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Do you have a good memory for color?


Do you have a good memory for color? How easily can you tell if you have a similar (or even exact) shade at home?

I can usually remember if I have something similar, but I can’t remember whether I have the exact same shade!

Thanks to Suzanne for today’s question!

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Maureen Avatar

Mine is very good, unless I bought the items online. I just got the Strike A Pose eyeshadow palette from Nyx… and discovered that the purple shade is an exact dupe for MAC’s Mating Call. Like, it is literally the exact color. Grr, now that I had to look up the name of my Peacocky shadow, I wish I had bought all of the blue ones. Whatever, I LOVE Mating Call.

Lauren Avatar

I’m happy to have a great memory, and acuity, for color. It makes shopping for makeup easier, and sometimes less expensive! 🙂

Kathy Avatar

Perfect color memory is like perfect pitch: it’s rare, but it’s cool to have. When I buy shades that are too similar, I’ll look for another use for the one that I like least. No alternate use for the new one=return.

Annie Avatar

For me even the slight different shade would be the new shade to me ..specially when it comes to the blue greyish colour (>_<)

Tigress Avatar

I don’t have a huge collection (big enough, but not huge), so I can generally remember pretty well. Plus I rarely buy makeup impulsively because I have to eat, so I’ll compare swatches online.

Jasmin Avatar

I’m working all day with colors and pigments for plastics and I can remember colors very good, but comparing colors side by side more accurate. I think it’s impossible to remember the exact shade (so you can’t notice any difference)

Mariella Avatar

Mine isn’t very good at all. I sew and have encountered this when shopping for fabric so now I keep small swatches of things I’ve made, all ringed together much like the upholstery fabric samples you see in stores, and take these with me when I shop. It’s the same with cosmetics! I can never tell. A while back, when I looked at MAC Dalliance, I thought it was pretty much the same as Patina, which I already had, but I was able to compare them by swatching Patina at the counter…NOTHING even similar! Now, I take the items with me!

Krista Avatar

I’m really good at spotting dupes for makeup, but sometimes it different when you look at a color and when you actually swatch them. Probably through swatches I’m pretty good but straight up not so much.

Joani Avatar

What was the question? oh yes memory, I remember what I have usually, but get so excited seeing the new collections I don’t think about what colors I have just the beautiful ones before my eyes. Therefore, I have a few duplicate colors. I try to shop now just to replace or a specific item.

Joani Avatar

What was the question;>) I remember what I have at home, but I get excited at the store and sometimes buy something because it is beautiful even if I have something similar at home. Now I am trying just to replace or shop for a specific product that I want and try to get out of the cosmetic dept. fast. lol

Brie Avatar

This is gonna sound really sad…But I take my makeup collection inventory with me (a few pages typed out on Word) if I know I’m going to Ulta, Nordstrom, etc. That way, if I’m not sure on a shade, I can cross-reference with my inventory, and when I see the name of a color, my memory draws up an estimation of what it looks like (One of the only circumstances in which I have good visual memory actually) so I can determine whether I have a similar shade. Works pretty well for me!

Georgia Avatar

I reckon I’ve got a heightened perception of colour compared to most people since I’m able to identify differences in colours that my friends and family refuse to believe exist. One time I bought a blush because it looked like a dupe for NARS Orgasm (which I didn’t own at the time but had swatched once or twice) and sure enough, when I did buy Orgasm, it was almost exactly the same colour 🙂 It’s pretty cool, but I may just be imagining it…

Eva Avatar

For whatever reason, I definitely don’t–especially when it comes to nail polish! I’m always bringing home a teal, purple or green thinking that it’s unlike anything I have and then I find that I have like two identical shades in my stash already. I usually buy based on my initial attraction to a color so I end up with a lot of similar items.

Eileen Avatar

Mine is excellent and I’m especially sensitive to undertones which can elude or confuse some people, causing them to think that two colors are the same.

Laia Avatar

Not really… that’s why I stock up many lipsticks, blushes or eyeshadows in really similar shades. Oh well, that’s a sign I’m leaning more to these colors than others that would come into mind 🙂

Kayleigh Avatar

I have the worst memory for wishlists and what I already have… once I get into the store, my mind goes pretty well blank and it’s all impulse buying!! Which is actually why I just used my phone to take pictures of my Sephora.com wishlist in anticipation for going to Sephora this week! So my head doesn’t empty of all the things I’ve been meaning to buy!!

Mel Avatar

I think I have a good color memory. I don’t have any exact dupes in my stash because I tend to remember if I have something similar although buying online makes it a bit harder and I almost ended up duping Fyrinnae’s Dressed to Kill with HIFI’s Distortion but luckily when pressed Distortion turned out to be a touch lighter.

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