Eye Deco with ArtDeco summer 2011

Good quality eye-makeup doesn't have to be expensive.

This sounds odd from me who has been declaring her love to her latest Armani Cosmetic acquisition in the form of the highly coveted Mediteranean palette (here), but I seriously can appreciate other brands as well.

One of the brands that have been blogged about oftenly, and are quite hard to get for the international crowd, except Germany, 'cause it's a German brand, is ArtDeco.

ArtDeco eyeshadows 12 & 59

They have a simple concept of sampling separate eyeshadows and you can place them in a palette box of your own choice...In this way you can create your custom made colour palette for the type of eyes or effect you want to create.

 I really like this concept, because the pre-made palettes I normally buy often have one or two shades that you are never going to use, in my case that is probably the glitter-bomb shade :). With my latest Armani I am quite sure that I will use all eyeshadows, but realistically, most palettes aren't that perfect and always have one shade you do not use oftenly.

I am not the only one that appreciates this brand. Makeupalley always gives high ratings to their eyeshadows (here), and their eyeshadow base is brilliant for the people who consider UDPP to be too drying and pasty for they eyes. I really like that one as well, because it is the grown-up woman (aka, woman who is ageing naturally) type of eyeshadow base.

I picked out two colours from their Summer 2011 range. I skipped the bronzers, because lots of cosmetic companies still think bronzers should have that burned reddish tone I always consider quite fake-looking. I really liked their eyeshadow pens as well, but I picked those two eyeshadows right now:

ArtDeco Eyeshadows 12 & 59

The quintessential reddish taupe colour I truelly think is stunning on all kind of eyecolours and a real summer turquoise with a greenish undertone.


At home I realised that the ArtDeco 12 might be a dupe for the ever-famous Mac Patina. So I swatched them, and although they are not dupes, they are sisters, but not identical twins.

Mac Patina, ArtDeco 12 & 59: WITHOUT primer.

ArtDeco 12 has a more metallic lustre that is more vivid than Mac's. Mac is also a tad browner and in this formula you can see the redness a bit more (because the metallicness is more muted).

Mac Patina is that typical neutral for my eyes that gives me a no-makeup look. ArtDeco 12 is its more upfront sister, although she is still classy. I like them both and will wear my Mac patina for those days I fake naturalness and ArtDeco 12 for the polished neutral look.

As for ArtDeco 59, yeh, that one is always visible as a fun and bright makeup-colour. It is really a happy colour as a liner or as that pop of colour over a large part of the lids.

Overal, fantastic colours, super pigmentation (those swatches are on bare skin WITHOUT primer) and a good price under 5 euros. Also, a reasonable backup for the Mac Patina.

BTW, they make some awesome dupes. Check out Delicate Hummingbird's post on the 206 and how it compares to NARS Fez (here).