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Comparison Review: Aphrodyte 35C vs Morphe 35O Eyeshadow Palettes - Are they dupes?

Jenine Justiniano
Jul 26, 2016
4 min read

Hi everyone!

My Instagram beauty account @justjenineblogs reached 500 followers recently! WHOOP WHOOP! And while that doesn't seem like a big deal to some, it means a lot to me. I don't really have family or friends who are as passionate about makeup as I am, so I feel beyond happy and grateful to everyone who follows me and supports my love for makeup and beauty. You make my (mis)adventures all the more fun, and I look forward to sharing more with all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

And for those of you who do follow me on Instagram, you might have seen this post showing something very similar to the Morphe 35O Eyeshadow Palette which I reviewed just recently. After everything I've said and been through, heaven knows I don't need or want another one; however, there's still a lot of people who are interested in it that I just felt I had to tell the world about my discovery. And since I refuse to recommend something I haven't tried out myself, I went ahead and purchased the Aphrodyte 35C Sunset Eyeshadow Palette to review. So, are they really dupes? Let's find out!

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

When I found out about this orange-toned palette, it was sold at the introductory price of only PHP 999 - a huge price difference from what I paid for the Morphe one! It currently retails for PHP 1,249 on the Aphrodyte.Ph Shopee page, but that's still very affordable for how many eyeshadows you're getting. And since the palettes are locally available on-hand and not on a pre-order basis, my package arrived in good condition only three days after I made my purchase.

PACKAGING

I had recently learned about "private labeling" from when Stephanie Nicole reviewed the Morphe brand as a whole. In that video, she mentioned how independent companies can legally buy and relabel products from manufacturers to sell as their own, with any design or ingredient add-ons or reductions changing the overall cost. If you'll look at the two palettes above, it's not that difficult to imagine they came from the same factory. The palette shape, size, and colors are extremely similar, with only minute differences: the Aphrodyte palette uses thicker black plastic with a grainy finish and is labelled with a sticker, while the Morphe palette uses thinner smooth plastic plastic and the label is silkscreen printed on the cover. Another difference I noticed is that the eyeshadow pans fit more snugly in the Morphe palette. These differences, along with the brand name, affect how the palettes are manufactured, and therefore how much the palettes will cost.

INGREDIENTS

Looking at the ingredients, the first few listed down in both palettes are Talc, Mica, Mineral Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Isopropyl Palmitate and Magnesium Stearate. The Aphrodyte palette has a pretty short and unspecific list compared to Morphe that even includes the actual dyes used in the shadows, which is probably what contributes to the differences formula and color. I'm not sure how these ingredients function, but Stephanie Nicole talks about some of them in her video so I recommend you watch it, especially if you're curious about the Morphe brand.

FORMULA

When swatched with my fingers, I concluded quite early the Morphe shadows were better quality as they felt smoother and softer to the touch, and applied more pigmented when swiped against my skin. However, the mattes produce quite a bit of powder kick-up when used with a brush, and the shimmers have A TON of fallout even with a base underneath. On the other hand, the Aphrodyte shadows felt a little dry in comparison, with some of the mattes being less pigmented and requiring a bit of layering. However, I found they were less powdery, blended easier on my eyes, and did not require too much effort when building up pigmentation. Few of the shimmers were not as soft and intensely reflective as with the previous palette (that can be resolved by applying them wet), but I did not experience as much fallout.

COLORS

Color-wise, I noticed most of the Morphe shadows leaned yellow while the Aphrodyte shadows learned red, though the differences are very minute if you're not really knit-picking. There are a couple of shades that are completely different, but for the most part they all look very similar. The swatches below were swiped over skin dusted with a bit of face powder, with some of the Aphrodyte mattes layered twice to match the pigmentation of Morphe. Take a look:

So now that we've seen how the two palettes compare, let's answer some important questions: Are they dupes? Sort of. The shade selection in these two palettes are VERY similar that you can substitute one with the other and nobody would really notice. In terms of formula, the Morphe shadows are just slightly better because they require less layering, but the Aphrodyte shadows are more blendable and can easily be built up. Which one do I recommend? I might be saying this because of all the strife I've been through with the Morphe palette, but save yourself the time and money, and go for the Aphrodyte palette - it's cheaper, easier to get, and decent in quality. You can get yours at aphrodyte.ph's Instagram page.

And that's it for this post! What are your thoughts on the Aphrodyte 35C palette? Are you considering getting one, or do you think the Morphe 35O palette is still worth it? Let me know in the comments down below! Also, this is only one of the Morphe 35O alternatives I promised, so just sit tight and watch out for a part two. With that said, thank you so much for stopping by and reading my blog. I really appreciate your time, and I hope to talk to you again soon. Till next time! :*

♥♥♥