Weekend Looks: Fyrinnae and Dior

My intentions were to do two very colorful looks this weekend, but today, I found myself itching for a shadow that has become a fast ultimate favorite. So, I have one colorful look and one neutral look. And I'm happy with that. 

Here are the looks I did this weekend. 

Look 1: Fyrinnae The Alchemist and Viseart Dark Matte

Fyrinnae The Alchemist on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Viseart 10, 11, and 12 blended into the crease.

Look 2: Dior Cosmopolite, Zoeva Substitute for Love, and Anastasia Beverly Hills Fudge

Cosmopolite on the lid and Substitute for Love and Fudge blended into the crease.

Fyrinnae The Alchemist

Status: Love

This is one of the coolest shadows I have seen. The Alchemist is a part of Fyrinnae's Arcane Magic line, which means (as I've explained a lot) that the color will look different depending on how close it is to light. The Alchemist looked teal on the lid and in the picture, but when I was in different lighting, it looked purple. It was really cool! I paired the shadow with shades in Viseart Dark Matte, and I think it was a perfect combination. I used the last three shades in the palette, which range from teal to a green-brown, and I thought the look was really pretty. I could have also paired it with purples or blues from this palette, but I was happy to use some of the shades that don't get as much use as others. 

Dior Cosmopolite

Status: Favorite

I've talked about Cosmopolite before, so I won't spend too much time on this shade. I love it. It is easily one of my favorite shadows in my entire collection. Yes, it is a bronze (sort of), but it is incredibly special and unique, in my opinion. It's like a bronze mixed with taupe and glitter/sparkle, except the sparkle is completely contained in the shadow and does not fall out whatsoever. I've been craving Cosmopolite since I last wore it (not that long ago), and just couldn't bring myself to wear something else today. 

Zoeva Substitute for Love

Status: Love

I've also talked about this a lot, so I'll be brief again. This is one of the best matte browns I have ever used. The tone is perfect for my skin tone, it offers great pigment, and it blends so easily. That I know of, this color is only available in the Cocoa Blend palette, but I have depotted mine.  

Anastasia Beverly Hills Fudge

Staus: Really enjoy

At the end of the day this is a brown shadow, so it's challenging for me to be overly enthusiastic about it. With that said, it's a great shadow and darkens up any gold/bronze look really beautifully. I'm a much bigger fan of ABH singles than the shadows in their palettes, and I get that I am in the minority there. Fudge is a perfect shade for me because it's darker than colors like Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear (one of my favorites) and lighter than matte black shades or browns that are dark enough to look black. This gives me the depth that I enjoy without being too dark. 

What I'm Not Buying: Zoeva Matte Spectrum Palette

Zoeva's latest release is a colorful, all matte palette that looks, honestly, very beautiful. 

But I won't be buying. 

This post is going to be a little different for me. I usually give you all the reasons why I personally am not going to buy a new product so that it might curb the hype or help you make a more informed decision on purchasing a product or not. 

And it's true that I am not going to buy this palette. The reason I am not going to buy it is because I already own Viseart Dark Matte:

As you can see, there are a LOT of similarities between the Matte Spectrum and Dark Matte palettes. The major difference is that Matte Spectrum offers more colors and includes the light end of the spectrum. 

When I write anti-haul posts about all matte palettes, I usually acknowledge that they are very similar to most everything on the market, are not unique, and bring little to the table. And I use Dark Matte as a reference point because this is one of the most unique and beautiful selections of matte colors I have seen. Dark Matte is also a perfect matte palette for people who have dark and deep skin tones, and I support the fact that this is a palette inclusive of everyone. 

I would not be surprised at all if Zoeva was inspired by Dark Matte in creating the Matte Spectrum palette. The similarities are too close for it to be a coincidence, in my opinion. 

Here's the thing. I've had a lot of people comment that they are lusting after Dark Matte, especially because I rave about it. Dark Matte was once a palette that I regretted purchasing and one that I seriously considered decluttering from my collection because I never used it. Because of my one week, one palette project where I forced myself to use color (and subsequently fell in love with it), I found Dark Matte to be an "essential" palette for me. I use quotes because, come one, this is makeup. Nothing is essential. But to put it into perspective, I use Dark Matte way more than I use Viseart Neutral Matte. 

And the main reason people hesitate purchasing Dark Matte is because it is a hefty $80. That is a ton of money to spend on a palette no matter your budget. And because I knew how little I once used Dark Matte, I hesitate to tell anyone that this palette is worth spending $80. I'm so glad I have this palette now (I used it today, in fact), but for a long while, I very much regretted spending the money on this. 

To be fair, I have no idea how the quality is for the Zoeva palette. I have only owned one Zoeva palette, and it was Cocoa Blend. The mattes in that palette are incredible, and they are absolutely shadows that I wouldn't part with. I ended up depotting Cocoa Blend into my singles palette and I decluttered some of the redundant shades and the shadows that I knew I wouldn't use much, but I kept all but one of the matte shades.

