AFK Cosmetics Christmas on the Rift and Wassail Collections - Swatches and Review

Merry Christmas everyone!  I just came home from dinner with the fiance's family, so I hope I finish this post before midnight!  This is actually a combination of two collections from AFK Cosmetics - Christmas on the Rift and the Wassail collection.  When Christmas on the Rift was released, there were two GWPs included if you spent over a certain amount.  I spent enough for the first gift (eyeshadow), but I decided I wanted the second one (lip balm) enough to buy it when it was officially released.  The collection originally came with League of Legends labels, but I like the Christmas stickers so much that I requested them specially.

On the other hand, the Wassail collection is inspired by Dena's favorite Christmas songs.  I have an abundance of holiday spirit, so I love them as well.  My order came in awhile ago, but I've been taking all this time to test out the lip balms, which I ended up really loving.

Cute packaging!

Look at all these snowman stickers!!!

Pictures taken under daylight bulb and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half)

Free Samples

Three Dog, Owwwwww!

Three Dog, Owwww!:  shimmery bronze with gold shimmers

Notoriously Morbid December 2014 Vanishing Cabinet - Merry Monsters Swatches and Review

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!  I received my Notoriously Morbid Vanishing Cabinet yesterday, so I really wanted to get it out before Christmas.  The theme for December is Merry Monsters and is inspired by all the classic horror film villains.  Unlike the previous Vanishing Cabinets where the information and swatches are released as soon as they start going out, the Merry Monsters were kept a secret until people started receiving them.  I was already extremely excited because there would be a blush and lip gloss.  Notoriously Morbid's lip glosses are spectacular and the blushes are amazing as well!

When people started posting their hauls, I noticed they were packaged inside stockings (which varied with each order).  I love the attention to packaging because it makes the order that much more special.  The past few VCs have had special packaging with the Walking Dead one coming in a mini zombie tote, and two of the Sookie Stackhouse colors packed inside a cute coffin. 

As soon as I started taking out my stocking and saw the black top, I was hoping and wishing it would be a snowman of some sort.  It's not a secret that I love snowmen; it's also a big reason why I absolutely love Christmas and all the decorations.  My stocking did turn out to be an adorable smiley snowman and I was so happy that I shot Carrie a message about it.  I believe most VCs are packed randomly and sent out to subscribers.  I thanked her for sending me a snowman and wondered if it was actually random (because if it were, then she should definitely be a psychic).  She said it was definitely not random and saved the snowman stocking for me :'D  Yeah, best shop ever.

ANYWAY, before I ramble on and on, here be swatches!

Pictures taken under daylight bulb and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half)

Cute label art 

Scaredy Cat Cosmetics - Green Eyeshadow Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season and Christmas shopping :)  For the past several weeks, I've been receiving my Black Friday orders and Scaredy Cat was the first one to come in.  I've actually reviewed them in the past and really liked them, so I figured I might as well pick up some full-sized jars since they were having a sale.

Coincidentally, all the colors I picked up ended up being some form of green, which is great because green eyeshadows are my favorite!  I usually buy sample sizes from companies, but Scaredy Cat's packaging is so beautiful that I really needed a full size.  The owner designs her own label art for each color and I've been lemming after Draconia for the longest time - I only resisted for so long because it's a color I don't normally wear.  I made my order on the day of Black Friday and it shipped out the day after.  I'm pretty sure I received my package by the next Tuesday, which is lightning fast.

Scaredy Cat doesn't really personalize their invoices, which is what I'm used to, or give any free samples with orders.  So if that's one of the things that matter to you, then I suggest you skip this shop.  However, the quality of shadows are great and the packaging is very beautiful (so beautiful in fact, I had to take multiple shots of each jar...)

Onto the swatches!

Pictures taken under daylight bulb and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half)

Orbital

Orbital:  matte gray with teal shimmers.  This is an interesting color because it darkens over a sticky base and the teal shimmers are brought out, making it seem like a different color.  It's still relatively pigmented over a regular primer, just no shimmers.

Corvus Cosmetics First Impression - The Year 3000 Swatches and Review

Welcome back everyone!  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a safe Black Friday.  I have an exciting first impression today.  It's a new company called Corvus Cosmetics that has an Etsy storefront for now.  They opened recently and introduced themselves on the indie subreddit.  The first collection is inspired by Futurama and features nine shadows.  If you buy the whole set, a free eyeshadow is included.  Each color is inspired by a character on the show and the full sized jars have a label art with the character's face.  I opted to buy samples since I can never finish a full size (although I was really tempted because of the labels!).  Since they are new, the TAT is very quick and I received my order within the week.  

Look at this sweet card!  So generous, right?  ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.  O_O

Each full sized jar comes individually shrink-wrapped.

The sample sizes are said to be 1/4 tsp, but look how insanely generous this is?!

