Thank You!

I'm putting off writing a review right now because my email just informed me that I've reached 20 followers!  It may be a small number compared to some amazing bloggers out there, but I appreciate each and every one of you!  Here's a huge thank you to all my followers and anyone who reads my blog ♥  It means so much to me and I hope my posts are helpful (if not entertaining) to you all.

Once again, thank you so much to all my followers and readers!

Fyrinnae Haul - Review and Swatches

Despite my initial disappointment with the famous indie company Fyrinnae, I made a second purchase because they were finally restocking the Mephisto eyeshadow.  I'd been wanting this shade for a really long time after looking at dozens of swatches.  Let me start off by saying there's nothing wrong with their products, it's just so hyped up that I expected a lot more when I ordered.  They weren't having a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale but I picked up a few other shades anyway.

Pictures taken under daylight bulb and swatches done over ELF Essential Primer (click to enlarge)

Mephisto

Mephisto:  dark purple with blue and red tint.  I've been waiting so long for this shade and it did not disappoint.  It can look like three different color at once - the site description states that there's copper in it too, I think.  I also wanted this color because I'm a fan of Goethe's Faust so I had to have a shade called Mephisto.

Scaredy Cat Cosmetics - First Impression (Swatches and Review)

Merry Christmas everyone!  I have a short review for you today of my first order from Scaredy Cat Cosmetics.  They are an indie shop that only has a website on Etsy right now but it's fairly straightforward and easy to navigate.  I actually wanted to try this shop for the longest time because of their cute packaging.  Full-sized eyeshadows used to come in a unique triangle shaped jar and sample sizes come in little glass vials called 'Trial Vials'.  The owner ended up changing up the jars and now it comes in a tall round jar.  All full-size jars are decorated with beautiful drawings designed by the owner.

Even though I know I can never use up a full-size eyeshadow, I knew I had to have one for the jar and design.  The owner told me that she still had some triangle jars left, so she can give me that instead of the new jar :)  I chose a full-size of Y So Sirius and ten Trial Vials for $1 each.

Shipping was extremely quick and the goodies arrived in a small box as opposed to normal bubble mailers.  People used to complain about the sifter on the triangle jar because the holes were tiny (salt-shaker like); I ended up throwing out the sifter and dipping my brush in.

December Ipsy - Celebration Bag

I'm finally posting an Ipsy bag sort of in time!  The theme for December is celebration and it's my favorite bag yet.  When I say favorite bag, I only mean the bag and not the contents haha.

FOTD with Oslo Cosmetics

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  I hope you're all warm and comfy with your families :)  I've decided to post up some FOTDs/EOTDs separate from actual reviews.  I've been stuck in a makeup rut for awhile and wanted to delve into some colors again.

Face:

NYC Sunny Bronzer

Oslo Cosmetics 'Sextens' blush

Eyes:

ELF 144 Neutral Eyeshadow Palette - Matte gray shadow on eyebrows

Oslo 'Carinae' on inner corner

Oslo 'Tremor' on lid

Oslo 'Asterism' on crease

ELF 3-in-1 Mascara

Lips:

Oslo 'Odetta' lip slick

I love Oslo eyeshadows and I'm really happy to have other products to try out too.  The lip slicks are staining which is great if you don't want to keep reapplying throughout the day.  The eyeshadows stay on for 12+ hours because of the binder that's added.  If you haven't tried Oslo Cosmetics yet, then I strongly recommend their eyeshadows.  Thanks for reading and enjoy the holidays :)

- Jolie ♥

Shiro Cosmetics Color of the Months - Swatches and Review

I'm happy to say that I've finally caught up with all my late blog posts and can now move onto Black Friday orders!  Shiro Cosmetics was having a 15% off Black Friday sale so I took that opportunity to order some past Color of the Months.  Color of the Months are colors that are suggested by fans on Shiro's Facebook page, the color with the most votes is made into an actual eyeshadow that can be bought during that month.  

Usually, after the month is over, the color is taken down and the new CotM takes its place.  It turns out that old CotMs can still be bought if the link still works!  I ended up buying three old colors and the famous Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon.  Nic Cage is still up for sale because it's one of their best-selling shades.  I also ordered a sample of Roadblock and Caitlin included two free samples for me.  I requested Homunculus as a free sample because it's similar to her discontinued color Party Escort.

As per usual, I requested a drawing.  I asked for a drawing of, "Totoro and Gengar in a creepy smile-off.  Boo from Mario should also be in the background being all creepy with his tongue and stuff."  Caitlin definitely did not disappoint as this picture is tres creepy!  Seriously, it unnerves me a little.

