Christine, founder of Temptalia

You’re probably wondering where I’ve been for almost four years (yikes…my bad)! But if you know me, you already guessed it–I was in deep, discovering all sorts of things while panic-searching for a dupe of some amazing product that has been discontinued (“whyyy!”). Or you know I’m on that “ethical alternative” hunt to replace an awesome product I found from a not-so-ethical brand (I’m side-eyeing you, animal testers and funders). And all that is time-consuming.

A while ago, I noticed that I was consistently clicking on one site in particular during my typical spiral of dupe searches, making my results easier. That saved some time, so during a moment of calm I finally did some more digging outside of my panic bubble and realized I wasn’t just chilling on a dupe site, I was visiting a beauty goldmine!

Let me introduce you to Temptalia: the ultimate review, swatch, and dupe sanctuary.

Temptalia is a constantly evolving one-stop site for tons (yes, that’s plural) of makeup reviews, swatches, current sales, a mega dupe list, and even a foundation shade matcher/finder. All by the one-woman show: Christine Mielke. She’s the powerhouse behind 70,000+ swatches and 30,000+ reviews, according to Allure. So, Christine is officially our new BFF for all things beauty.


The site is equipped with an organized list of products and their swatches (I actually used one of those swatches for my Bite Beauty write-up), with actual letter-grade ratings of alternatives for lipsticks, eyeshadow (even entire makeup palettes!), foundation, and much more. Grade ratings! Ah, yes, a time in life I actually look forward to seeing those things.

Here is a dupe example for my favorite cool-toned red by Pat McGrath:

Basically, Temptalia is a virtual safety net to catch my everlasting plunge (all googly-eyed with a crazed smile on my face, BTW) into the rabbit hole of luxury cosmetics, and my bank account isn’t on fire! What a comfy, cushiony catch.

So a dupe’s official dictionary definition is a trick or deception, but in the makeup realm it’s just the same thing but cheaper–more like a treat instead of a trick. And although quality may not be the same, most of us are more than willing to look past all that because we are still glam in this economy. We want to look flawless while crying every time we pass a gas station. “We accept you, the cheaper version of the same thing!”

Makeup companies love markups, but Temptalia is here to pull back the reins of your high-end loving self to save your wallet and your sanity.

This isn’t all about dupes though. Temptalia is a trustworthy review journal from luxury to drugstore brands. Each time you visit, there’s a featured deals list up top, from all stores and brands across the board. Yasss to having our backs!



There are also Best Of guides, editor picks and favorites, polls, upcoming launch alerts, color stories to explore, a gallery of looks from both the editor and from all of us (aka never-ending inspiration), tips, advice, blog posts, ingredient lists, and anything else you can think of.

Not only is this site jam-packed with information, it’s super easy and fun! Especially for a lady of leisure like myself, and I have lots of ground to cover!

Last but never least, I think it’s notable how Temptalia is to the point–no clickbait or drama–just the swatch and its fair review. But most of all, Christine is trust-based and transparent. There’s no veil of greenwashing or sponsor-based biases. And we need this bright shiny light in these times more than ever. Do I need to say more?

Just go if you haven’t already! I’ll see you there, and maybe I’ll peek out a tad more regularly. 😉

-Amber