A total of 35 shadows, all singles, made May’s monthly arsenal on the smaller side. Brands included were MAC, Meow Cosmetics, Urban Decay, H&M Beauty, Inglot, Makeup Geek, Nabla, Neve, Emme Cosmetics, and KvD. A bonus with this smaller arsenal was that i completed the audit fairly early in the month and it left me some space to wear some of my newly aquired shadows.

Top Row L-R: 288 – 363 – Saddle – Wedge – Petalescent – Free To Be

Second Row L-R: Epic – Exodus – Revelation -Orange- Passionate

Third Row L-R: Take Two – Aztec Gold – Rosary

Bottom Row L-R: Muffin – Cosmopolitan – 28 – Clementine

I filled an empty palette with singles and this is where all the mattes or near-mattes were kept. Most of the core mattes were older MAC shadows (Saddle, Wedge, Petalescent, Free to Be, Passionate, Orange) but I also had some by Inglot (288, 363) and some near-mattes by Neve (Muffin) and KvD (Revelation, Exodus) to make it an acceptable matte lineup. I did not have a dark shade to use as eyeliner so I used my Eye Brow Cake in “Gaze” from Illamasqua for that purpose. It is a nice firm cool dark brown.

For shimmers we have Makeup Geek (Epic, Take Two, Cosmopolitan), depotted KvD (Rosary), Nabla (Clementine), Emme (Aztec Gold) and a lone highlighter shade from Inglot (28). I cannot be bothered to speculate as to how old these items are but I know that Petalescent is ancient.

Clockwise from the bottom: Divine Blue – Lorelei – Smoky Mauve – A Natural Flirt – Round Midnight

Then we have five of the In Extra Dimension shadows by MAC. I used to love the formula and the light A Natural Flirt was my daily eye for a long time (when I apparently loved a less elaborate look). The large one, Smoky Mauve, is the oldest since they later stopped making that size and reverted to the smaller pan. Lorelei is from the 2015 collection Alluring Aquatic and the others are 2012 or older. I rarely reach for these but I have very warm feeling towards them and know I need this audit to be able to let any of them go.

Clockwise from the bottom: Holly Folly – Solstice – Diamond Dust – Deeply Mauved – In the Red

This lot are “newer”, maybe 2016-2018. I know that Holly Folly was part of the In Monochrome collection by MAC that was released in early 2019. I have a few shadows and blushes from that collection and these are the few MAC shadows that have not been depotted (yet). Solstice by Urban Decay is a favourite but it get lost in the masses. The three H&M shadows are random purchases that do not get the love they deserve since they are in compacts. The baked shadow, Deeply Mauved, cannot be depotted but the others two could. I would get more use out of them if they were part of my single pans.

Clockwise from the bottom: Xenophobe – Sorrow – Tome Foretold – Skee-Ball – Claddagh – Kiss Me I’m… – Rules

Seven loose shadows by Meow Cosmetics finalised the arsenal. As with most of my Meow shades, these are from around 2013.

Let’s move on to swatches and my opinions on each shade after a month of wearing them.

Let’s start off with the mattes from the large palette. Two green shades, 288 (Inglot) and Exodus (KvD), were interesting players that added a bit of much needed colour and brightness too many looks. Both perform very well and 288 is unlike any other green I have. It is such a luscious colour. Both are staying.

Orange and Passionate (both by MAC) added some more bright colour and I got along very well with these for a popping crease. I think I have quite a few bright matte pinks and possibly oranges as well but both of these can stay based solely on performance. For a more subdued pop of pink we have Free to Be and Petalescent (also both by MAC). I love a pink matte for a an all pink crease or as a pink diffuser of another crease shade. However great I think Petalescent is, it is time to let it go. It still performs nicely but it is so very old. The shadow has been used so much over the years and this month I noticed that it is starting to smell slightly off. A pale pink like this is a lovely thing to have but I have a similar Inglot shade that I can use in its stead. Free to Be is in better shape and can happily stay.

Then we have the more earthy mattes. 363 (Inglot) worked very well as a more cool toned crease and I think it did a great job. It can stay for now. Saddle (MAC) is the more warm counterpart and it performs nicely as well. I even used it on the lips one day, mixed with a creamy lipstick to create a nice fudge shade. I will keep this one too. Wedge (MAC) is one of my most used matte shades. It is the perfect transition crease shade for me and it has been worn oh so much over the years. This shadow has perfect pigmentation, not too much, for this type of shade and it blends effortlessly and is easy to build if needed. My instinct is to keep it, but after this month I think it has served its purpose in my life. The shadow forms hard-pan over and over again when using it and I know I have many other matte neutral shades that can take its place. And finally we have Revelation (KvD), a shade that did not live up to its name. The shadow has small glitter particles running through it and it did not look good on the eyes. The shadow was not very pigmented and it was hard to blend, so it is an easy pass for me.

On to the more shimmery shadows in the palette. Starting with Epic (MUG), a rather unique shade that performed beautifully. I cannot believe I have not used this one more over the years, a real shame. Epic is in the Foiled formula, the same as Take Two (MUG) which is a little more subdued shade of green. But this shadow still performs great and this olive shimmer is a shade of green I find very wearable.

Aztec Gold (Emme) is a pretty intense molten gold that looks very vibrant on top of a creamy base. A real stunner that I am keeping should wear a lot more often. 28 (Inglot) is definitely on the older side but the blue shift is so stunning. I ended up wearing this shade as an inner corner highlight over and over again this month. It can stay for now, I want to see if I have anything else that fills a similar purpose.

Rosary (KvD) is a darker raspberry pink and this was a great surprise for me, it looked so good on the eye. I had anticipated this to be a dud, but it ended up a solid keeper. Clementine (Nabla) was used quite a bit, both as a lid shade and an inner corner. I do really enjoy the shade but I was unsure for a while if it was special enough to keep. It has a certain brightness that i enjoy and the final verdict is that it can stay for now.

Cosmopolitan (MUG) is one of those not so unique rosy gold shades that I feel like I have a plethora of from different brands. I do not know if that feeling is correct anymore, because of the audit, but I have decided to keep it until round 2 at least. The shadow performs beautifully still and I enjoy to wear a shade like this. And then we have the dud of the lot. Muffin (Neve) is a very useful shade in theory but it was difficult to work with somehow (I tried my best on four occasions) so it can safely go.

Moving on to the Extra Dimension shadows by MAC. Smoky Mauve is a rosy mauve with a silvery sheen. I really liked wearing it and I do not have many shades like this. It is such an old shadow but it smells fine and performs nicely so I’m going to hang on to it.

A Natural Flirt was as mentioned a firm favourite back in the day and I even had a back up of it at one time, since I had used so much up and it used to be limited edition. I gave the back up to my sister eventually when the shade became permanent. Having a back up of this shade was a somewhat logical thing then since I used to wear this type of shade all over the lid on the daily. During May I wore it mainly as an inner corner highlight (it’s just ok as that) and then extended its use to cheek highlighter as well. On the cheeks it looks great, but I have no need to keep this as a cheek product. It had its last hurrah this month and it has served me well all in all, but it can go.

Round Midnight and Devine Blue on the other hand had not aged as well as the other Extra Dimension shades. They performed very poorly with almost no pigmentation or impact on the eye. Lorelei however is a stunning neutral shadow and came through as a winner. A quite basic beige shimmer that is just dark enough to add a slight dimension to my lid. I enjoyed wearing this more than anticipated.

Diamond Dust (H&M) is a tricky shade. The formula is gritty and I found it not very suitable as an inner corner highlight. It is more of a lid topper and preferably on top of a darker shade or a really creamy base. I am not sure how useful it is but it is a very special shade and I am not ready to let it go just now. It will have to be depotted if it shall stay in my arsenal after round 2, I really want to minimize single pots like this.

I was quite surprised that I did not enjoy Deeply Mauved (H&M). It is a lovely taupe, and I love a good taupe, but it does not show up on the eye. When swatched on the hand it looks creamy and pigmented but that does not translate to the eye application sadly. So it must go.

In the Red (H&M) is a bright warm red “almost matte”. It has very fine golden sheen that runs trough it but it is not visible on the lid. It blended well I since I love a red shadow, it can definitely stay and will be depotted.

