Weekly Looks: MAC, Natasha Denona, Juvia's Place, Colourpop, Kat Von D, and more

I hit a snag this week in terms of makeup. I've been feeling a lack of inspiration for a while now, but I really felt it this week. I think I was still able to come up with some cool looks that I really enjoyed, but I'm certainly feeling "pressure" to come up with a new look every single day. And, frankly, that has become a little exhausting. On days where I feel inspired to play, it's so fun to come up with something new. But other days, like the majority of this week, I just haven't been in the mood, and looking at my makeup collection felt like looking at a full closet and feeling like there was nothing to wear.

I'm also prepping for a major life change that will happen next week, so that is likely the reason for the lack of inspiration. Nonetheless, I feel like I maybe want to start my "one week, one palette" project again. I can't promise that will happen, but I think it might be a good place for me to start and get my bearings again.

With that said, this week, I mainly pulled from my single shadows and custom or duped palettes.

Here are five looks I did this week.

Look 1: MAC Satin Taupe

Lid: MAC Satin Taupe

Transition: MAC Quarry

Crease: Ardency Inn Violet

Inner corner: Kat Von D Saphyre

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Juvia's Place Dalia

Look 2: Natasha Denona Industrial and Nina's Orchid 

Lid: Natasha Denona Industrial 

Transition: Makeup Geek Cupcake 

Crease: Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid 

Inner Corner: Makeup Geek Phantom 

Brown Bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid

Look 3: Juvia's Place Zola

Lid: Juvia's Place Zola

Transition: Kat Von D pink

Crease: Colourpop Silver Lining

Inner Corner: Kat Von D Saphyre

Brown Bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Makeup Geek Caitlin Rose

Look 4: Colourpop Come and Get It

Lid: Colourpop Come and Get It

Transition: Inglot 361 matte

Crease: Inglot 392 matte

Outer corner: Coloured Raine Ladyship 

Inner Corner: Coloured Raine Crown

Brow bone: Too Faced Satin Sheets

Lower lash line: Ardency Inn Orchid

Look 5: Kat Von D Saint and Sinner

Lid: Worship

Transition: Sacred Heart

Crease: Rosary

Outer corner: Exorcism

Inner corner: Absolution

Brow bone: Baptism

Lower lash line: Worship

Look 1: MAC Satin Taupe

I recently added Satin Taupe and Quarry to this palette, and I have to say that I was really disappointed with how they looked. I don't know if I was just having an off day, but the colors looked really muddy to me. And I don't mean that they muddied together, I mean they looked dirty. I tried to spruce this look up with some purple and vibrant blue, but it felt like a loss all the way around. 

Look 2: Natasha Denona Industrial and Nina's Orchid

This look came out of my duped/reimagined Modern Renaissance palette, and I really enjoyed it. I think these taupe silver shades pair so nicely with a purple in the crease, and I really loved how this look turned out overall.

Look 3: Juvia's Place Zola

This was definitely my favorite look of the week, and I love how beautifully Zola pairs with pinks and purples. I was again reminded how much I love Colourpop Silver Lining, and I am always shocked that many people think it's terrible. (Even Temptalia gave it an F rating!) I don't typically buy into the "maybe I just got a bad batch" excuse that many people give when a product performs poorly, but I genuinely feel like I have a better pan of this shadow than most. This was a really fun look for me and is an easy way, I feel, to wear color without feeling like you are overdoing it.

Look 4: Colourpop Come and Get It

One of the reasons I want to do a one week, one palette project soon is because I want to use this palette for an entire week and just get all the sunset looks out of my system. (Who are we kidding, I would need to do at least a one month, one palette project for that.) I love this palette, but I know that it is also a very pink/purple/berry/orange palette. And maybe I'm not all that creative, but there are only so many looks I can do with a palette like this that aren't going to look totally similar. Luckily, I love the look of pinks and purples in the crease, so that doesn't bother me, but I don't know how interesting it would make these weekly posts. Either way, I loved this look.

