 Hey guys, what is up? Welcome to my channel for today's video. It's a little bit more thoughtful. I want this to be food for thought for you guys. I'm going to be talking about the alter ego palettes and how they compare to the Natasha Denona. And most importantly, I really just want to get a conversation going and get your feelings about how we feel about these copy cat brands. So let's get into it. Hi guys, if you're new here, my name is Morgan. I'm a product knowledge enthusiast. I just love knowing anything and everything about all of the new makeup on the market and sharing my thoughts with you guys. And if you are a regular follower of mine, then you know Natasha Denona is very near and dear to my heart. I love Natasha Denona. They are most definitely one of my favorite brands. And as far as eyeshadows go, I think they are top of the market. One of the best. Amazing. They're also quite, quite pricey. So full transparency here. The brand alter ego has reached out to me a couple of times and I've never really been very interested in responding just because I don't really know how I feel about these copy cat brands. So if you've never heard of alter ego, basically they do big mainstream palettes and make them kind of their own. Basically they copy all the shades in the palettes and then kind of rearrange them a little bit. I personally have never been interested in the brand mostly because I am very fortunate enough that I am able to buy the real deal. So if I can have the real deal, why would I pick up the copycat, you know? But after a little bit of thought, I did end up posting on my story asking you guys what your thoughts are on alter ego since I am such an expert on Natasha Denona. If you would be interested in hearing how I thought that they compared, I would never have bought these palettes and they were sent to me. I did eventually end up responding to alter ego because I was curious. I've heard some very good things about these alter ego palettes and me being the Natasha Denona lover that I am and the little makeup enthusiast that I am, I'm like, I need to know more. I'm just curious if they really do compare to the Natasha Denona because people seem to be liking these palettes. So I did respond. I said, you know what? Feel free to send me the palettes, not guaranteeing any post or anything. I'm just curious. And they did end up sending the palettes, not working with them in any way. Just doing this because I was curious and I know some of you guys were too. Now, when I posted my thoughts on Instagram, I would say I got about a 50-50 response. Half of you guys were like, absolutely no way would not support a company that does that, that takes away from the creativity of another person. And then the other half of you were like, oh yeah, I'm really interested. I want to know. Seems like you can get a great deal off of this, much cheaper than Natasha Denona. So it really was an even split. And I can understand both sides of the copycat kind of makeup brand because in one way I don't like it. I don't like it because somebody's creative idea is being stolen and then somebody else is making money off of somebody else's idea. And I think that that is a side that I am more leaning towards. However, I definitely understand the other side because I get countless messages from people saying how much they love Natasha Denona's palettes, but they simply cannot afford them and it's their dream to own a Natasha Denona palette. And for those people, I mean, if I was in their shoes, I wouldn't see anything wrong with purchasing an ultra eco palette because I want you to at least have the color story. You know, one of the benefits I think of these copycat brands is so many people, you know, you guys want to copy my tutorials. You want to follow along. And if you cannot afford the product, this is a great way that you are able to recreate looks without having the exact palette, without having to spend $129. So my personal standpoint, I am not going to judge anybody that purchases from any sort of copycat brand because I totally understand why. And copycatting whatever, duping makeup, it's not a new concept. There are so many dupes that we purchase as well without even noticing or maybe with noticing. Even if you purchase a certain style, a lot of times that stems from the idea of a designer brand that in a million years I would never be able to afford. So I think without even being conscious of it, many of us support these dupes ideas that somebody else is profiting off of somebody else's idea. If you shop at Forever 21, all of their stuff is taken from other people's ideas. So it's not a new concept. And I think morally it's very hard to be able to support that. But at the same time, we all do it without knowing it. And at the end of the day, Natasha Denona palettes are pricey. Natasha Denona is a big brand. She makes a lot of money, which makes me feel a little bit better. I would have a strong stance against this brand if they were copying smaller indie brands. I know Manny, MUA has done a lot of videos, not a lot, but I've seen videos on this topic from him. And I love the way that he puts like, it sucks him being a indie brand owner and having makeup revolution copy his ideas. I'm sure it feels horrible. So I feel a little bit better that they are doing mostly Natasha Denona bigger brands and at least palettes that are over $100 that are very, very pricey. It's when they would start to do, you know, those smaller indie brands or even more affordable makeup where I'm like, but why? So I want to