Hello my Bunnies,
If you hang around the UK blogosphere there's no chance you haven't heard about the By Terry Ombre Blackstars. They're a bit less present in the french speaking blogosphere which is surprising as they even are available in Switzerland (at Marionnaud for instance.)
At the beginning of the year, after hearing so many british youtubers rave about them, I caved and bought two shades, 5 Misty Rock and 4 Bronze Moon.
(I did a first impression on these that you can find here.)
Since then, I've discovered Kiko and upon reading that their Long Lasting Sticks could very well be dupes of the Ombre Blackstar, I bought two (05 and 36.)
(There's also a first impression on these here.)
So I started to use the Kiko sticks and the Ombre Blackstar ones without thinking too much about them and focusing on the fact that I liked both brands.
I never wore both brands at the same time. For some reason I always created looks with one brand at a time.
That was until the day when I realised that the long lasting stick in 05 was very similar to 5 Misty Rock (which is probably the favourite shade of all the beauty addicts across the channel)
They're both number (0)5, I should have seen the hint probably.
I then proceeded to swatch them side by side and that's when I realised that these two shades were not similar but well and truly identical !
 |
| left: Kiko - right: By Terry |
I'd love to give my post a little more credit by telling you that the Kiko stick is slightly more glittery or that the Ombre Blackstar is a tiny bit more aubergine-y.
BUT THAT WOULD BE A LIE !
I showed my swatches to everybody I met that day, friends, family, coworkers, strangers on the street, and watched them under every possible light (day, night, neon, led, …) and couldn't find a single difference.
These two shades are perfectly identical !!!
 |
| left eye: Kiko - right eye: By Terry |
As for longevity, formula, ease to apply ? Same result !
Maybe the By Terry stick deposits a bit more product upon application, but that's the only difference I managed to spot.
Both sticks apply and blend the exact same way. For the look that you can see on the pictures, I applied the product on the entire lid and blended using my MAC 217. And you can see it as well as I can, there's absolutely no difference between the two.
They both last all day without creasing. After a very long day, you might notice that the intensity has started to fade a little but they both do that (and do it in the exact same spots.)
I checked by wearing Kiko on one eye and By Terry on the other for a whole day, to make sure that they were being tested under the same conditions.
and that wasn't even a risk. No one could have told that I was wearing two different eyeshadows (because they're not different !!!)
 |
| left eye: Kiko - right eye: By Terry |
So the only two differences I could find were the packaging and the price. In Switzerland the Ombre Blackstar cost 39.- CHF at Marionnaud and the Long Lasting Sticks cost 9.90 CHF on the Kiko website.
So if you want to spend an extra 30.- for a golden packaging, you can (I'm not judging) or a shade that you can't find in the Kiko range, go ahead, they're great, but if you're looking for the product, as there is no difference, go down the Kiko route (especially as they have more shades available.)
As for the product in itself, I do recommend it, that's for sure ! It's one of those great eyeshadow (I'm going to talk about both of them as if they're one) that renders makeup extra easy.
You apply, you blend and thanks to the light-reflecting properties it looks like you applied a darker shade in the outer corners and a lighter one in the inner corners, when all you did was just swipe the same shade all over. Effortlessly chic. What's not to love ?!
Did you know these products ? Are you as stunned as I am ?
x
MachaLabels: 05, battle, by terry, dupe, kiko, misty rock, ombre blackstar, review
