Makeup Monday: Hello, Hello Waffle

Left to right: Catticus Finch (sample), Amber, IMAM, Pride, Lust, and 23.

Yesterday was an incredibly productive day for me makeup-wise, even though I spent most of it with nothing on (my face) except some loose powder and mascara. Here’s why: I finally took my battle station (a plastic silverware tray) out of the dresser where it has sat in place for the last several months, and did a major sort-and-clean. I’d spilled a ton of my favorite dark-gold eyeshadow all over the place a week ago, which made me shriek with almost-physical pain when it happened, and since then I’d been too heartbroken (and lazy) to clean up all of the loose powder that was no longer in its jar and therefore was no longer going to go on my eyes.

But yesterday I finally bit the bullet, put a towel on the bed and put the powder-stained tray all over it, and started sorting through. I ended up de-stashing numerous loose eyeshadows, samples and full sizes, and a whole bunch of lipsticks and nail polishes. It’s amazing how stuff accumulates, between free samples and impulse buys both online and at the drugstore (although I try not to do that so much anymore). By the end, my silverware tray battle station was remarkably lighter, emptier, and cleaner.

Obviously, I rewarded myself by finally opening my recently-arrived Hello Waffle order, and spending an afternoon with it.

I’ve seen a lot about Hello Waffle Cosmetics lately. They’re a relatively new indie company, with a focus on loose eyeshadows, though they also sell pressed shadows and blushes. I went for the eyeshadows, since I’m pretty okay with my blush game right now, and since I just always tend to oooh and aaaah over the pretty colors that you can get for your eyes. My order was pretty decent-sized—one full size (3 grams) and four “halflings” (1/3 tsp), and a free sample (1/4 tsp) in a baggie. Again, because my eyes are gray, I went for mostly warm colors, with one exception that just looked so gorgeous on the website that I couldn’t pass it up.

Let’s look at some swausages! All shadows were swatched over Performance Colors‘ Shadow Magnet primer. Click for closeups!

Left: 23; Right: Lust

23: from the 1000 Likes collection, celebrating 1000 Likes on Hello Waffle’s Facebook page. 23 is a really nice pinky-gold, with a great rosy shift. This just screams “everyday wear!” to me, which is good, because I’m always looking for ways to look prettier at work.

Lust: From the Ourobouros collection. I’ve really been into plum-y purples lately, and this is a great one. It looks really velvety, and has a wonderful deep pigment. I can see this one pairing perfectly with 23, or with a complementary color, since it does have a bit of blue shift to it.

Left: Pride; Right: IMAM

Pride: From the Ourobouros Collection. This is somewhat like a lighter version of Lust, with a slightly warmer sheen to it. It’s a bit more lilac than plum, as noted in the description on the site. This might be my winter color, since it’s just warm enough to keep me from looking washed out.

IMAM: From the 1000 Likes Collection. I was actually really disappointed in this color, although it’s the only disappointment of the bunch. The swatch on the website looks really deep greeny-blue and gorgeous, but on me, it turned out much more like a slightly bluish gray. The gold sparkles didn’t really come through. Even though it was layered over a primer, the color didn’t seem to stay on particularly well (I took this photo within a few minutes of applying the shadow). For comparison, I applied a second swatch on the other arm next to a somewhat similar color, Shiro’s Lingered in Twilight:

Left: IMAM; Right: Lingered in Twilight

Obviously, Lingered in Twilight has more green to it, but you can definitely see the difference in the depth of color. As a note, these are both swatched over Shadow Magnet and I tried hard to get the same amount on each swatch (although whether or not it stayed there is another question). Again, this was the only disappointment of the order, but since this was the color I was most excited about, it did leave me feeling a little let down.

Left: Amber; Right: Catticus Finch

Amber: From the Alternate Universe Collection. I’m a sucker for a gold, and this is a really lovely one. It’s a very gold-gold, with a hint of orange to make it really warm. I ended up using this one for my eye look (below), and it stayed put all day (as it should, since it was layered over two different primers!). Another favorite, for sure.

Catticus Finch: From the Catssic Literature Collection. This was the free sample I got, and I actually really like it. It’s pretty subtle on my skin tone, but it’s a really nice pale lilac purple that has a bit of an orangey-gold shift to it. I think the photo of the shadow on the website might be incorrect, because that photo looks super gold and this is definitely purple, but it ran pretty true to the swatch photo on the site.

I decided to combine IMAM and Amber for my eye look this week, partly because I was hoping IMAM would look better on my face than on my arm, and because I have a certain affinity for green and gold (and, after all, it was Sunday when I put this post together). This ended up being a bit foolish, because IMAM really didn’t hold up its end of the bargain despite being layered over two primers (UDPP and Shadow Magnet), so I ended up having to put another shadow on top to try and get more of the green, which had mixed results at best. Despite the lack of green-and-goldness, however, the eye look ended up coming out nicely.

Not sure where that hint of rose came from, but I’m not complaining.

Final judgments? (That’s my judging face up there.) Overall, I like Hello Waffle Cosmetics, and I was happy with the stuff I got, with one exception. I could certainly see myself ordering from them again, although maybe sticking to the brighter colors, since it seemed like there was a pigmentation problem with the darker shade. The brighter colors are really gorgeous and true to the swatches and photos on the site, and I know I won’t have any trouble mixing them in with the rest of my collection. I was pretty let down with IMAM, but I’m holding out hopes that I just got a bad batch, since the photo on the website is gorgeous. Has anyone had a really good experience with that color? If so, let me know!