Look 5: Kat Von D Saint and Sinner

(This palette was given to me as a gift.)

On an almost daily basis, I reach for this palette thinking that I want to use it and then I put it away because I can't think of a new look to do with it. I haven't wanted to make the obvious neutral looks with it, and most days I'm just not feeling a lime green on the lid with orange in the crease. I believe I've done a version of this look before, but it was one that I liked and wanted to revisit. I like how this look turned out, but I think I would have liked it more if the colors were swapped and there was pink on the lid with purple in the crease. I wear a version of a look like that all the time, so I guess that makes sense. I do like this palette overall, but I continually find it difficult to spark inspiration.

Weekly Looks: Cool Tones

I mentioned a few times in the past month or so that I was getting a little tired of my eyeshadow looks and felt like I was always doing the same things. And I realized that what most of my favorite looks have in common is that they are warm-toned. 

I was inspired this week to separate my single shadows (that aren't already in existing duped palettes) into warm and cool tones. And to my complete surprise, I was really drawn to my collection of cool shadows. I did one look this week with a cool shadow on the lid and warm shadows in the crease, but after that, I just wanted nothing but cool tones. So that's what I did. 

It was a nice departure from what I typically do, and it was great to get some use out of shadows that are typically very ignored. I guess this could almost be considered a one week, one palette, but I did not use every shadow in this palette and also pulled in some other shadows. 

Here is a closeup of the palette and shade names:

And here are the five looks I did this week. 

Look 1: Ardency Inn Heaven

Lid: Ardency Inn Heaven

Transition: Kat Von D Ludwin

Crease: Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear

Brow Bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Look 2: Juvia's Place Chi

Lid: Juvia's Place Chi

Center of lid: Ardency Inn Heaven

Transition: Viseart cool brown and Coloured Raine Moments

Crease: Urban Decay Untitled and Juvia's Place Chi

Inner corner: Kat Von D Saphyre

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Juvia's Place Chi

Look 3: Coloured Raine Royal Highness and Ardency Inn Violet

Inner lid: Coulred Raine Royal Highness

Outer lid: Ardency Inn Violet

Transition: BH Cosmetics pink

Crease: Colourpop Silver Lining

Inner corner: Urban Decay Roadstripe

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Ardency Inn Violet

Look 4: Costal Scents Lakeshore

Lid: Costal Scents Lakeshore

Transition: Viseart cool brown

Crease: Urban Decay Boom

Outer corner: Urban Decay Untitled

Inner corner: Kat Von D Saphyre

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Makeup Geek Caitlin Rose

Look 5: BH Cosmetics taupe and Colourpop Glass Bull

Lid: BH Cosmetics taupe

On top of lid: Colourpop Glass Bull

Transition: Viseart cool brown

Crease: Coloured Raine Moments

Outer corner: ABH Rosette

Inner corner: Urban Decay Roadstripe

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: ABH Rosette

Look 1: Ardency Inn Heaven

Heaven is an odd shadow for me. When I swatch it on my hand, I am so blown away by how gorgeous it looks, but when I apply it onto my lids, I tend to feel like it is too cool-toned for me. It almost comes off as a silver, which I know sounds strange, but that's usually how it looks. I paired it with warm-toned shadows in this look, and while I think it looks nice in photos, I didn't really like how it looked in person. I contemplated decluttering it from my collection, but when I moved it into the cool-toned palette and away from the other, warmer golds, I became much more drawn to it. 

Look 2: Juvia's Place Chi

This was one of my favorite looks that I did this week. It was also the first that I did with the completed cool-toned palette. As soon as I saw Ardency Inn Heaven next to Juvia's Place Chi, I knew that I had to use them in a look. I'm really happy with how this turned out and enjoy the the "moonlight on the ocean" look that it has, but I would be curious to see how Heaven would look on the majority of the lid with Chi on the outer corner. This was much more of a "midnight" look than I originally anticipated, but I absolutely loved it. I also love how great Coloured Raine Moments looks within the eye look because that is a shadow that I have not been able to utilize much. 

