Weekend Looks: Stila, Urban Decay, Morphe, and more

In response to the cool-toned looks I did earlier this week, I started off the weekend wanting to do a non-traditional (for me) warm-toned look. But after one day of that, I was back to the cool tones. I don't think I'm necessarily a cool tones convert (after all, I do have a warm olive undertone), but I do think it's a really refreshing departure from the kind of looks I've been doing for many months and years.

I'm curious to know how other people do their makeup. Do you repeat looks often? Do you have a set number of looks and rotate through them? Or do you get bored easily (like me) and try to come up with new looks all the time?

Here are the looks I did this weekend.

Look 1: Morphe x Jaclyn Hill

Lid: Creamscicle

Crease: Pukey

Inner corner: Beam

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Creamscicle

Look 2: Stila Shimmer and Glow in Kitten and Cool Tones

Lid: Stila Shimmer and Glow in Kitten

Transition: Viseart cool brown and Coloured Raine Moments

Crease: Urban Decay Boom and Untitled

Inner corner: Kat Von D Saphyre

Brow bone: Wet N Wild Brûlée

Lower lash line: Urban Decay Untitled

Look 1: Morphe x Jaclyn Hill

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

We all know I love a good mustard brown, but recently, I've been thinking how much I want a pure mustard. I saw that Urban Decay released one in a recent collaboration (that I personally don't want to purchase), and I genuinely didn't think I had one in my collection. However, when I was looking for Blue Honey dupes in my collection, I realized that I sort of had this mustard shade already in the Morphe x Jaclyn Hill palette. It's not quite as yellow as I would like (it leans more orange), but it was close enough for me to try out this kind of look and see how I like it. And I feel kind of mixed on it. On the one hand, I really liked how it looked up close and how it looks in photos, but in person from a slight distance, it almost looked like I wasn't wearing any eyeshadow at all. And I don't know if that is because I'm so used to dramatic eye looks or because the shade is somewhat close to my skin tone. But it blended in a little too much for me. Similarly, while I liked the look enough to want to wear it again, I would want to invest in a higher quality eyeshadow. In terms of this palette, while I am grateful that someone thought enough of me to gift it to me, and while I also feel that this palette is of higher quality than other Morphe palettes that I have tried, I don't find the quality to be up to far with other similarly priced palettes. I'll certainly keep this palette and continue using it as I don't dislike it, but I don't think it's as fantastic as other influencers claim. 

Look 2: Stila Shimmer and Glow in Kitten and Cool Tones

So, this was my return to cool tones. And I have to say, I really, really love it. I wasn't entirely sure how this was going to turn out, but I just felt this intense craving for more blue. This was the first time (I think?) that I ever applied blue shadows in the crease with a neutral shade on the lid. I could be wrong about that, but I can't think of another time I did that. And man, do I love how this look turned out. It reminds me a bit of a mod look from the 60s (in person, not in photographs), and I couldn't be happier with it. I've written about the Stila Shimmer and Glow in Kitten before, and I still love it just as much. Since it can lean cool or warm depending on the complementary shadows, I think it pairs just so beautifully with these blue shadows. After the week I've had using and loving cool tones, I feel like I have to ask: Why have warm tones been on trend for this long? I don't even have a cool-toned complexion, and I still think these colors are fantastic. I'm hoping we see a shift soon. 

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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. 

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Weekend Looks: Duped Modern Renaissance and Sephora Pro Editorial

To complement my incredibly productive week, I have had a very relaxed weekend. I've continued watching movies at home, which has certainly been a highlight of my month, and I've been working toward making improvements on the blog.

In terms of makeup looks, I seem to have taken the Pantone Color of the Year to heart as I've been loving purple. (As a side note, my love of purple has absolutely nothing to do with the color of the year.) I suppose this is only a slight deviation from my love of pinks, oranges, and corals, but I'll take it. I created two looks that I loved this weekend, including one that has quickly become an all-time favorite.

Here are the two looks I did this weekend.

Look 1: Duped Modern Renaissance

Lid: ABH Macaroon 

Transition: Makeup Geek Cupcake

Crease: Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid

Brow bone: Viseart white

Inner corner: Makeup Geek Phantom

Lower lash line: Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid

Look 2: Sephora Pro Editorial 

Lid: Electric Violet

Transition: Myiesha

Crease: Eliza D

Brow bone: Porcelain

Inner Corner: Urban Decay Roadstripe

Lower lash line: Hector E

Look 1: Duped Modern Renaissance

Since I wrote a post about my duped Modern Renaissance palette, I've updated the palette. This is something that I often do with my custom palettes, especially ones that are "dupes" of popular palettes. As I start working with a color scheme, I figure out what works for me and what doesn't, and I adjust the palettes accordingly. As of now, I am very happy with the way this palette looks (but that doesn't mean that I won't change it again), and at this point it is less of a "dupe" and more "in the spirit of" palette. With that said, I absolutely love this palette, and I have been getting a ton of use out of shadows that I haven't touched in months, which is also something I find so exciting and inspiring about custom and duped palettes. In terms of the actual look that I did, I love it. I hadn't used Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid much since I first bought the 5-pan palette that it came in (number 10) years ago, and I wanted to see how it would look in the crease. I loved it. I thought it was pretty and almost neutral, but with a bold splash of color. I love this electric purple in the crease and am looking forward to working it into more looks.

