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Urban Decay Wende’s Contraband Palette

Urban Decay Wende's Contraband Palette Review Swatches Video

Hi! Today I’ve got the Urban Decay Wende’s Contraband Palette review to share with you. This is a limited edition palette available from Sephora for $34. It comes with 6 eyeshadows that are .03 oz each and 1 travel size Zero (black) pencil.

Urban Decay Wende’s Contraband Palette


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Where to Buy
Sephora

I swatched this on clean skin that I had moisturized with coconut oil. I did not use eyeshadow primer. I used bdellium 777 brushes to swatch the 6 shades. I was curious to see how pigmented the shades were without eyeshadow primer, though I would never wear these without primer since I have oily, hooded lids.

Urban Decay Wende's Contraband Palette Review Swatches Video

Urban Decay Wende's Contraband Palette Review Swatches Video

Urban Decay Wende's Contraband Palette Review Swatches Video
Zero
Black pencil

Urban Decay Deep End Swatch

Deep End
pretty teal blue shimmer. I love this color to bits.

Urban Decay Trick Swatch

Trick
pinky orange rose gold metallic shimmer, was missing the sparkle from the Naked 3

Urban Decay Flash Swatch

Flash
sheer iridescent purple. This one will need to be built up. It was the most sheer one in the palette.

Urban DecayTornado Swatch

Tornado
dusty deep smoky purple, looks different, less intense, than the oz palette

Urban Decay Smog Swatch

Smog
smoky copper on a bronzey brown base with hints of gold. The most pigmented one in the set. I love to use this color over a black base.

Urban Decay Reign Swatch

Reign
dark warm brown satin

Urban Decay Wende's Contraband Palette Review Swatches Video

I absolutely love this oil slick packaging. It’s super gorgeous. The palette is lightweight, but larger than my Naked Basics palette.

I didn’t experience fallout during application. Both Flash and Tornado seemed to have a sort of dusty quality to them that I don’t think my eyeshadow singles have. Trick seemed to be like a different color than the one in the Naked 3 set, since it lacked the micro-gitter.

The reason I bought this palette is that I want to encourage Urban Decay to make more ‘bright’ palettes, and originally I thought this was going to be brighter. I know this is supposed to be Wende’s go-to shades, which is probably why we see Smog in it, since I believe that’s a favorite of hers. However, I wish the formula was identical to the eyeshadow singles formula, as a few of the shades, to me, just feel different. Both of the purples really disappointed me and they’re a big chunk of WHY I bought this palette. Thankfully Deep End performs nicely.

Since this palette is so small, it would be easy to travel with this and the Naked Basics palette, which is my most used Urban Decay palette. I wouldn’t pack just this palette on its own without a few mattes.

Overall, I don’t regret buying the palette because I definitely believe in voting with my dollar and I want to see more bright palettes. However, if you’re thinking of buying this palette be aware that the two purple shades don’t perform as well as I think they should. The other shades do perform nicely.

What do you think of the UD Wende’s Contraband Palette?

42 Comments

  1. Hmmm. I was gonna nab this on sale just now but the purples are making me want to cry! *^* I have the Glinda Palette so I have Tornado already. It doesn’t have as much purple-oomph in this palette (if that makes any sense). Like, I don’t feel the purple. I also have Naked1, Get Baked, & BoS1 and ALL OF THEM have Smog, hehe. Smog is great but I don’t need a forth one, lol. I have Naked3 and wow Trick in this palette…it looks…off.

    So having half of the shades already…

    That leaves Flash (it should be against the law for UD to make a poorly performing purple!). *^* Reign is really nice and probably has excellent quality but…more brown. My stash has enough brown already. For me to excited over brown it would have to have like, crazy duochrome or something. DEEP END IS STUNNING OHMAGAH. Haha, I want to get this palette just for Deep End bc IT’S SO GORGEOUS!!! DAYUM.

    Oh well…this one is a skip for me even though the packaging is really beautiful because there is literally only one shade I’d want (and don’t already own): DEEP END.

