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!

This past month I’ve had a selection of 30 eyeshadows, four blushes and one highlighter to work with. As with the previous month, March was filled with a multitude of sick days and I’ve not had as many opportunities to do my makeup as I normally would. But I did manage to use all products in the arsenal at least once and form an opinion on them. I’m ready to complete the audit.

As per usual, lets start with eyeshadow. March’s shadow team was compiled of one large and one small palette with single pan shadows and some additional single pots/compacts.

The large palette included shadows from Makeup Geek aka MUG (High Tea, Secret Garden, Homecoming, Pretentious, Goddess, Desert Sands, Bitten, Steampunk, Jester), MAC (Green Room, Girlie, Amber Lights, Dance in the Dark, Lucky Green, Blooming Mad, Satin Taupe and Jest), Nabla (Millennium), Neve (Unicorno) and Inglot (30). I think the colour scheme turned out amazing, if I may say so myself. A nice balance of neutral and colourful shimmers, interesting mattes and a few lighter shimmers.

To balance this lot off I picked some additional staple matte shades from Inglot that I kept in a separate palette. Five really functional shades, the beiges, greys, mauves and a soft yellow.

To round off the team, and for a nice brand variety, we have a few loose pigments from Meow Cosmetics and a bright orange matte from Illamasqua.

Now, let’s go through each shade and see how they fared in the audit. Let’s start off with some of the brights.

Secret Garden (MUG) was only worn once but this is such an unique and fun shade that I definitely want to keep it. Jester (MUG) and Blooming Mad (MAC) are stunning pops of colour and were both fun to wear. These are exactly the type of shadow that are so easily forgotten in the vast depth of my makeup drawers. I’m so glad that this audit is bringing them forth! Goddess (MUG) on the other hand is not a pretty shade on the eyes sadly. It looks very flat and was hard to work with. Goddess be gone!

As with Secret Garden, Steampunk (MUG) is so unique that I cannot bear to part with it right now. Amber Lights (MAC) might not be too unique but is very lush and a joy to wear. It brightens my face and it will go to round 2. Pretentious and Homecoming however (both by MUG), pretty as they are, are not special enough to keep. Pretentious was a bit crumbly as well so that sealed the deal for me.

The sweet oldie and goldie Satin Taupe (MAC) was one I expected to be underwhelmed by, but it is still a very nice and wearable shade. I’m sure I have a vast amount of taupe shades, since I find them very flattering, so it will be fun to see if this classic shade can stand up to the competition in the end. Unicorno (Neve) on the other hand is unique and I suspect I have few shades like it. It has a slight purple base with a lovely green gold shift. I wore it mainly as a inner corner highlight this month, but as with most colour shifting shades, it is perfect for layering. A real stunner! 30 (Inglot) is also a very serviceable champagne highlighting shade. Will keep for now. Millennium (Nabla) on the other hand really stood out. I cannot believe I have not used this more than I have since I bought it. It’s a very fiery peach duochrome and I absolutely LOVED wearing it in the inner corner.

Next up are some greens and pinks. Green Room (MAC) is a fail for me. It worked ok but was a fuss to blend well and I have zero use of a semi matte green in this shade. Not a good look on me. Lucky Green (MAC) is a light acid green with a golden shimmer and I find it very useful. Girlie (MAC) was a surprise. I enjoyed wearing this all over the lid and up in the crease. A soft pink eye that will work wonders with a multitude of lip colours (on me). Jest (MAC) was not up for the part though. Not special enough to be kept.

Now on to the mattes. High Tea (MUG) is another shade that I now have newfound love for. A stunning green-tinged grey that’s easy to work with and added something interesting to the every look when used. Desert Sands (MUG) was a bit powdery but it did not affect its performance. I’m a huge fan of mustards and interesting yellows and this is a very useful shade for me. Bitten (MUG) also performs well and since I’m a sucker for a good red I will keep it for now. But it looks way darker on the eye than in the pan/swatch so in round 2 I will have to compare similar shades on their performance on the eye. I definitely do not need to own more than a few since this type of dark red is not something I wear regularly. Finally we have Dance in the Dark (MAC), winner of the most worn shade of the month. It did liner duty and a bit of outer corner shading service and was used on most days. It performed its job well and I will definitely keep it for now.

