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!

I remember sitting on the floor close to my makeup storage and choosing what to wear for September. I had difficult time narrowing it down and I was quite inspired both to wear a ton of more murky shades for Autumn, but also to dig deep into my stash and audit some old treasures. I ended up with products from Anastasia Beverly Hills, Inglot, Neve Cosmetics, KvD, Makeup Geek, MAC, Meow Cosmetics, Urban Decay, Nabla and Sleek Makeup.

The chosen eye arsenal consisted of five fixed palettes and six singles. I must admit a total of 74 eyeshadows was a bit much to take on in month. But I ran with the feeling when I had it. For cheeks I settled on a total of five products – one contour, two highlighters and two blushes. A bit more sensible but not due to my choosing. I have almost gone through all of my cheek products and I have not got much too choose from when kitting my next arsenal.

Let’s start with going through the eye products as usual.

I picked up the KvD Metal Mattes palette in store at Sephora in Gothenburg in 2016. I was so excited because the mattes shades were unlike anything I had at the time. But when I started using the palette the metallics were so boring that I soon stopped experimenting with it and therefore ended up using the mattes a lot less than I expected.

The Supreme palette by Sleek Makeup has not been used much since being purchased in 2014 and feel that half of this palette does not even appeal to me. I am mainly attracted to the yellows and greens.

Modern Renaissance – Anastasia Beverly Hills

Another purchase from 2016. Viola aka Killer Colours made such a beautiful review of this palette that I was sold. Modern Renaissance was also my first ever purchase from Anastasia Beverly Hills. I still adore the general aesthetics of the design and colours included.

The Electric palette by Urban Decay was one of my first bright palettes and I have fond memories in relation to some of these shades. I bought it in Edinburgh 2014 on a very special trip and I remember being so excited to own it. It has gotten some love over the years, and especially the shade Slowburn.

Top row L-R: Pioggia Acida, Utopia, Fenice, Chimera, Twilight Bottom row L-R: Mela Stregata, Abracadabra, Polline, Veleno, Mezza Estate

This Duochrome palette by Neve Cosmetics was also purchased in 2016 and was a natural progression in my love and search for duochrome shadows. It contains some solid favourites but I think depotting it would garner some more use of these shades.

Top row L-R: Rapture, Relic, Faux Fur, 433

Bottom row L-R: Creative Copper, 419

On top of all those palettes I added a selection of singles from KvD (Rapture, Relic), Makeup Geek (Faux Fur), MAC (Creative Copper) and Inglot (433 and 419). Both the MAC and KvD shadows were depotted from fixed palettes.

That was an introduction to all of the shades. Let’s see how they fared in the audit starting with the KvD palette.

As mentioned I never held these metallics from the Metal Mattes palette in high regard. Using them this month just solidified that standpoint. I used Synergy, Volt, Twinkle and Tinsel and then I was so bored and stopped even considering these metallics as an option when doing my makeup.

I quickly decided that I was never going to keep this palette intact so I started evaluating the shadows more on an individual basis and I did manage to use all of the matte shades except Linen and Velour. I learned that I have no warm and fuzzy feelings for any of these shades. The mattes are good, but not unique enough for me to depot the thing. My final verdict – I will let the entire palette go.

The Supreme palette by Sleek however is going to get the honors of being depotted. The shades P-Funk, Al Green and Delfonic were amazing and are quite unique for me. I might keep Grand Master Flash or Commodores Cream as well. The rest will be let go since I could not even be bothered to use most them during the audit.

Oh Modern Renaissance, how you entice me. I still love using this palette and enjoy most of the shades. Vermeer and Primavera are stunning inner corner highlighters and Golden Ochre, Buon Fresco, Raw Sienna, Burnt Orange and Warm Taupe are such versatile lid and crease shades. Love Letter, Red Ochre, Venetian Red and Realgar are lovely for a deeper pop of colour and Cyprus Umber is ok as a deepening shade. The bummer of the bunch is Antique Bronze. It simply does not perform well anymore and I dislike using it. Time has not treated it well because I do remember loving that shade when I first got the palette. I am definitely keeping this palette and used it extensively during the month.

I’ve been so conflicted over the Electric palette. I still love using Slowburn and Thrash. Savage is ok but stained my lids badly and the formula was quite dusty. And I know I have another similar bright pink shade that is new and that I would prefer using. Revolt and Freak are not special enough and I have no intention of using Gonzo, Fringe or Chaos. Urban is pretty but not unique enough and Jilted was lovely but I’m sure I can live without it. My initial plan was to depot this palette and keep 3-4 shades. But would I wear them often enough to warrant the effort? UD palettes are a lot of work to depot and I learned that the hard way whilst depotting my Naked palettes. I’m sure I have something else to do the same job as Thrash and Slowburn, the two shades that makes this a tough decision. Let it go Sofia!

The Duochrome palette by Neve Cosmetics on the other hand was super easy to dismantle. The foam tray around the shades was easy to lift and under that all of the shades were labelled singles on a magnetic mat. So easy to take out. If I had known that I would have tossed the packaging way sooner. This palette contains some real gems and my favourites are Fenice, Mela Stregata, Polline, Veleno and Mezza Estate. Pioggia Acida is nice enough to stay but the others are either lackluster or not my jam colour-wise.

Rapture and Relic are from the Saint & Sinner palette by KvD that I decided to depot a while back. It had some interesting shades that I wanted to give a fair chance before letting them go. These two are lovely. Relic is an intense melted gold and Rapture is a reddy pink topper shade. Fun to use since I have them. Faux Fur (MUG) on the other hand was an epic fail. Dusty and very hard to work with. Not keeping that one. 433 and 419 are old, a bit smelly and not unique enough to keep. Creative Copper (MAC) was part of a larger fixed palette that I depotted and this was my first and last time using it. A poor performer for sure.

That was all of the eyeshadows. Let’s move on to the much smaller assortment of cheek products in this month’s arsenal.

Top row L-R: Next to Skin, Apple Red

Bottom row L-R: Kendra, Chameleon, Superb

As mentioned I have audited most of my cheek products already and therefore I have less to choose from. This month we have three MAC products , a contour (Next to Skin), a popping blush (Apple Red) and a highlighter (Superb). A Nabla blush (Kendra) and highlighter from Meow Cosmetics (Chameleon) rounded everything off. Having only two blushes was a bit restricting, if I can say so myself, but it made it a bit of a challenge too.