do my kind of reviewing comparison from a more neutral standpoint. I did want to start off with what my thoughts are and I absolutely want to hear your thoughts on this topic. I think it is a great discussion and it's kind of a new thing to happen in the makeup industry and I think it's definitely worth talking about. I'm definitely open to hearing your thoughts, whether it is completely against or for this kind of thing. Literally it's just as a topic that interests me but being the curious cat that I am, I really wanted to know if these were as good as people were saying they were. So I've spent the last three days doing looks, watching, comparing and I have some thoughts. I do. So let's get started with the first palette. So let me pull up the Alter Ego website so I can make sure I'm getting the prices right for you. Immediately one difference that is going to be from Natasha Denona to Alter Ego. For one, let's just talk about the Artemis palette. For example, this is $22. This is obviously a copy of the Natasha Denona Metropolis versus this price which is 129. So 22, 129. Big price difference. The Alter Ego is supposed to have a 12 month shelf life. Natasha Denona 24. Natasha Denona is made in Italy and then Alter Ego is made in the PRC which I would assume that's where it would be made. Now I have three palettes from Alter Ego that they sent me. Artemis like I said which is the Metropolis, the Aurora which is going to be the Sunrise and then the Goddess which is going to be one of my favorite palettes from Natasha Denona. And we have Goddess which is copy of the gold palette from Natasha Denona which is one of my favorites and I'm very excited to share my thoughts about the Alter Ego with you guys. So we're actually going to go palette by palette and I'm going to tell you my thoughts because I feel like I do have some different thoughts for each palette. So we're going to go ahead and do the palette that I am currently wearing. I did do a live tutorial so you can see the differences in application. This is the only tutorial that I did. So like I said the Artemis palette is $22. It's over a $100 difference compared to the $129 Metropolis palette. As far as the packaging differences go this is like a patent. I don't know how to describe the Natasha Denona but the Artemis is quite a heavy duty cardboard. Honestly it feels pretty good quality. You can see that about the same color but definitely a different design here. The Artemis is a bigger palette and what I do like is that the Artemis actually has the shades on the back but they also have the shades on the actual palette that you have a nice big mirror whereas the Natasha Denona the names are going to be on this little plastic flap. It's just, it's different. The packaging is different but take a look at the layouts compared to each other. I just dug my finger in the shadows. So you can see that the colors are placed in different spots but they're like the same color. So take a closer look here and you can see the texture differences right in the pan I feel like. So they aren't going to be the same like formula. I don't know. Obviously they're not going to be the same formula but here are my thoughts. So right now I am showing you my arm swatches. Now there's a lot of colors in these palettes so I couldn't do every single color but I just did the ones that immediately caught my eye and I would say of the three palettes this is the one where the colors weren't exactly the same. Now some of the colors actually really were exactly the same but I feel like maybe because there's just more colors that there were some differences between a few of the colors but really I don't think the differences are enough to be noticeable on the eye. I also could feel as I was doing each swatch and I was doing the same color at a time so I would swatch a yellow color from the Natasha Denona and then with my second finger I would swatch the Alter Ego and then Natasha Denona does feel creamier. It feels more pigmented. The Artemis not quite as creamy it almost feels a little bit sticky. So I feel like the Natasha Denona is not as hard pressed whereas the Alter Ego there's not as much fallout there's not as much powder so they definitely feel different but honestly very very close by the way that they look I was quite impressed. So I'm going to take you into the tutorial so that you can see the look that I created. This one's Natasha Denona. This one is Alter Ego and I will kind of tell you my experiences as I go. Okay so this eye right here my left is going to be the real why did I forget what this is called? The Metropolis palette and then on my right eye is going to be the Artemis palette from Alter Ego. I haven't done this side by side yet so I'm going to start off with the mustardy kind of color right here and I'm going to use that as a transition color. For the most part I would say that this palette is what I felt like had most differences in colors like I mean very very very pretty much undetectable especially once again the eye but based on these swatch by swatch comparisons these two palettes I felt like were the most different and then I believe the match up in the Alter Ego is going to be hunt. I'm going to wipe my brush off and I would say this looks a little bit more orange than the Natasha Denona but not really now that I'm blending it out and maybe it's not spreading out quite as seamlessly as the Natasha Denona and I'm going in like a one dip extra being extra specific. Let's go green today so we're going to go into this shade right here. I'm