URBAN DECAY Press Statement: Animal Testing and China

 

Really, Urban Decay?

How can a brand which is based on „we will never test on animals“ policy say that they plan to change the attitude of China towards animal testing by selling a cosmetics that WILL be tested on animals (as you know, the Chinese law requires that the cosmetics sold in China is tested on animals)?

I don’t blame them for the expansion – after all they are business and they need profit. What really bothers me is their hypocrisy (trying to blame it on China) and how they have tried to pack this into a humanitarian mission by giving up what they were based on to profit and then trying to sell it to the western customer as a mission to improve China. Yeah, really.

Whoever wrote that press sample managed not only to insult current Urban Decay customers, but also insult future customers in China, by practically saying that China is backward country and that they’ll try to change its backward ways. (Yes, I’m aware that China has its issues (humar rights, etc…), but it is up to China to solve their problems, not to Urban Decay).

I would appreciate them more if they simply told something like: „Okay guys, I know thhat we were against the animal testing, but China is too big a market to ignore it, so we’re giving up our policies in order to establish the brand in China.“

I won’t throw out that little bit of Urban Decay I have, but I certainly won’t purchase anything more. At least this finally killed my lemming on Naked palettes.

You can read the press sample at Temptalia.

What is your opinion on this?

Friday FAVOURITES: 13.01.2012

 

I’ve decided to start a new series: Friday favourites. I hope that I’ll manage to update every week, but sometimes it might even do one or two updates per month. It will feature both make-up, skincare and body care items I might use excessively the previous week.

 

This week, I’ve gone grey. As I usually wore very natural, neutral make-up during holidays, I couldn’t wait to do something more dramatic. I went with greyish-black smokey eye, pale face and neutral lips.

 

The products I’ve loved the most are:

Urban Decay Perversion eyeshadow (black)

Urban Decay Gunmetal eyeshadow (sparkly grey)

Guerlain Jeu de Nuit quad (only dark and medium grey)

Sisley Phyto Ombre Eclat in Dune (soft beige grey)

Benefit Lady’s Choice lipstick (nude pinkish beige)

Guerlain Kiss Kiss Ambre Precieuse lipgloss (sparkly brown)

Guerlain Meteorites compact Mythic Parfait

Guerlain Meteorites Perles d’Or.

 

I have combined grey eyeshadow on the lid, blended with a touch of black in the crease. I’ve used Sisley Dune in the inner corners of the eye. The black eyeshadow (UD Perversion) was used as an eyeliner.

The foundation was my usual Clarins Everlasting, fixed with Guerlain Meteorites Mythic Parfait to give an impression of flawless porcelain skin.

I have used Guelain Perles d’Or to give a touch of blush.

On the lips I’ve put Benefit Lady’s Choice with a drop of Guerlain lipgloss blended in the centre of the lips.

—

Have a great weekend

♥

MAKE-UP STASH INVENTORY (January 2012)

I think it’s high time for me to start to control my impulsive purchases and redirect the money I spend on cosmetics I don’t need on something else. I’ve had much more self-control before I started to get involved in beauty community. Before, I’d purchase something only when I would need it, but now I’ve been buying things only because they seem pretty or I think that I simply must have it (even though I’ll probably use it several times before the product is lost in my stash.

I don’t like feeling overwhelmed every morning when I’m doing my make-up with all of the products which I have. Sometimes it takes me literary 10 minutes only to decide which eyeshadow I should use. I’ve tried the concept of creating “looks” which would include several products and then wearing the look for the next week. It is a good concept, but this means that 90% of my stash sits there unused while I’m wearing the “look”.

I do not plan to use up all of my make-up. I’ll use eyeshadows only until I hit the pan (especially if it is a discontinued or LE product). The same goes with lipsticks. I always leave a millimetre or two of the lipstick in case I ever need to find a dupe. After that, I put the product in the original packaging and put it in my “finished products” drawer. I know this sounds a bit ridiculous, to keep the boxes after you have spent the product, but I have paid a lot for these products and I cannot imagine throwing the compact of, let’s say, Guerlain eyeshadow away.

I have taken a photo of all the items in my stash, for my reference (I’ll do the same the next year). Compared to the previous stash pictures, you can see that I have spent some items (yay! for me) and hit the pan on many others.

