Sunday, December 3, 2017

Recent Looks: Colourpop, Viseart, Morphe, BH Cosmetics, Kat Von D, and more

I know it has been a while since I posted weekly looks, and I know that my posting has been sparse for the past month. I wrote about this in a recent post, but I will mention again that the reasons for that are:

  1. I have been traveling. 
  2. I've needed a break. 
  3. I've been getting a little bored of the beauty community.

Now, to speak a bit on that last point, that is not at all about my interaction with my blog or readers. I'm getting bored of watching YouTube beauty videos, I feel like all of the content is stale and the same, and I am exhausted by members of the beauty community being enamored by all the drama surrounding influencers. And, as always, I'm tired of all the shilling.

I have also mentioned this in a post, but I have recently (within the past month and a half) been gifted a few palettes. Being gifted makeup has become a bit interesting for me. People in my life know that I love makeup and that I have a blog about makeup. And when thinking of a gift for me, it's usually makeup. But I write an anti-haul blog about why I don't need certain makeup items. And I have been gifted a couple palettes that I decided I was not going to buy and have written anti-haul posts about.

Now, I know that I don't need to explain myself or give disclaimers. (That's always a bit of an annoyance for me, when people give so many disclaimers just so that a few assholes won't write them mean comments.) But due to the nature of my blog, when I acquire an item that I have declared that I won't buy, I would like to at least let you know. And while I wasn't planning on buying these items for myself, they are special to me since they are gifts, and I will be using them. So, I have denoted these palettes with an asterisk.

What follows are several looks I've done in recent weeks that include some of these new palettes as well as old favorites.

Look 1: Peachy Mattes and Morphe Jaclyn Hill Palette*






Morphe Sissy on the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease as a transition shade, Colourpop Making Moves and Stay Golden blended into the crease, Colourpop Cannonball blended above Making Moves and Stay Golden, and Colourpop 143 padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 2: Morphe Jaclyn Hill Palette*





Obsessed on the inner lid, Diva on the outer lid, Silk Creme and M.F.E.O blended into the crease as transition shades, Butter and Buns blended into the crease, and Mocha and Enchanted blended to deepen the crease. Obsessed and Diva on the lower lash line.  

Look 3: Morphe Jaclyn Hill Palette*





Hustle on the lid, Butter and Buns blended into the crease as transition shades, Jacz blended into the crease, and Cranapple padded onto the outer corner.

Look 4: Peachy Mattes and Viseart Bijoux Royale 





Viseart 5 on the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease as a transition shade, Colourpop Making Moves and Stay Golden blended into the crease, Colourpop Cannonball blended above Making Moves and Stay Golden, and Colourpop 143 padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 5: Kat Von D Saint and Sinner*





Worship on the lid, Costal Scents Oatmeal Tan blended into the crease as a transition shade, Martyr blended into the crease, Exorcism padded onto the outer corner and blended into the crease, and Exodus on the inner lid and inner corner. 

Look 6: NARS Isolde and Viseart Neutral Matte 






NARS Isolde (left) on the lid, Viseart peach shades blended into the crease as transition shades, Viseart orange shade blended into the crease, and NARS Isolde (right) padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 7: Fyrinnae Meerkat and Desert Dusk






Fyrinnae Meerkat on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy), Inglot pink and purple shades blended into the crease, and Coloured Raine Queen Mother padded onto the outer corner.

Look 8: NYX Air





12 on the lid, 3 blended into the crease as a transition shade, 9 blended into the crease, and 11 padded onto the outer corner and blended into the crease. 

Look 9: Natasha Denona 5-pan 09 and Viseart Neutral Matte 





Natasha Denona silver shade on the lid, Viseart light peach shades blended into the crease as transition shades, and Natasha Denona olive shade blended into the crease. 

Look 10: BH Cosmetics Zodiac





Pisces shimmer on the lid, Virgo matte blended into the crease as a transition shade, Cancer matte blended into the crease, and highlighter on the brow bone and inner corner.

Look 11: BH Cosmetics Zodiac 





Scorpio shimmer on the inner part of the lid, Sagittarius shimmer on the outer part of the lid, Aquarius matte blended into the crease as a transition shade, Sagittarius matte and Scorpio matte blended into the crease, and highlighter on the brow bone and inner corner. 

Look 12: Tom Ford Nude Dip and Viseart Neutral Matte






Tom Ford 2 on the lid, Viseart peach shades blended into the crease as transition shades, Viseart cool light brown blended into the crease, and Tom Ford 4 padded onto the outer corner. Marc Jacobs Whirl(pool) on the waterline. 


*These palettes were given to me as gifts. 

Look 1: Peachy Mattes and Morphe Jaclyn Hill

What can I say? I am still just completely enamored with my Peachy Mattes duped palette. I have been using this palette consistently for months at this point, and I still find myself wanting to use it every day. There are certain shades that I use every time I use the palette, which include Colourpop The News, Making Moves, Stay Golden, and 143. I added Morphe Sissy on the lid to complement the rest of the look, and I really love the end result. Sissy is easily my favorite shade from the Jaclyn Hill palette, and I really loved how this look turned out. 

Looks 2 and 3: Morphe Jaclyn Hill Palette

This is not a palette that I ever anticipated owning. I have owned Morphe palettes in the past that were cheaply made, smelled terribly, and burned when applied to my skin. Added to that, I feel as though the price for this palette is too high considering other palettes of the same size from Morphe. The palette that I own is the one that was made for Ulta, so the packaging has been slightly upgraded to include a protective layer that enables one to clean it as well as the shade names printed on the back of the palette. 

