Maquillage Maenad

Incoming!

2011-10-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Seeing as I'm back to blogging and everything, I think it's only fair to warn all you readers that someone better take my wallet away fast, because I'm going on a spreeeeeee!
Fyrinnae's new Halloween 2011 collection is out, and from all the swatches I've seen I knew I had to get everything! Well, I'm missing some of the lip lustres I've wanted since forever, but I added Coffin Velvet (it's such a gorgeous purple, if it doesn't fit my complexion I'll just paint my whole face), Visual Kei, Romantique, and Lollipop-pop to my order. Sweetest Poison was sold out :( and so was Fanservice, which I want so bad I'm about to turn inside out.
So I placed that order earlier today. Just a tip: I couldn't find the lip lustres on the Fyrinnae website, so I just Googled it, and there was a link to the page. Sneaky.
In addition to that order, I'm totally salivating over my order of Shiro Intertubes, which I think (hope) should be arriving some time late next week. 40 Cakes looks so gorgeous! I'm not ususally a pink person, but when I saw that lippie I felt like I'd been posessed by the good faerie Flora from Sleeping Beauty. "Make it pink!"
I also got Shoop da Whoop (which I can already tell is going to become a very good friend of mine), Numa Numa, NyanCat, and Rickrolled.
I think that's everything, so I'll keep you posted on when it arrives! Til then, Happy Halloween!
Edit: The larger sizes of the Lip Lustres restocked when I checked back, so I went ahead and nabbed Fanservice, Sweetest Poison, and Meloncholy. Yay!

The yummy stuff that's good for you! Glowing skin and rambles.

2011-10-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hello all! In my last post, I talked about an oil-based face mask I'd made. After using it, I noticed a drastic increase in the softness of my skin (and not because I don't usually exfoliate. I do!) and a lot of the redness on my skin was reduced to a barely-noticeable level. I'd had a bad breakout recently and my trusty face wash did nothing to help it. In fact, it turns out it only irritated my skin more.
I've been using the same type of face wash for about five years now and it's never failed me. So, as you can imagine, I was pretty surprised. But at a helpful tip, I reluctantly used a regular bar of soap to wash my face with. In about a week, the old blemishes were retreating and nothing new had sprung up. This doesn't have so much to do with my aforementioned face mask, but I feel like it's worth talking about because I've tried scrubs and frothy washes and I always use moisturizer, but somehow it wasn't helping much. So here's what I discovered:
I've been stripping too many of the natural oils from my skin. In reaction to seeing a spot I'd often wash more attentively and obsessively. Which, of course, only made matters worse. So, after several weeks now of using bar soap and nothing else to wash my face off, I can happily say taking the more laid-back approach is working! I'm so pleased... and I have the prospect of not having to spend a pile of money every few months on another tube of face wash!
So that's taken care of my breakout, but I've always had fairly dull skin. Being quite pale anyway, my skin just seems to take on this ashen look when I'm tired or stressed, and the rest of the time I'd say it's pleasantly matte, at it's most remarkable. The use of my newly invented face mask has really helped my skin become clearer and softer, but I can't say I noticed much in the way of a new dewy glow.
But a few days ago I began using honey on my face for a minute or so before washing. Now just so you know I'm not just leaping off into the deep end, I actually used to use honey on my nose and lips because it seemed to help with these wonky mini-spots I used to get. Still don't know what they were, but they'd stay for weeks when I didn't use honey and aloe. So anyway, after this recent honeying I rolled out of bed this morning and I look dewy! Sure, it's probably a minor-dew in comparison to some, but for me it's pretty exceptional and even though my hair's like a haystack in the mornings, my skin really stood out. For only a few days of honeying I'd say that's pretty good news to me! So I figured I'd share the discovery. Has anyone else tried this? Or used honey or another raw natural ingredient in their skincare regime? Til next time!

Hello! and new things

2011-10-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I am back from an extended absence! Not to worry, I'm alive and well. SO much has been going on, but I promise new looks and reviews soon and I have to say I'm absolutely drooling over the new Shiro Intertubes collection, so I'll be swatching those as soon as I can lay my hands on them.
Hope everyone had a lovely summer. Mine was fabulous and filled with new discoveries... I've been looking into the ingredients behind skincare products recently. You know, things like Prunus amygdalus dulics and Linum usitatissimum and actually looking at their properties and purposes instead of just going 'Eh, whassat?' and putting the product back down.
So I recently purchased several different oils to experiment with, and I'm so happy that I did!
I made a face mask last week with green tea, flax and hemp oils, sweet almond oil, and finely ground turbinado sugar for exfoliating purposes. I leave it on for maybe ten minutes before I wash my face in the mornings (though I haven't repeated the process daily... don't want to get too oily) and then put a moisturizer on after, and I'm good to go. I have persnickety combination skin that doesn't react too well to changes in my skin regime, so I'm beyond thrilled to see that my skin is loving this new approach.
I don't think my face has been this soft in years and I've gotten several compliments already on how nice and even my skin looks.
I'll keep you posted on these experiments with natural organic ingredients and in the meantime thank you to all my readers who stayed subscribed while I was away!

Silly Ode to April - EOTD

2011-04-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

The saying says "april showers" and where I live that is currently very true! But without the showers, no May flowers so I guess I'm paying it a tribute. Either way, I'm happier with this rain than the gross incessant ice and slush that came before!
But, this is me we're talking about. So am I really going to do some kind of rainy blue look, or grey like stormclouds to dedicate to this month? Of course not! That would be too sensible! Instead, I'd like to introduce my friend the snail, who devours my plants every year without fail as soon as they start to grow again. I don't actually have a huge problem with snails nomming on plants.... unless it's lettuce, because who wants to eat the leafy leftovers of someone else, really? Other than that, I don't really mind them. In fact, I think the little critters are kinda cute. I have a weakness for cute things. And unfortunately I find a lot of things to be cute... including little garden pests :) But sorry, I'll stop burbling and get straight to it!
Here's the look I've created!! Yes, it's a snail. So the paragraph above wasn't just me losing my mind. Or maybe it was, but there is method in my madness. That's right, I just quoted Hamlet, in a garbled sort of way. Oh dear -.-
AHEM!
I used the following:
Nijiro - Fyrinnae
Aztec Gold - Fyrinnae
Chrome - Fyrinnae
Atomic Afterglow - Fyrinnae
Chronos - Aromaleigh
Hollywood - Glamour Doll Eyes
And I'm a bit lazy right now, so I won't specify what I used on which part, but if you'd like to know then feel free to ask in the comments and I'll tell you :)
On to the (many) pictures! As always, click to zoooooom!

That's about it. Don't you love the glittery snail trail? Hehehe. Comment please :D and thanks for reading. Have a wondrous April!

FunnyFace's Dare To Wear Charity Challenge, For Japan!

2011-04-02T00:25:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent cause, so I couldn't pass it up. It's from the wonderful FunnyFace Beauty Blog, and you can find the link right here! Unfortunately, I don't know all that much about Japan. I spent a little while racking my brain for something clever and then realized that the top thing I know and love about Japan is their food! So here's my Japan post. It's wonky and funny and I'm not really a pro so I look goofy, but here's a pretty little shrimp roll in honor of Japan!
I used Hi Fi Cosmetics' Sugar for the white, and the rest of the look is primarily The Chequered Lily's "Sushi Ginger" which I thought was fairly fitting ^.^
And here's how it looked:

Hehehe, so that's my post! Comments encouraged. I won't take it personally if you have a bit of a giggle :)

Oh my! A blog award!

2011-04-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

The stunning Samantha from Give Me Samantha tagged me for a blog award! I'm so excited and honored! Thank you Samantha! (For the record, Samantha has been with me from the beginning of my leap into indie makeup and she's always been so nice to read my ramblings and drop comments. I'm very grateful to her!)
Here's the award I recieved :) It's green!

And I'm just going to copy the rules/requirements straight from Samantha's page. I think that's what I'm supposed to do!

The Requirements:

-Thank the person who gave you the award, and link back to them on your blog
-Tell us 7 things about yourself
-Tag some more bloggers for the award
-Contact these bloggers to let them know they've been tagged

Seven things about me:
1. Like Samantha, I've never tried MAC. How shocking! I plan to at some point... after I purchase every single Fyrinnae shadow and have a better-paying job!
2. I pierced my own ears! It didn't hurt and they healed fine. I was very hygienic about it.
3. When I am retired, a long time from now, I dream of having an enormous library filled with all my favorite books so that when I'm crazy and forgetful I can pick up something off any shelf and reread the same page for the first time over and over again and adore every word.
4. I have freelance edited a book, which then got published in the UK :) Very proud!
5. If I had to pick one person in the world to girlcrush over, it would be Kate Winslet.
6. I collect Pac Man merchandise! Hehe :D
7. When I was little, I memorized a Beowulf passage in Old English.

Now, on to the tagging and awards!

The Versatile Blogger I choose to tag is Sophie from Ethereal Beauty! Not only does she create the most stunning EOTDs in a wide range of colors, of which I am super in awe, but she also plays WoW ^.^ and I tend to geek out when writing comments to her.

And as for the Stylish Blogger Award, I nominate Tomi / my tiger lily! Her style is so above and beyond description. She inspires me to push the limits of makeup application to create truly fantastic looks. I'm super jealous of her skills. The way she writes makes me giggle, too!

So there are my awards. And a special thank-you to everyone who reads this blog and/or inspires me. You guys are the best!

Autumn EOTD and Evil Shades Lipstick Raving

2011-04-01T01:46:00.000-07:00

For me, this Spring has been somewhat miserable (excluding pretty makeup and my lovely readers of course!) Lots of illness, lots of disgusting soggy weather. My conclusion? I want autumn back! So here is my Autumn-themed EOTD. I may do the other seasons, I may not. Haven't decided yet.
Here's what I used:
1. Rapunzel Had Extensions - Fyrinnae
2. Fire Opal - Fyrinnae
3. Polar Bear - Fyrinnae
4. Physician's Formula 2-in-1 Ultra Black liner
5. Fire Opal - Fyrinnae
6 a. Painted Roses - Fyrinnae
6 b. Fire Opal - Fyrinnae
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals
Mascara: Sephora Lash Plumper in Black
And here's how it looked:

And to show off the shimmer:

I was really happy with the way this turned out and remembered I had a sample of Evil Shades lipstick in Ardour in my makeup stash. I'd dared to wear it out once before, a long time ago. And I wasn't very careful about applying it I guess because it feathered and stained a kind of orangey hot pink under whatever lip gloss I used. I felt a little like a clown. So this time I made sure to be precise in my application and I didn't use a gloss. It's very moisturizing on its own! And OH MY GOD it's sooooo pretty!
Hours later, it still hadn't come off and hadn't feathered or anything. In fact, it wore like a charm. I'm so happy with it that I ran back to Andrea's Evil Shades store and bought a full size! And then I returned to my stash and played around with other samples I'd recieved. In short, I now have Ardour and Primrose Path on order, as well as two of the super-intense looking Hardcore glosses in Not Your Barbie and Roué. I'm really excited! I usually stick to a normal-looking gloss on a daily basis because all of my lipsticks are a bit too... zealous for work. But it looks like Primrose Path is going to turn into a staple for me. I'm really liking the color.
So here are (dun dun dun!) lip swatches of Ardour. Obviously this is the first time I've ever provided a lip swatch for anything. And I'm not used to it yet. So be nice!

Thanks for reading! Please leave comments! Have a happy Friday :)

The TKBeast!

2011-03-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

Warning: Ridiculous extended metaphor below and other obscure ramblings and references.

