One Week, One Palette: BH Cosmetics Weekend Festival

I wasn't planning on doing a "one week, one palette" post this week, but it happened (well, mostly). I started the week by using a palette, and on day two, I realized that I owned the BH Cosmetics Festival palette, which I didn't even remember. Months ago, when I was taking a mental break and not wearing any makeup, I was gifted this palette, but I had no intentions of keeping it and I never used it. When I was shuffling through all my palettes this week, I found it and decided to try it before decluttering. And I ended up liking it so much that I wanted to keep using it every day. Almost like how a "normal" person approaches makeup when they don't own an unnecessary amount of it.

So here was the first look of the week:

Jaclyn Hill x Morphe

Lid: Diva

Transition: Silk Creme and Pooter

Crease: Pukey

Outer Corner: Enchanted

Inner corner: Beam

Lower lash line: Diva

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

I've done this look before, and it's certainly my favorite that I can create from this palette. Diva is a pretty unique color to my collection, and I really love how it makes a non-traditional smoky eye. Morphe mattes are not great, but I find the ones in this palette good enough to work with to make this look. I probably only use about 20% of the shades in this palette as I find most of them pretty redundant within shades of brown or red. But this is one of the standout colors for me, and I'm always happy to do this look. 

In terms of the BH Cosmetics Weekend Festival palette, here are four looks I did last week:

Look 1:

Inner lid: Euphoria

Outer lid: Boho

Transition: Electric

Crease: Swag

Above crease: Hippie

Lower lash line: Swag

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

The lighting in my new place is not great, so when I first put this look together, I felt like there was no impact on the lid. As the day went on and I saw the look in other lighting, I realized the shadows were much more vibrant than I originally thought. Nonetheless, I still felt the colors on my lid were pretty subtle, especially when compared with the matte shades. Overall, I do really like the look, but it is very much within my "strong pink" comfort zone that I've been in for over a year. 

Look 2:

Lid: Carnival

Transition: Electric

Crease: Dippie

Outer corner: Swag

Inner corner: Trixie

Lower Lash line: Swag

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

The irony about this look is that I didn't want to do a blue color on the eye with a brown in the crease (because I've done that look a lot), so I went with the pink crease, which is something I seem to incorporate into almost all of my looks. I think this is a pretty look, and I like how the blue almost looks silver. 

Look 3:

Lid: Solstice (applied wet)

Transition: Electric

Crease: Dippie and Swag

Inner corner: Spirit

Lower lash line: Swag

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

This was my favorite look of the bunch, but I bet that's surprising to no one. I've done some version of this look almost every week that I've worn makeup for at least a year now, and I did it earlier in the week as well. I used the lid shadow wet, and I certainly liked the effect more than when I used it dry. 

Look 4:

Lid: Neon (applied wet)

Crease: Palooza

Above crease: Kandi

Lower lash line: Trance

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brulee

To close out the week, I went with a much more colorful look, and I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about the aqua in the crease, but I figured I would just roll with it. Like the previous day, I applied the lid shadow wet, and I loved the intensity of it. 

Favorite look: 

Look 3, featuring Solstice.

Lease favorite look: 

If I had to pick, I guess it would be Look 2, featuring Carnival, but I didn't dislike the look at all. There were just others this week that I liked more. 

Final thoughts:

I really like this palette. I wasn't really planning on caring for it too much, and I certainly wasn't expecting to keep it in my collection, but I think I will hang on to it for a bit longer as I work through my collection and curate it a bit more. 

The mattes in this palette are really good, and I think that's really where the palette sings. The shimmers are okay, but they aren't anything exceptional. I liked the shimmers when applied wet, but I feel like that could be said for most shimmers. 

I like the color scheme and like that it's a nice mix of colors and neutrals as well as shimmers and mattes, and I also like that the color scheme is inclusive and not just curated for light skin tones. 

With that said, I feel like I can probably duplicate this entire palette with colors that are already in my collection. The most unique shades to my collection are probably:

• Kandi (true peach with a pearl finish)
• Palooza (matte aqua)
• Neon (shimmery lime-green)
• Electric (matte bright, light pink)

In a 20-shadow palette, the fact that only four shades are somewhat unique to my collection is not a great statistic. But, for a lot of people, this could be a pretty unique palette. It comes close to having all the shades of my duped peachy matte palette, and it has similar shades to the Kylie Cosmetics Blue Honey palette, all within a single palette. It's a nice color selection.

Personally, I'm going to keep it in my collection for right now and see what happens as I declutter my palettes. I did buy a palette this week, which utterly surprised me, but it was the palette that Emilynoel83 made (The Wants). Her humility, enthusiasm, and graciousness were just overwhelming, and in a sea of shills and egos, I couldn't help but want to share in her excitement. Plus, I think she made a lovely palette that is inclusive. 

