Tom Ford Photosynthesex Eye Color Quad Review & Swatches
Photosynthesex
Tom Ford Beauty Photosynthesex Eye Color Quad ($88.00 for 0.21 oz.) is a new, permanent set of shades featuring a shimmery gold, shifting teal, muted plum, and matte teal. The color concept is very cool and interesting to see, particularly for a permanent product. I highly recommend giving the color combo a try with shades you may already own. The quality of the quad was a little too up and down for me, and at this price point, I would expect more consistency in quality.
Ingredients
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Photosynthesex
PPermanent. $90.00.
Photosynthesex #1
Photosynthesex #1 is a light-medium gold with soft, warmer undertones and a frosted finish. It had nearly opaque pigmentation with a soft, thinner texture that was a smidgen dusty in the pan, but it seemed to sit well on my lid and “melted” slightly after a few minutes. It blended out easily and stayed on well for eight hours on me.
Top Dupes
- Chanel Affresco #6 (LE, ) is lighter, warmer (95% similar).
- Anastasia Fairy (PiP, $12.00) is more shimmery, lighter (95% similar).
- Laura Mercier Amber Spark (LE, ) is more shimmery, lighter, brighter (90% similar).
- Tarte Hussy (LE, $14.00) is more shimmery, warmer (90% similar).
- MAC Struck Gold (LE, $17.00) is darker (90% similar).
- ColourPop Bitter Better (PiP, $4.50) is more shimmery, lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- Charlotte Tilbury The Rebel (2020) #1 (PiP, ) is more shimmery, darker, warmer (90% similar).
- LORAC Gold Leaf (LE, $19.00) is more shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
- Guerlain Petrouchka #2 (LE, ) is more shimmery, lighter, warmer (90% similar).
- LORAC Gilded (LE, $19.00) is more shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
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Photosynthesex #1
PiPPermanent in Palette.
Photosynthesex #2
Photosynthesex #2 is a faded, mid-tone teal with a warmer, plummy brown base that shifted from bluish-teal to greenish-teal at certain angles. It had a more glittery finish, which gave it a more emollient consistency and denser feel to it. I was happy to see that it had actually yielded opaque pigmentation both wet and dry, so I didn’t feel like it had to be used wet to achieve decent application/coverage. When I diffused and blended it out, the blue-teal sparkles tended to diffuse without as much color, which gave an almost glitter-like top coat effect. It lasted for eight hours but had some fallout over time.
Top Dupes
- ColourPop Wishful Thinking (LE, $4.50) is more shimmery (90% similar).
- Urban Decay Lounge (DC, $19.00) is more shimmery, warmer (90% similar).
- LORAC Black Pearl (LE, $19.00) is less shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
- KVD Beauty Queen (LE, ) is less shimmery, darker, warmer (90% similar).
- MAC The Mothergate (LE, $20.00) is less shimmery (90% similar).
- MAC I've Got a Crush on You (LE, $32.50) is more shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
- Ardency Inn Peacock (DC, $21.00) is more shimmery, warmer (90% similar).
- Buxom No Faux (P, $12.00) is more shimmery (95% similar).
- ColourPop Wishful Winking (P, $4.50) is less shimmery, lighter, warmer (85% similar).
- Natasha Denona Orion (105DC) (PiP, $29.00) is more shimmery, lighter, warmer (85% similar).
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Photosynthesex #2
PiPPermanent in Palette.
Photosynthesex #3
Photosynthesex #3 is a muted, medium-dark plum with strong, warm undertones and a pearly sheen. It had good color coverage with a creamier, thin feel–it felt like it had extra slip–that worked decently over bare skin but had to be buffed on to even out. The eyeshadow stayed on well for eight hours on me before fading noticeably.
Top Dupes
- NARS Real Surreal (LE, $28.00) (95% similar).
- Viseart Mahogany (PiP, ) is cooler (95% similar).
- MAC Slow as You Glow (LE, $17.00) is less shimmery, cooler (90% similar).
- NARS Debauched (Left) (DC, $25.00) is more shimmery, darker, cooler (90% similar).
- LORAC Sea Urchin (LE, $19.00) is more shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
- Linda Hallberg Cosmetics Dead Star (LE, ) is more shimmery, cooler (85% similar).