What is the TKBeast you may ask? Well, I'm here to tell you! The TKBeast is a lovely creature that will shed a generous sample amount of beautiful mica-beast dust on you! How lovely! However, this only works when the creature is fed a small meal of $1.50. Now, that's not a problem. The problem here is that there are so many colors to choose from! I want them all! And I think if I let it, the TKBeast would happily snarf up my wallet. Mind you, I'd be rolling gleefully in beautiful micas... but I try to be practical (heh).
So instead of offering up an all-you-can-eat buffet to this TKBeast, I simply presented it with an appetizer of crispety crunchety bills... which it seemed to enjoy. Because today I was showered with 9 mesmerizing micas that I CANNOT. STOP. STARING. AT. O.O!
Now, for some reason I thought each baggie held one teaspoon (probably because some of the micas tell you that's the amount you recieve for $1.50) but that's just not so. The ones that don't say anything about a teaspoon actually hold a whole tablespoon! This TKBeast is generous!
The micas I chose to be showered with were Blue Sparks!, Echo, Chameleon Glitter, Smokey XXX, Ballad Blue, Her Majesty, Capricorn Sea, Pisces Blue, and Taurus Orion. Now, a teaspoon of product is generous and wonderful. But a tablespoon? There's so much mica in here I think it'll last me til I'm 90! Well then, I'll fade into a colorful senility!

These micas come in big thick baggies approx 4 inches tall, 3 wide (so yeah, big) and I'm not a huge fan of baggies. Especially these. For some reason I really have to wrestle with the zip-lock seal to get it to open, and it makes me uneasy to know I could easily slip and rip the packaging open like some kind of hungry predator. So I've placed an order for over 9000 5g jars! Just kidding, only 200. But still quite a few! I look forward to the (IMO) more convenient packaging :)
Personally, I cannot seem to get over how pretty these are. Not to say, by any means, that the rest of my collection is not up to par (cause it is ^.^) but man! Any of you remember the Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter? If you wear these kinds of colors, I believe it's quite possible that people will want to sit and waste away or be driven mad by your eyelids. SOOOOO PRETTY!
Don't believe me? Ask the dishes! Er.. swatches! (All swatched over Pixie Epoxy... which, by the way, is a girl's -and many guy's I'm sure!- best friend. Because diamonds cannot foil your eyeshadow!)

First picture, left to right: Blue Sparks!, Echo, Chameleon Glitter, Smokey XXX (not as purple as it looks here)

Second picture, left to right: Ballad Blue, Her Majesty (the purple glitter didn't show up on camera AT ALL! Sorry!), Capricorn Sea ( a bit greener shift than it looks here), Pisces Blue, Taurus Orion

As always, click to zoom! Thanks for putting up with the many random insanities in this post. Please comment!

Link: TKB Trading

A picture of the TKBeast! (Those curly things are wings, but I can't draw.)

The Blitterpoard Mani

2011-03-27T01:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so as to the title of this post. No, my nails aren't dying of a terrible-sounding disease --- I've simply titled it this way because it's a combo of blue, leopard-print and glitter, and I mangled the words horribly to form it's name. I don't actually have a lot to say about this other than that I suck at doing my nails and I still got tons of compliments on this! It was very encouraging :)
I used Sally Hansen HD in BLU, my Physician's Formula liner for the leopard print, Confetti in Pink Confetti, and Sally Hansen Advanced Strengthening Topcoat.
And heeeeere's what it looked like! (Ignore my ugly cuticles -.-)

There you have it.... please comment! Thanks for reading!

Good Behavior.... Did I say that?

2011-03-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

So last time I checked I was supposed to be on fairly good behavior. That lasted til about St. Patty's Day. But I seem to be on my spree of the year; I'm currently waiting on 10 separate orders to arrive. *_*. This isn't counting those that have already arrived. Currently my camera seems to have divorced it's battery charger and ditched it in some foreign country because it is nowhere to be found. So annoying! And so I'm sorry, I'll only be able to post the pictures I've already uploaded until I find it again. The camera does seem to have realized the mistake however; it's dead now. How morbid. With a bit of luck, though, the charger will return and my stupid camera will get a res. Ah, there are too many references in this paragraph. Overwhelming!
Aaaaanyway, point being, expect some swatching and reviewing in the following posts. Also, my first-ever nail post! I know, no one voted for that on my blog poll, but I was happy with the way it turned out and wanted to show it off a bit anyway. So, that's upcoming too. Keep your eyes out for it, I think I'm dubbing it Blitterpoard. Which won't sound as much like a terrible disease, once I actually post it (hopefully).

Quick and random EOTD

2011-03-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

It was sunny out with a clear blue sky, so I decided on a yellow and blue look and this is what I came up with...
I used:
1. Blizzard - Detrivore (with a highlight of Earth Angel Minerals "Old Flame" shadow)
2. Invertebrate - Detrivore
3. Vacancy - Detrivore
4. Physician's Formula 2-in-1 Ultra Black liner
5. Pathos - Detrivore
6. N/A
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

And the pictures!

Ethereal Beauty is holding her first Giveaway!

2011-03-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

And so many goodies too! Go check it out here: Ethereal Beauty. You don't even have to be a follower. But she's worth following, so I recommend doing so anyway! :)

Uhm LORAC, and a random look

2011-03-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm probably the millionth person to be in on the LORAC sale on Hautelook, but I caved. And then I got carried away. So I've got the Croc Mocktail mini set on its way, as well as three other Mocktail shades/flavors in Chi Chi, Caffeini Martini, and Lava Flow. So expect some major haulage. What drew me in (besides the price!) was the description of these glosses. I'm a sucker for lip gloss in general, but especially when it tastes good! These Mocktail glosses are flavored like different cocktails, so how was I supposed to resist? ^.^
The funny part is that I really WAS being good and not buying a thing, but then I thought 'Hey, St. Patrick's Day is juuuuuust around the corner and I need me some green glitter!' and it all just went downhill from there. But it looks like my mailbox will be getting happydanced at once again!
I recieved my order from Zoya -- I got Envy instead of Shawn, which kinda sucks because I was really looking forward to that shade... but Envy is lovely too! It was still a pretty great deal so I guess I was just a little slow and Shawn ran out? Not sure. I need to show pictures of those. Unfortunately it seems my little camera had intentions of it's own and has scuttled off somewhere. I guess it wanted a spring break. Until I can hunt it down, I hope you'll be appeased with an EOTD from a little while ago.
I used:
1. Abalone - Archetype Cosmetics
2. Lilith's Daughters - Archetype Cosmetics
3. Dragonmagic - Fyrinnae
4. Physician's Formula 2-in-1 Ultra Black liner
5. Mystic - Fyrinnae
6. N/A
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

First picture first: this one looks a little funny to me... like my eyelashes are reaching out. Slightly unnerving.

Blurry, but it shows off some sparklies:

Sooo, that's that. Drop me a comment! :)

Oh! I almost forgot! My OCC Lip Tar in NSFW arrived... I. LOVE. IT! Expect a review as soon as I'm able to photograph swatches!

Upcoming posts and that kinda jazz

2011-03-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I haven't posted in a bit, which makes me feel lame now since this post doesn't include any looks or pretty pictures or anything :(
I just wanted to tell you what's up for now:
I'll be swatching my Glamour Doll Eyes sample baggies (lotsa glitter!)
Fyrinne swatches (I got Mephisto and CAN'T. STOP. LOOKING. AT. IT. It's so beautiful!)
China Glaze Crackle review (I got one! Yes! This particular post will happen when my nails stop being ugly... so yeah, the future.) <<<<< Heh, that's my optimism talking XD
Speaking of nails, I splurged a tiny bit and went for the 3 for $5 deal at Zoya (I guess that's more of a steal than a splurge) and I got the tip-off from xSparkage... I can't find the deal thingy on the Zoya site any more which bums me out a little cause I feel like I should have the link for it in here.
Uhm.......... Oh!
Then we come to the reason for this post, kinda. Yeah, you know that unobtrusive little poll I have over to this side? >>>>>
Well I've been looking at it (5 votes so far!) and OCC Lip Tar is winning. Now that's fine with me because I have been dying to try these. I only have a few red lippies. And I'm like some hopeless lovestruck loony who doesn't care how unrequited her love is when it comes to red lips. They can push me away or make me look like hell but I'll run back to them every time. I think (or I hope) that they're finally bending to my will a little (okay, ENOUGH with the love metaphor here cause I'm just not gonna draw it out any more hehe) because I've gotten compliments on my red lips the last two times I've tackled the crazy color. What this all boils down to, is that I ordered a Lip Tar in NSFW. For those of you who don't know, I'm pretty sure this stands for Not Safe For Work. Either that or Nosy Seals Fear Windshields. But yeah, I think it's the first. So I'm SUPAAAAH excited about that because I have heard so many great things about these products and I've never tried anything from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics before. If I like this stuff as much as everyone says I will, then I will definitely be buying Beta, Reverb, and Anime next! Time to go for something a little crazier and try to master it. Anyway, here's the link for the OCC site: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. Have you tried them before? Do you want to? ARE YA GONNA?! Comment below, and thanks for being my lovely readers :) I can't tell you how much I appreciate you

How I Store My Makeup

2011-03-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

I think this was a long time in coming. No, I'm not sure where this nifty box came from (but if you know, tell me cause I totally want to buy another!) but it's super convenient and I love it. The jars are mostly Fyrinnae, except for those 9 on the left, which are Pure Luxe. I love how easy it is to store my sample baggies in here. And the clamshells are a pain and I don't really like them, but they fit too!
I'm just going straight to the pictures here, because there's really not a lot I can say. This was originally some kind of sewing box I think. But I plan on going hunting at Hobby Lobby or Michael's for another similar thing, since I've got several other jars coming and don't really have a nice home like this to put them in. I just love how 9 fit in each of the large compartments (and they're not hard to take out) all snug and serendipitously. Yay :)

Comments? Questions? Thanks for reading!

Are your eyes bigger than your stomach? LOL of the Day

2011-02-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

I have a face on my face!

WARNING: Not your average makeup!

I don't think I'll be making a habit out of this or anything, but I had this weird idea in my head that I wanted to try out (but probably not wear out) and it makes me giggle!

I used (in no particular order):

Kamikaze - Fyrinnae

Prestige liquid eyeliner in Popstar

Physician's Formula 2-in-1 Ultra Black liner pen

Integra's Dog I - Archetype Cosmetics

Beetle - Detrivore Cosmetics

Black Rose Bath - My Pretty Zombie Cosmetics

The best part of this look, is when you blink it looks like the mouth is biting! Heeee! Omnomnom rawr.

I won't mind if you question my sanity, but do comment!

GotW - 450 Enchanting

2011-02-27T22:32:00.000-08:00

Here is Sunday's Geek of the Week look, "450 Enchanting"! You'll probably notice it's made up of colors similar to the Baby Vampragon look... this won't be the case for most of the GotWs though, don't worry.
In WoW, the enchants that are put on weapons usually make them glow, glimmer, or something similar. Also, you can disenchant, and recieve many pastel-colored dusts. Here's kind of a tribute to both those, with the dusts as the shadows and the enchants as the liner...
A picture of enchanted weapons in the Dalaran shop:

Stuff being enchanted:

I used:
1. Sugar - Hi Fi Cosmetics
2. Futuristic Glamrock - Fyrinnae
3. a. Spun Sugar - Archetype
3. b. Pixie Poop - Archetype
4. Physicican's Formula 2-in-1 liner Ultra Black under Real Wild Child - Hi Fi Cosmetics
5. Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll - Hi Fi Cosmetics
6. Futuristic Glamrock - Fyrinnae
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

I wish I'd managed to capture the glitter better....

Geek of the Week?

