Comparing! Duochromes from Urban Decay, Kat Von D, & Wet&Wild!

     So, a few weeks ago I was watching a video about the Urban Decay Moonstone shadow singles from the lovely Phyrra Nyx. After seeing her swatches I immediately fell in love with the shade Solstice (described on Sephora.com as a "metallic pink-red w/ green 3-D sparkle and shift"). It looked GORGEOUS! I had to have it, so I popped over to the Sephora site. Sold out. Darn! I set it up so Sephora would email me when it came back in stock. A few days later it did, and I bought it straight away. And I was so glad I did because it sold out *again* that same day. Craziness. 

     The day it arrived, I was so excited. Then I took it out of the box. I'm looking at it, and I'm swatching it, and it really IS beautiful, but all I could think is, "wait, don't I already HAVE this color from somewhere else??" That's when I went looking in my collection. Wouldn't you know it, it seems I was right! I found my Kat Von D single duochrome shadow in  On the Road that I got last fall during the Sephora 20% off sale. And a few days after THAT I watched the beautiful Kathleen Lights' video using the Wet & Wild Comfort Zone palette which I ALSO have and realized the "Define" color from that palette is very similar as well. So I decided I wanted to do a compare & contrast post of all three for you guys!


From Left to Right: UD Solstice, KVD On the Road, W&W Comfort Zone Definer

 

First, I swatched all three on bare skin and over a primer...
This is top to bottom: KVD, UD, W&W:

I tried to get two different angles so you could actually see the duochrome in each color. 

The swatches made me happy because you can see they actually ARE all different even if they are similar.

I decided to take it one step further. Over the course of three days I wore one each day. I did the same base underneath (Benefit Stay Don't Stray followed by MAC Soft Ocher paint pot). I did the same things to the rest of the eye, which wasn't much. I blended out the edges of the color with W.O.S. from the Naked Basics palette, lined my tight & water lines with Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero, wore my trusty They're Real Mascara & set it all with Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray. I put it on at the same time of the morning & did spot checks at the same time throughout the day, and I even took my photos at the same times/locations & with the same camera. 

Here's what I found.

The first day I wore the Urban Decay. 

 

• Although it's hard to capture in photos (as it was with all of them), the color really is lovely. I don't know that the Sephora description is spot on though. It *is* a pink-red base, it has the most pink in it of the three. However, I thought the shimmer color skewed more blue than green. 
• I could not get my brush to pick up this product AT ALL. I tried both dry & wet, I tried flat shaders, domed brushes, pencil brushes, even fluffy shaders. Nothing could pick this stuff up. It just swirled around in the pan. Because of this I had to apply with my finger, which...is fine...but if I'm in a hurry I don't like using my fingers as I don't like adding the extra step of having to clean my fingers.
• Even though I used my fingers, this stuff had TONS of fallout, both of the pigment and of the shimmer/glitter bits in it, which took a couple minutes to get off. It then proceeded to shed the whole rest of the day.
• I will say, that it never did crease or move or look patchy, even with the shedding.
• The color pay off wasn't as pigmented as I was anticipating. I've heard they look amazing when applied wet, but as I couldn't get a wet brush (sprayed with setting spray) to pick anything up, I wasn't able to try that. 

The next day I wore the Kat Von D:

 

• You can already see that this one has a darker more saturated pigmentation. 
• The base color here is more red than pink, and the shift color/shimmer is a green-teal color. 
• The formula is buttery soft, and picks up on a bush very easily. 
• I literally had a grand total of 7 dots of fall out, and they were of the red pigment not the shimmer, and brushed away with one swipe of a big face brush. 
• This color never creased, slid, got patchy, or shed color anywhere. 
• A lot of this probably has to do with it isn't as shimmery/glittery as the UD one. It is definitely a duochrome, and has shine, but there aren't any discernable pieces of glitter it it at all.

Finally on the third day I wore the Wet & Wild color:

• This one is definitely more similar to the KVD than the UD, in color and formula. 
• The color is a reddish-brown, with a green-teal shift again. 
• Also like the KVD, this went on like a dream using a flat shader brush. A couple quick sweeps and I was good to go.
• This one does however have a LOT of opalescent, shimmery fallout from putting on, although it didn't shed at all once it was in place. 

Final Thoughts:

I love them all, really I do, even with some of their flaws. I think I'm going to pass on the UD to someone who will use it more though, because I don't find it's very blue-ish shift flattering on me, and between that and the fallout I know I won't reach for it very often, which is sad when you're talking about ONE $16 eyeshadow. I'm glad I got the KVD when I did, because they seem to be gone off the Sephora site now & I really liked it a lot and am looking forward to trying it wet for a night out look. But the real winner for me is that W&W. I don't think this particular palette is available at the drugstore anymore, but I know you can get your hands on it on Amazon for about $8. Sure, that's more than you would have originally paid for it in store, but still... $8 for 8 pans?!? Believe me when I say I would pay $8 for this "definer" color ALONE.