Favorite Eye Shadows (& dupes)-part 1

If i ever decide to abandon my current 'career' and become a makeup artist, then i'd probably purchase several high-end eye shadows i have tried in the past- you know, as a necessity of my pro kit. Until then, i found out i simply don't need them-my favorite eyeshadows are drugstore. So if you expected something like MAC or NARS, you might as well search for the multitude of blogs full of swatches and photos. Sometimes being versatile on a budget is quite fun and beautiful at the same time. 

I'll very soon blog about my experience with MAC products tested and purchased here in Sweden (It was a complete disappointment, by the way). However, now i just wanted to share some of my prettiest eyeshadows i wear on a daily basis as the nude lover that i am.

They are the Isadora palettes (quads) in 20 Classic Brown and 31 Gold.

Mattes: Classic Brown (flash)

Classic Brown (no flash)

Flash

The 20 palette is the ultimate mini-collection of everything nude you'll ever need. It has four brown-based colors- a light, creamy beige, a cork-ish brown, a medium-toned chocolate brown with no orange/red undertones and a taupe-ish darker brown with a bit of finely milled glitter. They're all mattes except for the fourth one. I use this palette perhaps every day; first discovered it in my friend's beauty kit, it was all abandoned and forgotten (my friend is a blues, greens and pinks person), got it as a gift from her and the next day i ran to the store and got myself a brand new back up. The colors are also sold in double shades, so if you're interested in two shades only you can purchase them separately. 

My favorite part about these shadows- they are very pigmented. I definitely think this is an Isadora thing- all their powder-based products, whether they're bronzers, blushers, face powders or eye shadows are very pigmented and creamy in the sense of fine consistency. Perhaps the only eye shadows i ever tried and came close to resembling these ones' pigmentation and softness are the Chanel singles- but for €30 a pop, i'd much rather go with my Isadora and be absolutely happy.

(Notice how the shadow got all over the fuzz on my skin-they have a really fine, satin consistency that feels creamy on the skin)

Another point would be that it's incredibly difficult to find matte drugstore eyeshadows. One and a half years ago it was 100% impossible, at least in Sweden. Plus, most of the high-end products were also 99% shimmery/frosted. I seriously believe this quad can successfully dupe many high-end shades- i've stopped at several MAC eyeshadows- just imagine all of them were mattes. Here you have the baptized Isadora mattes:

Flash

Nylon

Arena

Cross Cultural

Romp

(images from maccosmetics.com)

Keeping in mind my camera didn't manage to capture the exact shades (especially the lightest one), i think all of them can work as dupes for the aforementioned shades if used at their full potential (think about a swatch or a medium-hand; a light layer would probably not bring out the entire potential of the shades and pigmentation as in the MAC ones). In flash photography the shades look lighter. Also, the Isadora bottom right is a bit glittery whereas Romp is not.

31 Gold quad

No flash. First row-pearly white and cobalt brown

This is a typical 'golden' eyeshadow quad, not necessarily a lot different from many drugstore brands out there- Maybelline's Chai Latte, Rimmel London or L'Oreal quads.

L'Oreal Open Eyes Chrome Intensity quad-image from plusizekitten.com

Rimmel London Walnut Pearls-image from chemistdirect.co.uk

Rimmel Glam Eyes Mono Eyeshadow in Spicy Bronze-image from makeupandbeautyblog.com

Therefore given this universality there's no need to go purchase something else in this chromatic family. Perhaps the Rimmel Mono would be a cool addition since it looks like a beautiful champagne shimmer but Rimmel has been discontinued in most Swedish drugstores/perfumeries so yep.

...my point being that these are the only brown palettes/shadows i need for my everyday nude/neutral cravings, whether it's for a satiny finish or a natural/dramatic matte dichotomy. Most people already own a ton of drugstore eyeshadows 90% similar to these, but the mattes are truly a find and i personally recommend them as high quality eye shadows.

Lumene Smile Booster Lipsticks

Thanks to my uber-annoying, makeup-loving insistence look what i found today:

Nude Beige, Satin Coral and Heather Pink

Nude Beige

Satin Coral

Heather Pink

LtoR: Nude Beige, Satin Coral, Rimmel's Coral in Gold and Heather Pink

Nude Beige, Satin Coral, Coral in Gold and Heather Pink

  Swatches (flash):

Left to right: Heather Pink, Satin Coral and Nude Beige

Meet the new Lumene lipsticks, Smile Booster(s) is their name (and they surely made me smile!) and they were on sale for 49 crowns today (around €5). A real bargain.
I was looking for...nothing in particular (as usual) at the drugstore stands, checking out some (really) overrated L'Oreal pink lipsticks; i saw a hidden little shelf with a colorful tag that indicated 'on sale' and well, i did what i had to do. I was EXACTLY looking for pink lipsticks, a nude maybe, too, just something pretty. I didn't think i was going to find anything for less than €10 or nothing remotely beautiful (sometimes it's hard with drugstore lipsticks...not to mention i was in a clothing store that doesn't usually have a big woop of makeup).
Putting my usual exuberance aside, i am really in love with these. Apart from the colors (which are all i was looking for-something wearable, light pinks/corals/nudes) the creaminess- it's VERY good for a cheap lipstick. They don't stink either- it's a mild whiff of raspberry (obviously, fake, but instead of plasticine...) and are very pigmented without looking or feeling like a slick of makeup on the lips.Wow.

