Happy Helaween!

This is one of the two Halloween themed palettes Angie launched with Odens Eye, making it her second time collaborating with the brand overall. There are very specific shades that appealed to me in the Trick or Treat palette, so I decided to go ahead and grab it since the chances of it being restocked are low.
There was quite a bit of drama associated with this launch on social media. Particularly on Instagram, I saw a disturbing number of borderline xenophobic comments regarding the brand and Angelica with people expressing displeasure that non-Americans were doing a Halloween themed launch, as if it’s an American invented holiday with no Celtic (and therefore European) origins. I’m paraphrasing in a nice way. Some people took it quite far. There was even one semi-large beauty account who tagged Angelica twice in a vile mean-spirited post. Reddit made me aware that this same person has said horrible things about other groups of people, so I’m no longer surprised.
In any case, Angelica took the high road in not addressing the negativity, instead sharing her joy of her first Halloween experiences on her YouTube page, and everyone moved on. For that reason, I won’t dwell on the incident, but it was actually a pretty gross reminder of how small minded people can be and the aspects I despise about social media. I’m not sure if this impacted sales at all, but I believe this is the first time an Angie collab hasn’t sold out within the first month and with indie brand timetables being what they are, it’s safe to assume there won’t be a restock. So, for anyone wanting items from the collection, I recommend getting it sooner rather than later. Oden’s Eye is likely to have a Black Friday sale, and maybe even a Christmas one, but there’s no guarantee the palettes and lip products will still be available by then or even after that.

I’m happy to say the Trick or Treat palette is so much prettier in person than I could see from photos and videos. This is the good Oden’s Eye formula I’ve come to know and love. The shadows are pigmented, but blendable. The shimmers are high impact. The only issues I had were with two shades. Wicked is a much thinner and more powdery matte than the others. It doesn’t show up on me at all. I’ve tried several times to build it up in my inner corner the way Angelica likes to have a matte inner corner brightening shade, but it disappears after a few pats on my eyes. I can at least still use it as a shade to blend the edges of eyeshadows or tone down the brightness of colors, but it only makes a small difference.

The other issue is that Witches Brew isn’t as even in color and smoothness on the eye. It’s like a slight separation between the base and the shimmer. I can get patches where the vibrant blue-green peeks through when I apply it, and there’s no shimmer in those spots, whereas all the shimmer has gathered onto other parts. So, it takes some smoothing back and forth to get the area covered evenly. It’s such a vibrant glowing shade and one of the ones I was the most excited to have, but it’s a little less enjoyable in the application process.

I have no issues with longevity or creasing. Regarding my skin tone and how the shades look on me, there are only two important enough to mention. One is that Cemetery looked like a red that was bordering on purple. I expected it to be nearly an ultra-deep mauve, but it’s more of a burgundy color on me. Magic Potion looks like it should be a silvery-light blue but none of that blue translates on my skin. It’s basically just silver, which might end up being better since I don’t know how much I’d have enjoyed that kind of blue on me anyway.

If you have a big Oden’s Eye collection, you might feel some of these shades are similar to what is in other palettes. I thought some of my yellows looked like others, but in swatching them on myself I realized there were no dupes. The reds are also just different enough. I thought Crypt Keeper would be similar to Luxury from the Urd palette, but luxury is lighter. The only one actually close was Deadly compared to Eternal from Solmane II. I don’t have every palette though, so perhaps there are a few more that are close, but I was satisfied that this palette is different enough to be worth having in my collection. In fact, one of the selling points for me was that it reminded me of the Merry Christmas palette and that those two pair well together.

And of course it can also be paired with the original Hela palette.

I’m on a lip product low-buy, so I wasn’t interested in that part of the collection and can’t vouch for the quality of those, but I think those who are interested in the eyeshadow palettes will be happy with them.

I wasn’t planning to review Singe Beauty, Angelica’s brand that she unveiled this year, because after my initial impression I didn’t think I’d end up using them enough to review. I really wasn’t a fan at first, and honestly being a natural hair Fude lover plays into that. However, I’m still going to share my thoughts here today because these brushes do have their benefits.

Singe Beauty

Angelica has said that her brushes are, “specifically made out of synthetic fibers to emulate the way a natural bristle will pick up and distribute product,” but in various videos including this one and others that came after, she describes them as “super soft” and that they feel like natural hair, not just perform like them. I have to say this is a major discrepancy between what I expected when ordering versus what I got in reality. I was expecting them to feel like the highest grade of goat, but I can see someone thinking it could pass for sokoho goat at best. They’re closest to sable, which some people love because of their strength and resilience. However, I’d prefer to spend a little longer blending if it means I can use a softer less firm brush. The manufacturer nailed the natural hair performance part of it, but there is absolutely no mistaking that these are synthetic and they feel synthetic. This isn’t a point against the brushes; I just think saying they’re comparable can lead to others having higher expectations and then being disappointed. I only use synthetic brushes for specific limited tasks, so I would not have been interested in picking up this set if not for the natural hair comparison.