All five Inglot shades are keepers for now. 330 is a close match of my skin tone and useful to have. 358 is a very lovely grey. It worked well for me since it us leaning purple and it makes it easier for me to wear. 344 is a beautiful mauve and I used it a lot in the crease. 291 is perfect to diffuse a hard crease and 378 worked well to softly smoke out any look.

On to the final eye shades. I adore Vapour (Illamasqua) and Chandelier (Meow). There is no contest there. Future and Lazy Love (both by Meow) are very interesting shades and I am not ready to part with them without using them more. Whip (Meow) on the other hand is pretty with its silver and bronze mix. But not special enough on the eye, so it will go.

Four MAC blushes were included this month and the most used one is also the one I will let go. There is something off about Pinch O’ Peach on my skin tone. It looks fine in pictures, as you can see in several of the looks at the end of this post, but there is something about it IRL that I do not enjoy. I’ve actually used it a lot over the years, this month was no exception, trying my best to make it work. But I just don’t like wearing it. I have many lovely blushes I should use instead. So its time has come. Melba, Immortal Flower and Baby Don’t Go on the other hand are fun shades to wear. Immortal Flower for example really brightens my face and I feel joy when I look all three.

Diety from Illamasqua was the single face highlighter in this month’s arsenal and it was used only three times in total. I tend to forget to wear highlighter or skip it on purpose most work days. But this product is a definite keeper for me. I love the formula, the shade and the packaging. It is a lovely pale cool champagne with a subtle green shift.

So that was the rundown of all the products in the March audit. Let’s end with some of my favourite looks from this month! They were fun to do, fun to wear or both.

March 10 – Eyes: Amber Lights, Desert Sands, Millennium – Cheeks: Pinch O’ Peach

March 14 – Eyes: Secret Garden, Steampunk, Lucky Green, Green Room , 344 mainly

March 24 – Eyes: Jester, Lucky Green, Vapour, Desert Sands, Dance in the Dark – Cheeks: Immortal Flower

March 26 – Eyes: Blooming Mad, High Tea, Lazy Lava, Dance in the Dark – Cheeks: Melba

March 27 – Eyes: Chandelier, Future, Vapour, 344, 358, 378, Dance in the Dark – Cheeks: Pinch O’ Peach

March 30 – Eyes: Girlie, Dance in the Dark – Cheeks: Pinch O’ Peach

March 31 – Eyes: Pretentious, Desert Sands, 30, Dance in the Dark – Cheeks: Pinch O’ Peach

So to conclude this month’s audit, seven items are leaving my collection. A neat little pile.

Thanks for reading!

Sofia

When I finished my eyeshadow palette for February I was particularly pleased with the colour scheme. Muted shades of plum, some purples and a hint of acid green. It made me feel inspired everyday when using it. However, this month was full of sick days, a week away skiing and therefore not many makeup wearing days in total, sadly. But I did manage to use all the shades and succeeded in finding a way of keeping notes on what product/shade was worn on a specific day. This method came to me quite late in the month so we will not be able to reap the benefits until next month. Let’s meet the team…

All large square pans are by Inglot and the smaller round ones are all Makeup Geek. I also added a small depotted black Urban Decay shadow to compelete the kit. Besides this palette I chose to add three Extra Dimension shadows by MAC to the audit. Two light duochromes for effect and highlight and one steel grey metallic.

Let’s enjoy some swatches of the eyeshadows and go through what I think of each shade.

I really love mattes. For me, having a wide variety of mattes can really transform a look and I enjoy murky and dusty shades a lot. Grey is a colour I generally struggle with but Bedrock is a grey that I actually enjoy wearing. It’s more or less clay coloured and if it were any cooler in tone I think I would not like it as much. Unexpected and Bake Sale are great shades and were the most worn ones this month. I use them both mainly as crease shades or for finishing off a darker crease blend, to add a bit of diffusion. Barcelona Beach is a great everyday crease shade for me and Petal Pusher is a fun and unusual muted mid pink. All of these made it through the audit as solid keepers. They perform well and serve a function at the same time as being fun to wear.

Preppy is a mustard brown and I’m a sucker for this type of shade. Very useful. Sidekick is a quite unique murky hot paprika shade and I do not think I have anything else like it. Vintage and Americano look very similar swatched here (with a finger) but Americano is a lot darker when applied with a brush on the eyes. All four shades perform well and are to be kept.