03 Nude Beige 

 This is lighter, a bit more sheer than the other two. I bought it because i want to wear it on top of other lipsticks i'm hoping i can get warped to a more decent tone (unwanted shades, porny bubblegum pinks, etc). It's very very creamy and 'shiny'- it doesn't contain neither glitter nor shimmer. However, it gives a creamy, satinated effect.It can absolutely be a perfect nude even when worn by itself. I think this is my first (and only) purely nude lipstick.


 04 Satin Coral

 A hint of coral and that's it. Very similar to Heather Pink (it's quite hard to make the difference actually). A little bit more wearable. It isn't the coral i'm hoping to find anytime soon because nothing compared to the Rimmel Soft Coral one (my HG coral lipstick....THE coral), but it's a cute pink-ish coral.

09 Heather Pink

Flash

Flash

 A liiiiiiiittle bit too much (at least for me), light pink-wise. I'm not used to wearing such light, pigmented lipsticks (i feel closer to the girls i used to make fun of for their clown lips), but this is definitely pleasant. I wanted to get Fuzzy Pink from Lancome (Heather Pink is a glitter-free Fuzzy Pink to a certain extent. I like to see it as a dupe; they're not identical but very very similar fyi) but hey, you can't beat this price. Plus the pigmentation. The real Heather Pink shade i guess would be the one in the swatch pictures and not what it looks like on my lips. I don't know why but my camera didn't manage to get the real thing.
.....perhaps i should be getting the rest of the collection as well. I had my eye on nr 1, a beige nude with a bit of shimmer in it which was out of stock (i can imagine!) and nr 8, a bubblegum pink, a tad more intense than Heather Pink.

Recessionista take two-H&M glosses& dupes

I just got this pretty pearly pink gloss:

It's part of the (rather) old H&M glosses from their 'spring collection'. The shade is 'Mrs. Two Faced'- i really fancy their clever product names.
The consistency is very creamy but not that runny. It tends to bleed a little, but it's a perfect nude lip gloss, either worn by itself or in combos. I love the peachy-champagne shimmer and the neutrality of the shade, very delicate and natural. This is what Mrs. Two Faced looks like (flash photography):

This baby is part of a series of three pink-toned glosses:

Mrs. Two Faced

Penny 4 Your Thought

Rootless Ruby

Rootless Ruby is, according to MinMote (Norwegian beauty community, blog, sales, lovers of everything superficial), a 'dupe' for several lipsticks:
-Clarins Jolie Rouge in Parisian Pink
-MAC in I Show Orchid
-Collistar in Fuchsia
-L'Oreal Color Riche in 103 Radiant Rose

As i've always loved H&M glosses, i am definitely going to purchase all three of them. Not sure about the exact dupe-ness with regards to the Clarins and MAC lipsticks (i don't own any of those), but it's a good thing someone drew the attention- who knows? Maybe they ARE identical (which would be great since i'm on a student budget).

Recessionista- OPI Italian Love Affair Dupe

Unfortunately i don't have the OPI anymore (used it for about half a year) but i discovered a great dupe for it. It is a very cheap nail polish from the South African Golden Rose cosmetics. I don't know how easy to find are they since i got the nail polish (plus other stuff) at a small shop in Italy.
The stuffies look quite cheap, no fancy schmancy packaging so this might put people off a bit. I did find some amazing stuff while looking for nothing in particular, so my suggestion would be that if you come across them, don't turn a blind eye, maybe you'll find something cute or a dupe for a favorite product.

Now, getting back at OPI's Italian Love Affair. The usual photos that pop up while Google-searching for it are not realistically enough to depict the real shade. Even on their website the color appears a bit darker than what the real thing looks like and it's really hard to realize until well, you buy it and put it on.

(image found on Google)
The color does NOT look like that in real life, it's much lighter. The only realistic depiction i found was this one (OPI polishes- Atomic Orange, Chapel of Love and Italian Love Affair in a row)

(image from www.recenseramera.blogsome.com)
As you can tell, the first picture might resemble the second one, bottle-wise, but the nails are a much darker, bubblegum-ish pink than what ILA looks like.
Too bad i don't have it anymore. However, this is what i found and i think it qualifies as a dupe:

On white background (perfect way to see the real color)

Pink background (makes the pigmentation pop)

Neutral (beige) background, natural light

A gorgeous, natural color that works perfectly as a dupe of the aforementioned shade. The bottle used to have something written on it but it faded away; however, it still has '28' embossed in on the bottom so i assume that must be the number of the shade.
My final point is that if you can't find this (which is highly possible), there are a thousand other polishes that can constitute a perfect dupe for any pink or nude shade; the jazzier, matte ones and the glittered polishes are difficult to dupe because they're really special, and those are the cases when one has really got to purchase the product.
Of course, this polish is not going to be as resistant as the OPI one, though i clearly remember my Italian Love Affair didn't last quite much, a maximum of 2½ days per average and then it chipped a little. If i 'take care' of my nails this baby can last up to a whole week with no problem whatsoever.