Holly Folly (MAC) is a very gritty metallic shadow, in the Frost formula which is a famously difficult formula to use. It’s a fiery warm red metallic, very intense in pigmentation, and it performed nicely over a creamy base. There is some fallout to be expected when applying this shadow, but it’s fairly easy to eliminate. This one will be depotted as well.

Oh Solstice (UD), you are so pretty! This Moondust shadow is just too pretty not to keep. The rosy base colour is quite transparent so I prefer to tap this on top of a medium to darker creamy base for full effect. I only wore it once but as I am very fond of I know I still want it in my life.

Then finally we have the loose shadows by Meow Cosmetics. Skee-Ball (Joys of Summer collection) is a stunning cool green that shifts in a light gold. Very pretty on the eye. Claddagh (St Patty’s Day collection) is a nice punchy chartreuse shimmer. I really liked wearing both colours and they can stay for now.

Kiss Me I’m… (St Patty’s Day collection) is a stunning swampy green matte. However stunning the colour is I know I would much rather use this if it was a pressed shadow. Matte loose shadows can work for me, but I do not enjoy using such a bright colourful shade in a loose format. So I will get rid of this.

Rules (Fifty Shades of Meow collection) is a dirty gold and I enjoy it. Maybe not the most unique shade but it can stay for round 2. Xenophobe (Alien Abduction collection) on the other hand is unique, it has a clear base with silver and pink reflects. I wore this as an inner corner shade a lot and I’m gladly keeping it.

Sorrow (Pandora’s Box collection) is dark teal that looks amazing on the eye. It has a grey base with a very strong teal shift and it’s very reflective. Stunning colour that is another keeper for sure. Time Foretold (Midnight Clear collection) is a very light blue with a shimmer shift that goes from gold to pink. A very delicate shade and I was surprised that I liked it on the eyes as much as I did. It suited my colouring and it was easy to use. Another keeper.

And that was all of the shades in my May audit. Let’s round this month off with some of the looks I wore and the products used to create them. It was a fun month makeup-wise and looking back at my looks I’m very pleased with the variety I created on my face.

May 1

Eyes: 288 – Exodus – Revelation – 28 – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Flushed (blush, Sleek Makeup), Silhouette (contour, Illamasqua), Perfect Topping (highlight, MAC)

Lips: Cream lip stain in “27” (Sephora) and Burgundy lip liner (MAC)

May 5

Eyes: Smoky Mauve – Wedge – Muffin – A Natural Flirt

Cheeks: Mocha (blush, MAC), Silhouette (contour, Illamasqua), A Natural Flirt (highlight, MAC)

Lips: Devoted to Chili (MAC)

May 8

Eyes: Aztec Gold – Take Two – Petalescent – Orange – Xenophobe – Gaze (Illamasqua)

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

Lips: Nougatine (H&M)

May 9

Eyes: Rosary – Exodus – Clementine – Passionate – Gaze (Illamasqua), Fireball (liquid liner, UD)

Cheeks: Bon Fire (blush, Sleek Makeup), Lightscapades (highlight, MAC)

Lips: Velvet Decade and Muse lip liner (both by Lisa Eldridge)

May 11

Eyes: Time Foretold – 363 – 28

Cheeks: Rapture (blush, Urban Decay)

Lips: Muse gloss (Lisa Eldridge)

May 12

Eyes: Clementine – Free to Be – Orange – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Furnace (blush, Sleek Makeup), Taupe (contour, MAC), Here Comes Joy (highlight, MAC)

Lips: Saddle (shadow, MAC) tapped over and Dolce Vita (Nars)

May 15

Eyes: Epic – Wedge – 28 – Diamond Dust – Gaze (Illamasqua)

Cheeks: Sur (blush, MAC), Silhouette (contour, Illamasqua), OMG (highlight, Illamasqua)

Lips: Velvet Muse (Lisa Eldridge)

May 18

Eyes: Claddagh – Exodus – A Natural Flirt

Cheeks: Stereo Rose (blush, MAC), Sculpt (contour, MAC)

Lips: Cream lip stain in “17” (Sephora)

To summarize a total of nine shadows are out after this month’s audit. Nothing revolutionary. I somehow wish I could find more duds, but I think the more major culling will come in Round 2. I already know some shadows I have kept earlier that I doubt I will keep with the mindset I have now this far in into the audit.

And as with the previous months I’m still focusing on wearing as many different cheek and lip product as possible, besides the eye shadow audit. In May I managed to wear 25 blushes, 5 contour shades, 9 highlighters, 28 lipsticks, 2 glosses and 3 lip pencils. I think it is some kind of record. I know I have bits that I can let go of in those categories in the near future. The feeling of truly using all the items I own over and over again is very satisfying. Keeping track of what I wear is very helpful and recently I have started to put a way lipsticks and blushes worn to make it even easier to choose something new and not repeat wear the “easy shades”.

Thanks for reading!

April’s arsenal consisted of two pre-made palettes, two singles in individual packaging and a larger palette containing single pans. Brands included are Urban Decay, Illamasqua, Nabla, Makeup Geek, Emme Cosmetics, MAC and Lethal Cosmetics. A total of 42 individual colours to utilise with a nice balance of mattes and shimmers, neutrals and colours, brights and muted shades.

The Kaleidoscope Dream palette by Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne was purchased in 2018 and has been used quite a bit since then. I was a bit infatuated with it at the time and I’m still attracted to many of the colours. I have no relation to Kristen Leanne, so it was solely the colours that made me buy it in the first place.

1st Row L-R: Embrace Me – Helios – Remission – Habitat – Relapse – Unearthed – Calcination

2nd Row L-R: Dark Brew – Spirit – Defiance – Gingersnap – Fortune Teller – Mesmerized – Glasswork

3rd Row L-R: Tiki Hut – Absinthe – Tribeca – Chemical Bond – Karma

4th Row L-R: Vanilla Bean – Drama Queen – Apricot – Mai Tai – Lemon Tart – Aurum

The singles palette was a mixture of older and newer shadows. The Lethal shades (all of the square pans) are from 2019 and they are the most recent of the lot. Makeup Geek is heavily represented (Fortune Teller, Mesmerized, Tiki Hut, Karma, Vanilla Bean, Drama Queen, Mai Tai) as well as a sprinkle of Nabla (Glasswork, Absinthe, Tribeca, Chemical Bond, Aurum). Then we have some MAC (Embrace Me, Dark Brew, Gingersnap, Lemon Tart) and one by Emme Cosmetics (Apricot).

The Fundamental palette by Illamasqua was picked up back in 2013 and I have almost never used it. A few times at the most. It consists of two matte shades (Hype and Inception) and two creams (Surge and Bedaub).

And lastly we have to single powder shadows by Illamasqua (Apex and Fledgling) that I think are from around 2013 as well. These have been use a bit but I rarely pick them up anymore.

Let’s move on to swatches and my feelings on these products after a month of use.

The Kaleidoscope Dream palette by Urban Decay in collaboration with Kristen Leanne was interesting to audit. I decided quite early on in the month that I have no need to keep this palette intact and that I would prefer to depot the shades I still love. Let’s start with the keepers. Spitfire is a duochrome pink with a blue shift. Very pretty and useful. Stay Gold is a green leaning gold that is very flattering and easy to use. Tajin is another type of shade that I get a lot of use out of and it looks amazing combined with Spitfire. Leo is so stunning, a light sea foam green duochrome. Brixton is not very special but since the shade shares a pan with Leo it stays as well. Lime Time looks a bit dull in the pan but on the eyes it is a very bright and fun shade. Dye was a bit of a surprise as well. I thought to formula would be dry and hard to work with but it was the opposite on the eyes. A very rich and beautiful shade. And then finally Corona, oh Corona. Such an unpleasant name and such a lovely shade. It’s a rosy gold but the cool plum base makes it unlike anything else I have.

Then there are the rest of them, the ones that did not make the cut. 13th Floor seemed to be a great deep black, but it after a little wear time it fell under my eyes and left black smudges no matter how careful I was with my application. TRM is a very pretty blue in theory but very difficult to work with. The blending was a mess, as blues usually are, and it just looked like shit. I have a difficult relationship with blue eye shadow and this was not an exception. I did not even bother to wear LCW to be honest. Not a shade I’m attracted to at all and since I had already made up my mind to depot I sort of just skipped over it.

