Fair warning, a lot of the stuff I used in this look is not currently available.

I’ve been feeling such a lack of creativity and inspiration for a long time. The past several looks have been very forced. I wanted to take a day to use anything I felt like from my collection whether discontinued or not in hopes of breaking out of that lull. 

I dunno that it really helped me feel more creative but it did help my mood a bit.

Originally the idea I had swirling in my head was “winter sunrise” but it turned into more of a pastel candy look. 

Where I work, I can hardly see outside but the building does have some small windows. Last winter I worked very early in the morning and occasionally, depending on the weather, there were some gorgeous colorful sunrises. The plan was to use peaches, corals, and lavenders but then I ended up bringing in lots of blue which changed the whole feel of it. 

99% of the time, these things do not turn out the way I plan but it does help to have some sort of idea in mind at first.

Eyes:

• Nars Pro Prime Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
• Menagerie Pastel Pup Palette
  • Sun Bathe – Inner corner
  • Ice Cap – Lower inner lashline
  • Aquatic – Transition shade for Ice Cap
  • Saddleback – Brow bone
  • Fishy – Inner lid/crease
  • Snack – Outer lid/crease
  • Snowball – Center of lid (applied with both dampened brush and finger)
• Menagerie Violet Ink Palette
  • Ink Jet – Outer lower lashline
  • Octopi – One of the transition shades for Ink Jet
  • Jellyfish – Another transition shade for Ink Jet
  • Iron Grip – Outer crease detail
• Terra Moons Io – Layered over Sun Bathe on inner corner
• Menagerie Wolfing – layered partially over Jellyfish on outer lower lashline
• ColourPop Creme Gel Liner in Untz
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara
• Viseart Brow Palette (deepest powder shade)
• ABH Brow Pen in Medium Brown

Base:

• Tatcha The Silk Canvas
• Maybelline Dream Radiant Liquid Foundation in Porcelain Ivory
• Pixi Correction Concentrate in Brightening Peach
• Tarte Shape Tape Concealer in Light
• Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in SC-1
• Soap and Glory One Heck of a Blot Powder

Cheeks:

• Essence Satin Touch Blush in Satin Love

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

Product Details

The Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette contains a well balanced selection of matte pastel shades along with a black, a white, and one shimmer in their “tri-foil” finish. Their formula is talc-free, cruelty-free, vegan, and made in Newman Lake, Washington. There is a total of 24 grams of product and it retails for $36.

The individual shades can also be purchased as singles if you only wanted certain ones. The matte shades are $5 each and the Tri-Foils are $7 each.

Packaging

The palette is made of cardboard and has a slick, easy-to-clean surface. Inside, there is a pretty decent sized mirror, almost the size of the lid but not quite. I didn’t see any distortions in my reflection in the mirror. The individual shades are magnetic and can be removed from the palette but do note that there aren’t any labels on the back of the pans to help you remember where they go. There was just enough space between the pans and the wells in the palette to pry them out with a makeup spatula. The overall weight of the palette felt a bit heavier than I expected giving it a pleasantly well-made feel.

Formula Overview

Almost all of the shades in this palette are matte and there is a single shimmer in Menagerie’s tri-foil finish. The mattes adhered a bit more to the skin than a lot of other matte formulas I’ve used. They had a similar type of adherence as formulas like Makeup Geek’s deeper matte shades and the mattes in Natasha Denona’s Bronze Palette. Usually, this can make blending more time consuming, especially when the shades are deeper on my skin tone. However, being mostly lighter shades, I didn’t have any problems getting these to blend out. They were very buildable and didn’t dust away easily.

I want to briefly talk about the texture of the mattes and how they feel to the touch. The formula has a dryness and a drag to it that resembles how chalk feels on the skin. “Dry” is a word sometimes used to describe a formula that  has trouble adhering to the skin. This is not a problem with this formula. However, it does sort of look more dry sitting on the skin compared to other eyeshadows and slightly enhances the texture of the skin. I do love a very smooth, silky eyeshadow but I am guessing that part of the trade-off with the texture of this formula is better color payoff. I am okay with that trade-off, personally.