2011-02-26T22:44:00.000-08:00

Haven't I gotten carried away with enough themed looks already? NO! But this one has me planning tons of new stuff to hurtle into. I've noticed several blogs have a day or two that they set aside for a specific kind of look, etc... for example, Leesha (xSparkage) has Fierce Fridays and Wearable Wednesdays. You get the idea. But I'm a bit more of a geek than I guess I tend to let on. Until now! All that is about to change. From here on out, I plan to have Geek of the Week looks on Saturdays and Sundays every week. Here's hoping I manage to do that every weekend! Most of you who are familiar with my blog know I'm an avid WoW fiend, but I'll be branching out a bit in these looks. They may not be restrained to well known games. But to start off these looks, I'd like to introduce the first to you today...

Baby Vampragon! This is a cute little pet that will fight by your side if ever you summon it in Adventure Quest!
"This very young vampragon attacks with water or wind and heals you a little on its special attack! Babies heal more than adults."
Here's the Baby Vampragon: Inneeee cuuute! Look at those tiny teeth.

And here's the look and what I used (new makeup, yay!) :
1. Sex & Candy - Archetype Cosmetics
2. Lethe - Archetype Cosmetics
3. Pixie Poop - Archetype Cosmetics
4. Physician's Formula 2-in-1 Ultra Black
5. Lethe - Archetype Cosmetics
6. NYC Black liner
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

So tell me what you think of this crazy new tangent I'm on and have an awesome weekend!

Could it be...? Prelude to a swatchfest

2011-02-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe what showed up in yesterday's mail. Can you guess? Yep, that's right, my Archetype Cosmetics order from aeons ago. All 44 samples.
Now what really kills me about this is that I know I'm not going to be able to make the samples last forever. And there are some incredibly unique and beautiful colors! But I can't really say I'm up for placing an order for any full sizes because I may be in my mid fifties before they actually arrive. More on that later though, because I may cave still in hopes that this order from them was just particularly bad. Yes, I'm aware that's called denial!
Now, some of you may ask how I actually managed to recieve my order. My answer? Since I began to worry about the questionable existence of my order, I called her at work (Star Center Antique Mall in Snohomish, for those of you who want to Google the number). Every. Week. And harangued her (politely) at every opportunity. I don't plan to make a habit out of that. But that's what I did.
Anyway though, I'll have the swatches up soon, which was supposed to be my main point in this post... So keep a lookout! Have a relaxing weekend!

Oceanwater EOTD

2011-02-24T17:49:00.000-08:00

This is the first EOTD I've done in a while... sorry, but I was really reluctant to do any looks or swatches without my holy grail Pixie Epoxy. Now it's here, so I'm taking full advantage. This is a look I did today (mind you, I'd been wearing it for several hours before I took pictures... and look how fresh it still looks! Thank you, Fyrinnae!) using two of the new shadows I got. I'm calling this EOTD Oceanwater cause of the seagreen-ness. It's not intentionally a themed look, but I'm throwing it into the Water Trilogy themes anyway. Here's what I used:
1. Sugar - Hi Fi Cosmetics
2. Eternal Innocence - Fyrinnae
3. Electric Stardust - Fyrinnae
4. Physician's Formula 2-in-1 liner in Ultra Black
5. Dragon's Wing - Fyrinnae
6. NYC Black liner
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

That's all for now. Tell me what you think and thanks for reading!

The Story of Pixie Epoxy, and other news

2011-02-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

Right, this is gonna be a fairly strange post because lately my fantasy fiction writing has started to spill into my reviews. Some of you may have noticed. I'm kind of having a blast with it. But anyway, earlier today I was thinking about the wonder that is Pixie Epoxy. Why? Well because I've gone weeks without it and it's like.. you know when they touch up the color in old movies? The Wizard of Oz, for example, and they peel back this dull looking clip of the movie to show the same clip in vibrant colors? Going without Pixie Epoxy, for me, is like that in reverse. It's still beautiful, but that mesmerizing sheen and complexity is just muted and seems to fade away. Like, you can't appreciate Glinda's soap bubble when it's all greyish.
Enough references, though.
I got my new lovely full sized Pixie Epoxy tube in the mail today (along with some sample sizes which will all be swatched and posted some time tonight I hope) and it's just fantastic. So I was thinking, why Pixie Epoxy? Here's what I've come up with...

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away known as Washington, there lived a King of the Pixies. But he was lonely. He had no wife and no heir. He was plagued daily by his worries. Would he live out his life without knowing love? Who would rule when he departed this world? One day he decided to clear his mind with a journey through the lush forests. As he flew along enjoying the scenery, a pint-sized wood nymph caught his eye. They gazed at eachother. It was love at first sight. The king announced their marriage soon after, and nuptial celebrations were planned. But soon another problem arose. While he could bestow upon his lovely bride the gift of Pixie Dust, it only lasted a few hours and the home of the Pixies lay in the ever-present clouds above Washington. Stricken by fear that one day he would not re-Dust her in time and she would fall from the sky, he went to his friends, the legendary magicians of Fyrinnae, for help. The wizards worked day and night concocting a magical glue that would enable the new queen to rule safely in her new realm without eventually succumbing to the dangers of gravity. This glue would keep the Pixie Dust from slowly wearing off.

Overjoyed with the wizards' creation, the king flew back to his bride and presented her with the gift. They were able to live and rule together among the clouds. Eventually they bore a son (a Nixie?) to continue their line, and they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Thus, Pixie Epoxy came into being! Hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you think? XD

Physician's Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum

2011-02-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

Man, that's a mouthfull. But if it works it'll be worth it! As to what it does... I think the super long title kind of explains that, but if you want more info just click here.

I've only tried the pen twice so far. And I got carried away with the swatching of it because it's just so fun to draw with. It's very precise and it's a legit brush tip, not felt. Everything about it is very sleek. It makes me think of those Japanese calligraphy pens, and I've always been jealous of artists so I felt very pro handling this liner pen and did a little doodle myself: It's a murloc! Hehe.

Now I've heard some funny rumors that this eyeliner/lash lengthening duo keeps people up at night. To me that just sounds weird to the extreme. That's like saying your favorite lipstick is such a gorgeous shade but it makes you hear white noise. I just don't buy that. So I put this to the test (god forbid I should ever sleep in my makeup!) and applied some after washing my face last night. Are you ready for the truth!? Honestly, I slept like a baby. Myth BUSTED! I think a more likely explanation would be that this liner is so sleek looking it could honestly belong in a spaceship and maybe some aliens are jealous and want it for themselves, so they deprive the original owners of sleep in hopes that the liner will get thrown out and they'll be able to take it for themselves! Well it could happen right? I never claimed it was reasonable :)

On to the actual FACT that it is sleek:

Here's the liner pen, all shiny and aerodynamic for alien space travel:

The nice, accurate brush tip (the bristles don't come apart during application either, they stay streamline which I think is a pretty great thing):

And some various lines I drew:

I guess it looks a little sheer here, but let me assure you, I have been using loose shadows with water to line my eyes for a while now and this pen definitely creates a darker, more controlled line. Also, this product is advertised to be waterproof and smudgeproof. And they mean it! I had to get my doodles off with soap and a loofah. Miraculously though, it wasn't so hard to get off my eyes... and I guess it's usually easier to remove if you apply primer and shadow first (it's worth mentioning I didn't try legit makeup remover with this). But this stuff stays and stays!

Pretty fab huh? I'll review a bit more when 2 or so weeks pass to share how well the lash boosting works.

Tell me what you think! Have you tried this liner pen? Did it work for you, or did the aliens take it?

Nighty night folks! Mrgl?

As to that weird squawky noise I just made...

2011-02-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hehe I'm glad no one heard that. I have to apologize for being all un-posty recently. I'm so sorry! Things have been CRAZY around here! I think I'm back now though.
So, back to the title. I can't believe I haven't posted about this already, but I placed more orders with Fyrinnae! I ran out of Pixie Epoxy last week (imagine that!) and I've been dying without it. If you've never noticed the difference in your shadows since you bought your first Pixie Epoxy let me tell you... it looks like I mixed my shadows with dust before I applied them. The foiled-look-without-foiling is gone, my friends. But as I said I ordered more. Salvation is on its way! Now I placed my order earlier this week. Fyrinnae's TAT is currently 26-28 business days. So I was all prepared to settle in for a longish wait and just deal with the lackluster eyeshadow payoff. BUT! Have I mentioned the guys at Fyrinnae are not only wizards who recieve the dragonscales that go into their eyeshadows straight off the organic vine of the tofu-dragon (no real dragons though cause after all they ARE vegan, so no real dragonscales) but they are also masters of QUICK SHIPPING!? Well, they are. I got an email today saying my order had already shipped. Thank you Fyrinnae, you've done it again! I was so happy I actually did make some weird bird sounds... so if some of you are still confused by the title of this post... ^.^
So that's my raving for the day over with, but I had to put that out there! Fyrinnae is most definitely my top favorite cosmetics company of all time.
I'll have the swatches and stuff up as soon as I recieve my incoming orders. Also, my Hi Fi order (well, one of them anyway) arrived, as did six sample shadows from My Pretty Zombie (and they're all stunning) so those review/swatches should be up within the week. I also placed an order with Glamour Doll Eyes today. Not sure when that will get here. That pretty much sums up all the stuff I've gotten and will be getting so far.
I also got that Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum in Ultra Black last time I was in CVS. So at some point in time I'll post a review on that... but I'm gonna wait and see if it works for now. It's a nice liner pen so far!

Enough of my babbling though. Comment! And have a great week :)

Moonrise Studio / The Chequered Lily Review With Swatches! Plus EOTD

2011-02-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I only just found my camera today. Sorry! But here are all the pretty swatches of the Moonrise Studio (soon to be called The Chequered Lily Apothecary) eyeshadows, and this post will be a bit picture heavy. Enjoy!
You can find this company on Etsy, or you can just click here ^.^
A lot of these shadows are very glittery, so I swatched all of them over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. Also, I labelled the free samples that I got, those weren't labelled when I got them. I guess I'm a little OCD about my makeup organization haha :) As for customer service, it was great. Kim is super nice, and convo'd me on Etsy after my order. It shipped within a matter of days and arrived the same day as my Fortune Cookie Soap order.
Honestly, I love all of these shadows. They have wow-factor for sure and they're pretty complex. I keep trying to narrow down my favorites, but I end up giving up because I can't choose. So here are all the lovely colors! I like that the labels all say which you should use with primer and which aren't lip safe. Saves checking.

Here are some pictures showing about how much product comes in each sample baggie. Kim says it's 2-3 applications, but I've got a feeling I can make them last a bit longer. This is the shade Sushi Ginger.

On to the swatches! I did these a little differently than I usually do; just two at a time so I could show off the detail better. Some of these have more than one picture, depending on how well my camera captured them the first time.

