High End vs. Drugstore. #2

It's time for another high end vs drugstore post. I challenge myself to create a look using high end products, and then re-create the look using products that can be found at the drugstore for MUCH less. This time I did a smoky look. One of my eyes in the photo below is done using products worth well over $100. The other eye is all elf products worth a total of 11 dollars. Can you tell the difference? Take a guess. Which eye is which?





Here are the products used!





The eye on the right, above was created using the following products:
Elf essential eyelid primer in Pearl ($1)
Elf essential duo eyeshadow cream in black licorice ($1)
Elf studio single eyeshadow in Sand Dollar ($3)
Elf essential brightening eye color quad in drama ($1)
Elf essential shimmer eyeliner pencil in black bandit ($1)
Elf essential shimmer eyeliner pencil in gunmetal ($1)
Elf studio Lengthening and volumizing mascara in black ($3)
total: $11

And the eye on the left, above was created using these products:
Urban Decay eyeshadow Primer Potion- travel size ($9)
Urban Decay Naked palette- creep, gunmetal ($50)
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette- pistol, verve, blackout ($50)
Urban Decay Fun Palette- Uzi ($34)
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on pencil in Perversion ($19)
Maybelline Falsies mascara (I don't own a high end mascara)- $7- but i will not include it in the total.
total: $162

note: These prices reflect the original retail price, and are not necessarily what I paid for these products. i often find things in set and on sale. Also, These looks could probably be created using different, less expensive products (i.e. single urban decay eye shadows rather than palettes), these are simply the products I own and used!

So, did you guess right? What do you think of the looks above? Do they look close enough to identical to be considered dupes? If you have any questions or comments, or would like more information on the looks created above, feel free to leave them down below! Thanks for reading!

High End vs. Drugstore. Can you tell the difference?

Yesterday I challenged myself to create an eye look with all high end products, and then try to re-create that look for a fraction of the cost using drug store make up. I did one eye with all Urban Decay products (except mascara- I don't own a high-end mascara) and I did the other eye with brands that can be purchased at the drugstore. Before I tell you which eye is which, take a guess. Which eye do you think has the high end products?




Obviously the eyes aren't exactly the same. There are some subtle differences. But I think that I got pretty close. Especially considering, to create the look on one eye I used $78 dollars worth of products, and on the other eye I used $14 worth of products (including the brushes!) So are you curious to know which eye is which?

The eye look on the left was created using these products.


Urban Decay Travel Size Primer Potion- $9 (I actually got this as a part of a set that was on sale, so I did not pay $9 for it, but that's the price to purchase the travel size primer potion on their website, so that's the price I used for this!)
Urban Decay Naked 2 palette- $50 I used the brush provided with the palette to create the look. The colors I used were YDK (lid color), Tease (crease color) and Foxy (brow bone high light)
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on eye pencil in whiskey- $19 (oops, I forgot to include it in the picture. But, again, I got mine in a set, so I did not pay that price, however, to buy this full size, that's what you will pay. Mine is actually a travel size)
Maybeline the Falsies Volum' Express Mascara in Black Drama (i didn't have a high end mascara so I went with my most expensive one. This one costs about 7 dollars, but i did not include it in the total price of 78 dollars, just for the record)

On the eye on the right, above, I used these products:


Elf eyelid primer in sheer: $1
Elf duo eyeshadow cream in Butter Pecan: $1 (as a base on the lid)
Elf brightening Eye Color Quad in Day to night: $1 (I used the bronze shade from this quad as an all over lid color, and the cream color as a brown bone highlight)
Elf Matte Eyeshadow in Burnt Brown: $3 (crease)
Elf shimmer eyeliner pencil in Boldly Bronzed: $1
NYC Instant Lash Mascara in Black $1
Elf eyeshadow "c" brush- $3
Elf contour brush- $3

So there you have it. It's possible to a look nearly identical to a high end look for just a fraction of the cost! Before I go I just want to show you exactly how close a couple of these shades that I used are.


L to R: Urban Decay YDK, Bronze shade from the Elf brightening eye color quad, Urban Decay Tease, Elf Matte Eyeshadow in burnt brown. And under those we have Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on eye pencil in whiskey on top and Elf shimmer eyeliner pencil in boldy bronzed.

So, what do you think of this look? Do you like the high end version or the drugstore version better? Do you think that the colors are close enough to be called dupes? Leave me a comment down below and let me know. Also, leave me a comment if you would like to see more posts like this in the future!

Battle of the Brands: Mascara

I was originally planning on doing a review and comparison of all my different mascaras, because it was requested, but I was having a really hard time comparing them all, because they each have different price points, they each are meant to do different things, and quite frankly, it was getting tedious trying to take different pictures for each one. So instead, I decided to shorten it up and just compare two of my mascaras. They are both the same price, and have similar qualities so it's much easier to compare. So, here it is, I bring you the battle of the brands: mascara edition.E.L.F. lengthening and volumizing mascara vs. NYC Instant Lash Mascara ELF lengthening and volumizing mascara above left, NYC instant Lash Mascara above right
I curled my lashes before applying them, and used two coats each!


Each of these mascara's cost me $1. I purchased the E.L.F. mascara at Target, and the NYC mascara at walmart. Let me give you a quick overview of each.

ELF

the Elf mascara, contains 0.24 oz of product. It features a long handle with a relatively short mascara wand. I find that this offers me a lot of control. I tend to prefer a shorter mascara wand, personally, though I know a lot of people don't like them. The bristles are nice, average size, average shape. Nothing spectacular. I find with this product that I do get a bit of length, but definitely not the volume that it advertises. Over all I really like this mascara. For a dollar, I can't really complain. It doesn't clump, and it doesn't leave my lashes feeling crunchy, which makes it easy to re-apply. On the downside, you have to reapply often- this one doesn't last as long as I would like. I can usually get 3-4 hours of wear before reapplying.

NYC

The NYC Mascara contains 0.23 oz of product. The wand on this mascara is longer than the elf wand, and the bristles on this brush are shorter. I like the shorter bristles because I can easily put mascara on my bottom lashes as well as my top lashes. The formula of the mascara itself is pretty decent. I find that it really separates my lashes great (when it's not clumping, which this one does do a bit), and gives me some volume, which is nice! This mascara gives my lashes a bit of a spidery look, which I actually like, so that's not a problem. If you aren't into spidery lashes, steer clear of this one. This one does leave my lashes feeling a little crunchy, which I don't love, however, it lasts all day. No reapplying necessary, and it doesn't flake either, which is great!!

Overall, I think that both of these mascaras are great, especially for their $1 price tag. Which ones the winner? Well, it really depends on what you want out of a mascara. If you want lengthening mascara that won't clump or flake, go with the ELF. If you want separation, a little bit of volume and a mascara wand that is easy to use for both top and bottom lashes go for NYC. or, do what I did. Snag them both. After all, for a dollar you can't really go wrong.



Bottom Line: If you are looking for your holy grail mascara, you wopn't find it with either of these. But if you just want to darken your lashes, define them and make them stand out, both of these mascaras are great!

What are your favorite mascaras? Have you tried either of these mascaras? What are your thoughts?