As you can see in the swatch, Next to Skin (MAC) is very close to my skin tone. But it did its job as a cheek contour beautifully. Very lightly pigmented and easy to use on an everyday basis. Apple Red (MAC) looks scary in the pan but was a lot easier to use than one might expect. It was not as pigmented as many of its counterparts in my collection and that made it easier to apply. Kendra (Nabla) is a shade that makes me a bit confused. Sometimes it looks amazing but sometimes is emulates the natural redness of my skin a bit too much. It sort of picks up the redness in places where I have tried to neutralize it with my base products such as foundation and concealer. I love adding blush but I want the flush to be placed exactly where I want it. Anyway, I have no reason to get rid of Kendra right now but I will keep an eye out and see how our relationship evolves.

Chameleon (Meow Cosmetics) is a loose pale white gold shade and it works well as a cheek highlighter as well as an inner corner eye shade. Superb (MAC) on the other hand does not really work as a cheek highlighter for me, it is simply too dark. I enjoy the formula but I have no reason to keep it.

That completes the rundown of the products worn in September. Let’s have a look at a few of the looks I wore during the month. It was a really boring makeup month for me and I felt very uninspired. I did however manage to make notes on what I wore on my lip on most days.

September 1

Eyes: Volt, Silk, Fringe, Twinkle

Cheeks: Apple Red, Superb

Lips: Sultry by Revlon

September 3

Eyes: Golden Ochre, Burnt Orange, Primavera, Cyprus Umber

Cheeks: Kendra, Next to Skin, Chameleon

Lips: Goldstone mixed with Pink Opal by Linda Hallberg

September 7

Eyes: P-Funk, Delfonic, Commodores Cream

Cheeks: Kendra

Lips: When in Rome by H&M

September 9

Eyes: Creative Copper, Rapture, Mezza Estate, Suede, Oak

Cheeks: Apple Red

Lips: Rouge Audace by Chanel

September 10

Eyes: Antique Bronze, Buon Fresco, Burnt Orange, Chameleon

Cheeks: Apple Red

Lips: Mull it Over mixed with Devoted to Chili by MAC

September 11

Eyes: Mela Stregata, Twilight, Pioggia Acida, Feather, Moss, Stone

Cheeks: Kendra

Lips: When in Rome by H&M

September 14

Eyes: Utopia, Buon Fresco, Vermeer, Jet

Cheeks: Kendra

Lips: Goldstone mixed with Pink Opal by Linda Hallberg

September 16

Eyes: Mela Stregata, Raw Sienna, Vermeer

Cheeks: Kendra

September 19

Eyes: Slowburn, Savage, Rapture, Relic

Cheeks: Kendra

September 21

Eyes: Jilted, Fringe, Mezza Estate

Cheeks: Kendra

September 22

Eyes: Polline, Buon Fresco, Thrash, Bronx Black

Cheeks: Apple Red, Next to Skin

September 25

Eyes: Fenice, Raw Sienna, Mezza Estate

Cheeks: Kendra, Next to Skin

September 29

Eyes: Pioggia Acida on top of Caffeine primer by Urban Decay, Vermeer

Cheeks: Next to Skin

Looking at these pictures make me feel like I had a better makeup month than it felt whilst it was happening. During it felt like most makeup looks ended up on the uninspired spectrum and I had quite a few days when I felt it looked crap. I thought I would end up with just a handful of pictures to post but here I am with quite a few.

To conclude this month I decided to let two fixed palettes go and two will be depotted. All in all 45 eye shades will leave my collection and 26 will be kept. All cheek shades will go into round two except the one (Superb). Quite an effective month I must say.

Thanks for reading!

August is just over and the weather is starting to signal Autumn here in Sweden. Chillier winds, a lower general temperature and more rain. In general I really prefer this weather to summer. When the sun is shining you can be outside in normal clothes and a light jacket. No sweat and sunburn, just crisp air and nature is so stunning right now.

The August arsenal was significantly smaller than the previous month. In July I had the selection of 66 eyeshadows to choose from – this month I had 31. The cheek selection was more or less the same, a total of six shades. Brands included are Inglot, MAC, KvD, H&M, Urban Decay, Phee’s Makeup Tips and Nabla. Let’s start with the eye team first as usual.

Top Row L-R: 343, 292, 390, 287, 360

Bottom row L-R: 302, 348, 293, 326, 384

I chose two Inglot palettes as my main palettes, just because I’ve not shown them as much love as they deserve over the years. I made one with only mattes and one with mainly shimmers. Most of these are from 2013 but a few mattes are newer and from 2016-2017.

Top Row L-R: 461, 434, 26, 420, 44

Bottom row L-R: 153, 430, 446, 470, 25

Many of the shimmer shades smell quite a bit and even though I remember them doing that even when they were new, it does not feel too good seven years on. They are old and I’m sure some of them should be thrown out.

Top Row L-R: Pitch Black, Artemisia

Bottom row L-R: Capsize, White Truffle

To fill in some gaps in the arsenal I chose four Nabla shadows to complete the matte eyeshadow team. These are fairly new (2018) and I highly doubt that these will be anything other than winners.

The Alchemist palette adds some duochrome action to the arsenal. I remember loving this KvD palette when it launched, it was the greatest thing. But I do not reach for it any longer and it’s time to evaluate what it really means to me.

Top: Artisan Copper

Bottom L-R: Stargazer, Fireball

Lastly we have three singles full of shimmering goodness. Stargazer by Urban Decay is in the Moondust formula. Fireball by the same brand is a regular shadow and both of these were purchased in 2016. Then we have a limited edition shadow by H&M Beauty (Artisan Copper) which I think is even newer.

Moving on to swatches and a rundown of what my final opinions are of each eye product in the audit.

One thing this audit project has told me that I seem to really enjoy Inglot mattes. Very few of the ones I have are being discarded and most of them perform beautifully. 343 and 287 are solid brights and very useful to me. 292 is that lovely brown mustard type of shade that I adore. 390 is a great soft crease diffuser on me and 360 is a good mid neutral brown. 302 and 293 are very unique shades in my collection and 326 is a generally versatile shade. 384 was the one hanging a bit loose but is given a pass until further notice because I enjoyed this specific shade of green on me. However it’s the kind of shade I use very rarely so it has to be pitted against anything remotely similar in Round 2. The sole loser in the matte bunch is 348, the grey. I have no feelings for it whatsoever.

