I am going to make a confession that will make most beauty bloggers and readers scream: I am not (yet) a fan of taupe.
Before you pelt me with stones however, you have to hear my story. In the beginning of this blog, I swatched the NYX Rock and Roll trio (click here for a trip down memory lane). While I was impressed with the quality in general, I just never managed to make the colors work for me. Since people say the middle shade is a dupe for MAC Satin Taupe, I did the math and decided that taupe is not for my rather warm skin tone.
However, recently, to help a bride who never wears makeup to obtain a small amount of foundation she needed for her makeup trial and big day, I had to purchase something from MAC. That’s when I thought: maybe I can make this immensely popular shade work for me after all. Long story short, Satin Taupe ended up in my hands.
Satin Taupe is a medium taupe with a bit of frosty sheen, though very rarely in this case I don’t mean frosty in a negative way. Taupe is an interesting color, and if you follow some beauty blogs, you have probably heard many beauty bloggers tout it as their favorite eyeshadow color. In short, taupe is between gray and brown. In Satin Taupe’s case, at least on my NC30 skin with warm undertone, it’s more like a brown with a grayish tinge.
What makes Satin Taupe so great, especially for someone who has so many neutral shades as it is?
In my humble opinion, Satin Taupe’s versatility is its biggest selling point. In these FOTDs I paired it with MAC All That Glitters, but I think it looks even better paired with cooler-toned shade. I have tried it with the Browbone shade of the right column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone, which is allegedly rather similar to MAC Vex (I hesitate to call it a dupe, because I have never compared the two), and it looks even better!
The color payoff and texture of Satin Taupe are great. I haven’t tried it personally, but I heard that you can get a gorgeous taupe smokey eye with Satin Taupe and Added Goodness. I will make sure I try it out and report back!
Now let’s delve into its “dupe,” shall we?
The middle shade of NYX Rock and Roll looks (on the left in the picture) indeed rather similar to Satin Taupe in pan, but are they the same swatched?
As you can see, they are not even remotely close! The NYX shade looks really just mauve-y next to Satin Taupe, let alone the fact that Satin Taupe has a much stronger frosty sheen.
I know we’ve taken too many trips down memory lane in this post, but here is a post I wrote half a year ago that I still think makes some sense. Essentially: when people call two shades dupes, are they necessarily dupes?
Maybe for some, but probably not for all. I know it’s annoying to tell you the ONLY way to find dupes is to swatch both side by side, but essentially you cannot guarantee something is a dupe otherwise.
Bottom line: MAC Satin Taupe has changed my opinion about taupe. Versatility is the key word when it comes to this shade, and the quality is very decent. I’d say it’s a great beginner’s taupe, because it is very easy to pair it with other eyeshadows (warm-toned or cool-toned, bring them on)!
Do you own Satin Taupe? What’s your favorite way to wear it? Can you recommend other taupes for this taupe newbie?
Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx
MOSTLY SUNNY 
MAC Satin taupe is indeed a gorgeous taupe shade and I have also been pairing this with All That Glitters or UD Sin. A few other gorgeous taupe I found is Wet n Wild color icon in Silent Treatment or Chanel Fauve.
Ahh Silent Treatment. I’ll have to figure out a way to lay my hands on that! Thanks for the recommendations Ruby 🙂
So funny, was I looking into mac shades yesterday and decided I really needed to purchase Satin Taupe. It’s such a gorgeous shade !
Gosh I looove Satin Taupe! Got it years ago and it’s one of my most used es! I’m love taupes, can’t believe you were not a fan! :p
MAC Satin Taupe is unique. And I freakin’ love that colour 😀
Yay glad to hear you like it too Esmay! I bet it looks fantastic on you!
Hi Sunny! I’d like to recommend Le Metier de Beaute Jojo and Corinthian. I love both for their color-payoff, quality, staying power & superb blendability. I am also NC30 but with cool undertones.
Thanks Emilie! Looks like I have to look into LMdB soon! I’m NC30 too but my undertone is quite warm. That’s why I find taupe a little tricky to wear!
I’m not a huge taupe lover like some beauty bloggers I know and adore. I was recently surprised by how many taupes I do own! I have a Satin Taupe dupe, but I do not own the original. I’m slowly learning to like taupes. I highly recommend Fyrinnae Damn Paladins or Concrete Minerals Lolita or Silk Naturals Glory. They are some fabulous taupes 🙂
Haha Phyrra you make me feel more normal! I’ll look into these, but I think it’ll be a bit tricky to get hold of them here in Belgium 🙂
Not a fan of taupe?? uh, I’m not sure we can be friends anymore Sunny. I gotta go…..
….kidding 🙂 I’m glad you were willing to give it a try anyway–Satin Taupe is a very nice color. I don’t own it at the moment though as I never repurchased after my last one cracked. I do own a few very nice taupes though–one being a Boots Botanics Eye Colour single in Star Anise. Do you have Boots in Belgium? I think it’s a great way to try a lovely taupe shade without breaking the bank.
Aww come on Becca!
We don’t have Boots here unfortunately. I think my main issue at the moment is I’m not too good at gauging if a taupe will work for me or not, as in I’ll have to put in on my lids before I go “ah crap, this looks BAD!” It’s weird too because I have developed some sort of ability to guess how most other stuff would work for me.
I always liked Satin Taupe. I’m surprised to hear you thought taupes weren’t for you. *goes to gather stones for throwing* 😀 No, just kidding! You know I love you. 🙂
Haha sorry Christina! I think my problem is that I can’t really tell if a taupe will work for me or not just by swatching it, whereas I’m OK at guessing how other colors will. I guess taupe is intricate, and that’s what makes it a fun color!
I love taupes!! They are my faves! But I don’t use Satin Taupe as much as I used to. You should get Le Metier de Beaute Corinthian-that’s a gorgeous one!
Haha Tracy so you’re one of those beauty bloggers (it’s a joke, it’s a joke!!!)! I will have to look into LMdB very soon. Everybody keeps raving about it!
I actually…. don’t look good in taupes :X I have a few (or a lot for someone who doesn’t seem to be able to pull it off): Chanel Fauve, Deep Taupe, Burberry Taupe Brown, LMdB Corinthian, NARS Lhasa (is this one?)? But I don’t reach for them much. Satin Taupe looks pretty on you though 🙂
Oh really? I totally thought you could pull taupes off easily! Yes I think Lhasa is one, and that’s why I didn’t get it. Corinthian has been recommended SEVERAL times already so I think I’ll have to look into that (And Fauve as well)!
Argh! My comment didn’t go through the first time =.=. But becoz I love you I’m gonna do it a second time. Haha
So I was saying, Satin Taupe is one of my fav taupe eyeshadows. Love it on the contour area! Funny that I actually disliked it a lot and thought it was a waste of money and did not live up to all its rave reviews when I first got it. Duno why, but I just couldn’t work it. Then somehow someday, it worked and it worked like magic. And so I fell in love. Lol.
(better copy this chunk of text first)
LOL Thanks so much Juli!
I think it depends a lot on what you pair with it. It’s just so-so when I paired it with All That Glitters, but with a shade similar to Vex I could really appreciate its dimension and depth!