Celebrating 40 Years of She-Ra with Spellcast Beauty!

Glam and Geek come together in this amazing collection of shimmery, shifty shades!

Like most 80s kids, I was in love with so many of the big, classic franchises that launched during that time. Jem was probably my favorite, though I never had any of the dolls - but what I did have were a ton of Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power toys!

At some point I'm going to do a video of my She-Ra collection. Spoiler alert so you don't feel let down later: that collection is nowhere near as impressive as my Golden Girl collection, though I do have a couple of fun surprises! But for now, I thought it would be fun to put together a post of some amazing shadows celebrating this franchise that I found from an indie brand: Spellcast Beauty.

Or is it Notoriously Morbid? It's hard to say. Spellcast Beauty is a sister brand to Notoriously Morbid that they launched with the idea that those products would be a separate line of ready-to-ship items. I suppose it's best to get this out of the way right away, so that we can focus on the positive:

Notoriously morbid takes a long time to ship. No, seriously. The first order that I placed from their main brand took more than three months to arrive. At one point they posted an update that they had improved their turnaround time to 10-15 business days, but that promise has been shaky. If there is a big launch, things are often delayed beyond that time. Their customer service is excellent, and I know that they are aware that this is the biggest complaint in the community and they are working to make improvements. Promising a shorter turnaround time, but then having the caveat that it doesn't apply during launches, and then you launch things frequently, well...that's not a great experience as a customer. That's why I was excited when they had announced a second brand that they claimed would be in stock and ready to ship.

And at first, it was! My first couple of orders of Spellcast orders were shipped out very quickly and all was right with the world. My last two orders? Two months to arrive.

Don't get me wrong: I have LOVED all of the products that I've gotten from Notoriously Morbid and Spellcast Beauty, and I have a fairly big collection. I will say that I have found them to be generally worth the wait, but I would be dishonest if I didn't say that the delays were a frustration and gave me pause before placing an order. I might want something, but do I want it enough to wait two, three months for it? In most cases, yes. For these She-Ra shadows, definitely yes! But there have been some items that I have passed on because I was interested in them, but I knew that by the time they arrived, I would have moved on to other things and they would just get lost in my collection.

So that's my critique. They are certainly not the only indie brand that can take a long time to ship, and I understand that in the current world and all of the tariff nonsense that's happening, indie brands are going though it! In some ways, I think they have made matters worse by trying to be transparent (which is usually a good thing!) but they have ended up promising things that they couldn't live up to. Honestly, I was less frustrated with the original NM order I placed that took 3 months to arrive than with the Spellcast order that took 2 months, because they had set the expectation that Spellcast products were ready to ship. I'm still in their corner and rooting for them, and I am still placing orders, but I think it's important to know what you're getting into when you do place an order.

Alright, enough of that downer topic - let's look at some shadows!

This is my video on the She-Ra reboot series at Netflix. I love this show. It is a masterclass on so many levels!

I was positively tickled when I saw that Spellcast had started to release She-Ra and Masters of the Universe themed shadows! The brand really excels at gorgeous duochrome and multichrome shimmers, and these don't disappoint. So far, they have released 23 shades, and I have all but three of them. Let's start by looking at the three that didn't make the cut...yet!

I've included the brand's swatch photos in this post and in the photo collages for the shades because they have done a much better job of capturing the shifts than I ever could! That is an area where I still struggle: getting the light right to show off these kinds of shades. At some point I'm going to make a swatch video of all 20 shadows, and I will certainly be creating some looks using them that will pop up, but for now I wanted to make sure you could see the full beauty!

The three shades I haven't picked up are Crystal Moonbeam, Kowl, and Mysticor. Crystal Moonbeam I think is a reference to one of the horses (I know there were two or three horses in the toy line that were clear plastic and had crystal in the name?) and it didn't have the same nostalgic pull as the other shades. The purple-blue shift of this is gorgeous, and it will probably end up in my collection at some point (I am weak), but it wasn't top priority when there were so many lovely shades available!

As for Kowl and Mysticor, I didn't pick these up because I find these sort of marbled shadows hard to use. I do have one in my collection, as you'll see below, but I decided that these could simmer on the back burner for a while.