I really enjoy the Inglot shimmers as well. The fact that they smell is a big turn off though. 461 is a lovely sand matte with slight shimmer and it looks amazing on the eye. 434 was a surprise favourite for me. It’s a gorgeous dark purple grey and I have nothing else like it. Despite being a bit old this one stays until Round 2. 26 and 420 were lovely as well but less unique so they will have to go. 44 however is another surprise. It’s a forest green with an ethereal green shimmer running through it and it looks amazing on its own or on top of other shadows. I fell in love with this shade and cannot find anything similar in my collection. So it stays. The taupe silver 153 also gets to stay despite its age (and smell). I really enjoyed using this on the lid but also as an interesting inner corner highlight. 430 and 25 are pretty but nothing special so they can go. 446 is pretty enough but too dry for me to ever reach for it again. And the last one is 470, a lovely light coral shimmer that was a joy to use. So a total of five discards from this palette.

All four Nabla shadows are great and are staying. No contest.

The Alchemist palette (KvD) is in theory perfect for me. But during the month I’ve realized that most of the shades have a bit too much of a white base to really be what I want this type of shifting shadow to be. That base makes them less ideal to layer over other shadows because it dims the base shadow. They work ok as inner corner highlights but I still prefer to use other shadows for the job. I feel no need to keep this.

Stargazer, Artisan Copper and Fireball are all unique in their own way and all three are solid keepers.

Moving on to cheek products…

Top Row L-R: A Little Lusty, Phee’s Glow

Bottom row L-R: Gotham, Habana, Coralia, Obsexed

For cheeks I assembled four of my Nabla single pans in a palette – one contour (Gotham), two blushes (Habana, Coralia) and one highlighter (Obsexed). To this I added a MAC blush (A Little Lusty) and a loose highlighter by Phee’s Makeup Tips (Glow Highlight Powder).

I really enjoyed using this month’s blush selection. A nice late summer palette with a bit more muted shades. I have no reason to let any of the Nabla products go. I rarely wear contour nowadays but Gotham works well as that and as a blush. Coralia and Habana are nice blush shades and Obsexed is a fun duochrome pink gold shade that is quite wearable. Not quite as wearable was A Little Lusty (MAC) due to its deep pigmentation, but the colour is so gorgeous. Simply stunning. Tapping into the pan with a light hand and then swirling the brush in the palm of my hand prior to applying it to my cheeks made the application process less daunting. Finally we have the loose highlighter with no name, the original Glow Highlight Powder shade by Phee’s Makeup Tips, a pale white gold with quite a significant sheen. Initially I deemed this too glittery for my taste and that I would not continue to reach for a highlighter in loose form. But as the month progressed and I kept using it I learned that I really enjoy it. Applied lightly it gives a stunning glow and I would love to keep using it.

That completes the rundown of the products I used in August. Let’s have a look at a few of the looks I wore during the month.

August 1

Eyes: 25, 470, 343

Cheeks: Coralia, Obsexed

August 11

Eyes: 44, 293, 26

Cheeks: Coralia, Obsexed

August 14

Eyes: Artisan Copper, 430, 292

Cheeks: A Little Lusty, Gotham, Phee’s Glow

August 24

Eyes: 420, 434, 348, 343, 390, 360, Pitch Black

Cheeks: Habana, Obsexed

August 26

Eyes: 434, 461, 26, 360, 302

Cheeks: Gotham, Obsexed

August 28

Eyes: 470, 420, Emerald, Saphyre, Amethyst, Opal, Pitch Black

Cheeks: Coralia

This was a fun month. The arsenal felt reasonable in size and I managed to get quite a lot of use out of each shade. Out of a total of 31 eye shades and 6 cheek shades I am letting go of 10 of those shades in total. I’m glad some of the old Inglot shades are getting some love and that some of them are weeded out.

Thank you for reading!

July is the month were I usually take my summer vacation and this year it was no different. Four weeks off work and a chance to recuperate a bit after a very hectic Spring.

This month’s arsenal consisted of a total of 13 items with four palettes, three single shadows and five cheek products. 66 individual eyeshadows. A wide variety of brands including MAC, Nabla, Benefit, NYX, IsaDora, Sleek Makeup, Illamasqua and Meow Cosmetics.

For eyes I did not really have a main palette this month but instead opted for four pre-made palettes that included a multitude of neutrals and colours both in a matte and shimmer/metallic formula.

The Dreamy palette by Nabla was released in late 2017. It gained some rave reviews in the online beauty community here in Sweden and I became intrigued. When getting it though I was not really enamored. It was merely ok. I’m generally a big fan of Nabla shadows but this is my one and only pre-made palette by them.

The Del Mar palette by Sleek was purchased in 2014 and has been used sparingly. The mattes in this palette are very unique in their shades and deserve to be used more.

The Showstoppers palette by Sleek came out in 2013 and I must have purchased it around that time. It’s a collection of popular shadows from other Sleek palettes. This one has also been used sparingly. This palette added some neutral shimmer and a matte black to this month’s arsenal.

Last up we have the Celestial palette also released by Sleek in 2013 and I do not think I have used this more than once prior to this month.

L-R: Telekenesis, Astral Projection, Telepathy

Finally for eyes we have three duochrome loose shadows from the Supernaturals collection by Meow Cosmetics. I adore these and they are some of my favourite inner corner highlighters. I bought these in 2013.

Let’s go through some swatches and a rundown of what the audit told me about these eye products.

I must say the quality of the shadows in the Dreamy palette (Nabla) is great with the exception of Delirium, which is a really crappy shadow. Sadly it is also one of the first I want to reach for whenever I use this palette. Using this palette over the course of the month made me realize what a reliable basic palette it is. Nothing overly exciting but very useful and easy to use. I have no reason not to keep it at this point.

The Del Mar palette (Sleek) is filled with so many cool mattes and a few satins and shimmers. Paradise is a fun shade that is unlike anything else I own. Feel Euphoric and On the Rocks have a slight sheen to them that added a lovely soft juicy feeling. Very summery. Opening Party had a gorgeous purple sheen and Ambiance and Sunset Strip were lovely muted brights. I wore all shades at least once and even though some of them might not get a lot of use moving forward I have decided to keep this palette. All Sleek palettes are most likely going to be depotted so that I can more easily see what I have.

The Showstoppers palette (Sleek) is a mixed bag. I am very attracted to the shades Bad Girl, Sunset, Graphite and Bohemian. The others are meh. I considered if this would be a depotting candidate just for those four shades but have come to the conclusion that those shades are not unique enough for the hassle. I should just let it go. It took me a while to reach that point, but that is also the beauty of this audit. Having a whole month to evaluate every item’s worth to me.

I have a similar feeling about the Galactic palette (Sleek) as with the Showstopper one. A few shades are really appealing (Stargaze, Saturn’s Ring, Meteoric, Terrestrial) but I can not bring myself to keep the entire thing and depotting it for those four shades. Even though I have nothing like those specific shades I am sure I have other things I could use instead. If I continue to crave a pale minty green, maybe I can purchase it as a single in the future.