Look 3: Coloured Raine Royal Highness and Ardency Inn Violet

I might sound repetitive in this post, but this was another look that I really liked this week. I have several purples in my collection, but I feel like they don't get a ton of use, which is a shame. I don't think it comes across this way in photos, but this was a very smoky, dramatic look, and I loved it. The combination of the BH Cosmetics pink shade and Colourpop Silver Lining made for a really pretty glow in the crease, and I think it transitioned well into the colors on the lid. Again, these aren't colors that I ever would have paired together on my own, but seeing them in a cool-toned palette made them make sense for me. 

Look 4: Costal Scents Lakeshore

This was my absolute favorite look of the week. Lakeshore is such a fantastic and underrated shadow, and I was excited to do a monochromatic blue look with it. And this look could not have come out better for me. I depotted two shadows from the Urban Decay Jean-Michel Basquiat palette (Boom and Untitled), and I'm so glad that I did because I was contemplating decluttering the entire palette from my collection. Instead, I depotted the blue and green shades and decluttered the rest. The two blues performed like a dream in this look. I was also really impressed with how great it looked with the Viseart cool brown shade as a transition, as that is a shadow that I haven't used much because I don't wear a ton of cool shadows. I thought about running one of the blue shadows on my lower lash line, but decided to use the coolest-toned purple in my collection, and I think the result is really, really pretty. I feel like I say this often, which kind of minimizes the sentiment, but this is really one of my favorite looks I've ever done. 

Look 5: BH Cosmetics taupe and Colourpop Glass Bull

Rounding out my cool-toned week, I decided to go with a taupe-based look. To be honest, I wanted to use my Le Metier de Beaute single in Corinthian, but I thought it might be best to stay within the palette. I decided that I wanted to use Colourpop Glass Bull, and I have to say that I still don't quite understand the hype with this shadow. I tried to pull inspiration online, but when I searched for "Colourpop Glass Bull looks," the only thing that really came up was my own look the last time I used it (and, yes, that was quite a weird experience). I find this shadow really sheer and glossy. Maybe it's supposed to evoke the look of a Glossier model. I'm not sure. But it's not a look I personally want at this time. I decided to layer it with the BH Cosmetics taupe shade, and even though Glass Bull is on top, you can't even see it. I think it's a fine look, and I paired it with a raspberry lip, which really pulled it together, but it's not something I think I'll replicate. 

Weekend Looks: Juvia's Place, Bobbi Brown, Morphe, and Urban Decay

This was a quiet weekend for me, and I found myself pretty exhausted and wanting to be casual. That  translated into my makeup, though I still ended up with some bold and unconventional looks. On the surface they may look intense, but the reality is that I paired neutral colors with one bold color. And I really love that such looks are becoming the new "neutral" for me. It's crazy to think that I was so scared of colors for years. Life is way more fun in color.

Here are the looks I did this weekend.

Look 1: Juvia's Place Chi and Bobbi Brown Camel

Lid: Juvia's Place Chi

Transition: Kat Von D Ludwin

Crease: Bobbi Brown Camel

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

Inner corner: Illamasqua Cascade

Lower lash line: Bobbi Brown Camel

Look 2: Morphe Jaclyn Hill and Urban Decay Electric 

Lid: Morphe Obsessed

Crease: Morphe Buns, Chip, and Mocha

Inner crease: Urban Decay Savage

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

Inner corner: Urban Decay Roadstripe

Lower lash line: Morphe Chip

Look 1: Juvia's Place Chi and Bobbi Brown Camel

I decluttered the Juvia's Place Masquerade palette a while ago from my collection, but I depotted a few shades that I thought were pretty unique and special (which ended up being the colorful shades). Chi is one of the standouts from that palette, and every time I've worn this shadow, I've received compliments. I think this is such a pretty shadow, and I wish that Juvia's Place would sell it as a single. I paired it with Bobbi Brown Camel because it's such a great shadow that really works with anything. And I think the end result was really great. What's cool is that Chi is a deep blue with purple undertones, and depending on what I pair with it, it will pull one or the other. I've paired Chi with mauves and it has pulled purple, and with Camel, it pulls deep blue. I really loved how this looked, and it wore incredibly well with no transferring throughout the day. 

