Friday, July 29, 2016

Eyeshadow Dupes: Swatching Shimmery & Metallic Light Pinks, White Golds & Champagne

As you may remember, I have been trying to use up my theBalm Nude' Tude eyeshadow palette as part of a Project Pan That Palette since January of this year (see my latest update here). However, that doesn't mean that I have completely neglected the rest of my stash; while I don't really wear any other shadows than those in the Nude' Tude, the Project has really driven home why I shouldn't be buying any more eyeshadow palettes: I have way too many neutral shades in my stash already, as illustrated in my 'I'm Never Buying Another Eyeshadow Palette Again' ramble here. As an extension of that post, I've been busy playing around with my other shade families and trying to weed out dupes and inferior formulas, and the photos below are the result.
I KNOW. Before you judge me, go sift through your own stash ;)
I have pretty much decided to end my Pan That Palette at the end of August; my baby boy is due to arrive in early October and I'd like to have one month in between to experiment with the rest of my eyeshadow stash. Because of that decision, I have been thinking about what I want to do with the Nude' Tude once I finish the Project, and I've come to the conclusion that there are a few shades in it that I'd like to keep by depotting them into a magnetic palette. The rest will just be tossed in the trash unfortunately - I don't want to pass on half-used or unused but subpar shadows to any of my friends and family. As I was contemplating which shades to depot, I decided to have a quick look at the rest of my eyeshadow collection to see if I had any similar shades already in my Z-Palettes. And then it hit me. DO I EVER.

I was specifically looking for dupes/ comparable shades to theBalm Stand-offish, thus far my most used eyeshadow out of the entire palette, but for more variety, I've also included shimmery (or metallic/ frost/ pearl finish, whatever you want to call it) light pinks and white golds/ ivory shades. To be honest, this is not even the entirety of my stash - I have more shades I could include in both single pans/ depot form as well as other eyeshadow palettes. But anyway, here's what I found:
Sorry, the L-R order isn't the same as my arm swatches for this group: Inglot 397, Stila Academy, Inglot AMC Shine 142
Out of the light pinks, I don't think any of these are actually dupes. Stila Academy has more of a cool undertone than Inglot 397, which is somewhere between a warm light pink and a champagne/ peach. Inglot AMC Shine 142 isn't as soft or pigmented as the other two, but has both a subtle glowing pink duochrome (it wouldn't show up in the photos no matter the angle) and some sparse silver microglitters.
L-R: Fyrinnae Nijiro, RBR Unforgettable Oriole, Marc Jacobs The Ingenue Trio (leftmost shade)
In the white gold/ shimmery ivory color family, I own two shades that are incredibly close but still not complete dupes: Fyrinnae Nijiro has a blue & pink micro sparkle to it under artificial lights where Rouge Bunny Rouge Unforgettable Oriole is more of a typical pearl finish. The Marc Jacobs far left shade from The Ingenue trio (reviewed here) is the odd one out: both darker and more of a satin than metallic finish.
L-R: Too Faced Silk Teddy, theBalm Stand-offish (at the top), Stila Kitten, Wet n'Wild Browbone shade from The Gilded Age trio, MAC All That Glitters
However, I had the most luck (alas) finding dupes in the champagne/ light peach category. Maybe because those shades are the most universally flattering, but I feel like they feature in a lot of palettes, both drugstore and high-end. Let's consider the cult classic Stila Kitten - yes, it's an incredibly soft, smooth, buttery, pigmented shadow. However, as you can hopefully see in my photos, I have two other shades in my stash that are pretty much the same: theBalm Stand-offish and an Eyebrow shade from a LE Wet n'Wild trio called The Gilded Age. Out of these three, I'd say that Kitten still has the best formula; theBalm and Wet n'Wild can be just a tad too powdery/ flakey, but it's nit-picking here. If you have one, you don't need the other two.
Too Faced Silk Teddy (from the Natural Eyes palette) is lighter and more pink than theBalm Stand-offish, Stila Kitten and the Wet n'Wild shadows - I probably could have included it in my light pink grouping. MAC All That Glitters is significantly darker and less metallic than the other four shadows; on me, it's fine as an all over the lid shade, but too dark to be used as a highlight in the inner corners.

As you can see from my little experiment, I definitely do NOT need to depot that Stand-offish shade from my Nude' Tude palette. However, I'm thinking now that maybe I will hold on to it after all, and instead pass on the Wet n'Wild The Gilded Age shade - not because the formula is inferior (they really are the same, you guys), but because I'd rather pass on a lightly used dupe to a loved one and keep half-used Stand-offish, which is also a smaller pan and thus more efficient to store, as a back-up to my favorite Stila Kitten. Not that I really need a back-up... but it's hard to stop hoarding eyeshadows after all these years of collecting. Which one(s) would you give away?
I hope you enjoyed this installment of Shop/ Swatch My Stash. Please let me know if there's a particular group of products or shades you would like to see next: maybe my pinky/ mauve My Lips But Better lipsticks, or my vast collection of taupe eyeshadows, or my bright/ colorful shades. What dupes have you discovered in your stash recently?

8 comments:

  1. Nice roundup! It's nice that you have large dips showing on a number of these pans - I think my shadows are showing far less dip for sure! I would also love to see a taupe installment, since there are a billion variations of taupe from warm to cool and everything in between!

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    1. Hi Michelle! Lol, I think the dips are due to the fact that I've had most of these shadows for a pretty long time now :) Oh my, I'm absolutely swimming in taupes - I did one round-up a few years ago (wait, what?! 5 years ago?! http://rocaille-writes.blogspot.com/2011/08/rocaille-swatches-ten-taupe-eyeshadows.html) but I guess I'm due for another installment. I've accumulated way more since then. Taupes are a bit overwhelming though; they can have so many different undertones and depths! That would probably be an entire day of swatching ;)

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  2. These are all so beautiful swatched on you, but would look more or less the same on my skin. It's a lovely, fresh-looking color.

    Best wishes to you and your baby. Good luck!

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  3. I also love the large dips in these shadows - you surely have showed love to them. I love this sort of posts, it's wonderful to see all your beautiful shadows. I especially like shimmery/metallic pinks and champagnes. Personally I'd let go of theBalm and Wet n' Wild.. Show all your love to Kitten! On the other hand, owning theBalm wouldn't hurt either, their shimmer formula is kind of nice (I have one theBalm palette, never used WnW). Tough decisions! ;)

    xx Laura - Laurantaina Beauty Blog

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  4. Ahah I love all of those champagne colors! I'd have a tough time getting rid of those too lol. As I did my shadow decluttering I found way too many peacock blue shades. Weird since I never wear peacock blue that much lol. And then went through a purple phase and needed a ton of dark purples! Would love to see a post on brights!
    Jen

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  5. I am honestly in denial. I know it. I refuse to swatch all my eye shadows, which is quite impossible, really, because I just don't have that much time in one sitting to finish swatching them all. I know I have lots of dupes, but I don't even want to think about it. I'm at that point where I'd just give away palettes if I'm not feeling it - even if it meant there's that single shade in there that I'm crazy about. HAHAHAH!

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  6. It's stunning how many metallic champagne tone you own. These are shades I never (!!!) use, because they don't fit my complexion. It's very hard to find a go to eyeshadow palette without these :/ I like the INGLOT duochrome one since it is very special.
    I'd like to see a taupe gallery or natural lip shades. There are bunches of this but none seems to fit *lol*

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  7. Gosh, they're all SO pretty! Similar, sure, but oh so pretty.

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