For November I continued with my plan to use seasonally themed collections from my vast Meow Cosmetics arsenal. This month I chose shadows from the collections Something Wicked, X and Asylum. All four had been released as part of Meow’s Halloween lineup.

Two palettes with singles from MAC, Neve, Nabla, MUG and Inglot were picked to accompany the loose pigments from Meow, a total of 33 shades for eyes. For cheeks I only had two products to audit this month, one blush from MAC and one loose highlighter from Phee’s Makeup Tips.

Part One – Eyes

Top Row L-R: Cinnamon, Kids, Poetry, Coconut Milk

Middle Row L-R: Verve, Leon, Chérie Shape, Circle

Bottom row L-R: Paprika, Camelot, Caramel, Fossil

This months core palette was this compilation of mattes by Nabla. I’m a big fan of their single shadows and their mattes are generally amazing.

Top Row L-R: Red Carpet, Cheer Me On, 45

Bottom Row L-R: Blacklight, Shimma Shimma, I’m Peachless

To accompany the Nabla mattes I added two more shades by Neve Cosmetics (Red Carpet) and MAC (Cheer Me On) in a smaller palette and also four inner corner highlights by Inglot (45) and Makeup Geek (Blacklight, Shimma Shimma, I’m Peachless). These two palettes would have to do the work the Meow Cosmetics pigments could not.

Top Row L-R: Valley of the Dead, Tormented, Folie A Deux

Bottom row L-R: Wicked, Nightmare, Wretched Soul

The Something Wicked collection by Meow Cosmetics is compiled of murky golds and greens. Very appealing. I know I have hardly ever worn these shades.

Top Row L-R: Mothman, Wampus Cat

Bottom row L-R: Snipe, Boogie Man

The X collection by Meow is so beautiful and I have worn this quite a lot in previous years. Especially the shades Mothman and Wampus Cat.

Top Row L-R: Sedative, Padded Cell, Electric Shock

Bottom Row L-R: Lobotomy, Basket Case

And finally we have some brighter shades from the Asylum Collection, also by Meow Cosmetics. These have hardly ever been worn.

Let’s go through each shade and see how they fared in the audit.

The Nabla shades were generally lovely to use and fulfilled their purpose during the month. Most worn were Camelot (liner, deepening shade), Coconut Milk (diffuser for edges) and Circle (crease). Leon was a fun crease and slight deepening shade that worked well in many looks. Cinnamon, Kids, Paprika and Caramel are lovely shades too but I guess I looked for cooler matte shades more often to accompany the loose Meow shades. Verve and Poetry were used only once each but they perform very well and the colours are quite rare in my overall collection. All of these are keepers for me. Chérie Shape was not worn at all but I see no point in letting it go. The quality is good, the shadow is fairly new and the colour is unique in my arsenal so it can stay for now. The one let down of the bunch was Fossil, the one shade I should have used a lot due to its versatile colour. But I found that it did not look good on me, weirdly enough, and this type of shade usually does. I wore it twice and came to the same conclusion both times. So Fossil is out.

Red Carpet (Neve) was worn only once but looked great and kept its colour nicely on the lid. I’m always glad to have an array of reds and this deep blood shade is a standout. Cheer Me On (MAC) looks terrible in the swatch but buffed out in the crease it did its job well and added a touch of bright orange. I know I have many oranges but this shade might be special enough and I would like to compare it to others before even thinking about letting it go, so it can stay until round 2. The four shimmers in this palette were used primarily as inner corner highlights and two are standouts. I’m Peachless and Blacklight (both old MUG) are such amazing duochrome shadows. I’m not suprised, I’m Peachless has been one of my favourite and most used shadows for many years now but I’m glad I have rediscovered Blacklight a bit. It’s perfect for layering over darker shadows for that stunning pinky-blue shift. Shimma Shimma (MUG) was pretty but it’s too basic and I have no need for it. 45 (Inglot) is an intense yellow gold highlighter shade and it’s very old. Had it been a more unique shade I would have considered keeping it, but it’s simply not special enough.

Something Wicked collection by Meow Cosmetics

Tormented and Folie a Deux are lovely dark and murky shimmers. They are similar but Tormented is lighter. I loved using them together as well as separate. Valley of the Dead, Wretched Soul and Wicked were very pretty as well. The only shade I do not feel keen to keep is Nightmare. I just know it is a shade I would never reach for.

X collection by Meow Cosmetics

After a bit of debating, I’m keeping all four of these. Mothman is a beautiful duochrome that I adore using, Wampus Cat is a rich green gold and Boogie Man a luscious pale green. Snipe was the one I was on the fence about initially but after using it a second time it won me over. It has a lovely pink shift that I enjoyed wearing.

