Beauty Kuel Category Expert: Elise Marquam-Jahns
I’m excited to try out for the very first time—and share the results with you— a $22 dollar eye shadow palette performs. And, this $22.00 eye shadow palette is not just any ordinary eye shadow palette, but a dupe for a luxury high-end palette which costs $129 dollars.
Yes, it’s jaw dropping to think that there are actually eye shadow palettes that cost that much money. So, in today’s video we’ll see how well this $22 dollar eye shadow palette performs . . . and if it might be worth purchasing.
The Dupe Versus The Original:
The eye shadow palette which is a $22 dupe is called the “Artemis” palette from a brand called Alter Ego. It’s a dupe for the $129 dollar “Metropolis” palette from Natasha Denona. Alter Ego has created dupes of three other Natasha Denona palettes: the Natasha Denona 15 pan Gold palette, the 15 pan Biba palette, and the 15 pan Sunrise palette.
Now I have to say that I absolutely love Natasha Denona eye shadows. I think the formulations of her shadows are truly exceptional. They are not only easy to apply, but they blend together like a dream. I do have two of her palettes, which I was fortunate enough to get on sale: the mini Lila palette—which is stunning and which I absolutely love—and a larger palette (which I also got on sale) called The Tropic Palette. The colors in The Tropic Palette make me think of a tropical vacation. The only unfortunate thing about this palette is that the gorgeous eye shadow colors in the bottom row are a little more challenging to work with.
But one of Natasha Denona’s palettes which I’ve always been interested in—and which I don’t have–is her larger 28 pan “Metropolis” palette. But, I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $129.00 on this palette.
Trying The Alter Ego Option:
When I recently heard about Alter Ego’s $22 dollar dupe for this palette, I couldn’t resist purchasing it so we could take a look at it together and see how well it performs. First, let me share with you a little more background information on the palette. In case you’re curious about the name of the palette, the name—Artemis–as many of you I’m sure know, comes from Greek mytholgoy. Artemis was the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, vegetation, chastity, and childbirth and was the daughter of Zeus. And, all the names of the colors in this palette relate to “the hunt”—such as “snare,” “camouflage,” “stealth,” and “chase.”
There are a variety of different eye shadow formulas and the mattes are creamy rather than powdery—which is also true of Natasha Denona’s Metropolis palette. The shimmers and metallics perform especially well. Also, the mirror is very good and the palette itself is fairly heavy—so it feels substantial and is quite lovely. The eye shadow pans are magnetic and can be popped out so it’s possible to customize and create your own palette if you wish to do so. Most importantly, the colors are incredibly similar to the Metropolis palette.
Now since I don’t have the Metropolis palette, I can’t swatch the colors from both of these palettes to compare them, but I will say that when I’ve seen others compare the colors side by side, they are incredibly close. However, the colors from the Natasha Denona palette are definitely more intense. To see how these shadows actually perform on the eyes, in the video I’m going to try a different look on each eye to test out more colors.
Watch How It’s Done:
My Assessment Of The Dupe:
So after working with this palette, let me summarize and share with you some of my thoughts on it. The pans, as you might expect with a less expensive palette, are smaller and thinner than the pans in the typical Natasha Denona palettes. I do love the variety of colors, but as with the Metropolis palette, most of the colors are in the mid tone range or deeper. It would be wonderful to have a couple more light colors in the Natasha Denona palette and in this palette. There is a wide range of formulations as I mentioned earlier.
The mattes are creamy rather than powdery; so, they aren’t quite as easy to apply and blend as a more powdery formulation but they still work very well. The metallic and shimmers colors are gorgeous and perform beautifully. My one disappointment is that the darker blues and the deep green color swatch apply far lighter—and brighter—than you would think from just looking at them in the pan. I was hoping for some beautiful, deep rich blues and greens. And, there is really no deep brown or black to provide outer corner eye shadow depth. From what I’ve heard, apparently, the dark blue and green colors in the Natasha Denona Metropolis palette look—and apply– deeper and richer than the colors in the Alter Ego Artemis palette. And the Natasha Denona dark blues and green can perform well as outer corner colors to give an eye look added depth.
A Great Way To Get This Color Palette:
Overall, Alter Ego’s Artemis palette is really quite an amazing dupe for the far more expensive Natasha Denona Metropolis palette. If you want a good quality, less expensive palette with this particular shade range of colors, the Artemis palette may very well be a good investment. I hope this information was helpful and I’d love to hear your thought on this palette if you’ve tried it.
About The Author:
Elise Marquam-Jahns is a professional, working makeup-artist who is passionate about helping women 45+ get their glow back. In addition to her work as a makeup artist for a major cosmetics line, she founded Boomer and Beyond Beauty. Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 45+. Don’t forget to subscribe! Elise is also an author and speaker and hosts Normandale Community College’s monthly Learning Well Edge Talk Radio show where she interviews experts in the field of health and wellness.
