... this blogger gave to thee...
... eight potential palettes...
... seven custom Cons...
... six fancy dresses...
... five gold things!..
... four FX plushies...
... three midnight magnets...
... two tricks and treats...
....a tale of lovely lore.Okay, so this was meant to be Day 3's post, but I got carried away and I tried moving it to Day 4's, and then I got even more carried away, and had to bump it all the way up the list to give myself a little more space.
Originally in this post, I wanted to look at these three stupidly pretty eyeshadow palettes that I'd been coveting, ones that were really aesthetically pleasing in their packaging, colour schemes and the looks I've seen people produce with them. But I decided to look at other brands, just in case something stood out as being unique or different, and then I wandered onto Lethal Cosmetics website.
The brand was created by husband and wife team, Anna and Kai, in 2016 when they were struggling to find vegan cruelty free brands in their home country, Germany, so they decided to take matters into their own hands, launching Lethal Cosmetics in 2017. They produce a beautiful range of eye shadows, from mattes and metallics to duo and multi-chromes, but why did that change my plans for Day 3?
They let you build your own palette.
For a few years, I have been contemplating dedicating one of these posts to building a series of eyeshadow palettes and after spending a little too long playing around with the Lethal Cosmetics Palette Designer, I decided to have fun with this post and make some palettes based on characters from my current obsession, Lore Olympus...
My plan for these palettes is to base them on pairings within the series and use the Lethal Cosmetics palette designer, and their range of extremely pretty eyeshadows, to create a nine pan palette based on the beautiful colour story Rachel Smythe uses to depict her characters. Its something I truly love about the series and one of the aspects that initially drew me to her illustrations,
Obviously with that I had to start with the main protagonists from Lore Olympus, Hades, King of the Underworld and Persephone, Goddess of Spring:
It's kind of a given that the big blue guy and his tiny pink goddess was always going to be shades of pink and blue, and I think that suits these characters. Hades initially is depicted as cold, melancholy and aloof, he's King of the Underworld, all powerful in his realm and he's cultivated that persona, but on meeting Persephone, on allowing himself to show his vulnerability to her, because he literally can't avoid it, you learn very quickly that he's just a very, very soft. Persephone likewise is a soft, naïve character, she's sweet and sensitive, but like Hades incredibly emotionally charged, and protective of the people she loves.
Pink and blue are such perfect colours for these characters, and in terms of eyeshadow, you can create looks that are incredibly sweet and almost candyflossy...
... and ones that deeper, darker and more moody...
They're just colours that work together, they fit and blend and are really harmonious, analogous colours that combine easily... a bit like the characters.
Now ideally in my Hades & Persephone Palette I'd have saturated a few of the colours more, deepened other and, Hades certainly on screen reading more azure than periwinkle, but I really wanted to keep the colours true to the brand. If I'd not been using the Lethal Cosmetics Palette Designer I'd have tweaked the colours in my image, but again, this company has spent a long time curating and creating these colours, and I would feel bad messing with that.
Link || Lore Olympus Fandom Wiki || Hades || Persephone
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Altitude || Capslock || Crossroads || Enigma || Insomnia || Mainframe || Spirit || Surge || Terminus
Palette two is for Zeus and Hera, husband and wife, God of the Sky & Thunder, Goddess of Marriage & Women and King and Queen of the Gods. They are a power couple, but a tumultuous one.
Hera, depicted in gold, is strong willed and with a short temper, but empathetic, she can feel other peoples suffering, which is something that often hurts her as much as it angers her. Gold is regal colour, and Hera, to me, is not unlike Princess Diana, she's a clothes horse, her appearance is paramount and her husband is a cad.
Zeus is also shown in a regal colour, purple, showing his position (as with royals throughout history), his power, his status. He's the King, and he doesn't like people to forget it. He's powerful and manipulative, but inept, though it doesn't stop him from cheating on his wife, frequently.
They're a couple who are powerful and could be more so if one of them could keep it in their pants, because, like their colours, in many ways you compliment one another, though it comes out more in conflict than harmony.
An aesthetically pleasing palette should also be user friendly, lots are designed so there are obvious combinations running in rows, columns and quads throughout a palette, giving the makeup enthusiast as many ways (and visual clues) as to how to use the colours within. I can't promise I've managed that with every one of these, but generally, other than one characters colours starting in the top left corner and the other in the bottom right, I did take this non-verbal layout into mind while I put them together.
With the Zeus & Hera Palette, I can see those patterns, I can imagine the colours running together in certain patterns, but also that blending them together, though there are colours such as Imago to bridge the gap, the mattes could become muddy if you blend them too far. So with a palette like this, I imagine there would be a lot of keeping colours separate as block colours, halo eyes and cut creases...
