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It occurred to me that I haven’t dedicated a post to Makeup Geek? Blasphemous, I’m very fond of the brand – not just great quality for the price, great quality period.

Quick overview of my (humble) Makeup Geek stash and a token makeup look at the end 🙂

Makeup Geek – Eyeshadows

Makeup Geek eyeshadows have gathered somewhat of a cult status and with good reason: the payoff is true to pan, easy to blend, consistent formula between shades and playful colour selection. Eyeshadow preferences vary greatly but if you’re familiar with the MAC formula, Makeup Geek are very comparable and in some cases, more pigmented and smoother in texture (as a loose rule, Makeup Geek Matte formula > MAC Matte formula).

At 6USD a pan, the friendly price point is a bonus – I wouldn’t hesitate spending twice that!

Makeup Geek – Brand Overview

Left to right:
Peach Smoothie, Creme Brûlée, Preppy, Frappe
Boo Berry, Unexpected, Cocoa Bear, Chickadee
Bitten, Prom Night, Mercury, Shimma Shimma
Cinderella, Gold Digger, Mango Tango, Corrupt

Lookin’ a bit worse for wear but you know they’re well loved. As much as I would love to evade my accounting study to swatch them all, realistically there are an excessive number of Makeup Geek eyeshadow swatches online (Marlena’s in particular are accurate) but if you’d like to see an eyeshadow featured in a look, feel free to request in the comments!

Again, your colour preferences may be chalk to my cheese but my most used shades are: Peach Smoothie (a very pale matte peach, barely registers on my skintone but makes for a perfect warm transition), Creme Brûlée (a light/medium matte warm sand) and Corrupt (the blackest eyeshadow on the market hands down and yes, there is fallout from this shadow, such is life).

Makeup Geek – Blushes

As y’all know, I’m not big on blush so I find myself short of words here (rare occasion). Flattering shades, easy-peasy to blend, lasts all day on my skin and no ridiculous frost (or at least, not in the shades below). It’s damn near impossible to stuff up application, each shade is sheer at first yet entirely buildable.

 

Makeup Geek – Brand Overview

Clockwise from top: Smitten, Bliss, Spellbound, Honeymoon, Head Over Heels.

Feeling a bit sheepish – when assembled together, I can’t deny my inclination towards soft peach blushes! My natural skin tone exhibits an abundance of pinkened and reddened tones, gimme something different.

My most used shades are: Smitten (a matte pale apricot, similar to Illamasqua Lover) and Bliss (a matte peachy coral with a very soft, almost translucent quality on my NC20 skin). I perceive that both shades will play best with skin tones under NC25, any deeper and they may appear ashy.

Makeup Geek – Gel Eyeliners

I return with my tail between my legs. If you recall, I gave Makeup Geek Gel Liners a poor review here… and here… and here :-/ I found them to be patchy, impossible to correct if your hand slipped and irritating on the waterline.

I recently fell in love with some new eyeliner brushes (Rae Morris by the way, all three of her liner brushes are game changers for me) and voila, no patchiness whatsoever, so perhaps my brush choice was less than ideal? I maintain that these gel liners are beyond indelible and require an oil cleanser for removal, bioderma on a q-tip will not cut it so hold your breath and hope for the best – there are no corrections. Beginners be wary.

I avoid them on the waterline (fussy eyes) but otherwise, I adore these liners. Sorry about earlier, Makeup Geek, forgive me?

Makeup Geek – Brand Overview

I cranked something serious to capture accurate colour depictions but GLORIOUS, no? Pinterest that ish! I reach for all, depending on my mood of the day.

Makeup Geek Look – Heavy Hazes

Heavy black shading around the entirety of the eye is less than flattering on me so to make it more wearable, I added strong highlights (central lid highlights, in this case) and bold lashes (both upper and lower falsies). Counterintuitive but this is an instance where more is more.

Makeup Geek – Brand Overview

The technique here is very similar to the steps outlined in my Bright Mermaid Tutorial, I simply switched up the shades. The inner and outer portions of the lid were shaded with a mixture of Bitten and Mango Tango. I then packed Mercury on the centre of the lid with a damp brush, this shade does have a blue-tinge which refused to show up in my swatches below. Finally, a mixture of Bitten and Corrupt was blended through the crease and towards the brow in a large, diffused placement.

I am wearing blush (!?), both Spellbound on the backs of the cheekbones and Honeymoon as a highlight (this doesn’t impart much flush on my skin tone).

If you look closely at the eyes, you may notice that the liner is not black but actually a reflective pewter – that is Twinkle 🙂 Pretty amiright?

Makeup Geek – Brand Overview

I should mention that I own a handful of Makeup Geek brushes and for the most part, I find the synthetic fibre too abrasive for my delicate skin. Real Technique brushes are my preferred choice for synthetic fibres.

Ermagerd. Stop typing now Karima. What are your favourite Makeup Geek shades? I’d love to expand my collection!

xxkarima

 

Some of the products mentioned have been provided for consideration while some I purchased myself. All opinions are my own and I am not compensated/paid for any reviews. I am under no obligation to feature any product bla bla.

