you are right about MAC's eyeshadow. i swatch them on my hand and they just never look pretty enough. the only one i ever liked is the cranberry one but i own a very similar color in urban decay.
Reputedly, that's a bestselling color in India. I've never seen or tried it, though.
**i am not a makeup snob or anything, i do own drug store makeup. **but honestly ever since i touched urban decay's eye makeup, i can't go back to drug store.
No one said you were; it's all about personal preference. I myself own a mix of drugstore, high-end, and cult/niche brand slap.
even MAC doesn't match up to Urban decay's eye stuff. i always LOVED eyemakeup and that was the first thing i started using once i was allowed to do makeup, but i am quite dark skinned and the drug store eye stuff NEVER showed up on my eyes as it did on lighter skin ppl.
** i bought something pink and it looked white on me cuz of my skin tone. that never happened to me with urban decay. even a single wash of color got me so many compliment which i never got even after a hard core application of drug store e/s.**
It's probably b/c of the lack of pigmentation; because pigment is costlier than filler, low-end brands are often guilty of going easy on the pigmentation, and being heavy-handed with the colorless fillers. The result: poor color payoff and often cakey texture. That said: some high-end brands are also guilty of this, while some drugstore brands are bucking the trend and creating some really decent stuff.
that is just my personal opinion though. my mom uses drug store makeup (she is very very fair though) and think i am crazy to be spend my money on high end makeup.
My mother's quite the opposite: she thinks drugstore makeup is the DEVIL, lol!