Candy Floss and Sushi Ginger:

Kali and The 13th (see the pretty magenta shimmer!):

Charlotte and November (have I mentioned how pretty all the eyeshadow names are?):

Jareth (this looks the color of Nutella in the baggie, but it's actually gorgeous PURPLE!) and Oakmoss:

Terra and A Dustland Fairytale:

Fragile and Neverwhere:

Silk and Snow, Glass, Apples (SUCH an awesome color!):

Naïve and Stormbreak:

Milky Way (filled with crazy awesome holo-glitter) and Stormbringer:

Black Valentine and Oxalis:

And here's a soft EOTD with some of the shadows I got. Everything's from Moonrise Studio unless stated otherwise:

1. Naïve

2. A Dustland Fairytale

3. Fragile

4. Beetle - Detrivore

5. A Dustland Fairytale

6. Sable Brown - Rimmel

7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

Pretty pictures:

So I give this company major points for blendability, uniqueness, and overall awesomeness. Go check it out, buy, and post reviews! Happy Friday and weekend :)

The Tiny Post

2011-01-31T14:04:00.000-08:00

What I actually got by way of post today wasn't tiny at all. But my camera has gone awol! So this post is a tiny one, telling you all to go check out Moonrise Studio on Etsy RIGHT NOW: Moonrise Studio because I got my order of samples in the mail today and I'll be damned if there's a single one I don't wanna buy a full size of. The colors are SO unique, and the quality... well, I found myself comparing them to the Arcane Magic collection by Fyrinnae, if that tells you anything. They're amazing! Filled with shimmer, glitter, delicious drool-worthy color! Plus customer service is fantastic, and Kim is so nice :) I will definitely be purchasing from her again, very soon!
AND my Fortune Cookie Soaps all arrived today, and I bathed with the Caramel Apple. I feel squeaky clean and moisturized, plus my bathroom now smells like those caramel-apple lollipops people always seem to be handing out on Halloween. Love!
I'm done raving now. I'll have the real picture/reviews up tomorrow.

Because, yes, I AM that much of a geek!

2011-01-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

This post is to introduce the first in yet another series of themed EOTDs... and these are ones that will either seem fun or just sad because they're all WoW-themed! Haha.
So this is one that's a Cataclysm look, that actually kind of reminds me of some of the new drakes I've seen flying around. It's called Undersea Volcanic Rift, because I'm weird when it comes to titles. So I used these colors, and here's the key to deciphering what I mean by 1, 2, 3 etcetera: Numbering System
1. Nevermore - Scaredy Cat Cosmetics
2. Dragon's Wing - Fyrinnae (well blended)
3. Mystic - Fyrinnae
4. Pumpkinfire - Fyrinnae
5. Madame & Eve's - Fyrinnae
6. a. Greenman's Forest - Fyrinnae
6. b. Velvet Vampire - Fyrinnae
7. Likelike - Shiro

I wish that I was able to capture more of the warm tones in this look, but my camera made it all very cool-toned. The Pumpkinfire DID actually take on a kind of eggplant-y shade, but it still had the glorious orange shimmer which really didn't want to be found in the pictures I took :(

Sorry about the wayward strand of hair in that last picture! As always, click to enlarge these.

And also, for anyone out there who wonders what my solution is when I'm in a makeup rut, here it is below!

And there you go... fairly simple. The steps are as follows: Swatch. Pretty. Colors.

I usually find several combos I want to use every time I do this, but I figured I'd take a picture for the hell of it! Anyone else have different solutions, or do you just never get into a makeup-artists-block or whatever it's called? Drop me a comment! Thanks for reading and have a relaxing weekend.

Moonrise Studio Cosmetics

2011-01-28T15:32:00.000-08:00

I was browsing Etsy for exciting new makeup and I ran across this selection of truly gorgeous loose eyeshadows from Moonrise Studio. There was a 10-sample deal for 4 dollars and another of 7 samples for $3, so I got both because I couldn't narrow down my options, all the colors were so lovely! From what I've read, shipping is supposed to be pretty fast so I'm expecting to hear back probably by next week. I can't wait!
And in the meantime, for those of you who hadn't already heard of this company (because I sure hadn't, and I wish I'd known sooner!) here's the link to the Etsy page: Moonrise Studio
If you get the chance to check it out or if you've tried these shadows before, put a comment below telling me about it! I wanna know what colors you liked most because in the future (with a few more followers obviously) I'm seriously considering putting together a giveaway with these shades :)

Fortune Cookie Soap! Yum! Plus Updates About Archetype

2011-01-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

So I heard back from Holly of Archetype Cosmetics today. My cosmetics are supposed to ship soon. And guess what! I also got a refund to my PayPal for the amount I'd spent on her eyeshadows. Soooooo that made me happy and left me with some money.. with which to buy other shiny things! I was browsing through xSparkage's blog (because she happens to by a top go-to guru for me!) and I saw her Fortune Cookie Soap review, which is here: xSparkage and her baby cousin is in it, which makes it adorable as well as informative!

Also, fellow blogger Kassandra from Pretty Addictions blogged about them. Her link is here: Pretty Addictions
So after seeing that, I went to visit the actual website: Fortune Cookie Soap and got completely sucked it. it even made me hungry. So I ordered four fortune cookie soaps with my refunded money, which I'm quite pleased with. I can't wait to try them out! I also bought two for my parents in... ahem... more sophisticated scents than Blue Cotton Candy haha. Because I totally bought that one for myself. Also, my cousin is getting married soon and I'm definitely gonna order her the Takes The Cake scent, and maybe Honeymoon in Paradise as well!
Have you tried Fortune Cookie Soap? What did you think?
Also, on the ideas portion of the website, the top voted idea is scented body sprays! Personally, I may die of happiness if they go through with it, so visit the website and go vote for it! :)

Madness? This. Is. XSPARKAGE!

2011-01-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

Haha okay that was lame.

I woke up this morning wanting a nice, nude cate eye look. What I ended up with was cat for sure, but not so much on the subtle side. I'm not gonna do a what I used 1-2-3-etc for this look because I used my 88 palette and didn't take note of which colors I picked out. The liner I used for the spots was a very messy Wet'n'Wild, so I'm happy that any of them came out right... but it was intensely waterproof, so for all I know I will either be doused in makeup remover and facewashing tonight or I'll have spots for the next few days. Uh oh.

Anyway, this look is based on XSparkage's Dionysus look, which you can find here: XSparkage

Her's, obviously, is a ton prettier than mine, but hey it gives me something to work towards. On to the pictures. Enjoy!

Scaredy Cat Cosmetics Followup Pictures

2011-01-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

I said I'd post pictures of the eyeshadows I recieved today, so here they are. They're so tiny and cute! And the colors are so pretty!

Here's a size reference :)

Here are the swatches in artificial indoor light: Top Row L to R Nevermore, Smooze

Bottom Row: Peacock Blood, Caldonia, Keltoi

Here's with flash:

See how pretty! Also, for those of you who are wondering what that other swatch is at the top right, I was being clumsy and dropped my Dash Minerals container of Celery Shimmer in the sink, and most of the shadow went down the drain.I was really sad because I loved the color, but Keltoi is really similar, so the random swatch is the remainder of my Celery Shimmer for comparison :)

Scaredy Cat!

2011-01-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! My Scaredy Cat Cosmetics order arrived in my mailbox today and I greeted it with a little happy dance, sliced it open and pulled out its contents. Morbid description much? Haha.
They were shipped in a box, instead of a bubble mailer, which was interesting, and it was filled with those protective wiggly-paper-strips you sometimes find in Easter baskets and some tissue paper. The little trial vials were all packed in separate baggies with the name of each color. I got Nevermore, Peacock Blood, Smooze, Caldonia, and Keltoi. I'll be putting up swatches and pictures of the packaging soon, but right now I'm gonna go try them out!

Water Trilogy: Farworlder EOTD (A bit pic-heavy!)

2011-01-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is the second Water Trilogy look I've posted so far and I'm really happy with how it turned out, hence the many many pictures! It's called Farworlder which, in the books, is an alien species kind of like super-genius octopi... octopuses? octopoda? Well it's one of those. They're mostly described as being purple or reddish, so here's the look!
I used:
1. Oasis - Pure Luxe
2. Mystic - Fyrinnae
3. Conjuror - Fyrinnae (I LOVE this color)
4. N/A
5. Molten - Pure Luxe
6. Oasis - Pure Luxe
7. Likelike - Shiro

I tried one picture without flash but since I actually did this look at night there was no sunlight to photograph this in and the picture turned out all yellowy in the artificial light, which I thought looked pretty yuck with the colors I used. See?

So the rest of these are taken with flash, which made the aqua sparkles super-prominent but I liked the smokiness of this look... I wish the pictures showed it better. It symbolizes my makeup application evolution: I can now properly blend and all that jazz!

Here are the rest of the pictures. As always, click for the full size. Ignore the stupid bug bite near my eyebrow, I don't know how it happened since bugs should all be dead or in hiding this cold time of year!

Here's that super-sparkle coming out of hiding.

I'd love to know what you think, drop me a comment! Have an awesome Thursday!

Phyrra's Venomous Cosmetics Giveaway!

2011-01-20T01:21:00.000-08:00

Wow, another giveaway! Excitement!! Here's the link to the lovely Phyrra's giveaway on her blog:
Venomous Cosmetics
And check out the pics of her poodle while you're there, they're super cute! Good luck in the giveaway, all!

Also, I'm gonna post the link for the site I found this giveaway at first because I HAVE to thank her for clueing me in! Thanks Samantha!

Water Trilogy Theme?

2011-01-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

I may be getting a little carried away with all these themes. But I'm having lots of fun! Hope anyone reading this is enjoying it too. It's giving me tons of inspiration for new looks. :)
Here's the latest thing I've come up with while browsing my heavily laden bookshelves. The Water Trilogy is written by Kara Dalkey and I picked them up about a decade ago (in an airport nonetheless!) and fell in love. If you haven't already guessed I'm a huge sucker for fantasy. Stating the obvious though so I'll move on. This EOTD was inspired by the first book, titled Ascension, and the look itself I named Purple-blue Sixty-five. I got several compliments on this one. Here's what I used:
1. Mirage - Pure Luxe
2. Wicked - Fyrinnae
3. Faerie Glamour - Fyrinnae
4. N/A
5. Wicked - Fyrinnae
6. Faerie Glamour - Fyrinnae
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

Tell me what you think! Comments/questions, and I should have some more stuff up for review as soon as my Scaredy Cat and Hi Fi orders arrive :) Wishing you all fast shipping times and lots of sparkle!

Makeup Zombie Giveaway!

2011-01-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is just a verrrry short post to let any of you who haven't already heard know, there's a Makeup Zombie giveaway going on now through February 1! Check it out here:
Makeup Zombie
Such pretty colors!
(And here's the link to the Morgana Cryptoria website for extra measure. Morgana Cryptoria)

Two in One, with a little update: Scaredy Cat Cosmetics

2011-01-18T01:38:00.000-08:00

I'm a little backed up on my themed looks. Not sure how, really, as I've been posting a ton lately. But nevertheless, I've got two that haven't been posted and I'm just going to bunch them together in this post. They're both Neverending Story - themed. The first is called The Neverending Story... go figure! I tried to capture the book's description of the book with this EOTD. Confusing? yes. It's supposed to be shimmery coppery silk, and the ink is in two colors: green and purple. I don't think I did too bad capturing it, but see for yourself!
I used:
1. Sun Silk - Dash*
2. Avian Shapeshifter - Fyrinnae
3. Avian Shapeshifter - Fyrinnae*
4. Immortality - Fyrinnae
5. Avian Shapeshifter - Fyrinnae
6. a. Celery Shimmer - Dash
6. b. Red Plum - Dash
7. S.S. Anne - Shiro
* - With a thin sweep of Faceted - Pure Luxe over the top for added shimmer

And the second look is called "All Those B's"

In this case, all those B's isn't referring to Bastian Balthazar Bux, but to Broken Glass, Brine, and Beetle. This is pretty much an all-Detrivore look, with a little Fyrinnae.

1. Broken Glass - Detrivore

2. Beetle - Detrivore

3. Brine - Detrivore

4. N/A

5. Beetle - Detrivore

6. NYC Black Eye Pencil (smudged)

7. Titania - Fyrinnae

As for the update, I heard about the 5 for 5 trial vial deal at Scaredy Cat Cosmetics and leapt at it. If you haven't seen their colors go check them out. They're gorgeous!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ScaredyCatCosmetics

Really excited about those, and the packaging is ace. I love the cosmetic round so-and-so-gram jars, but Scaredy Cat packages their products in lovely decorated full sizes and the 1/4 tsp trial vials are little corked bottles!