My honest thoughts are these: The palette is definitely better quality than any other Morphe palette I have owned. It does not smell or burn when applied to my skin, it does not feel as cheaply made, and the colors perform better than the other Morphe shades I have tried. While the color scheme is not at all anything unique, I have found that there are many pretty shades in it. However, I still do not feel this palette is worth its price tag; I think all of these shades are easily duplicated in most collections; the shadows do not perform as well as shadows from brands like Colourpop, Coloured Raine, or Makeup Geek; and I don't feel like the color scheme is comprehensive. For as big as the palette is, there are so many duplicated shades that could have been replaced for shades that would have made the palette more comprehensive. For example, there are so many pinky/berry/red shimmery shadows, but there are not any mattes to complement them. I think this palette would have benefited from some cool-toned light and mid-tone browns as well as some pink/mauve mattes. It's a fine palette to travel with (I was gifted it while I was traveling and had it for the majority of my four-week trip), but I did find myself bringing in my Peachy Matte duped palette on a fairly regular basis. 

In terms of the two complete looks I did with it above, I really loved look 2 and was kind of "meh" about look 3. Sissy is my favorite shadow in the palette, but Diva is a close second. 

Look 4: Peachy Mattes and Viseart Bijoux Royale 

I don't have a ton to say about this look because it is a look that I create on a regular basis. Something I've noticed in all of the Viseart shimmer palettes that I have owned is that there is typically one shimmery shadow that is way better than all the others. And in Bijoux Royale, that's 5. I've thought about decluttering this palette many times because I've really discovered that I don't care for Viseart shimmers (and after trying less expensive matte shadows, I think their mattes are overpriced and overrated), but this one shade always stops me. And that's dumb because I clearly have similar shadows in my collection, but nothing quite like this one. I love this shadow and I loved this look. It feels like this kind of look is turning into my "signature" look, and I'm totally fine with that. 

Look 5: Kat Von D Saint and Sinner

Man, this palette. This is another palette that I was not planning to buy that I was gifted. And, to be honest, I don't know how much use I will get out of it. The colors are certainly beautiful, and they are prettier than what I saw in pictures and swatches, but I have a serious lack of inspiration when I look at it. I can't tell you how many times in the past few weeks I have picked up this palette to use only to put it back and reach for something else because I can't think of a look to do. That was one of the reasons I listed in my anti-haul post as to why I wasn't going to buy it, and owning it hasn't changed that opinion. 

As for the look I did, I liked it, but it was also one that seemed quite obvious to me. I keep wanting to use this palette, but I just can't find the inspiration. 

Look 6: NARS Isolde and Viseart Neutral Matte 

NARS Isolde is a fantastic duo, and I think it will always create a pretty look. I paired it with the Viseart Neutral Matte palette because that seemed pretty obvious, and, just as expected, the look came out pretty. I have to say, however, that since I have been playing with color, this kind of look feels so incredibly boring to me. I received compliments on my makeup when I wore this (I'm assuming because it intensifies my eye color), but I felt a little boring all day when I caught a glimpse of myself. 

Look 7: Fyrinnae Meerkat and Desert Dusk

I've written about this shadow before as well as a look similar to this one, so I will be brief in saying that I really liked this look a lot and thought it was pretty. Fyrinnae shadows are always amazing, and I thought it paired nicely with my duped Desert Dusk palette. 

Look 8: NYX Air

I've also written about this palette before (and probably have done this exact look), so I will say that I am still enjoying using this palette. Some shadows are certainly better than others, and the shades I used in this look I think are the best the palette has to offer. The other shades are a little lackluster. 

Look 9: Natasha Denona 5-pan 09 and Viseart Neutral Matte 

A long time ago, I used my Natasha Denona shadows as part of my one week, one palette series. What I loved so much about that series is that I pushed myself to use every single color in a palette and really experiment with color. I had never liked silver on me before, so I was really dreading using this color. But then I paired it with the olive shade and I completely fell for it. I've had a craving to do that look again since, and I finally did it. I don't have much more to add since I've already written about this look, but it is one of my favorites. 

Looks 10 and 11: BH Cosmetics Zodiac

This is a new palette to me as well, but this is one that I chose to purchase. I have only tried one BH Cosmetics palette (Carli Bybel), and I ended up depotting and decluttering most of it. I like to have an idea about the quality and performance of most brands so that I can compare and accurately talk about quality as it relates to me and my preferences, and I wanted to try BH's baked formula. I have only used this palette twice in these two looks, but I have to say that I really like the palette. I don't have a ton of experience with baked shadows, but these were quite impressive. I used them dry and not over any kind of glitter primer, and I felt like the shadows came off quite vibrant. I would like to use it more before I give any kind of final thoughts on it, but so far I am really enjoying it. 

Look 12: Tom Ford Nude Dip and Viseart Neutral Matte

Every time I use Tom Ford shadows, I am always reminded of how gorgeous and shiny they are. (To be fair, I only like the Nude Dip and Honeymoon shadows. The other Tom Ford quad shadows I don't feel perform nearly as well.) I thought I just wanted a simple and pretty look on the day I wore this, but then I threw Marc Jacobs Whirl(pool) on the lower lash line, and I loved the contrast between the simple and elegant lid and the bold color on the lower lash line. Although a little understated, this was also a favorite for me. 

2 comments:

  1. How do you feel about depotting gift palettes? Would that wreck the sentimental value? I've seen some interesting re-arrangements of Saint & Sinner for instance, and I know you are a fan of rearranging palettes in general.

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    1. You know, I have thought about depotting Saint and Sinner and trying to rearrange the colors in a way that makes sense to me, but I don't think I want to fully depot the shadows and put them in a custom palette at the moment. The main reason for this is that I don't have a spare custom palette, and I don't want to buy one just to make this palette work. But it is certainly something that I will look into in the future if the palette still doesn't inspire me.

      Thanks for the suggestion, and thank you for reading!

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