Hey all, I hope you had a great Halloween! I didn’t really do anything, even though Halloween is my favorite holiday. I wore a silly hat at work and some fun makeup, and that was about it.

I kinda passed out in the shower on Wednesday morning and thus received an impromptu day off, so I spent the day resting and playing Persona 5. What an incredible, challenging, and confusing game. I’m not even out of the first Palace yet and I’m looking forward to the next 90+ hours of gameplay.

I watched the Celebration of Life for Chester Bennington on YouTube Friday night and it affected me deeply. More than the stunning outpouring of love from the fans of Linkin Park and other musical artists, the strength that Chester’s wife Talinda, Mike Shinoda, and the members of the band were able to show was inspiring. I admit the concert hurt to watch, I was very depressed afterwards…but then I realized that it was important that I did so. Linkin Park’s music has always been able to speak for me when I was unable to speak for myself, and I don’t think Chester would want anyone to suffer the same darkness as he did.

I mentioned after his passing that depression is a dark room, and until you’ve been in it you can’t possibly understand the struggle. I still believe that, but I earnestly believe that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, struggles with that shadowy place. We may be in the dark but we are never ever truly alone in it. For me, even as painful as watching the concert was, it started me on the road to healing from something I never really realized had wounded me so deeply to begin with.

Here is the full stream of the concert for you all:

So, on to fun spooky Halloween things! I picked up a Halloween Grab Bag from Apocalyptic Beauty Cosmetics when they did their last restock. Basically, the deal was that for 12 dollars, you’d get 25 dollars or more worth of exclusive products. As I wasn’t really getting anything from other Halloween releases (and I’d liked the liquid highlight drops I’d gotten previously), I figured it was a pretty great deal.

I ordered on the 21st and received it on the 27th, so that was some really great TAT in my opinion. I got a cute little pumpkin bag, a mess of creepy candy, and a cute little eraser, as well as my products!

The highlight in Lich is a beautiful, intense, deep blue highlight. Very smooth, if the jar was a little bit messy! I liked the glow this gave to the skin, and the blue color was a deeper tone than I expected; more a midnight blue than the lighter sky blue of Fyrinnae Winter Again or Nyx Twilight Tint. It sheeres out nicely while retaining its intensity.

Nevermor-ticia is a pretty greyed blue eyeshadow with a bright turquoise sheen, and Cosmic Rays is a delicate pale lilac with a super intense sparkle. I definitely needed a sticky base to get Nevermor-ticia to perform the way I wanted it to, but Cosmic Rays was lovely with just a bit of setting spray. Even in the swatch here, I had to fight with Nevermore-ticia more than I really wanted to. I also got the glitter from Cosmic Rays all over my bathroom.

I’ve never used a glitter before, but Fright Night is one I would have chosen for myself. Tiny purple bats and iridescent and black circles comprise this chunky, eye-safe glitter. The iridescent glitters are insanely cool…they look shimmery green from the front and orange from an angle! I found out that you can use your standard hair gel to apply glitters, and this was a revelation! I don’t think I’ll make a habit of using chunky glitter for all of my looks, but for special occasions, maybe.

The Green Tea setting spray is nice, holds my makeup in place, and smells good…but the sprayer kinda sucks. I got a decent mist but a lot of large droplets as well, and I had to hold the bottle up high for the mist to hit me in the first place. I have a spare sprayer I can nab from something else in the meantime.

For my Halloween work look, I used Nevermore-ticia on the lid with Pixie Epoxy, and blended into the crease. I also added Season of the Witch, also from this brand from a different purchase, as transition and along the lower lash line. Cosmic Rays became my inner corner highlight, and Lich went under the browbone and as my face highlight as well. the Fright Night glitter I adhered to the outer areas of my eye with hair gel, and I amped it up with a few dots of Urban Decay Distortion glitter liner. I also wore a goofy hat that I found at a local discount store to complete my glam-bat look!

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and Apocalyptic Beauty did a great job with their grab bag. And at 12 dollars, it was a fantastic value! I need to practice with the shadows some more, of course, but I definitely think this purchase was worth it.

I’m off to go watch Blizzcon from the comfort of my own home. Have a good weekend, and I’ll see you next week!