Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Trying to Dupe Sweet Peach

When Too Faced launched the Sweet Peach palette, I made a mental note to buy it as soon as it landed in Australia. The shades and concept won me over and I loved the last Chocolate Bar and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palettes from the brand. But in line with my resolution to think very carefully about any new makeup purchases, I ultimately decided against buying it. I finally saw the palette in person last weekend at Mecca Maxima and swatched all the shades on the back of my hand. Overall, it didn't wow me. Some of the shades felt really dry and weren't that pigmented. I could immediately spot the colours I'd probably never wear. The ones that did appeal to me looked very familiar. The only shade that really stood out to me was the pale peachy-pink Georgia, but it wasn't enough to justify buying the whole palette.

Back home, I thought a fun exercise would be to try and dupe every single shade in the Sweet Peach palette with existing eyeshadows I have. If, in doing so, I could see I basically already had the palette, then any remnant need might be extinguished. I referenced swatches and descriptions online, namely here and here, to form the basis of the "dupes" I found.

Time to go digging...

(Source: Too Faced)


Bottom to top: Urban Decay Strange, L'Oréal La Palette Nude in Beige (5th shade), Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Peach, NARS Orgasm, theBalm FratBoy, Addiction Fudge

Bottom to top: Makeup Geek Grandstand, Morphe Burlesque, Rimmel Santa Rose, Anastasia Beverly Hills Witchy, Sleek Organza, Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear

Bottom to top: Sleek Envy, Australis Plum Diddy, Too Faced Peanut Butter, L'Oréal La Palette Nude in Beige (9th shade), Morphe Midnight Kiss, Anastasia Beverly Hills Spirit Rock

l-r: Urban Decay Strange, L'Oréal La Palette Nude in Beige (5th shade), Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Peach, NARS Orgasm, theBalm FratBoy, Addiction Fudge

This first row was meant to approximate White Peach, Nectar, Peaches 'n Cream, Just Peachy, Candied Peach and Caramelized.

I used Urban Decay Strange (from Naked3) for White Peach, the fifth shade in L'Oréal Color Riche La Palette Nude in Beige for Nectar, Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Peach (from the Shadow Couture World Traveler Palette) for Peaches 'n Cream, NARS Orgasm blush for Just Peachy, theBalm FratBoy blush for Candied Peach, and Addiction by Ayako Fudge for Caramelized.

Compared with swatches online, I think the shades that were meant to dupe Nectar and Caramelized look the most off. Nectar in swatches looks slightly duochromey with an orange overlay over a lighter gold. I didn't have anything exactly like that in a single eyeshadow (I could potentially have approximated it layering two shadows on top of each other), though at least the fifth shade in L'Oréal Color Riche La Palette Nude in Beige had a similar shimmering quality. Caramelized looks like a colour I'd have at least 15 dupes of, but I tend to lump these bronze shades together since their differences aren't pronounced enough for me to meaningfully tell them apart. Having said that, Addiction Fudge seems way too warm (kind of bordering on an orange-brown poo colour) to dupe Caramelized, which looks darker and more chocolatey.

I didn't have any pink eyeshadows like Just Peachy or Candied Peach, so I had to resort to blushes. I've never used blush as eyeshadow and I'm not entirely sure why. I guess lack of adventurousness and a certain wariness of wearing pink around the eyes, which blushes tend to be. However I do remember trying the dominantly pink/peach Sleek Oh So Special and being pleasantly surprised at the results. Maybe it's time to get away from the mentality that pink is a strictly "creative", out of the box colour and start reaching for it like I would any other bronze or taupe.

l-r: Makeup Geek Grandstand, Morphe Burlesque, Rimmel Santa Rose, Anastasia Beverly Hills Witchy, Sleek Organza, Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear

The second row was meant to approximate Luscious, Cobbler, Georgia, Bless Her Heart, Bellini and Puree.

I used Makeup Geek Grandstand for Luscious, Morphe Burlesque (ES74) from the Jaclyn Hill Favorites Palette for Cobbler, Rimmel Santa Rose blush for Georgia, Witchy by Anastasia Beverly Hills (from the Self-Made Palette) for Bless Her Heart, Organza from the Sleek i-Divine eyeshadow palette in Oh So Special for Bellini, and Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear for Puree.