Do What You Wish EOTD

2011-01-16T15:10:00.000-08:00

This is the first of a (probably very extensive) new line of theme EOTDs. I happen to be very excited about these because they're all based around The Neverending Story (the book, not the movie). I've got a lot of ideas and I recommend the book because it's awesome. But get the hardback version with the colored ink. That's the best way to go.
Anyway, this is look is inspired by Bastian and The Childlike Empress' first meeting; "The beginning is always dark"
I'll give you a heads up here. If you haven't read the book, there will probably be a lot of EOTDs that just don't make as much sense. Some are more or less explained by the movie, if you've seen that. But either way, pretty makeup colors right? Enjoy!
Here's what I used (check my New Year's post for the explanation behind this weird numbering system I've worked out):
1. Broken Glass - Detrivore
2. Immortality - Fyrinnae
3. Dinosaur Plushie - Fyrinnae
4. N/A
5. Immortality - Fyrinnae
6. NYC Black Eye Pencil
7. Golden Fair matte base - Everyday Minerals

And here's where I tried and mostly failed to capture the immenseness of sparkle. As always, click on the pictures for more detail!

And some sparklier shots with flash!

Tarnished Rose EOTD

2011-01-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

This isn't a themed look, just me playing around with my new Fyrinnae shadows. I thought it turned out pretty well. Everything I used is Fyrinnae unless otherwise stated.
1. Leopard-Print Galaxy
2. Velvet Vampire
3. Greenman's Forest
4. N/A
5. Velvet Vampire
6. Immortality
7. Golden Fair Matte Base - Everyday Minerals

And here's one last picture to show Immortality a bit better.

So, what do you think?

Aislinn EOTD

2011-01-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

This is another Wicked Lovely themed look, but possibly the last as I'm running out of ideas. I used my new Fyrinnae eyeshadows for this look and I love them!
As usual, what I used and then how it looked:
1. Meowth - Shiro
2. Okapi - Fyrinnae
3. Greenman's Forest - Fyrinnae
4. N/A
5. Feline Familiars - Fyrinnae
6. Fire Opal - Fyrinnae
7. Meowth - Shiro

Fyrinnae Haul with Swatches!

2011-01-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

Here's the contents of my second Fyrinnae haul, isn't it lovely?

I got two lip lustres as well, and I've yet to master the texture but the scent is delicious! It reminds me of caramel.

I took several swatch pictures. I got a lot of jewel-tones and autumnal colors this time around and there's not a single one that I didn't adore.

Here are the first eight that I swatched (over Pixie Epoxy of course) with indoor light and then with flash:

Top Row: Monarch Butterfly, Feline Familiars, Okapi, Avian Shapeshifter

Bottom Row: Leopard-Print Galaxy, Pumpkinfire, Fire Opal, Velvet Vampire

Second eight:
Top Row: Greenman's Forest, Candy Coated, Conjuror, Wicked
Bottom Row: Faerie Glamour, Madame & Eve's, Mystic, Evocation

Last three and lip lustre swatches:
Immortality, Dragonmagic, Dark Fantasy
Lip Lustres: Top, Bloodstains. Bottom, Type A.

And one last picture to show of the AMAZING sparkles in Immortality! (And also Dark Fantasy because I think it might be my absolute favorite of all the shadows in this order)

Feast your eyes! I can't wait to try these shades out ^.^

Winter Girl EOTD & Fyrinnae updates

2011-01-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is the third Wicked Lovely themed EOTD I've posted so far and I'm really happy with how it turned out! This one is mostly blue with frosty sparkle, so I think it's fairly fitting.
Here's what I used:
1. Broken Glass - Detrivore
2. Nymphette - Evil Shades
3. Mirage - Pure Luxe
4. N/A
5. Nymphette - Evil Shades
6. Gyarados - Shiro
7. Meowth - Shiro
And here's how it looked:

Also, my Fyrinnae order arrived today in the midst of a snow flurry. Yay! I'll put up swatches and everything, but I just have to say Dark Fantasy is LOVELY!

Boomer EOTD, Fyrinnae, and a Third Themed Look Tomorrow

2011-01-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

This is another Wicked Lovely - based EOTD. Boomer is the pet snake, so I tried to capture the whole snakeskin irridescence thing. It didn't photograph as well as I'd hoped, but here it is anyway.
What I used: (For the key explaining what number means what, http://maquillage-maenad.blogspot.com/2011/01/happy-new-year-resolutions-and-other.html)
1. S.S. Anne - Shiro
2. Faceted - Pure Luxe
3. Luster - Pure Luxe
4. N/A
5. Sake & Sashimi - Fyrinnae
6. Rimmel Sable Brown eye pencil
7. Meowth - Shiro

Also, I should be recieving my Fyrinnae order tomorrow I think. According to shipping, it's nearly here but the weather has been crazy enough that I'm not positive. Even if it's a longer wait, though, I'll be posting the third Wicked Lovely themed EOTD tomorrow, so there's always that to look forward to. In the meantime, stay warm! Snow seems to be falling everywhere in this section of the world.

Evil Shades Review & Swatches

2011-01-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry this has taken me so super long to post. I'm not really sure why it wasn't up already. But I've tried to be meticulous and swatch everything. So here's my belated Evil Shades review.
I have to give Evil Shades a lot of credit, because these were the products that turned me on to the world of independent makeup. I can't measure the amount of money I've saved or the fun I've had playing with new pigments.
I've only placed one order so far, which consisted of 3 blushes (in China Doll, Ravishing, and Pin Up), 4 glosses (Deadly, No Angel, Loxensis, and Lethal Kiss), 4 lipsticks (Primrose Path, Ardour, Fiendish, and Corruption) , and 5 eyeshadows in Seraphic, Zombie, Nymphette, Double Barrel, and Devil's Bonfire. All of these were samples except for the Deadly gloss. The sample baggies are a bit difficult to work with, but I'm just a big fan of jars. The glosses apply easily with a brush, as do the lipsticks (which are super creamy by the way) and the colors are intense. The lovely owner of Evil Shades included a full size lipstick in Cursed Beauty (which hadn't been released at the time!) free with my order. It came in a black chapstick tube with the Evil Shades logo, and applies super smoothly. These were all super gorgeous, so here are the pictures. Enjoy and then go buy!
Blushes L to R: China Doll, Ravishing, Pin Up. Of the three, I absolutely adored Pin Up and MUST order a full size soon.
Here they are in natural light, and then again with flash to show the beautiful sparklies.

Out of the eyeshadows, my favorite is probably Devil's Bonfire. It makes a great wet liner. They all have pretty awesome sparkle. Shadows L to R are Double Barrel, Nymphette, Zombie, Seraphic, Devil's Bonfire. As usual, swatched over Pixie Epoxy.

The lip glosses were a little on the slippery side, but very pigmented. I found them to smell a little coconutty. I was a bit sad to see that Deadly was much more of a berry color than the deep red pictured on the website. L to R: Deadly, No Angel, Loxensis, Lethal Kiss. I think my favorite is Loxensis.

All of the lipsticks were super pigmented and scented like candy. I found Corruption to be a little harder to apply than the others... I guess it's thicker? Out of all of them, I think Ardour was my favorite, closely followed by Fiendish. I can't really wear either of them successfully, but the colors are super vibrant. L to R: Cursed Beauty, Primrose Path, Ardour, Fiendish, Corruption.

So that's my review. Lovely products for great prices, go forth and purchase!

Pure Luxe Haul with Swatches

2011-01-09T23:38:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to swatching these. Sorry it took so long! I'm waiting on at least two orders to arrive (three if my Archetype Cosmetics order ever actually gets here) so I'm trying to get a move on with the swatchies so I can get the reviews up soon after the new stuff gets here. This is my Pure Luxe order. I only ordered samples, but I lovelovelove that they come in jars. I got the Kaleidoscope collection, one Heavy Metalz in Molten, Mardi Gras Flash Cube, and the glow in the dark shadow in Apparition.
I was happy with all of them except Apparition. It's gorgeous in the dark, but it has the consistency of something between flour and very fine sand and I couldn't get it to stick properly. When I tried to foil it, it simply fused itself to my brush and I had to clean it off. Maybe there's a trick to doing this, but I haven't figured it out yet. If anyone has tips on how to do this, please tell me!
On to the pictures!

Indoor lighting: L to R, Top row: Molten, Faceted, Prismatic, Oasis. Bottom Row: Visions, Mirage, Illusion, Luster. The almost invisible one on the far right is my fail attempt at getting Apparition to stick. These were all swatched over Pixie Epoxy.

Natural lighting:

Flash:

Here's Apparition glowing:

Here are the pigments swatched wet. I was hoping it would make the color-shift more noticeable.

And last but not least, the lovely flash cube!

Squeeeee!

2011-01-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

This is gonna be my updates post I think. I'm currently waiting on 3 cosmetics orders. Fyrinnae's TAT was 16-20 days last time I checked, and I didn't order too long ago... but I just got an email that it shipped!!! Yay! That's 19 shadows winging their lovely way toward me ^.^ and I'm super excited to try out the lip lustres.
I only ordered from Hi Fi a few days ago and I'm not sure what the TAT is for that, but I think the Fyrinnae order will keep me more than occupied til it arrives. I'm mainly excited about the uber-glitter factor of these shadows.
Aaaand then there's Archetype. Sigh. Today was another of those days where I gleefully sprinted to the mailbox, only to find a bunch of catalogs and a severe deficit of bubble mailers. I said in a previous post that I'd leave it a couple days before attempting to contact Holly again in the hope that the "Not Available" status of my supposedly shipped package was simply due to the holidays.
But it's been a couple days. So I called. To my surprise, Holly actually answered the phone. The whole conversation experience was bittersweet. She was super-friendly, but she said that my package could be in the batch whose shipping tags had been prepared... but were still un-shipped. So they've been un-shipped for ten days now. She said she'd call me back after she checked, but I'm not so sure if I should expect a response soon. I guess we'll see. Those are my updates so far. They seem to have started out all peppy and gone downhill a bit. Sorry about that!
Two more things before I go... One, I've got a Pure Luxe review on the way, and I know this is a small blog with no real pressure to get things posted but I have to apologize. I thought that I'd posted a review for Evil Shades a while back, but when I went to check there was nothing. So I'll post that soon, but I'm sorry it wasn't already there, since I've had those shadows/lippies for a while.
And two, Fyrinnae's website now says "Fyrinnae is closed until further notice" up at the top of the home page. Anyone know what's up with that? I haven't heard anything. Thanks all!

Daytime EOTD and Harry Potter

2011-01-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

WHY did they split the 7th HP movie into two parts! It totally defeats the purpose of... you know, oh well. It means more detail anyway. I went to go see the Deathly Hallows pt 1 tonight. It wasn't bad. I wasn't sure where they were going to end it, and Dumbledore's burial site looked like an ostentatious granite bunker, but other than that I thought it was okay. The Weasley twins will always be my favorites ^.^

Anyway, on to the EOTDs. I rarely do an exclusively "daytime" look, since I don't usually reign in my dramatics when it comes to makeup, no matter what it's like outside. But Fyrinnae's Damn Paladins is such a great taupe I kind of had to!
It's all Damn Paladins, with a bit of Titania in the corner and a highlight of Shiro's Meowth shade. Pretty neutral for me, but I love it.
So here's pics of the daytime look:

This second look is what I wore to the movie. Turns out it was very fitting, as everything in the movie seemed to be a dark blue.

