So a couple of months ago Urban Decay announced they were launching their Vice lipstick in 100 shades, plus 20 Sephora-exclusive shades. Of course, each retailer would only carry 100, so that meant Sephora would be missing 20 colors… Look, if your lipstick launch is so big that a retailer can just drop 20 shades, maybe it’s TOO big?
There are some nice, unique shades in the launch, but there’s also a lot of colors that are almost identical to each other! I really think that if you’re like “Ok, I want this one weird color” you’ll be fine, but if you’re like “I want a red lipstick” and you go to the Vice display, you’re going to get overwhelmed by choice and get decision paralysis. Do you want a creamy red? a metallic red? a matte red? Ok, ultra matte or comfort matte? It’s too much. I guess they’re counting on people to go overboard and buy too many lipsticks, but I already have too many lipsticks, so I’m not getting sucked in!
I did decide to buy just one, because the color Big Bang was SO SPARKLY. I’m pretty bored of the matte lip trend so when I see something glittery for the lips I get excited. I was a little worried that Big Bang would end up being a little too Malibu Barbie though…
The Vice lipsticks come in a bullet that looks like, well, a bullet. Golden bottom and gunmetal casing. Not gonna lie, I kind of like it. Apparently it’s a throwback to the old school Urban Decay packaging back when the company was all cool and grungy. The outer shell and inner casing both say Urban Decay, and the lipstick itself is a nice classic shape, as opposed to the cut at a flat angle shape of the Revolution lipsticks.
Big Bang applied pretty easily. I could feel the grit of the glitter as I was applying it, but once it was on it settled down comfortably. I would like the color to be a little more opaque and intense — I suspect it might look better if I put down a hot pink liner all over the lip first. But it sure delivers on the glitter! This is the sparkliest of the Metallicized finish from the Vice launch. If they were all this sparkly, I would buy them all.
I ordered Big Bang when I did because Sephora was running a special where you could get this sample card of 24 Vice colors. It’s a cute concept, each color is in its own little blister like a pill, which makes it really easy to try them. I tried out Conspiracy for the Metallic day for the 10 Day “Every Day is Gig Day” makeup challenge and it was easy to apply with a lip brush. I do wish they had put in a few more of the unusual colors, but I appreciate that there are a few choices from each finish.
Anyway, I’ve been wearing Big Bang for about 5 hours now, I danced a lot and I ate and drank. Most recently I just had a milkshake, so a lot of the color came off on the straw… But it’s still going strong around the edges. It hasn’t left my lips feeling dry, so I think this is a pretty good one for all-night gigs. You might have to touch it up but it won’t torture your lips.
If you want to know more about the Vice range, and see reviews for every color, Temptalia was sent the vault of all 120 colors and she reviewed every. single. one. I like her because she actually tries them all on her lips, instead of just doing arm swatches, and she tends to be pretty honest in her reviews.
Oh, and speaking of trying on lips, Urban Decay has a Vice app that you can use to try on every color, virtually. It’s a cute app, and it does a good job of knowing where your lips are and applying the color, but for both Conspiracy and Big Bang it showed the colors more intensely than they applied in real life, so I don’t think it’s completely accurate. Still, it’s a fun way to see how you would look in purple or blue lipstick, and you can save the pics and send to your friends or share on social media.