MAC Satin Taupe DUPE alert!!!

Hey ladies! I found a great dupe for Satin Taupe! Satin Taupe is a shadow that I use almost every but at $14.50, stocking up on it can get pricey. Ever since I found a dupe for it, Ive been using the dupe for my casual daytime looks and saving the original for those times where I know I may be taking pictures as the dupe does not last as long as the original

MAC eyeshadow in Satin Taupe
You can find the Satin Taupe (ST) eyeshadow at MAC for $14.50 for the eyeshadow single and $11 for the refill pan. Its a great color for blending into the crease. It is described on the MAC website as a "taupe with silver shimmer" Click here to but it from MAC's website.

Picture from MAC's website

My pan of Satin Taupe pictured with and without flash.

As you can see, I use the heck out of this shadow!

...and here is the dupe!!!

Beauty Factory eyeshadow in Exotic

Beauty Factory is a great site to buy cheap makeup from. I have bought a ton of eyeshadows and lashes from there. The only downside is that it takes about 3 weeks to ship if you live in the states, which is not a problem once you see how ridiculously cheap the prices are!!! You can register your shipment and sign for it at the door or pay like $2 or less for regular shipping without a tracking number. Being the penny pincher I am I always take my risk and order it w/o the tracking number...and Ive always received my packages. Oh and they do NOT test on animals!!! Anyhoo, the dupe eyeshadow color is called Exotic and it only costs...drumroll please....$1.70!!! Not to mention you get wayy more product. Ill admit the quality isn't as good as MAC's but it is certainly comparable to NYX shadows. You can buy it by clicking here.

Picture from Beauty Factory website

as you can see it is very dark, I expected to have this color when I purchased it, but in person this is a very very light shimmery taupe color

My pan of Exotic with and without flash...

See the difference from what is picture on the site as opposed to real life?

The Comparison

So is it a dupe? Heres how I rate it:

Color Dupe? Yes!!! when swatched on my arm, there is virtually no difference..BUT I noticed that when I took a picture of the swatches on my arm with flash you can see a slight variation. Exotic has a more brown undertone. I still say YES on the color dupe because in person, trust me, they are identical

Quality Dupe? No!!! ...BUT Exotic is not a bad quality eyeshadow by any means. Satin Taupe has a very creamy blend-able texture, as with all MAC shadows whereas Exotic is very powdery and slightly more difficult to work with (you can see the all the specs of shadow around the pan in the picture of Exotic above)

Overall, I would say that this is a def dupe for Satin Taupe, and at $1.70, its worth a try. I have some other shadows from Beauty Factory, and if anyone wants to see swatches, please let me know :)

Size comparison

Exotic is twice as big and 6X cheaper!!!

In the picture you can see a slight difference, but I swear in person they are exactly the same!!!

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Shark Cage diving!

 I finally developed my under-water camera from when I went to Hawaii in August! Here are some pics of when I went shark cage diving. It was so much fun!!! The only upset was that there was no great white sharks. Theres a place in CA where I can go great white shark cage diving but its like $700 and dont even think that the scuba gear is included! Im still debating whether to save up for that though, its something that is on my bucket list. We only took two pics of each other in the cage, and unfortunately I cannot post them up. I got so violently thrashed by the water in the cage my bathing suit shifted and I was nip-slippin all over the place!!! haha

Also, since Ive moved Ive been doing tons of baking!!! The other day I made some walnut baklava and it was DEE_LISH...but very very sweet, which some may not appreciate.You can find the recipe by clicking here.

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