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  1. I haven’t tried her eyeshadows yet but I heard her eyeshadow Creme Brûlée is almost a dupe of my beloved ( but discontinued) MAC Tete a Tint. I just wish they weren’t constantly sold out of everything I want (Creme Brûlée, Bitten, Unexpected, Cinderella, etc). I also need to get my greedy hands on those blushes and liners.

    1. Everything is constantly sold out but let that be a testament to how awesome they are 🙂 I don’t own Tete a Tint but Creme Brûlée is very versatile, great formula. Liners are win, I endorse that purchase 😉
      xx

  2. I’ve got several Makeup Geek eyeshadows and definitely would like to add more to my collection.

    The only thing about the line is that the browns, in particular, in the range are predominantly warm-toned. It’d be great if there were some cooler-toned or ashier browns in there. (Think along the lines of MAC Mystery, Brun, Coquette, Concrete, and suchlike.)

  3. (Long time lurker first time commenter)
    I love makeup geek eyeshadows! I filled a large z palette with them – you could say I’m addicted. I totally agree that the mattes are just perfect. So blendable and pigmented.. oh gosh I’m gushing. My most used shades are Vanilla Bean, Creme Brulee, Mocha, Frappe, Latte, Unexpected and Bleached Blonde.
    I would love to see some more gradient eyeshadow looks from you Karima! At the moment I am trying to perfect that shaded, blended eye and sometimes (often D;) I end up with a big muddy mess. I think in general, youtube has way too many “tutorials” out there that are really just people putting on makeup without describing why they do what they do, their technique or brush advice.
    Xx

  4. I have 4 of her shadows, and i am meaning to get rockstar (should be a MAC Vex dupe, which is my favourite). I have Cosmopolitan which they say is a dupe for expensive pink, i find Cosmopolitan a bit deeper than that, which is actually nice. Her blue shadows look nice too. I heard about Morphe brushes eyeshadows that cost 2$ a refill pan, and are apparently good. Have you heard of them? They are based in the US…

    1. Hmm interesting, I didn’t get Cosmopolitan because I thought it may be too similar to Expensive Pink but I like the idea of a deeper version!
      I actually just purchased two Morphe eyeshadow palettes, when they arrive I will let you know my thoughts!
      x

  5. I adore Makeup Geek! Honeymoon also wears (very!) well on NC 40 skin 🙂 Mercury, Corrupt, and Mango Tango are all on my list for my fourth installment of MUG eyeshadows, and I’m now inspired to try the gel liners – namely Twinkle. Thanks for the showcase!

  6. I HEART Makeup Geek! Like you said, such great quality and colors, I’d pay double what they charge! My favorite shadows are: Prom Night, Peacock, Mermaid, Unexpected, Latte, Glamorous, Cosmopolitan, and Shimma Shimma. I also love doing a combo of Hanky Panky and HoneyMoon blush to give my cheeks a nice pinky-peach glow. Oh, and the pigments are beautiful, too…albeit very messy. My favorites are Kryptonite, Insomnia and Afterglow.

  7. You look incredible! If I wear that make up and those colors people will throw stones at me. I have not yet tried any Makeup Geek items but those eye shadows look divine.
    Have a wonderful day!

  8. Ooh, can you share which Rae Morris liner brushes you’ve been loving? I’m still searching for the perfect brush to use with gel liners.

  9. I really wanted to love the Makeup Geek gel liner, but I found that mine never really set and smeared the second anything touched it. I feel like I got a bad one or something because that’s the opposite of what I’ve hear from eeeeveryone. Maybe I am too impatient and not waiting long enough for it to set? Did you find that they took a while to become smudge proof? Love love love the makeup look!! xo

  10. Great review! I’m hoping to try out Makeup Geek eventually, especially since you get that much bang for your buck. Prom Night, Unexpected, Twilight, and Hipster have all caught my eye.

  11. Brilliant overview. MUG never caught my interest until I read this post. The products look great and I really can’t complain about the pricing!

    The makeup look you created in this post is one of my favourite looks from you.

  12. Great overview! I’ve been meaning for ages to get my hands on some of the MUG blushes – funny all the ones you have are the same ones on my wishlist! I have a few of their eye shadows too, which I really should bust out and use more often. I think my favorite MUG products are the pigments – ZOMG so much colour payoff!!
    Ooooh and I have the original MUG Outer V brush that is my all time favorite smudge, pencil & crease placement brush EVAR. Unfortunately the one they stock currently isn’t the same 🙁

    Bambi x

  13. What did you think of Bleached Blonde, Cinderella and Frappe? The online swatches look nice but in person I am not sure I’m such a fan, but can’t pin down why. Not sure if its the colour or texture, but something doesn’t seem quite right.

    1. I don’t own Bleached Blonde but Cinderalla and Frappe are lovely (in general, the mattes are fabulous and you can’t go wrong). Can’t say I’ve had any concerns about colour (although I’ll wear anything) and the texture is easy to work with, in my experience.
      Perhaps you’re thrown off by the warmth? Those shades are relatively warm. xx