Weekend Looks: Notoriously Morbid and Hello Waffle

I have received many comments lately that have remarked on my absence from posting, and I just wanted to take a moment to talk about that. The people who read my weekly and weekend looks are typically those who are regular readers of my blog, and those are the people who I would like to update. 

I started experiencing some health issues a couple months ago, and I have spent a lot of time since then having appointments, getting scans, and seeking out second and third opinions. And what I have learned is that I need two pretty big surgeries. This has been an incredibly stressful time for me as it is also the busiest time at work, which will last through the summer. I still put on makeup every day as it is something that I enjoy, and that is why I am able to do the weekly wrap ups of my looks on the weekend. I love writing anti-haul posts and really love being able to interact with my readers, but those posts take a lot of time that I just haven't had recently. 

There are still a lot of unknowns for me, and how often I will be able to update the blog is one, but I really do love this blog and interacting with people and I will eventually get back to posting frequently. 

Separately, this marks the official end of indie month. And I have to say, I think I really went out with a bang because I loved the shadows I used. 

Here are the looks I did this weekend, featuring Bobbi Brown Camel.

Look 1: Notoriously Morbid Philosophoscope

Philosophoscope on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Camel blended into the crease.

Look 2: Hello Waffle The Great Catsby

The Great Catsby on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Camel blended into the crease. 

Notoriously Morbid Philosophoscope

Status: Favorite 

When I bought this shadow, I thought it might look like Fyrinnae Serendipity, and I have said many times that that is a favorite shadow of mine. When I got the pot, however, it looked much deeper and I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, so I delayed wearing it. When I decided to use it yesterday, safely on the weekend, I was blown away by how beautiful it was. I paired it with Bobbi Brown Camel, which is easily one of my favorite shadows I own, and I thought the look was just lovely. I don't think the shadow pays off all that well on camera, because I feel this looks like an average cranberry shade, but in person it was really beautiful. Compared to some of the light and frosty looks I have been doing recently, this shadow made me feel really sophisticated. 

Hello Waffle The Great Catsby
Status: Favorite

This shadow has also become a favorite of mine. I somehow ended up with a lot of blue shades when I delved into indie shadows, and I have been trying to space them out. This one, however, feels very wearable to me. My first instinct when I wear color is to be as bold as I can, pairing it with other intense colors or meeting somewhere in the middle by pairing it with Viseart Dark Matte. And while I think this shadow would work well with either approach, I decided to pull out Camel again and see how I liked the blue paired with a mustard brown. And man, do I love it. For a shimmery blue shadow, I think this has a lot of dimension, and pairing it with Camel made it surprisingly wearable.

This Week's Looks: Femme Fatale, Notoriously Morbid, Hello Waffle, and Shiro Cosmetics

This was the last full week of indie month. I have not grown fatigued at all with using indie shadows, and in fact, this is the most fun I have had with makeup in a long time. For one, single shadows are totally my preference (a fact I did not know about myself until I started my one week, one palette project), and two, the colors are so unique and special. 

With every new release that has come out, I find myself thinking that all of those shadows don't hold a candle to my collection of single shadows, especially indie shadows. And for this revelation, I am grateful. I love feeling in control when a new palette releases and thinking that most of everything is an easy pass. 

And that's really interesting for me because when I watch a lot of people's makeup collection videos or declutter videos, I've noticed that most people don't have a ton of single shadows. Or they say how they never use their singles because palettes are just so much better. And I wonder if that phenomenon happens because most people genuinely feel that way or if it's because we continue to hear people hype palettes. When's the last time you heard about a collection of single shadows be hyped? And not in the sense that you can buy a ton of them and pop them into a custom palette. So, this excludes MAC, Makeup Geek, Make Up For Ever, Colourpop pressed shadows, etc. When's the last time people seriously hyped a single shadow that came in it's own distinct packaging? 

Or is the reason that singles are not hyped because we all have become so conscientious of saving space and putting everything into palettes because we have all accumulated so much?

Whatever it is, I'm happy I found singles again and am even happier I have a beautiful collection of unique indie shadows. 

Here are five looks I did this week. 

Look 1: Femme Fatale Faerie Fire and Shiro Cosmetics There's No Such Thing As Magic

Faerie Fire on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and There's No Such Thing As Magic blended into the crease.

Look 2: Shiro Cosmetics He Loves His Hammer

He Loves His Hammer on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Kat Von D Shade and Light Quad in Plum blended into the crease. 

Look 3: Hello Waffle Furry Godmewther and Shiro Cosmetics Little Bird

Furry Godmother on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Little Bird blended into the crease. 

Look 4: Femme Fatale Candied Apple

Candied Apple on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Melt Rust Stack blended into the crease. 

Look 5: Notoriously Morbid Fight for Beauty

Fight for Beauty on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Kat Von D Meow blended into the crease. 

