I’ve never been a fan of Urban Decay’s 24/7 eye liner pencils.  There, I said it.  So it’s very wierd that I have become hopelessly addicted to their 24/7 eye shadow pencils.  I had always swatched them in-store and thought they were appeared in Sephora, I snapped it up using my 20% VIB discount.

Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Shadow Pencil Stash. I can't lie--the bright blue is what made me buy it.

The set consists of five (5) travel-sized versions of the full sized 24/7 shadow pencils. I would say they are about 2/3rds the size of the full-sized ones. Packaged in a cardboard compartmentalized box in a plastic sleeve, the set consist of three (3) neutral shades and two (2) bright shades. As these are pencils and not classified as a liquid, cream or gel, this flat box it comes in is very handy to toss into your carry-on.  Take that, TSA!

The Neutrals

The darkest neutral shade in the set, Rehab is a semi-matte taupe color.  Very nice to use as an eyeliner or to ‘smoke out’ the edges of a neutral smokey eye.  Juju is the second-darkest shade in this set and is a set-exclusive shade.  It is a frosty taupe that looks very nice on the lid alone, blended with Rehab for a neutral smokey eye or lined with Clash for an intense pop of color. Sin has to be my favorite neutral of this whole bunch. It is a bright, shimmery beige color that is the most perfect thing to highlight the inner corners and browbone of your eyes. The color is shimmery as compared to the glittery annoyance that is Midnight Cowboy, and you can buff it out with either UD’s Good Karma brush or another synthetic fiber blending brush (like e.l.f’s contouring blush from the Studio line) to blend out and tone down the shimmer to your liking.

The Brights

Let’s start with the obvious star of the bunch, Clash.  Clash is a bright turquoise blue that reminds me of those pictures you see in travel magazines of the Caribbean Sea.  It is a very shimmery color and while it packs a punch, if you use a light hand or a blending brush, it can provide a lovely cool wash of color to your eye look.  If you have brown eyes like I do, blues and greens are your BFFs.  Not daring to compete with brightness but instead with an intense dark sparkle, Delinquent is not for the faint of heart.  You can use it for an intense smoky eye look, or a not-quite-black eyeliner.

From top: Clash, Sin, Juju, Rehab, Delinquent (w/ flash)

Thick and thin swatches from top: Clash, Juju, Sin, Rehab, Delinquent (w/ flash)

Without flash from top: Clash, Juju, Sin, Rehab, Delinquent

Color Hack

For comparison I’ve done swatches against some of the 12 hr waterproof eye shadow pencils Sephora has come out with. While the neutral shades appear to look very similar to the 24/7 shadow pencils and cover very well, they just  aren’t as vibrant. UrbanDecay also bests the turquoise and violet Sephora pencils in vibrancy and opacity. Considering Urban Decay’s shadow pencils retail for $19 and Sephora’s retails for $12, if budget is an issue and you couldn’t get your hands on this set you can pull off a good color hack with Sephora eye shadow pencils.

As compared to the Sephora neutral shades, Urban Decay’s 24/7 shadow pencils go on smoother and offer more opaque coverage in fewer passes than the Sephora ones do. My only gripe is that this set doesn’t include the crazy gorgeous green Clinic or the reminiscent of the 80’s Morphine. If I had my druthers I would have gotten rid of Juju (it’s too close to Rehab in my opinion).

From top: UD Sin, Sephora Beige, UD Juju, Sephora Brown (w/ flash)

From top: Sephora Turquoise, UD Clash, Sephora Violet, UD Delinquent (no flash)

Brown Girl Notes

Another quality I look for is opacity when it comes to shadow pencils. It is easy for a shadow to cover fair to medium skin. It isn’t as easy when it comes to dark skin because the pigmentation needs to be heavier and that usually translates into a higher price. All five (5) of the 24/7 shadow pencils built up opacity very quickly with very few passes. Even when blended out the color still retains its vibrancy on my lids.

Smokey look w/ UD's 24/7 shadow pencils in Sin (inner lid & highlight), Juju (whole lid) and Rehab (blended in outer lid). Lipstick is Guerlain Rouge Automatique in Rose Bengale

Eyes lined with UD 24/7 shadow pencil in Clash. Lipstick is Chanel Rouge Allure Satin in 'Enviree' w/ Chanel Bagatelle glossimer (Spring 2012)

End-of-Line Recommendation

While the set is definitely a better deal than the single pencils ($7 compared to $12.56 for 2/3rds of the full sized price), the real value comes from the neutral shaded ones (Juju, Rehab, Clinic). While I believe these colors look best on cooler-toned skins, they are gorgeous enough to enhance all skin tones. Toss in the pretty violet purple and turquoise pencils and you have a set that is very versatile and ready to go jet-setting when you are. As of this writing, these sets are available at UrbanDecay.com, Sephora.com and Beauty.com.

Eyes 'smoked' with UD 24/7 shadow pencil in Rehab, lined with Delinquent. Lips in Chanel Rouge Allure Satin in Famous & Rouge Allure Laqcque in Triomphal (Christmas 2011)