First Victorian Disco Cosmetics Order!

Yay for my first ever Victorian Disco Cosmetics haul!  I'd been wanting to try this indie company for so long!  Their eyeshadows are all organized by collections based on geeky things like World of Warcraft, Harry Potter, Miyazaki, etc.  I actually ordered awhile ago, and while their TAT was 2-4 weeks then, it actually took 3 weeks for them to ship out.  It was within the TAT, but a lot longer than I'm used to waiting.

I ordered the Blogger Package, that includes two mini jars and six sample sizes for $6.50.  I also ordered a full-sized jar that was on sale and the owner, Ashley, kindly included two free samples with my order.

My order came wrapped in purple tissue paper with a cute Hello Kitty sticker - the same sticker was also stuck onto my invoice.  I asked for a picture of Totoro and Doraemon having a tea party with a Pokemon guest thrown in.  Ashley definitely delivered - look how cute it is with Pikachu hiding behind Totoro ^_^

Notoriously Morbid Mini-Haul - Swatches and Review

Here's another super late post!  It's another order from the amazing Notoriously Morbid.  I actually ordered this before the Black Friday sale because the color I wanted would be discontinued before the sale.  So yes, this haul is because of ONE color (it's that good).  

I was initially going to order just that one color, but I saw that there was a Blogger's Package that included one full-sized shadow and a few other samples.  I figured that was more bang for my buck, plus I get to try out some other colors!  I don't think you actually get to choose the exact shadows for the pack, but there is an option for certain shades such as, "mostly yellows, mostly reds, mostly browns, rainbow).  I chose the rainbow option because I'd rather have an assortment.  In my note, I asked Carrie if she can send me Hallows Eve as the full-sized (as that was the reason for my purchase) and to not include any yellows for my samples since I wouldn't use them.

When I received my order, I fell in love with the red and silver tissue paper; it's so beautiful!  She included a really nice note in my invoice and gave me two free samples :)

Wet n Wild Fall 2013 Beauty Army Trios - Swatches and Review

Welcome back everyone!  I'm sorry I haven't been posting as much (3 weeks, oh my!); I got all my wisdom teeth taken out two weeks ago and have been recovering.  All my Black Friday and Cyber Monday orders have started pouring in so I have a lot of catching up to do!

I'm reviewing Wet n Wild's Fall 2013 limited edition Beauty Army collection today.  This collection is supposed to be based off the military's camouflage gear with a colorful twist.  There are actually six trios in this collection but I only have five of them because the last one is a white/gray/black trio - which I feel like I already have a lot of.

November Ipsy Bag - Glam It Up

Once again I'm late for an Ipsy post :/  The November theme was Glam It Up and included six products.  

The bag is a gold faux crocodile skin bag that can double as a clutch.  Very cute!

Kiss Ever EZ lashes

Dreamworld Hermetica Review and Swatches

A few weeks ago, the owner from indie company Dreamworld Hermetica, Ellie, asked if there were any testers willing to test some of her new formulas.  Obviously I jumped at the chance, I emailed her back immediately and made the cut :)  She was reformulating a few things and wanted testers to try them out before releasing them.  They were sent out really quickly, but due to Thanksgiving break, my post office was extremely delayed in sending my package.  They gave me a delivery date of Nov. 25th, but it actually got to me on the 30th.

Anyway, she sent me four Eye Pigments (jars), two Eye Colors (baggies), and a full-size Eye Dew (not pictured).  I actually asked her the difference between Eye Pigments and Eye Color, and she said there was actually no difference haha.  From what I see, Eye Pigments are shimmery and Colors are mattes?  The Eye Dew is an eyelid primer that can act as a glitter glue; I'm glad I received this because there are a few indie shadows that are complete glitterbombs haha.

Pictures taken under daylight bulb and swatched over ELF Essential Primer (click to enlarge)

Mistletoe

Mistletoe:  looks gold in the jar, but applies as a shimmery silver

Shiro Cosmetics Haul - Game of Thrones and CoTMs

I have a pretty big haul for you today!  It's another Shiro order again, but this time I had a very good reason!  They came out with their Game of Thrones collection (which I am a fan of), and I also wanted both Colors of the Month.  I had voted for both of them so I was really happy that they sort of tied.  The Game of Thrones collection includes 15 eyeshadows and one lip gloss.  I also ordered 10 eyeshadows and got 2 free samples.  I love it when Caitlin includes the samples that I actually wanted.  It's like she monitors our carts or something :P

Anyway, another awesome thing about Caitlin is that if you request a drawing, she'll do it even if it's extremely weird.