Let’s move on to the large palette of single pans. And starting with the mattes, all ten of them will be kept for now. Embrace Me (MAC) is a stunning matte hot pink, pigmented and easy to blend. Helios (Lethal) is such a lovely muted light yellow and it works well as an inner corner shade as well. Remission (Lethal) is a firm favourite and a I love using this as a way to lean a crease in the pink direction but the end look is still very muted. It blends well with so many colours. Habitat and Relapse (Lethal) are interesting shades and I do not think I have anything else like them. That is true for many of my Lethal purchases, they create such unique shades of eye shadow.

Unearthed and Calcination (Lethal) are two shades that I should love in theory, but on the eye I just feel that they are ok, nothing more. Not my favourite neutral matte formula these two. But since they are newer I want to keep on using them. Due to being the only mid neutral crease shades this month, I got some good use out of them.

Dark Brew (MAC) was cooler in tone on the eye than it looks in the pan and I found it to very versatile and easy to blend. It was used quite a lot of the course of the month since it was the second darkest matte shadow in the arsenal, and since 13th Floor had a lot of fall out, I opted for Dark Brew whenever I wanted some depth. Tiki Hut (MUG) is a great dark mustard and the formula works very well. And finally we have Vanilla Bean (MUG) a beige that is so close to my skin tone that you can barely see the swatch. I used this to soften or clean up edges and to add something powder yet invisible to my brow bone. A good tool to have.

Spirit (Lethal) is a great bright purple metallic and a keeper. Since it is a newer shadow I only had to wear it once to verify its status. The same for Defiance (Lethal), a vibrant and fiery pinky copper. Gingersnap (MAC) however was a disappointment. It’s a pretty pinky copper, that looks great swatched, but the formula was just not working on the eye. It mainly looked flat and nothing, there was no way to build up the intensity. So Gingersnap will go.

Fortune Teller (MUG) is simply an amazing intense yellow gold. The formula is still creamy and the pigment adheres to the eye in a satisfying way. Mesmerized is also in the Foiled eyeshadow formula by MUG, the same as Fortune Teller, and it’s a very useful mauve. This shadow is also still creamy and looks great on the eye. The shade is not as unique as Fortune Teller but I’m keeping it for now. I love the foiled formula and it is a shame that many of the great shades, including this one, is not around anymore.

Then we have the two Nabla shadows. Glasswork sadly does not work for me. The silver particles does not form the wet shine look on my lids, as the swatch might promise, just a silver glitter mess. If I apply the shadow with a finger on top of a wet primer on my hand it looks good, but the same approach on my eyelid, not so much. A shadow that does not perform well on the eye is worthless, so Glasswork is going. Finally we have Absinthe, a rosy base that shifts from dark pink, to blue to teal. It’s a subtle shift but I enjoy it. Absinthe may stay for now.

Tribeca (Nabla) is a bit dusty and I had no high hopes for it but on the eye it performs very well. It is a cool leaning bronzy brown and it looks amazing with most other colours. Chemical Bond (Nabla) is nice enough and this is a prime example of a shade I have multitudes of and will have to edit more ruthlessly later on in the audit. Right now, this shadow works well and can stay. Karma and Mai Tai (MUG) are old favourites. I love Makeup Geek pressed duochromes and sadly they are not around anymore.

Drama Queen (MUG) is simply difficult to work with. I have more use of a dark shade like this if it is a matte. As a shimmer it is not potent or special enough to have an effect on the lid and it is hard to blend towards the crease. I have no use for this. Apricot (Emme) is a peachy gold that flips rosy. The base is transparent. I wore this mainly as an inner corner highlight but is stunning on the lid as well. It does not look like much in the pan but packed over a tacky primer it really shines.

Lemon Tart (MAC) is a very pale yellow beige and one I’m a bit surprised that I’m keeping. It was very pretty as a neutral yet not boring inner corner highlight. That subtle yellow tone made it look great on the eye. Aurum (Nabla) is one I had to think about for a whole. It’s a very pale green but the cool tone makes it look ethereal on my lid and I loved using it. It’s a type of green that pairs well with many other shades both tapped on the lid or as an inner corner shade.

And the last lot are the Illamasqua shadows. The Fundamental palette consists of two powder shades, Hype (yellow) and Inception (purple), and two creams – Surge (quicksilver) and Bedaub (mint). I love the colour composition of this palette but I must admit that I have only used it a couple of times. I own a full size of Surge and that has limited the use of this palette further. Hype is a stunning yellow but I searched for a dupe in my total arsenal and found it in Chrome Yellow by MAC, a shade that has already come through my audit process. Hype is slightly less intense in colour even and that makes Chrome Yellow a better candidate to keep all in all. So the Fundamental palette will be leaving my collection in its entirety. In retrospect it was a pointless purchase since I have used it so little.

Apex and Fledgling are both great bright shades and I enjoy using both. I’m trying to move away from singles in pots but I love the Illamasqua packaging so I might keep them as they are if they survive round 2 We shall see.

April has not been a great makeup month for me. I’ve been a bit worn out by work and have felt less inclined to spend time having fun with makeup in the mornings and often skipping makeup altogether. A lot of looks have felt bland and uninspiring. I’ve also been in more meetings with external organisations and then I tend to be a bit more subdued and neutral with my makeup than I would have been otherwise. All of these pictures are taken in my day to day life with my iPhone, the same applies every month. I have a ring light and besides that I use whatever daylight that is available. Better settings and photo quality might be something for the future but right now this is what I can manage.

April 1

Eyes: Hype – Surge – Inception – Bedaub – 13th Floor

Cheeks: Rapture (blush, UD) – Silhouette (contour, Illamasqua) – Phee’s original highlighter

Lips: A mix of Velvet Muse and Velvet Fawn lined with Muse lip liner (Lisa Eldridge)

April 16

Eyes: Fortune Teller – Helios – Karma

Cheeks: Stereo Rose (blush, MAC) – Gotham (contour, Nabla)

Lips: A mix of Striking (Revlon) and Noir Moderne (Chanel)

April 18

Eyes: Dye – Spitfire – Apex – Remission – Drama Queen – Vanilla Bean

Cheeks: Breath of Plum (blush, MAC) – Taupe (contour, MAC)

Lips: Rouge Audace (Chanel)

April 21

Eyes: Chemical Bond – Unearthed – Lemon Tart

Cheeks: Legendary (blush, MAC)

Lips: Cream Lip Stain in “16” (Sephora)

April 23

Eyes: Stay Gold Caffeine primer (UD) – Lemon Tart

Cheeks: Sur (blush, MAC)

Lips: A mix of Cream Lips Stains in “17” and “103” (Sephora)

A total of ten shades are leaving my collection at the end of this month’s audit. Small but steady number. At the end of each month I feel like I have gotten to know each shade a little better and I’m so glad when I can weed out another one that is not up to par. I always feel like I want to move on tho the next monthly arsenal about half way into the audit, but the win in using a limited arsenal is that I am forced to be creative when I get bored. New combinations appear out of that boredom. I get more creative with using the other tools I have, like lip products and blush.

Besides evaluating the eye shadows I’m still focusing on wearing as many different cheek and lip product as possible. In April I managed to wear different 20 blushes, 4 contour shades, 9 highlighters, 23 lipsticks, 1 gloss and 3 lip pencils. I’m starting to form some opinions on some highlighters that can possibly go and that feels like true progress.

Thanks for reading!

My monthly arsenal in March was full of neutrals with pops of pinks, oranges and a variety of green. Two pre-made palettes by Sleek Makeup, two smaller compilations of singles (by Nabla, Lethal Cosmetics, Makeup Geek and KvD) and four loose shadows (Bare Minerals and Meow Cosmetics). Not the biggest lineup but a nice variety of options. A total of 45 individual shades.

Top Row L-R: Narciso, Desire, Unrestricted

Bottom Row L-R: Cleo, Mellow, Sugar

In a smaller palette I kept six neutral shadows by Nabla, a brand that I have purchased a lot of singles from and most of these are from 2016. I enjoy them but I tend to reach for the mattes more than the shimmers.

The Garden of Eden palette by Sleek Makeup

I purchased this palette by Sleek Makeup when it was released in 2014. I love the shade selection and the rosy mauve shades have been worn a bit, but it was many many years since I last wore this.