On to the shimmers. Limelight is such an epic shade and the first one I wore this month, teamed with Vintage. Havoc is stunning on the eyes, love me a good duochrome, as is Prom Night. I actually anticipated getting rid of Prom Night until I wore it. It was very pretty and not at all boring. Shimmermint is a bit drier texture-wise compared to the others but the shade is very interesting on the eyes and worked so well teamed with dusky plums that I fell for it. All four are keepers.

Some of the Inglot shades were the ones I decided to get rid of in the end. 08 and 11 are not unique enough to keep and both only serve as an inner corner highlight for me. 402 was a bit meh on the eyes and 423 looked flat applied on the eye, not a very good colour payoff. So these four will be let go. 49 had a drier texture than say the Makeup Geek shadows but applied beautifully on the eyes and that’s what counts. So 49 stays on the the next round.

The more colourful Inglot shades are all keepers. I did only wear them once each but they looked great on the eye. I was especially fond of 414.

The final three eyeshadow are from MAC. Evening Grey is super pretty on the eyes and a dream to work with. Opalesse and Ready to Party were worn primarily as inner corner highlights this month but I know they can easily be layered on top of other shades to create dimension and effect. I love all three.

For cheeks the arsenal consisted of a total of seven blush shades and one highlighter. Four MAC products, one Urban Decay and one Sleek-trio.

MAC (Barbie Collection) – Pearl Blossom

Spring Flock is an amazing blush shade. It just brightens my face and I love wearing it. Furnace/Bon Fire/Molten are a bit more difficult to wear due to being very pigmented but I enjoyed wearing them and they are quite unique in my collection when it comes to colour. So they are worth keeping at this point.

Pearl Blossom is from the Barbie Collection that came out in 2007. I’ve kept it for nostalgic reasons but wearing it now makes me ready to let it go. This shade does nothing on my skin and there is no point in keeping it. Rapture and Mocha are very wearable shades and I enjoy using them. Keepers. Finally we have the hot pink Prom Princess. It’s from the Archies Girls collection from 2013. It’s ok on the cheeks but I know I have similar shades, like Supernova that made it through October’s audit, and I don’t need this specific blush.

So that was the rundown of this month’s arsenal. I’m not overly impressed with the small number of products I’m letting go of but I highly enjoy the thought process. Every month my reasoning changes and I anticipate that I will get more ruthless as the months go by. Now, lets have a look at the some of the makeup looks I created this month. All looks with white tiles in the background are taken at work.

So above we have the six items that are leaving my collection after February’s audit. Not many, but it is still progress. I had a lot of fun with this month’s arsenal and I look forward to continuing with this project.

Thanks for reading!

Sofia

I revisited some dear old shadows for January’s arsenal – some of the oldest shades I own and it was a real trip down memory lane.

MAC was the first brand my heart fell for when makeup started to become a more serious part of my life, in my late teens. I have so many memories hovering at the MAC counter when I was visiting the big city, in a time when online stores were non-existent and my deepest fantasy was to do makeup for a living. Over the years I’ve accumulated oh so many MAC eyeshadows, blushes, lipsticks, lip and eye pencils and other bits and bobs. This have inevitably lead to me having not only a vast amount of products but also a vast amount of senior products that I fear will have to be let go. Some have most likely succumbed to old age and have become poor performers and surely some might no longer be my jam.

Above we have the full arsenal – 17 shimmer and 12 matte shades for the eyes, one contour, two highlighters and five blushes. All shadows are MAC and most of the cheek products as well. A blush from Idun Minerals and a loose highlighter from Meow Cosmetics snuck in as well.

I built one main palette from single pans and as you can see, some are quite well loved. The two shades that are showing the pan are some of my oldest, Trax and Idol Eyes. Another ancient shade is Humid and it might even be from the late 90’s (!). Crème de Violet was given to me by my (now) husband for our fifth anniversary – in 2002! It was a lovely gesture on his part especially since MAC was so difficult for me to get a hold of at the time.

To balance the eye arsenal I chose to add eight more matte shades for basic shading and depth. As you can see some of these some are old favourites. Like Brun, the dark brown shade, that have been my brows companion for many many years. It’s not amazing as a shading eye shadow, but as a liner and brow shade it is amazing.

