My Makeup Audit: June 2020

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!