So apparently I yammer on a lot about Makeup Geek (MUG) shadows. I realize it’s true, but it’s because I can’t get enough of Marlena’s eyeshadows. They’re cheap as chips, are more pigmented than MAC and by buying them you’re supporting a woman that’s growing her company from scratch (I’m not against large corporations, but there’s something really special about knowing that I’m supporting a YouTuber I’ve been watching for half a decade now).

Zoë from Writing Whimsy suggested that I write a post about my favourites from the brand and I am more than happy to oblige! These are my personal favourites, but I need to point out that I own more than half of the Makeup Geek shadows out there and there are very, VERY few duds in the entire collection. If there’s a shade you like that I haven’t listed, I’d suggest you pick it up – you’ll far prefer anything that suits your colouring and your preferences than choosing what I’ve chosen. That being said, maybe my favourites will give you some ideas.

By the way, I thought I’d mention that I’ve placed five total orders with Makeup Geek and I’ve not had to pay any customs or duties as a Canadian. Shipping seems to cap out around $8 USD, although I’ve not placed an order higher than $220 USD.

Let’s start this off with a bang (and with the foiled shadows). This is Flamethrower and it is FIRE. Between the pigmentation, the utter shimmeryness  and the fact that it’s molten copper… I couldn’t love this shadow more. Out of all the foiled shadows, I felt this one had the best payoff and was definitely one of the more unique ones. It doesn’t matter if I apply this on the lid or in the crease, it looks gorgeous anywhere on I apply it.

Jester (another foiled shadow) is green with a gold flash. It’s similar to MAC‘s Golden Olive but less fussy since it’s not a loose pigment. This is the kind of green that makes my heart swoon. I’ll typically apply this to the lid and then add a darker matte green in the crease to give it some depth. Would also pair nicely with a yellow-toned inner corner highlight.

Mesmerized is not a shade I even want to like because it’s so… traditional.  This is the kind of shade that everyone loves which probably has a lot to do with the fact that it’s incredibly flattering. It’s similar to MAC‘s Satin Taupe (a shade I shunned for ages because I felt it was too boring) and for that very reason it’ll do well on everyone’s skin tone. This looks gorgeous no matter what you do with it. It’s one of those simple colours that can be a “One and Done” type look on the lid.

Moving on to MUG‘s regular line of shadows. Bitten seems to swatch incredibly poorly, but this one is holy grail status (and please ignore the picture on MUG’s own site, it does not do this shadow justice). I’ve never seen anything quite like it in any other makeup line which makes this one super special. I use this in the crease and outer corner and on me it has that reddish tinge while still remaining flattering.

Creme Brulee was the kind of shade that I didn’t know what to do with. Like what the hell is this shade? Slightly orange? Slightly brown? What on earth do I use it for? And then I tried out the “transition colour” technique that everyone seems to refer to on blogs and YouTube. And wow, I had no idea. I had nooooo idea that I could actually make my eyeshadows blend seamlessly with my skin tone until I tried this shade out. If you have a solid defined crease, pop it in there to help transition lid shades to your brow bone. If you have hooded lids like me, blend it slightly above your crease to do the same thing. I prefer this most with super smokey eyes, but it works well with any look in general.

A cheater favourite really. This is Roulette, and it’s only available in the Vegas Lightspalette (which is limited edition and the whole thing is worth the cash, so you should really just go buy the whole thing). (EDIT: It’s now permanent!) Roulette is not dissimilar to Flamethrower, but perhaps a subtler shade as it doesn’t have the foiled punch. Are you sensing a theme yet? Orange and red shades are definitely my favourites.

This one. My god this one. Helllloooo sailor. Bright neon raspberry with gold flecks. This shade is insane. There isn’t anything I don’t love about it. And can we talk about the name? Razzleberry. RAZZLEBERRY. Another completely unique shade (seriously, go ahead. Name me a brand that has a shade like this in their regular line.) that I’ve completely fallen in love with. I use this predominantly in the crease because I’m really not sure how to wear it on the lid (I’m open to suggestions!).

This is for us pasty folk out there. Vanilla Bean is the highlight shade I use for my brow bone. One of the downsides of the MUG line is that there aren’t a whole lot of brow bone highlight shades, so this seems to be our default colour. It is, despite being the only shade available, quite nice. It’s not pale enough to be super brightening so skintones lighter than NW20 may find this is far too dark on their skin.

Poolside is one of my more recent acquisitions. It requires some build up to get its full potency on the lid, but that doesn’t make me love it any less. This is a gorgeous turquoise shade with a satin finish. Not quite dark enough to deepen up the crease, but I still use it there anyway and then bump up the darkness with a touch of black shadow.