The Respect palette by Sleek Makeup

Another Sleek palette is Respect and it appears to be from around 2013-2014 as well. This palette has been used very little but it looks promising.

Top Row L-R: Release, Recluse, Enigma, Cycle

Middle Row L-R: Spawn, Fahrenheit, Vertex, Echo

Bottom Row L-R: Void, Ritzy, Vestment

A few more mattes and a bit more colour in general was added with another selection of singles. The shades from Lethal Cosmetics are newer (2019) but Ritzy (Makeup Geek) and Vestment (depotted KvD) are older.

Top Row L-R: Hallucination, Levitation

Bottom Row L-R: Velvet Lavender, Skeptic

Three loose shadows by Meow Cosmetics (Hallucination, Levitation, Skeptic) and one by Bare Minerals were included to add some lightness and brightness to the mix. All these are from around 2013 I think.

Those were all the shades audited this month. Let’s move on to swatches and my thoughts on each shade after a month of use.

Starting with the Nabla shadows, Narciso is a rosy milk chocolate brown and I used this primarily in the crease. A good work horse this month. Unrestricted is a ruddy plummy brown with gold sparkles. A very pretty all over the lid shade – easy to work with and I have nothing bad to say about it. I’m glad I rediscovered this shade. Desire is also a pretty all over the lid shade. Cleo is a basic antique gold and Sugar is a pretty soft light champagne pink. Neither is very special, but I enjoy wearing them and I generally like Nabla so they can come along to round 2. Mellow is a vey interesting dirty sand and I think it is quite special used all over the lid. So I’m keeping all six of the Nabla shadows.

The Garden of Eden palette by Sleek Makeup

I am so attracted to the shade composition in the Garden of Eden palette (Sleek) – the mauves, lilacs and greens. But after wearing it quite a lot this month I was conflicted. The mattes with glitter, Forbidden and Entwined, are not working very well. Adam’s Apple (pale green) is poorly pigmented and does not turn up on the eye as I would like. The darker mattes, Flora (brown)and Tree of Life (green) work well enough. The standout shade for me is Paradise on Earth, a gorgeous rosy lilac that I really enjoy on the eye. I tried to find another similar shade in my collection but lucked out with the pressed shadows. Initially I was going to depot and keep some shades but after some (a lot) consideration I just decided to let it go.

The Respect palette by Sleek Makeup

I used the Respect palette (Sleek) on two days this month and decided pretty quickly that I have no love for it. There mattes are underwhelming and the shimmers are not special enough to warrant keeping this. The black was used a lot but only because it was my only available dark shade so it did liner duty.

Looking at the last singles palette I feel wow, this array of swatches are really inspiring. Going in to this monthly arsenal I knew that I would keep most of these. I love the matte formula by Lethal Cosmetics and they are all quite new compared to most of my other shadows. Release is a muted purple and Recluse a murky medium green, both unique shades in my arsenal. Cycle is great as a bright crease or as a standalone all over the lid shade. I used Spawn and Fahrenheit as deepening shades for crease and outer corner. Subtle colours that can lean a look in a more brick or pink direction. Void is more of a pastel green and maybe not as useful for me as the other mattes. But I have noticed that I really appreciate having these lighter and brighter colours as accents, usually in the inner eye area, inner corner and above that area up to the brow. There are three shimmers by Lethal here and I really like all three. Enigma and Echo are my favourites but I really appreciate the bright pop of green that Vertex gives. So I am absolutely not giving up any of the Lethal shades. Ritzy by Makeup Geek is gorgeous and it is still lovely despite its age. The only one I’m letting go is Vestment by KvD. It is a very pretty shade but I found it to last poorly on the eye. It creased more than other shades and felt faded after half a day. Other shades do not behave in the same way on my eyes so I do not feel inclined to keep this shadow.

And finally we have the four loose singles. My main issue with Velvet Lavender (Bare Minerals) is the loose format. The shade itself is very nice and used as an inner corner matte highlight it adds brightness and a little something something to for example a more neutral lid look. However I think I will overlook it due to it being a loose shadow so I will let this one go.

Hallucination and Levitation (Meow Cosmetics) are both pretty inner corner highlights but out of the two Hallucination is my favourite. Levitation is not special enough to keep in a loose format.

Sceptic (Meow Cosmetics) is an interesting shade. A pastel purple with pink shimmer. But unfortunately it is not an easy shade to use and the pastel base easily gets a bit patchy when applied. Since it is part of the well loved (by me) Friday the 13th collection by Meow I wanted to keep it despite it being a bit finicky, but after some afterthought I will let this one go as well. That was all of the shades in this month’s arsenal.

So that was the rundown of the products in March’s audit. Below are some of the looks I created with said products. 

March 5

Eyes: Gates of Eden, Eve’s Kiss, Paradise on Earth, Python, Forbidden, Entwined, Count Basi Beige, Roberta Black, Hallucination

Cheeks: Molten (Sleek)

Lips: Striking (Revlon)

March 8

Eyes: Unrestricted, Narciso, Velvet Lavender

Cheeks: Dandelion (Benefit, blush), Taupe (MAC, contour), Perfect Topping (MAC, highlight)

Lips: Cream Lip Stain in “01” (Sephora) and lip pencil in Redd (MAC)

March 11

Eyes: Gates of Eden, FLora, Narciso, Desire

Cheeks: Havtorn (Idun Minerals)

Lips: A mix of Goldstone and Pink Opal (Linda Hallberg)

March 17

Eyes: Eve’s Kiss, Desire, Cleo

Cheeks: The Perfect Cheek (MAC, blush), Next to Skin (MAC, contour), Glow from Filmstar Bronze and Glow (Charlotte Tilbury, highlight)

Lips: Sultry (Revlon)

March 19

Eyes: Fahrenheit, Vestment, Echo, Velvet Lavender

Cheeks: Demerera (Sleek, blush), Sculpt (MAC, countour), Obsexed (Nabla, highlight)

Lips: Mix of Burning Love and Mull it Over (MAC)

March 23

Eyes: Cycle, Spawn, Cleo, Sugar

Cheeks: At Dusk (MAC, blush), Silhouette (Illamasqua, contour), Deity (Illamasqua, highlight)

Lips: Dolce Vita (Nars)

March 25

Eyes: Cycle, Spawn, Fahrenheit, Ritzy, Roberta Black

Cheeks: Pinky Peach (Isadora, blush), Sculpt (MAC, contour), Phantoma (Meow Cosmetics, highlight)

Lips: A mix of Luxurist (H&M), Rouge Feu (Chanel) and L’éxuberante (Chanel) lined with Pillow Talk lip liner (Charlotte Tilbury)

March 29

Eyes: Enigma, Fahrenheit, Echo, Sugar

Cheeks: Sur (MAC, blush), Next to Skin (MAC, contour), Lightscapades (MAC, highlighter)

Lips: Goldstone (Linda Hallberg)

So two fixed palettes and four single shadows are leaving my collection. A total of 28 individual shadows. I’m very glad that I came to the conclusion to let the Sleek palettes go. In this part of my audit process, after a year and a half, I’m realising that most of the Sleek palettes are probably not worth keeping. I know I’ve kept some in the previous months of this audit but the further in I get, the more I feel that I will let most of them go. They had a place in my life many years ago but that time is over. I feel nothing for them at this point.

Beside auditing my eyeshadows, my quest to maximise my usage of my cheek and lip arsenal continues. This month I managed to wear 23 blushes, 5 contour shades, 12 highlighters, 22 lipsticks, 1 gloss and 5 lip liners. I’m starting to form some thoughts on some items that might be let go in the coming months.

I mentioned in last month’s roundup that I’m getting a bit fed up with the first part of the audit and that I’m keen to move on to round 2. But I also firmly believe that a completion of round 1 of this project will make an impact on my decision-making in the audit, and help me let things go, and in the long run as well. It will aid me in deciding on how I want my makeup arsenal to look in the future and to make smart purchases on the occasions that I find something I like. So in order to get a better picture of the remainder of the audit project, a few weeks back I went through all of the remaining items and divided them into future monthly arsenals. Mattes will only last for a few more months and then I can move on with Round 2 of mattes. But in total I have material to continue this audit until February 2022. That is how much stuff I have accumulated over the years. Something to think about.