- Dior Rouge Trafalgar #5 (PiP, ) is less shimmery, darker, cooler (85% similar).
- ColourPop Details (PiP, $4.50) is less shimmery, warmer (85% similar).
- Laura Mercier Plum Frost (LE, ) is less shimmery, darker (85% similar).
- Sydney Grace Dream Big (P, $6.25) is less shimmery, darker, cooler (85% similar).
Look Using this Product
Photosynthesex #3
PiPPermanent in Palette.
Photosynthesex #4
Photosynthesex #4 is a medium-dark, greenish-teal with subtle, cool undertones and a matte finish. The eyeshadow was richly pigmented and had a soft, velvety consistency that was a smidgen powdery in the pan but didn’t have issues with fallout when I applied and diffused it into my crease area. It wore well for eight hours and didn’t stain my lids, which some deeper teals can.
Top Dupes
- Melt Cosmetics Meltdown (PiP, ) is lighter (90% similar).
- ColourPop Lunar (LE, $4.50) is darker (90% similar).
- Melt Cosmetics Space Queen (LE, ) is darker (90% similar).
- Giorgio Armani Scarab (37) (P, $30.00) is more shimmery, warmer (90% similar).
- NARS Ganges (LE, $19.00) is more shimmery, darker (90% similar).
- KVD Beauty Carolyn (LE, ) is darker, warmer (95% similar).
- Maybelline Never Fade Jade (P, $6.99) is more shimmery, brighter, cooler (85% similar).
- Viseart Pacific (8) (LE, ) is darker, cooler (85% similar).
- MAC Green Room (LE, $17.00) is lighter (85% similar).
- Make Up For Ever S228 Petrol Blue (DC, $17.00) is more shimmery, lighter, warmer (85% similar).
This is giving me major Subculture vibes. I really like it, but I have Subculture and other dupes so I do not need it. But this seems very trendy for Tom Ford.
I was just thinking the same thing, Jessica. I immediately thought I could dupe this with the Subculture palette and MUG Insomnia pigment.
Because I know that I can easily dupe these shades within my stash, I’m going to skip buying this. I really DO feel inspired to put a warmer deep plum in my next teal/gold/and similar duochrome look, however.
I like the look of this palette, but I don’t know if it’s my inability to use them or they really just don’t work on my coloring…but three of four of these colors are in the Subculture palette and I struggle with that yellow. I could never put together a cohesive look if I was stuck with just these four shades. Well, aside from just using #2 and buffing out the edges.
At this price, I’ll content myself with my dupes!
Beautiful! Reminds me a bit of Subculture. I just got the NYX LE Grind 12-pan Palette and it has literal dupes of all four of these shades – yay!
I just looked that palette up Stacee, and OMG – how sensational is it? Really beautiful and probably similar quality too. It has a real autumnal vibe to it.
Your dupe list for #2 reminds me that I’ve had MUG Insomnia on my wishlist FOREVER. It might be time to actually pick it up, I really don’t have anything that could dupe that color and it is gorgeous. That’s really all this is making me want.
This is an interesting mix of shades for Tom Ford and I really like it. Personally, I would have preferred the teal shade to be a satin or a shimmer and the plum shade to be semi matte, however the colour combinations work well together.
I have dupes for all of these shades and anyone who owns the original Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette will have that beautiful duochrome shade.
I think I will give this look a try.
Photosynthesex the shade is absolutely gorgeous! But the quality of the other shades and the fact I can dupe half of this quad already makes me happy trying to dupe it by picking up a single to fill in the gap.
I do really love the look of this quad. I have used teal and gold together before but haven’t added in a blue/brown shade like Lounge or a plum. I will have to shop my stash and see what I can find to recreate this look.
I just really want to high five the person who came up with the name. And wow, that teal is impressive. It’s rare that anything from Tom Ford catches my eye!
Gorgeous eye look! I love this color combo. I know I can dupe it.
Very appealing actually. I’d like this better if the gold didn’t have a frosted finish (maybe more of a satin?), but it’s still a nice quad otherwise.
These performance experiences/ratings with the new TF quads are a bit of a bummer! I own quite many of the older quads, and adore them immensely.
It seems like the new ones perform worse – why would one change such an amazing cosmetics hero to a lesser quality? Really a bit disappointing!