switching the brush that I'm using so this was the first time that Natasha Denona tried out her weird cream powder matte maybe it wasn't the first time but I feel like when this palette came out she still was trying to figure out this matte hybrid formula so it's better but it's still not perfect if you ask me and then stunt is going to be the dupe in the Alter Ego so I feel like that Natasha Denona formula wasn't perfected so honestly the Alter Ego I might prefer it just a little bit more I'm just playing around getting my bearings we're going to use this dark dark green color stealth is the match in the in the Alter Ego and just for a little added depth we're going to go into this color right here it's like a really deep greenish navy and I'm going to pop this right in the outer corner and I'm going to go in the different brush to kind of blend it all out it's going to be interesting to see how ambush from Alter Ego matches up I'm being pretty close you guys I feel like the difference with these is going to be wear time because I feel like the Natasha Denona holds its color better like if you over blend this the color disappears and then you have to dip in again but as far as like initial application putting it on they're very very close to each other I'm going to go for the gusto and we're going to go in with this shade right here for sake of trial I am not going to be using my brush wet though I feel like I would prefer to use the brush wet let me just use my finger because this is going to make a mess all over my face gorgeous as always Miss Denona Pursuit right here is going to be the match for Alter Ego it's definitely not as refined as the Natasha Denona like you can tell in the Natasha Denona that there's little tiny kind of micro fine sparkles in there I'm not getting that from the Alter Ego and the Alter Ego feels a little bit more sticky I guess so I feel like you're actually going to get a little bit more fallout from the Natasha Denona but that folly outiness from the Natasha Denona is also what adds a little bit of extra dimension and pizzazz pretty darn close you guys pretty darn close we're going to finish off with the most yellow gold color right up in here just a little pop and it's going to bring out that mustardy color that we used and spear is the equivalent and the Natasha Denona formula is much much more creamy than the Alter Ego as far as this specific shade goes but I think that the Alter Ego Shimmer formula is a little bit easier to apply with a brush whereas Natasha Denona I think requires more of a finger because the Natasha Denona feels a little bit less hard pressed but I like that because I feel like I can add more dimension to the lid because of that so I think this is what we're going to do as far as shadow as you can see pretty close there's actually more fallout with the Natasha Denona overall it is a gorgeous look and pretty much you cannot tell I used two different palettes the only thing I will say I did get some more fallout with the Natasha Denona and it's a little bit more dimensional on the Natasha Denona side much more of a refined finish to the eye but it's also a little bit more messy which I find interesting like I said the Alter Ego is a little bit more hard pressed and it's not as refined and the colors are a little bit more sticky so they stick to the eye more it's a touch more flat but it also is a bit more clean looking I mean overall you can't tell the difference it's just because I'm right here in front of the mirror looking for differences where I think the differences in these two palettes are going to lie is wear time because I do find and this is just across the board because I have played with the other palettes as well I do feel like the Artemis or the Alter Ego is a lot easier to wash away so you can easily over blend with the Alter Ego as opposed to the Natasha Denona where I dip in once or twice in Natasha Denona and I have the pigment there whereas Alter Ego the pigment's there in the beginning but then as I keep rubbing my brush and blending the color does kind of go away so you do have to dip in more you do have to layer more with the Alter Ego overall though pretty impressed with Alter Ego I'm not going to lie given the price differences $107 difference that is very very large I think overall the Natasha Denona formula is better for sure but I don't know if it's a $100 difference I really don't and I think how I would justify Natasha Denona over Alter Ego if this matters to you is the formula is probably better than Natasha Denona the formula has a longer shelf life it's made in Italy so that's going to be more expensive I think the wear time is better within Natasha Denona so the Natasha Denona is better your money is going towards better ingredients all of that but it's $107 difference so I'm going to let you make that choice so the other ones the next ones that we're going to take a look at is the Aurora palette so this guy from Alter Ego is 16 buckaroos $16 that's under 20 where the Sunrise palette is $65 so about a $50 difference now the Natasha Denona packaging this is the hard packaging and you can poke the shadows out all of these extra little goodies that you do not have with the Alter Ego it's again just the plain cardboard packaging with a mirror feels quite nice not going to lie but this packaging is obviously nicer and then there's a design with the Aurora here but let's take a closer look at the two palettes same stitch different placements of the colors is it different placements? yeah okay yes different placements