Fun Fact: I actually had the Kowl figure as a kid, one of 3 She-Ra figures that I had along with Entrapta and Mermista. I also had the Butterflyer vehicle/carrying case. Sadly, the OG figures that I had have all been lost to time - everything in my vintage She-Ra collection currently is stuff that I've picked up as an adult!

Now let's get into the shadows that I do have, starting with the Princesses of Power!

This Castaspella shade is gorgeous! I love the orange-peach-golden shift on this, and I love that it matches so well with the toy version of the character. There were several diversions between how the characters appeared in the cartoon vs in the toy line, and while I usually prefer the cartoon version, for Castaspella I think the all-yellow look is superior!

Frosta's icy blue shade is perfect for the character, though at certain angles it has shifts of gold, a bit of pink, and sometimes I think I even catch some green. This is an iridescent dream, and one of my favorites of the collection.

Glimmer is another iridescent multichrome shimmer, though this one has a lighter, more pearly base and shifts more into the gold and green with some pinky peach tones. Another stunner!

Glimmer's mother, Queen Angella, gets a more purple-toned base shade with lots of peachy-orange shift and some pink notes to match the vintage figure.

Perfuma's shade is GORGEOUS! This one is a little more subtle than some of the others, but I love when you combine a peach or coral shade with a strong green shift - it's such an unexpected combination, and this one is so pretty!

Mermista was the first She-Ra character that I had, and is still one of my favorites. The Mermista in the reboot is badass on a whole new level, and I love the voice actress (who many know as Heather from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!). This great is richer and more mossy with golden shifts compared to the pastel seafoam and turquoise of the vintage figure, but this is a stunning green shadow.

Sweet Bee is another one of the shades that is a little bit subtler than some of the others, but it's a beautiful white based shimmer that has yellow, gold, and peachy-orange shifts that are really pretty. Not every shade has to be over the top multichrome, bending the spectrum effects to be beautiful, and this shadow proves it!

This is the marbled shade that I picked up, and honestly, I did it because it was named for one of the princess characters (and my completionist brain was making me buy all of the princess character shades!). It has gorgeous pastel shades of pink, blue, and peach marbled together with a rich cornflower blue that you can use separately or swirl together. It's really beautiful, and I'm sure the more I play with it, the more likely it is that I will pick up the other two marbled shades!

This Flutterina shade is the perfect complement to the vintage toy with her mix of lavender, peach, and pink! The shade also has some yellow shift to it that make this a pastel dream!

Those are the princess shades - almost everyone is here but as a fan of the character (especially in the reboot!) I have to shout: WHERE IS NETOSSA?! I'm hoping that Spellcast will continue to expand on this line, and that a Netossa shade is coming! We could also use a Spinerella and a pastel green Double Trouble shade...but I'll settle for Netossa to start!

Now let's get into some of the side characters, starting on the Heroic side:

Swiftwind, She-Ra's noble steed, is a no brainer for this line! It's another one of the pastel base shades with pink, golden, and green shifts. It's similar to Flutterina, but a bit richer in tone.

Light Hope is a heroic character, though in the reboot her story is a bit more complicated and less heroic than the original character - which is a complexity that I love! And I love this weird royal blue and gold flakey shade that looks almost a little gray when mixed. It's a weird shade, and I love it!

Madame Razz is one of those boom boom pow multichromes with a raspberry/purple base, lots of gold reflect, and some tones of green and even some purple/blue. This is a bold shade. I found Madame Razz a little annoying in the original cartoon, but this is another character that the reboot series took and created something very complex and interesting with!

Now let's get into some villains!

The toy line really emphasized the rivalry between She-Ra and Catra, so some people forget that the primary antagonist in the cartoon was actually Hordak! There was a Hordak figure and several members of the Horde released (like Grizzlor), but they were put out through the "boy's line" Masters of the Universe.

Hordak's shade is one of the few in this line where the color of the shade is hard to attach to the character. It's a deep blue with blue and purple shifts, even some deep raspberry tones at the right angle. The figure is black, gray, and ivory with bold pops of red. I think this line is missing a shifty red metallic, but I actually like this shade for Hordak, and I think there is another shade that could have been fun as a red...more on that soon!

Shadow Weaver's shade doesn't necessarily look like the character, but it reminds me a lot of the magical effects that would pop up with her various dark spells. It's a black shade with speckles of pink that gives a great smoky color with pink shifts contained within when applied.