E01

The E01 is the brush I was most excited to have because the shape reminded me of the Sonia G Builder Pro which is one of my holy grail eye brushes.
This is my favorite brush of the bunch for applying shimmers to the lid. When I was having a hard time getting the shade I mentioned in the palette section (Witches Brew) to apply smoothly, this was the brush I switched to that helped make things much easier. I know that Angie says it’s great for packing shadow on the inner corners, and while it can do that, I still prefer to use my smaller brushes for that purpose. Plus, this brush is a little pokey and doesn’t feel as comfortable in my corners and creases. So, I end up using this brush mainly for shimmer lid shades, and it’s great for that. Plus, as a lid packing brush, how soft it is barely matters. What matters is how well it picks up and lays down the product, which this works well for, making it quite useful for my collection. It being synthetic also has the advantage of being great with liquid and cream shadows.

E02

The E02 is a brush I didn’t intend on using since I prefer smaller crease and blending brushes, but when I was working with some stubborn matte eyeshadows and found that the E05 was taking too long to blend out the edges because of its smaller surface area, the E02 came in handy. I was able to finish the blending job quicker and decided that this brush is actually perfect for me to blend shadows in my crease, but without any product on it. It’s still too large (even though it has a slight taper) for me to precisely apply shadows with in my crease, but I will continue to reserve it for the times that I have a stubborn or just extra pigmented eyeshadow that needs something firmer to blend with and that’s big enough to make it quick. Admittedly, the majority of the shadows I regularly use in my collection are high quality and don’t require me to have a brush like this on hand. But, since I do still test palettes and there’s always the chance I could wind up with a dud, having this within reach is useful.

E03

The E03 is the only brush still in the plastic because I know I will never use it. It’s essentially a larger version of the E02, which is a larger version of the E05. Because of my partly hooded eyes and need for more precision, I always use tiny crease brushes. The E03 is simply too big for my preference and if the time occurs when I do want a brush of this size, I have several in my collection already that are good blending brushes and also immensely softer feeling while I use them.

E04

The E04 is a packing brush with a taper that I find is great for applying shadows to the lid without getting too much of the lid shadow into the crease area, because I can pick up product on one of those tapered edge sides. It’s also nice for intentionally tucking color into the crease if product is applied just on the tip and those tapered sides have no product on there, keeping the width of the application area on the smaller side. I’m actually surprised that for a brush of this thickness, I’m still able to use it to apply eyeshadows under my eyes. I usually designate that task to my tiny brushes, but I haven’t needed to switch brushes to do that when I’m using this one. Of all the brushes in the set, this is my second favorite after the E01.

E05

The E05 is one of the brushes I was the most excited by because of its shape, yet was still concerned that it might not be able to measure up to my Sonia G Mini Booster. Honestly, this did end up being the case, but the Mini Booster alone is also the same price as half of this set costs.

The E05 is useful for its size, the ability to pack on a lot of color to a small region, and for detail work. However, the combination of how tall the fibers are with the tightness of how it’s packed in the center makes it partly bend/flop when pressure is applied that is then halted from bending any further because the fibers align to an even level at that point. It’s like the way it’s made generates extra friction, leading to the brush feeling like it’s not applying as smoothly as it could. Working the bristles around enough will complete the task and not lead to any patchy results, but the two battling forces makes the application process feel less comfortable than I think it could have been if the head was shorter with a flat top instead of rounded. Angelica chose these brushes to be shaped, bundled, and cut to the exact specifications she wanted, so my desire for a slightly tweaked shape is a matter of my own personal preference.

None of these brushes feel loose. They feel secure within the ferrules, unlike some of my inexpensive synthetic brushes like ELF and Real Techniques. I’ve only washed these a few times so far, but I haven’t had any shedding issues or problems with them losing their shape.

While I’ve found use for 4 out of 5 of these and enjoy the E01 and E04 in particular, I can’t easily recommend everyone just run out and buy them. These brushes are ideal for those who love very pigmented, intense, and opaque eyeshadows. Also, those who have a lot of troublesome eyeshadows could benefit from these. Since I review a wide range of products like high quality natural hair brushes to inexpensive Real Techniques ones, and soft refined luxury eyeshadows to intense pigmented indie brands’ eyeshadows, those of you who read my blog have varied and diverse interests. So, these particular brushes aren’t something I can recommend across the board to everyone. It’s a bit niche in my opinion, which makes sense considering Angelica says there isn’t a brush brand out there that has made what she considers her perfect eye set. So, it makes sense that it’s not going to be perfect for the masses if this specific collection is tailored to her.

I was able to get this set for 20% off during the brand’s Memorial Day sale, so considering the price and the usefulness of the set, I don’t regret it. If face brushes come next, I think I’ll be skipping them. However, I look forward to seeing what other type of products come out from Singe Beauty. If it’s makeup, and especially eyeshadows, I’m all in!

Thanks for reading!

-Lili ❤