Product Comparison Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Bargain Buying, Makeup, Product Comparison

Mac Teddy Eye Kohl Dupe?

I do not use the word dupe lightly, in fact I rarely use it! ‘Tis a big statement. And I’m still dubious in my use of it here, but sure didn’t I have to get you to click, and I promise this Mac Teddy Eye Kohl ‘dupe’ is bloody good 🙂

I actually own the alternative much longer than I own Mac Teddy Eye Kohl. But I know how much it is beloved in the makeup world.

It’s a medium, warm bronzed brown eye kohl with flecks of shimmer going through it.

You can really build up the colour across the lash line, or it is really nice smudged out on the lid for a more bronzed effect. It’s available from all Mac Cosmetics retailers and from the Brown Thomas website here. It will set you back €18.00.

So onto my alternative! You’ve actually probably heard me talk about this before. I actually used it in my Urban Decay Heat video here.

It’s the H&M Colour Essence Eye Pencil in Raw Umber.

I got this after I saw Anna from The Anna Edit chatting about it. Like Teddy it’s a medium brown kohl with flecks of gold shimmer running through it. You can buy it in store or on the H&M website here. It’s actually on sale at the moment for £1.99. They’re usually €4.99 in store I believe.

I was just playing with my makeup randomly. Yes, I do this, no it’s not weird. It’s a past time and I enjoy it 🙂 I happened to swatch all the pencils I had in my reach for a closer look, still not weird! Mac Teddy Eye Kohl and H&M Raw Umber happened to end up side by side on my hand and I noticed that that they are super similar.

Now, the reason I don’t use the word dupe willy nilly is because it’s rare that products are exactly the same and that’s what I feel that word is reserved for. Teddy is drier in formula and has less sparkle to it. As a result it is more precise. Raw Umber is much creamier in texture and has more sparkle running through it. It also sets better and on me lasts longer on the skin. They’re both really similar in tone though and give a very similar look applied on the eyes.

You can see here the two swatches side by side after I let them set and then swiped across them with my finger. Teddy definitely did the worst out of the two.

For me I prefer a softer texture when it comes to eye kohls as I don’t like to tug on the skin. So if I had to choose between them, I think Raw Umber would be for me. Complete personal preference though, they are both lovely.

Have you tried either of them?

xxx

August 23, 2017/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup, Product Comparison

YSL Touche Eclat Vs W7 Concealer

I’ve seen this comparison being made a few times online, so I had to investigate it myself! Today I am comparing (and contrasting) the cult beauty product that is the YSL Touche Eclat to the purse friendly W7 Light Diffusing Concealer.

I will say, when it comes to the word ‘dupe’, I am very reluctant to ever use it, and in this comparison it will not be muttered again, because in my humble opinion, these products are not the same!

Just in case, you haven’t encountered either of these products throughout your makeup journey yet, I’ll give you a quick synopsis of both.

We’ll start by talking about the YSL Touche Eclat. It comes in encased it the well known sleek metal plated gold packaging.

Mine says ‘no need to sleep’ on it. They brought out some slogan collectors edition ones not too long ago. They’ve also since released colour correction variations of the YSL Touche Eclat. What I have here is just the original highlighter in number 1.

You click the top to release the product into the brush.

The YSL Touche Eclat is a skin highlighter. It’s not a concealer, although I know alot of people use it for this purpose, as it does have some coverage to it. It does have a salmon hue to it aswell so can work to help brighten under the eyes. It has a creamy really blend-able texture. For me and my skin tone, it doesn’t do much highlighting unfortunately, I can get away with it a little under my eyes. Overall, it’s a really unnecessary purchase (that I’ve made about 5 times in my lifetime) because everyone loves it so much, I want to aswell 🙂

On to the W7 Light Diffusing Concealer.

This product does claim to be a concealer.It comes is a similar looking to the YSL Touche Eclat (from afar) plastic pen.

You twist the top of the pen to get the product out onto the brush, again similar to the YSL.

For me, this is where the comparison ends. The product itself,to me, is just crap. It doesn’t have any major coverage, doesn’t really conceal and can come out of the pen in little hardened balls which makes it hard to blend into the skin.

Here’s both pens swatched side by side. The YSL Touche Eclat is on the left and the W7 Light Diffusing Concealer is on the right. The YSL is more peachy toned and the W7 pen is definitely a more suited colour for highlighting for lighter skinned people like myself.

Here’s both products in action.

