A new company, Alter Ego, recently contacted me regarding reviewing one of their new palettes and of course I was all in. Well actually, I had a few questions before I could definitively say yes and they were more than happy to answer my questions.
Alter Ego specializes in dupes of high-end eyeshadow palettes, which is cause for concern for many. Oftentimes dupes, while deceptively packaged as original products, do not go through the scrutiny that major brands go through in terms of ingredient safety and overall quality. So before I agreed to test the eyeshadows and write a review I asked their Director of Influencer Marketing a few questions:
- Is
the brand cruelty free ? - Where are the palettes manufactured?
- What is the ingredient list?
She provided me with the following answers:
- Yes, the brand is cruelty-free.
- The palettes are manufactured in China
- The ingredients for their first palette are as follows:
Talc, Mica, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Dimethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, Magnesium Stearate, Nylon-12, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Silica, Kaolin, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tin Oxide, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethyhexylglycerin. +/- May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Bronze Powder (CI 77400), Aluminum Powder (CI 77000), Iron Oxide Red (CI 77491), Iron Oxide Yellow (CI 77492), Iron Oxide Black (CI 77499), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Black 2 (CI 77266), Carmine (CI 75470), Red 40 Lake (CI 16035), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140).
Their willingness for transparency was a good sign to me. So once I got these answers I was sent the Temptress palette and the swatching, wearing, and reviewing began.
The Temptress palette is inspired by the Anastasia Beverly Hills Sultry palette. Temptress retails for $16 while Sultry retails for $45. As team #BeautyOnABudget this is always a huge selling point, but not the only factor that influences whether I purchase a product, dupe or not. The other factors are shade choices, pigmentation, and wear.
Although I do not own the ABH Sultry palette, I have played around with it in stores and realized they aren’t shades I would typically wear. The Temptress palette has a lot of comparable colors, though not exact matches. If you like subtle eyeshadow shades that are wearable for daytime/ office looks, this may be right up your alley. But if you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m not one for subtle eye looks lol.
One of the downsides of the Temptress palette, in my opinion, was the pigmentation. While beautiful in the pan, it became apparent during the swatching process that the mattes just weren’t hitting how I wanted them to for my skin tone. However, I did like the shimmer shades. They were good daytime shimmers. I wouldn’t look to them for full-on glam looks, but for bringing some pop to your eyes at work without being distracting, these are wonderful.
Now on to the wear test. Because I already knew the pigmentation wasn’t going to be the strongest when swatching, I used the concealer I utilized to highlight and clean up under my brow as a base for my lids. This usually helps me get better wear out of not so pigmented shades. I started out with the color Lust, hoping it would be good transition shade but it didn’t really show up. I moved over to Uptown, but it ended up looking more gray than brown. I settled on Blush because it was one of the more true to color shades in the palette. For my crease and outer corner I chose the shade After Hours. This was a pretty good dark brown, but it definitely looks darker in the pan and I had to pack it on because trying to blend almost erased it. I went in my inner corner and pulled into my crease the shade Lace. It’s not a shade I would typically pick if it was highly pigmented, but it gave a nice soft highlight without being to stark white. I used 2 of the shimmer shades on my lid, Champagne and Mistress. These gave more shimmer then color, but I found that to be okay for the softer look I was going for. There was fallout, but I don’t know a single shimmer shadow that doesn’t have that.
Alter Ego also sent me 2 brushes. To be honest, I was more impressed with the brushes than the palette. I was sent a blending brush and a brush that was perfect for applying setting powder under the eyes. They were both soft and did not shed. Both are perfect for powder products, but I wouldn’t recommend using them with anything cream based.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend the palette with a lot of gusto for the seasoned makeup wearer. However, if you are a beginner and don’t want anything too dramatic or need something that can easily cover up mistakes you make, this is a good choice. As of right now they only have the Temptress palette on the site for sale, but if you click the links in this blog post and use the code LITHIUM, for a limited time you can get 15% off, free shipping, AND a free 2 piece brush set. So that’s $13.60 + tax. I think the 2 piece brush set is definitely worth taking up this offer.
If you decide to try the Alter Ego Temptress palette tell me what you think in the comments.
