Probably that’s the worst case scenario for every beauty junkie – after getting a new and exciting product, you come home and start to play with it and recognizing slowly but surely that you already own something extremely similar by another brand. Even worse – you look at it from every angle in every possible light – but you can’t detect the slightest difference on your skin. And then, the worst case: Your new beauty item you coveted is actually high-end and quite pricey, and the dupe in your stash comes from the drugstore. (That actually happened to me with an Estée Lauder nailpolish I could dupe with one from my stash by Essence. Add insult to injury the Essence was easier to apply and lasted longer. Waaaaaah!)

This scenario becomes more likely with the size of your stash and the time you’ve already invested in your hobby, no matter what kind of spreadsheets and apps to organize your stash you already used.

And why is that? After some hits and misses when you started buying makeup and getting into beauty, you very likely realized soon what colours suited you and textures you liked to work with or not (creme blushes, I’m looking at you!!!) and you have a type of products where your normal rational thinking skips a beat and tries to persuade you that this taupe eyeshadow is a miracle in extraordinariness or that coral lipstick must be perfectness on your lips, scratch that, it must be more perfect than the one you got last month, no matter how many extraordinary and perfect ones you accumulated over the years. There could always be one out there that’s even more perfect than the others, right?

All my coral lipsticks
All my coral lipsticks

 

And then there’re products that are unique. New and innovative textures, extraordinary colours. Those that make you curious to try out, those that are maybe out of your comfort zone.

Is it a dupe or is it unique is a question that often comes up when new limited collections are released and beauty junkies pore over colour stories. Do I ‘need’ that blush or is it dupeable? That product has a texture that hasn’t been put out before, it’s quite unique! Ponderings ensue.

Swatchy times! Upper row, L - R: YSL Glossy Stain No. 12, Dior Addict Extreme 536, Astor Soft Sensation Feeling Feline, Guerlain Rouge G Geneva. Middle Row L - R: MAC Sail La Vie, MAC Toxic Tale, EL Orange Poppy, EL Wild Fire, L'Oreal Caresse Dating Coral. Lower Ror L - R: Guerlain Rouge Automatique 661, MAC Watch Me Simmer, MAC Scarlet Ibis, MAC Party Parrot, MAC Cut A Caper, MAC VG Nicki, MAC La Vie En Rouge, TF True Coral
Swatchy times! Upper row, L – R: YSL Glossy Stain No. 12, Dior Addict Extreme 536, Astor Soft Sensation Feeling Feline, Guerlain Rouge G Geneva. Middle Row L – R: MAC Sail La Vie, MAC Toxic Tale, EL Orange Poppy, EL Wild Fire, L’Oreal Caresse Dating Coral. Lower Ror L – R: Guerlain Rouge Automatique 661, MAC Watch Me Simmer, MAC Scarlet Ibis, MAC Party Parrot, MAC Cut A Caper, MAC VG Nicki, MAC La Vie En Rouge, TF True Coral

 

For me it always ends like this: Uniqueness doesn’t mean that it’s looking good on me or I can use it properly (cream blush, I’m looking at you!!!) And some dupes I happily use in their many incarnations. Why? Because I’ve learned with which products I feel comfortable and like myself. From time to time I stray out of my comfort zone and use one of those unique products, and that’s fine too. Because finally, I’ve discovered that the question is not ‘dupe or unique’ but ‘do I wear it or don’t wear it’. Do I use the nth eyeshadow in taupe? The 20th lipstick in coral? If the answer to that is an honest yes, and the desired product has that litte bit of oomph that distinguishes it from its many similar siblings, then it’s really no question at all. If I get a different answer, I make sure to check with a beauty twin first who owns the product and has some insights to share. And let me tell you, Twindly is a great instrument for that!