Femme Fatale Faerie Fire

Status: Keep

I enjoyed this shadow, I just think that I am a bit over the duochromes that mainly look white or gold on the lid. I do like those shadows, but I have used a lot of them in this indie month challenge, and they are not always all that flattering on me. With this color, it looks so pink in the pot, but when applied to my eyes, it was lime green. It was a really cool color, and I'm glad that the camera picked up the duochrome of it. I think for work, it wasn't my favorite color, but it is certainly a color that I will wear again and enjoy. 

Shiro Cosmetics There's No Such Thing As Magic

Status: Love

I paired Faerie Fire with this shadow, and I really loved it. This was a lovely pink satin color that looked more matte than satin. I don't have a ton to say about nice mattes other than they are nice and I enjoy using them. And that's how I feel about this shadow. I don't think this is a "must have" if you have other mattes in your collection that you enjoy, but it is certainly a nice shadow. 

Shiro Cosmetics He Loves His Hammer

Status: Love

This color really took me by surprise. I have mentioned a lot during indie month that many of the colors in the pot have surprised me when applied to the lid, but it is usually in a slightly negative way. The opposite was true for this color. I actually avoided using this color for a long while because it looked so gray and dark in the pot. I just wasn't excited to use it. I finally forced myself to use it this week, and holy cow, was I surprised. It is a gorgeous taupe purple color, and may be one of my favorite taupes in my entire collection. 

Hello Waffle Furry Godmewther

Status: Love

I just love this color. This is definitely one of the best performing shadows from Hello Waffle that I've tried. It is a bit cool-toned for me, but I still love it. I think it gives that perfect soft, pretty color. I paired it with a pink in my crease, and I thought the look was really pretty. I would love to try this color with some of the shades in my Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Quad in Plum as well as some of the purple shadows from the Viseart Dark Matte palette. And I really appreciate that this shadow is one that can be versatile in that way while still being very unique. 

Shiro Cosmetics Little Bird

Status: Love

I liked this color a little more than There's No Such Thing As Magic, but I think both are really great. This was a shadow that was highly recommended, and I can see why. I have a few matte pinks in my collection, but they payoff is not as good as from this shadow. I thought it paired so beautifully with the shadow from Hello Waffle, and I imagine since it is a satin finish, that it would also be very lovely all over the lid. 

Femme Fatale Candied Apple
Status: Favorite

This was the biggest surprise of not only this week, but probably all of indie month for me. When I was researching which colors I wanted to buy in exploring these different indie brands, I kept hearing about this shadow from Femme Fatale. And I actually ordered it in a large size (most of the shadows I've purchased have been mini sizes) because of all the glowing recommendations. When it arrived and I swatched it on my hand, I was so, so disappointed. It looked just like any green-brown duochrome shadow, like MAC Club or the shadow from Wet N Wild Comfort Zone. And as I've mentioned before, I am actually not a huge fan of that kind of shadow. I think it looks interesting when swatched, but I just don't like how it looks on my warm olive skin. I was so sure that I was going to declutter this shadow, and it was also one that I put off wearing. I finally decided that I had to wear it in the last week and that I could just live with wearing a shadow that I didn't really like for one day.

But, oh my gosh, I was so wrong. I love this shadow. I think what's so special about it is that it is really soft, bight, and shiny. I don't know how else to describe it. The "brown" undertone in it is essentially not brown at all, and is more pink. And I guess that's what I didn't see when I swatched it for the first time. This shadow reminds me a lot of the concept of Femme Fatale Faerie Fire, but is much more successful (in my opinion) in application. I love this shadow and I could not be happier that I have it in my collection.

Notoriously Morbid Fight for Beauty

Status: Enjoy

This shadow was the one I was most looking forward to using this week. When I swatched it on my hand, I couldn't believe how stunning it was. It was a perfect light blue and pink duochrome that didn't seem to sacrifice on either color the way I feel a lot of duochomes do (like Faerie Fire). However, when I applied it onto my lid over Pixie Epoxy, It came of very heavily blue, but the concentration of color was also quite patchy, if that makes sense. It wasn't a smooth duochrome. Some areas looked blue and others looked pink instead of the color shifting. I don't know it that was due to user error, and maybe this is a shadow that doesn't work with Pixie Epoxy. I'm not sure. I liked it enough that I am happy to keep it in my collection, but I didn't fall as hard for it as I was expecting, and that is always a little disappointing. 

Weekend Looks: Notoriously Morbid and Shiro Cosmetics

This was an unintentional weekend of potential dupes. Something that I've found with some of these indie duochrome shadows is that it is kind of difficult to figure out what the color will be based on what it looks like in the pot. I wasn't anticipating either of these shadows to look like what they did, and I certainly didn't think the colors might be similar to each other. 

Here are the looks I did this weekend. 

Look 1: Notoriously Morbid Chaos Reigns

Chaos Reigns on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy), Viseart Dark Matte 5 blended into the crease, and Viseart Dark Matte 9 padded onto the outer corner.

Look 2: Shiro Cosmetics I Understood That Reference

I Understood That Reference on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy) and Viseart Dark Matte 1 blended into the crease. 