Look 2: Morphe Jaclyn Hill and Urban Decay Electric 

(I received the Morphe Jaclyn Hill palette as a gift.)

This look was inspired by professional makeup artist and YouTube creator Lauren Mae Beauty, specifically the look in this video. I've always loved Lauren's looks, especially how she puts colors in "unconventional" areas of her eyes, and I just wanted to try this. While I definitely don't think my attempt looks as great as what Lauren does, it looks better in person. What I love about artists like Lauren is that they bring something new and interesting to the makeup conversation. This look, for example, is very neutral for the most part, much more than what I typically do. But with the inclusion of the hot pink in an unconventional placement, it makes the look really interesting. I am a glasses wearer on a daily basis, so this look becomes very understated when I put my glasses on, which makes me love it even more. In terms of shadow quality, the Morphe shadows I used in this look did not perform very well, and I wasn't impressed with them. Obsessed took several layers to build up, and the matte shades did not bend very well. I've been able to create looks with this palette that I enjoyed, but not all shades are created equal, and these were not impressive. 

Recent Looks: Peachy Eyes—NYX Air, Carli Bybel Deluxe, Juvia's Place Masquerade

It's been a while since I've done a recent looks post, and as I mentioned in an earlier post this week, the reasons have been because of some life events and international travel. I took photos of several of my looks over the past couple weeks, but I also repeated the same looks several days because I liked them so much. 

I will mention this in my upcoming September Favorites post, but my duped Just Peachy Matte palette has been an everyday staple for me, and I haven't wanted to use anything else since I first put the colors together. 

One thing to note, I did replace two of the colors in the "duped" palette for colors I wanted in this palette more. In the top row, far right, I replaced ABH Fudge with Colourpop Slim Fit, and in the middle row, I replaced Coloured Raine Moments with Colurpop 143. 

Here are eight looks I've done in recent weeks.

Look 1: Kiko 208

Kiko 208 on the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease as a transition shade, Colourpop Slim Fit blended into the crease, and Colourpop Making Moves padded onto the outer corner. Chanel eyeliner in Eros on the waterline. 

Look 2: Kiko 200

Kiko 200 on the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease, and Makeup Geek Bitten padded on the outer corner. Marc Jacobs highliner in Whirl(pool) on the waterline. 

Look 3: "Just Peachy Mattes"

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

Look 4: Juvia's Place Masquerade 

Juvia's Place Chi on the inner and outer lid, Juvia's Place Zola on the center of the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease as a transition shade, and Colourpop Stay Golden blended into the crease. Marc Jacobs highliner in Whirl(pool) on the waterline. 

Look 5: BH Cosmetics Carli Bybel Deluxe 

Carli Bybel 4 on the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease as a transition shade, Colourpop Slim Fit blended into the crease, and Colourpop Stay Golden padded onto the outer corner and blended into the crease. 

Look 6: NYX Air

12 on the lid, 3 blended into the crease as a transition shade, and 11 padded onto the outer corner and blended into the crease. 4 on the lower lash line. 

Look 7: Stila Magnificent Metals Sunset Cove

Sunset Cove on the lid, Colourpop The News blended into the crease as a transition shade, Colourpop Making Moves and Stay Golden blended to the crease, and Colourpop 143 padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 8: "Desert Dusk"

Colourpop High Strung on the lid, Inglot peachy shade blended into the crease as a transition shade, Inglot purple shade blended above the peachy shade, Inglot orange shade blended above the purple shade, and Makeup Geek Masquerade padded onto the outer corner. NYX Vivid Brights eyeliner in Vivid Violet. 