... and using the metallics, gently patted together, to bridge the gaps in the blend...
One of my favourite eyeshadows of all time was by a brand called Kolor, which was sold in Superdrug in the UK for a little while, and it was a split pan called Trifle. On one side was a metallic pale lilac, which honestly I rarely if ever wore, on the other side was a matte (possibly satin) plum purple shade with an orangey gold/copper sparkle through it, which when I hit pan I stopped using because I didn't want to run out. Irony is, I still have it, but it's so old I'd never actually put it on my eyes, but it's my holy grail of eyeshadows. The perfect plumy purple, the perfect amount of glitter - today it would called a sequin shadow being matte with glitter in it), it made my eyes look really green and if I had to add a colour in to this palette, it would be that colour. However one of my favourite things to do when I'm wearing purple eyeshadow is to press a gold or copper shadow very lightly over top to mimic that Trifle shade so having both in this palette means it's still achievable.
I might also make the purples a tad more blue toned to match Zeus' skintone, but also I think the warmer plum purples mix with the golds far better, so for a purple/gold palette, I'm happy.
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Dark Matter || Esteem || Event Horizon || Imago || Lore || Nightcall || Revolve || Symbiosis || Unity
This is the palette based on the girlfriends and mistresses of our Kings of Olympus and the Underworld, Zeus and Hades.
Minthe is a river nymph who works at Underworld Corp, she is Hades personal assistant and, at the start of the series, his girlfriend. A scarlet red manipulative fashionista, Minthe should have everything she wants, a boyfriend who cares about her, who lavishes her with expensive gifts, pays her rent and deals with her destructive, even abusive behaviour, but as she pushes him away to try to force him into more commitment, he meets Persephone. Minthe looks hard, she puts out that aura, but she, like many of the other characters, has her softer, emotional and fragile side. Red is her colour because she put out the appearance that she's a hard, sexy bitch, but as with many of Smythe's characters, there's depth.
Her best friend is Thetis, a sea nymph isn't quite so deep, she, like Minthe is manipulative, but she's also scheming and competitive, and her main source of power and position is from her affair with her boss, Zeus. Silver-grey and mint, as a sea nymph her appearance and colouring is meant to remind you of water, cool, icy water. It succeeds.
Over the days I've been conceiving/writing this post, I've been playing around with the eyeshadows in my collection, trying to create looks to go with the concept palettes I was designing. Today it was a little more Zeus & Hera, yesterday it was all about Minthe & Thetis. Oxblood red/brown matte shadow with a aqua/mint shimmer... I actually really like this combination, it's weird but works really well.
I use that muted red a lot in my day to day makeup, and it works with lots of other colours, and aqua is certainly one of them. I also chose lots of eyeshadow looks that were a bit vampy and sultry because I think that not only does that work really well with this colour scheme, but with the characters of Minthe & Thetis.
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Cascade || Event Horizon || Frantic || Lucid || Proxy || Retrograde || Trespass || Venom || Yonder
I'm placing these in an order of sorts, kings and queens, their mistresses and now friends, Thanatos with Minthe, and Daphne with Persephone.
Thanatos is the God of Death, collector of souls, and by others considered a lazy god, which only exasperates him out of embarrassment. He wants to be taken seriously but isn't, and his unrequited (strung along) crush on Minthe doesn't help the way he's perceived, especially as he will do anything she asks. In many respects Thanatos is both pushed into this persona through sabotage and his own inability to get over his slighting by the other gods. Shown as grey with white hair and aqua eyes, Thanatos isn't bad, he can be kind, he just needs someone to bring it out of him.
Daphne, a flower nymph who grew up with Persephone in the mortal realm, unlike Thanatos is kind, understanding, bubbly and beloved by others, but too trusting. She is beautiful, hot pink with blue blotches on her skin, a model and yoga instructor, and she brings out the best in people, including Thanatos.
They're not dissimilar to Hades & Persephone in both temperament and colouring, but in many respects one is the older wiser version of one, the other the younger more foolhardy version of the other.
Another collection of shadows that could be called cotton candy or unicorn like, this is one I altered last minute because I had it way too similar to in fact Hades & Persephone, using cool tone blues instead of the aqua. But it was in fact lucky, as after I initially made it, Lethal Cosmetics added their Animal Charity Marbled Shadow Collection, including Mercredi, a brown to green duochrome with light pink metallic speckles... and I know Daphne is envisioned as pink with blue blotches to her skin, but this particular shade feels like a lovely combination of her and Thanatos, and when I saw it, I was so annoyed that I hadn't included it that I had to include it.
