Disclaimer: This post features a product that was gifted to me. I am under no obligation to post and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Product Details
The Alter Ego Artemis Palette is supposed to be a dupe of Natasha Denona’s Metropolis Palette, not only in the color selection but also in the formulation of some of the cream/powder hybrid shades. There are 28 shades and it retails for $22.
The palette is larger in size than the Aurora and Goddess palettes but the pan sizes are the same and they are magnetic. You can rearrange the shades however you want or change the color story completely if you have multiple palettes. The mirror in the lid is good quality but it is pretty heavy and causes the lid to fall flat (in case you are someone that uses the mirror inside palettes). On the flip side, the weight, combined with the velvety/glossy textures used on the outer packaging give the product a higher end feel in the hand than you would expect for the price.
Formula Overview
The cream/powder hybrid shades aren’t really creams nor are they true dry powders. When swatching, they formed a little bit of hard pan but never to the point of becoming unusable. The swatches for these shades seemed to almost “set” on the skin and were harder to remove than the other textures. Using my normal makeup remover, I didn’t find them any more difficult to remove from the eye, though. They were much sheerer than the true powder shades and took longer to build up but sat nicely on the skin and surprisingly were almost as long-wearing as the true powder shades. The deeper shades in this texture look different in the pan that they do on the eye. The deepest ones (Bow, Ambush, and Stealth) end up looking brighter, almost jewel toned, once applied to the eye. I will note which shades these are underneath the swatch photos below.
There are only 3 true powder matte shades (Hunt, Entice, and Snare). They had the same quality as the matte shades in the previous two Alter Ego palettes I reviewed. Easy to blend but still pigmented enough to build up color quickly.
Shimmers range from a standard shimmer finish with a slightly more muted sheen to more reflective shimmers that have larger sparkles mixed in. They all picked up easily with a brush. The ones with larger sparkles had noticeable fallout which I could reduce by dampening my brush (after picking up color). Using something like Too Faced Glitter Glue can also help. I noticed that when applying these sparkly shades over some of the cream/powder shades, the shadow would adhere better than over primer alone.
Shade Selection
For being a 28 pan palette, I found this less versatile than I think it could have been. Several shades had dupes within the palette:
- Catch, Provoke, and Camouflage
- Thrill and Prowl (possibly exact dupes)
- Quest and Chase
- Bow and Ambush (look slightly different in the pan but swatch nearly identical)
- Ravage and Pounce
- Trap and Captivate
- Quiver and Lure (possibly exact dupes)
- Hunt and Entice
That’s 9 shades that could have been different. I like versatility in a palette so, for me, this affects value. If you happen to like the shades that are dupes and think you’ll use them a lot, well, it might not be an issue.
Wear Time
Wear time hovered right around 8 hours before I started to see creasing. The cream/powder shades creased slightly earlier and more than the true powders but wore much longer than I expected them to.
This is the last palette I have to review from Alter Ego and I want to say that I am pleasantly surprised with the quality of their products. I would love to see them create something that is unique to them and not based on an existing product. I think their formulas are good and could support an interesting color story.
- Provoke – Light bronze-y gold shimmer with larger golden sparkles mixed in.
- Entice – Slightly deeper and more muted orangey brown with a matte finish.
- Obscure – Pale gold with a standard shimmer finish. No large sparkles.
- Ravage – Coral-y orange shimmer with larger golden sparkles.
- Catch – Nearly identical in color to Provoke but this is a standard shimmer with no chunky sparkles.
- Trap – Cream/powder. More coral toned than Hunt and Entice and has a small amount of shimmer that doesn’t translate on the lid. This looks matte on the lid.
- Silent – Cream/powder. This is an interesting vintage avocado green shade. Being a cream/powder somehow enhances the color in a way I don’t think we’d see in a true powder. Looks matte on the eye.
- Scent – Looks more opaque in the swatch but this is very sparkly and doesn’t have much base color to it. Large, bright, multi-colored sparkles in a sheer champagne shimmer base.
- Camouflage – This looks exactly the same as Catch in the row above. Same color, same finish.
- Victory – Medium blue shimmer with larger blue sparkles.
- Stalk – Reddish orange shimmer with a standard shimmer finish.
- Quiver – Cream/powder. Red-based brown. This has a bit more of a sheen to it than the other cream/powder shades but it still comes off as mostly matte on the eye.
- Snare – Vibrant orange with a matte finish.
- Thrill – Cream/powder. Greenish taupe. Looks matte on the eye.
- Spear – Gold with a hint of green. On the eye, the green tint is hardly noticeable. Sparkling shimmer finish. The sparkles in this are smaller than in some of the other shades.
- Chase – Shimmery taupe. Not as reflective as some of the other shimmers.
- Pursuit – Shimmery green base with larger blue sparkles.
- Captivate – Cream/powder. Similar to Trap in the first row but more toned down, less vibrant.
- Pluck – Deeper rose gold with a standard shimmer finish.
- Bow – Cream/powder. Medium blue. Looks matte on the eye.
- Ambush – Cream/powder. Extremely similar to Bow but maybe a bit easier to build up.
- Prowl – Cream/powder. Looks nearly identical to Thrill.
- Stealth – Cream/powder. Depending on how much you build this up it can go anywhere from a lighter emerald green to a deeper forest green. Looks matte on the eye.
- Pounce – Copper shimmer with larger sparkles.
- Lure – Cream/powder. Medium warm brown with a matte finish.
- Conquer – Deep true red with a standard shimmer finish.
- Quest – Looks the same as Chase in row 3.
Looks
Look #1:
- Silent – Crease, center part of lower lashline
- Thrill – Outer lid and crease
- Lure – Outer lid, outer lower lashine
- Pounce – Center of lid
- Scent – Inner corner, applied with dampened brush
Look #2:
- Prowl – Outer transition area
- Ambush – Outer lid/crease
- Trap – Under the inner part of my brow
- Pursuit – Outer lid
- Conquer – Inner lower lashline
- Victory – Outer crease, applied with an angled brush
- Ravage – Center of brow bone area
- Spear – Outer brow bone area
- Entice – Outer lower lashline
- Snare – Center of lid and crease
Look #3:
- Stealth – Inner lid/crease
- Bow – Outer crease
- Quest – Inner lid
- Victory – Outer lid
- Quiver – Lower lashline
- Obscure – Inner corner
- Provoke – Center of lid