Asylum collection by Meow Cosmetics

The final shadows this month were some bright and colourful shades from the Asylum collection. Out of these Lobotomy is a clear favourite. A stunning shimmering bright strawberry shade. Electric Shock is a lot of fun and Basket Case, albeit being a tad finicky to use, is such a unique shade of purple. Padded Cell is a bit too pale to be functional for me and Sedative is pretty but not special enough. So those two will be let go.

Part Two – Cheeks

L-R: Magenta, Brimstone

I am down to some of my final cheek products. Magenta by MAC is the last blush to be audited. Brimstone by Phee’s Makeup Tips is one of only three highlighters left.

Top Row L-R: Taupe, Sur, Play It Proper

Bottom Row L-R: At Dusk, Stereo Rose

To have some variety on the cheek front I decided to add in a selection of shades by MAC that I had previously gone through the audit victorious. Three blushes (Stereo Rose, At Dusk and Sur), one highlight (Play It Proper) and one contour (Taupe).

Magenta (MAC) was worn only a total of four times throughout the month. Such a deep pink is not an everyday shade for me. Even though I enjoy wearing it I have already kept similar blush shades that I know I do not need to keep another one. Brimstone (Phee’s) was only used twice and that was enough for me to know that I have no use for it. It’s just not the effect I’m after in a highlighter, this visible green silver sheen. So both cheek products are out.

Let’s move on to some of the looks I wore during the month…

November 5

Eyes: Wampus Cat, Leon, Padded Cell, Camelot

Cheeks: Sur, Play It Proper

Lips: Velvet Muse lipstick and lip pencil (Lisa Eldridge)

November 7

Eyes: Sedative, I’m Peachless, Red Carpet

Cheeks: At Dusk

Lips: Don’t remember

November 9

Eyes: Cheer Me On, I’m Peachless, Lobotomy,

Cheeks: Sur, Brimstone

Lips: Velvet Muse mixed with Velvet Blush (Lisa Eldridge)

November 10

Eyes: Boogie Man, Folie a Deux, 45, Leon, Camelot

Cheeks: Magenta, Brimstone

Lips: Muse gloss (Lisa Eldridge)

November 17

Eyes: Kids, Padded Cell, Coconut Milk

Cheeks: Sur, Play It Proper

Lips: Rouge Feu (Chanel)

November 18

Eyes: Shimma Shimma, Padded Cell, Kids, Coconut Milk, Leon

Cheeks: Magenta

Lips: Velvet Muse (Lisa Eldridge)

November 21

Eyes: Electric Shock, 45, Verve

Cheeks: no notes

Lips: Velvet Decade (Lisa Eldridge)

November 25

Eyes: Wicked, I’m Peachless, Circle,

Cheeks: Taupe

Lips: Velvet Muse mixed with Velvet Blush (Lisa Eldridge)

November 27

Eyes: Blacklight, Tormented, Folie a Deux, Cinnamon

Cheeks: Velvet Dragon lipstick by Lisa Eldridge

Lips: Velvet Dragon (Lisa Eldridge)

As you probably can tell November was the month when my order from Lisa Eldridge arrived. I purchased quite a few shades both from her new and old lineup. Other than being excited for the new lip shades at my disposal I had a pretty uninspired makeup month. The audit itself went just fine but I spent so much energy at work that I had little time to be creative and play around with shades. Autumn has been like that I notice, I said the same thing in last months roundup. Being able to work from home during this pandemic has been a privilege but I’m beginning to notice that it takes its toll as well. Meeting after meeting, with little time for natural breaks and room to “breathe”.

To conclude this audit I started with 33 shades for eyes and out of those I will let go of six. Both cheek items will go as well so that is a total of eight items.

Thanks for reading!

During 2013 I was infatuated with the indie brand Meow Cosmetics. They did and still do loose mineral eyeshadows in beautiful and fun collections. No new collections have been created for quite some time as far as I can see, but most of the older (and stunning) collections are still available.

For a while I was collecting their shadows and I have oh so many. Meow used to open up their Halloween shop in the Autumn and made some special collections available for a limited time only. The same collections would appear every year and sometimes new shades were added. The same approach was applied for Christmas, Summer and Friday the 13th. I bought the Halloween shades for a few years before I had snagged what I wanted. Very satisfying.

