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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Swatches & Dupes: L'Oreal HiP Shocking Shadow Pigments

Since these HiP pigments (all shades) are currently 75% off at CVS (click here for more details), I fear they're being discontinued. IF that is the case, then I thought I'd better do one final post with swatches and some dupe comparisons. If this is a farewell party for HiP Shocking Shadow Pigments, it might as well be a big one, right?

Here are some swatches of all the HiP pigments I own, with dupe comparisons a little further down:



First let me say that I didn't even look for any dupes of Exciting in my stash. Why? Because I really dislike this color. In the jar, Exciting looks like a lovely cream-white that flashes pink and violet. On my skin? It turns to straight-up chalky pink. I can't do pink, so I can't do Exciting. Oh, and did I mention it's the least pigmented of all the HiP pigments I own?

Moving on to Intrepid. If you missed my post about how this is a dupe of MAC Club, Too Faced Label Whore and one of the shades in the Wet n Wild Night Elf palette, please click here.

When I was rummaging through my stash a little while ago, I stumbled across my MAC Green Brown pigment, which I completely forgot I even owned! When I took off the lid, it seemed like this might be yet ANOTHER dupe of Intrepid.

So I swatched them side-by-side and...not so much:


I'm actually glad that Intrepid isn't a dupe of MAC Green Brown, only because that would mean I own three versions of the same shade. So anyway, as you can see, the flash in Green Brown is a true green, while the flash in Intrepid is teal. Oh well--it never hurts to try!

Next up, I made a TOTAL dupe-love-connection with this one:


If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that I am a total bronze FREAK. I own far too many bronze and copper eyeshadows, so TRUST ME when I say that I went through all of them and found you the BEST dupe of them all. MAC Antiqued and HiP Progressive are obviously different since one is a pressed shadow while the other's a loose pigment. But other than that, the only difference my naked eye can see is that Progressive has some fine sparkle in it, while Antiqued is a true shimmer. But the base color? It's identical to me. Identical, I tell you!

And finally, not a love connection but still interesting...


For the record, I did not set out to compare Rebel to my longtime (and recently discontinued) love, Urban Decay Acid Rain. What I was REALLY looking for was my MAC Golden Olive pigment, which I seem to have lost (actually, I'm going to say I "misplaced" it because I can't deal with the idea of losing it). But as luck would have it, I googled "MAC Golden Olive and HiP Rebel" and a great comparison came up, which you can see here. I LOVE it when I google something and I actually know and adore the blog that comes up in the search results (*waves to makeup CRAZIE*). I knew in my mind that Rebel was lighter and less gold than Golden Olive, and it turns out I was right.

So back to Acid Rain vs. Rebel: not a dupe. Acid Rain is lighter and more of a true lime green, while Rebel has more gold in it. Funny that Rebel seems so pale when swatched next to Golden Olive, but then so gold when swatched next to Acid Rain, huh?

I hope this post helps some of you who are debating about whether or not to pick up any of these HiP Pigments while they're 75% off at CVS. I would wholeheartedly recommend every color in this post with the exception of Exciting, which I think it just too chalky and not as pigmented as the other three. But then again, I haven't tried it with a primer, so maybe one of you might have a tip for me as to how to make Exciting work! If so, I'd love to hear from you!
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16 comments

  1. These are 75% off? I've always wanted to try them but haven't gotten around to it.
    You do know they're loose, right? :)

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  2. I wonder if they're all being discontinued, or just particular colors. I picked up some pigments the last time CVS did their store-wide 75% makeup clearance, and they were still there afterward...

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  3. EauMG: Yep! There's a link at the top of this post for more info if you need it! And yeah...thanks for letting me know they're loose. HAHA! ;)

    Maureen: I guess I should have been more clear in this post (I actually just updated it) that ALL shades are now 75% off, not just select shades like when they were on clearance during the Semi-Annual sale. Hope that helps!

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  4. Ah-ha! I picked up three this time around, but those were the only ones left in my store, so I couldn't compare the price of the others.

    Mine weren't labeled on sale, either, so I'm glad you mentioned earlier to scan them!

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  5. *waving back* LOL Thanks for linking my post. Your post is awesome. I was stingy w/ the swatches b/c I only had a tiny bit of the MAC pigment. Someday I'll buy the full jar. & despite my stingy swatching, I'm glad you could see the HiP was not lighter.
    *blowing taps for this collex*

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  6. I am glad you swatched Intrepid, I actually like it better than the MAC - it's super pretty! I saw these today at a Walgreen's - I'll be picking a couple of them up for sure!

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  7. beautiful shadows and great review!!

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  8. UGH! I need to find another CVS... mine didn't have any of the Loreal stuff on sale :/

    Nice swatches though!

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  9. Picked up Intrepid and tried it out today... It's so pretty! :D

    It might be a dupe of MAC Blue Brown pigment, which is supposed to be a sparklier Club, I think. Unfortunately, I don't have the MAC to confirm. :/

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  10. I would like to try these but they're not available here,I live outside the US, I wonder if they're shimmery (every pigment-like e/s I've tried is shimmery -NYX, Splash and Jordana- and btw those HiP jars remind me of Jordana's) and I kinda don't like that.

    But the real reason for my commenting is to compliment the new layout, I like it a lot!

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  11. Intrepid is a dupe of Blue Brown pigment from MAC. I had a few that have since been discontinued but I picked up all the colors, including backups of Intrepid & Visionary. I got a few for a Christmas beauty basket I'm giving my cousin but the rest are for me! LOL I hate that the products I love the most from HIP are discontinued (if I didn't have such a huge stock of the cream blushes, I'd be MAD!).

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  12. I agree with others: Intrepid is more likely to be MAC's Blue Brown Dupe (TKB Trading's Chameleon Fine); MAC's Green Brown on the other hand reminds me of another TKB pigment, unfortunately discontinued Dragonfly. You might want to hold on to Green Brown piggie, I suspect it could be discontinued.
    Does Acid Rain have a strongish green gleam? It's TKB equivalent could be Mermaid's Gold. :)

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  13. This is why I prefer to buy from companies that blend their own shades. Paying that much for unblended wholesale mica is a total rip off.

    But on the plus side, if you like the HiP pigments and they are discontinued it's not going to be a challenge to find affordable dupes.

    I checked out the CVS clearance last night and all mine had left was a light pink pigment so I passed on it.

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  14. I like what you've done with the place, G. I'm glad to see the weekly sales info moved to the side. That way I see right away if there's a new post without scrolling down. That's just this one bum's opinion anyway. Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete

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