For blush I chose a quite basic and easy to wear team. We have Stereo Rose, a Minerlize Skinfinish shade that I believe was limited edition when I bought it. A highly coveted shade at the time and I was thrilled to own it. But I must admit I have not worn it all that much over the years. On its left we have one of my favourite shades, another limited edition one, the Extra Dimension blush shade Autoerotique. I’ve made a big dent in that over the years and I will miss it when it’s gone. The Perfect Cheek is a lovely dusty pink from the Marilyn Monroe collection (gasp!). Another one that I’ve used a lot but in this case the pan hardly looks used. Then we have a more recent purchase, Sur, that was part of the Monochrome collection that launched in the beginning of 2019. I bought it because I thought it resembled another shade that I had broken to the point of no return but wish I still had. And the final shade is a mini sample I received as a gift with purchase from Idun Minerals, Havtorn.

Over the course of the month I enjoyed wearing all five blushes and will keep them all for now.

For highlighter I picked Perfect Topping from MAC and Phantoma from Meow Cosmetics. After wearing it a couple of times I established that Perfect Topping is not a great shade for my colouring so I will let it go. Phantoma on the other hand is an amazing shade and I wore it mostly on the eyes to be honest but it’s pretty on the cheeks as well, albeit a bit too much for every day work stuff. Keeper.

Now let’s have a look at a few of the looks that I created this month along with my verdict of the eyeshadows used. Most looks are adapted for work, but I must say I highly enjoy working from a pre-set arsenal in the mornings.

A soft eye using Sable by MAC. This is a lovely shade that looks great with most lipsticks. A keeper.

I can not for the life of me remember what I wore in the above picture. I must get better at taking notes.

The shade Give Me Fire is another “recent” purchase. My collector brain bought it when the the MAC collection Red, Red, Red launched in 2014. Red eyeshadow was something I was always on the hunt for at the time. They are more common these days but I still remember how excited I was when this collection was launched. Give Me Fire is not a very special shade but I got swept away by its limited edition status. It’s pretty on the eyes but nothing spectacular. I don’t need it.

Cranberry on the lid and Outre in the crease. A fun combination I want to wear more. Both shades are going to Round 2.

Trax was a pleasure to wear but a bit hard to work with. It’s so old and I definitely feel it has played its part in my life. So long dear one…

The lovely Crème de Violet, the 5th anniversary shade I mentioned, is beautiful in theory but the quality is not there. It was hard to work with and faded and creased quickly. However nostalgic the memories surrounding this one are, I will let it go. In the above look I have added a bit of Rule for effect. Rule is a great orange matte shade and will be kept for now.

Expensive Pink is a golden pink shade that I have not worn many times in my life. And it is not by any means new. Wearing it now, I enjoy it but in order to stay after Round 2 it will have to be damn special.

Gorgeous Gold layered over Outre. Gorgeous Gold is simply – gorgeous. A green shifting gold that can be layered over different shades or worn on its own for a stunning effect. This is the type of shade I would wear all the time if I could remember that I have it. Finding these gems is one purpose of this audit and I am glad I have now highlighted its existence.

I do not have more pictures of looks to give light to the shades worn. Nylon was more useful than expected and Vex had an odd sheen that I enjoyed. Barefoot and Greensmoke are really unique shades and all the mattes did a good job. To sum up this month I’m keeping more shades than I am getting rid of. The shades I will not keep are;

Idol Eyes

Humid

Seedy Pearl

Parfait Amour

Mystical Mist

Idol Eyes is very beautiful but a bit gritty and interesting to work with. Since it’s so old and well used I will let it go. Humid is such a beautiful shade but it’s ancient and it fades really easily on the lid. I hope I have something similar in my collection because I really enjoyed wearing this specific colour. Seedy Pearl and Parfait Amour looks ok in the finger swatch but lacks punch on the eyes. Not worth keeping. And finally we have Mystical Mist, another ancient shade that actually performed terribly…

Perfect Topping

So eight eyeshadows and one highlighter will be let go. Not too bad. For future audits I will try to make better notes on what was worn when and all my feelings. It’s a process…

Thanks for reading!

Sofia

For #RedLipsDecember I choose to wear a variation of a red lip on the days I wear makeup at all. Therefore this month’s arsenal would have to be easily paired with red, hence I needed basic neutral shades for the eyes. My recently depotted Urban Decay palettes fitted the bill perfectly.

