2013 Laura Mercier Artist Palette DUPES!
When I set out to do this post I *knew* it was going to be a challenge. Laura Mercier eyeshadows are rather hard to dupe with other brands (in my opinion) and this palette surely didn’t disappoint when it came to the dupe department.
Some of the dupes I found with this palette are exact while others are just slightly off either in color or formula, so please do keep that in mind. If there are differences to be noted, I’ll make sure to say so with each comparison. Additionally, I compared this palette to a WIDE range of brands, so you may find you already own some of the colors in the LM palette.
The only two eyeshadows not pictured were the two I was unable to match with dupes (and believe me when I say I TRIED!): they are Guava and Bamboo. Oh, and Vanilla Nuts is comparable with LORAC Pro Palette’s Cream eyeshadow but because I am so white (ha!) I couldn’t get either of them to show well enough on camera for comparison purposes, so they are not pictured below either.
The Dupe Comparison
(L to R) Sparkling Dew = UD Virgin
Sparkling Dew is a light pale shade very comparable to Urban Decay’s Virgin, both in color and formulation. Between the two, I’d say the only real difference is Virgin is much more pigmented than Sparkling Dew and is an easier color to build.
(L to R) African Violet = MakeupGeek Sensuous
I initially wanted to compare African Violet to MAC’s Trax, but the purple tones in Trax are much darker in comparison to Laura Mercier’s version here. Even compared to MUG’s Sensuous, there are still some subtle differences worth noting. While the purple shades are nearly identical, the shades look slightly different because there is a LOT more gold in African Violet’s formula, and you can see that clearly in the side by side example above. If you wanted to match Sensuous more closely to A.V., you could try layering a small amount of gold over it.
(L to R) Plum Smoke = MakeupGeek Unexpected
Plum Smoke is just slightly darker in tone compared to MUG’s Unexpected, which is a slightly more vibrant purple shade. Not by much though. Compared to MAC’S Quarry and UD’s Tease, Plum Smoke is much more purple and not as dark. Unexpected is the closest match I could conjure.
(L to R) Kir Royal = MAC Sketch
Kir Royal stumped me for a bit and I must’ve swatched EVERY medium shaded purple I had before deciding that MAC’s Sketch most closely resembled it, but even it isn’t an exact match. If you look closely at the swatches above, you can see that Sketch is a little darker than Kir Royal. It’s also worth mentioning that Kir Royal is A LOT easier to work with compared to Sketch, which can be a booger (yes you can, Sketch!).
(L to R) Violet Ink = Too Faced Ever After (Romantic Eye Palette)
Similarly to how I struggled finding an exact match for Kir Royal, the same can be said for Violet Ink, which has no exact match from my collection. The closest I came was Too Faced’s Ever After from the Romantic Eye palette. However, the two are not exact. Ever After is a bluer-based purple and Violet Ink has a little bit more of a red base. I almost didn’t include this comparison as I didn’t feel the two were close enough, but thought I’d share my findings anyhow.
(L to R) Primrose = MakeupGeek Cinderella
Again, no exact match here (boy, this was getting old by the 6th dupe hunt – ha!). Cinderella has the same color as Primrose, but it’s much stronger and more pigmented compared to Primrose. I also feel like there’s more shimmer in MUG’s version.
(L to R) Fresco = Stila Bliss (from the In the Light Palette)
Fresco is a rosy-brown shade; compared to MAC’s Malt, it’s a LOT darker and I had similar findings when I compared it to Stila’s Wonder eyeshadow. Stila’s Bliss eyeshadow from the In the Light palette was the closest I could come in tone to Fresco, but it’s still missing the strong pinker tones found in Fresco. I still love them both and honestly don’t have a favorite here, but I am biased as I LOVE me some pinky-browns! LOVE!
(L to R) Truffle = MAC Corduroy
Ah! We have a match! I went through all of MAC’s browns before finding that perfect teddy bear brown to compare with Truffle. Same consistency between the two, same color. Nothing to see here. NEXT!
(L to R) Espresso Bean = TheBalm Sleek (from the NudeTude Palette)
Espresso Bean is a dark, dark, dark (did I mention dark?) brown. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find anything like this outside of TheBalm, which had a dead ringer in the Nude Tude palette in its Sleek shade. Between the two I found Espresso Bean to MUCH more pigmented, though.
Do you own this palette? What dupes have you found?