Thank you for reading!

This months arsenal was actually picked out a few months in advance, when I was beginning to get a bit bored with only choosing Meow shadows. I chose January and February in one go and after that I decided on March and April the same way.

February’s arsenal consisted of four fixed palettes and two quads assembled with single shadows. A lot of colour and shimmer with a solid base of matte neutrals by Urban Decay, Chanel, Illamasqua and MAC.

The Afterdark palette by Urban Decay

The Afterdark palette by Urban Decay was limited edition in 2017 and I was pleasantly surprised when I found it available in Sweden despite hearing rumours that it would not be sold here. So I bought it. The overall colour scheme is very appealing but it was a very long time since I last reached for it.

The Moondust palette by Urban Decay

The Moondust palette, also by Urban Decay, was bought in autumn 2016. I used it for a while and then it was overshadowed by newer items. I have not worn this for many years now.

The Demise palette by Illamasqua

I purchased this quad, the Demise palette by Illamasqua, as part of a bundle in 2018. I was purchasing a number of other products and this bundle consisted of a dark burgundy lipstick (that I never wore and then it expired), this quad (that I’ve never used) and a full size Gel Sculpt in the shade Silhouette. The Gel Sculpt is now my favourite contour and I’m very pleased that this bundle offer made me try it. But….all in all I feel like I might have been a shitty purchase.

The Candeur et Expérience palette by Chanel

This Chanel palette was part of a stunning collection in 2016 fronted by the equally stunning Kristen Stewart. I fell in love with the entire collection and received large parts of it as a gift from my husband. It consists of four warm satin mattes, three brown shades and a red.

Top Row L-R: Strike While Haute, Farasha

Bottom Row L-R: Indian Ink, Vibrant Grape

To add a bit of colourful mattes into the mix I opted for four MAC singles in coral red, pumpkin orange and two shades of violet. These shadows are of varying age and the newest is probably from around 2014. Most of my MAC shades are quite old at this point.

Top Row L-R: Brains & Brawn, Concrete

Bottom Row L-R: Outré, Coquette

Then finally we have another quad of mattes to fill in the colour gaps in the arsenal, some more neutrals including somewhat cooler crease shades. These are also all older MAC shades.

Let’s move on to swatches and my feelings on these products after a month of use.

All of these MAC mattes performed well for me even though I did not wear them as much as I initially thought I would (the warmer neutral shades in the Chanel quad was my primary source of matte crease shades during February). But I wore all of these shades one or twice and liked what I saw. A very pleasant experiment was on February 21st when I used Farasha and Strike While haute on top of a paler glossy lipstick (Luxurist by H&M) and made an amazing fruity lip colour (see look further down in this post). I will definitely use that technique again to customise a lip colour.

The Candeur et Expérience palette by Chanel

I have so many fond memories surrounding this palette and the collection it was part of. An entire collection seldom catch my heart but this one did. The shadows were warmer than I was used to and that warm red was intriguing. Many of my favourite lipsticks were purchased in relation to this collection as well. The shadows in the quad perform well and even though they are not as unique shades in my arsenal anymore I still want to keep it and keep on wearing it just for the nostalgia.

The Demise palette by Illamasqua

I only used this palette once, if we do not count that the black shade did liner duty quite a few times. It became apparent that I have no use for this quad. The cream shade is pretty but it creases on my oily lids and the burgundy is not up up to par quality-wise. The white gold is beautiful, but so is Alter from the Afterdark palette and I have limited use for numerous shades like that. I will let this one go in its entirety.

The Afterdark palette by Urban Decay

I really like the shade selection in the Afterdark palette (Urban Decay) but several shades perform badly. I do not think they have aged well because I can not remember Backfire and Paralyzed being so bland. The shade that stood out in a positive was Lounge. I tried to find a dupe in my collection but could not so after much consideration I decided to depot that shade and keep it. In doing so I also opened the possibility to keep some more shades. I decided on Supersonic, Sinful and Alter. Vibrant and very useful shades with a good formula. All of the others were poor performers except Scene, but I have no use for another pale gold pink.

The Moondust palette by Urban Decay

I fell in love with the Moondust palette this month. The texture of the shadows is just amazing and my preferred method of application is tapped on with a finger on their own or on top of another shadow as a sparkly transforming shade. I can happily wear all of shades in the palette and I am so glad that I have rediscovered this gem.

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. 

February 3

Eyes: All four shades from the Chanel quad, Scene, Sinful and the bronze pink from the Illamasqua quad

Cheeks: Bronze and Glow from the Filmstar Bronze & Glow palette (Charlotte Tilbury)

Lips: Sultry (Revlon)

February 6

Eyes: Element, Lightyear, Vega, Galaxy, Brains & Brawn, black by Illamasqua, black cream base by H&M

Cheeks: Stereo Rose (MAC)

Lips: Muse lip pencil and Velvet Blush (Lisa Eldridge)

February 14

Eyes: All four shades in the Illamasqua quad, Outre

Cheeks: Pomegranate (blush, Sleek), Silouhette (gel sculpt, Illamasqua), Phantoma (highlighter, Meow Cosmetics)

Lips: Velvet Decade (Lisa Eldridge)

February 19

Eyes: Lounge, top two shades from the Chanel Quad and the black by Illamasqua

Cheeks: Supernova (MAC)

Lips: Beet lip liner, Burning Love lipstick (MAC)

Februari 21

Eyes: Strike While Haute, Farasha, black by Illamasqua

Cheeks: Spring Flock (MAC)

Lips: Luxurist (H&M) topped with Strike While Haute and Farasha eyeshadows

In this audit I let go of two fixed palettes and a total of 10 individual shades. I’ve also rediscovered a great palette (Moondust), which makes me very pleased. Another focus this month, besides evaluating the eye arsenal, was my effort to wear as many of my cheek and lip products as possible. I actually managed to wear a whopping 19 blushes, 6 contour shades, 14 highlighters, 18 lipsticks, 1 gloss and 3 lip pencils. A damn good job!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my audit project lately. I still think it’s a valuable way to evaluate my large and ageing collection of makeup by wearing things for a month to solidify my opinions on them. The monthly arsenal also gives me a creative push by having only a fixed set of tools to work with. But as I was picking out shades for May the other day I realised just how many shadows I have to go through still and if I keep doing the monthly arsenal the way that I have I will be doing this for way longer than I want to. I am a super keen to move forward to round 2 of the audit, where I compare similar items, but I really want to wear stuff on my eyes before I discard or keep them. A bit of a dilemma.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that I’m running low on mattes. It says a lot that I’ve been able to do this for a year and a half and I’m only now running out of certain basic mattes to form a comprehensive monthly arsenal. I’m not completely settled on how I want to proceed, but I think I will have to switch up my approach in the near future.

Thanks for reading!

Having gone through all of my powder cheek products such as blushers, highlighters and contour shades in previous audits, for January I only had eyeshadows in my monthly arsenal. So when doing my makeup I had my entire cheek arsenal at my disposal.

After a few months with large monthly arsenals full of individual shadows I wanted something “lighter” to audit and chose two fixed palettes that offered a large variety of colours. A massive palette by NYX consisting of 40 shadows of varying finish and a smaller 12 shadow palette from H&M with mainly shimmers/glitters. Together these two palettes offered a plethora of choice with a total of 52 shades with a great variety of mattes, metallics and other textures. My choice to use only these two palettes did limit my possibilities to let things go this month but on the other hand it did provide the opportunity to really get to know two palettes in my arsenal and that is a very good thing.

The Swear By It palette by NYX

The Swear By It palette by NYX is my first and only eye shadow product from the brand. I purchased it in the spring of 2019 after seeing some rave reviews online and finding the colour selection very appealing. The murky mattes (especially 6, 11, 19, 24, 27, 29, 37) combined with some appetising shimmers (such as 12, 21, 28, 32) were the main draw and I felt it would be a nice addition to my arsenal. After starting my audit project in the autumn of the same year I did not touched this palette so it felt really good to give a proper run this past month.

Top Row L-R: A, B, C, D

Middle Row L-R: E, F, G, H

Bottom row L-R: I, J, K, L

The Special FX Eye Colour palette by H&M was a limited edition piece that I purchased in the summer of 2018. It is full of flakie and duochrome goodness. A true little gem of a palette. Since the shades have no names I gave them letters as identifiers just to make it a bit easier when reporting my thoughts on each shade.