My Stash: Eyeshadows, Mascaras and Eyeliners

We have finally arrived to my favourite part: eyeshadows. I think that if I’d stop to buy eyeshadows today, I’d still have enough to last me a lifetime.

As for the eyeliners, I’m not a great collector. I prefer black, but here and there I use colour eyeliners.

URBAN DECAY 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Zero Review

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On pencil ($17)in Zero is a matte black eyeliner.

It is very pigmented, but the colour isn’t as deep black as I would like it to be. Also, the colour fades slightly after several hours of wearing.

As I’ve said in my review for the shade Bourbon, Urban Decay eyeliners are extremely soft (even too soft). This eyeliner doesn’t stay for a long time on the waterline (but, as I’ve said, the only thing which looks good there is Guerlain loose kohl).

Very good eyeliner, but not my favourite.

Overall:

 

 

URBAN DECAY 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Bourbon Review

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On pencil ($17) is probably the softest eyeliner I have ever found.

The shade Bourbon is a warm brown shade with tiny golden micro-shimmer. It is very pigmented, you only need a light swipe to get a rich colour.

This eyeliner is very soft and creamy and it lasts for a whole day without fading or smudging (on the upper eyelid). On the waterline it is not very longlasting, bu then, nothing besides Guerlain loose kohl has lasted for longer than an hour there.

My last objection goes to the softness of the pencil. I love softer pencils because they do not tug the eyelid when I apply them, but this one is ridiculously soft. While I sharpen my other pencils after I’ve been using them for 7 days (sometimes even longer), 24/7 has to be sharpened after every use.

Overall impression:

 

URBAN DECAY Eyeshadow Primer Potion Review

I have very oily lids and without a primer even the best eyeshadows crease within an hour or two. Before Primer Potion, I used Art Deco eyeshadow base and Clarins Instant Minute with T. LeClerc powder over it. While both Art Deco and Clarins+T. LeClerc are excellent bases during winter, they fail in summer. Primer Potion is the only primer which helps the eyeshadow to stay intact for the whole day.

I even washed my face and the mascara melted, but the eyeshadows still had the same intensity as they did when I first put them.

It takes a really small amount of the Primer Potion spread over the lid and the eyeshadow won’t budge until you take it off with a makeup remover. 

It’s a good value too. I’ve been using the mini Primer Potion for a 9 months and I don’t think I came even close to spending it.

The only drawback is the shape of the packaging and the fact that it makes impossible to use up every last ounce. The good thing is that Urban Decay finally offered a more economical and practical tube packaging.

 

URBAN DECAY Book of Shadows vol.2 Review

If I had to pick the favourite part of my stash, it would definitely be Urban Decay Book of Shadows vol. 2. For a very long time I couldn’t made up my mind whether to purchase it or not, but right now I think it’s the best make-up purchase I’ve made so far. This is definitely the best edition in the Book of Shadows series.

Since this item is discontinued (although you should get one if you manage to find it somewhere) I won’t write a very detailed review. Suffice to say is that this palette is absolutely amazing and it really got me interersted into Urban Decay makeup. The staying power is great, especially with the primer. The texture of the eyeshadows is just as I like it – very soft, almost creamy. They are even better than Sisley eyeshadows, and they are much cheaper.

BOS2 contains 16 eyeshadows (seven of which are exclusive to this palette) – each is 0.03oz/0.8g; two 24/7 eye-pencils in Bourbon (bronze brown) and Zero (black) – each is 0.03oz/0.8g and mini Eyeshadow Primer Potion (0.13fl.oz/3.7ml).  The exclusive shades are AC/DC, Nylon, Mushroom, Sphynx, Jinx, Homegrown and Misdemeanor.

The packaging is cute, but very unpractical. The shadows are in a carboard pull-out drawer which doesn’t slide smoothly. There is also a small booklet which can be found after opening the top cover whith mirror. There are some very good looks, but I wish it included some step-by-step instructions. They claim there that the instructions can be seen on their web-page, so I checked it, but there were instructions for only one of the looks.

The reason I like it so much is that it offers all the right shades and I like them all. Usually, palettes are too neutral, or offer too many unflattering clownish shades. This palette has thes right measure of both: first three rows are practically all neutral nuances, while the last row offers slightly edgy shades. I don’t even have to mention that the pigmentation is amazing, each colour on the skin is true to the colour in the pan.

To sum up: it’s a must-have.