Sunday 9 September 2012

Louise Gray for Topshop Makeup on a Budget...

If you are anything like me at the moment, you'll be saving up your pennies for Christmas already (I like to be WAY prepared so I don't have to scrimp around the festive season...) so although Louise Gray's colour-popping cosmetics collection for Topshop is absolutely beautiful, you'll be hunting for a cheaper alternative.

As a lipstick lover, I made it my goal to track down some dupes for the two Lips in the collection entitled  Mexican Wave (a rich blood-orange-peel colour) and Legend (the hottest of hot pinks in a deep hue). After seeing that they cost a whopping £10 (!!!) each I scribbled with each of them on the back of my hand just so I would have a swatch for colour comparison.

*Mexican Wave is on the bottom, Legend on the top*

The formulas are absolutely heavenly. Usually I find that with glossier more moisturising Lips that the colour pigment suffers, coming out slightly fainter and needing a couple more coatings just to achieve the colour you see in the stick. However, with these they are both true to the colour in the tube and incredibly creamy and soft. An absolute dream. Nonetheless, they are still £10 and I can't really justify spending that much when I am trying oh-so-hard to save. So I put the Lips down and had a quick glance over the rest of the counter before planning to head off in the direction of Boots to find my dupes...

HOWEVER, and here is the real clincher. As I was 'glancing' I spotted the Lip Sticks in the shades Hedonist and Clueless which looked almost identical to the Louise Gray colours. Amazing right? And better still? They are only £7 each. 


See, Hedonist is the orange line and Clueless is the pink one! Once again, the pigment is fantastic and in the pencil form the Lip Sticks are easier to apply for a more precise finish. The only drawback is that as the Lip Sticks are intended for a matte effect they don't have the same kind of glossiness as Louise Gray's Lips do. Having said that, we all know that this can quite easily be resolved by slicking on some lip balm underneath and dabbing on a little clear lipgloss over the top.

Now, I know what you are thinking, '£7 is still a lot babez! You'd only be saving £6 if you bought both! NOT GOOD ENOUGH." And I would be inclined to agree with you.... that is if I wasn't mad on the Louise Gray Cheek Duo in Up In The Air too...

Cheek Duo in Up In The Air By Louise Gray

The duo costs £12.50 which once again, I can't really justify. But just look how those colours pop in the palette! I very nearly couldn't resist... That was until I swatched a little of each colour on my hand and was horrifically disappointed with the pigmentation. 


You can hardly even see the colours! I soon realized I got a colour which was much truer to the pan when I scribbled a bit of the Lip Sticks on each finger and patted them into the apples of my cheeks. So technically, these Lip Sticks dupe for not just one product each, but two. Great success.

Needless to say, next payday I will be heading out to buy Hedonist and Clueless for £14 as opposed to buying the Louise Gray Lips and Cheek Duo for £32.50. A whopping save of £18.50 is to be made here. You. Are. Welcome.

Have you given into the temptations of Louise Gray? Do you know of any other amazingly cheap dupes for the Lips and Cheek Duo? Do you ever put lipsticks on your cheeks in place of blusher? I do it all the time, the creamy consistency is WAY better for staying power.

Love and snuggles
GabriellaSofia
x

8 comments:

  1. oh, i was looking at the cheek duo, but the colour pay off DOES look disappointing!

    from helen at www.thelovecatsinc.com // @thelovecatsinc

    ps. enter my giveaway to win a MAC lipstick and 5 models own nail polishes!

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    1. Thanks for the tip about the giveaway chick... I entered but didn't win :( Sad times!
      Love
      GabriellaSofia
      x

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  2. Great posts! I would actually prefer matte lipsticks so will definately check the standard range too before buying any of the LG makeups. It's always worth scouting around for a cheaper alternative but I am often too lazy and just grab the first ones I find.

    http://www.rafflesbizarre.blogspot.com

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    1. I'm glad I was able to help :) I love the way matte lipsticks look, but they dry my lips out so badly that I tend to steer clear if I can help it. I'm so sorry it took me to long to reply to your comment.
      Love
      GabriellaSofia
      x

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  3. oooh stunning colours! really love the orange! x

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    1. I love oranges too... so unnusual!
      Love
      GabriellaSofia
      x

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  4. How clever! That's an amazing dupe/comparison you've found. I so so wanted the Blush Duo as I loved the colours and thought it would be a lot like the other Topshop cream blushes and you could get two different types (but now I realise that actually the blushes are £6 so it would be cheaper to buy two instead of just the LG Blush).

    I think I'll go check these out for myself, as I really did want to try some Topshop make up but maybe I'll stick with the nail polishes!

    ~Hannah xx

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    1. Haha, thanks :) Did you ever decide to get any Topshop makeup? I'm heading over to your blog now to see if you've reviewed any. I'm so sorry for the later reply!
      Love
      GabriellaSofia
      x

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