Urban Decay X Game of Thrones Palette

I kind of squealed with delight when I saw the teaser for this collection. Game of Thrones is one of my favourite ever TV series and I do like Urban Decay make-up. I was considering purchasing the collection vault, but I stopped myself as I knew I wouldn’t use everything and I didn’t want to waste money.

You can buy the whole collection (13 pieces) as a vault, which will you set you back £198.00 ($250.00)! The contents of the vault are; Game of Thrones Palette, Mother of Dragons Highlighter Palette, Dracarys Lip & Cheek Stain, 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils (Dragon Smoke, Lannister Gold, The Night King & Winterfell Snow), Vice Lipsticks (Cersei Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Sansa Stark & White Walker), Jon Snow’s Large Longclaw Eyeshadow Brush and Arya Stark’s Needle Flat Eyeshadow Brush.

The packaging is made out of cardboard and it is large and rectangular with a dark design on the outside and a Westeros map design on the inside. It looks a bit like an oversized book. You can lift up the magnetic flap on the side to reveal a mirror and the Iron Throne pop-out. You lift up the little blue bow tab to reveal it. There is a little well below the Iron Throne pop-out and it has my favourite GOT quote printed there. I prefer the book version of the quote as they cut it down for the TV series and this is the one printed on the palette. The original book quote reads; “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength, then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it and it can never be used to hurt you”. On the long side of the palette there is another little blue bow tab, which you pull out to reveal the little drawer that houses the eyeshadows. The eyeshadows are split into four sections and are inspired by four places in Westeros; Hardhome, Winterfell, King’s Landing and Bay of Dragons. There are four smaller eyeshadow pans for each section and then one larger pan containing a transformer shade to match the four.

You can purchase it for £45.00 ($65.00) from UrbanDecay.co.uk and UrbanDecay.com. The whole Game of Thrones collection is now available, but hurry because it is all limited edition!

You get sixteen 0.85g eyeshadows and four 1.42g eyeshadows in a variety of finishes; Matte (M), Metallic (ME) Shimmer (S), Satin (SA), Pearl (P) Frost (F) and Glitter (G).

Take The Black - deep black with silver micro-glitter (P)

White Walker - iridescent icy blue (S)

Frozen North - medium dark blue teal (ME)

Free Folk - cool toned silver (F)

Hardhome - white pink with peach sparkle (S)

Nymeria - soft warm brown (M)

Winter Is Here - deep warm brown (SA)

Weirwood Leaves - dark warm plum (P)

The Sight - dark forest green with glitter (F)

Winterfell - deep warm gold (G)

Red Keep - dark copper with orange undertones (P)

Casterly Rock - soft golden bronze (P)

House Lannister - medium warm peach (M)

Lannister Red - dark red brown (M)

King’s Landing - bright white gold with yellow undertones (S)

Stormborn - cool toned medium purple (S)

House Targaryen - rich warm gold (ME)

Dothraki - warm yellow gold (ME)

Bend The Knee - bright pinky-lavender with blue-violet shift (P)

Bay Of Dragons - iridescent warm pink with micro-sparkle (S)

There are not really any claims for this palette. I am expecting the eyeshadows to be the standard Urban Decay quality. The eyeshadows should be extremely pigmented, long lasting and they should blend seamlessly. The transformer shades (Hardhome, Winterfell, King’s Landing & Bay of Dragons) can also be used as highlighters. This palette is cruelty-free, but not vegan (contains Carmine).

The packaging is nicely themed, but it is kind of unnecessary bulky. I feel like the palette could have been a bit smaller and more compact, but they obviously wanted to incorporate the Iron Throne. And what better creative way to incorporate that than a 3D pop-out? It is also limited edition, so I suppose you would expect the design to be more unique and as a one-off. Urban Decay usually put out compact palettes anyway for their regular releases. The colour story is pretty and the eyeshadows are quite pigmented and blend nicely. I recommend eye primer and glitter blue to make the most of the colour payoff. You can also use the shimmer/metallic shades wet or apply them with your finger or a stiff flat synthetic brush. You get a little kick-back in the pans as they are powders, but I didn’t notice any fallout. The formula of the eyeshadows is good, but some of UD’s other palettes are better quality and the colour payoff is richer. Given that the theme is Game of Thrones, I expected better quality and a collection that stood out more. I wish there were more matte shades as there aren’t many and they don’t differ enough in colour or tone. The Bay of Dragons section doesn’t have any matte shades at all! I kind of feel like the collection wasn’t very well thought out and it was just a way to capitalise off the humongous Game of Thrones name! It is a disappointing representation of what a Game of Thrones make-up collection could and should have been. I feel like Urban Decay was not the best fit, an indie brand might have been a better choice. Overall I do like the palette and I will get use out of it as the shimmer/metallic shades are beautiful. I am just slightly disappointed and underwhelmed.

| I purchased this palette for £45.00 from UrbanDecay.co.uk |