1. Damask Grey - Face Candy Couture

2. Chill - Face Candy Couture

3. Nymphette - Evil Shades

4. Didn't use a liner (I'm just gonna say N/A from now on, okay?)

5. Chill - Face Candy Couture

6. N/A

7. Dinosaur Plushie - Fyrinnae

So here's the pictures, and then I'll shut up for the night

(A bit pic-heavy cause I was trying to capture Chill)

Face Candy Couture with Swatches!

2011-01-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

I told you I'd do some swatching, but as I said, I'm super lazy sometimes. So I'm starting small!

I recieved this 5-sample package a few months ago and the samples inside were adorably tiny. I loved the little baggies, but I put them in the box with my other samples and didn't look at them again until two days ago... And I am so glad I pulled them out again! You can never really be sure if a shadow will look the same on skin as it does in the bag/jar. I just assumed these were pretty-but-not-super-amazing colors and left it at that. I was so wrong. They're lovely! See for yourself :)
Packaging (placed next to a penny so you can see how cute and tiny the bags are):

These were all swatched over Pixie Epoxy.

Indoor Lighting:

Natural lighting:

Flash: (click on this one for a better look at the lovely sparklies in Chill!)

And now a closer look at each shade:
#6 Clarissa:

#125 Pretty (my favorite of the five):

#105 Cinnamon:

#68 Damask Grey:

#120 Chill (WAY more complex than it looks in the bag):

That's all, now go out into the world and purchase. Thanks for reading!

Summer King EOTD and Updates

2011-01-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

This is the requested Summer King EOTD based on Melissa Marr's novel, Wicked Lovely. (A little pic-heavy but click to zoom in on eyeshadowy goodness!) Here's what I used:
1. Triforce - Shiro
2. Molten - Pure Luxe
3. Cinnamon - Face Candy Couture
4. Beetle - Detrivore
5. Molten - Pure Luxe
6. S.S. Anne - Shiro
7. S.S. Anne - Shiro

So, on to updates! I'm getting a little antsy about the whole Archetype Cosmetics order. The shipping status hasn't changed since December 28th. There have been holidays since then, so the delay could simply be due to that, but after all the customer service horror stories I'm afraid it could be something more. Gonna wait a few more days before trying to contact Holly (again) but I'll keep you posted!

Fyrinnae's wait time is always a bit long, so I'm not expecting any news on that front yet. But I have a bit of a confession to make. I saw sparklies and wanted them. And then I resisted a little but caved anyway. So I placed my first order with Hi Fi Cosmetics today and I totally don't regret it. The pigments look gorgeous from the swatches I've seen, and the reviews are great.

That's about all I have to update you with. I've got a ton of swatching to do, but I'm sleepy and lazy and procrastinating. I'll try to do some tomorrow? Nighty night for now!

Second Pure Luxe Experiment

2011-01-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

I didn't think I'd get around to this yet, but obviously ended up with enough time on my hands. I've come to the conclusion that, with this camera, it is nearly impossible to photograph these Kaleidoscope colors :(
Which is really a shame, cause they're so pretty! I got two pictures, but then gave up after about a million fails. Here they are, and here's what I used. All the colors are Pure Luxe except the eyeliner (#4)

1. Illusion
2. Titania
3. Faceted
4. Beetle - Detrivore
5. Visions
6 (a). Mirage
6 (b). Visions
7. Titania

And here's a pretty (blurry) picture of sunset through the trees.

Random Rainbowy Look

2011-01-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

I didn't really plan this EOTD, and I'm not sure I liked it all that much. It was a little blah except in direct light, but at least I got to experiment with my Pure Luxe pigments. I used all of the Kaleidoscope collection, starting with Luster in the inner v and working my way out to Visions. I think I liked the blend of Faceted and Visions best, so I plan to try again with just those two, and maybe Illusion. The rainbow was really difficult to capture, and I didn't really get it. I got the rainbow a bit better in the second picture.

New Orders and EOTD

2011-01-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I just placed my second order with Fyrinnae, and I'm super excited. It included two lip lustres this time and I'm not sure what to expect, but I bet whatever consistency they really are, they'll be wonderful. Also, after a month's wait, my first Archetype Cosmetics order has apparently shipped although I can't get any tracking info and it's been several days. The last order I recieved was a set of 9 samples from Pure Luxe. I've read a lot of reviews that say their products are definitely individual, and others that say that they're just repackaged TKB. I'm really hoping it's not the latter, but I haven't seen any replicas of the colors I bought. I'll do a review on those later, but I just got back from being on holiday and I'm still kind of lazy. The review and swatches will be up in a few days.

I'm including this EOTD, because the sun is actually shining here, and I felt that these colors would catch it well. Sorry about the lighting. I haven't quite mastered this camera yet.

Here's what I used:

1. Rapunzel Had Extensions - Fyrinnae (Detrivore's Hilite Gold in inner corner as a highlight)
2. Blend of Rapunzel Had Extensions and Dressed to Kill - Fyrinnae
3. Celery Shimmer - Dash Cosmetics
4. Beetle - Detrivore
5. Dressed to Kill - Fyrinnae
6. (a) Rapunzel Had Extensions - Fyrinnae
6. (b) Dressed to Kill - Fyrinnae
7. Titania - Fyrinnae

You can see the colors a bit better in these pictures:

Happy New Year, Resolutions, and Other News

2011-01-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry I've been away for a while.
I'm not usually one for resolutions, but I've been toying with the idea of theme EOTDs for a while, so I guess my resolution is gonna be to actually do them. We'll see how that goes.
Since my last post I've ordered some new stuff and I'm about to place my second Fyrinnae order, though I'm not sure how I've been able to resist doing so already.
I've experimented with some other companies in the time I've been away, so I'll get swatches and reviews up soon for those.
If you've got any requests for themed looks please tell me, I'd love to hear more ideas. I can pretty much guarantee some WoW themes (or at least one in honor of Cataclysm) and many many obscure book references (already working on those).
I've got a different layout or key, if you will, for my makeup application. I haven't seen a similar one on the web, so it'll either be an interesting change or simply irritating. Works for me though. Here goes:
1. Inner V
2. Crease
3. Lid (Can be separated into two parts: (a) closest to 1, (b) closest to 5)
4. Upper Lashline (liner)
5. Outer V
6. Lower Lashline (Can be separated into two parts: (a) closest to 1, (b) closest to 5)
7. Highlight
I did try to make a Paint diagram of this, but I can't draw worth a damn with a laptop touchpad. Sorry :(
Anyway, hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve, and a positive start to the new year!

EOTD: Rainbow Liner

2010-09-30T02:10:00.000-07:00

I got to play with my new Fyrinnae and Detrivore products with this look! ^.^
Used:
Face:
Too Faced Poreless Primer
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Loose Powder in Beige
Pixie Epoxy
Lid:
Rimmel Color Quad: Black
Fyrinnae: Dinosaur Plushie
Top Lid Liner:
88 Palette: Yellow and Orange
Fyrinnae: Kamikaze, Dragon's Wing
Detrivore: Brine, Muse
Bottom Lid Liner: (Foiled) Dinosaur Plushie
Waterline: Logona Eyeliner: Black
Mascara: Sephora Lash Plumping Mascara

Without Flash: With Flash:

Looking Up:

Tell me what you think, or if you have any requests/suggestions for me to try out.

Fyrinnae Samples!

2010-09-30T01:49:00.000-07:00

I'd like to say, before I begin, 1: that I am in loooove with these eyeshadows. The names are fun and quirky and the colors are gorgeous! And 2: because of the many many pictures, this will be a loooooong post.

I placed an order with Fyrinnae, browsed their website again, found more goodies that made me drool all over my keyboard, and bought those as well. I was refunded for the second package's shipping and the orders were combined. I got (these were all samples, by the way, as this was my first experience with Fyrinnae):
Finishing Powders/ Primers:
Pixie Epoxy
Glow Blush: Hypnotize, Enchant
Eyeshadow: Titania, The Fancy Lad, Chaotic Evil, Darling Misfit, Rapunzel Had Extensions, Kamikaze, Kimchi, Sake & Sashimi, Druid Werewolf, Damn Paladins, Dressed to Kill, Dragon's Wing, Dinosaur Plushie, The Randy Ferret
Free Sample: Sugar Skulls

I love the names! Eeeee!
This is the part that may be really exciting or may become super monotonous: I haven't done swatches yet, but I've gotten pictures of each color and yes, I will be putting them all up here (with the descriptions according to http://www.fyrinnae.com/) These go from top to bottom, top is the label, middle is the color without flash, and bottom is the color with flash... the few with a fourth shot are to show the glitter better. I'm making these pictures a bit larger than I normally would, so click on them to see the color better.

Glow Blush:

Enchant: (Soft peach with a touch of pink shimmer)

Hypnotize (Light dusty-peach shade with a soft glow)

Eyeshadow:

Sugar Skulls: (Vibrant deep pink, leaning warm but not overly so, with a glimmering orange (not gold!) highlight that adds dimension)

Chaotic Evil: (Brilliant shimmering pink loaded with silvery sparkle)

The Fancy Lad: (Vivid warm pink with a green sparkle highlight)

Titania: (Shimmery, glowing light pink with a paler pink highlight and a hint of golden sparkle)

Rapunzel Had Extensions: (Stunning golden pink-peach)

Kimchi: (Rosy terracotta filled with gold sparkle)

Kamikaze: (Bright fire-engine red (leans warm), filled with red sparkle)

Darling Misfit: (Deep magenta-pink with a contrasting aqua highlight)

The Randy Ferret: (Deep smokey forest green with a touch of lighter green & teal shimmer, and subtle purple sparkles throughout)

Dragon's Wing: (Gorgeous shimmery green with a pale aqua highlight)

Dressed to Kill: (Glimmering, glowing deceptive gilded green "duocolor"with flashes of gold and green sparkle)

Sake & Sashimi: (Rich shimmering bronze brown with flashes of green sparkle)

Druid Werewolf: (Medium-light golden brown, multi-dimensional with varying shades of subtle shimmer)

Damn Paladins: (Soft, satiny taupe with a gentle light blue highlight)

Dinosaur Plushie: (True bright silver filled with multi-colored sparkle, some of which can change hue in different light)

That took a lot longer than I thought it would...

Well, that's all folks. Swatches will be up soon, as if this post needs any more pictures!

Detrivore Samples!

2010-09-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I got my Detrivore order in the mail on Monday. I've just been super busy. But I'm updating now! This was a very small last-minute order, but the shipping was great! They shipped out the day after I placed the order. This is what I got: Paradoxia, Brine, Ectoplasma, and Tommyknocker. Muse was a lovely free sample :)

I did a peacock kind of look with these two days ago and the colors are beautiful and very pigmented. I didn't have any fallout... used Pixie Epoxy, which I also got on Monday ^.^

Here are the individual pictures and their descriptions according to http://www.detrivorecosmetics.com/:

Tommyknocker: (Med green matte)

Ectoplasma: (Bright green color)

Brine: (Blue-green aqua color)

Paradoxia: (Deep blue color, filled with violet shimmer)

Muse: (Light purple color)

I'll get swatches up soon... I know I said I'd do that today, but, well... I got lazy. All very pretty colors though!

More to Come!

2010-09-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sleepy but excited, so I'm just gonna write a tiny post now and elaborate on it tomorrow:
I recieved my orders from Fyrinnae and Detrivore, and the colors are all super beautiful! I bought a sample of a new one of Fyrinnae's called Dinosaur Plushie... I'll be swatching that soon. It's soooo sparkly and mesmerizing, all beautiful silver shimmer with multicolored sparks of glitter. I'm determined to wear it tomorrow. And if I have fallout, then I will dazzle like a discoball, which would be a much needed bit of excitement now that all the gross raining-all-the-time weather has descended. Plus, I just couldn't resist something named Dinosaur Plushie. I'll go into detail about all the colors tomorrow, but I had to say something about them now! The shades are beautiful and vibrant, and I will definitely be returning for more at both Detrivore and Fyrinnae in the future. Yay!

