Black Tied.

Mildew is a medium warm mossy green in a frosted finish. This is a permanent shade. The texture is soft, silky, almost buttery, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is warmer and less bright than MAC Swimming, darker than TheBalm Makeout Mary, and lighter than NARS Fuji.

Evidence is a medium-dark cobalt-navy blue in a frosted finish. This is a permanent shade. The texture is soft, silky, almost buttery, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is similar though more intense than MAC Deep Truth, and slightly lighter and much brighter than MAC Thru the Night Pro Longwear Eyeshadow.

Roach is a medium burgundy-tinted brown in a frosted finish. This is a permanent shade. The texture is soft, silky, almost buttery, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is similar though slightly darker than MAC Sable, more reddened than MAC Mulch, and lighter and less plum than Urban Decay Lost.

Does Urban Decay make a single bad eyeshadow? Every single shade I've ever used from the brand has a gorgeous texture — incredibly smooth, soft, buttery, and richly pigmented — and these are no exception. I hadn't played around with these particular shades until quite recently, and with the release of MAC's Indulge collection, I realized that Cobra is like the smoother, more pigmented version of Beluga. Which is to say, Cobra is a must-have for pretty much everybody, especially with fall coming up. It's a shade that looks good on every skintone and every undertone; a serious stunner. And on my search for a mossy green that wasn't too light or too bright or too golden, I found Mildew, which has a gorgeous depth and sheen to it. In a world with way too many navy blue eyeshadows, I knew had to pick up Evidence, which has this gorgeous cobalt shimmer-sheen that gives stunning dimension and intensity to it that I haven't seen in other navy shades. And, finally, Roach. Why add another brown shade to my ever-growing (a.k.a. overwhelming) stash of neutrals? Because this one had a lovely rosy-burgundy shimmer-sheen to it that set it apart from my other browns. Not too gold, not too bronze, not too red, not too plum. Such a great everyday crease shade, especially with fall coming around.

Oh, Urban Decay. Just take all my money.