Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 3 Redux

I got my Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol 3 about two years, when it was first released.  This is the volume of the Book of Shadows that was inspired by New York City and I believe that there was a special release of it on Fashion Night Out in 2010 and then it was later released with the holiday collection from that year.  If my memory serves me correctly, this was one of the best selling Book of Shadows and sold out several times during the season.  In fact, it became so hard to find at one point that I had given up trying to find it at Sephora and one of my friends was able to find it for me at a Macy's close to Boston.  I have been using this palette pretty regularly ever since and this is one of my favorite Urban Decay palettes (with the exception of the Naked palettes).  When I saw in my email that Urban Decay was releasing a limited edition, new version of this palette, I can honestly say that I was a bit confused...are the eye shadows still the old formula and is the palette any different? 

As of right now, the palette is only available on the Urban Decay website so I have pulled all product information and shades from this website.  "A limited edition remix of our NYC palette, this ode to the Big Apple features 16 gorgeous shadows and cool pop-up display that lights up when you open it.  Urban Decay hearts NYC and we want the whole world to know.  So a little while back, we created a palette to profess our undying love for our Easy Coast home away from home.  Now this popular palette is back (with a NEW LOW PRICE, some shade changes and a few other tweaks) - but only for a limited time.  Pull out the drawer to reveal 16 amazing Eye Shadow shades, from versatile neutral hues and smoky eye essentials to bold, attention-grabbing brights.  You also get a travel-size Eye Shadow Primer Potion (for crease-free color that lasts for 24 hours) and a travel-size 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in our best-selling, award-winning zealous black.  Of course, no ode to NYc would be complete without a tribute to its glimmering lights and iconic landmarks, so we topped it all off with a pop-up, light-up collage of the city that never sleeps.  Whether you didn't get this one the first time around or you never miss a single Urban Decay palette release, snap up this specially priced set before it's all sold out - cause once it's gone, it's gone for good."

All of the shades are the Vintage Eye Shadow formula, you willnot find any of the new eye shadows in this palette.  Urban Decay did change some of the shade choices for this release so first we will review what the original 16 shades were and then see what the differences are.

The original 16 shades of eye shadows in the first palette (the one I have)...

- Bordello - purpley pink with gold shift
- Kush - bright green
- Loaded - deep emerald/black
- Money - silvery pale green
- Radium - bright blue
- Rockstar - deep eggplant with metallic base
- Suspect - oyster with dimensional shift
- Haight - shimmering mermaid blue
- Psychadelic Sister - purple amethyst
- Snatch - peachy pink with glitter
- Last Call - plum punch
- Maui Wowie - meidum gold with silver glitter
- Midnight Cowboy Rides Again - golden beige with bronze, gold, and silver glitter
- Smog - deep coppery bronze
- Perversion - matte jet black
- Uzi - metallic silver with big iridescent sparkles

I am willing to bet that when some of these shades were discontinued, Urban Decay couldn't put them in this new palette so that is why there are some shade substitutions.  I also see that the new version has one less eyeliner, my box has both the Zero liner and the Ransom (bright purple) shades and the new version only contains a black hue. 

Here are the eye shadows that are in the new box...

- Oil Slick - black matte with silver micro-glitter
- Uzi - metallic silver with big iridescent sparkles
- Stray Dog - cool ash brown metallic
- Mildew - mossy green shimmer with gold shift
- Midnight Cowboy Rides Again - golden beige with bronze, gold, and silver glitter
- SWF - pale cotton candy pink shimmer with silver micro-glitter
- Last Call - plum metallic
- Rockstar - deep eggplant with metallic base
- Haight - shimmering mermaid blue
- Maui Wowie - medium gold with silver glitter
- Aquarius - aqua green shimmer
- Smog - deep coppery bronze
- Goddess - deep smoky blue with aqua micro-glitter
- Sin - champage shimmer
- YDK - cool bronze shimmer
- Ecstasy - bright purple shimmer with slight pink shift

After reviewing the shades, it appears that Urban Decay took the limited edition shades from the first palette out and replaced them with permanents from the Vintage range.  There would be nothing wrong with this if I didn't already own the palette, I have no need to buy another version of this palette.  I like the shades better in the second one, it seems like there are a few more neutral shades instead of all the brights that were found in the original but I wouldn't rebuy this palette again just to get these shades (I can already see one that I have in one of the Naked palettes). 

This palette is only worth buying if you missed it the first time around, there is no reason to own two of these palettes even though some of the shades have changed.  I already own some of the "new" shades from other palettes and I don't need more of them.  This is a great palette but if you have a few Urban Decay palettes already then you don't need to buy this one.  I haven't quite figured out why Urban Decay is doing this re-release...

photo courtesy of Urban Decay