Behold the stunning magical sheen that is the Supernaturals from Meow Cosmetics! All three of these shades are beautiful and I love wearing them. I only used two of them this month and only once each but it does not matter. I have no plans of letting these go if I do not have to.

That was all of the eyeshadows – moving on to cheek products..

Top Row L-R: Dandelion, OMG, Taupe

Bottom row L-R: Pinky Peach, Light Year, Oh My!

Three blushes, two highlighters and one contour. Dandelion by Benefit is the most ancient specimen of the lot. I have no idea of how old it is but it’s more than ten years old. I even purchased a backup of this way back when Benefit was hard to get a hold of in Sweden and that has been sitting in my drawers for many many years. Then we have two more recent blush shades by IsaDora (Pinky Peach) and MAC (Oh My!). By recent I mean 2016. One of my favourite highlighters by Illamasqua (OMG) is in here together with a darker shimmering product by MAC (Light Year). A Mineralize Skinfinish with a marbled effect that on the skin turn out darker than my skin tone. And lastly we have Taupe by NYX, a blush that I have mainly used as a contour.

Dandelion (Benefit) is almost not a blush, more of a breath of pink powder on the cheeks. And that is why I like it. I have some strong makeup memories connected to this blush and will keep the backup I have and start using it. The old treasured box will go to makeup heaven. Pinky Peach (IsaDora) and Oh My! (MAC) were both lovely to use and will stay for now. Light Year (MAC) is stunning in the pan and I tend to forget that I have no use what so ever for this product. It’s too dark to be a highlighter on me. It could work like a blush topper, a product category I do not use, but it’s way too shiny to work as a blush on me. OMG (Illamasqua) on the other hand is a stunning peachy gold highlighter and it suits my skin tone very well so it is a firm keeper. The finally cheek item this month was Taupe (NYX), a taupe blush with just enough of a cool tone that made it perfect to contour on my skin tone. This shade works equally well as a blush on me too. But it is old and I have other products I can use that are newer and that I prefer if I want to contour, so there is no point in keeping this. It has served a purpose in my collection, but it’s time to say goodbye. Dandelion (the old one), Light Year and Taupe are exiting my collection.

That was all of the products in July’s audit. Let’s finish off with some of the looks I created over the course of the month.

July 5

Eyes: Au Natural, Talahanca, Feel Euphoric, Paradise

Cheeks: Dandelion

July 6

Eyes: Sunset, Lounge Lovers, Sunset Strip

Cheeks: Oh My!

July 6:2

Eyes: Sunset, Lounge Lovers, Sunset Strip, Paradise, Opening Party, On the Rocks

Cheeks: Oh My!

July 12

Eyes: Bad Girl, Paraguaya, Bohemian, Storm, Terrestrial, Illusion, Sistina, Dogma

Cheeks: Oh My!, Pinky Peach

July 14

Eyes: Astral Blue, Saturns Ring, Ambience, Opening Party, Paradise, Astral Projection

Cheeks: Taupe, Light Year, OMG

July 17

Eyes: Stargaze, Meteoric, Solar, Sistina, Ultra Mattes V2

Cheeks: Pinky Peach, OMG

July 18

Eyes: Poolside, Ambience, Paradise, On the Rocks, Ultra Mattes V2

Cheeks: Taupe, OMG

July 20

Eyes: Saturns Ring, Meteoric, Terrestrial, Telepathy

Cheeks: Taupe, OMG

July 29

Eyes: Paradise, Ambience, Talahanca, Lounge Lovers

Cheeks: Oh My!

To conclude July’s audit I am letting four items go, but a total of 26 individual shades. The Dandelion blush is replaced by my backup so it does not count really. I’m very pleased that I decided to let the two Sleek palettes go.

Makeup-wise I’ve had an inspired month and worn a lot of colour. The looks I’ve created have been different to what I usually do, and that was definitely down to the product choices at hand.

Thank you for reading!

June was such an devastating and important month in the history of humanity. Not the first and not the last of its kind, but truly significant in its own right. Posting about makeup felt like such an indulgent luxury so I took a break from the online community of face art and external expression and turned inwards. I still did my makeup, but it was different. I could not have posted my audits then and in a way it is why my backlog is what it is. The world has not changed but it feels like a more widespread awareness has been achieved and hopefully it will be the seed of the vital changes that the world so desperately needs. The world continues on – with its flaws and its beauty. My wish is to become more aware, informed and more compassionate. A never ending quest.

Now, taking it back to the more superficial aspects of June and my makeup audit. My arsenal consisted of one big palette of singles, two pre-made palettes, one blush trio, 2 single blushes and a sculpting/highlighting duo.

A total of 38 eyeshadows, five blushes, one sculpting shade and one highlighter. A very varied mix of brand also this month – Viseart, MAC, Nabla, Linda Hallberg, Makeup Geek, Charlotte Tilbury, Sleek Makeup and KvD. Let’s start with the eyeshadows.

Top Row L-R: Smut, Madreperla, Pegasus, Soot, Natural Wilderness, Peach Smoothie

Second Row L-R: Deep Fixation, Heaven, Sabbath, Crucifix, Poppy

Third Row L-R: Star Violet, Cherry Cola, Citron, Aphrodite, Satisfy

Bottom Row L-R: Steamy, Glamorous, Ablaze, Woodwinked, Bandwagon, Malt

In my main palette I gathered some neutral mattes and shimmers as well as a few pops of colour by MAC (Soot, Woodwinked, Steamy, Malt, Natural Wilderness, Ablaze, Star Violet, Satisfy, Smut, Deep Fixation), Makeup Geek (Glamorous, Cherry Cola, Bandwagon, Poppy, Peach Smoothie), Nabla (Citron, Pegasus, Madreperla, Aphrodite) and depotted shadows from the KvD Saint & Sinner palette (Heaven, Sabbath, Crucifix). Oldest of the bunch are the MAC ones from 2012-2014 with the exception of Satisfy that is much older. The Nabla and Makeup Geek shades are from 2016 and the KvD palette came out in the end of 2017.

To add a bit more of summer fun brightness I chose the Viseart Editorial Brights (08) palette. I purchased this second hand from an Instagram acquaintance. I’ve heard so many great things about this palette over the years so when getting the chance to buy it used but a discounted price I took a chance. But the truth is I never reach for it. So it is the perfect audit candidate.

Adding some duochrome goodness to a monthly arsenal is a must. I purchased the Enchanted Secrets palette by Linda Hallberg in 2017 and it has since been discontinued. It’s really a beautiful collection of magically shifting shadows.