The Naked, Naked 2, Naked 3 and Naked Ultimate Basics palettes were not exciting to me anymore in their fixed versions, but I knew there were some useful shades in them I might want to keep. So I shed their shell and depotted them. A year ago I would never have done that, but now it felt just right.

The depot was successful and all shades survived more or less intact. A few shades were tossed straight away but those were the ones I knew I would never use. The rest were put in a Z palette. Basic mattes and basic shimmers, nothing too exciting but very useful shadows. To add a bit more “fun” variety to the arsenal I picked a couple of loose pigments from Meow Cosmetics as well.

Again, nothing to colourful since I did not want to think too much when choosing my makeup for work in the morning. As a final addition to the shadow world I added a H&M duochrome highlighting palette with the aim to use it for both cheeks and eyeshadow effect. It contained a green, a peach and a purple duochrome shade.

Firstly we can go through how the pigments fared in the audit.

Sable from the Santa Baby collection is a shade I was a bit unsure of at first. It felt a tad boring and unlike what I usually enjoy using, but when wearing it I appreciated its beautiful shine and unique colour. I’ve decided to keep it for now and see how it fares in Round 2.

Undead is a really fun shade and I loved wearing it. It’s from a collection named Zombie Apocalypse. Just the name makes me smile. It’s a greyed out purple with a pink shift – and this is exactly how complex I wish most shadows were. A joy to wear. It’s staying!

Howl is from the (less excitingly named) collection Glacial Grove. But the shade is anything but boring. A murky clay shade with a silver sheen that brings depth and that extra something something to a rather classic look. Another keeper.

Yet another keeper is Debauchery from the Pandoras Box collection – a stunning swampy gold that I think works wonders with my colouring.

The last loose pigment is Trepidation from the Friday the 13th collection. The look I created above was not my favourite this month, but the shade itself is beautiful. Keeping this as well.

The H&M palette was not my fave to use on the cheeks. The product is chunky and adds too much of a colour shift for my liking. As a duochrome shadow however they performed much better and I used them primarily as an inner corner highlight. I even enjoyed using them more than I had anticipated. I am going to let them move on to Round 2 but I doubt they will stand up to the competition. But I have been wrong before….

Regarding the Urban Decay shadows I tried to give them a proper run this month and I think I did a good job. I’ve not been able to keep track of what shades I’ve used each day, due to time constraints, but I’ve made sure to use all of the shades at least once in some capacity. Some were worn a lot more. The result – I’ve decided to get rid of eleven of them.

Of those eleven shadows, many were full of large glitters and I’ve noticed I really dislike that finish. Others were either lacklustre or hard to work with. The pale gold was beautiful but I had two so I felt no need to keep them both.

Here are some looks I managed to create using mainly the UD shadows.

Moving on to the cheek products of this months arsenal were we have five blushes and two highlighters. A lot of MAC, a little Sleek Makeup and a pop of IsaDora.

Surprise, surprise, I enjoyed using all of them. The Sleek blushes, Flushed and Pomegranate, are obviously quite vibrant and I did not use them as much as the others but when I did they were lovely. I even managed to use them on the eyes, as shown in the picture below.

Breath of Plum by MAC is a real oldie favourite for me. This compact is my second one (!), the first one was used up back in the day when I had less makeup. I used to dye my hair black and loved how this looked together with the contrast between my hair and my skin. I do not use it nearly as often anymore but it’s still a lovely colour. It’s staying. At Dusk as well, the other MAC blush shade. At Dusk is an Extra Dimension blush and I have worn this a lot since I got it in 2013-2014. Lovely shade and lovely finish. Finally we have Nude Blossom by IsaDora, another great shade and a more recent addition than the others. Very wearable and great to work with.

Finally we have two MAC highlighters, Lightscapades and Here Comes Joy. I remembered not enjoying wearing Lightscapades too much but I was pleasantly surprised. It was not as frosty as I anticipated and it gave a lovely sheen to my cheeks. Here Comes Joy was also a surprise. More wearable on the cheeks than I remembered. Beautiful to use on the eyes as well.

So for cheeks this month we had only winners.