Grandstand is probably a bit too dark to be an accurate dupe for Luscious, which looks lighter, more overall silvery and reflective, with some muted brown in the mix. But overall, I'm hoping it captures the same metallic rose gold character. I totally guessed Morphe Burlesque for Cobbler since it's the same story as Caramelized in the first swatch — too much of a generic bronze for me to care about the minute differences between the shades I have that are similar. Georgia was one shade that I really didn't have anything close to. It wasn't in any eyeshadow palette I had and it's not the kind of colour I'd set out to buy on its own as I can't see myself getting much use out of it, as pretty as it is. Once again, I had to resort to a blush to approximate it (Rimmel Santa Rose in this case). Bellini was also tricky to find a dupe for — I initially thought Sleek Organza would be spot on, but it turned out to be way too shimmery and light. Needed to go for a darker peachy-pink. Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear isn't exactly like Puree, but I surprisingly struggled to find a dark, warm-toned brown with a strictly orange undertone rather than red. The one shade I'm convinced I nailed is Bless Her Heart, which ABH Witchy looks identical to.

l-r: Sleek Envy, Australis Plum Diddy, Too Faced Peanut Butter, L'Oréal La Palette Nude in Beige (9th shade), Morphe Midnight Kiss, Anastasia Beverly Hills Spirit Rock

Finally we have the shades that were meant to be dupes for Tempting, Peach Pit, Summer Yum, Charmed, I'm Sure, Delectable and Talk Derby to Me.

I matched them to Envy from the Sleek Bad Girl palette (second shade, bottom row), Australis AC/ME Eyeshadow in Plum Diddy, Too Faced Peanut Butter (from the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette), the second last shade in L'Oréal Color Riche La Palette Nude in Beige, Morphe Midnight Kiss (ES48) from the Jaclyn Hill Favorites Palette and Anastasia Beverly Hills Spirit Rock from the Self-Made Palette.

The only one I think is obviously off is Summer Yum. I simply don't have anything that dark and orange. I even tried swatching matte bronzers and none were near the required intensity or warmth. Come to think of it, Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear is probably a better dupe for Summer Yum than Puree. The rest might not be perfect dupes, but for me, are close enough that I don't feel I'm missing out. Australis Plum Diddy (for Peach Pit) is a cream shadow, which doesn't have the same functionality/versatility as a powder one, but I'm sure I have similar eggplant/dark purply brown shades tucked away somewhere.

Overall, the only shades I felt I really didn't have sufficient approximations for were Nectar, Georgia, Bellini, Puree and Summer Yum. Of those, it's only the mattes (Georgia, Puree and Summer Yum) that I'd consider worthy additions if I did buy the Sweet Peach palette. When you break it down like that, I definitely can live without it.

10 comments:

  1. Even though there are a few shades you can't match exactly from the shadows you already have, this is a brilliant way of figuring out whether or not it's worth shelling out the money. That little peach has the cutest face, but it certainly seems like you already have similar colours to most of the shades in the palette!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a brilliant post!! I never thought of shopping our stash to look for dupes, it's a great idea! I think most of us will end up having enough dupes and don't really need to splurge on another eye shadow palette, which is great for our financial balance xD.
    I wanted to get this Sweet Peach Palette too, but had the chance to play around with my friend's palette. After all, I decided this palette is a tad too orange and too pink for my liking and is not worth the splurge.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think you did an amazing job! I did end up buying Sweet Peach because I was so set on it, despite reading and watching some lukewarm reviews. Overall I'm happy with the purchase - I enjoy the majority of the shades and although the formula is hit and miss, it's workable (except for Talk Derby to Me, that one's straight up terrible) - but I don't think it's deserving of all the hype! I think it's just the novelty of the packaging and scent. I think your dupes are great, once they're on the eye I'm sure it all looks the same anyway!

    Tasha // shiwashiful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post! I'm really enjoying the rise of dupe posts and people talking about the products they're not going to buy. It's great to see bloggers starting to deconstruct the hype makeup brands try to catch us in instead of just adding to it!

    xx Julia
    missjulziez.blogspot.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is such a cool post. I should definitely do that when I see a new palette I want. I didn't end up buying the palette because a) I'm on a spending ban and b)with all the reviews it was getting, I wasn't too sure I wanted to spend that much money on something that I wouldn't love. I'd love to see more posts like this one! x

    Lauren | Dose of Wardrobe

    ReplyDelete
  6. I did cave into the Sweet Peach palette and I do have a bit of buyers remorse, but I feel like I'll have 'returners remorse' if I sell it or return it. I really do like 85% of the colours I would say, especially the mattes and the lighter shimmers to the left side. I dispise the look of 'candied peach', funnily enough, when I first swatched it I thought it was like Nars 'orgasm' as well!

    I'm not a big fan of the smell, to me it smells a little like cleaning products haha.

    Overall, I'm not displeased with my purchase, but I am also trying to make a more conscious effort to spend wisely. I actually sold my Stila 'Spirit' palette so it kind of evens out.

    Maddie | www.maddiesbeautyspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ive been holding myself from buying this palette, I love the shades but then again I already have quite a lot of eyeshadows that I need to go through first. Gna shop my stash first
    Kookii || Beauty By Her♥

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm liking your makeup storage, do you mind sharing where you bought it from?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's this http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/j-burrows-desktop-file-storage-organiser-4-drawer-clear-sedd113

      I wrote a whole post about this specific storage if you're interested http://sleepandwater.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/all-in-one-place.html

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...