The Matte Spectrum palette is $40 USD. According to the Zoeva website, shipping to the US starts at $9. I know when I ordered Cocoa Blend last year shipping was around $13 to New York City. I have no idea if shipping rates have gone down at all. With that being said, Matte Spectrum is not a cheap palette. It is as expensive as palettes in the mid-range, like the Naked palettes or Chocolate Bar palettes. So, it is not as though this is drug store pricing, meaning $20 or less. But, without shipping, this palette is half the cost of Dark Matte. With shipping, it's still around $30 less than Dark Matte. And there are more shadows.

So, if the quality of the Matte Spectrum palette is the same as the Cocoa Blend palette, I would not hesitate to recommend Matte Spectrum if you have been wanting Dark Matte but don't want to pull the trigger because of price.

Here are swatches of Matte Spectrum:

Photo: ConMdeMiriam Makeup

And swatches of Dark Matte:

It's important to keep in mind that both photos show heavy, unrealistic swatches. But you can still tell that the colors are incredibly similar. 

Switching back to my normal anti-haul format, in all honestly, I was tempted by Matte Spectrum. And that is so hilarious to me because I so obviously already own literally all of the colors. As I've said, I really love my Zoeva mattes and this is clearly a color scheme that I like, and because of that, I was tempted. 

But, in all honesty, if both palettes were the same price, I would still choose Viseart. And the reason is because I prefer the tones of the Dark Matte shadows. I feel like they all have almost a brown tone in them that I feel makes them incredibly wearable. The Zoeva colors look much more bright and "true" to color. 

And I realize that I said I prefer Viseart when I just said I think Matte Spectrum would be a great alternative for those who don't want to spend $80 on Dark Matte. But I am also being honest with the fact that I prefer what I already own. And that's great for me because there really isn't any temptation once that is realized. 

Matte Spectrum is also a good reminder for me that sometimes brands come out with "new" products that are just repackaging old products that I already own. Sometimes brands will put it in really pretty packaging so that it tempts us or they will rearrange the colors so that it tricks our brains into thinking that it is something new. And, truthfully, Matte Spectrum is somewhat different. It has lighter colors that I might use as transition colors and cream shades that I would use under the brow bone. Dark Matte doesn't have those, so I had a moment where I thought maybe it was different. But it's not. Not really. It's just a new way of looking at colors that I've had in my collection for over a year. So while I can certainly see why people will be drawn to this palette, it's not unique to my collection, and I won't be buying. 

One Week, One Palette: Zoeva Cocoa Blend

For the eighth week of my one week, one palette project, I chose to use one of my favorite staple, workhorse palettes: Zoeva Cocoa Blend.

This is an interesting palette for me because it's close to what I would consider to be a "perfect" neutral palette for warm skin tones, but it is also so neutral that it is easily replicated and gets forgotten about in my collection. 

Most people consider the Too Faced Chocolate Bar or Urban Decay Naked to be their ultimate or all-time favorite neutral palette, but for me and my specific skin tone, it's the Cocoa Blend. But, since it is so neutral, I was really hoping that by the end of the week I could come to terms with the fact that I already own these colors in my collection and be able to declutter it. 

Top, from left: Bitter Start, Sweeter End, Warm Notes, Subtle Blend, and Beans Are White

Bottom, from left: Pure Ganache, Substitute For Love, Freshly Toasted, Infusion, and Delicate Acidity

I used every color in this palette last week, and for the exception of Make Up For Ever Pearl—which I used on the inner corner ever day—I did not need to bring in any additional shadows. 

Below are six looks I did last week.

Look 1:

Base: MAC Paint Pot in Painterly

Pure Ganache on the first half of the lid, Warm notes on the second half of the lid, Substitute For Love and Freshly Toasted blended into the crease, and Bitter Start on the brow bone.

Look 2:

Primer: Milani Eyeshadow Primer

Pure Ganache on the lid, Substitute For Love and Freshly Toasted blended into the crease, Infusion padded onto the outer corner, and Bitter Start on the brow bone. 

Look 3:

Primer: NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Subtle Blend on the lid, Freshly Toasted blended into the crease, Warm Notes blended into the crease over Freshly Toasted, and Bitter Start on the brow bone. 

Look 4:

Primer: NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Delicate Acidity on the lid, Substitute For Love and Freshly Toasted blended into the crease, Beans Are White padded onto the outer corner, and Bitter Start on the brow bone. 

Look 5:

Primer: NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Sweeter End on the lid, Substitute For Love and Freshly Toasted blended into the crease, Subtle Blend padded onto the outer corner, and Bitter Start on the brow bone.

Look 6:

Primer: NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Warm Notes on the lid, Freshly Toasted blended into the crease, Infusion padded onto the outer corner, and Bitter Start on the brow bone. 

