Hello Waffle's Alternate Universe Collection

A little beat up around the edges.

Look what I'm finally getting around to posting! Hello Waffle's Alternate Universe collection! This set is inspired by the television series Fringe and here's where I'll admit: I don't know shit about Fringe. But I'm completely enamored with Hello Waffle's eyeshadows and, hearing this collection would be available in a pressed palette, I had to have it. I was also spurred on by the fact that this collection was released along side the 1000 Likes set during Christine's birthday sale when everything was 30% off. It would have been foolish of me to pass that all up.

So here we are, me and this Alternate Universe pressed palette - we've been through so much already. Hello Waffle shipments do tend to take the longest amount of time possible to reach me - which certainly is due to a combination of customs (shakes fist) and whatever convoluted pathway it needs to take to get into the heartland. After only a few drops of nervous perspiration, I finally received my package on the tenth business day from the date it shipped. It was wrapped up nicely in bubble wrap but stripping that all away revealed what I can only refer to as Rated R Carnage. I'm guessing in it's journey my package was smooshed under one or more much heavier packages. The palette's outer shell was scuffed and scraped and inside 4 of the shadows were pretty crunched up - They Are Coming, Bishop and Reiden Lake were all pretty bad. Gene was absolutely everywhere. I cleaned up everything I could and managed to repress the affected shadows - I think I did pretty okay! It's not the prettiest outcome but everything performs just fine. I'd say no harm, no foul but I'm side-eyeing the USPS pretty hard. Ham-fisted sons'uv'bitches.

Here's the palette in all it's glory:

Not so bad!

With just a glance I'd say this palette's pretty well rounded. It has an even amount of warms, nuetrals, and cools as well as colors we've never seen from Hello Waffle before. (That red, man.) Texture-wise, I found that this palette was not nearly as soft and buttery as the Musician palette. Whether that's a good or bad thing is all up to preference. Although I love how soft the last palette was, this one doesn't kick up nearly as much product when I'm swirling my brush around. Anyway, let's get into the swatches!

*All swatches are over Too Faced Glitter Glue in indoor, indirect, natural light.*

Amber

Dark orange-gold shimmer.

A neutral bronze/gold, Amber is very reminiscent of the duochrome sheen of Shiro's No Men Like Me (which I love). I can't pick out any orange though - without it I think this eyeshadow's a bit too cool toned to be considered "amber".

Fauxlivia

Dark peach with gold shift and green sparkles.

Fauxlivia is a deep orange with burnt rosy tones - dark peach is the perfect way to describe it. The gold sheen is obvious but not overpowering. The green sparkles are a bit more green in real life than I was able to capture but still remain quite subtle. I'd say this shade is probably one of my favorites of the bunch.

Belly

Dark bronze/copper shimmer.

On the spectrum of Hello Waffle eyeshadows Belly falls in the vicinity of Bach and One of Us! Belly is quite a bit rosier than either of those however. If you're super in love with Bach and One of Us! and need more then Belly would be perfect a perfect addition to your hoard. If you're otherwise completely satisfied with those then Belly should be easy to pass on.

Cortexiphan

Satin dark red.

RED. I know red can be a bit scary but there's so much that can be done with it! Popping it in your crease or outer corner would be an easy way to incorporate it into a look without going all out red. I'm thinking I'll try pairing this with Shiro's The Red Viper. Also, Cortexiphan is indeed satin - the sheen is quite soft and pretty. Any sparkle you see in my swatch is due to USPS's crunch-athon. >:(

They Are Coming

Light bland neutral with the slightest hint of red sparks.

I just freakin' love this font so much.

Another favorite! Soft and neutral - slightly pink and fleshy. Any red sparkle is super subtle leaving They Are Coming bland enough to be used as an everyday, work-safe shade! I've been using it as a brow bone highlight and to blend out the edges of darker shades. Also, this is one of the shades that got crunched to pieces but with a little minor surgery I was able to fix it right up! Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Machine

Light silver with copper shift.

