Makeup Geek Haul | Review & Swatches

I'll be the first to admit that when I heard Makeup Geek were being released on Beauty Bay, I went a litttttle bit crazy. And when I say crazy I mean I originally thought I'd fill a medium Z Palette and then ended up having to order the large which I seem to have nearly filled already. My bad! This is the result of combining dissertation procrastination and late nights. All the shadows I have were bought from 3 separate orders, basically whenever they were back in stock and I could get my hands on some, I went for it.

The demand for these has been insane since they were released and with good reason (but I'll get into that later). I do know of a few people who have had issues with ordering from Beauty Bay with items missing or other problems as the demand has been so huge but personally I had no issue with mine other than those around Black Friday taking a little longer then usual (totally understandable though). Just something to bare in mind when ordering. When the products do come through though, they're totally worth the wait.

In total I picked up 21 shadows. 4 of their foiled and 17 regular, including a selection of mattes and shimmers and of the 21 I have only found one that perhaps doesn't deliver as much in terms of formula and colour payoff as the others but is still a lovely product. If you're someone, like me, who when buying eyeshadow palettes always has at least one or two shades that you never wear, I highly recommend picking up a Z Palette and a few of these shadows when they're back in stock, that way you can completely tailor it to suit you and spend however much you like. Each shadow is less than £5 and the quality rivals, if not beats, that of Mac (which are also double the price).

These eyeshadows, in particular the shimmery shades, are so buttery smooth in consistency and easy to work with, packing in a massive amount of pigmentation. Even a handful of the matte shades which you would expect to be a lot drier, have an incredibly smooth almost creamy texture, making them so nice to blend and work with. The foiled collection are perhaps the stars of the show, especially if you're into highly metallic and shimmery eye looks. I do recommend using your finger to apply these as this creates a much more opaque and intense finish than using a brush. And a lot of the regular shimmer shades feel like they have a very similar formula. Having used these for the past couple of weeks I am extremely impressed, I can see why these are so highly praised throughout the beauty world.

I'll give you a quick run down of the shades I've picked up and what I think of them but if you are planning on buying some of these shadows, get yourself on Google looking at swatches so you can get yourself a really good idea of what they will look like. The Makeup Geek website has great swatches and there are copious amounts across beauty blogs and the internet.

First Row

Magic Act, Glamorous, Creme Brulee, Frappe, Goddess, Cocoa Bear, Americano. 

Magic Act (foiled): The perfect gold shade, the foiled formula of this means it's intensely pigmented and metallic. One swipe is all you need for a complete wash of colour. I love this for an all over the lid shade or even an inner corner highlight.

Glamorous: A bit of a deeper more orange gold shade, verging more towards bronze. This has a really creamy texture, it almost feels foiled.

Creme Brulee: A perfect neutral soft brown base and transition shade, despite being matte this is so buttery soft and blenadable. I've been wearing this underneath most of my eyeshadow looks recently.

Frappe: Described as a medium maple brown colour. Another matte shade, slightly drier feeling than Creme Brulee but still buttery smooth. It's not at all chalky or dry.

Goddess:  A non-metallic copper shade, super pigmented and super soft. I can't get over the texture of these shadows, this, Glamorous and Roulette all have a similar finish.

Cocoa Bear: A really popular warm brown shade, I found this slightly drier than a couple of the other matte shades but it still provides a gorgeous wash of colour. Great for adding depth to the crease and outer v.

Americano: The only shade I'm slightly disappointed by. It's quite dry and takes a few swatches to build up a good colour but shade is a lovely dark brown, great for the crease or creating a smoky brown look.

Second Row

Shimma Shimma, Starry Eyed, Grandstand, Twilight, Last Dance, Sensuous, Drama Queen. 

Shimma Shimma: The texture of this feels like a foiled shadow, it's the perfect light metallic champagne for an inner corner highlight and brow bone highlight.

Starry Eyed (foiled): A pink champagne shade, this is super pretty and like every other foiled shadow in this collection, incredibly pigmented.

Grandstand (foiled): This is described by Makeup Geek as a rose gold but to me it feels more like a copper shade with slight rose gold undertones. This is gorgeous for all over the lid.

Twilight: A muted light purple with slight shimmer. I like this as a base shade when creating a purple shadow look, using slightly darker shades in the crease and outer v.

Last Dance: A warm satin purple. If you're afraid of darker and purple eyeshadows, something like this looks gorgeous buffed into the crease with a more neutral eye look.

Sensuous: A slightly darker shimmery purple, gorgeous with Twilight and Last Dance.

Drama Queen: A really dark shimmery purple, probably the darkest I'll dare to go. I've yet to try this one out on the eyes but the finish is so buttery (I need to find a word to use other than buttery). This packs some serious pigment. 

Third Row

In The Spotlight, Cinderella, Cupcake, Cosmopolitan, Roulette, Country Girl, Burlesque. 

In The Spotlight (foiled): A soft peach champagne shade. I've been using this religiously all over the lid and inner corner with most of my eye looks. It just adds a gorgeous metallic finish without being too intense.

Cinderella: A pale shimmery pink, makes a perfect base for pink toned eyeshadow looks.

Cupcake: An incredibly creamy muted matte pink shade. I think this will work really nicely as a base and transition shade for a pink eye look with something like In The Spotlight over the lid and a darker pink in the crease.

Cosmopolitan: Pretty much a dupe for Expensive Pink by Mac and very similar in texture to Goddess and Glamorous. This is another colour I've been using loads since I bought. Just a sweep of this all over the lid makes for a super quick and easy eye look.

Roulette: The same sort of finish as Cosmopolitan, Glamorous and Goddess. Super metallic without being foiled. I loved this one so much I accidentally ordered it twice, woops!

Country Girl: This colour and finish is so hard to describe, it's a very brown pink shade with a slight shimmer but the finish is a bit more on the dry side than the other shimmery shades. Another one I need to have a play with.

Burlesque: And last but not least this gorgeous deep metallic plum shade. Like so many of the other shadows this has so much pigmentation with just one swipe. Another one to try out in the crease if you're scared of using darker colours. 

Aaaaand breathe. Did you pick up any Makeup Geek shadows recently? Which are your favourites?