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Capslock || Crossroads || Genesis || Mercredi || Numb || Petrichor || Synth || Terminus || Yonder
Another character on the friends and family plan for Lore Olympus is Eros, God of Love & Sex, and Persephone's best friend. Psyche is a mortal princess, considered the most beautiful in the realm, who is being mistreated by her family, and destined to be married off to the ugliest creature in the mortal realm by order of Aphrodite, who takes umbrage at the idea that she could possibly be more beautiful than her. It's Eros who must carry out this demand, but instead, taking pity of her, and doesn't carry out Aphrodite's command, Eros falls for Psyche, and smuggles her into Olympus.
For much of the series Psyche is disguised, unbeknownst to Eros, as Ampelus, a nymph, hidden by Aphrodite herself after things go amiss. So the character is more frequently pictured with deep purple skin and indigo hair, as opposed to her mortal form, where she has brown skin and hair, and golden eyes which don't change while she's in her nymph form, but instead intensify as they contrast with her purple skin.
Either would work with Eros' rosy pink appearance (the above image is quite saturated, Eros is more muted in colour usually), but it's Psyche he's in love with, it's Psyche he wants to be with, and I haven't had any browns or oranges in any of these palettes yet and they're staples. This is the palette I would end up using almost every day, because when I have no ideas, these colour I always reach for.
I like these colours because they blend well together, but equally work alone or as a monochrome look, and in a pinch, you don't have to think to hard about how to combine them. Look up "sunset eyeshadow" on Pinterest, Instagram or Google Images and these are the sort of colours you'd be met with.
Link || Lore Olympus Fandom || Eros || Psyche/Ampelus
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Cascade || Catatonic || Covet || Defiance || Esteem || Frantic || Symbiosis || Terminus || Torment
Now, in Greek Mythology, if you're not related to Zeus it's probably a miracle, the family tree being incredibly incestuous, though fortunately this is something Lore Olympus creator Rachel Smythe has intentionally side stepped in certain areas, keeping some family connections while conveniently dropping others to avoid impropriety.
But there's no denying the bulk of Zeus's heirs, including Athena, Goddess of Wisdom & Warfare and a member of The Goddesses of the Eternal Maidenhood, the order to which Persephone is intended to become a member. Her girlfriend Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth & Home is also a member, as well as sister to Hera and Demeter, Persephone's mother.
Athena is portrayed as tall and slim in silver and white, Hestia as a small and curvaceous woman in golden peach/apricot tones... so gold and silver.
Gold and silver... one of those combinations which are kind of at odds, and traditionally you're told to avoid putting together. But I like the aesthetic of this, the greys are warm, the gold more muted and apricoty, and this character pairing I don't feel would be all about big over the top makeup looks, instead more simple, natural and maybe a touch of the soft glam feel.
The yellows and gold I would wear every day, they're staples to me. Today however I made an attempt to use these colours today, though grey is not a colour I own a lot of in makeup, so I had to use more of a cool toned beige brown with a lot of pale, very sparkly gold highlighter in my inner corner. With some very poorly applied black eyeliner - I'm out of practice - and a serious lack of precision as I rushed and got mascara everywhere, it's something I would wear again as a more neutral, simple eye when I'm not feeling adventurous or have that must be sensible looking adult, stop wearing bright coloured sparkly eyeshadow everyday days. If that makes sense?
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Ceres || Ephemeral || Esteem || Inhabit || Numb || Rocket Fuel || Runic || Unearthed || Vertigo
Stepping away from Zeus & Hades extended family, I decided I wanted to have one of the palettes based on three sisters, The Fates (Clotho, Lachesis & Atropos). In Lore Olympus we've only met the trio a couple of times, but oh the revelations that those appearances led too! If you read the webcomic and they appear, prepare yourself!
They're job is to decide everybody's destiny. Clotho (the sister with the headband) spins the thread of life, Lachesis (glasses) determines the fate of people during their mortal life and Atropos (red magnifier) cuts the thread of life with her shears and determines how someone will die. They also archive memories, which is how they're introduced in Smythe's world, as librarians of sorts, who Hades comes to to uncover how he and Kore (Persephone) originally met, and why this memory isn't his to keep.
So for The Fates Palette, it's all about mint and purple...
... and I love that combination! It's bright, and fun and there's a reason each of the sisters is a slightly different tone of the aqua/lavender colour scheme, which according to Smythe is because the sisters appearance is based on that of the 1980-90's cartoon version of the Chippettes from Alvin and the Chipmunks...