Another gorgeous neutral! There's something about the texture of Machine that I just can't get over. Look at that last swatch - I just wanna rub up against it.

Walternate v.2.0

Sparkly greyed beige.

Another Walternate! A re-imagining of Hello Waffle's June COTM (which I've swatched in this post), this version is more brown/beige with less sparkle and shimmer. Very neutral and mellow in comparison. (I'll try to get a side by side swatch posted at some point - I don't know why I didn't think of it while I was swatching these!)

Bishop

Dark greyed-brown shimmer.

Bishop and Walternate v.2.0 are fairly similar. So much so that if you're not a hoarder like me then you probably don't need both. I'd say Bishop is just a slight touch browner - more chocolate tones.

Reiden Lake

Murky green shimmer, leans slightly blue.

Cool toned and murky, Reiden Lake is like a duller version of Hello Waffle's Envy without the multicolored sparkles. Definitely different enough to justify owning both.

Timeline

Dark navy with teal shift and light aqua sparkle.

SO BEAUTIFUL. That bright teal sheen is somethin' else. I had already ordered the palette but when I saw this post from the adorable /u/three8six9 on reddit I got extra pumped for it. She blends Timeline with Chopin and it's perfect.

Asterisk

Matte brown base with magenta shift and sparkles.

Another favorite! I wasn't expecting to fall in love with Asterisk quite like I have but just look at it - I really had no choice. I didn't find the matte base very difficult to work with (even over my glitter glue) and the violet/magenta shimmers are gorgeous. I wore this last week all over the lid and blended out with Gene pushed into my lash line. Not quite a dark, smoky eye but it made a small statement.

Gene

Black base with violet shift and silver sparkles.

Who is this cow?

My little trouble maker. Of course the darkest eyeshadow would be the one to explode all over the rest of the palette. I think this repress was the one I was most proud of - collecting all the little bits from all over the palette and smushing them back together was quite the feat. But we did it and now me and Gene have a special bond. The black base kind of disappears behind the purple shift (which I'm cool with) but I'm sure over bare skin the shift wouldn't be quite so overpowering. Suffice it to say, I've been using this as an eyeliner.

Alternate Universe Extras

As well as the collection, Christine came up this little extra duo! On the release date these were available as a GWP if you were to spend over a certain amount. They are still available now for purchase if you missed out.

Phillip
Matte dark brown/black base with copper and purple sparks.

I'd say the base of Phillip is less matte and more satin - it has a good amount of sheen to it. The copper and purple sparkles are pretty subtle and while they're quite pretty, I wish they stood out a little more. 

White Tulip
Light blue/grey white.

White Tulip is a fairly sheer silver with barely-there blue tones. This may make for a decent, strong inner corner highlight but I may try my luck and pat it over a dark base and see what happens.

And that's the whole thing! I think the Musician set may still stand as my favorite Hello Waffle collection (though Catssic Literature is giving it a run for it's money) but the Alternate Universe collection is a nice addition to my growing dragon hoard of Hello Waffle. Overall, it's a bit more bold color-wise than the Musician collection and has a good amount of variety. I think for those look to create stronger and brighter looks than this collection may be one to look into.

Also, I apologize for being so wishy-washy with my posts! I meant to get this particular one done last week but there's so much going on! Final projects, Christmas shopping and crafting, Christmas party planning, etc, etc. @_@ Hopefully some of it will let up soon and I can get these posts out of my draft folder! (Not to mention all the swatching/perfume testing I still need to do...) Uwahh, forgive me. Keep an eye out for a post covering Hello Waffle's Catssic Literature collection sometime later this week followed by Aromaleigh's Sol Invictus set! I'll do my best!

xxx

P.S! I got my Visage Box the other day! Yayyy! That should be coming up soon, also!

P.P.S! I completely blew this off but Hello Waffle is currently closed until Black Friday! Christine's posted a lot of information about the sales and what have you on Facebook if you wanted to take a look. :)