Michelle Gallina
Oh, Z, I am so happy! I love me some purples and I don’t have a lot in my Mac/MUG/Inglot arsenal. And I have hazel eyes, so I need more!!! I just bought this palette with my Sephora VIB discount and was going to “chance” I had no dupes. Then you gift me with this comparison the day I buy! And I have no dupes–I own MUG Cinderella but I would love a less shimmery Cinderella. Also have Sensuous (but it’s still in the box as I thought it was like Trax and I have to use my current Trax up! I’m breaking it out!)
Thanna
Michelle – you HAVE to give Sensuous a try! It’s a gorgeous shadow!
Zabrena
YAY! Alright!! I must have ESP – haha! 😉
You definitely need purples! I do feel this palette has some beautiful purples in it and they will be beautiful on you!!
Karah
Hi,
You know that I have this palette. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into trying to find dupes for this palette. I disagree with you a little bit. I don’t think you can compare Laura Mercier e/s to MUG or even some of MAC’s. LM’s e/s are a much better quality than MUG’s and some of MAC’s in pigmentation, formulation, and quality. I don’t mean to be mean. I just don’t think Sensuous is a dupe for African Violet. Like you said; you would have to mix a gold e/s with Sensuous to get closer to African Violet. I think A.V. Is one of those e/s that you really can’t dupe. You made a good try at it though. 🙂 I wouldn’t have wanted to try to dupe this palette! MUG has some really good e/s but there pigmentation is not close to LM, Stila, Some Urban Decay, etc. Of course the price point is very good with MUG. I guess sometimes you get what you pay for. I have to say though; I really am getting to the point where I don’t like Two Faced e/s and palettes anymore. I like some T.F., but I don’t think the quality is there with them anymore. It seems like they’re getting worse and worse. It’s like we’ve said before; we wish we could buy a couple of the e/s in the palettes, not the whole palette. Thank you for all your hard work sweetie! It was nice to see Inky. Where is Thomasina? Is she ok?
Zabrena
Well, naturally I agree with you that the quality of LM eyeshadows isn’t comparable to ANY other brand. I wanted to put this post together moreso as a color guide for anyone who maybe doesn’t want to get the palette but recreate a look they’ve seen with it. I feel these colors would get you closest to recreating a look done with it. The T.F. palettes are disappointing; I was looking at them in Ulta again recently and reminding myself of how I haven’t been too impressed with them. Still, I’m thinking I’d like to try their matte palette! 🙂
Thomasina is not well; she is progressively getting worse and has taken to sleeping a lot. I had some people ask why she hasn’t been in many videos and it’s simply because of that; she’s hardly up at all during the day. Still eats like a horse but not gaining weight, just losing it by the minute it seems. She still enjoys being around hubby and I so that’s all we can ask for; vet has said we can’t do anything but make her comfortable. When she stops wanting to be around us, then we’ll know it’s her time. 🙁 Thanks for asking about her. 🙂
Mariella
Z, I am sorry to hear this. If it’s not too prying, can I ask what is wrong with her? Our old cat, Middy (my son’s cat, really) went into kidney failure and the vet thought that with treatment, special diet, etc. she’d make it another 6 to 8 months but we kept her going quite happily for a year and a half (and learned to give subcutaneous fluids to a very uncooperative old cat) with meds, special food and treatment. Then it became clear that it was time… I hope you can have some success with keeping Thomasina happy and comfortable for a while yet.
