Review: Urban Decay The Ammo Shadow Box (Original)

This was my very first makeup palette. Ever. It was also my first Urban Decay product. This is the original formula, as Urban Decay reformulated their eye shadows last year (or was it in 2011?) and has revamped the Ammo palette and gotten rid of some others. It's actually, in all honestly, one of my favorite palettes. I used it pretty frequently, as you can see from the photos haha.

I carried this palette with me everyday that I used it (and some days when I didn't use it because I didn't have a mirror). It has been with me since I was about 15 or 16, so I've had it for 4-5 years. Not sure when it was released, since I didn't actively follow makeup very much. Sure, I saw lots of pretty ads for products but never really had an active interest. Obviously that changed!

Look at that wear! Jeez!

This is what the flocking used to look like on the front.

God I hate old myself. I didn't know what primer was, so everything creased, smudged or otherwise was messy. I use to use a MAX Factor mascara, the double-ended ones with basic black on one end and the other was colored. I bought it for my first Homecoming dance. Not the greatest night/time of my life. I also used a mineral foundation and didn't know what moisturizer was. Combination-dry/oily skin, stripped of any oil from face wash and then had mineral foundation put on it. UGH. So many dry patches... Clearly I've learned a lot since then. Thankfully. Would rather not walk around all the time with dry patches and such.

Butterflies, skulls, caterpillars, flowers, hearts... So much stuff

Enough ranting now. If I recall correctly, this palette can in a small plastic box with the palette set into a plastic purple tray that had matching purple velvet flocking-like stuff on it. There was the usual "shadow example" card in it that shows you what colors are inside your new palette. Mine has clearly become rather faded and the flocking on the cover has been worn away but you can still make out details on it. Skulls, animals, mushrooms. A gun shooting these. The palette itself is cardboard but its sturdy cardboard with a nicely sized mirror surrounded by metallic purple designs. I loved this one and the Deluxe palette; I had put both on my Christmas list, because I would be happy with either one. To make it easier on my mom, I added photos of both palettes to my list and got the Ammo Palette.

Not sure why the front of the old palette is white when mine is purple foil like the inside around the mirror.
(Source: UrbanDecay.com)

Since the reformulation (and repackaging) of these, there's less fall out. The palette has lots of glittery shades, as this was before Urban Decay became more *cough* mature. If you look at my palette, you'll notice something is VERY wrong. Two shades are actually switched. Yes, switched. Sin and Grifter. For the longest time, I thought Grifter (that glittery lavender) was actually Sin (the pink champagne-gold color). When I started looking at blogs, I saw pictures of Sin and got very confused. Oh well. I didn't want to switch them and make it proper for fear of damaging the palette (I'm STILL scared to do so!).

Where it says Sin? Yeah, that's actually Grifter. I used Maui Wowie TONS. You can also almost see the hole in Polyester Bride.

You can only slightly see the hole I wore into Sin (where it says Grifter) as well as Last Call.

While I haven't used all the shades, you can see the ones I had a huge amount of love for: Last Call, Maui Wowie, Polyester Bride and Sin. Maui Wowie is actually a shade I use when I don't want to use a lot of product, because its so simple on the eyes with some mascara. These do produce a lot of glittery fallout, but as I said, this is the palette in the original formula. If you prep with some sticky primer, such as Too Faced's Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue, my favorite primer to use for applying glitter and glitter-laden shadows then fallout shouldn't be a problem. It really hold glitter in place! You might have a few specks of fallout though, but overall, it won't be all over your face like a disco ball. I'm not sure if the reformulated & repackaged palette still has loads of fallout, but other glittery shades from Urban Decay recently haven't had much fallout. It might be near nonexistent altogether! And since I've never used Lit or Eye Kandy, I can't comment on them. I really want to try out Lit though! Stunning glitters. I've also never used any other primers for glitter-application on the eyes. These swatches don't use primer. I was too lazy to take it out and with 10 shades, that would be double swatches. 20 swatches of eyeshadow: one with primer, one without. many still look good without the primer, but they really pop with primer!

Top row of palette. L to R: Smog, Mildew, Oil Slick, Last Call, Chopper

Bottom row, opposite direction of top. L to R: Grifter (mislabeled Sin), Sin (mislabeled Grifter), Polyester Bride, Shattered, Maui Wowie. It is really hard to swatch on my right arm with my left hand and take a picture!

If you're interested, the reformulated & repackaged palette that now comes with a brush rather than a double-ended sponge applicator, called The Ammo Palette, is still available for $34 at UrbanDecay.com, Ulta and Sephora. The original "Shadow Box" version is also available on sale at UrbanDecay.com for $19.00 (originally $36).

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