How amazing is this??

I requested a picture of, "Snoopy and Woodstock making a bunch of tiny snowmen and a big snowman next to them.  Also include a struggling stork carrying a gigantic, smiling Totoro in the background."  Needless to say, she delivered.  Sometimes I wish she wouldn't because this makes me want more!

Madison Street Beauty Haul - Review and Swatches

Quite the haul isn't it?  Madison Street Beauty is another indie brand that I've been hearing a lot about and decided to check out their Etsy page.  Turns out they had a Grab Bag which included 25 eyeshadow samples for only $12.50!  I definitely had to get my hands on them since it was such a great deal.

My package shipped extremely quickly and I got it within a week.  I was surprised at how big the jars were compared to other companys'.

Madison Street Beauty compared to Geek Chic Cosmetics

They also came individually shrink wrapped with a sifter sticker to prevent leakage.  Overall, I was pretty happy with the packaging since nothing leaked, but I must admit that it is a bit bulky.

Caution:  Picture heavy post

Notoriously Morbid haul - Swatches and Review

My haul from the Halloween sale finally came!  Yes, I ordered the Coffin Set from Notoriously Morbid earlier in October but couldn't resist the sale they had on Halloween.  My order came with an invoice, fancy paper thanking me for my order, and my beautiful shadows came in black tissue paper wrapped with a black ribbon.  The presentation really blew me away, I love it when shop owners pay attention to details and dedicate extra time to small things like this.

I had requested the shop owner, Carrie, to draw me a picture of Doctor Who and Looney Toon's K-9s.  I hadn't been able to get them out of my head when I saw that she named a shade (Kompanion no.9) after that cute character.

This is the sweet note Carrie wrote to me.  I found it so nice that she drew me something even though she hasn't done so in more than 10 years :')  Needless to say, I was really grateful.

What an amazing drawing for someone who hasn't drawn in 10+ years right??  She drew this in pencil, so to preserve it, I put tape all over and put it in a scrapbook :D

My haul - I ordered eight samples and she gave me two samples for free!  The last two shadows in this picture (Spiteful Jas and Andorian) were free samples from my Coffin Set order.  I didn't swatch them on that post so I felt like I should include them here.

Small Shiro Cosmetics Haul ft. Zero and Oogie Boogie

I have a very short review of the beloved Shiro Cosmetics!  It's so short because I wanted to grab the limited Halloween shades 'Zero' and 'Oogie Boogie' before it was gone.  I also ordered the new Game of Thrones collection along with the two Colors of the Month, so I will have a review of that up soon!

I purchased seven shadows (2 Zero, Punch Punch Pork, Alkahestry, Oogie Boogie, Chimera, The Last Homely House) and got a free sample of It's Mossy!  I pressed all of my shadows except for It's Mossy! because I'd actually ordered a sample of that in my next order so I will press them together.  I also asked Caitlin to draw a little somethin' somethin' ;)

How awesome is this??  I asked if she can "draw me a picture of Totoro and Doraemon dancing together.  And if she can somehow incorporate Catbus into it, that would be awesome".  I was not disappointed.  I mean, look at this.

Wet n Wild MegaLast Lipsticks - Swatches and Review

Today I have a really long post for you!  I gathered all my Wet n Wild MegaLast lipsticks and reviewed each one.  These lipsticks are long-lasting, matte, and go for $2/ea at drugstores.  I currently own 18 of them.  Since they are matte and long-wearing, they can be very drying.  I find that if they have not been warmed up beforehand, or if you don't have lip balm on your lips, they tend to tug during application.  

The packaging in these are not too bad.  It comes in a black plastic case with a clear plastic lid.  The lid clicks shut to lock it in place.  The bad thing about Wet n Wild lipsticks is that the bullets don't twist all the way down, so you have to be extremely careful recapping.

Wet n Wild - Discontinued 6-Pan Palettes and Lip Products

Today I'm review some discontinued Wet n Wild products that I was able to find.  I had heard that their well-loved six-pan palettes were coming back to drugstores for the holidays but I haven't been able to find them.  I found a website that was carrying some discontinued products and was ecstatic to find out that they had all of the palettes plus some Silk Finish Lipsticks.

I purchased all six palettes (Vanity, Greed, Lust, Pride) along with two lipsticks (Tokyo-A-Pink-Pink and Shang Hi Plum), and a Wild Shine Lip Lacquer in Lustful.

The six pan palettes had rave reviews a few years ago when they first came out and put Wet n Wild back on the map.  They include three matte shades and three shimmery shades; their matte formula was phenomenal and everyone was sad to see it go.

