*Press sample included
Makeup Geek Cosmetics is a cruelty free brand that makes all of their products in the USA. Makeup Geek are well known for the single eyeshadows. I have collected many of them over the years, so I am swatching all of them so that you can see what all the shades really look like. I started by swatching all of my foiled eyeshadows, and today I’m going to show you all the Makeup Geek Warm Eyeshadows that I own. I keep my MUG eyeshadows in the Makeup Geek Mega Vault magnetic palette, which is really good quality and perfect for single eyeshadow storage. I will include brush and finger swatches as well as the description of the shadow and quick review on what I think of them. I have purchased all of the Makeup Geek eyeshadows that I own, except five that Makeup Geek kindly sent me, The five shades they sent me are Apple Spice, Hayride, Grunge, Autumn Breeze and Blue My Mind. Apple Spice is the only one I have in this post, you will have to wait for my upcoming cool palette blog post to see the others.
Makeup Geek are about to do a big rebrand, which is estimated to launch in October, after being delayed for many months now. That means that many of these eyeshadows may not return to the website, and some have already disappeared from the website all together. If there’s something you love, it’s best to get it now. If you’re wondering which shades are vegan friendly, you can check out their vegan page which has a list of their vegan products or just search vegan on the website to see all the vegan product listings.
I follow Marlena, the CEO of Makeup Geek, on Twitter, and have saved the information she has released about the upcoming rebrand. The current matte eyeshadows that will be staying for the relaunch are Peach Smoothie, Shimma Shimma, Creme Brulee, Cocoa Bear, Cupcake, Vintage, Corrupt, Bitten, Latte, Chickadee, Morocco, Tuscan Sun, Time Travel, Enchanted Forest, White Lies, So Pale, Americano, Tiki Hut. She said there will be a total of 56 mattes launching for the rebrand, many of them being new shades. From the conversation I had with Marlena on twitter a while ago, it looks like the new single eyeshadow pans will be square (like their pigments), which is annoying for me, as round pans are so much easier to remove and replace in magnetic palettes, but I’m sure some people will like it.
There are various finishes in the Makeup Geek single eyeshadows. The MUG website currently separates them into three groups, signature eyeshadows, duochrome eyeshadows and foiled eyeshadows. The signature eyeshadows include matte and shimmer finishes. Makeup Geek are known for their matte eyeshadows as most of them are very pigmented, but also very easy to blend. I however, also really like their shimmer shades too. The duochrome shades can tend to be a little bit less pigmented, but that does make them more versatile as they can be layered over various shades to change the colour of the duochrome shift that you see. I have included matte, shimmer and duochrome shades in this post. The foiled eyeshadows feel like a powder – cream hybrid and are intensely pigmented metallic eyeshadows. I have separated these into a different post – you can see what they look like in my foiled eyeshadow blog post.
For the brush swatches in this post, I used theBalm Put A Lid On It Eyelid Primer and the Furless (affiliate) ME5 Black Beauty Eyeshadow Brush. The Furless ME5 is a fluffy shading brush that I use for swatches like this as it gives a good representation of how pigmented shadows are whilst also showing how they blend out along the arm. I use this on my eyelids with matte shadows all the time. For duochromes and shimmery shades, I use a flatter shading brush like the Furless PM2 Purple Concealer Brush when applying to the eyes as it will pack on more pigment, but I only used the ME5 for the swatches in this blog post so that it didn’t get too confusing. I’ll be swatching the eyeshadows by row in the palette that I have them in.
First row:
White Lies – matte pure white
So Pale – yellow based off white
Shimma Shimma – light pinky beige with a shimmery finish
Beaches & Cream – creamy matte natural beige with hint of peach
Peach Smoothie – soft peachy orange with a matte finish
Buffed – Peachy tan with matte finish
I’m Peachless – buff base with with peachy-pink reflects, duo chrome finish.
White Lies is a good matte white eyeshadow, you won’t get it to full opacity without a base, but that’s common with any white eyeshadows. I’m not sure that many people would get much use out of So Pale. I personally use it to blend in any harsh lines at the edges of the eyeshadow, as this is close enough to my skin colour that it works well for that purpose, but I can’t see it being that useful on skin darker than mine. Shimma Shimma is a cult favourite, and for good reason, it’s the perfect inner corner highlight. Peach Smoothie is also another well loved colour, many people use it as their transition shade. It’s just a bit too dark and orange on me, but Beaches & Cream works perfectly in its place on my fair skin. If you already own Creme Brulee, then you probably won’t need Buffed, but if not, it is a lovely crease colour to use. I’m Peachless is a gorgeous peachy duochrome, it’s not the most pigmented of shades, you can build it up more with a spritz of setting spray on a flat brush, or by using your fingers.