Catra is She-Ra's main antagonist in the playline, and she certainly figured heavily in the She-Ra cartoon. The toy version of Catra was very pink with contrasts of black and gray, but the cartoon version was very red with pops of purple. I think it would have been fun to have Catra's shade be a metallic red with maybe some subtle purple shifts. The shade we got is gorgeous, a metallic bronze-y brown, but being the technicolor nightmare I am, I will always prefer a more colorful shade to something brown!

Entrapta is the other figure that I had as a kid, and I loved her metallic body and pink and purple ruffled accessories. This shade has a pale lavender base and a silver, almost pale green shift to it. I think it pays tribute to the figure's metallic coloring while maintaining a soft, femme color and also giving us a different sort of purple shade in the line. Entrapta is probably my favorite reimagined character in the reboot, tied with...

Scorpia! This shade is lovely: a brownish base but with gorgeous, strong shifts of gold, green, a bit of orange. It's really lovely. I loved what they did with Scorpia in the reboot. Her character was so complex, and her arc over the series was beautiful and heart-breaking. Her friendship with Catra was so lovely and sad to watch.

Finally, we did get a few refugees from Eternia in the mix:

Teela was the first female action figure I had as a kid, and she ignited a lifelong love! This purple brown shade with gold and orange shifts is gorgeous - again, I think this one could have been a bit more red to really tie into the character, but I realize that not everyone is as in love with red eyeshadow as I am!

Evil Lyn's shade is a gorgeous blue with purple shifts. This one is deeper and richer than Frosta's and doesn't havas many colors in the shifts, but it's a relaly pretty shade. Don't overlook these less shifty shades, they are still gorgeous, and can be easier to work with than some of the bolder multichromes. This one is fantastic!

The last shade, the Sorceress, is the only one that I don't really get. How did we get here?! lol It's a gorgeous shade, a deep green with blue and purple shifts, a sort of ombre effect in the pan. It's lovely, but it doesn't look anything like the inspiration! In both the toy and cartoon forms, the Sorceress is an obnoxious combination of orange and cyan blue with white accents. It could have been interesting to see a blue shade with orange shift, but it's not very marketable. This shade is much more usable, it just looks more like Castle Grayskull than the Sorceress who protects it!

THE WISH LIST!

If they continue with this series of shadows (and I sincerely hope they do!) I would love to have a Netossa shade and a Spinerella shade. Not only does Netossa deserve inclusion for being the only black character in the line, her relationship with Spinerella in the reboot is beautiful and so perfectly done!

I think Netossa could be a silver base with blue speckles, sort of like Shadow Weaver and Light Hopes's shades? Or a blue base with silver speckles? Either way, blue and silver combined in a way that is different from the other blue shades in the line - more medium blue? Or it could even be one of those shades with a transparent white base with a strong blue shift? Or something reminiscent of MAC's blue brown pigment with some silver notes?

Spinerella could maybe be a peachy shade with lavender and light blue shifts? Similar to Perfuma, but with a lighter base and blue-purple instead of green for the shift?

As a devoted fan of green makeup, I have to throw in a request for Octavia and Double Trouble to be included in the line!

Octavia was a character that fascinated me as a kid, and I would have killed to have had a figure of her in either of the She-Ra or MOTU lines. And I would love to have a shadow in this line as well! To make it different, maybe it could be a bright yellow base with strong green to red shift?

And we have some gorgeous deep greens, but Double Trouble would be a perfect inspiration for a more pastel spring green shade, maybe with some gold or silver shift?

Those are my main suggestions, and the ones I have the strongest idea of possible colors. But I wouldn't say no to a deep shadow, maybe a blackened red with some purple, called The Fright Zone? Maybe a Bow or Sea Hawk shadow to give some props to the boys (who were always just accessories to the badass chicks of the series!). Maybe even a shade for Mara. She was a later character in the MOTU lore, but the way they incorporated her into the She-Ra reboot was genius. Since we're talking about reboot, maybe a shade for The First Ones? I swear, I could do this for hours!

Look for more She-Ra and Golden Girl content coming to all of my platforms this year to mark their 40th anniversary - and be sure to check out these great shades from Spellcast Beauty to add to your own geeky makeup collection!