Sunday, April 1, 2012

Retro Sunday Squared with Polished Claws Up- Vintage Urban Decay

Hey you guys!!! Today's post is going to be uber quick because I'm currently working on baking/frosting about a million different kinds of cupcakes (and homemade ice cream) for my husband's birthday party today so I don't have too much time on my hands. Please forgive any typos/grammatical errors/confusing rambling that you find in this post today =) I'm a bit behind on blog reading as well so if you haven't heard from me for a few days, I promise I am going to catch up on all my blogs tomorrow =)

Anyways, I'm super excited about today's post! Dana and I have decided to do vintage Urban Decay for you today. Don't forget to check out her post at Polished Claws Up! as she has some excellent vintage Urban Decays for you guys =)

Urban Decay is a brand that was born in the 90's and is very near and dear to my heart because it was one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, cosmetics brand growing up. It was sold in stores such as Nordstrom and Sephora and had a grunge feel to it. It was right alongside with Hard Candy as being one of the cutting edge brands that had unusual colors and even more unusual names. Urban Decay's nail polish was one of its signature items, and I am lucky enough to have one of the polishes from Urban Decay's original line.

For some reason, hardly any polishes from UD's original line exist today. Hard Candy came out around the same time as Urban Decay and a ton of original Hard Candy still exists. My theory as to why original UD is nearly extinct is this: the bottle design did not allow for a tight enough seal. So probably the majority of old UD's dried up because the bottle is not airtight and pretty much everyone who owned one ended up tossing it out. Hard Candy bottles have a bit better of a seal on there, and even better, they had those rings around the cap to help further seal the air out.

Anyways, the original UD I have for you today is called Dude. It was released in 1998 as a special edition for the release of The Big Lebowski. I found this on etsy in a shop that recycled old cosmetics and turned them into magnets. When I saw this bottle in that shop, I almost peed myself. I never thought I would see an original bottle of Urban Decay polish in my entire life! When I first received Dude, it was completely dried up. The glitter was all stuck to the sides and there was not a drop of liquid to be found in the bottle. But with about half a bottle of Seche Restore, Dude was good as new!!

Dude is a dark seafoam green glitter in a clear base. I used 3 coats here to reach opacity, with a coat of Gelous and coat of Seche Vite on top to smooth it out. Enjoy =)





Next up is Toxin, from the 1st re-release of Urban Decay polishes. Toxin was re-released sometime around 2002 (hopefully Kaz will step in and confirm or deny that fact). Around this time, Urban Decay and Hard Candy were both acquired by LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) and both brands saw a major overhaul to include more consumer-friendly shades. Sadly, both lines lost a lot of the edge that they once had and along with that went the puke greens and mustard yellow nail polish shades in exchange for lots of pinks and reds. However, both brands still had some awesome colors and with this was Urban Decay Toxin. Toxin was actually a color available in the original UD line but I'm not sure if this was how it looked in that line as well.

I have to apologize for these pictures, folks. Toxin is WAY more awesome than I was able to capture here. Part of why Toxin is so highly sought after is because it contains the same red-to-green color shifting pigment that is in the infamous Clarins 230. I wasn't able to capture the shift very well today, so I apologize. Hopefully one day I can re-swatch Toxin when I have more time to play around with lighting situations.

Anyways, Toxin is a purple jelly polish (think melted grape popsicle) packed with the color shifting pigment that adds a phenomenal shimmer to this. These pictures are 4 coats of Toxin plus one coat of topcoat. Enjoy!






So what do you guys think? Do you own any vintage Urban Decay polishes? Did you have any back in the 90's?

33 comments:

  1. Holy bageezus. First off is DUDE! It's just as amazing as I knew it would be!!!! Glitter? Green? Vintage? HTF? All of my favorite things rolled up into one! Fantastic swatches! Second off - oh Toxin, Toxin, Toxin! Been on my wish list for a while now and this is a reminder as if why! How strange and beautiful a polish! :) I loooooove all the facts you include. I suck at researching & I need to get better at that. :/ oh yea- HAPPY BIRTHDAY REMY! :D

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    1. UGH Isn't Dude just absolutely amazing!?!? I'm still in shock that I own it!! Toxin is amazing as well, I really wish I would have been able to capture the color shift better. I have a compulsion for researching stuff, especially things that I am really interested in lol.

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  2. OH MY GOSH TOXIN. That is GORGEOUS. This is my white whale. sigh.

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    1. Isn't she a beaut? I ended up finding it on eBay and won a bidding war for it and the price ended up being not too bad at all! Hopefully you will be able to find one soon =)

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  3. Wow! Both of those are awesome. I don't own any Urban Decay :(

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    1. Thanks girl! Sadly, the new UD polishes only come in mini size and aren't that exciting and unfortunately, the old stuff is a bit hard to come by unless you find them on eBay. I wish they would bring back the old stuff!

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  4. wow!! these are stunning!!! i didnt even know Urban Decay had nail polishes . lol

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    1. Thanks girl! Yeah, these are pretty old and the only polishes that UD has now come in mini sizes and are nowhere near as cool as the old stuff used to be =(

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  5. I love the big lewbowski. Its such a ridiculous movie. Both those colors are gorgeous.

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    1. Haha meee too! This is why I was doubly excited to have Dude =) Glad you enjoyed the polishes!

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  6. Omg I want toxin so much! It's gorgeous!

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    1. Isn't it!? I love it too! It pops up on eBay from time to time so keep your eyes peeled =)

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  7. DUDE. DUDE.

    Amazing. And yes you are correct - second launch UD was 2002 and I believe the original Toxin was either a pale pink or a pale green - I can't remember which.

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    1. DUUUUUUDE! I just looked at those scanned pics of the old UD's and it seemed to be kind of a blueish-purple so perhaps it wasn't too far off from this. Though I still think the 2nd generation of Toxin was way better than the first =)

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  8. Wow..... Both very pretty! I had only heard of toxin but never seen a swatch of it... Its very pretty!

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    1. Yay, glad you like! Toxin is a very special polish, I'm glad to have been your first swatch of it =)

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  9. These are both stunning!!!! Omg! I want them, lol. Toxin reminds me so much of a deeper version of Fantasy Fire. Love!! Hope you had fun at the party.

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    1. You are totally right, I thought of that while I was swatching but forgot to mention it!! Fantasy Fire is a bit lighter purple and has more shimmer in it but I would definitely say they are near dupes =)

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  10. Homemade cupcakes AND ice cream...*dool* and these polishes are totally drool worthy too. I can't decide which I like better. You're so lucky to have them.

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    1. Yes! The cupcakes and ice cream were a hit and so were my nails =) They are both fantastic polishes, I don't think I can decide which one I like better either!

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  11. WOW these are both amazing but I think my jaw must have dropped when I saw Toxin, it's SO PRETTYYYYYY!!! I agree with MariJo, it definitely looks like a deeper version of Fantasy Fire, which is awesome! Haha and I love The Big Lebowski, so jealous of both of these!

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    1. Isn't Toxin awesome?? It's one of my faves for sure! Glad you liked =)

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  12. Both of these are gorgeous! Sad to say these brands were at their best when I was in my conservative colors only period so I missed buying them.

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    1. Aren't they awesome? I wish I would have saved all of my old polishes, I would have had an amazing collection today!

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  13. ummmmmmm HELLO!!!! i freakin want that UD Toxin! thats amazeballs gorgeous! how cool is that polish with the flecks in it! as always, ur just fabulous my love Jacqui!

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  14. Ah, I found your blog through a friend when I was wondering how old my Urban Decay Gash was! Now I'm dying for all the ones that got away.

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