Pigmentation Wars: Urban Decay Dangerous Palette (originally $36) vs. MUA Smokin Palette (about $10)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
For some reason I have been putting off writing this post for a couple of months. I had visions of the Urban Decay fangirls eating me alive. I'm over it now. Mostly. The point of the comparison here isn't to tell you which eyeshadow is better (though I have a personal preference), but to compare different formulas and point out some pros and cons of each. Savannah Scorpion wrote a post here a while back pointing out the role of the term "pigmented" in cosmetics marketing; this post will take some of those ideas a little further and consider whether and under what circumstances more highly pigmented eyeshadows are (or are not) preferable. I've noted before that for blushes too much pigmentation can actually be a bad thing. Is that the case for eyeshadows too, or are more pigmented eyeshadows always better? Are eyeshadows the kind of product where you are likely to have better results the more money you spend? Ultimately you're going to have to decide for yourself, but I hope this comparison is helpful.

I bought the MUA Smokin Palette a while back when MUA had a free international shipping sale. With the current exchange rate, the palette is about $10 (US). I posted photos and swatches of it here. Love. Love-love. That palette is clearly meant to imitate the Urban Decay Smoked Palette ($49). It has all the same elements, except that it doesn't come with a mini-primer like the UD version. I was curious about how the cheaper MUA shadows, which I think are fucking fabulous, matched up to the more expensive UD ones, not only in color, but also in formula and result. Unfortunately I don't have the Smoked Palette to compare, and I'm sure as hell not going to spend $50 on something that is nearly identical to something I already own. But I do have the UD Dangerous Palette (now discontinued), which I got on sale for about $15. It contains three of the same eyeshadows as Smoked, and two others that are somewhat similar. It makes a good comparison for the MUA shadows, then. What the Dangerous Palette does not contain are the matte shades, so I'm going to have to leave those aside for now. The MUA mattes are wonderful, though (see swatches linked above).

Okay, okay, let's look at these things:

MUA Smokin Palette

Urban Decay Dangerous Palette

The lighting in those two photos is a bit different, but I think it's easy enough to tell which shadows correspond to one another. The three that match are Loaded, Evidence, and Mushroom, which are also in the UD Smoked Palette. The Smoked Palette has Rockstar instead of Gravity, which is a more bluish purple, Asphalt instead of Ace (I think Asphalt is darker), and Barlust instead of Deeper (Barlust is a more bronzey/red-brown, while Deeper is a golden brown). These last three are matched by shades in the MUA palette.

First I swatched all of the shadows in the UD Dangerous palette next to the most similar shadows from the MUA palette. I'm going to show you about a million more photos, so I'll put them below a cut.

Guest post from Savannah Scorpion: "Pigmented" is a Bullshit Marketing Term

Hello!

I am Savannah Scorpion, beauty junkie and retail drone. I guest post periodically to give y'all an insider perspective on expensive beauty bullshit. It's been a few months since I've posted, chiefly because I have been doing some job-hunting. One of the fun things about working in retail is that I've gone thorough a more rigorous hiring process than most politicians--for significantly less money.

I'm here to talk about a word that I see bandied about a lot in the beauty industry:

Pigmented.

One of the biggest trends that I have noticed is how beauty companies talk about pigmentation. More expensive brands love to talk about how intensely/richly/sensuously pigmented their products are--as if mass brands have low quality pigments.

Let's break through the bullshit.

I went to an amazing money pit called art school. Pigment is discussed in every visual arts class. Pigments are the material used to make colors. However, your pigments are pretty useless if you don't have fillers, binders, oils, waxes and other detritus, so that you can apply the pigment to whatever surface you are working on.

Art students do not use the most pigmented paints and pencils right off the bat, because using such products is a waste of money when you are learning basic techniques. The more pigmented products are more difficult to work with, and are meant to be used by artists who have developed their own style.

The came concept can be applied to cosmetics--with a major exception:

Expensive products do not always have the best pigments. NYX Cosmetics and Wet N Wild carry some very pigmented products [Ed. Note: Also, remember this?]. Some Urban Decay eyeliners are patchy as fuck, and in my opinion, Zero, their basic black pencil, is some mediocre smeary bullshit.

Pros will use any product that works--and I've seen many a makeup kit filled with products from Maybelline, Wet N Wild, and Revlon. Now, artists will also use brands with a reputation for their intense pigments, such as MAC, NARS, and MUFE. Keep in mind:

They are pros. Makeup artists have years of experience and if they are working on a film, TV show, or theatrical production, they aren't paying for their products out of pocket.

And:

Super-pigmented products are finicky as hell to work with. I recently purchased a mini kit of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tars (Anime/NSFW/Black Dahlia/Ophelia), and while I definitely enjoy them, there's a definite learning curve to applying the lip colors, and if you don't put a primer underneath, they can smear all over the place. I also purchased a NARS blush (Exhibit A, from the Guy Bourdin collection), which is a very bright deep coral-red, that can go from "70's disco goddess" to "clown" if you over-apply even the tiniest bit. I spent plenty of time as a youngster working with sheer blushes from mass brands before I worked with more intensely pigmented blushes.

If you are new to makeup, I would not recommend spending a lot of money buying expensive "pigmented" products. Practice with more accessible drugstore products.

If you feel ready to start experimenting with products that have higher pigmentation ratios, invest in quality brushes, and use a very light hand.