Designer beauty products have been rapidly increasing in popularity. Whether it's the celebrity names that back it or the trendy packaging that encases it, beauty products are becoming something to splurge on.

Olivia Muenter, a beauty expert from Bustle, put two eye shadow palettes on the chopping block, one priced at $11 and the other priced at $42, to see if her Instagram followers would be able to differentiate the cheap from expensive.

The most significant difference between the two vastly different priced shadows was the depth of the pigment. Muenter found that, perhaps for a more skilled makeup artist, having such dark color in one stroke would be beneficial. However, for a civilian smokey eye job, the cheaper palette was much easier to work with.

In the end, Muenter's final opinion of the eye shadow showdown was, "affordable eye shadow palettes are out there, and they're just as good as anything else you use," she wrote. "Ultimately, they'll last just as long, be used just as much, and cost you a lot less; it's a no-brainer."

Check out Muenter's full eye shadow test and photos here.