Let’s move on to swatches and a rundown of how each eyeshadow fared in the audit.

Sabbath and Crucifix (KvD) worked their jobs ok, but the quality was nothing special and they will be let go. Soot (MAC) worked well as a liner and a deepening shade. I am a bit on the fence about this one but I think I will let it pass on to the next round. As I keep on mentioning, grey mattes are not my favourite shadows to use but keeping a few does serve a purpose for certain looks. Natural Wilderness (MAC) is a great murky mustard and I love this type of shade. Keeping. Cherry Cola (Makeup Geek) however was a disappointment. The pigmentation was not there and it was difficult to blend. Poppy (Makeup Geek) on the other hand is a lovely muted light red shade and a pleasure to use. So three out of six shades are leaving my collection.

Ablaze (MAC), Bandwagon (Makeup Geek), Malt (MAC) and Peach Smoothie (Makeup Geek) were all lovely shades to use and blended well. Bandwagon and Malt are quite unique to my collection as well and the two are a great pairing. But Satisfy (MAC) is nothing special and it is really old, so its time has come. One out of five is bye bye.

Moving on to some shimmers. Smut and Deep Fixation (both by MAC) were really dry, lackluster and difficult to use. The rest were nicely pigmented and pretty on the eyes. Despite that, Star Violet (MAC) is the only one I will keep. It has a very interesting shift and is an unique shade in my collection. Aphrodite (Nabla), Glamorous (Makeup Geek) and Woodwinked (MAC) are also nice but I’ve got similar shades that I like more so there is no need to keep these. Five out of six are out.

Citron (Nabla) is just one of those green shades that I adore. Steamy (MAC) is really pretty and I loved wearing it together with Bandwagon and Malt as a sheer mermaid eye. Madreperla (Nabla) has a grey base with a pink shift. I find this shade does not work on the lid or as a topper over a darker shade sadly. But it is a great pink duochrome for an inner corner highlight. So I am keeping it for now for that specific purpose. Pegasus (Nabla) is a pale lilac with a gold shift. It is super pretty as a swatch but I have no use for it on the eye. On the eye the lilac is barely visible so it’s not a good lid shade and it is not popping enough to be a great inner corner highlight. I wore it four times over the course of the month and it only solidified my opinion. It’s a similar situation with Heaven (KvD). It looks amazing on the arm but I felt nothing for it on the eye. So two out of five are leaving.

Wearing this Viseart palette over the month sadly made me develop a conflicted relationship to it. This palette consists of some bright shades unlike anything else in my collection. But I found it to be too much work and never felt felt pleased when using it. Hard to blend and the pigment, however great in payoff, did not last well on my eyes despite using a primer. Not even the shades that are the most useful to me, the yellow/orange and bright green and pink, were fun to use. So I will get rid of it and admit it was a poor purchase.

Last but not least we have the stunning Enchanted Secrets palette by Linda Hallberg. There is no contest here, I’m keeping it.

Top Row L-R: Peony Petal, What I Fancy

Bottom row L-R: Pumpkin Trio, Filmstar Bronze & Glow in Fair-Medium

Moving on tho cheek products we have got a nice little selection of bright colours. Two pastel blushes by MAC (Peony Petal and What I Fancy), a trio of popping shades by Sleek Makeup (Pumpkin Trio; Lantern, Squash, P Pie) and a compact with a nude sculpting shade and highlighter by Charlotte Tilbury. The newest of the bunch is the Bronze & Glow which I purchased in London in 2017.

This month was a surprise for me when it comes to cheek products. I usually end up keeping most of my blushes and highlighters but this month was the complete opposite. I’m only going to keep one item.

Peony Petal and What I Fancy (MAC) are quite unique to my collection and therefore I was a bit conflicted when I did not enjoy wearing them. Not that they do not appeal to me in theory, but the shades did nothing on my face. The were simply meh. So the sound thing to do is to get rid of them, but because of their uniqueness it feels a bit wrong. But I am doing it. The same goes for the Pumpkin trio by Sleek – but in this case the shades simply did not look good on me at all so there was no internal discussion to be had. The shades in the trio were too bright and quite hard to blend well. The sole winner this month is the lovely Filmstar Bronze & Glow compact (Charlotte Tilbury). I used the sculpt shade primarily as a blush and the highlighter is simply lovely on me. So to conclude the cheek products – out of four items, three will leave. Out of seven individual shades, two are kept. I’m a bit astounded and impressed by my resolve.

So that was the rundown of all the products in June’s audit. Let’s finish off with some of the looks I created with this arsenal.

June 1

Eyes: Woodwinked, Heaven, Peach Smoothie

Cheeks: What I Fancy

June 2

Eyes: Viseart yellow green and grass green, Citron, Sabbath

Cheeks: P Pie, CT sculpt, CT highlight

June 5

Eyes: Viseart pink and orange, Moonwake, Zephyr, Crucifix

Cheeks: CT sculpt, CT highlight

June 15

Eyes: Glamorous, Ablaze, Satisfy, Zephyr, Sabbath

Cheeks: What I Fancy, CT highlight

June 18

Eyes: Star Violet, Citron, Ablaze, Poppy, Ethereal, Crucifix

Cheeks: CT sculpt, CT highlight

June 20

Eyes: Viseart blue purple, Orphic, Ethereal

Cheeks: CT sculpt

Rounding off June it feels good to say that I found some duds in my collection and some generic shades that can easily be let go and make space for the things I actually love. A total of 15 items and 28 individual shades are out. Not my most inspiring month for a multitude of reasons but a very successful audit.

Thank you for reading!

May was such a fun makeup month in general. I created looks of great variety and the shade selection for the audit kept me inspired all the way through. This month we had an arsenal with multi use items, so the usual eye and cheek split will not apply in this post.

Note from me: Due to my vast blog backlog – this post is another one in retrospect. I look forward to catching up but it will happen eventually, all in due course.

The arsenal consisted of three pre-made palettes, two personalized quads and ten singles. A total of 42 individual colour products and 41 unique shades. The base of the arsenal was the Infinity Palette and the Infinity Deep Palette by Linda Hallberg (the shade Fornax appears in both) offering shades for both eyes and cheeks.

The Infinity Palette by Linda Hallberg is a well loved product that I’ve used mainly when traveling, because of its versatile shade range for me personally and its slim, light and mirror including packaging. I love that. Two shades double as blush and two as highlight, as well as working on the eyes of course.