The reason I included the bases/primers I used this week is because I used MAC Painterly on the first day and I absolutely hated the way the shadows looked. I was convinced that I was going to declutter the palette after using it the first day, and I didn't even want to continue using it for the rest of the week because I really thought I wasn't going to enjoy it. When applied over Painterly, I felt the pigmentation was lacking and the shadows were very difficult to blend. This was unexpected for me since I remembered really loving the shadows and being incredibly impressed with them. As I mentioned in my last one week, one palette post, I had run out of my favorite primer, the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, and knew I needed to repurchase it. Once I started using that primer, the shadows were gorgeous and exactly as I remembered them. And then it occurred to me that I had only ever used these shadows with the NARS primer. 

I don't think Painterly is a bad primer, and I don't think the NARS primer is markedly better than most primers with most shadows. The Milani Eyeshadow Primer worked beautifully with the Cocoa Blend shadows, and I couldn't really tell a difference between that primer and the one from NARS. This may be a case of Zoeva shadows not playing well Painterly. 

Once I transitioned to the different primers, I quickly remembered why I loved this palette so much. It really is close to being the perfect neutral palette for me. I say "close to" perfect because the two black shades—Beans Are White and Infusion—perform essentially the same, and I think one of those shades should have been substituted for a cooler-toned milk chocolate brown shade. I would have also substituted Sweeter End for a more intense shimmer that could be worn on the inner corner. 

My favorite shadows in this palette are absolutely Substitute For Love and Freshly Toasted. They are gorgeous shadows that work beautifully with my skin tone. I would say they could potentially be some of my favorite shadows in my entire collection. Bitter Start is also one of my all-time favorite shadows for the brow bone. Pure Ganache, Warm Notes, and Subtle Blend are also favorites of mine. 

But—and here's the rub—these colors are not that unique. Substitute For Love reminds me a lot of Too Faced's Peanut Butter. Freshly Toasted reminds me of Makeup Geek Cocoa Bear. Pure Ganache is very similar to MAC's Amber Lights; Warm Notes is similar to MAC's Cranberry; and Subtle Blend is similar to several shadows I have from Morphe. Bitter Start is similar to shades in the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye palette and a shade in the Viseart Neutral Matte palette. 

I enjoyed Sweeter End and have used it before (not last week) as a mixing shade for other colors, and really enjoyed it for that purpose. But I also enjoyed it last week as a subtle but pretty lid shade. Delicate Acidity was pretty and looked better in person than it did in the photo. I don't always love purples against my skin because of the cooler tones, but I received several compliments on the day I wore Delicate Acidity because it gave a pretty smoky effect. Beans Are White and Infusion were fine. I actually really loved the look of black paired with gold, which was surprisingly something I had never tried before, and it's something I would love to do again. 

So what do I do when I genuinely love six shadows in this palette and enjoy the other four but have duplicates for the six shadows that I love? If I decluttered this palette, would I miss it? For me, this is the kind of palette where I don't think to pull it out regularly because there is nothing flashy about it. Or when I pull it out, I would likely do a very basic look. But then when forced to use it for an entire week, I loved it! I was creative with it and did looks that I had never done before. I've thought about depotting some of the shadows and mixing them with some of my favorite singles, but then I could also see myself depotting all but one of the black shadows. And if that's the case, I might as well hang onto the entire thing as is. 

My favorite looks last week were definitely look 3 and 2, but I really enjoyed every look except for look 1. And I would probably have loved look 1 had it not been for the base I used. They certainly aren't as exciting as some of the looks I've done with my more colorful palettes, but I found them really pretty nonetheless. 

I have to say that I am really impressed with Zoeva. I purchased this palette online and paid over $15 for shipping to the US. Even with the high international shipping fee, this palette was still around $35. For ten shadows of this quality, I find that incredible. Sure, the packaging doesn't feel as expensive as some of the thicker cardboard or plastic cases, and it doesn't have a mirror, but the look of the packaging is really elegant, and I am happy with it overall. And I am thrilled to see a brand put more concern and cost into the product than into the packaging and yet still have the packaging look nice. Zoeva does it right!

I honestly don't know if I would miss this palette if I decluttered it because I have so many duplicate shades in my collection. But there is something to be said sometimes about having all those "perfect" shades together in one palette. If I were to curate my own palette (if I had no other shadows), it would look very similar to Cocoa Blend with the exceptions I've noted above. I think this palette is a much better buy than the Too Faced Chocolate Bar or Urban Decay Naked palette or any other warm neutral palette. I really enjoyed using Cocoa Blend all week, and the only reason I'm excited to move on to another palette is because I'm craving a bit of variety. With that said, using Cocoa Blend exclusively for a week also showed me how versatile a simple neutral palette can be, which is helpful when feeling bored with a palette or collection of shadows. For the moment, I'm not going to declutter or depot this palette, and I will revisit it after the completion of this round of one week, one palette. I have so many palettes that this round won't be complete for a while, but as of right now, I think if I do anything, it is more likely that I would depot some of it than declutter.