My Makeup Audit: July 2021

July was the month when I had my summer vacation and spent my days doing a mix of things, trying to slow down my brain after yet another hectic Spring. We had no major plans beforehand and ended up with a nix mix of activities and relaxed days. It was nice with a change of pace. I also wore makeup a bit less often than usual, mostly in the evenings, and I was a bit crappy at taking decent pictures when I did wear something. Despite the less frequent use of makeup I did manage to wear all of the items in my monthly arsenal and ended up with a clear opinion on what I wanted to let go. Here is how the month went down..

For July I had a total of 33 individual eye shadows to choose from including MAC, Emme Cosmetics, Inglot, Makeup Geek, Meow Cosmetics, Urban Decay, KvD, Illamasqua, Sleek Makeup and Sephora Collection. A smaller arsenal with an erratic colour scheme.

Top Row L-R: Brulé – Cozy Grey – Friend Zone – 331 – 299

Bottom Row L-R: Relish – Daemon – Walking Heartbeats

Eight pressed mattes were all I could put in this months arsenal since I’m running low on mattes to audit (as mentioned in previous posts) and for me this lineup is not ideal. It’s not a great variety and the only up side to this is that it will force me to be even more creative and make do with what I have. In the palette we can find three MAC shadows, where two are depotted from two different fixed 15-pan palettes (Brulé, Cosy Grey) and one is still in its original pot. That is Walking Heartbeats – a shadow from the In Monochrome collection that was released in early 2019.

We also have two Inglot shades (331, 299) of varying age. The green is most likely from my massive New York Inglot purchase in 2013 and the brown was bought online in 2016 when Inglot became available in Sweden. The Makeup Geek shadow (Friend Zone) is also a purchase from 2016. The darker red by Urban Decay (Relish) is from 2017. The newest shadow is by Illamasqua (Daemon) and that was a shadow I lusted over for a long time before finally buying it in 2018. So a lot of red and not that many neutrals to choose from. But the above were not the only mattes shadows this month, I did have some matte pigments too..

Top Row L-R: Pure White – True Chartreuse – Sunfest

Middle Row L-R: Magenta Madness – Neo-Orange – Zing

Bottom Row L-R: Full Force Violet

But matte pigments does not usually serve the same purpose as pressed matte shadows. I for one do not use them the same way. I would use them to mix with a medium to create a cream or liquid shadow or mix with a lip product to create an intenser and/or unique lip shade. An interesting thing this far into the audit is the fact that I have prioritised auditing my fixed palettes and singles over pigments. I’ve for sure sprinkled arsenals with my Meow shadows, that are loose shadows for sure but mainly shimmers, but I did forget my other pigments/loose shadows for a long time. I had them stashed in a separate drawer that I forgot about when putting my arsenals together. That is one reason why this arsenal is so matte pigment heavy, not because it is a great idea but because I had to since I wanted to finalize my audit of mattes. We have seven intense pigments this month, two from Sleek Makeup (Zing, Sunfest) and five from MAC (Pure White, True Chartreuse, Magenta Madness, Neo-Orange, Full Force Violet). The Sleek pigments are from 2013 and the MAC ones are most likely from around the same year.

Top Row L-R: Sweet Heat – Era – Patina – Shale – Be a Superstar

Bottom Row L-R: 17 – 418 – Sweet Lollipop – Stigmata – Up the Hill – Untamed

Moving on to the pressed shimmers and metallics. The oldest stuff is by MAC (Era, Shale, Patina) and out of those Shale is the oldest I think. The other two are probably from 2012-2013 but I am quite sure that Shale is way older than that. We also have an In Extra Dimension shadow by MAC (Sweet Heat) in the original pot, since I never depot that formula, and it is likely from 2014. The Inglot ones (17, 418) are from 2013 and the one by Makeup Geek (Untamed) was a gift in 2016. The KvD shadow (Stigmata) is depotted from the Saint & Sinner palette from 2017. Then we have two Sephora Collection shadows (Be a Superstar, Sweet Lollipop) that are a bit newer, from 2018, and the Emme shadow (Up the Hill) is from around the same time.

Top Row L-R: Peaceful Wings – Hot Wax – Bali Palace

Bottom Row L-R: Extraterrestrial – Lascivious – Bast – Torch

And finally we have seven shadows from Meow Cosmetics, all from around 2013. Some brights, some more neutral and two shades that can be used as inner corner highlights (Peaceful Wings, Hot Wax). Not that many lighter shades in this arsenal so it was welcome to have something in that capacity.

That was all the shadows in my monthly arsenal for July. Let’s move on to swatches of each shade and a walkthrough of my opinions after a month of wearing them all.

I must admit that it was a bit boring to only have these four more neutral matte shadows for an entire month. I’m used to have a lot more option and this was a stretch. But fortunately Brulé (MAC), Cozy Grey (MAC), Friend Zone (MUG) and 299 (Inglot) all worked beautifully and stood up to the task as core mattes. Cozy Grey was the one that got worn the most because it is a great crease and transition shade on me. I am gladly keeping all four of these. I must also add that since I did not have a dark brown or black matte, I did use my Eye Brow Cake in “Gaze” from Illamasqua to fill the purpose of liner and deepening shade when needed.