My eyes with nothing underneath

I buffed both of them in with the same Real Techniques Brush

The W7 concealer is here on my right eye

Close up, I can’t seen any major difference between either eye, except there is a build up of product on the side of nose where I applied the concealer.

Onto the YSL Touche Eclat.

I applied it in the same way

The W7 Concealer is on my right and the YSL Touche Eclat on my left.

I personally think the YSL Touche Eclat does a better job at concealing even though it’s not actually formulated as a concealer. The W7 Light Diffusing Concealer just doesn’t nothing really.

There is a pretty huge price difference between both of these products. The YSL Touche Eclat will set you back €35, you can get it from Debenhams online here And the the W7 Light Diffusing Concealer will set you back around 5/6 euro depending on where you pick it up. I can’t find a direct Irish stockist link to it, but here it is on the W7 website.

What do you think, would you pick up either? Are you a YSL Touche Eclat advocate?

xxx

July 6, 2016/1 Comment/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup, Product Comparison

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette V Makeup Revolution Radiance Palette

Makeup Revolution is pretty new to Irish shores. We could buy it online but never in store. Now we have a couple of stands, just in the Superdrug’s we have here in Dublin. So still not the easiest to get if you don’t live in the county 🙁

I picked up a few bits which I documented here in a blogpost a while ago.

One of them was their Radiance Palette.

This is a trio of their highlighters. If you are a makeup fiend you may be thinking these look familiar? Well you would be right there.

This palette has a remarkable resemblance to the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette which I also have in my possession.

These are being compared alot online. The Makeup Revolution Palette is being deemed a dupe for the Hourglass. They look really similar in the pan but of course the Makeup Revolution one is a hell of alot cheaper than the Hourglass palette. So do they compare?

Close up shots of both palettes

Here is the Makeup Revolution Radiance Palette swatched on my arm from left to right.

Then, here is the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette swatched in the same way. Radiance Light first, Incandescent Light in the middle and then Dim Light.

I think the Makeup Revolution Radiance Palette fares ok. The palette itself is grand. It had a good sized mirror within a plastic casing and the powders are housed pretty firmly inside. The product is a little powdery and takes alot of building up in my humble opinion. It disappears as you blend it into the skin, but you can eventually get there and build up a glow with them. They have quite a sparkly finish.

As I reiterate in most of my posts I have oily skin, and I find the Radiance Palette doesn’t last very long on me. After a couple of hours of applying any of them, I can’t really see the product anymore, it’s like it just sinks in, not great 🙁 It may work better on drier skin? I don’t know.

So what about the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette?

I have this palette a long time now and really love it. I love the sleek packaging (even though it’s plastic) and then the powders inside are just so soft and buttery to the touch. They blend into the skin without much effort at all. They glide onto the skin much easier and they last much longer on me personally then the Makeup Revolution ones. They look more soft focus than the Radiance Palette, which I prefer too.

There is a pretty substantial price difference between these two. The Makeup Revolution Radiance Palette will set you back €10.35 and the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette is a whopping €68!

On comparing the palettes, it really comes down to brass tax, you get what you pay for. There is often amazing similar products (I find the word ‘dupe’ hard so I’ll go with similar ha) to be found in the ‘drugstore’, of course, and I love to hunt them out and shout them from the rooftop, but I personally don’t think I have found one this time. They definitely look similar, but they do not perform the same at all.

In conclusion, I think the Makeup Revolution Radiance Palette is OK as a shimmery highlighter palette, I don’t think I would repurchase it, whereas I think the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette is a gorgeous face powder/ soft focus highlighting palette and I would splurge on it all over again. That is my over analytic summation anyways 🙂

Do you have either? Or both? Let me know what you think.

xxx

July 6, 2015/by Gem

Makeup, Product Comparison

Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk V Rimmel Eastend Snob

I am here today comparing and contrasting the two beauties that are Rimmel’s Exaggerate lipliner in ‘Eastend Snob’ and Charlotte Tilbury’s Lip Cheat in ‘Pillow Talk’.

I am sure you have heard of at least one of these bad boys at some stage?

Eastend Snob has been around a long time, I don’t think everyone realised the magic of this lip liner though up until recently.

Eastend Snob by Rimmel is a retractable lip pencil. That can be a con as the pencil is so soft it tends to break regularly. Also, I have found the mechanism can sometimes stop working and you can’t get all of it out. I say con very lightly because the product itself is great. And at €5.49 from Boots it’s not a whole lot to spend. I would rather a soft pencil all day everyday over a hard one!