Look 2: Sephora Pro Editorial 

This look took the cake for me this weekend, and it frankly was my favorite look I did all week. I love this look. And I mean I really, really love it. I've said this before, but I've always felt conflicted about Sephora Pro Editorial. I absolutely love the middle two rows, but I'm not nearly as crazy about the top and bottom rows. I did a declutter this weekend, and I thought about this palette. I knew that I truly loved parts of it, but I wondered if I loved it enough to make up for its shortcomings. And sure enough, when I used it for this look, I was swept off my feet in rich pigment. This is what I feel ABH Subculture wanted to be, which is saturated pigments but also completely bendable and little to no fallout. I wasn't expecting to love the look of electric violet and red, but I really do. When I thought about what color to add to the lower lash line, I contemplated the electric violet or a darker purple, but I wanted to be a bit more adventurous and go with a shimmery orange. And I think it turned out fantastic. A shimmery orange on the lower lash line has been something I've done a lot recently, and I think it just adds a little bit of interest to the look. I'm still frustrated that parts of this palette are not very strong, but the parts that are strong are so phenomenal that this is staying in my collection.

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Weekend Looks: Viseart Dark Matte and Colourpop Yes, Please!

I found myself in one of those unpleasant situations over the weekend where I was looking at a very full makeup collection but was not inspired to do anything.

Finally, with no creativity or inspiration, I decided to do a monochromatic warm-toned matte look, which isn't something I have done much, if ever. I ended up liking it so much that I was inspired to do one of my favorite warm looks the next day.

I loved how warm both of these looks appeared on me, and given how frigid it was outside, I was happy to have some warmth somewhere. I've said this before, but sometimes "faking" warmth and summer through makeup takes me out of the winter blues.

Here are two looks I did this weekend.

Look 1: Viseart Dark Matte

Lid: 7

Crease: 8

Inner corner: Make Up For Ever Pearl

Look 2: Colourpop Yes, Please!

Lid: Chauffeur

Transition: Champs

Crease: Big Cocktails

Deepen crease: Spoiled

Above crease: Mischief 

Brow bone: Full Zip

Inner corner: Make Up For Ever Pearl

Look 1: Viseart Dark Matte

I still remember the first look I ever did with this palette. I applied the maroon onto my eye and blended the yellow in the crease, and it looked awful. Strikingly so. It looked like I had an immensely bruised eye. I didn't use Dark Matte for months after that, and I had some pretty intense buyer's remorse. But then I started to use it as a complementary palette, and I ended up hitting my stride with it. But still, as a complementary palette, I just don't use it as much as I would like to, and I had never really cracked into the yellow and orange shades. What I can tell you is that these shadows applied like a dream. The overall look came off really pretty, I think, and I even received some compliments on it. The only negative is that I really had no idea how similar the yellow and orange shades are to each other. When I applied the yellow, I was expecting yellow, but I got orange. And when I applied the orange into the crease, I got a orange that was only slightly different from the one I had applied onto my lid. Looking at the photos, I think it looks like I only used one shadow, not two. I have other great yellows in my collection (see look 2), so that is not the end of the world, but for how much this palette cost, it would have been nice to get more distinct colors.

Look 2: Colourpop Yes, Please!

I've talked about this palette many times at this point, and this is a look that I've done before and loved. Therefore I will keep this short and say that my feelings toward Yes, Please! have not changed. I really think this is an excellent palette, and for $16, I think it raises the bar for other makeup brands.

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Weekend looks: Natasha Denona and New Wet N Wild

Wet N Wild has changed their eyeshadow formula and come out with a few new palettes. The one that is getting the biggest amount of buzz is Rosé in the Air, which has a very similar color scheme to the incredibly popular Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette. 

I was familiar with Wet N Wild's old formula, and it was one that I liked, generally speaking. At one point in time I had owned Comfort Zone and Petal Pusher, and they were both palettes that I really enjoyed. But then a few years passed, trends shifted, and I decluttered them from my collection. However, I never hesitated in recommending Wet N Wild palettes to others because I felt the formula was excellent. 

When I heard that these palettes were being discontinued, I have to admit that I didn't have high hopes that the replacements would be just as nice. I try to be as informed as possible when I write my blog, and I wanted to try the new Wet N Wild formula so that I could know how to gauge further recommendations. 

I created two very similar looks this weekend, one starring a Natasha Denona shadow and my Peachy Matte palette and one starring Rosé in the Air.