Notoriously Morbid Chaos Reigns

Status: Keep, for now

This shadow reminds me a lot of Fyrinnae Mephisto, but potentially bluer? Something interesting about it was that it applied different to each eye and therefore looked different.

Right eye

Left eye

As you can see, the right eye applied more blue, and the left eye applied more purple. I kind of like this and kind of didn't. I liked that the shadow is diverse and love how it paired with Dark Matte, but I also think it's a little problematic if an eyeshadow inherently does't look the same when you apply it. Of these two, I like Mephisto better, and if it comes to decluttering, I will lose this one to keep Mephisto. But I haven't worn Mephisto in a while, so until I can, I'll keep Chaos Reigns. 

Shiro Cosmetics I Understood That Reference
Status: Keep, for now

I feel similarly to this shadow as I do to Chaos Reigns. This shadow is really similar to Chaos Reigns, but much more blue. It is really pretty, and I could have easily paired it with the blue or purple tones in Dark Matte, but I chose to pair it with one of the brown shades. I really like the way the look turned out, and I can certainly see myself wearing this color more, but I don't know how much use I would get out of three shadows like this. Had I known all three were so similar, I would not have purchased two of them, so that makes me wonder if I should keep all three as well. For now, I do really enjoy the shadow, and I'll be keeping.

Weekend Looks: Hello Waffle and Shiro Cosmetics

Since I had used the Queen of Hearts palette all week, I was really looking forward to diving back into singles this weekend. And while I really enjoyed most of the looks that I did, I have to say that I'm feeling a little "blah" about my looks this weekend. But that could very well be because I am not feeling the best. I have a pretty debilitating injury at the moment that makes getting around my city very challenging, and to top it off, I accidentally gave myself a pretty deep cut yesterday (hence why there were no blog posts). 

And sometimes I feel that when you don't feel your best, you're just not going to be crazy about anything. Nonetheless, here are three looks I did this weekend. 

Look 1: Hello Waffle Purrian Gray and Shade and Light Eye

Purrian Gray on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy), KVD Lazarus blended into the crease, and KVD Solas padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 2: Shiro Cosmetics Glowstick of Destiny and Kat Von D Pastel Goth

Glowstick of Destiny on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy), Kat Von D Gloom and Doom blended into the crease, and Kat Von D  Meow padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 3: Shiro Cosmetics Mother of Dragons and Lime Crime Venus

Mother of Dragons on the lid (over Pixie Epoxy), Lime Crime Divine and Venus blended into the crease, Lime Crime Muse padded onto the outer corner. 

Hello Waffle Purrian Gray

Status: Decluttered

I really wanted to like this shadow. And I get that even saying that is a little dumb. I don't know of many people who buy something hoping they dislike it. When I saw swatches of this on the brand's website, I thought it looked like a gorgeous and unique taupe color. But on my lids, it looks like a matte nothing color. I know this might be a look that a lot of people really enjoy, but I am just not one of them. If I'm going to go through the effort of putting on eyeshadow, I personally would like to see it a bit more. I paired it with colors from the Shade and Light Eye palette, and I think the overall look turned out fine, but it was just a little too minimal for me. This color is a best-seller for the brand, but it just was not a winner for me. 

Shiro Cosmetics Glowstick of Destiny
Status: Keep, enjoy

This was probably my favorite look of the weekend. I think a shadow like this can be taken in many different directions, I just chose to take it in the pastel, colorful direction. This shadow is a blue/gold duochrome, and I think it is very pretty. Something I've noticed in a lot of these duochrome shades is that one color stands out much more than the other, and with this shadow—like many of them—it's the gold. I think maybe that was why I made the decision to pair it with the colors from Pastel Goth, because I wanted to pull out some of the blue tones. The next time I wear this shade, I'll be interested to see how it pairs with more neutral tones.

Shiro Cosmetics Mother of Dragons
Status: Keep, enjoy

I really liked this shadow a lot. It was my favorite from the weekend, even though I really enjoyed the Glowstick of Destiny look overall a little more. This shadow surprised me quite a bit. I thought it was going to be more taupe, but when I applied it, I really felt red tones coming through. It felt natural to pair it with shadows from the Lime Crime Venus palette (and I have to say that I love how much use I've gotten out of this palette since depotting!), and I think the look came out really pretty. It's funny because I wore this shadow on the weekend because I thought it would just be too intense for work, but I feel this looks is completely work appropriate.

My overall thoughts from this weekend are that I liked the colors I used for the most part, but they were not quite as special as those in the Queen of Hearts palette. And I know that I mentioned in my post about that palette that I was sick of using a palette all week, but that palette really is something special. And I think in general that Coloured Raine shadows are just very special as I love all of my singles from that brand. I think Queen of Hearts works great as a palette, so I don't want to depot the shadows, but I do think I just am really craving the freedom of singles. Even though these colors didn't quite live up to those, I enjoyed the overall process of putting my makeup on more this weekend. So, basically, I don't know what was up with me this week. Maybe it just was my injury throwing me off. Because, like I said, it's hard to feel really great about anything when you just feel really not great yourself.