To honor my vast Meow stash I have decided, starting in October, to base my monthly eye arsenal heavily on season appropriate Meow collections. I will keep this approach for a few months at least, until I get bored I presume. For October I’ve picked all the shadows I own, and have yet to audit, from the Zombie Apocalypse, Dance of Death, Scary Ghost Stories and Halloween Zombies collections. A total of 21 shades.

The October arsenal

To accompany these loose shimmer/metallic shadows I picked some mattes in the form of mixed singles and a fixed palette by Sleek Makeup, ending up with a total tally of 45 shades. Other brands included are Nabla, MAC, Makeup Geek, Illamasqua and Inglot. To accompany the eye team we have five cheek products – four blushes and one highlighter. But more on cheeks later, lets start with the eyes.

Part One – Eyes

Top Row L-R: Uninterrupted, Confection, Tuscan Sun, Blackberry, Brun

Middle Row L-R: Feint, Black Tied, Early Bird, Morocco, Wild Side

Bottom Row L-R: 304, 370

This palette includes mainly matte shades of varying age from MAC (Uninterrupted, Blackberry, Brun, Black Tied), Makeup Geek (Confection, Tuscan Sun, Early Bird, Morocco), Nabla (Wild Side), Illamasqua (Feint) and Inglot (304, 370).

Force of Nature palette

This Sleek palette was released 2015-2016 and is an all matte palette. Just looking at it I am drawn to the colour scheme but I have used it very infrequently over the years.

Top Row L-R: Brains Over Beauty, Living Dead, Post Mortem

Bottom Row L-R: Tetrodotoxin, Datura, Sepulchre, Infection

For loose shadows we can start off with seven shades from the Zombie Apocalypse collection by Meow Cosmetics. Muted shimmer shades with lovely names like Infection and Post Mortem.

Top Row L-R: Present, Past

Bottom Row L-R: Eerie, Necromancer, Cadaver, Spellbinding

Next up we have four shades from the Dance of Death collection by Meow Cosmetics and two from the Scary Ghost Stories collection (Past, Present). Past, Present and Eerie are the ones I’ve used the most previously.

Top Row L-R: Full Moon, Skelecat, Witch’s Brew, Spider Web

Bottom Row L-R: Jack O Lantern, Ghoul, Omen, Banshee

Finally we have eight shades from the Halloween Zombies collection by Meow Cosmetics. A bit more bright and colourful shades compared to the other collections.

Let’s move on to swatches of each shade and a rundown of how they fared in the audit starting with the matte singles palette.

These mattes were workhorse shades in varying degrees over the course of the month. Black Tied (MAC) and Wild Side (Nabla) were used the most followed by Uninterrupted (MAC) and Confection (MUG). All four performed well and will be kept. Blackberry and Brun (both by MAC) also work well and are useful albeit maybe not very exciting. Tuscan Sun, Morocco and Early Bird (all by MUG) were fun matte additions due to their more colourful nature. Another beautiful and rather unique shade for me is Feint, a depotted shade from a face palette by Illamasqua that I had to get rid of due to cream products that had gone off. 304 by Inglot was only used once but worked nicely and will be kept for now. The one shade that did not strike my fancy was surprisingly enough the bright yellow shade 370 (Inglot). This specific shade of yellow did not look good on me. I would describe is as a garish light banana shade. I love using yellow and enjoy most yellow shades that I come across but this was simply not for me. So it will leave my collection.

Force of Nature palette – Sleek Makeup

The Force of Nature palette (Sleek Makeup) was a bit of a surprise for me. I really thought I would enjoy using the purple shades but they just did not entice me when wearing them. The more neutral shades were ok but they are not worth keeping on their own. So this palette will be let go in its entirety.

Zombie Apocalypse collection – Meow Cosmetics

One thing to note is that these shadows are generally hard to get nice swatches of. If swatched without a wet base of some kind they look lackluster and if used with a primer they tend to come out patchy. But used on the eyes with a primer they usually work well and fulfill their potential. Out of the seven shades from the Zombie Apocalypse collection by Meow Cosmetics I have decided to keep Brains Over Beauty, Tetrodotoxin, Post Mortem, Sepulchre and Infection. Not all of them might not survive a round 2 of this audit, but they tickle my fancy enough to be kept for now. Living Dead is a pretty gunmetal shade but not special enough to warrant med to keep it as a single shadow. Silver shades is something I wear quite infrequently and I see no point in having too many options on hand. Datura was used on the lid and as an inner corner highlight. It is very pale green but it is so light in its effect that I see no point in keeping it.

