Saturday, August 16, 2014

Is it a dupe? Urban Decay Walk of Shame (WOS) vs. Wet N Wild Brulee


Battle of the beige! As a self professed nude matte eyeshadow junkie, when I saw an online reference to Wet N Wild's single eyeshadow in Brulee duping Urban Decay's Walk of Shame (WOS) in the Naked Basics palette, I had to investigate.


Warning: this is a long one with lots of pictures! Get some popcorn :)
As you can see, both my Naked Basics palette and my Wet N Wild Brulee are well loved. WOS is my most used Naked Basics shade and Brulee is my most used Wet N Wild product. The black marks on my Naked Basics are from the Makeup Forever Aqua Seal - that stuff is absolutely as budge proof as it claims! I have a full review of Naked Basics here if you want to read more about it.


What is a dupe?

I start blowing smoke out of my ears when I see "dupe" thrown around online - most of the time, it is just a lazy side by side picture of the packaging. For me, a dupe needs to be a true duplicate - the same color, finish, texture, opacity, longevity, and functionality. I put a high bar forward for a dupe and I am picky as hell.

How do they stack up?

Color: Both WOS and Brulee are light beige shades with neutral leaning pink undertones. WOS is a little more pink and Brulee is a hair darker. These are similar, but not precisely the same color when built up to full opacity. With a sheer application, I would be hard pressed to identify each of them based on color alone.

Finish: WOS and Brulee are both true mattes - no visible shimmer in either pan. Total tie.

Texture: Urban Decay and Wet N Wild (with the Color Icon formula) are both known for high quality eyeshadows, and these two are no exception. Both feel very smooth - none of the stereotypical unblendable chalk here! These are actually smooth, and not just "smooth for mattes." However, they do have a subtle texture difference. WOS is a little more silky and has a hair more slip.


Opacity: As a general rule, matte beige shades aren't very opaque. One of the reasons I reach for both of these shades so often is that they are the 2nd and 3rd most opaque nude base shades I own (the hands down winner is the yellow toned beige from Stila's In The Know). Either of these are opaque enough to add coverage when setting a concealer and have similar opacity to a powder foundation. Wet N Wild's Brulee is more opaque, but not substantially.

Longevity: I admit, I don't ever wear eyeshadow without a primer, so I haven't tested these on bare lids. Over a primer, they both last all day with no problems. Tie!

Functionality: I use a skintone matte eyeshadow every day as the layer over my eyeshadow primer. I find that it makes the eyeshadow easier to blend and it makes a nice even base. If my primary purpose is to hide the veins on my eyelid, Wet N Wild Brulee pulls ahead by a hair. If my primary purpose is to create the most smooth base for blending, I prefer Urban Decay Walk of Shame.

Swatches
As always, swatches were done on bare, unprimed skin. I built up each swatch with a couple of swipes to show the color and texture.

 Swatches: Urban Decay WOS on the left, Wet N Wild Brulee on the right

Swatches: Urban Decay WOS on the left, Wet N Wild Brulee on the right

Comparisons to similar shades



In case you own any of these other matte beige shades, I have a comparison swatch post. From left to right, all with no primer, Too Faced Fresh Linen, Too Faced All I Want For Christmas (LE, holiday collection), Urban Decay Foxy, Urban Decay Walk of Shame, Wet N Wild Brulee, Inglot 353 M, Stila Wind. If you would like to see more swatches, I have a review of the Too Faced Matte Eye palette here, a review of nude matte Inglot shadows here, and a review of the Stila In The Know palette here.

Are they dupes?

I think they are 90% similar, but not a precise dupe. Even so, do you need both? Certainly not. If you are a bargain shopper, Wet N Wild will win your heart on price alone - 99¢ for .06 oz, which comes out to $16.50 per ounce. By comparison, Naked Basics costs $29 for 6 .05 oz shades, or $96.67 per ounce. If price isn't your primary decision maker, Naked Basics has a high quality mirror, travel friendly packaging, and a versatile mix of everyday shades. For my coloring, I also prefer the slightly lighter and more pink color of WOS because it becomes invisible against my skin. If both products cost the same (we can hope, right?) I think the extra silkiness in the Urban Decay formula outweighs the extra opacity of the Wet N Wild formula.

Do you own WOS and Brulee? What do you think? Leave me a comment!

3 comments:

  1. Hi, there. WOS is my all time favourite eye shadow and it was the first shade I used up completely from my Naked Basics. So I will definitely look for Brulee!
    However, my second all time favourite is Naked 2 from the same palette, and same as WOS it is not available as a single eye shadow. I'm just wondering if you have came across any single eye shadow similar to Naked 2 which you could recommend.

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    Replies
    1. Awesome question, I use Naked 2 all the time as well. Unfortunately, no dupes come to mind in my collection. If I ever find one, I will for sure make a post about it :)

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  2. Thanks for the review. I keep talking myself out of WOS because of cost and because it seems obvious that for pretty much every review I've seen, it is the most used in that entire palette so I'd prefer if I could get it as a solo. This seems like a perfect alternative...but I don't think it's available here so I'll have to look it up when I'm in the US.

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