Tuesday 21 July 2015

Dupes for MAC Blue Brown Pigment

Dupes for MAC Blue Brown pigment

I love duochrome shadows, LOVE them!  One of the first ones I had was Urban Decay Lounge which it now turns out it a dupe for the more famous Blue Brown pigment from MAC.  I recently realised I had quite a few similar shades in both pressed and loose form so thought I'd compare them all.  All of them are a fairly warm medium brown with a green/teal shift to them.

Duochrome shadows are a really easy way to take an average, every day look and make it stunning.

Read on for close-ups and swatches plus my verdict on which to buy.



I have two pigments and two pressed shadows to compare.

MAC Blue Brown Pigment
MAC Blue Brown Pigment
First off, I know this isn't the proper packaging, this is just a sample of MAC's Blue Brown pigment from The Body Needs.    It's a fine pigment that blends really easily.  Definitely the most famous of this brown/blue/green shade.
1/4 teaspoon for $2.49 here
2.5g for £10 here
4.5g for £16 here


Makeup Geek Insomnia pigment
Makeup Geek Insomnia pigment
Makeup Geek's version of this colour is great; Insomnia is easily as pigmented and despite being slightly chunkier, it does blend just as well.  You get lots of products and the price is great.  
2g for $6.99 here.


Urban Decay Lounge
Urban Decay Lounge
As I said earlier, Lounge from Urban Decay was my first of these shadows.  It has been well loved.
1.5 g for $18 here
1.5g for £14 here

Urban Decay also have a super sparkly version of this colour in their Moondust formula, called Solstice.  You can see that here.  I haven't tried it as I figured I have enough variations!


Illamasqua Fervent from the Empower palette
Illamasqua Fervent from the Empower palette
Illamasqua Fervent is another brown shade with a green shift, although ever so slightly lighter than the others.  In pressed form it can only be found in the Empower palette but they also sell it in pigment form.
Empower palette is £34 here
Fervent pigment is 1.3g for £17 here

L-R MAC Blue Brown pigment,  Makeup Geek Insomnia pigment,  Urban Decay Lounge,  Illamasqua Fervent
Top - daylight
Bottom - flash
I would say that all four shadows have the same amount of green shift in them, and the shift colour doesn't really vary at all.  The base colours are slightly different though.  Lounge is definitely the warmest brown, Fervent is slightly lighter and Insomnia is cooler-toned.  On the lids though it's much of a muchness and they all perform well.

I love this colour best as the main lid shade in a neutral look, applied with a damp brush over a very dark smoky look or used as a liquid liner.  Mixing them with something like Illamasqua Sealing Gel or Inglot Duraline transforms them into this amazing molten goodness!

Makeup Geek Insomnia mixed with Sealing Gel for liner
Makeup Geek Insomnia mixed with Sealing Gel for liner

I used to have a £1 MUA shadow identical to these but I gave it away as I knew I didn't need it, sorry!  It's Number 12 in their Pearl formula here.  The colour pay-off was great but I remember it being slightly oily in texture.

Seeing as all these shades produce very much the same effect I'd recommend going for one of the cheaper options, like Insomnia from Makeup Geek or even the MUA one.  I know that there's also one similar in one of the Wet n' Wild palettes if you can get those where you live (I can't).  I like using the pigments most as I almost always use it wet or damp so it's easier to mix that way.


Do you love duochromes too?  I'm planning on a post soon featuring all of my favourites; it's proving difficult to limit myself to just a few.

Rachel

I'd love it if you followed me here:

No comments:

Post a Comment