The Infinity Deep Palette by Linda Hallberg is another versatile product but for me despite not including any spot on cheek highlighters. It does compensate for that by including additional shades that can work as blushes in both the shimmer and matte section. And all shades are great on the eyes. This palette has not been used as much as the other Infinity palette but It’s also newer so I can see why. Also the first one is more adapted to my skin tone, but I do think they complement each other nicely and they are both very useful.

With those two palettes as a base I wanted some more shimmer shades and some colourful mattes.

Firstly we have another pre-made palette. My Comfort Zone palette by Wet N’ Wild is of the older incarnation and generally considered a makeup cult classic. It’s been worn over the years but I never reach for it anymore. A great contender for a proper audit.

Top Row L-R: Scene, Coral

Bottom Row L-R: Beautiful Iris, Sketch

I pulled some more MAC shadows for May and created two quads. In the first one I gathered some mattes to complement the Infinity palettes as well as a lilac iridescent shimmer. All of these shades are from 2012-2014 I think.

Top Row L-R: Chrome Yellow, Bio Green

Bottom Row L-R: Bitter, Three Ring Yellow

In the second quad we have four citrus shades – two mattes and two shimmers. These four shades are also from 2012-2014.

Top Row L-R: Blarney Stone, Twilight Glow, Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Bottom Row L-R: Apparition, Prancer

Top Row L-R: Cherry on Top, Orange Rainbow, Parrot’s Beak

Bottom Row L-R: Tribal, Siren

For a little brand variety I dipped into my Meow Cosmetics shades again and got out some shifting highlighter shades and other shimmers to achieve a better variety to the overall arsenal. The Meow shades are most likely from 2013-2014. Rounding everything off is a red matte by Sephora. Finding true red shades for the eyes have been an ongoing quest for me over the years, since it was a hard shade to find good versions of many moons ago. Not so much anymore, but a matte red is a great thing to have and that is why I picked up this Sephora single in the first place.

Now we have gone through the complete arsenal of 42 shades. A bit of a mashup at first sight, but nothing that hindered my creativity when using them during the month. Let us move on to swatches and a verdict of each shade.

The Infinity Palette – Linda Hallberg

The Infinity palette was used almost daily and was my main source of blush and highlighter. Virgio ended up being my preferred highlighter but Milky Way is quite nice as well. Andromeda is a stunning blush shade on me and was used a lot. Pinwheel however, is not a favourite of mine. I think I would prefer this shade if it was a matte, something I would have loved for the eyes as well. I do get some use out of Pinwheel but I’m always a bit underwhelmed by the result. Maffei is a great diffusing crease shade and Cigar is very versatile as a crease shade, medium deepening and works as a cheek contour also. If I mix Fornax and Cigar I get a workable brow shade. Zwicky is a beautiful yellow brown, used mainly to give warmth to the crease or as a single coulour all over the lid and crease. I only used it once this month but I know I enjoy the shade and it fulfills a purpose in this palette. Fornax was used mainly as a liner or mixed with the other shades to add depth. This is a great palette and a solid keeper for me.

The Infinity Deep Palette – Linda Hallberg

The Infinity Deep palette is also a keeper. Solar is a great inner corner highlight for me and so is Polar Star. Polar Star also just passes as a cheek highlighter on me but I do not think I will continue reaching for it for that purpose. Quasar and Mars is are both very versatile shades for me since they work amazingly as both blush and eyeshadow. But Light Year is my favourite shade in this palette. It’s a peachy brown and on me it works beautifully as a complementing crease shade, all over lid/crease shade and blush. Umbra and Red Shift are great for depth and warmth and Fornax is your perfect pairing partner for mixing, liner and smoky duty.

The Comfort Zone Palette – Wet N’ Wild

On to a dud. Comfort Zone was very underwhelming to use. I used all but three shades but quite quickly decided that this palette is not worth keeping. The quality is just not there (anymore?). The blue brown shade, despite being stunning (worn May 7th), faded quickly on the eye.

Scene is a blue leaning mid grey and it works just fine. I’ve decided to get rid of it since grey is not my favourite matte shade to use and I know I’ve kept other greys that can fill whatever use I might have for a matte grey. Coral however is one of those shades I just love to use. It works so well with my skin/hair/eye colouring and adds a fruity brightness to any look. Love it! Beautiful Iris is stunning on the lid but my favourite way to use it is as an inner corner highlight (see May 8, 16 and 30). Sketch was a surprise. I loved how it added a bit of a colour and depth paired with other shades. I was not prepared to like it but it will go on to the next round.

On to the citrus shades. Chrome Yellow is another staple shade for me. I get so much use out of matte yellow shadows and this one works beautifully. Bio Green was a bit crumbly to touch but on the eyes it was such a popping bright green (May 2 and 29) and I think I have nothing else like it in my collection. So I am keeping it for now. Bitter is a great lime shade and despite not being a true matte is works as one for me. It is great for a pop of juicy green and blending out other shades. Lastly we have Three Ring Yellow. A green leaning yellow that adds a bright gilded sheen to the lid. i do not know how unique it is compared to other golds but the future will tell. I enjoyed using it and it can stay for now.

Moving on to the lovely Meow Cosmetics loose shadows. Blarney Stone (St Patty’s Day collection) is a green tinged silver. This was a surprise like for me. and you can see it in action in the look from May 22. Twilight Glow (Harvest Moon collection) looks so good in the jar but on the eye it simply does not work. The issue is the black base. Any blending results in an ashy mess and the beautiful bronze shimmer totally disappears. I have no use for this shadow. Paraskavidekatriaphobia (Friday the 13th collection) is an interesting shade. A very sheer light Tiffany blue with a great sheen. A topper or inner corner shade for me. Prancer (Reindeer collection) is a similar shade but slightly greener. Apparition (Supernaturals collection) too, but a vanilla gold version. I love that type of shade and I love reaching for my Meow shadows for that purpose.

shadows on bare skin

Meow shadows with primer underneath

For the next round of Meow shadows I wanted to showcase how much these loose shadows transform if used with a tacky base. Their true potential only comes out that way. Since I always use an eye shadow primer anyway due to having oily lids this is not any extra hassle for me. Orange Rainbow (Gloom & Bloom collection) is a very light coral orange with a silvery sheen and Parrot’s Beak (also Gloom & Bloom) is the same but more peachy orange. Tribal and Siren (both from the Lost Rainforest collection) are also quite similar to each other, soft purple mauves with a golden sheen. Similar but definitely not the same. I must say that I love all of these shades. It’s a joy to use them. And let’s not forget the matte red shade Cherry on Top (Sephora). It’s also great. Easy to work with (May 18 and 28) and just a great colorful staple.