I really like BH Cosmetics Weekend Festival, but realistically, it might be one that gets decluttered (or depotted) as I downsize. 

Instagram: @antihaulblog

One Week, One Palette: Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts

The Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts palette was one that never made it into my original one week, one palette project. And that's because the colors are so intense that I really didn't feel comfortable wearing it to work, at least in the early days of my job. Now that I have been there for a few months, I feel much more comfortable with the makeup I wear, but I still felt this palette bordered on being a little too much for work. 

But since I am celebrating indie eyeshadow during April, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to use this palette for a week. 

Top, from left: Crown, Royal Highness, Your Majesty, Princess, Empress, and Queen Mother

Bottom, from left: Heir, Royal Prerogative, Noblewoman, Ladyship, Duchess, and Dethrone 

Here are five looks I did last week using every color in this palette. 

Look 1:

Royal Highness on the lid, Princess and Ladyship blended into the crease, Queen Mother padded onto the outer corner, and Crown on the inner corner. 

Look 2:

Your Majesty on the lid; Heir, Royal Prerogative, and Empress blended into the crease; Duchess padded onto the outer corner; and Crown on the inner corner. 

Look 3:

Noblewoman on the lid, Heir and Ladyship blended into the crease, Dethrone padded onto the outer corner, and Crown on the inner corner. 

Look 4:

Crown on the lid, Princess and Ladyship blended into the crease, and Queen Mother padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 5:

Queen Mother on the lid and Princess and Ladyship blended into the crease.

I have some odd feelings about this palette. This was the first time in months that I had used one palette for a week, and I have to say that while I really loved using Queen of Hearts and was blown away by it, I really hated using a palette. 

I quite enjoyed all the looks that I created last week, and even though look 4 was my least favorite, I didn't really dislike it. The pictures came out really terrible since Crown is a duochrome shadow, but it was a lot prettier than images show. My favorite looks were look 1 and look 5, and Queen Mother is probably my favorite shadow in the entire palette. 

I found it odd that there were four warm-toned matte brown/peach/orange shadows (Heir, Royal Prerogative, Empress, and Duchess) when there were only two shimmer shades (Your Majesty and Dethrone) that really complemented those tones. This was also a palette that didn't have a cream brow bone shade for my skin tone. I thought I would be able to use Heir, but that was too yellow to be used there. I used Wet N Wild Brulee on my brow bone every day except day 5, when I used Urban Decay Roadstripe. That is also a duochrome shadow, so it doesn't really look like much in the picture. 

As far as palettes go, this is one of my favorites I have ever used. I think for people who love palettes, this would really be a winner. I hope it's a product that Coloured Raine brings back again at some point, because I do think it's a great palette. If you didn't get it, however, the good news is that there are tons of single shadows (many from Makeup Geek or Make Up For Ever) that will duplicate the shades in this palette. 

As my week of using it came to a close, however, I did feel a slight bit of relief. As I look at my single shadows every day, I am so thrilled to figure out what color I want to wear and what look I want to build around that. Using a palette all week felt a little stifling, even though that palette was gorgeous. This is certainly not a palette that I would want to declutter, but it has really made me think about palettes and how much I actually enjoy them. 

One Week, One Palette: Tom Ford Nude Dip

For the seventeenth week of my one week, one palette challenge, I decided to put a halt on the project. I had grown a little tired of using just one palette for an entire week and ignoring everything else in my collection. But what most surprised me was that I returned to a quad four times in the week where I was letting myself play with anything I wanted. And the quad was Tom Ford's Nude Dip. 

Clockwise: 1, 2, 3, and 4. 

This is the third Tom Ford quad I have purchased and the only one still left in my collection. I've heard many people criticize this quad for being way too much money for what you get, but I honestly feel that's true with any Tom Ford quad. Tom Ford shimmers have such a beautiful shine to them that I don't see in other shadows, so my personal thought is that the brand's best shadows are the simpler ones. 

Since the quad is all shimmer shadows, I needed to pull in some matte colors. I used Pur Soul Mattes:

MAC C'Est Chic:

And Maybelline Color Tattoo in Creamy Beige:

Photo: Musing of a Muse

Below are three looks I did last week.

Look 1:

4 on the lid, MAC Choc-ful blended into the crease, 3 padded onto the outer corner, 1 on the inner corner, and MAC Drawing a Blanc on the brow bone. 3 on the lower lash line. 