Uh-Oh, Detrivore!

2010-09-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

No more makeup! I swear! Well, at least until Christmas. No, really! But oooooh I've been eyeing Detrivore and the colors are soooooo preeeeeety. Are you rolling your eyes yet? You probably should be. But check out the site anyway: http://www.detrivorecosmetics.com/ (Unless you're like me and have put yourself on a leash, tied that leash to a tree, and then made sure there were no tempting makeup brands mentioned within a 100-mile radius.) I'm like a crow with a sparkly! So keep me away from stores for the next three months!
But really, if you recieve a compliment on how pretty you look one day and you tell the sweet talker that those eyelashes you're batting at them are covered in Ectoplasma, at least it'll spark conversation! I'm over here giggling at the thought. Must get some sleep.
Buuuuut I'd just like to say I placed my order and got an email that it shipped the next day! And it was trackable before midnight. Very impressed. I was a little like ^o^! Yes, that's a happy face. Looks like I might be recieving this last purchase before any of my others arrive!
Anyone else tried Detrivore? What were your thoughts on the products? How was the shipping speed for you? Favorite colors?

Random Poll

2010-09-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

This is an attempt to catch those of you who sneak onto my page, read, and depart without commenting... and force you to speak! Or at least determine if anyone's reading this. I do apologize for the lack of exciting yummy reviews. But I'm working on it, people!
Anyway, to the actuall poll: Think of your favorite cosmetics. You're not limited to one or two products... just however many you're thinking of. And then think of them in little sample baggies. You know, the ones you could easily slip between the pages of a book. And then tell me this: What colors and products would you slip in between which pages of which books?
It can be anything, really. Beowulf, Harry Potter, Homer's Odyssey, The Jungle Book, Little Women, The Oxford English Dictionary, The Catcher in the Rye, Charlotte's Web, etcetera!
I'll give you a few examples of what I'd pick.
I've got this lovely greenish gold (From Claire's... part of a preeeeety bronzey palette.) that I would slip into a page in the last quarter of the book Prospero's Children. It reminds me of the description of the roof of the main temple in Atlantis. (This is an excellent book, by the way, and I recommend it to lovers of fantasy. It happens to be my favorite.)
There's a Sephora eyeshadow called Aspen Summit that would find a cozy home in between the pages of The Little White Horse with that strand of pearls.
And then a Wet'n'Wild trio of purples and greens that belongs in a back room of one of Seth's train cars from Wicked Lovely.
Or a dusky rose-gold shadow I mixed myself that I can just imagine nestled under a dog-eared page in Redwall. That's what I'm talking about. Maybe those are lame examples. I'm on a fantasy kick. But you get the idea. Now I wanna hear yours! I'm excited about this, so comment!

Pokémon?! EEP!

2010-09-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

"Jessie! James! Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare to fight! Meowth! That's right!"

God, I'm such a geek. Ahem.

After buying a bunch of eyeshadow from Fyrinnae, I promised myself that I'd hold back on buying makeup until December, or late October at the very earliest. With all the lovely colors I bought there's no way around the fact that I have filled my quota of pretty shimmery things for the month, right? Wrong! Browsing blogs is waaaay too tempting, and before I knew it I stumbled across reviews on eyeshadows from Shiro Cosmetics. As I understand it, this is a pretty new brand, but it already has me hooked.
I'm a gamer (and a little kid at heart) and OH MY GOD the shades are named after Pokémon! Add a slice of chocolate cake and I will jump through a flaming hoop to get at this stuff!
I did say "restraint"... so many times it became a kind of mantra, but in the end, after a few scrumptious homemade mojitos, I caved and bought samples in Mew, Gyrados, Pikachu, SS Anne, and Meowth.
Here's the major issue:
I'm so excited about my orders that I end up sitting around impatiently, browsing reviews to pass the time. And then I'll stumble upon some other wonderful must-have product and, after a small internal battle which I invariably lose, I'll buy that product too! It's a good thing these lovely brands aren't too pricey.
Here's the link, because you know that you're dying to tell people you're wearing Team Rocket!
http://www.shirocosmetics.com/

Fyrinnae

2010-09-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

I originally read about this brand on blogs that contained reviews on Evil Shades products. Like ES, many of these cosmetics are vegan. Yum! The website is here: http://www.fyrinnae.com/ and I have a question for those of you who have purchased Lip Lustres from this site. What are they like? I haven't found many reviews on them and I'm currently drooling over Bloodstained, but I'm afraid it might even be too dark. Anyone know? I wish I could find sample sizes of the gloss. Honestly, that's the only complaint I have with this brand so far. Does anyone know if they have lip lustre samples?
I ordered a selection of eyeshadows in mini and they look lovely in the pictures. As with ES, the names are great fun (Velociraptor, The Randy Ferret, and Damn Paladins, for example) and the colors are equally enticing. Can't wait to get my order, though it sounds like shipping is gonna be a little slow.

Excitement! Impatience! Cosmetics! Eeeeh!

2010-09-18T02:04:00.000-07:00

After reading a bajillion super-positive reviews on Evil Shades cosmetics, I have placed an order for bunches of lovely samples and a full-size Wicked Gloss in Deadly. It's such an incredible red in the pictures... I'm gonna give the pic straight off their website (which is http://www.evilshades.com/ by the way... go check it out!) just cause the shade is so delicious:

I think this actually might be that gorgeous, dreamy, delicious red gloss I've been searching for. I can't wait to try it out. These lovely glosses sell for $3 per full size, and $0.85 per sample. So come on, say it with me: EEEEEEEEEH!!!

In addition to this gloss, I ordered three sample glosses: Loxensis, Lethal Kiss, and No Angel. These shades look absolutely gorgeous from the pictures I've seen and I can't wait to give my own review of the products.

As you undoubtedly know by now, I'm an avid fan of all kinds of lip products, and that's originally what drew me in. But as I was surfing the Evil Shades site I came across a wide array of absolutely dazzling eyeshadows and some very appealing blushes. The swatches I've seen of both of these make me want to toss all my current eyeshadow palettes out the window and buy every shade of this newfound brand I can get my hands on.

Yes, I'm getting very carried away. I'm so thrilled at the prices... and the names of the products are so original and interesting. Can't wait to get my shipment (how many times have I said this now? Hmm...) and you can be sure I'll write a review as soon as it arrives.

Yves Saint Laurent Gloss Volupté in Frozen Cherry

2010-09-18T00:28:00.000-07:00

This was part of my little spree at Sephora. I'm like a magpie with packaging, especially when it comes to lippies and ooh this is SHINY. The Gloss Volupté comes in a sleek, slender gold tube with a thin ring around the middle indicating the shade of the gloss. It seals with a nice, satisfying click! and I can't help but feel so damn chic pulling this out of my bag. Just look at it!

The product itself is a gorgeous red stick of glossy goodness with a mango scent. Personally I love the smell but it's fairly strong, so keep that in mind if you're planning to buy it.
I was kind of disappointed when I first applied it. The color is sheer, as I knew it would be, but the red was too blue-toned on my lips and didn't look so great. I can't wear cool tones easily, and this turned out less GORGEOUS RED than red with a cool magenta undertone. These swatches are with (left) and without (right) flash.

For the over all aspect of the gloss, I don't think the price was worth it. Even in a more agreeable shade, the texure still seems a bit off. It's glossy, but almost in a greasy way. There is absolutely nothing sticky or tacky about it.
I like a product to feel substantially moisturizing on my lips, but this felt drying instead. There was very little color payoff after the gloss wore off, and it only lasted about thirty minutes. Although there's a certain thrill about using a designer product, that's the only thing that bumps this up from 2.5 stars to 3.
I'll let you in on a little secret - if you're still hell bent on trying out this gloss, go to your nearest pharmacy or WalMart (wherever they carry Lip Smackers) and pick up the original Strawberry Skittles lip balm flavor. The balm is much sheerer than the Gloss Volupté but it'll give you an idea of the texture of the product and it costs a LOT less. Hope this review helped. Happy splurging!

I'm editing this post on 9/24/10 to tell you that I was wrong! Eeek! I'm bumping this to 4 stars because I'll admit I was looking for a vibrant red for Fall, and that's not what this is. But I think that this gloss is for Spring and Summer, really. That's making me go a little lighter on the judgement of the product (and a little heavier on the application in Autumn!)
I want to update this mainly because I realize that all summer I was lusting for something of this exact consistency. No one wants a heavy gloss on a hot summer day. The Gloss Volupté is light and, strangely, almost cooling on the lips. Not what I want for the cooler months though.
I figured I'd better change this review, however, because we've had a few hot days here and I realized I was using this gloss constantly. So time to eat my words. This is lovely for warm weather, and it still smells sooooooo good!

More Smashbox... O-Gloss!

2010-09-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to try this out, so after a long internal debate I splurged and went on a mini spree at Sephora. This gloss was on sale at the time... I think the original price is $22.
The O-Gloss comes in a cute pink tube with a slant tip applicator and is self titled "Intuitive Lip Gloss". The gloss itself is clear in the tube and reacts when it comes into contact with skin. This reaction is caused by a goji berry-C complex, designed to find your perfect individual gloss shade.

My shade is apparently a candy pink. It's a bit brighter than something I would've chosen for myself, but it isn't too vivid and it doesn't clash with my makeup.

The thing that I find fascinating about this gloss is that even after the glossiness wears off, it leaves behind the tint like a lipstain. This can go two ways. The stain left behind is buildable, but I find that going past two applications makes the color too bright for my complexion. I hope this isn't a common problem because this product is, by my standards, priced pretty steep. Here's a swatch of the gloss, and then the tint left behind when I wiped the product off later (again, sorry about the lighting in that second picture!):

I find this to be fairly durable. I don't feel the need to apply often. It's a thick gloss, but guess what! It's a thick gloss that isn't sticky!

I'd recommend this if you're willing to throw a little money around playing with cosmetics. I'm not sure I'd buy it again, but I have no regrets about buying it once. A little bit goes a long way, and I plan to keep using this gloss for a long time yet. Four stars.

Smashbox Tinted Treatment Lipstick SPF 15 in Solar

2010-09-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

This was an impulse buy! I want to say that right off the bat because it's not at all the shade I'd normally wear. Solar is a hot pink, blue-toned lipstick similar to the colors I remember seeing on female news reporters in the early 90's. Here's a swatch:

This is a honey-infused lipstick with vitamins A, C, and E... along with SPF 15! It's very moisturizing and gives a lot of pigment. It has a subtle cosmetic-y scent, but I can definitely smell the honey in there as well.
Packaging:
I like the frosted white glassy tube this product comes in. It's cute, not very showy or bulky, and the color of the product stands out against the whiteness of the tube. (Sorry about the wacky coloring in the pictures. My camera really didn't like me today.)

This is something I'd gladly buy again (at a discount price) if it was in a less ostentatious shade, but I wear it around the house anyway because the feel of the product is great! I rate this 4 stars when in a more neutral color.

Revlon Super Lustrous® Lipgloss Haul

2010-09-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

There was a clearance sale on Revlon lippies in a shop I frequent, so I figured I'd review these first. I grabbed 6 different shades, which I'll list in a moment. First though, these are all the same scent and consistency. They're a bit sticky. Not too bad in my opinion but I know how many people out there dislike a gloss that fuses with their hair every time the wind blows. If that's the case, these may not be for you.
I wasn't pleased with the scent of these glosses. They smell like any old makeup to me, with that kind of weird mineral-y scent. I'm not crazy about it. The colors are fun, though, and all very wearable.
I'll list them in order of the swatches, left to right and then top to bottom:

Sweetheart Pink, Pearl Plum, Raisin Glaze, Cherries in the Glow, Nude Lustre, and Toast to Shine.

