Archived Post

Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012) Review, Photos, Swatches


Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012)

What’s That Dangerous Glint in Your Eyes?

Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012) ($36.00 for 0.18 oz.) includes six eyeshadows: Gravity (deep violet with multi-colored micro-glitter), Loaded (deep metallic emerald), Evidence (deep navy blue), Deeper (metallic dark brown with bronze pearl), Mushroom (warm pale grey), and Ace (deep grey/blue shimmer) and one Lip Junkie in Naked (pinky neutral).

Gravity is a subdued purple with a hint of smokiness and silver micro-glitter. It was soft, fairly smooth, and had decent to good color payoff–just slightly under-pigmented (relative to the rest of the shades). I experienced just a minute amount of fall out while it wore. Urban Decay Freakshow has a stronger redder undertone. MAC Highly Charged doesn’t have a strong red undertone, but it is there. MAC Drawn to Drama is cooler-toned. Urban Decay Rockstar is smokier, more subdued, less purple. Lancome Perpetual Purple is a bit more vibrant. Estee lauder Cyber Lilac is similar. theBalm lavish Latoya is grayer.

Loaded is a deep forest green with a hint of teal and brown undertones. The color payoff is excellent (almost to the point where a little goes a long way!) with a soft, smooth texture. Bare Escentuals Max Volume is a bit lighter and greener. OCC Poison is greener. theBalm Jealous Jordana is less intense, slightly greener.

Evidence is a medium-dark navy blue with a metallic sheen. It had decent to good color payoff, but it was a little dry compared to the other shades. This is part of the permanent range. It’s similar to a host of blues: Tom Ford Cobalt Rush, Bare Escentuals Climax, MAC Thru the Night, Wet ‘n’ Wild Earth Looks Small From Down Here, and Inglot #428–just to name a few.

Deeper is a dark, chocolate bronze with a lighter bronze shimmer-sheen. It had good color payoff with a soft, smooth texture. This shade felt a smidgen powdery. NARS Paramaribo is more golden. MAC Venetian Tarnish is similar but a cream formula. Urban Decay Snakebite has less of a bronze sheen. MAC Tempting is just slightly lighter. MAC Bronze has a stronger orange undertone.

Mushroom is a gray-brown–it’s a very intense taupe. It had good color payoff, and a really soft, dense texture. This is part of the permanent range. MAC Keep Your Cool is more muted. Chanel Illusoire is less brown.

Ace is a dark charcoal gray with a hint of blue shimmer. It had good color payoff and applied smoothly and evenly. Urban Decay Asphalt is similar but a smidgen grayer and lighter. Tarina Tarantino Silver Shoes is lighter. Bobbi Brown Gunmetal is extremely similar. Make Up For Ever #1 is similar. Urban Decay Gunmetal is a little frostier.

Naked is rosy light-medium brown with soft pink shimmer. It’s semi-sheer and emphasizes natural pink tones in the lips while adding subtle warmth and shimmer. Chanel Troublant is darker, plummier.  This shade wore for three hours when I tested it.

Last year’s Dangerous Palette included Haight, Mildew, Virgin, Oil Slick, Rockstar, and Gunmetal, plus it came with an eyeliner and primer potion. It had a total value of $80.83 and retailed for $34. This year’s palette six 0.03 oz. eyeshadows and a 0.11 fl. oz. Lip Junkie. The value of this year’s palette is $64.80 worth of eyeshadow and $6.15 worth of gloss, which results in a total value of $70.95. The palettes don’t really seem similar to me; there’s no highlighter shade in this one, and it’s generally darker, smokier. It is, however, similar to Urban Decay’s Smoked Palette–given that Smoked is $49 but contains 10 eyeshadows (plus a full-sized Perversion eyeliner), I’d probably opt for that one instead. It has three overlapping shades: Loaded, Evidence, and Mushroom, while Barlust will work as the bronze hue, Rockstar as a purple, and Asphalt for a gray.

Of the three palettes, I think this one is the least worth getting while the Smoked palette is around. You just get so much more (almost double the eyeshadow, plus the eyeliner) for $13 more.  The quality is absolutely there; the shades are soft, smooth, and pigmented across the board.  Gravity was the “least” pigmented with decent to good color payoff and did have minor, but noticeable, glitter fall out while worn.


Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012)


Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012)


Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012)


Urban Decay Dangerous Eyeshadow Palette (2012)


Urban Decay Gravity Eyeshadow


Urban Decay Loaded Eyeshadow


Urban Decay Evidence Eyeshadow


Urban Decay Deeper Eyeshadow


Urban Decay Mushroom Eyeshadow


Urban Decay Ace Eyeshadow


Urban Decay Naked Lip Junkie


Urban Decay Naked Lip Junkie


Urban Decay Naked Lip Junkie


Urban Decay Naked Lip Junkie


Urban Decay Dangerous Palette Look: Mushroom (inner lid), Ace (outer lid),
Evidence (crease), Loaded (crease), Skimp (browbone), Mushroom Eyeliner (8 Hours of Wear)


Urban Decay Dangerous Palette Look: Mushroom (inner lid), Ace (outer lid),
Evidence (crease), Loaded (crease), Skimp (browbone), Mushroom Eyeliner (8 Hours of Wear)

46 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
K.C. Avatar

The colors are so pretty! I think you mixed up Mushroom and Deeper, though. Not to be a jerkface, just thought you would want to know! 🙂

slick Avatar

WOW Christine, UD totally needs to put your looks for these palettes on the back of the box! Stunning! Love how you used all the shades for the looks…amazing!

Lauren Avatar

Same here. I have 3 of these shades from the 15th anniversary palette plus I have Mushroom in a single.

But… I actually think I like singles better than palettes. I find that I hardly ever use my palettes when I can just reach for my favorite singles.

Kafka Avatar

Oh dear. *sigh* I really like this. I don’t WANT to like it. I need more eyeshadows like a hole in the head. But I missed the 15th Anniversary palette and I *MUCH* prefer this to the Smoked one; it’s darker and, for me, anything brown, nude or peachy is a bit pointless. Ah, Greys & Purples….. my 2 favorite colours. Although I already have Loaded, having it in a palette would be convenient for trips since it has all my traditional shades. I’ve wanted Evidence for a while. Gravity is pretty. As for Ace, I see more brown undertones than blue. I wish it were Gunmetal instead, though the fact that Ace is not as frosty might be better for me.

I love the look you did on your eye. Is that pink there in the full face photo near your brow bone the Fishnet? Hm. Please don’t make me want another palette as well. Oh dear. 😉

xamyx Avatar

@ Kafka You may be able to find Fishnet as a Deluxe Shadow single on Ebay or something. It seems UD has Fishnet as a regular single in the new formula, but since the Deluxe Shadows have been DCd, they may show up somewhere. BTW, the formula, IMO, of the Deluxe Shadows is very similar to the new formula. HTH

Kafka Avatar

Good suggestion, Amy, but now I’m confused. If the old Deluxe version is like the new version, wouldn’t it just be easier to get the new version of Fishnet on eBay? It’s been an exhausting day, so forgive me if that’s what you meant and I’m just too tired to process things. 🙂

Mariella Avatar

I do love this palette but, again, I’ve got 5 of the 6 shadows already, though it would be nice to have them all in one convenient place. Beautiful collection, though, for someone like me who loves neutrals with the occasional blaze of colour.

Laura Avatar

I’ll be skipping this because I own all the colours, but Mushroom and Loaded are two of my favourite UD shades 🙂 Did you find that Gravity was noticeably better here than in the BOS 4?

Phyrra Avatar

I just adore Gravity! It was one of the first colors i picked up in the new formula.
I really love Deeper. I just need to figure out what to pair it with to wear it.
I like Mushroom, but wow do you see it everywhere.
Ace is a cool color!

I really love the look you came up with, using evidence in the crease and Ace on the outer lid.

Crystal Avatar

This looks nice – but I will pass because I feel like the “Smoked” palette is all the color I need (I’m a neutrals gal)… but I had to comment on your full face photo – you look STUNNING! Your makeup is absolute perfection!

Jasmine Avatar

Compared to your review of the 15th anniversary palette, the shade ‘Deeper’ looks lighter here than in the 15th anniversary one. Is that just lighting or are they really different? I was hoping it was the same–it would be the sole reason I’d buy this palette!

Marianna Avatar

Hi Christine,
I’m from Italy and I’m a fan of yours.
I’ve a question: I actually possess the BoS IV, the Naked I, the 15th Anniversary and the Sustainable palettes, so I already have Ace, Deeper, Gravity and Evidence in my staple, but it could be nice for me to get all them collected togheter with other lovely shades like Mushroom and Loaded. I like the Smoked palette, but it happens that I often get disappointed with UD highlighting colors (to sheer and chulky for my tastes), so I was thinking to prefere the Dangerous 2012 to the Smoked. Do you think it would be a waste of money?
I’m not always in love with my BoS IV and I wouldn’t have another palette I dislike, honestly… I’m sure you understand!
I wait for your answer. Many thanks!

Marianna

Jenna Avatar

Christine, I love how your provide a mini eye look tutorial at the end of each eyeshadow palette review. Helps get the creativity flowing…for those of us who have trouble coming up with creative eye looks.:) Keep it up.:)

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!