Dupes for the ‘Stroke of Midnight’ palette by Mac-left to right: dupe, Venus, Chinchilla, Vintage Violet, Darkside, Blackheart
I have been ecstatic for the Mac Cinderella Collection, since I first heard about it on Instagram. However, on the day of the Mac online launch I wasn’t able to purchase. I did still stay up all night just to see the prices posted, but I fell asleep at six a.m. and didn’t see the prices until 2 p.m. that day. Since I missed out on the Mac launch, I was determined to grab them Sunday, March 1st, 2015 when Macy’s posts them online or Thursday, March 5th, 2015 when Mac and Macy’s stores stock them!! Today, as I was poring over Instagram pictures of the Mac Collection I realized not many people had uploaded makeup tutorials on the Cinderella products. Also, I hadn’t seen a single dupe instagram photo, blog post, or youtube video. I know the collection is brand new and dupes aren’t usually searched for until the makeup is completely sold out and extinct, but since this Cinderella collection is selling out so quickly and so unique; I thought a dupes blog was in order! Through my research, I reached an astounding conclusion-there are Many, Very affordable dupes for the most popular items in this collection!! I had a perfect dupe for all listed below items already in my collection. Now I understand the draw of the packaging, but if you are buying for the product; read on and find out which item’s dupe is just $3!!!
So, if you missed out, on the release, or aren’t going to be purchasing this collection; or maybe you just want to make sure you aren’t purchasing multiples of the same color, keep reading 🙂
I did a full look based on the most popular items in this collection. I used my dupes for: Cinderella Iridescent powder, Cinderella Mystery Princess beauty powder, Royal Ball lipstick, Happily Ever After lipglass, and Stroke of Midnight eye shadow palette; to create this look.
Below I list the official Mac products and description of the Cinderella Collection. Under which, I list what products are an acceptable dupe and put them in order of similarity.
- Stroke of Midnight eye shadow palette– Important!!-5 out of these 6 shades are permanent eye shadows in the Mac Collection. So if you already own: Vapour, Phloof, Omega, Quarry and Satin Taupe; there really is no reason the buy the palette (other than packaging-swoon). Mac price: $44
- Stroke of Midnight, is the only limited edition shade!
- Vapour– Peach pink with violet pearl (velvet) Permanent collection: single $16 re-fill $10
This was the hardest shadow to dupe. I ended up mixing three shadows to create the dupe.
Swatch of dupe
Dupe-Lay down Urban Decay’s Broken from Oz the Great and Powerful, Theodora palette, then place the pink shade, ’Fresh Linen’ from Too Faced’s Matte Eye palette and end with Urban Decay’s Aura (white side) from Oz the Great and Powerful, Glinda palette.
2. Phloof– Frosted off white (frost) Permanent collection: single $16 re-fill $10
Swatch of dupe
Perfect dupe: Urban Decay’s Naked Basics palette-Venus
3. Omega– Soft muted beige taupe (matte) Permanent collection: single $16 re-fill $10
Left to right: Chinchilla, Tan-gled up in you, and Naked 2 with Faint.
Dupe:(From best dupe to similar) Too Faced Matte Eye palette-Chinchilla, Tarte Rainforest After Dark palette-2nd from right shade (tan-gled up in you), UD Naked Basics-Naked 2 mixed with just a touch of Faint.
4. Quarry– Soft, muted plum brown (matte) Permanent collection: single $16 re-fill $10
Left to right: ‘Vintage Violet’, ‘Nooner’
Perfect dupe: Too Faced Matte Eye ‘Vintage Violet’ or ‘Nooner’ in UD Naked 3 palette.
5. Satin Taupe– Taupe with silver shimmer (frost) Permanent collection: single $16 re-fill $10
Appears like a brown, metallic shadow in the pan, but swatched it looks gold; so I included dupes for how it looks in the pan and swatched.
Pan dupe: UD Naked 3 palette-Darkside (In my opinion the perfect dupe), Elf Cruella palette-Sewage.
Left to right: Darkside, Sewage, Up to no gold, Mugshot, Maniac
Swatch dupe: Tarte Rainforest After Dark palette-3rd from right (Up to no gold), UD Naked 3 palette-Mugshot, Elf Cruella palette-Maniac.
