Taupe and Tan

I don't have many NYX products, just two single eyeshadows in Iced Mocha and Sparkle Cedar, two eye/eyebrow pencils in Sapphire and White Pearl, and a Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. I know you can order NYX off Crush Cosmetics and Cherry Culture, but I haven't resorted to online shopping just yet. All my NYX purchases have come from chemists or random cosmetics stalls and shops, which has at times made me question their authenticity. (Though it doesn't really make sense to me why anyone would want to produce fake NYX products, considering how affordable their range is.) What confuses me about the pair of single eyeshadows I have are the inconsistencies in packaging, weight and the ingredients listing between the two. Firstly, the "NYX" branding at the front of Sparkle Cedar is slightly different to Iced Mocha, with the font being less spaced out and bolder. Iced Mocha is made in China and 2g, but Sparkle Cedar is made in South Korea and 2.7g. Confusing times. I can only suppose they were manufactured in different batches, one being to newer specifications and the other older.

l-r: Iced Mocha, Sparkle Cedar

In sunlight

Being boring and unadventurous, I naturally gravitated towards these two neutrals for everyday wear. I never noticed how similar these two shades are until I swatched them side by side. Iced Mocha has been tipped as a dupe to MAC's Satin Taupe, but somehow I doubt that. It seems too one-dimensional and the texture is a little on the chalky side. It is however a unique shade to my collection, namely a cool-toned brown. Sparkle Cedar is lighter and more like a sparkly, cool-toned beige. This has a very frosty finish in that the silvery glitter seems to lie on top of the shadow when it's applied. If you apply more, the colour doesn't necessarily intensify, but rather the shimmer on top which can get scaly. Generally however, these eyeshadow singles are well pigmented, easy to apply and good quality for the price. If I had better access to them, I'd most likely have a few more.