Look 1: Natasha Denona True Gold and Peachy Matte

Natasha Denona True Gold on the lid (applied with a finger), Colourpop Say I Do and The News blended into the crease as transition shades, and Colourpop Making Moves and Stay Golden blended into the crease. 

Look 2: Wet N Wild Rosé in the Air

3 on the lid, 4 blended into the crease as a transition shade, 8 blended into the crease, 7 and 5 padded onto the outer corner, and 2 on the brow bone. 6 on the lower lash line.

Look 1: Natasha Denona True Gold and Peachy Matte

It had been a while since I had used this Natasha Denona shadow, and I have to say that it didn't live up to my memory. I cannot apply this shadow onto my lid with a brush, and when I apply it with my finger, there is a ton of fallout. I thought about decluttering some of my Natasha Denona shadows a while ago, but I felt like some of them were special. Then Jouer came out with the Skinny Dip palette, and True Gold is pretty much duped by the shade Skinny Dip. In my opinion, the Jouer shadow is superior because it can be applied with a brush. Overall, I think this look came out really pretty, but the Natasha Denona shadow did transfer into the crease of my eye pretty shortly after application. I imagine I will declutter this shadow the next time I minimize my collection. 

Look 2: Wet N Wild Rosé in the Air

So, I don't know how I feel about this palette, which is not surprising since this was the first time I used it. This palette swatches really well. I was actually surprised how well it swatches. However, when applied onto the lid, the shimmer shadows were quite sheer. I was impressed with the matte shadows and felt they were quite pigmented and blended well. When compared to the look with the Natasha Denona and Colourpop shadows, I feel like the Wet N Wild look is a little lackluster. I should also mention that I may be predisposed to not really love this palette since I disliked Modern Renaissance so much. It's not a color scheme that I am really drawn to or inspired by, and since there are only two simmers in this palette (which are more of a pearl finish than shimmer), that limits the number of looks I can do unless I want to do a matte look, which isn't something I usually like. (Not surprisingly, I had these same complaints with Modern Renaissance.)

When I compare these two looks, look number one is clearly the winner. And while the main shadow in look one is from Natasha Denona and is quite expensive, the rest of the shadows are from Colourpop and are considerably less expensive. With that said, this entire palette from Wet N Wild is $5. And for $5, I think this palette is impressive. I would not say that it is the same quality as shadows from Colourpop, but it is not bad. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up decluttering this palette to a friend, but I would like to use it a bit more.

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Weekend Looks: MAC and Urban Decay

I mentioned this in yesterday's post, but it was snowing outside, and it put me in quite a funk. I'm not a fan of the winter, or of snow, and I'm especially not a fan of gray skies, so it ended up being a challenging day for me.

But today is very different. The sun is out, and there is not a cloud in the sky. It's still a little cold, but I'll take cold and sun over gray any day. And it's not surprising that I reached for one of my brightest and most colorful palettes today.

Here are two looks I did this weekend.

Look 1: MAC Rose pigment and Desert Dusk

MAC Rose pigment on the lid (applied wet with Fix+), Inglot peach and purple shades blended in the crease as transition shades, Lime Crime Venus Rebirth blended in the crease, and Colourpop 143 and Ardency Inn Violet lightly padded onto the outer corner. Ardency Inn Violet on the lower lash line.

Look 2: Urban Decay Electric 

Freak on the inner half of the lid, Chaos on the outer half of the lid, Savage blended into the crease as a transition shade, and Urban blended into the crease. Thrash on the inner corner. 

Look 1: MAC Rose pigment and Desert Dusk

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I'm sure everyone is going to get sick of this kind of a look because I seem to create it multiple times a week. But I just can't care. I love it so much. MAC Rose is new to me, and I adore it. I had been in search of it for months, and it was finally back in stock so I grabbed it. It is my absolute favorite kind of color. I have a few shades in my collection that are similar, but nothing quite like this, and I couldn't be happier with it. I paired it with shades from my "Desert Dusk" palette as well as a vibrant purple from Ardency Inn. I really love how this turned out, and it was a bright spot in the snowy, awful day.

Look 2: Urban Decay Electric 

It disappoints me that this palette has been discontinued and that another one has not come out to replace it. I have been vocal on my blog that I really hate Urban Decay shadows in palettes, with this as the one exception. The reason for this is likely that the Electric palette is a pressed pigment palette instead of an eyeshadow palette. This palette terrified me for years, and I honestly could not even comprehend why someone would own it. I was a neutral girl to my core, and I had never looked at colorful eye looks as something that could be worn in everyday life. I was first starting to fall for color when I heard that Electric was being discontinued, and I made the decision to purchase it while I still could. At this point, I have many colorful palettes (including Sephora Pro Editorial and Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix), but there is still a place in my collection for Electric. The colors blend together so seamlessly and pack such a punch of pigment. It's a shame this palette is no longer available, but hopefully Urban Decay will put out something similar in the near future.

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