The tri-foil shade in this palette is one of 4 that the brand currently has available. Tri-foils are shades that shift between three colors, depending on the angle of the light. I didn’t get too much fallout from it and found it to have more of a sparkling finish than a metallic finish, even if I applied it heavily with my finger. The color shift was more on the subtle side compared to other eyeshadows I’ve tried that have a multichrome effect.

Some of these shades are pressed pigments, which is noted on Menagerie’s website, but I did not find that information on the packaging. The pressed pigment shades are Belly Slide, Cuddle, Snack, and Ice Cap. Pressed pigments can cause irritation in some people and stain the skin. They did stain my arm lightly during swatching but they did not stain my eyelid when I actually wore them. I didn’t experience any irritation.

Shade Selection

I like that this palette has a very well rounded selection of pastel shades. It is a great companion palette if you need transition shades for your more saturated colorful eyeshadows. You could also use it all by itself and have plenty of color variation for a look that feels complete. The inclusion of a white and black makes sense to me in this color scheme however the tri-foil feels like a little bit of an afterthought, albeit a pretty afterthought

Wear Time

Look #1 wore on me for 9 hours with only minor creasing and look #2 wore for 8 hours with no creasing. Look #3 started creasing on me after just a few hours so I decided to test a few more times and ended up having the looks crease around 6 hours in, which is pretty typical for me. I’m not sure exactly why this is the case since the ingredients listed for all the matte shades are incredibly similar. For all I know, maybe the variable was just my skin.

Was It Worth Buying?

Yep. Despite some of the nitpicking I did in this review, I’m still very happy to have this palette in my collection. I think its a good value, very versatile, and generally high quality.

Swatches

• Belly Slide was the hardest to blend out smoothly, as you can see in Look #3. It applied nicely with a shader brush but a blending brush caused it to look patchy.
• Snack darkened a bit as I blended it. Mixing it with a bit of Saddleback seemed to bring it back to it’s original lightness.
• Fishy seems slightly more sheer than the rest of the shades. It was buildable though.
• Sun Bathe deepened slightly when applied to the skin.
• Ice Cap is not super easy to distinguish from Belly Slide once on the eye.
• Snowball shifts from purple to blue to pink depending on the angle of the light. Applied with a brush, this had a little bit of sparkle fallout and applied in a way that resulted in more of a sparkling finish. I didn’t notice the shade-shifting of this very much when it was applied lightly with a brush. What I could see was pretty much just the light blue of the sparkle. Applied more heavily with my finger, I still didn’t see a whole lot of shifting from this shade unless I intentionally messed with the lighting in ways I normally would not. The shift is there, it’s just not very strong.
• Saddleback had good color payoff.
• Whisker isn’t the blackest black but it works really well as eyeliner. There was very little fallout as long as I tapped the excess off my brush.

Looks

Look #1

• Ice Cap – Outer lid/crease
• Ice Worm – Outer transition area
• Flipper – Inner lid
• Sun Bathe – Center of crease, outer lower lashline
• Belly Slide – Inner lower lashline
• Saddleback – Brow bone, inner corner
• Whisker – Eyeliner
• Snowball – Center of lid, applied with a brush

Look #2

• Cuddle – Inner lid/crease
• Snack – Outer lid/crease
• Fishy – Lower lashline
• Sun Bathe – Inner corner
• Saddleback – Brow bone
• Whisker – Eyeliner
• Wolfing (one of Menagerie’s singles) – Center of lid, applied with a brush

Look #3

• Whisker – Inner and outer lid/crease
• Saddleback – Center of lid, brow bone, inner corner
• Aquatic – Center of crease and transition area, center of lower lashline
• Belly Slide – Inner and outer transition area, inner and outer lower lashline
• Snowball – All over lid, applied with finger

Look #4

• Saddleback – Inner corner, brow bone
• Fishy – Inner lid, crease, and lower lashline
• Sun Bathe – Center lid, crease and lower lashline
• Cuddle – Outer lid, crease and lower lashline

Menagerie Cosmetics Violet Ink Palette Look #2

In this look I used Saddleback and Cuddle to complete a look I did with other products. Saddleback is on the brow bone and inner corner while Cuddle is used as a transition shade and along the lower lashline.