Then we have the bright green, 331 (Inglot). Not the type of green I wear a lot but it worked very well so I am keeping it for now. The three reds were only used once each and both Relish (UD) and Daemon (Illamasqua) are still as wonderful to use as I remember them being. Walking Heartbeats (MAC) on the other hand is not. It was thin and patchy on the eye and I just could not care less about it. So that one can go, the other two reds can stay.

Then we have the more intense matte pigments. Let’s start with the ones from MAC. Out of the really bright ones, I enjoyed wearing Neo-Orange and Magenta Madness but I must admit they were a bit of an effort to work with. However I feel that their neon quality makes them stand out a lot and I have few other shadows like them. The final verdict is that they are staying. Full Force Violet on the other hand was so patchy and messy that I had to wipe the look I did (or tried to do) off. Not keeping that one. True Chartreuse was lovely to use and Pure White was just fine. A white shade like this is hard to get a nice layer of but I see its potential as a mixer for other shades or as a mixer to create a liquid liner or another white effect. So it can stay for now.

Out of the two Sleek pigments Sunfest did just not look good. The colour was fine but the formula made it hard to apply nicely. Zing on the other hand worked fine and the shade is more of a burnt bright and I really like that. So one can stay and one can go.

The old MAC shades were ruled out from just one use. Era, Patina and Shale all used to be favourite shades and they are just not great anymore. Most likely due to age because they do not perform at all as I remember and the colour payoff was dismal. They will go into the bin. Sweet Heat (also MAC) is a great beige that is pale enough to be a very discreet eye look on me but dark enough to give some dimension to my lid. It still performs just fine formula-wise so I’m gladly keeping it.

The two green shimmers by Inglot, 17 and 418, are so old that I really just should throw them away. But I won’t, because they are beautiful. 17 looks great layered on top of darker shades like 418 and I can just not let them go just yet. Be a Superstar and Sweet Lollipop (Sephora Collection) are also very shifty and great for layering on top of something darker. Sweet Lollipop is riddled with pink glitter and the above swatch picture does not do it justice. Be a Superstar is pink on a purple base with tiny silver glitter running through it. Both are so much nicer on the eye than they look in the pan.

Finally we have the the Meow shades. I did not use a primer for the pictures above and the result is bland and flat swatches. These are stunning and complex shimmers in reality and I always wear them with a tacky primer underneath. Out of these seven I loved all of them except Peaceful Wings. It is a pretty cool white pearl but it is not special enough to keep. Hot Wax is a creamy yellow shimmer and it works very well like a neutral yet interesting inner corner highlight. Bali Palace is a pale yellow with a delicate pink shift, a very pretty shade. Torch is a great fruity orange and very flattering on me. Bast is this an almost plummy brown and I enjoyed wearing it more than I had expected. Lascivious is a gorgeous yellow green, with intense gold shimmer, and Extraterrestrial is a very intense bright blue. Both beautiful in their own way and effectual on the eye.

And those were all of the shades in my July arsenal. Let’s have a look at some of the looks I wore during the month and the products I used to create them. It was an ok month makeup-wise but as mentioned I did go quite a lot of days without makeup.

July 1

Eyes: Sunfest – Bali Palace – Era – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Buff (blush, MAC) – Taupe (contour, MAC) – Play it Proper (highlight, MAC)

Lips: Velvet Fawn (Lisa Eldridge)

July 4

Eyes: 17 – Cozy Grey – 331 – Hot Wax – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Pink Cult (blush, MAC) – Silhouette (contour, Illamasqua) – Deity (highlight, Illamasqua)

Lips: Nougatine (H&M Beauty)

July 6

Eyes: Neo-Orange – Cosy Grey – Gaze (Illamasqua) – The New Noir (cream shadow as base, H&M Beauty)

Cheeks: Rapture (blush, Urban Decay)

Lips: Muse gloss (Lisa Eldridge)

July 10

Eyes: Bali Palace – True Chartreuse – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Spring Flock (blush, MAC) – Taupe (contour, MAC) – Glow from the Filmstar Bronze & Glow palette (highlight, Charlotte Tilbury)

Lips: Love of My Life (Lisa Eldridge) mixed with Mull It Over (MAC)

July 16

Eyes: Magenta Madness – Neo-Orange – Torch – Stigmata – Up The Hill – Sweet Lollipop – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Sculpt (blush/contour, MAC) – Lightscapades (highlight, MAC)

Lips: Painterly (Lisa Eldridge)

July 24

Eyes: Stigmata – Walking Heartbeats – Cosy Grey – Brulé – Sweet Lollipop – Peaceful Wings – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Sur (blush, MAC)

Lips: Pink Opal (LH Cosmetics)

July 27

Eyes: Extraterrestrial – Cosy Grey – Brulé – Hi-Def Cyan (water line, MAC)

Cheeks: Habana (blush, Nabla), Glow from the Filmstar Bronze & Glow palette (highlight, Charlotte Tilbury)

Lips: Kitten Mischief (Lisa Eldridge)

This month ended with the culling of seven shadows, a small but steady number. I look forward to getting through all of my matte shades, I only have one month left, and then I can start Round 2 for those. I’m looking forward to that a lot.

Parallel to the eyeshadow audit I’m still focusing on wearing as many different cheek and lip product as possible during the course of a month, wearing an item once and putting it away to force me to choose something else the next time. An effective method right now. In July I wore 18 blushes, 5 contour shades, 6 highlighters, 18 lipsticks and 1 gloss. I’m definitely getting closer to making further decision on cheek products to let go of.

Thanks for reading!