Zabrena
Not prying at all 🙂 Thanks for asking. Her kidneys are three times smaller than what they should be and she’s struggling with constipation. Vet said we should give her more canned food to help with constipation and special kidney food, but both don’t seem to be changing either, just keeping her comfortable. I have to force feed her a laxative daily, which she hates but it’s helping her go at least. She vomits constantly, sometimes 6 times in a row until she is dry-heaving. She’s not even going in her litter box anymore because the constipation makes it so painful for her that she associates that pain with the litter box and avoids it, but vet warned us of that. So now she poops in the shower. LOL At least it’s easy to clean there! One of her eyes has darkened significantly compared to the other; not sure what that is. That just happened in the past two weeks. I read online it could be due to dehydration. She’s dropping weight like mad but eats like a horse; down to 6 lbs. now from her normally, healthy 14 lbs. self. She’s become more vocal than usual, probably due to hearing loss and dementia; sometimes she has episodes where she doesn’t know where she is and she acts scared of me. 🙁
I’m so sorry to hear that about Middy; what were her signs if you don’t mind me asking? Vet told us similar thing, that she may only have 6 months left. Like you said though, we’re trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. 🙂
Mariella
I don’t mind at all, Z. It came on very quickly. She was fine (or so we thought) and then one day, we couldn’t find her. She didn’t come out for food and we searched all through the house and finally found her wedged in between 2 bookshelves in a corner. I think she had gone there to die, as animals often do. We got her to the vet immediately and they ran tests. Her kidneys were much as you describe Thomasina’s and her potassium levels were really low. We had to give her liquid potassium (actually harder to get into her than her kidney pills) and also meds for her kidneys and special low protein food which she didn’t like at all (I took to draining the liquid from human tuna to drizzle on the food to make it more appealing and mixing in other things – the “drippings” from roast chicken and also that special food at the vets for cats with poor appetites. The vet wasn’t terribly keen on the latter but my reasoning was that it was either she would die from kidney failure or from starvation – what’s the diff? I wish I could remember the name of the medication she was on (I’ll have my hubby check to see if we still have any of the bills) but that and the subcutaneous hydration kept her going. At first, I took her to the vet for the subQ treatments (the vet techs did them so it wasn’t as costly as most vet visits) but Middy hated going to the vet and would get SO stressed by it and they told us that lots of people do these at home and they taught us how to do them. It was a bit creepy at first and it was always a 2 person job (sometimes 3) and stressful but she was like a new cat afterward – it was clear how much better she felt for a few days after each treatment – which is why we wanted to learn to do them at home – so she could feel better. I’ve asked hubby to check through the piles of papers he has in the basement to get the name of the medication (you’d think I’d remember) and it might take a couple of days but hopefully, I can get it to you. Or you could ask your vet – I think it’s something pretty standard that they give to cats and it seems to me it was sort of natural based – not an antioxidant, cripes, I wish I could remember. If they still have her medical records on file (it’s been about 18 months since we had her put down), I will try calling the vet, which might be faster than waiting for hubby to sort through his stuff.
Mariella
Okay, brain kicked in and I think it might have been some sort of acidophilis that was in the pills we were giving her (but don’t quote me on it).
Mariella
…it WAS acidophilus and it was called Azodyl. I just did a bit of reading and there haven’t been any clinical trials but I can tell you that in Midnight’s case, it really prolonged her life and in a meaningful way – her remaining time, except for the last 2 or 3 days, was good for the most part. I hope this information is of some help. Can you get more fluids into her with a plastic eye dropper or similar, to shoot more water into her tummy?
Zabrena
Thank you SO much for the info! I’ll relay that to the vet next time he sees her and ask about it; I’ve written it down here. It’s so funny you said that because that has become our nightly ritual; sitting on the floor with a cup of water and an eyedropper and force feeding her water for about 20 mins. She absolutely hates it, but it’s been helping her. Every little bit helps 🙂
Karah
I’m so sorry Z! 🙁 I pray she has a few good months in her yet. I think I can say that we will all mourn her when she goes. You’ll be in my prayers. I hope Mariella’s suggestion helps. The subcutaneous fluids should help.
Zabrena
Thank you, babe 🙂 I appreciate that! She’s a little fighter so I don’t think she’ll be leaving anytime soon!
Karah
She’s a fighter like her mom. 🙂
Anat Katz
No dupe for Inky, though! ☺ ♥♥♥
Zabrena
LOL! Exactly! Haha!
Peggy Boersma
Great dupes! MUG’s Sensuous reminds me of Mac’s Twinks…is there much of a difference?
Zabrena
Yes, I wouldn’t compare Sensuous to Twinks; Sensuous is really more like Trax but has a different purple undertone than Trax. Twinks is more of a red-plum brown really. 😉
Mariella
I was at Sephora today doing Xmas shopping and I stopped to look at this palette (at 20% off, it was tempting) but so many of the colours looked so alike – Guava and Primrose and the other light shades – there seemed so little difference in them and what little difference there was wouldn’t be discernible once applied on my lids so I skipped this. I wish the earlier one would be re-released. It seemed so much better than this one.
Zabrena
I definitely feel the same way you do, Mariella. I would recommend skipping; it’s just not all that impressive to me. When I was trying to dupe the colors, the pinks especially all started to run together at one point! 🙁
Peggy Boersma
Oh I am sorry to hear Thomasina is not well 🙁 will keep you in my prayers.
Zabrena
Thank you, Peggy 🙂