I must admit I was glad when this month was over and I could pick a new arsenal. I love wearing a red lip and more neutral eyes, but not every day. I love variety and this month felt quite repetitive, especially with regards to the eye looks. However, letting go of eleven shadows felt good and I hope for a similar result next month.

Until then, thanks for reading!

Sofia

This month has flown by at high speed. I’ve been pressed for both time and energy. Most makeup looks have been conjured up early in the morning before work so they have been quite simple and not very colourful. Almost all makeup looks were snapped in an office bathroom including me sticking my shin up to get some light under my hooded lids to show off the shade that adorn them. As always, this will have to do.

To summarize this month I must say it has been fun despite my lack of energy. The fact that I have only had a select number of products to choose from breaks the old habits I forces me to create looks I would not have done otherwise. The whole audit process is rewarding and I think I have already become slightly better at letting things go.

This months arsenal consisted of quite a lot of eyeshadows (again). I picked out a selection of single shadows and only two pre-made palettes. Mainstream brands (MAC, Bare Minerals, ABH) mixed with indie brands (Meow Cosmetics, Phee’s). Let’s go through everything and see what I liked.

I had a palette full of random singles that I felt were perfect to audit because I rarely use them. I also popped two Sephora shadows in there to complete the range of choice, teaming up with eight Phee’s Makeup Shop mineral shadows, two matte shadows by Neve Cosmetics and three Inglot shimmer shadows.

Phee’s Makeup Shop – I did not manage to use all of them, only four or five. I have Polilla (blue-brown duochrome), Moreish (molted gold), Pyrite (dirty bronze), Coda (ruddy pink), Peppered (silvery beige), Sphinx (ruddy brown), Tell It To The Frogs (bright green) and Dead Weight (dark purple with pink shimmer) to my disposal.

I enjoyed using them and I especially liked Sphinx. But however stunning they were sadly they will have to go. They have started to smell weird and a very strong metallic smell comes from the pans. They will be thrown away.

Inglot – The three square pans in the palette are from Inglot (30, 31 and 45) and are actually duplicates, i.e I have another set of these specific shades. I bought a ton of Inglot shadows in New York years ago, before they were readily available to purchase in Sweden, and somehow I managed to buy duplicates. These are useful shades but since I have extra and they are old I will throw these away as well. They smell a bit off too but honestly they have had that smell all along so….

Neve Cosmetics – One grey satin matte (Smoking) and one hot orange (Lava). To be clear, I never wear these. This month I wore Smoking once and disliked the colour, it’s too cool toned for my liking and I will let it go. Lava however, even though I did not use it, will go on to Round 2. This specific bright orange shade is very useful and I’m sure I will use it more if I place it with other singles.

Sephora – I bought a few of these shadows in 2018 when they were newly released. This month I used Unicorn Dust and Twinkle Twinkle. They come in single compacts but are made to be easily popped out of that compact and into a separate palette if one would want. I wore each once and they will go on to Round 2. Unicorn Dust is a pretty muted purple with blue shimmer. It’s a bit sheer but I would like to give it a few more wears before I decide. Twinkle Twinkle is a high shimmer beige with an almost glimmering finish. It’s quite unique for me and I would like to use it more.

MAC– I pulled some oldies and goodies from MAC – a few of my Extra Dimension Eyeshadows. I love this formula and have some of the original larger pans. Zestful and Triple Impact are lovely duochromes and Silver Sun is a stunning greenish gunmetal. I loved wearing them and will not let them go anytime soon. Soft Teddy is a matte from the Monochrome Collection that was released in early 2019. It’s a soft rosy brown and I enjoy it a lot both as a crease colour and all over the lid. Until Dawn is pretty but a tad to glittery for me. It’s also not unique enough to hang on to.

Illamasqua – I especially enjoy the shade Wicked. It’s a pastel pink matte shade that gives an extra something something when used on the eye. Justify is an more common neutral brown and it will have some competition in Round 2.

Meow Cosmetics – I love this indie brand and I own a ton of their shadows. They are all in a loose format and this month I picked two purples, Hangover and Rising, and Joy – a duochrome peach. Joy and Rising are lovely and unique but Hangover will be let go of. I wore it, see the below picture, and thought it to be just ok. In order for me to reach for a loose shadow it will have to be something extra, not just fine.

