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

Product Details

The Alter Ego Aurora Palette contains 15 pans in the yellow, orange, red, and pink color families. It is supposed to be a dupe, or at least a very similar version of the Natasha Denona Sunrise Palette. There is a total of 13.5 grams / 0.48 oz of product.

Alter Ego sent me three of their palettes, none of them being dupes of Natasha Denona palettes I already had, so I really can’t compare the colors themselves. I talked about formula differences in the review for the Goddess palette, if that is something you are curious about.

The palette itself is made of cardboard and feels like higher quality than you might expect. It is heavy, sturdy, and has a distortion-free mirror inside. When I was swatching this I noticed the pans moving around easily and found out they are removable and magnetic. Not something you usually see with a budget/affordable brand.

Formula Overview

The mattes are easy to blend, a lot like the ones in the Goddess palette. They have plenty of color payoff but if you are used to formulas like Natasha Denona’s that pack a punch immediately, know that this is different. You can build the color up to get intensity if you want. It is possible to go in with one of the deepest shades and blend it out well enough without the need to use a transition shade. This isn’t something I would attempt with Natasha Denona’s formula. I had very little fallout from the mattes. 

The shimmers had less sparkle fallout to deal with compared to the ones in the Goddess palette. Quite a few in the Goddess palette were chunkier types of of shimmers whereas most of the ones in this palette are closer to what you would think of as a typical shimmer. Dawn was the only one that had that chunkier texture to it. It can be super helpful to use something like Too Faced Glitter Glue and be extra careful to tap any excess shadow off your brush before applying this type of shade.

The more standard shimmers initially seemed like they didn’t want to adhere to the lid but I think that was because of how I primed my lids and also because I usually apply matte shades first. If you apply them straight over a primed lid (that isn’t set with any type of powder), they adhere perfectly fine. This texture had almost no fallout.

Shade Selection

I am much happier with the shade selection of the mattes in this palette than the Goddess palette. Only the two yellows are similar, but even then I can tell them apart on the eye. The shimmers could have been a little more varied and, this is just a personal preference, I would have liked more mattes and fewer shimmers. 

Wear Time

I tested 2 of my looks for wear time. One wore for 8 hours with hardly noticeable creasing and another lasted 8.5 hours with moderate creasing.

• Radiance – Pinkish champagne with blue sparkles.
• Stellar – Pale pinkish gold with a standard shimmer finish.
• Spark – Medium reddish pink shimmer with larger sparkles.
• Sunburst – Bright matte yellow.
• Dawn – Light purple shimmer with large blue sparkles. This shade had a lot of fallout if used dry. Glitter glue or a damp brush helped a lot. 

• Shine – Peachy yellow with a matte finish.
• Luminary – Rose gold shimmer. This had a flakier texture similar to a pressed pigment but could be smoothed out to look metallic. 
• Ray – True red with a standard shimmer finish.
• Nova – Rich raspberry pink with a matte finish.
• Cosmic – Deeper reddish pink with a standard shimmer finish.

• Star – Peachy coral with a matte finish.
• Brilliance – Pale gold with a standard shimmer finish.
• Flare – Rich reddish orange with a matte finish.
• Sol – Deeper yellow with a matte finish. 
• Twilight – Burgundy with a matte finish.

Looks

Look #1:

• Shine – Inner crease
• Star – Center of crease, outer transition area, lower inner lashline
• Nova – Outer crease
• Flare – Outer lid
• Sol – Inner lid
• Twilight – Outer lower lashline
• Dawn – Center of lid, applied over Too Faced Glitter Glue

Look #2:

• Star – Upper crease, faded downward onto upper lid
• Shine – Lower lashline
• Brilliance – Inner corner
• Ray – Used as eyeliner, applied with dampened brush

Look #3:

• Twilight – Slightly above crease
• Star – Outer transition area, inner lid
• Flare – Outer lid/crease
• Cosmic – Lower lashline, applied with dampened brush

Look #4:

• Sunburst – Above center part of crease, inner/outer lower lashline
• Flare – Inner/outer lid and crease
• Luminary – Center of lid, applied with dampened brush
• Stellar – Brow bone

Product Details

The Alter Ego Goddess Palette is a 15 pan eyeshadow palette that was created as a “dupe” for the well known Natasha Denona Gold Palette. It contains 13.5 grams / 0.48 oz of product.