Eastend Snob is what I would describe as a dusty pink colour. It can even out your lip line, add definition or even be used to over draw the lips, just don’t go nuts and it can look really natural.

You can use it under pretty much any shade of lipstick or it is lovely on it’s own or with a slick of gloss on top.Overall, a really lovely and affordable product.

I wanted to speak about Eastend Snob first because I had this in my possession a few times before I went and made the splurge on Charlotte Tilbury’s Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk. But the splurge I did make and sadly (or happily) whichever way you look at it I can see what all the fuss is about.

Pillow Talk is a darker pink than Rimmel’s Eastend Snob. It has a bit more brown in it. It is a standard pencil, although has the look of decadence that we have become accustomed to with Charlotte Tilbury. Pillow Talk looks more natural on the lips than Eastend Snob, you could probably apply it really lightly and people wouldn’t even know you were wearing it.

It is smooth and creamy, and oh so pigmented, perhaps a bit more so than Eastend Snob but you would kind of hope it would be with it being €22 from Brown Thomas.

It is more of a neutral colour too so would probably bode well for more skin colours than the Rimmel offering. Again it is fab for fixing your lip line, as a neutral colour on it’s own, under any lipstick and of course overdrawing if you wish. In fact calling it a Lip Cheat is making that pretty obvious. 🙂

Rimmel Eastend Snob Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk

In conclusion.

Rimmel’s Eastend Snob is a quarter of the price, if your budget won’t stretch and you are in the market, get the Rimmel one. It does nearly the same thing, not quite as longlasting as Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk but well enough that you won’t feel like you’re missing out if you can’t splurge.

Myself personally, I think I actually prefer the colour of Eastend Snob as I’m more of a pinks girl than a neutrals one. I love Pillow Talk too though 🙂

That’s my two cents. What do you think? 🙂

xxx

June 23, 2015/6 Comments/by Gem

Makeup, Product Comparison

Bourjois Bronzing Primer V Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel

The bit of sunshine in Ireland is making me slightly obsessed with bronzer and bronzing at the minute, I haven’t really shut up about them in the last while so apologies if you’re not a fan 🙂

I’ve owned both the Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel and the Bourjois Bronzing Primer for a long time now and they always tend to get pulled out more around this time of year. What are they you might ask? They are bronzing bases, that you can use to warm up your face under foundation, or just on their own if you are lucky and have lovely skin.

I personally use them as you would a cream bronzer. I to use them after I have applied my foundation and hit the parts of my face I would normally contour. I use them on their own if I am just going for a more subtle look or I apply powder on top for more definition, really depends on the day or the situation.

They are both two very different price points. Do they do the same thing?

The Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel.

The Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel is a cream product with a dense formula, that in my opinion is best applied with a dense synthetic brush.

As you would expect from Chanel, it is really pigmented and easy to blend into the skin.You can build it up quite quickly. It does have a slightly orange undertone so a light hand and alot of buffing is needed if you are lighter skinned like myself. It has a lovely light florally scent that is familiar to Chanel.

Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Swatched

The Bourjois Bronzing Primer.

The Bourjois Bronzing Primer has a whipped, creamy formula. It is mousse like to the touch.

It applies much more liberally that the Soleil Tan De Chanel as it is more of a wet consistency. I prefer to apply this with a small synthetic duo fibre brush as you can control your application that way. This is a pigmented product, so apply a little at a time, but it does blend out quite sheer. You need to build it up if you want a more intense bronzing effect. It smells like coconut and chocolate, nice if you like a sweet holiday scent.

Bourjois Bronzing Primer Swatched

These products compare pretty closely. In the pan they look different, obviously the packaging is a bit more swish and fancy on the Chanel offering. They both have the same amount of product in the tub. They both bronze your face and do it nicely. They are both a matte finish. The Soleil Tan De Chanel does pack more of a punch in the pigment stakes and you don’t need as much of it as you do the Bourjois one, and it sets quicker on the skin, it’s also €38.50 though! The bronzing primer from Bourjois is not as elegant but it is a hell of alot cheaper at €12.99!!

I love having the Chanel one, it was a treat from the bf and owning anything Chanel makes me feel ladylike. I think when I run out of both and decide I still want a cream bronzer I would be more inclined to pick up the Bourjois Bronzing Primer, it just makes better mathematical sense (you won’t hear me say that very often).

Do you have either of them? What’s you take on it? I would love to know?

xxx

May 1, 2015/by Gem