& Other Stories – I wore this dirty old gold, Percaline Khaki, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It’s a bit drier and more muted than I expected but the look was interesting on the eye.

Bare Minerals – The last single shadows in the monthly arsenal were loose metallics that had previously been given very little love and were perfect candidates for the audit. Both Pewter and Iridiscent Iris were worn only once during November but I enjoyed wearing them. Iridiscent Iris is the most unique of the two but Pewter has a lovely sheen. Both will go on to Round 2.

Next up are two pre-made palettes by Anastasia Beverly Hills, Prism and Subculture. These provided some basic mattes, some fun mattes and metallic goodness of course. Prism was used most, especially the shades Parallel, Lure, Obsidian and Unity. I whipped out Throne one evening as well, se below.

Subculture did not get as much love as Prism but Rowdy was used as eyeliner a lot and Mercury and fudge acted as deepening shades. However I know that I like this palette without using every single shade. The colour scheme inspire me and the shades are unique enough to go straight to Round 2.

For cheek colour had picked a wide variety of well used older products combined with unused items. I managed to use most shades and form an opinion. Some i will keep and some I am ready to let go of.

Sleek Makeup – I used two blush trios, Sugar and Pink Spirit. Sugar was given the most love and I enjoyed all three shades. Pink Spirit was only used once due to it’s intense colour scheme but that was a lesson in itself. It made me have a look of what other similar shades I own. I found I have several similar intense berry pink blushes from MAC and I know I will most likely choose one of those over the Sleek trio. So Pink Spirit will be let go now and Sugar will go on to round 2.

MAC – Two blushes, one highlight and one contour shade. I wore all of them quite a lot and formed some interesting opinions. Let’s start with the highlighter, Porcelain Pink. It was the only highlighter this month but I quickly realized that I did not enjoy the effect it gave on the cheekbone. It just did not look to my taste. A bit too glittery and too much. It will leave my collection. An oldie and a goodie is Flower Fantasy, a stunning muted ruddy pink face powder from the 2012 Vera collection. It’s a great everyday shade and it looks good with most looks. A keeper. Pink Tea however, a pink shade that looks more brown on the cheeks, did not wow me. It should be one of those safe everyday shades but it’s simply not a great colour on me. I will let it go. The last item is Taupe, a shade bought as a contour shade and chosen as a contour for this months arsenal. However, I ended up using it primarily as a blush. A very neural and muted blush. I’m a bit surprised that it worked in that way but glad that discovered its potential. Round 2 material.

All in all 17 items will leave my collection, 19 individual shades. A good round I think. I have some more looks to round up this months audit but unfortunately I have no details on the shades used.

Thanks for reading,

Sofia

In the beginning of the month I selected my Monthly Arsenal and posted it to Instagram. I had picked a selection of eyeshadows, blushes and other face products to evaluate in the first month of my makeup audit. When choosing I picked items that I rarely use and I felt that these would be perfect to evaluate first, since surely I would have few warm fuzzy feelings for them, dislike them even, and have a great run of discarding these unloved items. Alas, I was wrong. So wrong.

For eyes I had singled out a wide variety of shades and finishes in order to have a lot of options to play with. The arsenal included five of my numerous Sleek Makeup palettes complemented with a set of six duochrome toppers in the shape of the Aurora Glow Kit by Anastasia Beverly Hills. I love using duochrome shades both as effect toppers and as inner corner highlights. A good duochrome makes my heart beat faster. The eye palettes I chose contained shades I was drawn to this time of year including some brights for more punchy looks. For the cheeks I chose one contour, two highlighters and eight blushes of varying finishes. This is how the month went down..

Let’s start with the Glow Kit. I am very drawn to this palette but I did not use it as much as I thought I would. I mainly used Eclipse, Helia and Lyra as inner corner highlights and Spectra was used as a topper on one occasion. I like these shades well enough to let them get another shot in Round 2 (where similar items will be compared) but I suspect I have some similar shades from other brands. Both Eclipe and Lyra have glitter in them and that is not my favourite thing. Also, these shadows smell a bit weird, but I think they have been doing that all along. Something to think about….

