Light Brown: Comparing Transition Shades

A transition shade is a color you place in and a bit above the crease of your eyelid to make blending easier and the transition between all your eyeshadows smoother. The most popular transition shade is a matte light brown color. That being said, there are SO many to choose from and so many that are proclaimed 'must-have' colors by makeup gurus and companies. With so many to choose from you'd think picking one would be easy but wading through all the choices can be a tad daunting! I thought I'd share all the matte light browns I have to give you an idea of how more popular ones compare and my thoughts on some of my faves!

Let's get started from left to right! First up are the two matte browns from the Naked 1 palette, Naked and Buck. These colors are great because they layer beautifully on top of one another, meaning you can dip your brush in both of these, buff them into your crease and effortlessly add some great dimension to your eye look. MAC's Soft Brown is the next color and is a great shade if you're looking for a warmer brown that leans peach. It is really similar to Makeup Geek's Creme Brulee and Stila's Wit (from Eyes are the Window 'Mind' palette).  I like these colors if I'm going for a warmer eye look. I think they all perform comparably to one another though I prefer MAC's Soft Brown slightly because I think it is slightly less powdery and blends with other colors a bit better because of its satiny feel.  Next I have the NARS eyeshadow duo in 'Portobello.' These colors are SO amazingly buttery and soft and yet don't kick up a bunch of product when you dip your brush in or are blending them. The color on the left is unique as it has a bit of green in it and the color on the right in the duo is so rich and adds gorgeous depth to any eye look. I highly recommend this little compact if you're looking for some unique and gorgeous colors for your collection that you can get a TON of use out of. Lastly I have the matte brown color from the Dior 5-Colour palette in Grege. Unfortunately I don't think Dior sells this palette anymore which is a shame because it is gorgeous (find my review of it HERE), but if you have it, here is how the rich matte brown in it compares with some other popular browns.

I hope this post was helpful for anyone looking for comparisons of these popular colors!

xxSJ

Review: NARS Eyeshadow Duo in 'Portobello'

After much hemming and hawing, I finally got my hands on a couple more NARS eyeshadow duos. I love NARS eyeshadows so much... buttery soft with impeccable pigmentation.  The only point of uncertainty when purchasing these products for me is the price tag! NARS is certainly a luxury makeup brand, however, the delightful and sleek packaging mixed with the fantastic quality of the products creates good reason for a splurge:

NARS eyeshadows come in ultra sleek matte black rubberized packaging with the NARS logo boldly displayed in white on top.  I love the way this looks but be warned, the rubberized container attracts dust and dirt like nothing else! This will get dirty!

Opening up the container we see the two eyeshadows separated by a divider. Something to note is that the entire top half of the container has a mirror! Awesome for applying eyeshadows or touching up on the go. 

Now for the colors! 'Portobello' is an eyeshadow duo housing two matte brown shadows. The color on the left is a very warm brown with orange hues in it. It reminds me a lot of MAC's Soft Brown. The color on the right is a bit cooler toned and more chocolatey. Together, I thought these colors would make awesome crease and blending colors. My reasoning behind wanting this duo was that I have used the two matte colors in the Naked 1 palette to death (Buck and Naked) and I needed a quick replacement. I thought this duo would do just the trick!

Here are the colors swatched on my arm. These colors are extremely buttery soft and pigmented so be warned that a little goes a long way. These can easily overwhelm an eye look if you're just trying to add a small amount for a crease color so try and be light handed with these if that's what you're going for.

NARS eyeshadow duos are $34 for 4g (0.14oz) of product, or 2g per eyeshadow. This may seem ridiculously expensive compared to other prestigious beauty brands such as MAC or Urban Decay until you break down the price by gram:

MAC eyeshadows in the pot are $15 for 1.5g of product = $10 / g

Urban Decay shadows are $18 for 1.5 g of product = $12 / g

NARS eyeshadows in duos are $34 for 4g of product= $8.50 / g

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! What did I just discover? NARS eyeshadow duos are actually cheaper per gram than some of my other favorite eyeshadows. Very interesting and something to keep in mind when making future purchases. 

xxSJ