Here’s how to easily cop that super hot Pat McGrath metallic eye look for a lot less

If there’s one person who could probably sell me anything, it’s Pat McGrath. Everything she touches turns to Gold 001. (HA! Great joke for makeup nerds.) She does things which are the perfect, slightly ugly-pretty, somehow subversive  twists on makeup convention. All her looks are a wonderful mix of incredibly modern and charmingly retro. I’m a fan girl and I’m not even ashamed.

However, I am yet to actually own any of the McGrath goods. They’re expensive, although that sort of insignificant detail doesn’t usually stop me throwing money away. More the problem, then, is that there only seems to be about ten of every item made. Seriously – how does anyone manage to buy this stuff? I’ve never even had the inkling of a chance of buying anything.

So, for a poor and poorly organized chick, one has to get creative. Luckily, nicely pigmented metallic eyeshadows exist in most places in the world. The problem with “duping” (although I think that’s kind of a dirty word) the other elements of McGrath’s Metalmorphoses Kit is finding the correct tones for each product. Luckily, silver is pretty universally silver, so you can pretty much use any for this.

I’ve raved before about the amazing silver in the NYX Avant Pop Art Throb palette. It truly is great, but if you don’t want to buy a whole palette just for one great silver, I find the MUA Single Eyeshadows amazingly great. Their silver shade is called Platinum and the quality is almost confusingly high. How are they so cheap? They remind me of the sort of pressed pigment style shadows L’Oreal and Armani do. The pigment is like liquid metal, which is exactly what the McGrath vibe is. For those that can’t find the MUA singles, L’Oreal’s Infallible 24hr Eye Shadow in Silver Sky will work for $3.99.

While alone this shadow is pretty bomb, for this look you want to take it to the next level, inspired by the Versace SS17 show. Because we are without the Mehron Mixing Liquid of the McGrath kit, I used a simple setting spray – the $5 Wet ‘N’ Wild PhotoFocus to be exact. I soaked the tip of my brush in it, then mixed it into the eye shadow pan. The result is an incredibly pigmented metallic paste, which I painted all over my inner eye. Think tear duct highlight but taken to the extreme.

The rest of the look is pretty neutral and natural. It’s hard to know if Gigi Hadid is wearing makeup or that is just her natural and amazing face. I really must stop inviting comparison between myself and Gigi Hadid. I wore a light base (La Roche Posay tinted SPF) with tactically placed concealer, to create the delusion of model skin. A tiny bit of pink blush, some Surratt Eyebrow Pomade and a quick brush of mascara and ta-dah!

The final touch is the hair. I think to complement the sort of futuristic, robotic silver, hair must be sleek and neat (two adjectives literally never ascribed to my hair before). To do this, I carved out a murderously straight center parting and straightened all through the lengths, curing inwards at the bottom. I then put a bunch of serum all over, including the crown, to glue down baby hairs. The Kerastase Oleo-Relaxe is hard to beat for this.

If you have some really stubborn sticky out hairs, use a touch of cheap hair gel. It’s not glamorous, but it works.

And there we are! Your poor man’s take on one of the coolest new launches of the year. Maybe one day I’ll have easy access to a Pat McGrath product, but until then, this will have to do. For a dollar or two, I’m ok with that.