Stepping it up: Makeup Geek, Morphe and Mac Eyeshadow Haul

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!! Apologies in advance- this is going to be quite a long post! If you are a regular reader you will know that I never wear eyeshadow and haven't featured any on my blog before... Mascara is about as much as I have experimented with when it comes to eye makeup for a few reasons: 

1. I'm not trying to look like someone punched me in the face- this is the result I have obtained anytime I have tried to wear the stuff. 

2. It looked like way too much effort 

3. I don't have anywhere that special to go to for me to bother :D

Recently I've been a bit bored with all the lip products I seem to have acquired and really wanted to step up my makeup. Aside from contouring, this is the main thing I have never been able to master so I decided to get some eyeshadow and start practicing! I did a lot of research into palettes for 'beginners' etc and a few people recommended the Warm or Cool neutrals palette from Mac, the Morphe 35 palettes and Sleek I-Divine palettes . In the end I decided to make my own palette with colours that I actually liked. Don't get me wrong, the ready made palettes can be very cost effective and I have since bought a few but I just kept thinking I wouldn't wear all the colours so it seemed a little excessive. 

As I mentioned, I did a lot of research before buying the shades that went into this palette. I watched so many YouTube videos.. (Shout out to The Fancy Faced, Jackie Aina, Nikkie Tutorials), googled swatches and asked for recommendations. Many people I spoke to recommended Makeup Geek and Mac for the best shadows in terms of pigmentation. I started looking for Makeup Geek shadows on Ebay but Beauty Bay started selling them which made them much easier to get hold of! The palette is mainly comprised of Makeup Geek and Morphe pans with one pan from Mac. I also bought an empty magnetised Morphe palette  as a cheaper alternative to a Mac palette. Unlike the common Z palettes used to house Makeup Geek shadows it has a mirror and is a little more sturdy in my opinion.

All in all, I was looking for Mac dupes, I swatched quite a few Mac shadows in store and I knew which ones I wanted, mainly Red brick, Swiss Chocolate, Carbon, Antiqued and Atlantic blue but I was not about to pay the Mac price so I searched for Makeup Geek and Morphe shades that were really similar. 

Makeup Geek pans £4.95/ $6

Morphe pans £1.95/ $2.29

Mac pans £10/$10 (you can sometimes get these for £9.50 from Debenhams) 

First of all I must say that all the shades are super pigmented, the Makeup Geek shades a little more so than the Morphe ones but they all still pack a punch. Most of the shades are super smooth and easy to apply.  I experience some fall out with them, particularly with Corrupt and Peacock, however it isn't not too much of a hassle to wipe away. With a primer these stay on my eyelid for the whole day, even though I always forget I'm wearing eyeshadow and rub my eyes! We all know I do not know anything technical about eyeshadow so I can't really say much more!

The shades (left to right)

Row 1 

Makeup Geek: Peacock (matte deep teal blue) comparable to Mac Plumage  

Makeup Geek: Envy (frost- shimmery deep green)

Morphe: Sapphire ES49 (frost- cobalt blue) comparable to Mac Freshwater 

Makeup Geek: Neptune ( matte true blue) comparable to Mac Atlantic Blue 

This row was definitely the experimental row! I have seen some amazing looks created with Mac Atlantic Blue so I knew I had to get Neptune. It really packs a punch, so bright and shocking! It applies very smoothly and looks great smudged along the waterline. I found Peacock to be a bit powdery but it is still a lovely matte shade that becomes more workable with a primer. Envy and Sapphire are lovely frost shades- perfect for night looks. Envy reminds me of Christmas, the shimmer is not too excessive and I can imagine it looking amazing with a little glitter on top! Sapphire is super smooth and very vibrant -I think it pairs really well with Neptune. 

Row 2

Makeup Geek : Morocco ( matte burnt orange) comparable to Mac Red Brick 

Makeup Geek : Mocha (deep matte brown)

Makeup Geek : Cocoa bear (matte reddish brown) comparable to Mac Brown Script

Mac: Swiss Chocolate (muted reddish brown)

After hearing many Youtube MUA's  talk about the importance of transition shades I knew I needed to include some great ones in my palette. A few MUA's who are of a similar skin tone to me used Red Brick and Swiss Chocolate a lot as transition shades particularly when creating smokey eyes. Morocco is pretty much identical to Red Brick but I couldn't find anything that looked like Swiss Chocolate. I just went ahead and purchased Swiss Chocolate and I don't regret it! It is smooth and blends really easily, it also matches my skin tone really well so I find it great to give my lids an even tone as well as using it as a general transition shade. Annoyingly it isn't magnetic so I have to be really careful when opening the palette because it has fallen out a few times! Mocha and Cocoa Bear are both described as reddish brown but I think Cocoa Bear is more fitting to the description. Cocoa Bear is a great crease shade particularly for a brown smokey eye but I find it works well for blending Swiss Chocolate with a black shadow for a dramatic smokey eye. I haven't quite figured out how to use Mocha correctly! I find it a little chalky  but I imagine it can be built up for added depth to your crease. 

Row 3

Morphe:  Burlesque ES74 (copper shimmer) comparable to Mac Antiqued

Morphe: Blackberry ES25 (burgundy with red shimmer)

Makeup Geek : Galaxy (metallic gunmetal) comparable to Mac Knight Divine

Makeup Geek: Corrupt ( intense matte black with subtle sparkle) comparable to Mac Carbon 

This row has my favourite colours! Burlesque is so pretty- it applies very smoothly and it's the one I have used the most so far! If you love warm neutrals this is a great shade, the shimmer is perfect. Since purchasing these I have also bought one of the Mac x 9 palettes in Burgundy which has Antiqued in it and the shades are basically identical! Blackberry is a little powdery but still quite pigmented, like Peacock above it is more workable with a good primer. I got Corrupt because the common feature of most palettes is a matte black shade and as it is more intense than Carbon I figured it was a great investment. There's quite a bit of fall out with Corrupt but it's not too annoying to wipe away. Galaxy is gorgeous! Amazing colour pay off and applies smoothly.

Swatches (no flash)

Swatches (with flash)

Things I've learnt:

1. My eyelids are minimal :( I need some tips on how to make the shadow stand out a bit more when my eyes are open. I think I should make an effort to learn how to apply lashes because my lashes do not stand out enough for dramatic looks :(

2. Primer! The eyeshadow kept creasing :'( I recently bought the Urban Decay Primer potion which has made a big difference.

3. Brushes! I need to invest in a good full set of eyebrushes if I want this to work for me. I have been using the amazing Sigma E30 pencil brush a lot and some brushes I was gifted from L.A.B.2* at a recent Bloggers Hangout event but I would love a complete set. What set would you recommend??

4. Practice! My initial fears are confirmed- this really is a lot of effort but I'm going to keep trying, and because I do not believe in arm swatch posts I have put pictures below of a couple of my practice runs where I am using some of the shades in the palette:

Transition shade: Swiss Chocolate and Morocco

Crease: Cocoa Bear and Mocha

Lid: Corrupt

Inner Tear duct: Light shimmer shade from the sleek Au Naturel palette 

Transition shade: Swiss Chocolate

Crease : Embark (from Mac Burgundy x 9)

Lid: Blackberry 

Inner tear duct : Honey Lust (from Mac Burgundy x 9)

I strongly encourage feedback on my attempts! Where do I need to improve? I can take criticism don't worry lol Comment below :)

'Be your own kind of beautiful' 

*Disclosure - Any items marked with an asterix (*) are either PR samples/gifts. All the opinions written about the products are my own. Not sponsored.