Review & Dupes: Melt Cosmetics Love Sick & Dark Matter Eye Shadow Stacks

The word on Melt Cosmetics eye shadow stacks is spreading far and wide across the beauty blogosphere, and I wanted to get in on the fun with a review! While the word is that these shadows are phenomenal, I have to admit that I was sucked in by the unique packaging. The shadows are housed in magnetized disks that stack together nicely, capped with a mirrored disk on top. While this definitely makes them exceptionally compact, those that do their makeup on-the-go frequently, or don't have an area to spread their products out on during application might find it a little cumbersome. Still, the magnets are strong, and stayed intact when I threw them in my purse for the day to see how they fared during travel!

While $48 a stack might seem steep for these, the pans actually contain almost 3 times the product of an average shadow. By weight, they are comparable in price to well-known affordable brand Makeup Geek!

Here are the shades in each stack:

Love Sick

• Promiscuous: An iridescent, vibrant violet blue (couldn't find a dupe for this shade)
• Fixated: Matte blue-grey (couldn't find a dupe for this shade)
• Amelie: Peachy gold duo-chrome (similar to Makeup Geek's Cosmopolitan)
• Love Sick: Matte burgundy red (couldn't find a dupe for this one)

Dark Matter

• Blurr: Light matte brown (similar to Makeup Geek's Creme Brulee)
• Unseen: Medium cool matte brown (similar to Makeup Geek's Frappé
• Enigma: Rusted red-brown (leans more brown than Makeup Geek's Bitten)
• Dark Matter: The blackest black you've ever seen! (deeper, and more matte than Makeup Geek's Corrupt)

Overall, these shadows have a drier texture that I think is reflected in the swatches. But make no mistake - they wear beautifully. They are incredibly pigmented even without a primer, and despite being mostly matte textures, there isn't a chalky shadow in the bunch!
These are amazing shadows - definitely worth the fanfare they're receiving! I recommend them to those who want workhorse shadows that they can reach for all the time.
See more pictures after the jump!