Scary Ghost Stories and Dance of Death collections – Meow Cosmetics

Present and Past from the Scary Ghost Stories collection are very pretty in different ways. Present is a delicate shade with a soft shift that I like to wear as a topper or an inner corner shade. Past is a potent lid shade. Moving on to the Dance of Death collection, Eerie is a stunning purple with a blue sparkle throughout. Very unique. Cadaver is a beautiful green gold and Spellbinding is an intense white with a slight pink shift and pink sparkle. I used this one as a cheek highlighter as well. Those three are keepers. The only let down of the bunch was Necromancer. It has a black base that unfortunately made it difficult to blend and not fun to work with.

Halloween Zombies collection – Meow Cosmetics

Last of the eye products are from the Halloween Zombies collection by Meow Cosmetics. Full Moon is a very intense white gold and very pretty. Skelecat however is a bit too slight in its effect. In the jar it has a lovely green tinge but on the eye that was sadly not visible. I used it primarily as an inner corner highlight and it was just not potent enough for me for that purpose. Witch’s Brew, Spider Web and Jack O Lantern are all fun pops of brighter colour and Ghoul is a dirty neutral that was anything but boring to wear. Omen and Banshee are maybe less wearable for me, but unique and beautiful enough to keep. So out of this lot the only one I’m not keeping is Skelecat.

Part Two – Cheeks

Top Row L-R: Autoerotique, Melba, Fever

Bottom Row L-R: Here Comes Joy, Regal Mauve

When it comes to cheek products I have managed to near the end of my collection. I only own three more blushes and two of those are quite deeply pigmented so I saved one shade for November. To have a little more variety I chose to add two more shades, shades that have already been through round 1 of the audit in previous months (Autoerotique and Melba by MAC). I know I own some loose highlighters that I could have included this month but forgot about them, so instead I did a repeat of a pressed one from MAC (Here Comes Joy). In total four blushes and one highlight were picked for this arsenal but Regal Mauve by Nabla and Fever by MAC are the only ones being audited.

Top Row L-R: Autoerotique, Melba, Fever

Bottom row L-R: Here Comes Joy, Regal Mauve

Fever (MAC) is one of those deeply pigmented and bright shades that I rarely reach for on a daily basis, and that is a shame. It’s a bit tricky to use but I find that if I only pat off the blush in the palm of my hand before applying I can control the intensity a lot more easily. Fever is a very pretty shade and it deserves to be kept for round 2. Regal Mauve (Nabla) is another cool toned shade and I enjoy it a lot. It’s very versatile and easy to use. So both cheek shades are being kept for the time being.

Moving on to some of the looks I wore during the month…

October 2

Eyes: Spider Web, Skelecat, Uninterrupted on top of Primer Potion in Caffeine (Urban Decay)

Cheeks: Fever

Lips: Noir Moderne (Chanel)

October 5

Eyes: Dawn, Moonbeam, Twilight, Lightning, Sandstorm, Skelecat, Brains over Beauty

Cheeks: Regal Mauve

Lips: A mix of Noir Moderne (Chanel) and Dolce Vita (Nars)

October 12

Eyes: Tetrodotoxin, Skelecat, Wild Side

Cheeks: Fever, Here Comes Joy

Lips: A mix of Mull it Over (MAC) and Devoted to Chili (MAC)

October 13

Eyes: Banshee, Ghoul, Datura over Cream Fusion Eye Colour in The New Noir (H&M)

Cheeks: I have no notes on this

Lips: nothing

October 14

Eyes: Wild Side

Cheeks: Fever, Spellbinding

Lips: Burning Love (MAC)

October 15

Eyes: Spider Web, Tuscan Sun, Full Moon

Cheeks: Autoerotique

Lips: Velvet Ribbon (Lisa Eldridge)

October 17

Eyes: Cadaver, Uninterrupted, Black Tied

Cheeks: Autoerotique, Here Comes Joy

Lips: Burning Love (MAC) and Nougatine (H&M)

October 20

Eyes: Omen, Necromancer, Morocco, Spellbinding

Cheeks: Regal Mauve, Spellbindning

Lips: Rouge Audace (Chanel)

October 21

Eyes: Witch’s Brew, Datura, Early Bird, Black Tied

Cheeks: Regal Mauve

Lips: Love of My Life (Lisa Eldridge)

To conclude this month a total of seven items were let go consisting of 16 unique eye shadow shades. This month was not a very creative makeup month for me and I was quite uninspired most days. I think it was due to having a very hectic month at work. I went without makeup a lot and when I did do my makeup I often had little time to play. But doing this project is still a lot of fun and I always look forward to the next monthly arsenal.

Thanks for reading!