Often times I find myself buying products that are out of my price range and I attempt to justify them by convincing myself that the high quality of higher end makeup makes it worthwhile. As you all know, though, I’ve been trying to scale back on my purchasing and have been buying drugstore products that resemble some of my high end favorites in hopes that I will find the perfect cheap alternatives. In this week’s article, I will be comparing high end products with their drugstore counterparts based on cost, texture, color pay-off, etc. and letting you guys know whether or not I think a certain product is worth the splurge.
To begin with, I will be discussing a product you saw in my Forever 21 haul called “Nude” eyeshadow palette. When I first saw this palette, I initially thought its color selection would be similar to the original Urban Decay Naked palette, but when I swatched the colors in the back of my hand as you can see in this picture, the shades are a bit rosier and more similar to Naked 3 in my opinion. The shimmer shades are all gorgeous, warm, and universally flattering, but when I attempted to swatch the matte ones it proved to be impossible. They were very difficult to work with and had almost no color pay-off.
Another qualm I had with this product is that the shadows had a very chalky texture and there was a lot of fallout on my face and all over the palette. If you’re someone who applies foundation before eyeshadow, I would reconsider that while using this palette unless you want shimmery bits of shadow all over your face (to each her own, but please don’t…). I will say that the lasting power of the shimmer shades was quite good.
I also loved the eyeliner that came with the palette. So is it worth the splurge? That depends on you! Do you wear eyeshadow everyday or are you looking for something fun to use for special occasions? Are you a fan of shimmer or are you looking for something matte that will be more subtle on the eyes? Urban Decay makes wonderful eye shadows, but given that Naked retails for $54.00 a pop, you might want to try the cheaper Forever 21 Love and Beauty option first.
The next two products I will be comparing are Benefit’s Porefessional balm and Neutrogena’s Shine Control primer. I go back and forth about how I feel about primers. Sometimes I find that they make no difference when I use them before foundation and sometimes I absolutely love them. At the moment I’m going through an “I love primer” phase and I’ve been using the benefit product for a while. Although it claims to just fill pores, I’ve noticed a huge difference in oil control with this product. My makeup applies smoothly, doesn’t settle into pores or fine lines, and lasts for hours (which is unheard of when you’re as oily as me). The problem is, you get less than an ounce (.75 to be exact) and it costs $31.00. Although you can get away with only using a little bit of this product, I wanted to see how a drugstore product would compare.
Neutrogena’s product has a “lightweight, non greasy formula with patent pending rice protein technology that acts like a sponge to absorb excess oil,” which sounded like a bunch of bullshit (but also really cool, so of course I bought it because it was only $12.00). It also claims to “minimize the look of pores.” Awesome. And let me just tell you, it was not half bad. The textures of the products are definitely different, but they achieved almost the same exact goal. Benefit’s product was more of a balmy texture and it felt like there was a heavy layer of it coating the skin. The Neutrogena product was more like a lotion that absorbed into the skin and, though the pore-minimizing was not as drastic as it was with the Benefit product, it felt better on my face. So is it worth the splurge? I don’t think it was. If you want shine control and some mild blurring of the pores, I would strongly recommend Neutrogena’s Shine Control primer.
Yay for inexpensive products!