    I WANT MORE COLOR, UD! SERIOUSLY. PLEASE.

    Here’s an idea… PURPLE is UD’s signature color, right?

    Can we get an ALL PURPLE PALETTE, UD?
    – Call it “The Signature Palette”.
    – Give it epic purple packaging.
    – Put it in a beautiful purple box.
    – Include a double-ended purple brush (or a purple pencil).
    – And nothing but PURPLE eye shadows in the palette. NOTHING BUT PURPLE.
    – Give us mattes, shimmers, satins, metallics – a solid variety of finishes.
    – Be sure to give the palette a proper distribution of light shades, light-to medium shades, BRIGHT ASS SHADES (a minimum of 5 BRIGHT ASS PURPLES), mid-tones, and a few dark shades.
    – Notes:
    – I don’t want Purple Smoked.
    – I don’t want shades that kinda maybe look like purple.
    – I want “The Signature Palette”.
    – I want PURPLE.

    ^my dream UD palette in way too much detail, hehehe! XD

    Oh man just seeing you guys talkin about how UD needs to do more colorful bright palettes made me go off a bit there so please excuse my rant/idea/love of purple. XD I’d buy a palette of 20 purples in a heartbeat though…just sayin.

  2. I’m with you – I will purchase it solely to let UD know they need to make more bright palettes and more bright shades (which was what put them on the map in the first place.) I also went to the UD flagship store in Newport Beach last week while I was in CA and let them know this as well. Good news is that they UD is opening 20 new stores nationwide next year. Bad news: I don’t think Nashville is on the list.

      1. I think I would be happy if they opened one in Atlanta (which is probably likely); it’s not as if I never go to Atlanta on a semi-regular basis. 🙂

  3. The shades swatch differently than I expected, but they’re great shades. I’d pick this up.

  4. I am so glad that I saw your review before I bought this palette. I have enough similar UD shadows that I can pass on this one. Saving my pennies for the Naked Smokey.

  5. Love the deep end colour, but I think the inclusion of both smog and reign are one too many browns. Now an olive or a blue would have me interested. Still, it’s a lovely palette and it’s nice to see some bright ones as well.

  6. Your swatches look great. I ordered mine and it’s on the way. I’ve read on a few blogs that the purples weren’t up to snuff, which pains me, but I’m sure I can work with them. Over the right color bases, I’m sure they’ll work. I like the other shades a lot (though like you, I’ll never run out of Smog), and it’s good to have a back up for Deep End. I want to support UD putting out bright palettes, too. It was so nice to see brights come out for summer with the blushes, glosses, and shadow singles. Now we get these brights, so I’m casting my vote.

      1. I’m glad the palette came out before you replaced Deep End with a single. Money saved. It’s such a pretty blue, too.

        My palette arrived yesterday afternoon. I agree about the purples. At least they could be built up to resemble the originals. I got Tornado to blend OK; it’s just more work than the Glinda version. It’s still nice to have a backup, even if it’s a little subpar.

          1. A lot of companies seem to have better singles than palettes versions, it seems. It makes no sense to me. You’d think they’d all be made the same way, just put in different packaging.

  7. These look extremely pigmented without a primer. I love the shade of Flash, it’s too bad it’s not what you wanted it to be.

  8. I think I have most of these shades in other palettes, but I like to have them all together in one when I am doing a look. I love UD and always buy their palettes especially the brights. I think me and you are voting for the same palettes 😉

  9. Gorgeous palette, and yes fabulous swatches (especially since I just took photos of swatches that are just awful. now I’m even more embarrassed!)

  10. What an absolutely stunning palette! Your swatches, as always, are exquisite!

  11. The palette is absolutely beautiful! I bought the Naked 2 palette a while back, which was my first UD palette purchase and something I noticed is that there are certain shades within the palette I hardly ever reach for. With this palette, although some of the shades are definitely more unique colors that the Naked palettes, I could totally see myself using all of them quite a bit.

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