This one isn’t a pressed shadow, but it’s far beyond worth mentioning. Utopia pigment is a shade that I’m not sure how it exists. It looks like blackened-gold minerals in the pot, but it doesn’t seem to retain its black properties on the lid (a good thing, because usually when that happens you get too much black and not enough actual colour). It does, however, seem to remain both equally shiny gold and dark at the same time. I usually apply a black base (NYX‘s Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Black Bean) and then pat this on top. It’s especially stunning all over the lid with Bitten in the crease.

Because I’ve already done a lot of looks involving Makeup Geek shadows, I thought I’d round up a few that include the shades I’ve mentioned in this post. Enjoy!

So while I’ve named ten shades, I really do love this whole line of eyeshadows so thoroughly that I’m currently in the process of trying to acquire them all. Tell me what your favourite shades are!

So while I’ve named ten shades, I really do love this whole line of eyeshadows so thoroughly that I’m currently in the process of trying to acquire them all. Tell me what your favourite shades are!

One of the more interesting makeup releases at the end of 2014 were the Makeup GeekFoiled Eyeshadows. Highly touted by Marlena (founder and CEO of Makeup Geek), these foiled shadows complement her regular line of shadows. They feature a soft, smooshy texture that’s supposed to give an effect similar to foiling your own eyeshadow onto your eyes.

Each shadow comes in a pan (no palette or pots for these babies yet) and retail for $9.99 USD, which is $3 more per pan than her regular line. The higher price tag is attributed to the ingredients needed to produce this new formula. If you’re interested in picking up all the shades, you can get an $11 discount since they’re bundled together with a price tag of $89.00 on the Makeup Geek site.

At first I put off getting them – I wasn’t really into shiny eyeshadows much anymore and had gravitated towards bright mattes instead. However, over the holidays, I was putting in an order with MUG to get more of her regular  shadows and thought I’d throw inFlamethrower just because it was “such a me” colour. As soon as I stuck my finger in it, I was hooked. This shade was like molten lava on my finger in all it’s foiled goodness.

Yep, now I was screwed… now I had to have them all!

So I placed another MUG order at the start of January and finally… THEY ARE ALL MINE. MWHAHAHAHA!

The internet was right! The texture on these shadows is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. While some of the colours are fairly typical, others are just pure insanity on the lids. They weren’t kidding when they said one layer was all you needed.

One downside though… I do find these crease on me after several hours even with using multiple primers. It’s a bit disappointing, but it hasn’t deterred me from using them. It’s not *completel* and utter creasing, but it’s a little bit. (As a note, I have quite hooded eyelids so my eyelids have a crease 100% of the time… unless I blink.)

Anyway, you’re here for swatches aren’t you? 😉

Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadow Swatches

This is what I meant by a more “typical” shade. Magic Act is a lovely pale gold, and while quite pretty, I think it one of the more dupe-able shades.

In The Spotlight is a peach shade if ever I saw one. Gorgeous pigmentation.  Since it can lead quite pink, I’ll probably try to pair it with reds and oranges to make it look more peachy-orange than peachy-pink.

I’m not even sure what to call this shade really. Grandstand is like a bronze that has some red in it. It’s not a shade I would gravitate towards, so I’ll have to find some way to use it with something vibrant.

The taupe colour of the bunch. I’m sure there are loads of you out there salivating over Mesmerized! On me, this is the kind of shade I’ll place all over the lid and then darken up the outer corner and crease with a dark, matte brown.

Looking at this one now, I see a lot of the Marsala bajankle that everyone’s going on about lately. Showtime was less compacted in the pan than the others which makes me think it’s part of the original launch of colours. (Marlena has said that they’ve had a few of the eyeshadows break in transit, which they promptly replaced of course, but she said they were going to start asking her lab to press them harder to prevent that. My order arrived without issue however.)

Okay. THIS ONE. Flamethrower. FLAMETHROWER. This thing is FIRE. Absolute hands down my favourite out of the whole bunch. This is what I wish MAC‘s Coppering was – absolute pure molten copper. I recommend this one the most out of the entire collection.

Very similar to MAC’s Golden Olive pigment, Jester one goes on like a dream. Green with gold reflects.

I struggled a bit with the pigmentation of Houdini, but it’s a very interesting tealy/turquoisy shade. Try using a black base to make this one pop more.

I always thought this one was blue, till I wore it, then it looked purple. Center Stage is what I wish MAC‘s Contrast looked like.

Caitlin Rose has received a lot of disapproval on the internet due to its pigmentation. While my swatch isn’t entirely in focus, I will say that because this shade doesn’t seem to have a black base (like Houdini or Center Stage seem to) it just doesn’t have the same colour punch as those. Not that that’s a bad thing really – the colour payoff is what I would expect looking at the pan.

I pulled together a few looks while I was testing these shades out so have a gander:

Have you picked up any of the Makeup Geek Foiled Shadow? What did you think of them? Did you run into any creasing like I did? And my god, what did you think of the pigmentation?!