Another palette I’m drawn to, the Ultra Matts V.2. The dark, moody and mainly muted colours are alluring. This specific palette was an important source of matte shadows this month and I used it a lot. I was expecting to dislike many of the shades but no, the mattes performed very well and were a pleasure to use. If the palette had included a taupe as well it would have been even more useful. The shades are quite unique and since they performed well I have to give it a Round 2. Most used shades were Flesh, Paper Bag, Villan, Dune and Maple.

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A New Day was another frequently used palette and the shade Carpe Diem was a solid favourite used for many looks as a crease colour. Happy, Let It Go and Don’t Worry were also staples. The other shades were a little lacklustre and this palette is a contender to depot. But before engaging in that hassle I need to compare the nice shades to what I have that is similar.  So a Round 2 is in order to seal its fate.

Del Mar is such a pretty palette with its muted, dusty pastels and that bright yellow. I find the colour scheme very appealing and inspiring. I especially loved using Ushuaia, Puro and Siesta. Zoola and Ibiza Rocks were fun to use as well. I regret not using the greens but I never felt like it for work. The shades I did not enjoy was Loco, Pearl and San Antonio.  Another palette that will make it to Round 2.

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Another one I had low hopes for but enjoyed more than I thought I would, Supernova. I have not used the blue shades and most likely never will. The green (Aurora) is an interesting shade and the day I wore it I was very pleased with the combination. Umbra, Corona and Meteor are stunning shades and they will surely be depotted unless they have too many competitors in Round 2. This is a palette that I am sure I will depot if I decide to keep any of the shades.

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I’m conflicted about Rio Rio. This palette as a whole does not entice me. I enjoyed some of the shades, like Ipanema, Tropics and Legron. But some shades I dislike and the composition of the palette does not work for me. I use the shades as singles and combined them with other palettes. As with the other palettes I suspect I already have multiple similar shades. But this palette will not be kept in it’s entirety, that’s for sure.  

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Face products are a lot of fun to use, especially blush. In this category we have the first item to be discarded in the audit. The Blush by 3 palette in Lemonade by Sleek Makeup. The cream shade (Macaroon) had gone off and when I wore the other two shades (Icing sugar & Pink mint) I disliked them on me. They looked off, and I think heavy shimmery blushes might not be my jam.

The Face Form palette (also by Sleek) did get quite a lot of wear time this month despite the fact that it contained a shimmer blush. I loved the highlighter and the contour shade, not being my optimal shade for the cheeks, worked as a lovely crease shadow. The shimmery blush was not a favourite but it did it’s job.

My other highlighter, the soft pink Play It Proper (MAC) was also a big surprise. I thought it would be an easy cull, but no. It provided an unique sheen and I loved using it for work. This product is old, from the Chen Man Love & Water collection from 2012. I bought it when my collection was smaller and that specific MAC collection was alluring. I have not used it much but after this month I think it deserves a new life, a life where it is appreciated and used. But since it has been used so little over time I have to put it through Round 2 in order to keep it.   

Most used on the blush front this month are the muted matte shades from MAC, Buff and Pink Cult. They are nice staple shades that look good with most looks. I also used the more vibrant shades East (matte by Make Up Store) and Supernova (shimmer by MAC) a few times. I enjoyed them all, surprise surprise, and another lot for Round 2. And that was it, those were all the items from my Makeup Arsenal October.

In the beginning of the month I had a main plan to post my daily makeup looks to Instagram. That plan evaporated since I almost always deemed the pics of poor quality. There is not much light in Sweden right now and I have been trying to sneak in some quick photos mainly in bathrooms (during the week) and in natural light whenever possible, but it’s been hard. For November I will try to be less judgmental of the quality of the photos and post more frequently.

Despite that I’ve had a lot of fun this month playing with makeup…and here are a few more looks in varying light.

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To sum up this month of my makeup audit; It is no secret that I have a hard time letting things go. I attach to things emotionally and on top of this I fear that if I let an item go I will regret it later. When I sat down to evaluate this month’s audit candidates I realized I basically could not let anything go, not straight away anyway. I’m sure I do not adore all of these items but I think I need more “evidence” in order to let them go.

So please bear with me in this process, a process I think will evolve over time. As you have noticed all items in this audit will be sent to Round 2 except one. One! Round 2 is clearly vital in this process, for me, and when items with similar purpose will be pitted against each other it will hopefully become clear to me how much I have and what needs to go. Let’s see….

Thank you for reading! (If anyone made it this far, I applaud you!)

Sofia