That concludes the rundown of the products in May’s audit. Let’s have a peek at some of the looks I created with said products.

May 2

Eyes: Bio Green, Three Ring Yellow, Bitter, Maffei, Cigar, Fornax

Cheeks: Andromeda, Pinwheel, Virgio

May 7

Eyes: Blue brown from Comfort Zone, Maffei, Cigar, Scene, Fornax

Cheeks: Andromeda, Virgio

May 8

Eyes: Mars, Cherry on Top, Coral, Beautiful Iris, Sketch, Fornax

Cheeks: Andromeda, Milky Way

May 11

Eyes: Siren, Maffei, Cigar

Cheeks: Mars, Milky Way

May 12

Eyes: Orange Rainbow, Coral, Chrome Yellow

Cheeks: Pinwheel

May 14

Eyes: Twilight Glow, Solar, Light Year, Umbra, Fornax

Cheeks: Mars, Polar Star

May 15

Eyes: Three Ring Yellow, Parrot’s Beak, Chrome Yellow, Fornax

Cheeks: Light Year, Virgio

May 16

Eyes: Tribal, Beautiful Iris, Coral, Umbra, Red Shift, Fornax

Cheeks: Andromeda, Virgio

May 18

Eyes: Paraskevidekatriaphobia over Hi-Def Cyan Chromagraphic Pencil by MAC, Coral, Fornax

Cheeks: Mars, Milky Way

May 19

Eyes: Prancer, Maffei, Cigar, Fornax

Cheeks: Andromeda, Milky Way

May 22

Eyes: Blarney Stone, Apparition, Light Year, Maffei, Umbra, Red Shift, Fornax

Cheeks: Andromeda, Milky Way

May 25

Eyes: Polar Star, Light Year, Maffei, Fornax

Cheeks: Mars

May 26

Eyes: Orange Rainbow, Parrot’s Beak, Maffei

Cheeks: Don’t know, missed noting it

May 28

Eyes: Siren, Parrot’s Beak, Mars, Cherry on Top, Red Shift, Fornax

Cheeks: Quasar, Virgio

May 29

Eyes: Bio Green, Three Ring Yellow, Bitter, Fornax

Cheeks: Light Year, Virgio

May 30

Eyes: Beautiful Iris, Coral

Cheeks: Coral, Virgio

Time to wrap up May’s audit. Six shades were used as blush and three as highlight. Three shades from the Comfort Zone palette were not used at all but other than that I managed to use most shades multiple times.

Exiting my collection this month are the Comfort Zone palette, Scene and Twilight Glow. A small cull but on the bright side I am glad that the shades I own are a joy to use. I’m getting to know them better by doing this audit and exploring the vast possibilities at my disposal. The deeper into to audit I get the less tempted I am by new makeup releases and that feels great. I obviously already own some great products and shades and using them is such a pleasure.

Thank you for reading!

I have been keeping up with my monthly arsenals and my makeup audit even though I’ve not had time to post anything about them until now. Work, family and home renovations have been filling my energized hours. But I’ve had fun doing my makeup as usual, most mornings before work. A little time to myself to focus inward and play outward with colour and shape. Let’s meet the team..

The eye arsenal – Inglot, MAC, H&M, Bare Minerals, Neve Cosmetics, & Other Stories

For April I picked an Inglot palette of rosy/peach tones as my big cohesive palette and since it was almost all matte I added some singles to give dimension with shimmers and metallics. A complement of purple and citrusy pops of colour as well as some more earthy tones.

The cheek arsenal – MAC, IsaDora, Sleek Makeup and Urban Decay

This month I had quite a wide variety of cheek colours – six blush shades in total and a lone highlighter.

Let’s start with a rundown of the eyeshadows.

The star of this month was definitely my Inglot palette. I get a lot of pleasure out of this colour story and I had a lovely time playing with it. Some of the shadows are older (bought in New York in 2013) and some are newer, just a couple of years old. The thing with my Inglot shades is that they tend to be neglected overall so neither of these shades had been worn much before April. Despite being mouthwatering.

Top Row L-R: 487, 16, 46

Bottom row L-R: Sumptuous Olive, Ricepaper, 441

The mini Nabla palette above contained four Inglot shadows (the square pans) and two from MAC (the round pans). All but one are metallics and all of them are older (2012-2014). Three lighter shimmer shades (16, 46, Ricepaper) that I could use for inner corner highlighting and three nice pops of colour to complement the matte shades in the main Inglot palette.

Top Row L-R: Twinks, Crème Brulee, Magma

Bottom row L-R: 439, Mystery, Black Magique

In another mini Nabla palette I collected three MAC shades (Mystery, Black Magique and Twinks), one each from Inglot (439), Neve Cosmetics (Magma) and Makeup Geek (Crème Brulee). The MAC and Inglot shades are from 2013-2014 and the rest I think are ca 2016. Four versatile earthy shades and two bright colours.

Top Row L-R: Dear Teddy, Silver Birch

Bottom row L-R: Golden Pear, Velvet Mauve

Continuing on with some single pots we have four of varying age that usually do not get any wear time at all. Two by MAC (Dear Teddy and Silver Birch) and two from Bare Minerals (Golden Pear and Velvet Mauve). Dear Teddy from the 2019 Monochrome collection is the newest of the bunch. Silver Birch is another limited edition item – a mineralize shadow from the 2012 Après Chic collection. The Bare Minerals pots are from a limited edition stack from 2013 that my sister bought for me as a Christmas gift when she was in New York. I remember being so excited after seeing swatches of this by Kelly aka Vampy Varnish (find the post here) in 2013. Many shades from that stack are super stunning but I doubt all of them will survive this audit.

Top Row L-R: Act your Beige, Tumeric

Bottom row L-R: Ginger Snap, Russet Rose

Then we have four single compacts from H&M Beauty. I generally enjoy their formula but I do not use these shadows often enough. I cannot remember when I bought these, but my guesstimate would be between 2016-1018. My most worn shade is Tumeric, the stunning muted yellow.

Top Row L-R: Lockram Cactus, Mocakdo Carbon

Bottom Row: Nutty

The final three eye shadows this month were from & Other Stories (Mocakdo Carbon and Lockram Cactus) and Wet N’ Wild (Nutty). One matte and two shimmer/metallics. That ends up being a total of 32 eye shadows. Phew! Now, let’s see how these shades fared in the audit, including some swatches.