The names are all relatively accurate except for Sweetheart Pink. Last time I checked, pink wasn't the same thing as orange. This particular gloss was a limited edition, and it may have been from a while ago. That's my theory behind the weird orangey color. If it's correct then heads up: it doesn't look like these glosses age well.

They all seem fairly wearable. Sweetheart Pink and Toast to Shine were a little bit harder to wear. Orange doesn't really match with my daily makeup look, and Toast to Shine was a little pale, but I'm thinking it could be really nice over a creamy lipstick. My favorites were Raisin Glaze, Cherries in the Glow and Nude Lustre.

Over all, I'd give these glosses 3 stars. The colors are pretty for the most part, and the lasting power is decent (several hours without food or drink) but the texture is a bit sticky and the flavor is a turn-off. If you have any questions about any of these glosses, I'd be happy to go into more detail. Just drop me a comment! Thanks all, hope you have a great day.

New Leaf

2010-09-17T00:49:00.000-07:00

As I said, it's been a while since I last wrote anything on here. But I want to kind of turn over a new leaf. For now, I'm gonna try to branch out of my fixation on C.O.B and come back to their wonderful glosses later. I've stocked up on a lot of random products I'm dying to talk about.

Here's the truth though: I'm not sure if anyone's really reading this... looking back it all seems a little boring. I hope my new recent reviews won't be. But if you ARE reading this tell me what I can do better, what specifics of a product you're most interested in, etc. I'll work on getting swatches up when I review things. I'm still a little hopeless. Thanks!
P.S. It seems that most of my new posts occur some time in the wee hours of the morning. Just figured I'd say that up front. ;)

C.O. Bigelow Winter Cordials Lip Gloss

2010-09-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry this review is coming so late! But here goes:

I was so excited to recieve my first order - the Warm Spiced Cider flavor of the new (I think) Winter Cordials line from C.O. Bigelow. It wasn't on the B&BW website, so I bought it off Amazon.

The consistency is the same as all their other glosses. The taste reminded me of walking into Michael's or Hobby Lobby at Christmas, with the scent of Holiday candles wafting through the place. It tastes artificial to me, and not much like cider, but it's still fun and I don't regret buying it.

The line of C.O. Bigelow Winter Cordials isn't currently carried on the B&BW website -- it's now spring, so they won't be back for a while. When they were still in stock, however, they cost $7.50 per tube. They add up if you buy enough tubes, but a little goes a long way, both in terms of gloss coverage and flavor.

Tutti Dolci lip gloss in Mango Sorbetto

2010-02-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

I'd been eyeing the Tutti Dolci line from Bath and Body Works for a while, but finally broke down and bought one off Amazon (sadly, they're discontinued. They always discontinue wonderful stuff! Like those Zigi Soho black Jumper boots that I was planning to buy! The good stuff always disappears.. why?! Anyway...)
Here's a list of all the Tutti Dolci flavors that I know of:
Amaretti
Sugar Wafer
Mango Sorbetto
Pineapple Chiffon
Fantasia di Cioccolata
Tiramisu Veneziano
Lemon Meringue
Creme Bruleé
Angel Food Cake
Cinnamon Frosting
Apple Torta
I chose the Mango Sorbetto for two reasons: one, it was about $2 cheaper than all the others (call me petty, but I'm on a budget, as I constantly need to remind myself) although the shipping still made the gloss a fairly expensive purchase. The second reason was simply because I don't have another mango-flavored gloss. (But I've still got my heart - and lips - set on the C.O. Bigelow mentha lippy in Mangosteen)
I'd read a lot of reviews claiming this was the sweetest lip gloss around and that it was well worth the price ($10 in B&BW before they stopped selling it) and in my quest for the yummiest glosses, I couldn't pass it up.
Pricing: I like my money's worth of product, and I see this as something that would be awesome as a $5 lip gloss, but I think 10 is a bit much. I can understand the more expensive pricing for lip glosses that have special ingredients to plump or rejuvenate, or even for ones that are super-exceptionally tasty, but this didn't cut it for me. On the other hand, this is a .5 oz tube, and it will last me quite a while, so that's a plus.
Lip-care Factor: This gloss was fairly moisturizing... I use it frequently without a lip balm underneath and it lasts a fairly long time. I can sit through 90-minute classes without reapplying. I don't think this significantly softened my lips in the long run, but it never claimed to.
Applicator: The Tutti Dolci tubes have a rounded plastic applicator at the tip with a hole in the middle, similar to the applicator of a Carmex tube.
Thickness: This is a fairly thick gloss, though not too sticky. For the staying power, I'd say it's decent.
Tint: Each gloss has a different tint. According to the reviews I've read (as many as I could find) these tints are fairly sheer. This is a plus if you're worried about a gloss clashing with your complexion. Most of these glosses have a very light tint anyway. The Mango Sorbetto has a fun pinky-orange color.
Scent: I know people say scent and flavor go hand in hand, but I'm picky about my gloss and when I browse reviews online I like a thorough runthrough of both scent and taste. I want my gloss to smell yummy - lips are right below the nose, something that doesn't smell good won't be enjoyable, but I find it disappointing when the taste of a gloss doesn't live up to its smell. The scent of the Mango Sorbetto gloss is nice and tropical, if somewhat artificial. To me, it smells more like a mango slushie drink than anything else. It's a yummy smell though, as long as you're not on the hunt for an all-organic balm or gloss.
Taste: At first I thought the taste of this was fairly disappointing, but I'd just brushed my teeth and my tongue was all numb from mouthwash, so that could have been why. I'm used to the kind of tangy slap-you-in-the-face deliciousness of C.O. Bigelow flavors (yeah, I'm aware, after that analogy, that face-slapping is not exactly delicious) and this Tutti Dolci gloss has a milder almost more dispersed sweetness that I think hits the taste buds further back on the tongue, as opposed to the tip-of-the-tongue kind of sweetness of C.O. B. Now how's that for detailed reviewing? I think the Mangosteen stuff from C.O. B is probably yummier, but this sorbetto stuff isn't bad. I guess I was just expecting more from a brand called Tutti Dolci - I mean, with a name that means "everything sweet" I was hoping for unparalleled scrumptiousness. But maybe the other flavors are sweeter?
But now you see why I like my scent and taste sections of review to be separate - something can smell mouthwatering and won't necessarily have the sugary goodness to back it up!
Packaging: I'm including this part of the review because I've realized I'm kind of like a magpie when it comes to lippie tubes. I like the bright colors and shiny things. The Tutti Dolci tubes are clear plastic with a white doily pattern wrapping around it. In the middle of the doily it has silver writing saying TUTTI DOLCI, and then the flavor in nice loopy writing. I think it's a fairly cute package, and I think there is definitely an advantage to clear tubes - I like to know how much gloss I have left, and when I need to restock.

So, I'd give this three and a half stars probably. Hell, make it four stars. That way I'm deducting a star for the lack of super-sweetness I was expecting. It's a yummy gloss with an okay amount of sugariness and I like the little bit of color. It's got tiny sparklies in it that you can't feel, and they're fairly subtle. To be fair, if I hadn't been introduced to the wonderful world of C.O. Bigelow, the Tutti Dolci glosses would be a lot higher on my list. I told myself I wouldn't buy any more from this brand, but I went and ordered the Apple Torta today. The color in the tube kind of reminded me of Dorothy's ruby slippers, and I have a weakness for red and apples, so a red apple lip gloss was just too good to go without! I'll give a review of that when it gets here. I am currently waiting on six different glosses to arrive. I'm so excited!

Honest, Genuine, Trustworthy

2010-02-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

These three words are the motto of C.O. Bigelow's products. I like a ton of lip products all over the place, but C.O. Bigelow's lip glosses blow me away. I can't get enough of them! They don't have fancy tubes with eye-catching sparklies, but they are as delicious as candy, no exaggeration. A friend gave me a tube of the Lemon Mentha Lip Shine and that's all it took. I was hooked after the first application. This specific type of Bigelow lip shine comes in lemon, lime, orange, spearmint, and cinnamint. The cinnamint is a beauty insider's choice finalist. I've only tried the lemon so far, but it is definitely a favorite of all my lip glosses.

I normally use a base coat of lip balm for moisture when wearing a gloss. I find that it reduces irritation left by glosses with large sparkles... sometimes it can feel like a glitter gloss is exfoliating instead of just shimmering. Also, this helps deal with lip glosses that dry lips out in the long run. The lemon gloss, however, moisturizes without the help of an extra smear of choice lip balm... besides, an base coat of flavored balm would interfere with the incredible taste of this lip gloss. (Having said that, I need to point out that Sugar Fresh lip balm actually works like a charm under the lemon gloss. You can find it at the Sephora website.)

I've tried another category of C.O. Bigelow gloss in the Soda Fountain flavor line. I bought a fun mini-pack with three flavors:
- Strawberry Sundae
- Butterscotch Vanilla Sundae
- Hot Fudge Sundae
Also, heads up - there's another flavor in this category and it's a kind of marshmallow sundae. I haven't tried it yet. Anyone out there know what it's like?

The strawberry and fudge flavors have very vivid colors, which were a turn-off for me at first. I have a pale complexion, and I thought these colors might wash me out. Instead, they turned out fine. I prefer to apply these glosses in front of a mirror because staying in the lines is essential with the stronger colors, but you can adjust the amount of color to work with variations in skin-tone simply by the thickness of the layer of gloss. The butterscotch is a very light golden color and works well with lipstick. These also aren't terribly sticky (and once again, a smooth lip balm can remedy a lot of stickiness any way)

I fell in love with these three flavors immediately. It's worth noting that these are all mentha lip glosses, so they have a small percentage of peppermint oil in the mix. Personally, I don't think this detracts at all from the taste of the gloss. I thought at first the mint would clash with the sundae flavor but, surprisingly, it provides a tingly aftertaste that only accentuates the other yummy flavors.

I'm constantly on the hunt for amazing-tasting lip products, and I've checked out Liplicious and Tutti Dolci as well as some others (and I'll review those later) but so far I've gotta say, so far, C.O. Bigelow ranks tops. I'd gladly vote this as a candidate for best tasting lip gloss in the world, so go see for yourself!

Also, Bath and Body Works is currently having a buy two get one free sale on the Bigelow lip products and there is a line of festive winter flavors including Triple Hot Chocolate, Hot Buttered Rum, and Vanilla Cream Eggnog. I just ordered the rum and eggnog flavors (I'm thinking the hot chocolate will be too similar to the hot fudge sundae) and I found out there's another winter flavor which, for some reason, isn't on the B&BW website any more. It's called Warm Spiced Cider, which I think sounds absolutely heavenly. I tracked down a tube on Amazon and ordered that as well, and I can't wait to see what they're like!

I found out today that they had a line of three summer flavors including mango, lychee and something else called yuzu and I'd love to hear opinions if anyone's tried them! I went kind of crazy when I found out about these more tropical flavors and went ahead and ordered a mentha lip shine in lychee.
I'll update again when I get my new shipment of deliciousness :D

Beginning

2010-01-25T15:32:00.000-08:00

As this is my first post, it won't be very long, but I'll try to give a little introduction:

Although I've been interested in cosmetics for years, I only recently stumbled across independent makeup companies and interesting techniques for makeup application (and I'm still stumbling). My other interests include avid reading of fiction and fantasy, and I'm a gamer and long time geek. I love food, a wide spectrum of art, and that elusive color of grey that's so lovely.
I'm always up for requests and suggestions, or feedback of any kind so feel free to drop a comment!