Let’s move on the swatches and my thoughts on each shade after using them during the course of January.

Swear By It

First row in the Swear By It palette by NYX

The first row consists of pale and dusty pastels, six mates and two shimmers. 1 is one of those amazingly useful crease shades for me that gets used a lot. I use it as an only crease shade or to blend out other darker shades, such as blues. 2 is a pretty light golden beige that serves as an inner corner highlight on me. It’s one of the few shades in this palette that served that purpose for me. 3 is a warm peachy brown and an overall basic but useful shade. 4 is a pastel peach shade that I found a bit dusty but I think it looked very nice used all over the lid. 5 is a tad to yellow to be a proper brow bone shade or edge diffuser on me, and not dark enough to be a proper crease shade. But I did get some use out of it as a crease diffuser in the inner part of my crease where it also added a tiny bit of depth in the diffusion that I enjoyed. 7 on the lid looks mainly like a light gold albeit a slightly green tinged gold. It works ok as an inner corner highlight as well. 8 is a bit too pale and nothing to be a useful shade on me. One of the proper duds for me.

Second row in the Swear By It palette by NYX

The second row consists of three mattes and five shimmers. 9 is a very stunning muted rusty pink shimmer with a brown base that paired well with 10 for an easy but not boring neutral eye look. I had never worn 11 before this month and I’m so glad I have now discovered it. It’s unlike any of my other yellow shades and very inspiring. A sort of dirty bright. I only managed to use 12 once and 13 was not used at all, but since they are easily some of the most previously used shades in this palette I think nothing of it. Yellow is a colour I wear a lot and this bright yellow is no different. 12 is a stunning dusty pale rose gold and one of my favourite shades before this month. 14 is a nice olive green shimmer, pretty but not too exciting. I do not gravitate towards aqua shades like 15 and I’m not surprised that I never wore it. But I envision that this shade has potential as a topper in the future. 16 is a nice medium gunmetal. Not very exciting but useful.

Third row in the Swear By It palette by NYX

The third row is full of bright yet somewhat muted colours, six mattes or near mattes and two shimmers. 17 is a pretty muted rose that was worn once paired with another more intense shadow from the H&M palette. 18 was a lovely surprise. A stunning slightly muted dark pink and I shade I found was easier to use than anticipated. Easy to blend and build up. 19 and 20 are amazing shades for me to use all over the lid or as a pop of tangerine in the crease. 21 is a beautiful fiery gold shade and very useful for me. 22 was not the easies to blend but the shade is very interesting. It’s not a matte but rather a satin. I did not use 23 and I’m not sure I ever want to. I rather just let it sit there untouched. That type of blue is just not my jam. 24 was a real positive surprise as well. The perfect blue shade on me! I have issues with wearing blue since I often feel it does not go well with my complexion. But as with all colours it is all about finding the perfect shade for me, not that I cannot wear the colour at all. This dusty greyed blue is one of the prettiest blues I’ve worn.

Fourth row in the Swear By It palette by NYX

The fourth row is a bit more neutral. 25 is yet another great crease shade for me. A tad darker and cooler than 1 but both have similar purpose, this one just add more depth. 26 is a pink shimmer with a mauve base, a pretty muted shade that is not done justice in the picture above. 27 is a lovely rosy brown and a fairly unique shade in my arsenal. 28 is a stunning rosy copper and 29 is a dirty tangerine. All beautiful on the eyes. 30 was another surprise. A dark murky green that was lovely to use and added depth and colour to a more smokey look. 31 was never worn but this is one of the blue shades that I actually could see myself liking layered on top of other shadows. 32 is another previous favourite so I’m not too worried that I hardly wore it this month. A beautiful blue duochrome with a ruddy base.

Fifth row in the Swear By It palette by NYX

The final and fifth row consists of primarily darker shades. Only two out of eight are shimmers. 33 is a cool dark purple and 34 is a magnificent cool dark red. 34 especially had beautiful pigmentation and was easy to blend. 35 is a great dark cool brown and despite looking a bit boring in the pan it was beautiful on the eyes. This shade is also great as a base to layer other shifting products over. I can see the green/blue shimmers looking amazing on top of the brown base. 36 was one of my most worn shades of the month as it functioned primarily as a deepening shade for warmer looks as well as a liner. 37 is yet again another muted bright matte – the reason why I love this palette. Such variety in interesting matte shades that are easy to work with. 39 was surprisingly easy to use despite being such a dark shade and I had fun using it. It is a tad redundant to have both 38 and 40 in the same palette, but I did get use out of both.

I have really gotten to know this palette in January and my feelings for it have increased. The Swear By It palette has got a great shade selection for me and it provides endless options. I can use most shades, even several of the blue shades, and the shade variety nicely complements the rest of my makeup collection. The murky mattes and pretty shimmers combine so well and even after using it a whole month, there are still oh so many combinations that I have yet to try. The only negative I can think of with this palette is the cheap and boring packaging. But the insides are a whole lot of fun.

Special FX

The Special FX Eye Colour Palette by H&M – Part 1

The Special FX palette was a perfect companion to the Nyx palette. A is a stunning bright fuchsia with blue and pink glitter particles. I applied this with a finger on top of other pink shades and the look was stunning. B is a lovely molten gold and one I actually did not use this month. I already know it is an easy shade for me to wear so I did not focus on it. C did inner corner duty and did it well, I love a duochrome for that purpose. D was used as a liner but otherwise this shade is a bit of a dud for me. I suppose it has a function in the palette to accompany the other shades but I still need to bring in other mattes for a complete look so I would just prefer if this was another shimmer instead of a matte with glitter. E is a bit tricky to use. The glitter is a bit chunky and I found that the best application method is to pat it on and blend with a finger after I had applied my matte shadows. F was never worn, but not because I’m not attracted to it but rather that I had so many other shades to try and was spoiled with choice.

The Special FX Eye Colour Palette by H&M – Part 2

H is a very shiny silver that reminds me of mercury, it was lovely to use both as a lid shade and as an inner corner shade. J is another blue shade I really enjoy. I paired it with a dark matte red and it looked so good. G, I and K were perfect as inner corner highlights but K was a bit of a weaker performer than the other two. The formula was chunkier and drier. Nothing that will stop me from using it in the future though. L looks boring in the pan but the purple shimmer particles really pop on the eye.

To evaluate the palette as a whole I think it’s a fun and valuable component in my arsenal. The shadows are very beautiful and many of them are unlike anything else I have.

So that was the rundown of the palettes in January’s audit. Let’s move on to some of the looks I created with said products. 

January 2

Eyes: 2, 8, 39

Cheeks: Sur and Next to Skin (MAC), Filmstar Bronze and Glow highlighter (Charlotte Tilbury)

Lips: Velvet Muse (Lisa Eldridge)

January 4

Eyes: 4, C, 36

Cheeks: Breath of Plum, Next to Skin and Perfect Topping (all by MAC)

Lips: Blush gloss (Lisa Eldridge)

January 9

Eyes: 7, 19, 27, 35, 40, H

Cheeks: Dusty Rose and Nude Blossom (Isadora), Perfect Topping (MAC)

Lips: Velvet Midnight (Lisa Eldridge)

January 11

Eyes: 16, 22, 25, 30, H

Cheeks: Dandelion (Benefit), Lightscapade (MAC)

Lips: Nougatine (H&M)

January 13

Eyes: 4, 26, 27, 29, 36, C

Cheeks: Breath of Plum and Next to Skin (MAC), OMG (Illamasqua)

Lips: Skyscraper Rose (Lisa Eldridge)

January 15

Eyes: 2, 25, 33, 34

Cheeks: Turbinado (Sleek), Here Comes Joy (MAC)

Lips: Blush lip gloss (Lisa Eldridge)

January 17

Eyes: 11, 38, G

Cheeks: Muscavado (Sleek), Taupe and Perfect Topping (MAC)

Lips: Cream Lip Stain “17” (Sephora)

January 18

Eyes: 1, 7, 9, 10, 36

Cheeks: Mocha and Sculpt (MAC), Phee’s original loose highlighter

Lips: Noir Moderne (Chanel)

