While shopping for a recent Ulta.com haul, I came across one of their gifting sets, the Ulta Artistry Eye Shadow Kit.
Like the Sephora brush set I recently wrote about, doesn’t it look familiar?
Spoilers: Yes, yes it does.
Ulta does not carry Hourglass products, but if you’re either into makeup or saw my New and Noteworthy at Sephora post from January, you’ve probably seen the Hourglass Modernist palettes. The fluid-looking arrangement of the Ulta Artistry Eye Shadow Kit was certainly inspired by those luxe palettes. The shades are similar. The schemes are very similar. The number of shades per palette are the same. The surface texture (the way it is pressed in) is very similar. Oh man, the waves of shadow tilt the opposite direction…woo.
In short, it’s an utterly shameless copycat.
That said, I’ve been hearing and reading mixed reviews about the Modernist palettes. They’re evidently eye candy, little else; lovely to look at but not necessarily nice to use which is a huge blow to the value of the product considering its price point ($58 for one of the palettes). Aesthetically pleasing packaging does not a good product make.
Even if the Ulta Artistry Eye Shadow Kit’s payoff is lackluster (apparently so are the Hourglass ones, so…going with this isn’t really a loss, if this palette format is what you want). For $20 you get three of the five-shade palettes; about a third of the cost of one of the Hourglass Modernist palettes. Each of the three comes with a sponge applicator and is housed in a flat cardboard-based palette.
I can’t say I would buy the Ulta Artistry Eye Shadow Kit but unless it does not pay off at all it almost must be a better value-for-the-price than its Hourglass muse.