Thoughts on the new Urban Decay pick-your-own palette

I have some very mixed feelings on Urban Decay's offerings, and definitely would not call myself a superfan by any stretch. They say they're cruelty free, but still use animal ingredients. I'm not vegan or an animal-rights activist or anything, but I would like "cruelty free" to be a useful shorthand for "you can use all of our products without scouring our ingredients lists for beeswax."

But enough whining. Palettes, in any brand, often have that product or three that you know you just won't ever use, even if the rest of the palette is a fabulous deal. And Urban Decay is really well known for having quality shadows, which they've recently reformulated!

So, in theory, being able to easily make your own palette of the Urban Decay shadows of your choosing sounds great. I set to thinking about which shades I'd like in mine. I even went to Sephora and swatched the palette I'd build myself (mushroom, mildew, pistol, last call, and freelove or X). Swatches are over Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and the shot is taken in full sunlight. They are beautiful, and the colors are ideal for my warm-toned but pale skin and my blue eyes.

Then, I started doing math. The palette, which comes with Walk of Shame, is $18. Each additional shadow is $18 a pop. There is space in the palette for five additional shadows. 6x18=108. That means that you pay over a hundred dollars for the palette. The palette itself takes up more space than six individual shadows would, and then there's the question of what to do with the perfectly good packaging you'd be left with.

I really, really wish that Urban Decay had offered shadows in pans only without a compact and with a discount for saving packaging. It's an extremely wasteful way to do this. Clearly, this is all a ploy to get us to start shelling out for individual shadows instead of buying palettes.

I'm going to pass on this.