Look 2:

2 on the lid, Pur Better Half blended into the crease, Pur Alter Ego padded onto the outer corner, 1 on the inner corner, and Pur Sweetheart on the brow bone. Pur Alter Ego on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

Maybelline Creamy Beige as a base on the lid, 1 and 4 blended together over Creamy Beige, MAC Choc-ful blended into the crease, 3 on the outer corner, 1 on the inner corner, and MAC Drawing a Blanc on the brow bone. 3 on the lower lash line. 

I really enjoyed using this quad and am glad that I have it. I find it curious that some people have criticized Nude Dip specifically over other Tom Ford quads. I think the current makeup culture is to have insane pigmentation, especially delivered through a finger swatch, and therefore shadows that are a little more subdued are considered poor quality. I think there is absolutely a difference between poor pigmentation and a soft, subtle shadow. What I loved most about wearing these shadows all week was that I never felt like I overdid it for work while also not feeling like I compromised on wearing something that I wanted. 

My favorite look was look 2 because I really love the pink/rosy shade, but I truly loved each look I did with this quad. I wasn't expecting to do a one week, one palette this week, and certainly not with this quad, but as soon as I used it, I wanted to keep using it throughout the week. 

All of the shades are truly beautiful, and I think they complement each other incredibly well. I used to own Tom Ford Golden Mink and really disliked it. There were two glitter topper shades that felt entirely wasteful and unnecessary, and if I didn't want to top my look with glitter, there really wasn't much of a point in wearing them. I also owned Cocoa Mirage, and while I didn't dislike it, I felt it was far too unspecial to warrant its huge price tag. The mattes were pretty, of course, but not prettier than the shadows in my Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye or Viseart palettes. But I do think there is a little something special about Nude Dip that I didn't see in the other two eye quads. 

Now, I don't think there is any need to rush out and buy this quad if you're interested in these tones. I think there are likely plenty of alternatives from other brands. For me, however, the specialness of these shadows is in the amount of shine they give without compromising on pigment or quality. I think they are really lovely shadows, and I'm happy that I have them. 

To end this post, I have a few thoughts on my one week, one palette project. It has been an incredibly fun project and I have learned a lot about myself. The biggest thing that I learned is that I LOVE color! And that's not anything I ever would have thought before starting this project. And because of that, I would buy the same palette with gold and bronze and copper shadows over and over and over again. And now, those shadows kind of bore me for the most part. But I would have never known that about myself had I not pushed to use every color in the Juvia's Place Nubian 2 palette very early in this project. Because of that, I now have a lot more color in my life. 

Another thing I learned is that I have a TON of eyeshadow palettes. As I've said many times, I routinely go through my entire collection and declutter products that I'm lukewarm about, haven't used in a while, or just am not crazy about. And right now, I really love everything in my collection. I don't necessarily love every shadow in every palette, but I am not a person who really wants to depot all of my shadows from various palettes and make one or two monster ones with the best shades from each. So, while I have really loved using my palettes and getting to know them so well, I simply have too many to do a realistic one week, one palette rotation on an ongoing basis. It has taken me four months just to get to the point where I can use my singles, and I didn't even use every palette in my collection! 

With that said, I think one week, one palette is a really great project for those who don't have a crazy number of palettes. It really helps you get to know your palettes, be creative, and discover new things that you didn't know about yourself and your preferences. Maybe you even find out that you don't love that palette as much as you thought you did. Or maybe you find out that even though you don't have the name or exact color configuration of a new palette, you already have all of the shadows inside it and you realize you don't need to buy anything new because you already have exactly what you love and need. 

One Week, One Palette: Morphe 35OS

For the sixteenth week of my one week, one palette project, I decided to use my Frankenstein's monster Morphe 35OS palette. So, this is actually a combination of the Morphe 35OS, one Make Up For Ever shadow, and select shadows from the Zoeva Cocoa Blend palette. 

The 35OS palette originally looked like this:

And, frankly, that is just too much damn shadow for one palette. Not only is it ridiculous in terms of size, but there are so many shadows that are repetitive in shade and the quality is not equal across the board. 

I've shared my Morphe story before, but essentially, I bought the 35T palette and wasn't as disappointed in the quality as I thought I would be. I had only seen super sponsored and affiliate link–filled reviews of these palettes that promised quality that was out of this world. And obviously I knew that was a bunch of crap (and I still largely think that), but when I swatched the palette in-store (there is a retailer in NYC that sells Morphe), I was impressed with the shimmer shadows. The mattes, however, were complete garbage. I ended up throwing most of the 35T palette in the trash (though I did save some of the shadows), and swore I would never buy Morphe again. 

But then I found out that they took the 35O palette and made an entire shimmer version of it. Since I actually quite liked a lot of the Morphe shimmer shadows, I decided to buy the 35OS. But, as I found with the 35T, only about half of the palette was actually good. So I decided to take all the good shades and combine them with depotted shades from my Zoeva Cocoa Blend palette. 