Second row:
Creme Brulee – a medium sand colour with with a soft matte finish
Purely Naked – warm light brown with pearly satin finish
Bake Sale – nougat brown with matte finish
Latte – matte medium brown
Frappe – medium maple brown with demi matte finish (it has microscopic shimmer particles but it works like a matte when applied),
Tan Lines – warm fawn brown with matte finish
Mai Tai – apricot base with orchid reflects, duochrome finish
Creme Brulee is a classic Makeup Geek eyeshadow. It is well known, and well loved as it is the perfect crease shade, that blends beautifully. In the pan, Purely Naked looks darker, but when used it’s very close to Creme Brulee but it has a satin finish. Bake Sale, Latte, Frappe and Tan Lines only have slight differences, so choose what will work best for you. Latte is the coolest of the bunch, Tan Lines is the warmest and darkest. Frappe is slightly darker than bake sale but they end up looking the same on the eye. Mai Tai has a very strong shift, which makes it such a pretty shade to use. It is more pigmented than I’m Peachless, but not as pigmented as the standard Makeup Geek eyeshadows.
Third row:
Chickadee – matte yellow orange
Early Bird – pumpkin orange with a matte finish
Morocco – rich, burnt orange with a matte finish
Mango Tango – peachy pink with flecks of gold, simmer finish
Tuscan Sun – medium salmon pink with a matte finish
Roulette – dark copper with a very shimmery finish
Cosmopolitan – rose gold with gold flecks, shimmery finish
Chickadee, Early Bird and Morocco look more similar in the pan than they do swatched. They work really well combined together in an ombre orange eye look. Tuscan Sun has more yellow than Mango Tango, and it’s a matte not a shimmer like Mango Tango is. I love the colour of each of these eyeshadows but the formulas aren’t as good as most of the other Makeup Geek eyeshadows. I can still work with them, but they’re not as pigmented or as easy to blend as other shades. Roulette has a smooth pigmented formula that is very easy to work with. This shade isn’t on the website, so I can only assume that it is discontinued, which is a shame, Cosmopolitan has more gold than Roulette but also has a great formula that looks lovely on the eyes.
Fourth row:
Desert Sands – medium camel brown with warm yellow undertones in a matte finish
Tiki Hut – medium tawny brown in a matte finish
Mocha – warm deep matte brown
Sidekick – cinnamon brown with a matte finish
Apple Spice – warm copper with a matte finish
Cocoa Bear (Cheetah Bear) – matte reddish dark brown
Americano – cool toned dark brown with subtle purple undertones in a matte finish
I don’t get a lot of use out of Desert Sands or Tiki Hut, simply because I don’t gravitate towards those colours, but if you like those shades, they perform well on the eye. Mocha is a great dark brown to have on hand. It’s such a versatile shade, so I’m surprised that it wasn’t listed as a shade coming back for the rebrand. Apple Spice is a one of the newest shades launched by Makeup Geek, it is slightly more orange than sidekick, but you don’t need both in your collection. Cocoa Bear is a staple shade, it will be back with the rebrand but it will be renamed Cheetah Bear. Americano is the perfect cool toned brown to add to your collection, it’s a lovely shade and performs nicely.
These sorts of big swatch and review posts take me forever to do, so I hope you enjoyed this one, or got something out of it. I will start swatching the shades from my cool toned Makeup Geek eyeshadow palette, but it may take me a little while to get done. I really like having single eyeshadows as you can use up your favourite shades, and just replace those, rather than a whole makeup palette – which is a lot better for your wallet, and the environment. Don’t forget to check out my Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadows blog post, to see all of those swatched and you can also have a look at my Makeup Geek Face Palette Comparison as well, it has some bonus lip product swatches in it too. If you want my new blog posts sent to your inbox, then sign up for email updates. You can also follow me on social media to see what I’m up to – Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
What do you think of these Makeup Geek warm eyeshadows? What do you want to see from the Makeup Geek Cosmetics rebrand?
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