I bought so much makeup in Italy that I still have some more brands to share with you!
Donna Píu is a makeup and accessories shop that seemed very similar to Claire's to me. This brand of makeup was by far the cheapest brand I came across, yet it had really nice gold matte packaging and a vast color selection.
No baked, domed and lovely shadows with this brand, but I did pick up two pressed eye palettes for 5,00 euros each, lipstick and lipgloss at 3,00 euros, eye pencils at 2,00 euros and nail polish for 2,50 euros. Note that this pricing includes the 20% Italian national tax, making this brand very inexpensive.
Quality seems very on par to me with major drugstore brands here in the US such as CoverGirl or Maybelline, only the packaging was much nicer, and the color selection much more interesting. Just look at the gorgeous pink lipstick I got that is flecked with large sparkled of gold, and the brilliance of the cream eye pencils. The two purple nail polishes were my favorites, one is ultra-sparkly, the other more of a deep grape frost (I was on a purple craze while in Italy for some reason!)
Donna Píu makeup doesn't come boxed, but rather in clear plastic molded containers on a cardboard backboard secured with a few staples (the "Wells Fargo" type of security packaging we have on shelved cosmetics here in the US did not appear to be a concern with this brand, as all of the items were very easily removed from their packaging, and were all displayed on pegboard, out in the open.
The brand is based in Napoli and their website is www.donnapiufashion.com
Enjoy!