MOTD – 8.10.20

For this look I used Sun Bathe under the front part of my brow and Fishy as a transition shade. The rest of the look was completed using other products.

Here’s a peach, yellow, and pink pastel eyeshadow look using the Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette.

Shades Used:

• Saddleback – Inner corner, brow bone
• Fishy – Inner lid, crease, and lower lashline
• Sun Bathe – Center lid, crease and lower lashline
• Cuddle – Outer lid, crease and lower lashline

Base:

• Nars Pro Prime Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
• Too Faced Born This Way Matte Foundation in Snow
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow
• Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
• Too Faced Peach Perfect Loose Setting Powder

Brows, Liner, Lashes:

• Viseart Brow Palette – Deepest powder shade
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara
• Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil in 500 Boundless Bisque

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

A darker, smokier pastel eye look using the Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette. I wanted to try using the black shade in this palette as an actual eyeshadow instead of just an eyeliner.

I think the black shade was nice quality and worked well but it was a little tricky blending the pastels and the black together. It’s just not something I usually do lol.

Shades Used:

• Whisker – Inner and outer lid/crease
• Saddleback – Center of lid, brow bone, inner corner
• Aquatic – Center of crease and transition area, center of lower lashline
• Belly Slide – Inner and outer transition area, inner and outer lower lashline
• Snowball – All over lid, applied with finger

Base:

• Nars Pro Prime Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
• Too Faced Born This Way Matte Foundation in Snow
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow
• Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
• Too Faced Peach Perfect Loose Setting Powder

Brows, Lashes, Liner:

• Viseart Brow Palette – Deepest powder shade
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara – Upper lashes
• Covergirl Lash Exact Mascara in Very Black – Lower lashes
• Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil in 500 Boundless Bisque – Lower waterline

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

Here’s a pink, coral, and peach pastel eye look using mostly the Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette. I added one of their singles (Wolfing) for the shimmer on the lid. I wore this look for 8 hours and had no creasing by then. This formula seems to have pretty decent longevity on me.

Shades Used:

• Cuddle – Inner lid/crease
• Snack – Outer lid/crease
• Fishy – Lower lashline
• Sun Bathe – Inner corner
• Saddleback – Brow bone
• Whisker – Eyeliner
• Wolfing (one of Menagerie’s singles) – All over lid, applied with a brush

Base:

• Nars Pro Prime Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
• Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup in 1N1
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow
• Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
• Too Faced Peach Perfect Loose Setting Powder

Brows, Lashes, Liner:

• Viseart Brow Palette – deepest powder shade
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara
• Eyeliner is the shade Whisker in the Pastel Pup Palette

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

Here’s a yellow, green, and blue pastel eye look using the Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette. I wore this look for 9 hours and had only minor creasing by then, which is pretty decent longevity for me.

Shades Used:

• Ice Cap – Outer lid/crease
• Ice Worm – Outer transition area
• Flipper – Inner lid
• Sun Bathe – Center of crease, outer lower lashline
• Belly Slide – Inner lower lashline
• Saddleback – Brow bone, inner corner
• Whisker – Eyeliner
• Snowball – Center of lid, applied with a brush

Base:

• Nars Pro Prime Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
• Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup in 1N1
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow
• Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
• Too Faced Peach Perfect Loose Setting Powder

Brows, Lashes, Liner:

• Viseart Brow Palette – deepest powder shade
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara
• Eyeliner is the shade Whisker in the Pastel Pup Palette

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

The Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette contains 12 shades of eyeshadows and pressed pigments. There is a total of 24 grams of product and it retails for $36.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

Yesterday’s warm look using the Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette, the Natasha Denona Bronze Palette, and a couple of singles from Terra Moons Cosmetics.

Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup Palette:

• Sun Bathe – Under the front part of my brow
• Fishy – I initially applied this all over the lid and then decided to go in a different direction with the look
• Saddleback – Lid, layered over Fishy
• Whisker – Worn as eyeliner

Natasha Denona Bronze Palette:

• Suntan – Deepen crease
• Magma – Lower lashline
• Silk – Lower lashline

Terra Moons Cosmetics Singles:

• Sun Sign – Layered between Sun Bathe and Fishy, inner corner
• Io – Inner corner, to add a bit more brightness

Base:

• Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup in 1N1
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow
• Too Faced Peach Perfect Loose Setting Powder

Brows, Lashes, Liner:

• Viseart Brow Palette – deepest powder shade
• Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil in 500 Boundless Bisque
• Whisker from Menagerie Pastel Pup Palette – Worn as eyeliner
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission when you make purchases through them.

In this look, I used mainly the Menagerie Cosmetics Violet Ink Palette but I also took two shades from the Pastel Pup Palette to help complete the look. The photo is a tad out of focus but since the colors have a kind of dreamy feel to them I thought the soft focus added to the effect.

Shades Used:

• Saddleback (Pastel Pup Palette) – Brow bone, inner corner
• Cuddle (Pastel Pup Palette) – Transition, lower lashline
• Iron Grip – Crease, lower lashline
• Ink Jet – All over lid
• Mimic – Center of lid, over top Ink Jet

The formula of the mattes is taking me some getting used to. It’s a softer formula that has more kickup in the pan and more fallout than I’m used to. The fallout was very greatly reduced by simply tapping the excess off my brush. This is not a new concept by any means but with a lot of other formulas, I can usually get away with being lazy about tapping the excess off. Not here. I have to be vigilant or I will make a mess. The shimmer had a little bit of fallout, nothing crazy. The shimmer is more of a sparkly formula than a smooth, metallic one, but it is very pigmented and can be easily built up to full opacity.

Base:

• Nars Pro Prime Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
• Smashbox Photo Finish Oil & Shine Control Primer
• Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup in 1N1
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow
• Physicians Formula The Healthy Powder in LC1
• Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot Powder

Brows, Lashes, Liner:

• Viseart Brow Palette – deepest powder shade
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara – upper and lower lashes
• Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil in 500 Boundless Bisque – lower waterline
• Hourglass 1.5mm Mechanical Gel Eye Liner in Obsidian – upper waterline
• Lorac Front of the Line Pro Liquid Eyeliner in Black – upper lashline

Here’s a blue and purple look using the Menagerie Cosmetics Violet Ink Palette.

I’m not sure what happened with the splotch on the inner part of my lid/crease. I didn’t use my usual primer so maybe that had something to do with it. The shimmers seem nice but I need to play with them some more to get a better feel for them. The mattes had a lot of kickup in the pans and I had a ton of fallout from them but at least I remembered to do my under eye concealer last. There was a bit of patchiness with the more blue-toned mattes (Jellyfish and Octopi). I’ll need to use them some more in different ways to see if it continues to happen.

The blue pigments in some of these shades are incredibly potent. After doing this, look my fingers and my eyelid were stained. Just so you know. The staining on my skin faded after about a day. I would be careful to avoid using white brushes and try not to get these shades on your clothes, furniture, etc.

Menagerie Cosmetics Violet Ink Palette Shades Used:

• Jellyfish – Inner lid/crease (this shade deepened on the lid and got deeper the more I blended it)
• Iron Grip – Center lid/crease, lower lashline
• Octopi – Outer lid/crease
• Ink Jet – All over lid, applied over previous shades
• Three Hearts – Center of lid/crease, applied over previous shades
• Mimic – Center of lower lashline, applied over top Iron Grip

Base:

• Too Faced Born This Way Matte Foundation in Snow
• Too Faced Born This Way Multi Use Sculpting Concealer in Snow (also used as eyeshadow primer)
• Soap and Glory One Heck of a Blot Powder
• Physicians Formula The Healthy Powder in LC1 – I use this to add coverage to my dark circles and the inner corner where concealer doesn’t fully do the job on its own

Brow, Lashes, Liner:

• Viseart Brow Palette – Deepest powder shade
• Benefit Roller Lash Mascara
• Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil in 500 Boundless Bisque – Lower waterline