The Aromaleigh Fatalis eyeshadow controversy, the science of multichrome pigments, and drama surrounding an eyeshadow collection I photographed in front of my kitchen sink...
In September of 2015, I launched one of the first multichrome eyeshadow collections the indie community had ever seen, utilizing exciting new synthetic mica pigments. In September of 2025, I'm having to write this to counteract all of the inaccurate information that Google AI Search is compiling about this collection, featuring it prominently in search results with 8-10 year old reddit threads. In the present day, Fatalis is a top selling collection for my brand and the indie community now fully understands how multichrome pigments work... but that wasn't always the case, and in 2015, my brand was a test subject in regards to customers learning how to use and photograph these exciting color-shifting, light and color temperature reactive pigments.
Important note: The Fatalis eyeshadows are not in any way related to my 2017 decision to discontinue fandom collections.
I photographed these eyeshadows where I saw the most pronounced color shifts- in front of my kitchen sink, of all places! It was almost comical, the simplicity. This spot was simply the spot where the effects I saw in real life matched what I saw captured by my camera and iphone. That's the goal of product photography- to show what you see in real life, on film.
In this youtube video of "Amanita" from 9/25/15, you can clearly see the edge of my stainless steel kitchen sink, proving that this collection was not photographed in a complex studio setup with expensive studio lights or equipment.
On 9/14/15 I made a detailed post on my socials addressing how the pigments work. This predates the eyeshadows being for sale. This refutes accusations made by reddit that I never told customers how the eyeshadow worked until weeks after they were listed for sale. That claim is untrue.
Thanks everyone for your interest in the FATALIS pre order. I'm going to try to clear up some questions that have popped up!
I have tried to be very honest and transparent about these colors in my description, as I know, as a consumer myself- that the first reaction one has when swatching new pretties on their hand and arm is to run for the first sunny window. You just won't see the shifts I have captured in the sun, or in diffused light situations- like a cloudy day, or broad indoor lighting. I am just being honest. This is not because of how I formulated the colors, it is the physics of light and reflection. You know how a diamond comes to life and glitters like crazy when it's under direct, artificial light? Same principle. Diamonds look lackluster on cloudy days/broad lighting, and it has everything to do with the refraction and reflection of light hitting at different angles.
These eyeshadows look best in direct, artificial light. In mixed lighting situations you will be able to see contrasting color shifts even better. I took my pictures underneath a "can light" (recessed light) above my kitchen sink- it contained a single compact fluorescent daylight balanced light bulb. I took the pictures around mid day, so the sun was not shining in the window, there was just indirect light coming in that was a different type of light source, and in combination with the direct artificial light overhead, it really made the effects of the color travel sing- in other words, it looked fantastic and clearly showed two and even three reflective shades.
On 9/15, I announced a pre-order for sample packs, the cheapest option being $12.50 for ten sample baggies. Here is a link to the pre-order page crawled by the Wayback machine (Internet Archive) on 9/18, clearly showing viewing/photography details. The accusation made by reddit that this information was added weeks later, after people started sharing swatches is absolutely incorrect. I was honest and transparent about the collection from the very beginning and no one on reddit was forced to order during the pre-order. They could have waited until October 1st to order individual shades and waited to see people's reviews.
People bought those affordable sample packs (at $12.50 each, these were not expensive or overpriced), and started sharing swatches in one online community on reddit. Their swatches didn't match my professional swatches. Why? Because they photographed them the way they were accustomed to photographing regular eyeshadows- in sunlight, or broad flat lighting. The way that I specifically mentioned one wouldn't see the color travel in my very first post about the collection, shared before the sample pre-order packs were for sale.
I experimented with different possibilities to capture the shifts I saw in real life on camera, and ending up in the most simple and unlikely of places.
That lighting "setup" wasn't where I always photographed my eyeshadows. Instead of under a daylight balanced lamp in a controlled environment with white walls-- it was simply standing in front of my kitchen sink.
Ten years later, I still photograph my multichrome shades in the same place.
Ten years later, all brands selling multichromes are photographing them in dimmer light, at an angle and using mixed light sources- just like I did back in 2015. That's where the chrome effects shine. To my knowledge, not a single one of these companies has been accused of being a fraud on reddit. As a forerunner to the multichrome trend, I unfortunately was.
* 2022's Top 10 Eyeshadow single sellers was 50% Fatalis shades, despite the collection being 7 years old.
* In 2024, the Fatalis collection was the fourth top selling collection of the year, despite being 9 years old! It ranked amongst brand new collection releases.
* In 2024, the shade "Hapalochlaena" was in the top 20 overall products, which included eyeshadows, cheek, highlighters, lip colors, etc, and it was the 3rd best selling single eyeshadow.