Top, from left: 1 (Zoeva), 2 (Make Up For Ever Pink Ivory), 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7

Second: 8 (Zoeva), 9, 10, 11 (Zoeva) 12, 13, and 14 (Zoeva)

Third: 15 (Zoeva), 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 (Zoeva)

Bottom: 22 (Zoeva), 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27

I did not use every shadow in this palette last week as there were just too many. But I did use a good amount of them. 

Below are six look I did last week. 

Look 1:

9 on the lid, 8 blended into the crease, 19 padded onto the outer corner, 2 on the inner corner, and 1 on the brow bone. 19 on the lower lash line. 

Look 2:

16 on the lid, 14 blended into the crease, 8 blended above the crease, 17 and 23 padded onto the outer corner, 3 on the inner corner, and 1 on the brow bone. 17 on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

4 on the inner and middle lid, 6 on the outer lid, 8 blended into the crease, 2 on the inner corner, and 1 on the brow bone. 14 on the lower lash line. 

Look 4:

7 on the lid, 6 blended into the crease, 2 on the inner corner, and 1 on the brow bone. 21 on the lower lash line. 

Look 5:

13 on the lid, 8 blended into the crease, 20 padded onto the outer corner, 2 on the inner corner, and 1 on the brow bone. 20 on the lower lash line. 

Look 6:

17 on the lid, 7 blended into the crease, 25 padded onto the outer corner, 3 on the inner corner, and 1 on the brow bone. 25 on the lower lash line. 

So, I actually really enjoyed this this palette last week in terms of pigmentation and performance, but I'm not really in an orange shadow mood at the moment, and I found myself wanting to use some of my other shadows. I'll get to that in a moment. 

As I mentioned above, I do really enjoy some of the Morphe shimmer shadows. The best are the foiled finishes, and I actually don't think I kept any shadows that didn't have that finish. I felt these shadows performed just as nicely as my Makeup Geek foiled shadows or even my Make Up For Ever artist shadows. It should be noted, however, that the Makeup Geek shadows have better ingredients.

Looks 4 and 5 were my favorite of the week, but I really enjoyed all the looks. The pictures of look 1 don't quite do it justice. It was a gold and bronze look that was really pretty. But as you can tell, even though I used different shadows, several of my looks came out looking very similar. And that is a huge negative about Morphe palettes. They boast that they have 35 shadows, but they are not 35 unique shadows. I selected the best shadows from the Morphe palette and made sure that none were completely identical, but it is pretty obvious that there are several shadows in my palette that look the same. 

Since there are no matte shades in the palette, I figured I would pair this palette with the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye, but when I decided to depot my Zoeva Cocoa Blend palette and put the shadows I decided to keep in this palette, I realized that I really had a perfect warm, orange-toned neutral palette. I've already written about the Zoeva palette, so I won't go into it again here, but I can say that the mattes certainly made my looks very easy to blend. Even so, for a few looks last week I put an orange shimmer in my crease, and I really loved the way the look turned out. 

I see people often asking if Morphe is worth it, and to that my response is: it depends. Do I think Morphe lives up to the hype reviewers who are affiliated with them give? Hell no. Do I think they are the biggest crap on the market? Definitely not. I think the palettes are filled with hit and miss shades, and I think there are usually (in all but the shimmer palettes) more misses than hits. If you are okay with the price knowing that you might trash some of the shadows like I did, then they may be worth a try. If you are looking to have a complete, wonderful, and high-quality palette, I would look elsewhere. 

I've mentioned for the past few weeks that I've been getting a little fatigued with this project. It's not that I don't love it—I do. It's just that my palette collection is so huge that I can't even return to palettes I loved months ago. I almost made it to the end of my collection—with one notable exception. I still haven't used my two Ciate London palettes for a solid week, but I travel with those palettes so frequently that I use them all the time. I even took one of them to Washington, DC, last weekend for the Women's March. But the one palette I haven't done—that is incredible—is the Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts palette. 

The reason I won't be doing that palette right away, and also why I am taking a bit of a break from this series, is because I wouldn't be able to wear that palette to work. Several of the looks I did with the 35OS palette were worn on the weekend since the eyeshadow would be too dramatic for my workplace. Today, one of my colleagues actually commented on my makeup and said she was so impressed that I had different "complex" eyeshadow on every day. And that has been from me toning it way down. The Queen of Hearts palette is so beautiful that it deceivers to be worn as dramatic as possible, and that's just not realistic for my life right now for a solid week. 

So, I'm just going to take a bit of a break from this series and enjoy my eyeshadow. But don't worry, some version of it will be back soon.