Thursday 2 September 2010

Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. III NYC

For makeup addicts, there's probably no greater high than getting an overseas package containing gems that have been the subject of much lust on various makeup blogs.

Receiving an abundance of samples from the retailer is always a pleasant surprise :-)

And underneath all that is....

My brand spankin' new Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. III: Urban Decay Hearts New York! News of this palette first broke in the beauty blogosphere back in early June. In the US, 1000 units were sold exclusively at the Sephora in Times Square, New York City on 28 August. It will be available starting 7 September on UrbanDecay.com and on 1 October at other retailers. You can read about the event in New York on Krasey Beauty.

It was also thanks to a beauty blog that I learnt that the palette was available on Debenhams' website in the UK so I quickly begged my brother in the UK to help me (and a friend!) order it. He placed the order on 19 August, received it on 23 August, mailed it off and presto! The palettes popped into my mailbox on 1 September.

Fortunately, everything arrived in perfect condition. The palette costs £30 and normal airmail postage was £9.25, which works out to a total of about S$81 after conversion. Thanks to the weak pound, that is even lower than the S$88 that I paid for the Book of Shadows Vol. II Alice in Wonderland at the Sephora in Singapore back in February! It also compares very well with the retail price of US$54 (about S$72.70) in the US. Once you add in the US sales tax, the difference is very little.

To be honest, I wasn't too big a fan of the NYC pop-up landscape at first because of the various figures which didn't look very classy.

But all changed when I opened up the palette for the first time and fell in love with how the skyscrapers lit up with a soft magical glow. Being a city girl at heart, I've always found citylights to be comforting.


And finally, the pièce de résistance: the sixteen glorious eyeshadows! Compared to Alice in Wonderland, Vol. III is a much more attractive palette to me due to the many green, blue and purple shades. The only repeats between Alice and NYC are Midnight Cowboy Rides Again and Maui Wowie eyeshadows, the Primer Potion and 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil in Zero. It's a pity that the repeated eyeshadows are absolute glitterbombs which I dislike, but other than that, it's still a gorgeous palette.

If you would like to see swatches, I highly recommend Pink Sith. There's still no official word from Sephora Singapore on when/whether this palette will be available in the stores here.

16 comments:

makeupmag said...

Aaaah! I've been lusting after this ever since I saw it on the UD FB page. An *excellent* haul!

Furry Guy! said...

The city scape is sooooo pretty!

shopaholic said...

great purchase! temptalia has great swatches too.

may i know which retailer you ordered from?

thanks a million!

Haru said...

hi,
I mentioned it in the post, my brother helped me order it from Debenhams in the UK :-)

shopaholic said...

oops, thanks.... somehow i missed that paragraph about your brother.

galpal.hi said...

OMG! You got the palette already! Lucky you! I already put my name on the waiting list for it at Sephora a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if they even had a waiting list started at the time. I wasn't too thrilled about the pop up top part of the palette, just interested in the eyeshadows but you make it sound pretty awesome.

*Kat*

astrorainfall said...

Yay to gifts in the mail! I love that too!

scarybunnysuit said...

Oh dear me - I have been following your blog for a little while and it seems rather dangerous (for my purse!).

After seeing this post i rushed out today and ended up going to two different Debenhams but with no avail, so i've just ordered online! Very excited - I love the packaging!

Thanks for the post & loving your blog!

Haru said...

hi,
I'm sure you'll love the palette when it arrives, it's such great value and quality! :-)

Anonymous said...

it will be available in nov (Sephora SG)

FarahDean said...

I don't get all the fussy packaging but the es colours looks like colours I would love.

Alexandra said...

I want it, I need it, I... will never have it :((... Desperate here, lol :D

But nice haul! :)

xoxo

Anonymous said...

May I know which courier did your bro use to ship things here from UK?

Haru said...

Hi,
He didn't use a courier, just sent it by normal airmail through the UK Post Office.

Shaz said...

Hi Iris,
I'm wondering do you know how long can the LED lasts for this BoS? does it lit up well? I've ordered from an online store and I was asked whether i would like to take a damaged LED (not working) at a slightly discounted price. what do you recommend? should i take with or without the light? your opinion is much appreciated. thanks!

Haru said...

hi Shaz,
I don't know how long the LED lights will last. If the lights don't really appeal to you, then I would say take the palette without the lights as the actual makeup products are what are ultimately most useful, rather than the decorative lights which are just nice to look at.