L to R: Jeanette, Brittany & Eleanor || The Chipettes || 1980 - 1990
... which as a soon I read clicked back on the 90's child in my head and I instantly saw the reference. Smythe's inspiration even run to the colouring, Lachesis (Jeanette) in glasses with a more purple colour scheme for her clothing, Clotho (Brittany) is pinker and more traditionally "girly" and Atropos (Eleanor) wears more blue and has stripes... now I know the reference, I'm kicking myself that I didn't get it.
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Equilibrium || Petrichor || Proxy || Release || Remedy || Retrograde || Sequence || Synth || Talisman
My final palette is actually not based on multiple characters, or romantic couplings, instead it was based on a missing colour from my palettes, and one I personally love in eyeshadow, green. Thus I'm basing it on Persephone alone, and the fact that not only is she the Goddess of Spring and one of her powers is to make plants grow, but that green features so prominently in the clothes Smythe illustrates her wearing in later episodes as her character develops.
Persephone also literally blooms when she's emotional, flowers springing into life around her, her hair grows and burst with petals, and body sprouts with leaves when she's angry, stressed, upset, joyful or even aroused...
As complimentary colours blending pink and green will generally end in brown, but that's not always a negative if you're blending eyeshadows together, intentionally done they can give you a neutral where one didn't exist or mute/brighten a colour you feel you're missing...
... or you could use the colours in stark contrast to one another, creating a really dramatic effect...
One colour I was really happy to find while searching through Lethal Cosmetics collection was the shade FRB, a multichrome with a metallic finish that shifts through tan, gold, lime green, turquoise and blue, and the reason I was happy was because of the similarity it bore to a long discontinued loose pigment called Apple Jam from cosmetics brand, GOSH. This little potted pigment has stayed in my collection for a long time, and I have always loved it, even just to look at, but it is the messiest piece of makeup I own. You don't even have to open the lid as it just worms it way through to threads to get everywhere, meaning it's more of a look but don't touch item, especially since I had to tape it shut, but it's that same sort of warm gold green with a borderline red sheen.
This was exactly the sort of colour I wanted to include in a green/pink Persephone Grows Palette (as I keep calling it in my head), because it's unique, but with FRB being a true multichrome, it would hopefully give an even more intense shine and dimension to the eye, and as a pressed eyeshadow not cover everything in the vicinity.
It might seem like a weird combination but I kinda love it, plus if it works in nature, why not in eyeshadow.
Link || Lore Olympus Fandom Wiki || Persephone
Link || Lethal Cosmetics Single Eyeshadows || Capslock || Cascade || Coven || Eden || Euphoria || FRB || Nebula || Recluse || Terminus
Makeup is something I find real enjoyment in, it's just a craft supply for your face in the end, and it's something I wear every day. Primarily it's armour, to feel better about my appearance, hide and help bits I'm not fond of, but eyeshadow, it's fun, it's creative and with me, it's always inevitably going to start out simple and end up in a bright colour, a grungy smoky eye or some sort of sparkle, because I can't resist.
I also someone who doesn't subscribe to the idea that you have to be able to use one palette alone to make a look, and if you need additional shadows it's a palette fail. More often than not I have more than one palette open when I do my makeup, and mixing and matching between palettes can create some really beautiful and fun results. From the ones I designed, maybe I'm missing a black or the perfect neutral highlight shade, but I probably would still mix and match if they were there, because that's where the fun lies. Plus, I actively want to mix them, and the two I really, really want to mix are the Persephone Grows and the Eros & Daphne palettes... greens and coppery browns, little bit of ochre and some sort of lovely autumnal result, yes please.
This was a deeply self indulgent post, as I just wanted to play around with makeup and the concept of designing my own palettes, but it's also been really nice since last Sunday (16th) Lore Olympus went on four month hiatus, after leaving its audience on a massive revelation followed by a cliff hanger...
... am I a little heart broken and desperate to know where the story will go? Absolutely. Does this give me a reason for me to reread it, and everyone else to catch up on 195 episodes? Absolutely!
Seriously, this is the perfect time to start reading it, and I'm only going to be a little bereft waiting for its return.
Sad, but true. It makes me happy and so did making these palettes. If only I could afford to actually buy any of them, because the Lethal Cosmetics range does look beautiful (and are good quality if any of the creators I've watched use them are to be believed), so I'd happily make all of these if I could! One day maybe.
Merry Sunday & a Happy New Week! Part nine will be up as soon as I can get all the rouge eyeshadow off it...
Listening: If It Makes You Happy - Screaming Females
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