I loved using all of the matte Inglot shades with the exception for 356. It was way to dusty and nothing on the eyes. The three lovely ice cream/sherbet shades, 359, 368 and 361, really came alive after I used them a few times and were brilliant as all over lid shades or as a popping inner corner. You can see examples of how they looked on the eye in looks from April 11-12th, found further down in the post. So I am gladly keeping all of these except 356. I will neglect them no longer.

Sumptuous Olive (MAC) is an old favourite of mine and I do not think this picture does it any justice. It’s a gorgeous dirty olive with a slightly ruddy base. Very dimensional on the eye (see look from April 15th). 487 (Inglot) is a quite a unique colour in my arsenal and the quality held up. 16 (Inglot) was only used once but I liked the effect and this one is quite unique as well, a very bright light yellow with a golden shift. 46 (Inglot) is actually a pink duochrome and its beauty is not visible in the picture above. Both 16 and 46 are mainly used as inner corner highlights by me. 441 (Inglot) is a surprise shadow for me, I did not expect it to perform well at all. It’s a quite bright mid purple metallic and it really lights up the eyes when worn all over the lid. And Ricepaper (MAC) was a beautiful inner corner highlight (see look on April 15). I had no hopes of liking this one either, but I really did enjoy it. So I’m keeping all of these six shades for now.

Black Magique (MAC) was used as a liner and deepening colour in general. It performed very well and will go to the next round. Twinks (MAC) was quite dry and nothing special so it will go. Crème Brulee (Makeup Geek) will go too. It was very dusty and I did not enjoy wearing it. Magma (Neve Cosmetics) and 439 (Inglot) are beautiful on the eyes. Mystery (MAC) is a great cool dark brown and useful for liner or brow duties. It’s not the most unique but it performed well enough to stay. So two out of six are leaving my collection.

Velvet Mauve (Bare Minerals) is a matte shade in loose form and that is not really something I’m used to or prefer. But with that said, this colour is really beautiful on my skin tone and so easy to work with. Golden Pear (Bare Minerals) is a shimmer in loose form, something I am used to, but this specific shade did not wow me at all. I remember this being a really pale green, almost duochrome shimmer and for some reason it looks totally different now than I thought and remembered. A very flat and uninteresting shade. It will have to go. Dear Teddy (MAC) is a very interesting shade. A rosy milk chocolate bronze. Very wearable and easy to slap all over the lid for a quick eye. I should probably depot this and keep it with the other pans. Silver Birch (MAC) initially did not feel like a me shade, but after wearing it again I really fell for its fine glittery but grungy sheen. So all shades except Golden Pear can stay for now.

Then we have the gilded tones of the H&M shadows. Tumeric is one of my favourite yellows and I have used this quite a lot over the years. So it’s no surprise that it comes out of the audit as a winner. I love to wear it all over the lid, in the crease as an accent or as an inner corner colour fest. Very wearable. Russet Rose is a keeper as well (worn April 23rd), but more of a surprise one. It’s a ruddy copper with an almost pinky sheen. Not an intense metallic or a strong colour shift, just a lighter cool sheen that makes this warm shade extra interesting on the eye. Ginger Snap is a beautiful shade and really makes my eyes pop (worn April 27th), but it is a dupe for Amber Lights from MAC that I already have a depotted version of. Act your Beige is pretty shade as well, but not special enough to keep. So those two are bye bye.

Lockram Cactus is a pretty duochrome but I’m sure I have similar shades in depotted pans that look more or less the same on the eye. I never reach for this one, and I can see that behavior continuing, so it has to go. Mocakdo Carbon is a nice matte and I’ve decided to keep it for now. I want to gather all of my well performing mattes and compare them against each other later on in the audit. I might depot this shade if I decide to keep it in the future, but for the moment it goes untouched into the “keep” box. Nutty was another shade I was surprised by. I really really like it. It will stay on the same premises as Mocakdo Carbon, but this will have to be depotted if kept permanently.

Top Row L-R: Legendary, Dusty Rose, Life’s a Picnic

Bottom Row L-R: Chantilly, Guipure, Crochet, Fireball

Moving on to the cheek products of the audit and we find seven shades in total. A trio from Sleek Makeup (Blush by 3 in “Lace”), two shades by MAC (Legendary and Life’s a Picnic) and one from IsaDora (Dusty Rose). The single highlighter is by Urban Decay (Fireball).

The three shades from the Sleek palette were lovely enough to use and especially Crochet and Chantilly are quite unique to my collection (Guipure was a bit generic however). But none of that mattered since the product managed to expire shortly after the audit was done. So into the bin they go. Legendary (MAC) and Dusty Rose (IsaDora) are firm favourites and very useful shades. Keeping. Then we have Life’s a Picnic. Using it makes me realize it just not the perfect bright pink for me. Since I have already kept a similar shade that suits me better (Supernova from my audit in October 2019) I feel confident in letting this one go. Fireball (Urban Decay) is a keeper as well. It’s not an everyday shade for me but I do have a soft spot for it.

So that was the rundown of the products in April’s audit. Let’s have a look at some of the looks I created with said products.

April 2

Eyes: 356 – 295 – 319 – Dear Teddy – Golden Pear

Cheeks: Crochet

April 3

Eyes: Mystery – Black Magique – 46 – Mocakdo Carbon – Lockram Cactus

Cheeks: Dusty Rose – Fireball

April 4

Eyes: 361 – 301 – 366 – Turmeric – 46

Cheeks: Life’s a Picnic – Fireball

April 9

Eyes: Magma – 439 – 46 – 368 – Black Magique

Cheeks: Legendary

April 11

Eyes: 368 – 361 – Black Magique

Cheeks: Dusty Rose

April 12

Eyes: 359 – Mystery – 46

Cheeks: Chantilly

April 14

Eyes: Twinks – Mystery – Crème Brulee – Golden Pear

Cheeks: Legenedary

April 15

Eyes: Sumptuous Olive – Velvet Mauve – Ricepaper – Mystery

Cheeks: Life’s a Picnic

April 17

Eyes: 303 – 319 – 359 – Mystery

Cheeks: Life’s a Picnic

April 23

Eyes: Russet Rose – 368 – Ricepaper – Mystery

Cheeks: Chantilly – Fireball

April 24

Eyes: 495 – 359 – 368 – 301

Cheeks: Legendary

April 27

Eyes: Ginger Snap – 356 –

Cheeks: Guipure

April 28

Eyes: Silver Birch – 295 – 319 – 301 – 303

Cheeks: Life’s a Picnic

So to conclude things nine products (eleven shades) are out after this audit. An ok month I think. The number is not really important but since I’m sure there are many products in my total collection that are not up to par anymore it’s very fun to finally weed them out.

Thank’s for reading!