Swatches - Urban Decay summer 2016 collection // afterglow highlighters, beached bronzer, & 24/7 pencils

Today I have quick swatches to share of the Urban Decay summer 2016 collection. These just came in to my local Ulta store, so I wanted to get swatches up fast. As you can tell by the photos, I decided to swatch before purchasing so I wouldn't be impulsive. FOMO is a real thing with limited edition / seasonal collections, so do your research first to consider if the item really is what you are looking for and if it will work with your skin.

Beached bronzer

Urban Decay's beached bronzer comes in 2 shades - sun kissed and bronzed. Both are matte and feel very silky smooth. The texture in the pan reminds me of the smooth texture of Benefit Hoola, but more silky than buttery. The powders feel harder pressed than Hoola but a looser texture than the Too Faced chocolate line. Sun kissed is more pink, lighter and less pigmented than Bronzed. Bronzed is darker and more yellow and reminds me of a less pigmented and dense Hoola. Both swatches below are several swipes with my finger to show the difference in color between the two.

I love the texture and compact of both bronzers, but I'm not planning to purchase because the tones aren't going to be flattering on my fair, cool-neutral toned skin.

Afterglow highlighter

The Urban Decay afterglow highlighter is in the same packaging as their afterglow blushes and comes in 3 shades - Sin, Fireball, and Aura. Of the three, Sin is the most metallic and Fireball is the least metallic. Each shade felt soft and creamy, and the texture felt on par with other highlighters in the same price bracket.

Sin the highlighter is more yellow-golden than Sin the eyeshadow and was surprisingly metallic. As you can see in the swatches, Sin looks more champagne beige in indirect light and flashes metallic light gold in direct light. I think this shade would be a good choice for someone who wants a highlight with some bling factor and doesn't have a lot of texture on the cheeks.


Fireball is the darkest and most subtle in finish of the three afterglow highlighters. Fireball has a beautiful warm glow in indrect light and a magenta pink flash in direct light. I love the duochrome complexity in the shade and I think the finish of Fireball will be the most forgiving for those with pores or cheek texture.

Aura is an icy light pink that leans silvery pink in direct light. The finish is standard for a powder highlighter and is less metallic than Sin but more shimmery than Fireball. Aura is an interesting, unique shade but is going to be a tricky one for most people to wear. I think Aura would be a good choice for fair, cool toned skin. I would bet Aura would go ashy very quickly on those with deeper skin and would clash with warmer undertones.

24/7 eyeliner pencils

The Urban Decay summer 2016 collection also has two eyeliner pencils - the 24/7 waterline eye pencil in Walk of Shame and the 24/7 glide on eye pencil in Heartless.

Walk of Shame the eyeliner pencil is darker and more yellow than the Walk of Shame eyeshadow. On my skin, the Walk of Shame waterline pencil is too dark and too yellow to be a true "nude" shade, but I think light-medium skin would like the color. The swatch set quickly on my hand to a budgeproof finish, but did oxidize a shade deeper and warmer over about 30 minutes.

Heartless is a smooth metallic cool toned lilac pink eyeliner pencil. The cool toned pink shade combined with the bright metallic finish and lilac flash is going to be a tricky color for most people to wear. I think it could be brightening and lift the eye if used correctly, but it is too out of my comfort zone for everyday wear for me. The swatch set nicely (felt like it set much better than my 24/7 perversion black eyeliner) but was easier to remove than the WOS waterline pencil.

Out of the whole collection, the item I am most interested in is the Aura afterglow highlighter. I think the highlighters will be the most popular, but all of the items I swatched and played with felt nice. The bronzers and eyeliner pencils are good ideas, but none of the shades are right for me.

I hope these swatches were helpful & leave me a comment if you have tried anything from this collection! I would love to know how these worked for you.