High End / Low End Comparables: Eyeshadows

This is somewhat of a continuation of my previous post on products that I’ve loved that I haven’t found a comparable lower priced item to. This post is all about the products that have a cult following, that actually HAVE lower end comparables, that I have personally used and loved. I haven’t used all of the higher end products, but I have tested them on several occasions that I feel I have a good idea of how well they work for me, anyway.

Eyeshadows – This is a biggie. I am torn on this one, because I’m in love with MAC’s Mineralized Eyeshadows, but I feel that there are many eyeshadows out there that are just as good, or even better than MAC and other Higher End shadows for a lower price:

• Ben Nye Eyeshadows – These range from about $6-10, and are available from costume shops, and speciality online stores.  These are almost twice as big as MAC and Urban Decay shadows, and are pigmented like no one’s business. I use my Ben Nye shadows more than my more expensive ones.
• Wet N Wild Ultimate Expressions Palettes. These palettes have 8 huge colors, and are extremely pigmented. I own 6 of these palettes, both permanent and limited edition. The eyeshadows are soft and extremely blendable. These palettes have mostly neutral colors that are wonderful!
• NYX Shadows – NYX has many different types of shadows, and the vast majority of them are wonderful, they are pigmented, and dirt cheap. The price of these range from $1-6, depending on what you pick up. I’ve tried them all, and I have loved almost all of them.
• L’Oreal HiP Eyeshadows Duos – These are simply some of the best drugstore eyeshadows that you will easily find in the drugstore. Each duo has two cordinating colors that are simply amazing, and some can be considered as dupes to higher end colors. These often go on sale BOGO Free, so it’s well worth your time to pick some up. You can easily get four huge, pigmented colors for the same price as one MAC shadow during a BOGO Free sale.
• L’Oreal Wear Infinite Singles – I recently tried my first eyeshadow from L’Oreal – apart from the HiP line, and I was flabbergasted when I used it. It is extremely soft and pigmented, and it blended like dream on my skin. I am looking forward to trying more in the future. I haven’t tried the quads though. So those maybe different.
• Milani – Milani makes some amazing eyeshadows. The ones that are very comparable to MAC and other brands were their little regular singles. These were amazing smooth and more pigmented than you can imagine. Unfortunatley Milani decided to get rid of these, but they are still available in some places. I’ve seen them in select Walgreens. These cost around $3-4 and were totally worth the money. Another good choice from Milani are the quads, they for about $6-7 and have four huge colors with tons of pigment and are really soft. These are available everywhere.
• TKB Trading Pigments – These are pure pigments of color, that you buy from TKB Trading for $1.50 per sample. Samples are a full table spoon of pigment – this is about the same amount of product that you get in a full sized MAC jar filled. These are definitely worth your time to check out for cheap, but not cheap quality pigments.

So far, these are the shadows I’ve used that are comparable to higher end products. These may not be as smooth as higher end shadows, or they may be slightly more sheer, but the money that you save is worth it. I feel that the price difference and more than decent quality makes these shadows the better choice than the higher end ones.

Imcomparables….

I’m all about using products that are just as good or even BETTER than the more expensive higher end products. I just love the feeling of knowing I can make a product that is only $6 look like it’s $30+. However, sometimes there is just no comparision when it comes to certain products, and I’ll happy shell out the $20 or so for the product in question.

Fortunately for me, this is a rare occurance, and I don’t feel quilty at all when I splurge on the more expensive products. Especially when I can get them as some sort of discount.

Urban Decay’s Primer Potion – This product has been talked about forever and a day now in the beauty world, and there is a good reason why. I have already reviewed this item a long time ago, when I first started this blog, and my love for it has not diminished yet. I have yet to find an eye primer that works as well for me as this one. There are some drugstore items that people have used as eye primers, and some of them have worked, others not so much. I personally have used L’Oreal HiP Paints, HiP Color Rich Cream Crayon, and Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired by Carmindy Fast Fix Eyeshadow Base, and all of these products, except for one, have wrecked havoc on my eyeshadows. I haven’t tried L’Oreal Decrease, but I don’t have very high hopes for it. I haven’t tried any of the higher end eye primers, because I’m happy with UDPP and the point of this post is focused on products that have the drugstore price point.

MAC Paint Pots – Here is another item that has no lower priced comparable. There are cream eyeshadows available in drustore form, but none in a pot with the color range and long wearing ability as the Paint Pots. There are of course creaseless pot cream eyeshadows available from more expensive brands. However all of those are more expensive than the Paint Pots, which clock in at $16.50. These work amazingly well on my hard to please eye lids. This is one of the few products that do not crease on me. The only somewhat comparable item to the paint pots are the Indelible Creme Eye Shadows, that are available from MadMinerals.Org for $8.99. I have yet to try these because I am waiting for a good sale from Mad Minerals to happen. These cream shadows are not available from physical stores unforunately.

As of right now, these are the only two products that I haven’t found a worthy adversary in a lower price point. This is just my opinion and I’m sure everyone feels differently about these products. Many people love the Too Faced Shadow Insurance , a recent contender to the UDPP. I haven’t tried this product, because I’m happy with what I have now. However, this doesn’t stop me from finding something cheaper that works .

Urban Decay Friends & Family Sale!!!

Collective Ebay Hauls

So, I have been hauling like crazy on Ebay lately.  I have found many good deals on Evil-bay lately, and it’s been stuff that I have been wanting FOR-EVAH now.

Stila Mandarin Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Cool. I love baked eyeshadows, and I found this long discontinued eyeshadow on Ebay for $16, including shipping and insurance. The eyeshadow went for $24-28 when it was in stores. I never got the chance to pick it up when it was in stores, so I am happy to have it now.

Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy lipstick . I tried this and fell in love with it, the last time I was in Sephora, but I was hesitant to spend $25 on one little lipstick. I am slowly moving into higher end lippies, but that is just a redic price in my opinion. However, I nabbed this lipstick on Ebay for $13 and change including shipping. So I was quite happy with it. I love the nude color, and it was a good purchase.

Cover Girl Outlast Lipstains. I have been dying to try these out, but I try not to buy Drugstore products without some type of discount. So I have waiting for months for any store to put Cover Girl on sale BOGO Free, so I can pick up some of these. But so far, there has been no sales on Cover Girl. So I turned to Ebay, and I found someone who was selling all 10 of these lipstains for $30 + shipping. So I happily jumped on this sale, because if you purchase all of  these at retail price, which is $8-9 each, you will spend close to $100.

So I am going to add these to my never ending list of products to review, and hopefully I can review everything relatively soon!

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Urban Decay – Fall 2008

I am a huge fan of Urban Decay, especially their palettes, which are completely awesome and worth every penny. I have about five or six of them that I have purchased in the past year or so since I was introduced to them.
Anyway I was browsing Kiss&Makeup.TV and they not only have the super excitable scoop on Urban Decay’s fall collection they also have pics of 2 new palettes to make their debut!! Both of these palettes look majorly tempting, and I can PROMISE you that they will make their way into my huge stash when they come out!!

Along with the palettes, Urban Decay is also bringing out a new line of lipsticks, with over 20 new colors.
I’m not very excited for the lipsticks, because I am quite happy with the lippies that I have right now. (Oh, NYX Round and Black  Label lipsticks, how I love thee…) But these are part of the new collection, and you need to know about it! Besides the lipstick casing is very. very cute!!

Kiss & Makeup: Sustainable Shadow Box

Kiss & Makeup: The Book Of Shadows

Kiss & Makeup: Urban Decay Lipsticks For Fall: A Dagger Delight!

This is just another reason why I CANNOT WAIT until fall!!