January 19

Eyes: 28, 29, 36, 37, G

Cheeks: Sur (MAC), purple shade in LE-trio (H&M)

Lips: Velvet Muse and Blush lip gloss (Lisa Eldridge)

January 22

Eyes: 14, 22, 30, K

Cheeks: Kendra and Obsexed (Nabla)

Lips: Burning Love (MAC)

January 25

Eyes: 34, 40, I, J

Cheeks: Demerara (Sleek), Gotham (Nabla), Filmstar Bronze and Glow highlighter (Charlotte Tilbury)

Lips: Velvet Fawn (Lisa Eldridge) and When in Rome (H&M)

January 29

Eyes: 1, 12, 29, 35, 36, 38

Cheeks: Bon Fire (Sleek)

Lips: Muse lipliner and Velvet Muse (Lisa Eldridge)

January 30

Eyes: 18, 25, 32, 34, 39, D, L

Cheeks: At Dusk, Next to Skin and Lightscapade (MAC)

Lips: no notes

This month has not resulted in me letting any products go since both palettes are terrific. But it has solidified these two palettes’ worth to me as part of my possessions and introduced me to the possibilities these shadows give me in terms of creating looks. Both contain a multitude of shades that are unique to my arsenal and I am very happy to have them at hand. I am now better acquainted with most of the shades and a memory of what they can do. There are a few shades in each palette that are not great, but most of them are great.

Thanks for reading!

This December I participated in the tag #redlipsdecember created by @luvanloud on Instagram as I have done for a few years now. The main goal is to wear a red lip on every day of December and I tweaked my ambition slightly so that I at least wore red lips on every day that I wore makeup, which was not everyday by any means. Last year I chose neutral eyeshadows to audit in December to make my job easier when creating looks to go with a red lip. This year I unintentionally chose a different approach. Since I have been going through my seasonally appropriate loose shadow collections by Meow Cosmetics for a few months I had in advance picked what to use for December as well, not even thinking about #redlipsdecember. But I did feel up for the challenge and it turned out to be a fun month creativity-wise.

Besides shadows from several Meow Cosmetics collections (Santa Baby, Ghosts of Xmas Past, 4 Horsemen, End of Days, Xmas Trees, Holiday Wishes, Reindeer), I chose loose pigments by MAC and Bare Minerals, single shadows by Illamasqua, Urban Decay and & Other Stories. In addition I picked one fixed palette by Linda Hallberg and one magnetic palette with singles from brands such as Lethal Cosmetics, Nabla, KvD, Makeup Geek and Neve Cosmetics. A whopping 50 shades for the eyes. Cheeks was not a big category this month since I am currently down to my last two highlighters to audit, both by Phee’s Makeup Tips. This means I can start with round 2 for blush, contour and highlighters in 2021. Not sure exactly how to proceed with that yet, but it should be fun.

Part One – Eyes

Top Row L-R: Quadrifoglio, Hipster, Radikal, Chiaroscuro

Middle Row L-R: Brownie Points, Lotus, Devil, Petra

Bottom Row L-R: Frantic, Cascade, Imago, Delirium, Martyr

Every month need some core shades such as mattes and neutral shades. Some of them were assembled in this magnetic palette. One depotted Neve shadow (Quadrifoglio), two by Makeup Geek (Hipster, Brownie Points), four by Nabla (Radikal, Chiaroscuro, Lotus, Petra), two depotted by KvD (Martyr, Devil) and four from Lethal Cosmetics (Frantic, Cascade, Imago and Delirium). Some colour and some basic neutrals – a good mix.

Top Row L-R: Heroine, Cubica mauve

Bottom Row L-R: Velvet Nude, Smokeout

To complete the core lineup I added some single shadows to cover the holes left by the other palette. Two crease shades, one by Illamasqua (Heroine) and one by & Other Stories (Cubica Mauve), one beige shade by Bare Minerals (Velvet Nude) to use as a diffuser and a satin black by Urban Decay (Smokeout) to use as liner and to darken any eye look.

Metallic Mysteries II by Linda Hallberg

This Linda Hallberg palette is full of typical Christmas shades so I thought it would be appropriate to use it this month. I got this as a gift when it was released two years ago. I’ve worn it a few times but not enough to feel like I’ve had a proper relationship with it, if you know what I mean. A good audit contestant.

Top Row L-R: Basic Red, Kitchmas, Pink Pearl

Bottom Row L-R: Delicate Drift, Stylishly Merry

Some MAC items of varying age were also included due to being very seasonally appropriate. Kitchmas is one of my oldest pigments and it might even have been from when I lived in Brighton in 2000-2001. I’m a little unsure of the exact year but lets just say it is extremely old. Basic Red and Pink Pearl are from between 2012-2014 I think. The two shadows in compacts are newer from the Snow Ball collection from 2017. The are both shifting pink bronzes, a type of shade I am extra drawn to.

Top Row L-R: Duplex, Winter Coat, Grinch

Bottom Row L-R: Ornament, Fa-la-la

Moving on to the Meow Cosmetics collections. Here we have the Santa Baby (Duplex) and Ghosts of Xmas Past (Winter Coat, Grinch, Ornament, Fa-la-la) collections.

Top Row L-R: , Cedar, Spruce, Noble

Bottom Row L-R: Love, Serenity, Peace On Earth

Then we have the collections Xmas Trees (Cedar, Spruce, Noble) and Holiday Wishes (Love, Serenity, Peace On Earth) also from Meow Cosmetics.

Top Row L-R: Death, Famine, Violence, Pestilence

Bottom Row L-R: Dancer, Comet, Donner

Then we have the 4 Horsemen (Death, Famine, Violence, Pestilence) and Reindeer (Dancer, Comet, Donner) collections by Meow Cosmetics.

Top Row L-R: Doomsday, Hysteria, End Game

Bottom Row L-R: Oblivion, Hopeless, Prophecy

And finally we have the End of Days collection from Meow Cosmetics (all of the shadows above). Dark and murky yet colourful goodness.

That was all of the eye products in Decembers arsenal, a hefty number of products. Let’s move on to swatches and a walkthrough of how I felt about each shadow during the course of the month, starting with the magnetic palette with matte singles.

All shades side by side, se names in the next two pictures

Quadrifoglio (Neve Cosmetics) is a shade I depotted from their Scurissimi palette but this shade can be purchased as a single as well. This shadow was fairly easy to use and kept its colour when blended. Even though it might be a shade I wear seldom I want to keep it to se if I can use it more often. Hipster (MUG) has turned a bit dusty over the years and that is one of the reasons I will not be keeping it. The colour was nice to wear but it simply does not have enough impact to be kept when I know I have other similar shades from other brands. Radikal and Lotus (both by Nabla) are beautiful colourful mattes that I want to wear more often in the future. I enjoyed wearing both and they were lovely to work with. Chiaroscuro (Nabla) was mainly used as a liner so I can not say too much on its merits as a smoky shade. The cool tone makes it very versatile for me and I would like to keep using it. The same goes for Brownie Points (MUG). It’s an interesting dusty purple brown that pairs well with other shades.

All of the above shades will be kept. The ruddy pinks from Lethal Cosmetics are amazing to work with – Frantic, Cascade and the lovely Imago. The blend so well and keep their colour. Delirium (Lethal) is a nice shade as well, even though it is not as fun as the other Lethal shades included this month. But it is oh so useful! The Lethal shades are some of my newest eyeshadows (purchased in the Spring 2019) and I did not expect to get rid of any in this audit, but it was lovely to play with them some more. Petra is another Nabla shade and I do enjoy this one a lot. A ruddy brown that I think is rather unique in my total arsenal. Lastly we have two depotted KvD shades from the Sinner & Saint palette, Devil and Martyr. I used them mainly in the crease to add a bit of colour and warmth. They are both pretty and worked well. Both are the type of shade that I probably have ten times over but I will keep them for now.

Heroine (Illamasqua) is a very useful crease shade for me and I really love the brand’s packaging. It is very impractical for me to have such a basic shade in a single compact but I will think about that later. For now I will keep it. Cubica Mauve (& Other Stories) is a shade that my love for has lessened. I have similar shades that I enjoy more so this is a single I’m ready to let go of. Velvet Nude (Bare Minerals) is a beige shade that is a smidge darker than my skin colour when applied to the face. I did use it as a diffuser around the edges of an eye look during this month, but i have no need to keep it in my arsenal. I have similar shades in pans that I prefer using for that specific purpose. Smokeout by Urban Decay is a lovely satin black that I reached for quite a lot. I used it as liner and to darken up the outer corner of my eye. I might depot this in the future but UD singles packaging is so pretty that I am a bit reluctant to disturb it. Out of these four I’m keeping Heroine and Smokeout and letting the other two go.

