Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Maui Wowie Review

Image via Beautylish

Being a rather fair skinned woman, I instantly digested the notion that warmer colors, like gold, wouldn’t flatter my pinkish, cool-toned complexion. However, this opinion was destroyed when I tried Urban Decay’s Maui Wowie eyeshadow. This is a lovely champagne gold shade with silver glitter, and I was smitten with it instantly. I found it brightened up my eyes nicely, and was very pleasantly surprised that I could pull it off. The shadow went on the lid opaque and pigmented, with a lovely metallic, foiled effect, even without primer. With primer, the color appears a little warmer, and that awesome foiled effect is more pronounced. Also, the glitter stuck onto the lid better than without primer, and the glittery effect was more noticeable as a result.

This shade doesn’t have any powder kickup from the pan when you dip your brush into it, which is nice-the less powdery a shadow is, the less color-crossover there may be if you have this shade in a palette (like I do). This neatness will likely make it a great choice to travel with as well. The glitter didn’t feel large or gritty in this hue; however, without primer, there was noticeable fallout (a moderate amount), as the glitter didn’t quite make it onto the eye. There was no fallout when a primer was used. In either case, though, I found this shade was stiff when it came to blending, despite it applying smoothly and lacking a dry feeling.

I happily achieved 8 hours of awesome wear when I wore this, both with and without primer. However, the unprimed eye did have slight fading around the edges by that point. Having said that, it’s hardly a hassle-the color still looked great and wearable. At 10 hours, there were a few specks of fallout (like 2) when I used a primer, but still no fading. The pigment looked a touch faded without primer at 11 hours, and when used with primer, only the edges were faded by this point. By 15 hours, the color looked sheer without primer, and there was some new fallout, but with primer, the color was only a touch faded, with zero fallout. Incredible!

UD revamped their shadow packaging, but from what I can tell, the individual shadows still come in small, portable, circular plastic containers with a clear window that allows you to see the shade within. The compact size makes these a cinch to store and travel with. And if you’re a magnetic palette fan, the pans pop right out (and can be reinserted later). I’m happy Maui Wowie is one of the few shades that survived UD’s changes to their shadow line, as it is beautiful with remarkable quality and staying power. And it’s still reasonably priced at $18 USD. As always, UD products are cruelty-free; however, their parent company, L’Oreal, benefits from the purchase of Urban Decay products, and they do perform animal testing.

WITH PRIMER:
Color: 5/5
Wear: 5/5
Formula: 5/5
Packaging: 5/5
Price: 5/5
Wow Factor: 5/5
Overall: 5 (A+)

WITHOUT PRIMER:
Color: 5/5
Wear: 5/5
Formula: 4/5
Packaging: 5/5
Price: 5/5
Wow Factor: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.75 (A)

Combined Scores: 4.9 (A+)
Recommend: Yes, absolutely! Maui Wowie is beautiful, different, affordable, long-lasting, smooth, and cruelty-free. It looks beautiful as a tear-duct highlight or as a wash all over the lid. 

Urban Decay products are widely available, from department stores, to specialty shops like Sephora, and online via their own website. medianet_width=’600′; medianet_height= ‘250’; medianet_crid=’228266391′;