The packaging feels heavier than you would expect for a more affordable/budget product and actually contains removable magnetic pans! Inside the lid is a decent sized, good quality mirror.

Formula Overview

The mattes feel much more readily blendable and require more building up than the Natasha formula to get a similar level of color payoff. They remind me of the mattes from Lorac, Maybelline, and Covergirl. I did find myself occasionally dusting away color where I didn’t intend to but it wasn’t too problematic. I would rather have a formula like this where I have to reapply a shade at times rather than a formula that sticks to the skin and refuses to blend.

There are a variety of different types of shimmers, some with pretty big sparkle particles and some that are very fine and smooth. They have a good amount of shine to them. I wouldn’t describe them as being foiled but they reflect light nicely. The ones with larger particles seem to have less binder in them than Natasha’s do. I got A LOT of fallout from some of these shades and ended up using a glitter adhesive along with careful tapping off of the excess to keep it to a minimum. The ones with more of a fine/uniform texture have much less fallout.

Shade Selection

I got a bit frustrated with the matte to shimmer ratio partly because three of the mattes are SOO similar to each other once applied to the eye. There are several gold-tone shimmers but I thought they all looked sufficiently different from each other, even to wear together in the same look. Because the mattes are super bendable, I didn’t find it was necessary to use lighter transition shades or brow bone (skin tone) shades. I used them but I could have easily gotten away without them.

Wear Time

I tested 3 of my looks and got consistent wear of about 9-10 hours with very minor creasing. I used both Alter Ego’s eyeshadow primer and Nars Pro Prime to test. Both primers work well but I found Alter Ego’s to hold up slightly better.

• Artemis – This is an interesting shade that has what looks like 3 levels to it. Large sparkles within finer green shimmer within a deep matte grey base. Lots of fallout if used dry. Dampen your brush or use a glitter adhesive. 
• Athena – Light brown with strong yellow undertones and a matte finish.
• Pandora – Light gold shimmer with large silver and gold sparkles. Lots of fallout if used dry.
• Iris – Medium warm brown with a matte finish.
• Lyssa – Light bronze-y gold shimmer with larger golden sparkles. 

• Aura – Cooler brown with standard shimmer finish. Not as reflective as some of the other shimmers.
• Hera – Similar to Iris but more pink-toned. On the eye, you can hardly tell them apart.
• Valkyrie – Pale greenish gold. This can have anywhere from a metallic to an iridescent finish depending on how heavily you apply it.
• Gaia – Blueish green with a matte finish. Can be built up but not as deep and rich as you might expect based on how it looks in the pan.
• Venus – Yellow gold with a standard shimmer finish.

• Freya – Chunky, sparkly white with a subtle golden sheen. Lots of fallout.
• Juno – Similar to Hera but slightly deeper and redder. Just as with the other medium browns, this looks almost the same on the eye.
• Luna – Pale bronze with a standard shimmer finish.
• Avalon – Deep brown with a matte finish.
• Cassandra – Mostly large light green sparkles in a sheer base. Lots of fallout. Looks gold here but the green is more visible in Look #3.

Looks

Look #1:

• Hera – Transition, outer lower lashline
• Gaia – Crease, inner lower lashline
• Avalon – All over lid
• Artemis – Layered over Avalon
• Freya – Inner corner, applied with dampened brush
• Venus – Near tear duct, outer upper lashline, applied with dampened brush

Look #2:

Describing where the colors go gets more tricky when they aren’t placed in the usual way lol. The yellowy brown is Athena, the teal is Gaia, the dark brown is Avalon, and the shimmery shade is Valkyrie. I applied Valkyrie with a dampened angled brush to get a more controlled application. For the sharp outer edges, I also used an angled brush (not dampened, though).

Look #3:

• Juno – Crease, lower lashline
• Avalon – Outer lid
• Cassandra – Center of lid

Look #4:

• Iris – Crease, lower lashline
• Aura – Inner and outer lid
• Luna – Center of lid
• Lyssa – Outer-ish lower lashline
• Pandora – Inner corner, applied over Too Faced Glitter Glue
• Avalon – Added this to outer lid at the end

Look #5:

• Athena – Crease
• Gaia – All over lid
• Artemis – Layered over Gaia, applied over Too Faced Glitter Glue
• Avalon – Inner/outer lower lashline
• Venus – Center of lower lashline, applied with dampened brush