Metallic Mysteries II by Linda Hallberg

Since this was a gift that I had wished for I feel a bit sentimental towards the Metallic Mysteries II palette but one thing this month has taught me is that I have little feelings towards it other than that. The shades are fine but they are simply not special enough for me to keep this separate little quad. If I could have depotted them I might have considered it but as it is now I am letting the whole thing go.

The image above is just so delicious to me. The shades go so well together. Let’s start with Basic Red (MAC). I used to fantasise about owning this PRO pigment back in the day when that assortment was hard to get a hold of in Sweden. I lusted after it and when I finally bought it many years later, did I ever use it? NO. The swatch above is beautiful but when I used it on the eyes it quickly became such a mess that I had to remove the whole thing. I love red eyeshadow passionately but a matte loose pigment is clearly not for me. The fallout was spreading pigmented stains of red/pink on my cheeks, making the pigment a nightmare to work with. I am glad to let it go. Kitchmas (MAC) on the other hand is a sparkly light silvery pink pigment that I still love. I have very sentimental feelings towards this pigment, since it was purchased at a significant time in my makeup loving life, and the fact that it still is lovely on the eyes make me want to keep it a little longer. Maybe not my most level-headed choice in this audit but I’m clearly not ready to just let it go. Pink Pearl is a beautiful pink shade with a blue shift and i enjoyed wearing it a lot. Keeper. Delicate Drift and Stylishly Merry are stunning shadows. I really enjoy the In Extra Dimension formula from MAC and these are no exception. I need to wear these a lot more often.

Santa Baby and Ghosts of Xmas Past collections by Meow Cosmetics

Duplex is a pretty colour on the eyes but it’s not special enough to keep. If it was a pressed shadow I might reach for it, but in loose form I’m sure it will never be used. Winter Coat is also out due to being a flat and boring shade on the eye. Grinch on the other hand is a magnificent green that I’m very excited to wear again. Ornament and Fa-la-la are both very happy and bright shades. They will go on to round 2 as well. So two out of five are out.

Xmas Trees and Holiday Wishes collections by Meow Cosmetics

Next we have three green shades. Cedar is a very pretty inner corner shade and Spruce and Noble are beautiful on the lid. I am very fond of green eyeshadow in general so all three can stay for now. Love, Serenity and Peace On Earth were all used as inner corner highlights and there is just something about them that I love. They are all staying as well.

4 Horsemen and Reindeer collections by Meow Cosmetics

Violence and Pestilence are beautiful dark but still colourful lid shades. Famine has a lovely delicate blue sheen not visible in the swatch above. I enjoy all three a lot. Death was the least exciting shade of the bunch, but still nice enough to keep in order to keep the 4 Horsemen collection intact. Moving on to the three reindeer shades, Comet was the only letdown. Somehow it had a weird blue base that came through when blending, a fact I had not noticed before (and I’m quite sure I have used it before this month). That feature made the decision easy since I know that it will keep me from using it in the future. Donner and Dancer are stunning though. Donner is a beautiful inner corner shade and Dancer is stunning all over the lid.

End of Days collection by Meow Cosmetics

I’m very fond of the End of Days collection primarily because of the shades Hysteria and Prophecy that I have use quite a lot over the years. Prophecy is a stunning white gold that is lovely in the inner corner and also as a cheek highlight. Hysteria is a potent molten gold that makes my heart sing. Then we have End Game, a very interesting muted green yellow. A very fun shade. Doomsday is also a hit, a strong popping purple. Oblivion is nice as well. A more muted dark red that I enjoyed pairing with darker pinks with great effect (see look from December 26). The dud of the lot was Hopeless. It has a blue base that makes it difficult to blend and the end result was not a shade that looked very appealing on me.

Part Two – Cheeks

L-R: Cryptic, Lasaia

My last two highlighters are two cool shades by Phee’s Makeup Tips (Cryptic, Lasaia). Since I had no blushes left to audit I picked a selection of previously audited items to complete the cheek arsenal, see my choices below. This is also the last month I will be doing a cheek arsenal since I will have audited all of my blushes, highlighters and contour shades when December is over. In January I will start using all of my cheek products again and evaluate the entirety of my cheek collection simultaneously. Maybe I will let some go, or I will be content with keeping them all. We shall see.

Top Row L-R: Legendary (MAC), Pink Cult (MAC)

Bottom Row L-R: Baby Don’t Go (MAC), Flushed (Sleek Makeup), Rapture (Urban Decay)

I wore each shade only once this month and that was enough to determine that these are not for me. These were too stark for me, I just know I will not reach for them. So both are out.

That was it, the complete rundown of all the products I audited during December. Let’s move on to some of the looks I wore during the month, created with this arsenal. And all of my red lip products! Let’s not forget them.

December 4

Eyes: Pink Pearl, Cascade, Delicate Drift, Chiaroscuro

Cheeks: Baby Don’t Go

Lips: Velvet Dragon (Lisa Eldridge) and lip pencil in Brick (MAC)

December 5

Eyes: Arcturus, Frantic, Imago, Smokeout

Cheeks: Lotus, Rapture, Prophecy

Lips: Rouge Vie (Chanel)

December 8

Eyes: Ornament, Delirium, Love

Cheeks: Flushed

Lips: Rouge Vie (Chanel) and lip pencil in Redd (MAC)

December 9

Eyes: Stylishly Merry, Peace On Earth, Draco, Quadrifoglio

Cheeks: Baby Don’t Go

Lips: Velvet Ribbon (Lisa Eldridge) and lip pencil in Cherry (MAC)

December 11

Eyes: Famine, Donner, Brownie Points, Smokeout

Cheeks: Rapture, Cryptic

Lips: Devoted to Chili (MAC)

December 13

Eyes: Pestilence, Cedar, Imago, Delicate Drift, Chiaroscuro, Smokeout

Cheeks: Pink Cult

Lips: Velvet Jazz (Lisa Eldridge)

December 19

Eyes: Draco, Lotus, Collision, Chiaroscuro

Cheeks: Legendary, Prophecy

Lips: Devoted to Chili (MAC)

December 20

Eyes: Hysteria, Donner, Martyr

Cheeks: Pink Cult

Lips: Velvet Ribbon (Lisa Eldridge) and lip pencil in Cherry (MAC)

December 21

Eyes: Collision, Epsilon, Chiaroscuro

Cheeks: Legendary

Lips: Velvet Dragon (Lisa Eldridge)

December 22

Eyes: Fa-la-la, Doomsday, Prophecy, Hipster, Brownie Points

Cheeks: Pink Cult, Prophecy

Lips: Rouge Feu (Chanel)

December 25

Eyes: Kitchmas, Chiaroscuro

Cheeks: Pink Cult

Lips: Striking (Revlon)

December 26

Eyes: Violence, Oblivion, Lotus, Frantic, Cascade, Chiaroscuro,

Cheeks: Baby Don’t Go

Lips: Fiery (Revlon)

December 29

Eyes: Noble, Devil, Petra, Chiaroscuro

Cheeks: Flushed

Lips: Velvet Dragon (Lisa Eldridge) and lip pencil in Brick (MAC)

All in all I let 11 items go, a total of 14 individual shades. I also felt like I had a very inspired makeup month and it was a fun challenge to do colourful eye looks to go with the red lipsticks. I had 9 lipsticks/crayons and three lip liners to play with and I used them all 2-3 times during the course of the month. It was very satisfying to utilise my red lip products to a maximum and get to know each shade’s potential a little bit more.

Moving on to January I’m not going to continue with choosing Meow Cosmetics collections as such a big part of my monthly arsenal. It was fun to do it for the three months that I did, so that I could use the Halloween and Christmas collections at the “appropriate time”, but now I want to choose differently. I might include one whole Meow collection in future monthly arsenal, but I look forward to choosing a bit more freely from other brands as well in the coming months.

Thanks for reading!

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!