After yesterday’s swatch post, it’s time for my looks from Dark Matter Makeup’s Zodiac collection. This collection has a lot of bright, fun colors, although some of them took a little bit of extra work to use in the looks. Nonetheless, I’m happy with what I came up with and if you’re a more confident eyeshadow user, you should be able to make some nice bold looks with these colors. Also, if you missed my update to yesterday’s post, these shadows have been reformulated since I bought them, so it’s possible they perform better now. Dom’s sending me a few samples of the reformulation, and when I get them, I’ll post an update about the new formula.

Look 1: Virgo and Pisces For this look I primed my eyes and then patted Virgo over the lid. I placed Pisces in the outer corner and the outer portion of the crease and blended it down and into Virgo. I kept blending until the transition was smooth. I added a little bit more Pisces in the crease to make it more vibrant, and brought some under my lower lashes as well. I lined my eyes all the way around with black pencil liner and applied a lot of mascara.

Look 2: Scorpio, Taurus and Sagittarius I primed my eyes and patted Pixie Epoxy on to my mobile lids. After it set, I applied Scorpio to my lids. I took a tiny bit of Taurus on a blending brush and worked it into the crease to smooth out the edges, fanning it up slightly at the outer corners. I tidied a bit with a q-tip and diffused the edges with my blending brush. I used a liner brush to apply Sagittarius along my lower lashline. I lined my eyes with black pencil liner and finished with mascara. (Lips are Kae Q Sapodilla.)

Look 3: Aquarius and Aries This is the second look I attempted with these colors, since the first one turned out patchy. For this, I primed my lids and applied Aries up to my crease. I blended out the edges a little to diffuse the upper edge. I mixed Aquarius with Superstar Serum and applied it as winged liner using an eyeliner brush. I applied a little of the mixture to my lower lashline as well. I finished the look with mascara. (Lips are Kae Q Mamey.)

Look 4: Libra, Gemini and Capricorn This look is an attempt at a halo eye, although the colors were too similar for it to be very distinct. I primed my eyes and applied Gemini to the inner and outer thirds of each eye. I used a pencil brush to apply Libra to the very inner and outer corners, as well as to the inner and outer thirds of my lower lashline. I filled in the middle third of each eye with Capricorn and blended the purples together. I might have overblended slightly, which cause the halo-ness to become extremely subtle, so I added a touch more Gemini over the top. In retrospect, maybe I should have added a little bit more back. I also applied Gemini to the middle third of my lower lashline. I blended out the upper edge of the purples with Capricorn on a fluffy brush, bringing it up a little higher than my crease. I lined my upper lashline with black pencil liner and my lower lashline with grey. I curled my lashes and applied mascara to complete the look. (Lips are Fyrinnae Pygmy Hippo topped with gloss.)

Look 5: Aries, Leo and Cancer, plus Pisces For this look I started my priming my eyes and then applied Aries to the inner third of my lids. I applied Leo to the middle third and Cancer to the outer third. I flared Cancer up at the outer corner and applied some to the outer half of my lower lashline as well. I applied Leo to the middle of my lower lashline, stopping before my tear duct. I blended the three colors on my lid together to get a smooth transition, but Leo became very sheer so I patted a little more on top. I took the teensiest bit of Aries on a blending brush and used it to lightly blend out the upper edge. I lined my upper lashes with black liquid liner, ending in a little wing, and my lower lashes with black pencil liner. I also applied mascara.

After I finished the first version of this look, I realized that it would be super fun to add some turquoise to the lower lashline, so I used a liner brush to apply some Pisces to my lower waterline. This version made me think of a tropical sunset over the ocean!

So there are my five Zodiac Collection looks! Despite the fact that some of the shadows were a bit tricky to use and required a careful hand or touch ups after blending, I really like the way they turned out. I was able to make a lot of bright, fun looks! Since turquoise is hands down my favorite color, look number one was my favorite, but I was pleasantly surprised by number three as well. My first attempt at an Aquarius/Aries look (a smoky eye over Pixie Epoxy) turned into a bit of a patchy mess (especially when my eyes were closed and you could see it all), but foiling Aquarius as liner worked quite well and made for a nice, delicate, pretty look. What about you? Which look was your favorite?