Once known for their beauty with an edge, many of Urban Decay’s recent releases failed to make an impact in the beauty industry. The once trendsetting brand became a slow-moving maker of products that are p erceived as being two steps behind market leaders like Anastasia Beverly Hills. In fact, the Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette is the only release from the brand to make an impact in recent years. But is the 21-pan, travel-inspired Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette worth the hype?
About Urban Decay
Founded in 1996, Urban Decay aimed to fill the grungy and colorful void in the beauty market. With shades inspired by the urban landscape, Urban Decay launched with a line of lipsticks and nail polishes. Despite the brand’s original mission to bring unique, grungy colors to the market, the brand is most well known for its Naked Eyeshadow Palette Collection.
The Naked Collection, which launched in 2010, made Urban Decay the top-selling eyeshadow brand in the US for several years. In fact, the original Naked Palette remains a culturally iconic product for many American beauty fanatics. For many millennials, the Urban Decay Naked palette inspired a love for prestige beauty.
Urban Decay Born to Run Product Claims
According to Urban Decay, the Born to Run Palette offers consumers endless escapes in a travel-ready palette. This palette claims to include a mix of rich jewel tones, brights, and neutrals that promise to provide everything you would need to create a variety of looks. Urban Decay claims that the shadow formula is velvety and rich in texture and color, with impactful pigmentation that stays in place all day.
The Born to Run Eyeshadow palette contains 21 shades in a mix of matte, metallic, shimmer, and satin finishes.
Packaging & Price
The Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette comes in a sturdy, plastic packaging built to survive travel and fit in your suitcase. Despite the compact size, the package feels weighted and high quality.
Travel-inspired photography and postcard imagery plaster the on the outside. Internally, the palette comes with a large, full-size mirror. Also, each shade name is clearly labeled.
The Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette retails for $49.00 but is frequently included in 20-50% off sale promotions. Each pan contains 0.80 grams (total of 16.8 grams), which makes the price per gram $2.92. Thus, the price per gram is actually more affordable.
Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette
Ingredients & Cruelty-Free Status
Urban Decay is 100% Cruelty-Free which means that this palette was not tested on animals. Click here to learn more about what it means to be Cruelty-Free or here to discover inexpensive alternatives.
However, this palette is not vegan. The shades Breakaway, Drift, Hell Ride, Still shot, Stranded, and Wildheart contain Carmine.
Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Swatches
As always, swatches are not a perfect indicator of quality. However, they can provide clues regarding pigmentation and ability to blend. The below swatches of the Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette were done with my finger on my bare arm.
Swatches of the Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette
The majority of the shadows in the Born to Run palette swatched well. However, some of the mattes and one of the shimmers are dry. The dry shades include Still Shot, Hell Ride, Wildheart, and Punk. Of these drier shades, Still Shot was the only surprise. I expected the darker tones to be a drier formula, but not a light pink.
Also, the shimmer shades are not high impact metallics. Instead, the metallics are grungy, muted shades. In particular, Radio and Wildheart appear satin. Within the palette, there are a variety of finishes including matte, metallic, shimmer, and satin.
Matte Shades
- Weekender – light neutral beige matte
- Still Shot – bright peach matte
- Riff – brown-nude matte with floating micro-sparkle
- Good as Gone – deep brown with iridescent micro-shimmer
- Hell Ride – deep fuchsia matte
- Baja – burnt orange matte
- Wildheart – bright fuchsia matte
- Punk – red-brown matte
Metallic Shades
- Blaze – light metallic peach with pink shift
- Accelerate – reddish copper metallic
- Ignite – rose gold metallic
- Double Life – metallic rust
Shimmer/Satin Shades
- Breakaway – warm ivory shimmer
- Stranded – pale rose gold with tonal micro-shimmer
- Guilt Trip – smoky purple shimmer
- Smog – deep coppery bronze shimmer
- Wanderlust – forest green with gold micro-shimmer
- Jet – black with deep shimmering purple shift
- Drift – charcoal satin with tonal micro-sparkle
- Radio – deep emerald satin
- Big Sky – frosted green shimmer with iridescent micro-sparkle
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Palettes included repeat shades in the Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette. Punk, Riff, and Smog are available as singles. Meanwhile, the shade Blaze was originally created for the Urban Decay Beached Palette.
Application & Wear-Time
Despite a few dry shadows, the shadows in the Urban Decay eyeshadow palette apply with ease. Also, the formula is pigmented, and long-lasting.
From an application standpoint, the shimmer and metallic shades apply best with a flat brush. For an amped-up metallic sheen, apply with a finger or with a damp brush.
Meanwhile, the matte shadows blend and build pigmentation easily. For intense pigmentation, particularly with the drier shades, use a dense brush to stamp product into the lids.
In terms of wear-time, the shadows astounded me. After thoroughly testing out every shade in the palette, I experienced no creasing, fading, or transfer when worn over primer. Even on days when I wore my makeup for 12+ hours, these shadows stayed in place!
Shadows used: Weekender, Riff, Punk, Big Sky, and Radio
Demo
First, I worked the shades Weekender and Riff into the crease using a fluffy brush. Then, I stamped Punk into the outer corner. Third, I packed Radio onto the center of the lid. Finally, I worked Big Sky into the inner corner.
The blue-green shades used to create the above look impressed. These colors that typically crease on my oily lids. If you were interested in the Melt BluePrint Stack (full review here), I’d suggest picking up the Urban Decay Born to Run Palette instead.
Where can you buy Urban Decay?
- US: Urban Decay is sold at Macy’s, Nordstrom, Sephora, Ulta, Urban Decay’s online shop
- Canada: Urban Decay is sold at Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Urban Decay’s Online Shop
- UK: Urban Decay is sold at Boots, Selfridges, and Urban Decay’s online shop
Urban Decay’s Beauty JunkieBrand Loyalty program encourages super fans to shop exclusively through Urban Decay’s online shop. Perks include a birthday gift, special access to limited edition launches, exclusive invites to brand events, advance notice to product launches, extended returns, as well as the potential for rewards and free shipping.
Final Thoughts on the Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette
I am genuinely shocked by how much I’ve LOVED the Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette. Not only do I love the color selection, but the performance impressed me.
However, the Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette is NOT a colorful palette for colorful eyeshadow lovers. The Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette is a colorful palette for people who typically wear neutral shadows. Colorful eyeshadow lovers should consider the Born to Run Palette a more expansive neutral eyeshadow palette. The shadows are muted versions of bright colors.
Is this palette rad? Without a doubt, the Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette is one of the best releases Urban Decay has launched in recent years. (P.S. the Naked Honey Palette exceeded my expectations, too). Nevertheless, I recommend waiting until a sale to pick up this palette given how frequently it goes on sale.
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Are you an eyeshadow junkie like I am? Check out my in-depth review of the ColourPop Sweet Talk Palette, Huda Beauty Smokey Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette, Juvia’s Place Nubian Eyeshadow Palette, Milani Cosmetics Soft & Sultry Eyeshadow Palette, or the Persona Cosmetics Identity Palette.
Interested in beauty collections? Check out my review of the ColourPop Disney Villains Collection, the MAC x Disney’s Aladdin Collection, or the ColourPop x ILuvSarahii Collaboration.
Have you purchased anything from Urban Decay Cosmetics or are you interested in the Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.