of the colors but same exact colors I will admit I'm not even really the biggest fan of the Natasha Denona version of this mostly because it's just not my kind of color story so I wasn't really impressed with this one either I definitely think again the Natasha Denona formula is better for sure the Alter Ego one I feel like this palette the colors blended away even more so than in the Artemis palette and the other palette that I'm going to talk about so something about the quality of this one isn't as good as the others again this is a $50 price difference I mean definitely workable and honestly what's really interesting is sometimes as you guys know if you're a Natasha Denona fan she plays around with formulas and she doesn't really do a good job she experiments and then sometimes it's a fail I feel like Alter Ego does a good job of correcting where her mess ups are because sometimes Natasha just has a complete fail and I almost feel like Alter Ego capitalizes on that and they're like okay we can't make it this amazing formula like Natasha had intended but we can make it better and so like the shade Dawn right here I feel like it's better than the Natasha Denona but overall I do think that the Natasha Denona your money should go towards this more just because I feel like these colors wipe away especially in the shimmer shades here I feel like the shimmer shades in the Aurora palette don't really stick to my eyes as good but again it's still a fine palette you know it's not bad $16 okay so this last little mashup here that we have is with the Alter Ego goddess palette which I'm not gonna lie y'all very very impressed with this guy so this one looks like it's sold out on the website but it is also $16 the packaging is different than the Natasha Denona gold palette and the Natasha Denona gold palette by the way is $129 because you get a lot of product but you only get 15 shades in the Natasha Denona palette so it's a bigger price differentiation compared to the Sunrise palette and the packaging is a little bit different we don't have the gold covering it's not even like the same color so let's take a look at the inside here now the gold palette is one of my favorites from Natasha Denona so I was very interested in seeing how Alter Ego compared and so here you can take a closer look I'm not even gonna lie in some shades, a few shades I prefer the Alter Ego hear me out I feel like in this palette Natasha Denona experimented with a lot of new formulations and they kind of were not very good I did not like when she tried this new cream to powder formula this shade has zero pigmentation this glittery shade again doesn't pick up too much you really have to dig in this shade is very flaky and all three of those bad shades I'm telling you Alter Ego capitalized on that and they made it better they really did I'm not messing around now that being said overall you know as far as the masks go the shimmers go the Natasha Denona is creamier it's more pigmented it blends better it stays on the eyes better it's just going to wear better but I'm really really really impressed with the goddess palette because they nailed the tones I feel like this palette is probably the most similar like very very very minimal differences between swatch to swatch they even nailed the textures down and made them better and some of the weirder bad formulas that Natasha had I really think based on the three that I have from Alter Ego this is the best of the three that I've tried I don't know I prefer the Natasha Denona I can tell the difference in the quality I feel guilty saying that Alter Ego would be better but let me just say this with the value difference if you're tight on money and you don't want to you don't have the ability to purchase the Natasha Denona formula and you love love love the color story the goddess palette is really good for $16 for a $16 palette I'm impressed it's not perfect but neither is the Natasha Denona and I spent $129 for it I do have a difficult time saying like oh the Natasha Denona is so much better than the Alter Ego at the end of the day yes the Natasha Denona is better than the Alter Ego your money is going to the actual creator of the palette not somebody else who is profiting off of somebody's idea it's an Italian formula I love my Italian formulas there's a lot of things to justify morally putting your money towards Natasha Denona but that being said wherever you choose to spend your money I really don't care you know it's an eyeshadow palette at the end of the day and I've been $129 for an eyeshadow palette it's kind of robbery for an eyeshadow palette so if you like the color stories I do think Alter Ego is worth looking into but there's a lot of factors you know and like I said I'm trying to remain as neutral as possible and I just I told you how the formulas compared so I'm gonna let you guys make that decision again completely for scientific purchases so again completely for scientific purposes I couldn't help myself so I hope you guys enjoyed that video and I hope you found it helpful let me know your thoughts I'm really excited for the comment section on this one I do ask though that we be kind to all parties involved whether that's me that's Alter Ego that's Natasha Denona or somebody else in the comments who may have an opposing view as you because when we get to the discussion opinion based things on the internet they can get a little bit nasty that's not my goal here that's all I have for today's video I hope you guys enjoyed it and I will see you guys in the next one goodbye goodbye