Look 1: Kiko 208

I've written about my Kiko shadows several times, so I'll just say that I really loved this look. I've really enjoyed pairing light golds with bright peachy shades, and I thought this look came out quite pretty. I think it takes a typical neutral look up a few notches without being a super dramatic look. I also paired it with Chanel Eros on the waterline, and while it did kind of make my waterline look a little blood-like, I still thought it was interesting and pretty. 

Look 2: Kiko 200

Despite this being one of my favorite Kiko shadows, I didn't really like this look all that much. Since I have been really infatuated with my peachy palette, I've been wanting to explore and see what colors pair well with the peach tones. And I have to say that I wasn't super thrilled with this combination. I really liked putting Whirl(pool) on the waterline, and thought that gave the look a little bit of interest, but on the whole, I wasn't really digging this. 

Look 3: "Just Peachy Mattes"

I wore this look on one of the worst days I've had in recent memory. And by the end of the night, I had cried all of this off my face. Typically, that would mean that I would never wear this look again because the memory tied to it is so bad. BUT, I really, really, really love this look. So, screw that. That awful day doesn't get to own this look. I do. I wore this look several times while in Europe, and I received more compliments than I have on any other look I've ever done. One woman even stopped me on the street as I walked by just to tell me how much she loved my eyeshadow. So, yeah, this is a new favorite look for sure. 

Look 4: Juvia's Place Masquerade 

What I've shown in the photo above are the only shadows I have left from this palette. I really loved Masquerade, but I felt I had the majority of the shadows in my collection already, for the exception for the very colorful shades. Chi and Zola have always been favorites of mine, and since I couldn't decided which colors to wear that day, I decided to wear both. I really like the look of blues and purples paired with pinks, so I thought this look came out quite pretty. Having to do it over again, I might substitute the peachy crease shades with either hot pink or dark berry.

Look 5: BH Cosmetics Carli Bybel Deluxe 

I mentioned a few weeks ago that following my birthday and double surgeries, I had been gifted quite a bit of new makeup, and this palette was part of that. I honestly haven't used this palette too much because when I've used it, I've only used the same shade every single time, which is the fourth shadow in the top row. This shade is KILLER. The majority of the shadows in this palette are quite pretty, but I am positive that I have duplicates of all of them elsewhere in my collection, expect for this one shade. I would like to use this palette more, but I wouldn't be surprised if I depotted that one shadow and decluttered the palette.

Look 6: NYX Air

So, this palette is unfortunately a result of that aforementioned terrible day. I don't typically buy makeup anymore for emotional reasons (and it is not a behavior that I find exceptionally healthy), but that happened. I was so impressed with the NYX Fire palette (and less so with the NYX Brights palette) and was curious to try Air. I've only used this palette one time, which was to do the above look, so I am going to hold off on giving my "official" opinion of the palette. With that said, every color I used in this look was really great and performed exactly as I would expect based on the Fire palette. I'm looking forward to wearing some of the more colorful shadows next, such as the blue and green shades.

Look 7: Stila Magnificent Metals Sunset Cove

I've written about Sunset Cove before, which is a color that I absolutely love. I have several Magnificent Metals, and they are easily one of my favorite products of the year. This was my other favorite look of the past few weeks, and it was my favorite look I've ever done with one of the Stila Magnificent Metals. This look is also a great example to me of how shadows can blend and layer without looking muddy. It's exciting to me that I created this look with $5 Colourpop shadows, especially when there are much more expensive and hyped alternatives available that don't perform, in my opinion, nearly as well.

Look 8: "Desert Dusk"

Finally, for my last look, I compiled a "dupe" palette of the Huda Beauty Desert Dusk, inspired by Lauren Mae Beauty's "Let Dupe It" video on the same palette. I really like how this look turned out. The shadow I used on the lid, Colourpop High Strung, isn't a "dupe" for any shadow in the Desert Dusk palette, but I added it to my palette because I thought it went nicely with the other shades in it. It doesn't show up too well in the photos, but I loved Makeup Geek Masquerade on the outer corner and lower lash line. I typically only use Makeup Geek foiled shadows all over the lid, so it was fun for me to think (a bit) outside of the box with the look.