 All pictures were taken in daylight with no primer and can be enlarged by clicking:

Greed

Greed swatches

Greed:  matte cream, glittery light gray-silver, matte salmon, glittery light warm pink with gold sheen, matte black, glittery charcoal.  Every shade here was good except for one - the light gray silver was very hard to pick up and sheer upon application.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - The Reckoning (Review and Swatches)

So I couldn't help myself and purchased from Geek Chic Cosmetics yet again.  I had a very good reason this time!  Instead of having their monthly set sales, they decided to have a Reckoning.  It was a collection of all the products that were being discontinued and were being sold at a discounted price.  When I checked the site after hearing about it, a ton of products were already claimed by the Reckoning.  

There were a ton of series they were discontinuing including Babylon 5 and Rocky Horror Picture Show.  The color I really, REALLY wanted from the Reckoning was the rose-gold color called "Rose Tint My World".  I had been looking for the perfect rose-gold eyeshadow for the longest time and the swatch picture looked really great.  Turns out that beautiful color was already claimed and was not updated yet :(

I ended up getting two colors from the Reckoning and four sample sizes from their permanent line.  I also asked them to draw me a picture of Totoro and Doraemon :)  I'm definitely saving it haha.

Anywho, here are all the babies I received.  All taken under daylight bulb with ELF's Essential Primer:

We Are One

We Are One

We Are One swatch

We Are One:  light olive with gold shimmer.

Wet n Wild ColorIcon Trios - Review and Swatches

Here's the mother lode of Wet n Wild trio posts!  I have here all of the ColorIcon Trios in the permanent line.  These retail for $3/ea at drugstores such as Walgreens, Duane Reade, and Rite Aid.  These trios are hailed across the board as some of the best eyeshadows in the drugstore.

Wet n Wild Limited Edition Dream Weavers Trios - Swatches and Reviews

Today I'll be reviewing Wet n Wild's older limited edition collection trios called Dream Weavers.  I believe this was released back in 2011.  I hadn't discovered the greatness of WnW yet so I missed out.  After looking at various blogs I realized that I really needed two of the trios so I found a seller on Amazon that still had these :)

Everything is taken under daylight with no primer:

Earth Looks Small From Down Here

Earth Looks Small From Down Here swatch

Earth Looks Small From Down Here:  metallic olive gold, shimmery navy, grass green with a gold sheen.  This was the trio that first attracted me to this series; I thought it was absolutely stunning and very well named.  All of the shades were soft and pigmented.

Wet n Wild Holiday 2013 In The Spotlight Palettes - Review and Swatches

Wet n Wild has released another limited edition collection this year.  This time they gave us three 8-pan palettes instead of trios.  These 8-pan palettes do not look like their traditional ones, instead having 3 shades on top, 3 shades in the middle, and 2 shades on the bottom.  In the spirit of the holidays, these palettes give three different textures: glitter, satin, and matte.

The top row consists of three glittery shades, middle has three satin shades, and bottom has two matte shades that can also be used as liners.

Wet n Wild Fall 2013 Runway Beauty Trios

Yay to more trios from Wet n Wild!  Wet n Wild is my favorite drugstore makeup company because they have the best eyeshadows and the best prices!  Everyone always said how WnW needed to make more eyeshadows; let me just say, they definitely listened.  From the top of my head, they have released at least FIVE limited collection palettes this year alone.  

I was really excited when I heard this collection, Runway Beauty, was coming out because the colors are right up my alley.  They feature vintage inspired shades that come in satin and matte textures which everyone has been asking for.

Without further ado, here are pictures of the individual trios taken in daylight with no primer:

Silent Era Film

Silent Era Film swatch

Silent Era Film:  satin taupe pink, matte burnt pink, satin gunmetal gray.  The browbone color was very sheer and took a lot of layer, but the other two were amazingly pigmented and soft.  The matte pink was the standout shade in this palette in terms of color and application.

Shiro Cosmetics Haul - Swatches (including LE Halloween Shade)

It's time for another Shiro Cosmetics haul!  I needed to make another order because I wanted the limited edition Halloween 2013 shade.  Shiro comes out with a Halloween collection every year based on the Nightmare Before Christmas.  The sample I got was 'Two Faced'; I also needed more samples of Lingered in Twilight and Evolve to press since I messed up the other ones :(

Here's what came with my order; candy corn in the spirit of Halloween!  I also asked her to send me some stickers since she has the best labels.  She sent me some cool ones including Captain Malcom Reynolds and Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon.  I'm fairly certain that's why I haven't been able to sleep at night...