Urban Decay: further reductions and additions to sale page (plus a mini review of Gash)

Reader and fellow blogger TamaraB of Beauty is Maximus (who happens to be a native San Diegan like me--yay!) let me know that Urban Decay's clearance sale is still going on, with new additions and further price reductions. Most notably, UD has added the Roller Girl Palette to the sale page, and it's just $13 (regular price: $32). 

The Skull Shadow Box (which I swatched for you here) is still available for $12, and as many of you know, the old eyeshadow singles which were previously on clearance for $9 are now just $6 (originally $17). 

I placed an order when this sale first launched several weeks ago, and in addition to the Skull Shadow Box, I also purchased a lipstick in Gash. These were $9 when I purchased them (that was a great deal since retail for $22) but since then the price of UD lipsticks has dropped to $3 each. Um, what? That's kind of crazy, right? 

Since the color Gash is still available on the UD sale page, I thought I'd do a mini review with swatches in case you were thinking of picking it up:

Urban Decay Lipstick in Gash & Limited Edition Luxury Lipstick Cap

(retail for lipstick only: currently $3 on the Urban Decay website; full retail price $22; 0.13 oz)

When I placed my order several weeks ago, Urban Decay was including a FREE Limited Edition Luxury Lipstick Cap with any clearance lipstick purchase. I'm not sure if they're still sending the free LE cap when you purchase a clearance lipstick but, just in case, here are some pics of the cap:

I would show you what this cap looks like on the UD lipstick, but the one time that I actually put this cap on my lipstick, it stuck to the lipstick tube so firmly that I had to ask Mr. G to pry it off. I'm not going to take any chances and put this LE cap back on my lipstick, for fear of never being able to get it off. So no pics--sorry. By the way, I'm not sure if this is a widespread problem with the LE caps, or if I just got stinker. If you have had issues with the LE cap, please leave a comment and let us know.

 Here's the lipstick with its regular cap:

Urban Decay Lipstick in Gash

Don't you just love detailed design elements like this:

And this:

Some swatches:

The opacity of this lipstick is great--almost 100% opaque on the first swipe. Gash is a deep, dark crimson red with blue undertones. It doesn't veer into magenta territory, but it's also not a neutral red. I would say it's a cross between blood red and cranberry. Gash has a satin finish and it also has a little bit of sparkle to it. It's subtle though and the sparkle is not dense or gritty. You can kind of see the sparkle in this extreme close-up of my lips:

No, my skin is not blue in real life, but I had to do some post-editing and color adjustments to show you the true color of this lipstick when on my lips (without editing, the color looked way too tomato-red). Anyway, this is a pretty good representation of what this lipstick looks like in real life.

I'm an old-school Urban Decay fan, and I remember when their lipsticks came in simple metal bullet cases back in the 90s. Back then, the biggest complain was that their lipstick formula was dry and quite heavy (I remember some of the shades feeling like tar on my lips but I wore them anyway because the colors were so unique and beautiful).  So from my perspective, this lipstick is quite light and hydrating when compared to my memory of the old-style lipsticks. However, I have heard complaints from others that they find these lipsticks to be drying. And then there's the scent. I'm not sure if there was a batch (or two) of these lipsticks that contained a not-so-pleasant fragrance and flavor, but I personally had no issue whatsoever with the fragrance of flavor of this lipstick. The scent, to my nose, is sort of cross between vanilla and jelly beans. The flavor is a bit remniscent of jelly beans as well. 

As for staying power, this one's a stainer. It lasts about 4-5 hours on my lips, and after that it wears down to a nice berry-red stain that lasts for a few additional hours. I love that this lipstick wears down evenly with no ring-around-the-lips as it fades.

FINAL VERDICT: For $3, I can't really think of a reason not to order this one if you love deep, crimson reds with blue undertones. Seriously, it's less than half the price of a standard drugstore lipstick, and the packaging is stunning. I love it wearing Gash paired with lots of mascara and liquid black liner on just my upper lashline for a retro look (just be sure to keep eyeshadow soft and neutral and go easy on the blush since Gash is going to demand all the attention when you wear it).

Do you already own Gash? Are you thinking about picking it up while it's still $3? Have you already placed some UD orders during this clearance sale? If so, I'd love to hear what you think of the products you've ordered!