Recently I wanted to find a dupe for Shiro’s Perfect World, my favorite gold eyeshadow, which is now sadly discontinued. I asked for suggestions on Indie Makeup and More, and realized I already had a couple of the suggested colors in my stash. I wound up pulling out all my metallic golds and decided to swatch them all to compare. (I skipped my peachy golds and yellow based golds, since that wasn’t what I was looking for.) I figured it might be useful to someone else who was also looking for a specific kind of gold.

All shadows are swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion on the top/left and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the bottom/right. The top picture was taken in indoor natural light and the bottom in direct sun, for maximum sparkle.

Dark Matter Makeup Aries, Shiro Perfect World, Shiro Remake, Baroque Versailles, AFK Solar Flare

Hello Waffle Amber, Hello Waffle Tchaikovsky, Hello Waffle 1000 Likes, Corvus Clio, Shiro Mockingjay

Dark Matter Makeup Aries: “A light metallic gold with gold sparks. It also has an orange highlight that makes the color shift from a light to a more orange gold.” This is a pale sparkly light gold. Over primer it’s a little sheer. There’s a slight cool grey undertone to it in some lights. I don’t get the orange shift at all. If you’re looking for a sparkly gold, this is the one with the most sparkle out of the ten. (Previously reviewed here.)

Shiro Perfect World: “Pure, soft, slightly metallic gold.” This is my personal favorite gold. It’s description is spot on. It’s a neutral gold without noticeable undertones, and it’s very smooth and metallic. It doesn’t have any sparks. I’m super sad that Shiro discontinued it, since it’s great with my light skintone.

Hello Waffle Tchaikovsky: “Vibrant gold with red, silver, and blue sparks.” This is a neutral-toned gold, with a smooth metallic finish and noticeable sparkles. The sparkles mostly struck me as silver and blue. I didn’t really see red. Over Pixie Eposy it’s more densely metallic, but it looks nice over primer too. (Previously reviewed here.)

Shiro Remake: “Shimmery gold-bronze with purple sparks.” This is a slightly warm, very metallic gold. When I reviewed it before I didn’t notice the sparks, but this time, with more experience looking at eyeshadow nuances, I definitely did, The strike me as bluey purple and are very pretty. (Previously reviewed here.)

Baroque Versailles: “Antiqued molten gold.” This is a gold with a bit of a greenish tint to it, which makes it look antique. (The pictures pulled a little warm, but the green twinge is definitely noticeable in person. You can see the difference between it and the warmer golds in the shot of all them together at the beginning of the post.) It has a very smooth metallic finish, and a hint of silvery sparks. The antique greenish quality makes it distinctive in my collection.

AFK Solar Flare: “A bright and sunny gold with a metallic finish.” This is an orangey yellow gold, with less sparkle to it than most of the other golds I swatched. It’s like a mildly metallic goldenrod. Over primer it’s a little sheer, so it can come across as more yellow on the eyes if you don’t use a sticky base.

Hello Waffle 1000 Likes: “Dark gold shimmer.” This is a very warm orangey gold. It darkens as it gets more opaque and metallic on a sticky base. Over primer alone, it’s sheerer and lighter. The lumps you see in the swatch are 100% my fault for not waiting long enough for the Pixie Epoxy to dry. Last time I swatched it it didn’t have that problem at all, as you can see in this swatch. If you wait for your base to dry like a smart person, it applies very smoothly. (Previously reviewed here.)

Hello Waffle Amber: “Dark orange-gold shimmer.” This is a very warm gold, enough to make it look almost like a rose gold or a pale copper instead of a pure gold. It’s very smooth. Over primer it’s a little sheer, but on a sticky base it takes on a nice metallic sheen.

Shiro Mockingjay: “Metallic brown-copper-bronze.” So this one is more copper than gold (and as you can see, Shiro doesn’t even call it a gold), but in direct sun the shimmer takes on a bit of a yellow gold quality. In indoor light it looks like a shiny new penny. (Previously reviewed here.)

Corvus Clio: “A slightly blackened molten gold with a metallic finish.” This is the darkest of my golds. It’s also the least shiny. Over primer it’s more of a tan brown with a hint of gold, but it’s almost matte. On a sticky base, there’s more of a sheen, but it’s still the least metallic of all the golds I swatched. Its darkness makes it excellent as a liner. (Previously reviewed here.)

So there you are! Ten of my golds swatched side by side. Hopefully this was helpful to someone else. If you’re interested in me adding in my more yellow or peachy golds, let me know and I can look into updating the post. If, like me, you were looking for a dupe for Perfect World, Hello Waffle Tchaikovsky or Dark Matter Makeup Aries are the closest that I have. Tchaikovsky looks closer to me over primer, but Aries is closest over Pixie Epoxy. Both of them are more sparkly than Perfect World, but it’s more noticeable with Aries. So if I had to choose one, I would go with Tchaikovsky.

How often do you wear gold eyeshadow? If you want some ideas on how I use it, all my posts tagged with gold are here.

Also, I finally got around to making a swatch gallery. It’s in the menu at the left and it has all my swatches sorted by brand. So hopefully that’s helpful to you!