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| LORAC Pro Palette vs Milani Bella Eyes Gel Powder Eyeshadow |
Hey y'all! If you haven't read my previous post on the Lorac Pro Palette, the TL;DR version is that the one color that would prompt me to buy another LORAC Pro Palette just so I wouldn't be without it: Lt. Bronze. There's just something about the color; it's like a shimmery version of my skintone that brightens and costs my discolored lids without looking stark against my light-medium skin tone. I've made a huge dent in this shadow and not wanting to go without, I've been proactively searching for dupes. Unfortunately, not many people have found anything similar, a testament to the uniqueness of this shade. Despairing slightly, I stumbled upon the Milani Bella Eyes Gel Powder Eyeshadows at CVS while looking for something to soothe my makeup soul. Are the two formulas comparable? Let's find out!
{THE BREAKDOWN}
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| From left to right: Bella Champagne, Bella Sand and Lt. Bronze |
Bella Sand looked encouragingly like my beloved Lt. Bronze so I immediately picked it up. Since CVS had a buy one, get one 50% off offer, I picked up Bella Champagne, a shimmery pale pink color. Judging from the pan, I thought that Bella Sand would be the closest in terms of color. Lo and behold, it leans more golden than Lt. Bronze. Bella Champagne, on the other hand, is the closest to Lt. Bronze but it does lean more on the pink side. Befuddled, I consulted Temptalia who describes Lt. Bronze as a "warm toned peach with yellow undertones", which is quite the accurate description. I did mix the two colors and did come up with an almost exact color dupe (Sand on bottom with Champagne on top) but for everyday, that's more work than I want to do.
In terms of formula, Lorac is definitely superior. I don't need to dig my brush into the shadow to pick up color and Lt. Bronze is pigmented and vibrant with or without primer. Though Milani describes these shadows as a gel to powder, they have a certain dryness that makes me doubt the "gel" claim. They aren't dry or chalky, just not the buttery feeling of Lorac. As such, I find myself having to go back and forth, building up color intensity. So far, I've only used them dry so that might change if I used them with a damp brush. They do have a certain amount of powderiness to them but nothing a wet wipe can't clean up; to be fair, so Lorac also gets quite powdery too if I'm not gentle.
Texture-wise, the Milani shadows have a more visible shimmer to them, making it noticeably more shimmery on the eyes compared to Lt. Bronze. If I wear my full eye look and one isn't paying close attentive, one might not notice but up close, it is discernable. I've never had a problem with shimmery fallout with Lt. Bronze but these shadows do migrate after a while. I would definitely use primer to increase longevity and intensity with the Bella Eyes.
In terms of formula, Lorac is definitely superior. I don't need to dig my brush into the shadow to pick up color and Lt. Bronze is pigmented and vibrant with or without primer. Though Milani describes these shadows as a gel to powder, they have a certain dryness that makes me doubt the "gel" claim. They aren't dry or chalky, just not the buttery feeling of Lorac. As such, I find myself having to go back and forth, building up color intensity. So far, I've only used them dry so that might change if I used them with a damp brush. They do have a certain amount of powderiness to them but nothing a wet wipe can't clean up; to be fair, so Lorac also gets quite powdery too if I'm not gentle.
Texture-wise, the Milani shadows have a more visible shimmer to them, making it noticeably more shimmery on the eyes compared to Lt. Bronze. If I wear my full eye look and one isn't paying close attentive, one might not notice but up close, it is discernable. I've never had a problem with shimmery fallout with Lt. Bronze but these shadows do migrate after a while. I would definitely use primer to increase longevity and intensity with the Bella Eyes.
{THE SWATCH}
These swatches were done using my fingers on my bare arm. It's clear that Lt. Bronze is more pigmented using the same number of swipes per shadow but the Milani shadows can be built up and improved upon with primer.
{THE LOOK}
Pardon the redness in my eyes. I find that I'm more awake and productive in the wee hours of the night and by then, my eyes at pretty tired. My left (your right) is my complete eye with Lt. Bronze. My right (your left) is Bella Sand. As you can see, the differnce is negligible other than being more shimmery. Other shadows used were Taupe in the crease and Espresso in the outer corners and outer lower lashline.
{THE BOTTOM LINE}
$3.99usd for 0.05oz ($79.80usd per oz) per Bella Eyes isn't a bad deal. Lt. Bronze is approximately $2.63usd for 0.02oz of product ($131.25usd per oz) so it's a bit more pricey. For now, I'm content with these shadows but I'll still be looking for an even better dupe for Lt. Bronze. If you know of any, please let me know!
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