My Makeup Audit: July 2020
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!