My Makeup Audit: November 2020
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!