6. Stroke of Midnight-Black-plum with sparkle pearl (velvet) Limited Edition
Some say ‘Stroke of Midnight’ is so close to the pigment, ‘Evil Stepmother’, that the first two dupes would work for both. However, the shades look very different to me.
Dupes: 1st and 2nd shades listed are almost identical to swatches, 3rd option is basically just mixing a black and purple shimmer shade together-(if you don’t want to buy this shade, most people have one purple and one black shadow in their arsenal).
Left to right: Blackheart, Ipsy, Poison Apple with Potion on top
Dupes: UD Naked 3 palette-Blackheart(perfect dupe, in my opinion), Ipsy subscription single pan eyeshadow-unfortunately I’ve lost the packaging, but I believe it could be by Coastal Scents, Elf Evil Queen palette-mix Poison Apple with Potion.
Overall, if you already own or buy the following palettes, you will have the best dupe shades: Urban Decay Naked 3 palette, Urban Decay Basics palette, Too Faced Matte Eyes, and Vapour-$10 (the dupes I used are limited edition, if you don’t have the glinda and Theodora palettes you will have to buy this shade)
- Cinderella Iridescent powder-Coupe D’Chic Light golden peach with solid shimmer (Iridescent)
Used as a blush. Mac price: $28
Left to right: Comparison swatches, left, the dupe for Cinderella Mystery Princess Beauty Powder, right, the dupe for Cinderella Iridescent powder
Dupe: Nars Super Orgasm $30
- Cinderella Mystery Princess beauty powder-Pinky beige with silver shimmer (matte-must be a typo, as this powder is very glittery)
Said to be similar to Mac’s Mineralize Skinfinish in ‘Soft and Gentle’ which is so popular, but the consensus is this powder is too sparkly to be used all over like Mac’s Skinfinish. Used as a highlighter. Mac price: $28
Left to right: Benefit’s ‘Thrrrob’, e.l.f.’s blush in ‘Pinktastic’
Aren’t these gorgeous?! (I admit, I’m a blush junkie!)
Left to right: ‘Pinktastic’ layered over ‘Thrrrob’, ‘Thrrrob’, ‘Pinktastic’
Dupe: Elf baked blush in Pinktastic ($3!!!) with or w/out Benefit’s Thrrrob-Discontinued
- Royal Ball lipstick-Fleshy pink (luster) Mac price: $17.50
Left to right: swatch of L’Oreal 171 ‘Pink Cashmere, swatch of 171 with Rimmel lipcolour on top
Dupe: Loreal 171 lipstick ‘Pink Cashmere’ $7.99 with Rimmel Provacalips 16 hour lipcolour on top- $6.99 (14.98)
- Free as a Butterfly lipstick– Semi-sheer golden nude Mac price: $17.50
Left to right: L’Oreal privee lipstick in JLo, JLo with Victoria’s Secret Sunglossed on top
Dupe: Loreal Collection Privee JLo Nude $5.99 to 7.99 depending on where you buy it
- Glass Slipper lipglass– light milky pink with pinkish pearl Mac price: $16.50
Swatch of Sunglossed
Dupe: Victoria’s Secret in –Discontinued but basically any clear or nude gloss with glitter will work J
- Happily Ever After lipglass– Cool milky pink with bluish pearl (Seems slightly darker and more pigmented than Glass slipper) Mac price: $16.50
Left to right: Revlon lipgloss in ‘Snow Pink’, e.l.f. pout perfecter in ‘Light Beige’
Dupe: Revlon lipgloss in Snow Pink. If you like more glitter (like me J) add Elf pout perfecter in ‘light beige’ on top. Price: $6.84, $3.00 ($9.84)
I hope you enjoyed my dupes of the Mac Cinderella collection! Please comment below if you have any questions or comments 🙂
Disclaimer: The images of the Mac Cinderella collection and swatches were obtained from www.maccosmetics.com. All images of dupes-swatches or product photos are by me. Some of the Mac images may look slightly different than swatches on instagram; that could be due to instagram filters. All dupes were picked based on youtube videos and instagram swatches, as I do not currently own this collection.
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