Notoriously Morbid November 2014 Vanishing Cabinet - Dead Love Swatches and Review

Hi everyone!  As I'm eagerly waiting for the clock to count down to midnight, I'll share my Notoriously Morbid November Vanishing Cabinet with you.  This month's theme is called "DEAD love", based off the Sookie Stackhouse novels and True Blood.  Instead of the regular four mini shadows that are included in each month, NM gave us five this time!  There's one shadow inspired by the main girl, Sookie, and the other four are her various suitors.  The packaging was also super cute this month, featuring a small black coffin and two shadows inside.  It's worth mentioning that the two shadows inside are Sookie and probably her most famous love interest, Eric.  I thought that was an adorable touch and shows how much NM cares about packaging.

The special guest this month is Glamour Doll Eyes and they made a shadow just for this collection.  Another free NM sample was included as a sneak peek for next month's VC.  I have no idea what it is yet, so I'm excited for the reveal.

If you guys haven't noticed, my product pictures might look a bit different and that's because I finally got a DSLR!  My product pictures will be taken with the DSLR now and I tried doing the same with swatch photos but it wouldn't focus for some reason.  Therefore, swatch pictures are still taken with my regular (still really great) point-and-shoot until I figure out how to focus on my DSLR.  Another change is that I've started doing half my swatches over ELF Glitter Primer because I have started using that in my almost-daily routine, so here's how these shadows look like over a sticky base!

Pictures taken under daylight bulb and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (upper half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half)

Mittens for Michael

Mittens for Michael:  beautiful purple with gold sparkles.  The gold sparkles are very obvious and that's what's giving off the sheen you see in the swatch photo.  I'll be looking forward to receiving this next month because it's absolutely wonderful!

Ipsy November 2014 - Girl Meets Glitter

Hey everyone!  I have the November Ipsy bag for you guys today :)  The theme is Girl Meets Glitter, but I only had about two glittery things in my bag - including the bag.  My bag had pretty silver glitter all over it, but came with a tear on the other side.  After contacting Ipsy, they're sending me out a replacement with no hassle at all.  Their customer service is pretty great!

Aromaleigh Cosmetics Holiday 2014 Sol Invictus Collection - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  I'm so excited to bring you Aromaleigh's newest collection - Sol Invictus!  This is their collection for holiday 2014 and was inspired by the Roman holiday Saturnalia.  For those of you who are interested in learning more about the holiday and the meanings of each color, feel free to read them here.  After being excited by all the sneak peeks they were posting on their Facebook, I was contacted by Aromaleigh's representative and asked if I was interested in swatching this collection before it was officially released.  (Note:  It is released now, which you can buy from the link I posted above).  Of course I said yes!  I had such great experiences with their past collections, especially the Halloween 2014 Diavoli collection.  A sample set was shipped to me soon after and I received it within the week.  

The owner, Kristin, also included two free samples from their Mythical Monsters collection that I was eyeing so that was a great treat as well!  The day I decided to photograph these was a day I actually had natural light, which was another plus because my lamp was being weird.  However, my swatches couldn't focus on the beautiful sparkles as well as I would have hoped, but you can definitely catch a glimpse of them towards the bottom, where my camera gets a little out of focus.

Without further ado, here are swatches!

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

Oscilla

Oscilla:  sparkly peach with red, silver, and blue sparkles

Notoriously Morbid Halloween 2014 Grisly Grimoires - Swatches and Review

Hey everyone, since it's Halloween, here's a double dose of Notoriously Morbid!  I was actually hoping to get this a little earlier so I wouldn't have to rush to get this out, but I understand how swamped the NM team is, especially since they had to get all 100 boxes out by this week.  I actually bought this awhile ago as a pre-order and actual TAT started on Oct. 10th, so it took twelve business days to ship (well within the TAT, unfortunately, I was one of the last ones shipped).  Thankfully, I was determined to get this review out by tonight, so I swatched like hell as soon as I got home from work :P

For this years Halloween, the NM team decided to do a set inspired by various spellbooks, aptly named "Grisly Grimoires".  It comes with six full sized eyeshadows, one mini blush, one Coffin Kisser, and a handmade charm.  There was also a sneak peek of the Black Friday set included in the box which I will swatch later.  NM's Halloween sets are special to me because it's the first thing I EVER got from them, and was what made me a diehard fan.  For this box to be handmade like last years', really shows that it's still the same amazing company no matter how huge its grown.

In my pre-order, I also got two samples of the Divination Blushes and the Gift With Purchase (GWP) was a mini of the October CoTM.

This was very sweet and I totally understand how overwhelming all this was!  It just made me kick my lazy butt into gear tonight.

Notoriously Morbid October 2014 Vanishing Cabinet - Us and the Dead Swatches and Review

Okay, so I promised myself I'd get this review out before Halloween - guess what day it is today?  Halloween.  Yeah, I goofed, so hopefully today's double post will make up for that!  I have Notoriously Morbid's monthly Vanishing Cabinet and this month is called "Us and the Dead", inspired by The Walking Dead.  I was so surprised to open up my envelope and see this cute little zombie tote!

Included were two monster themed candies which I thought were really cool.  I devoured the gummy zombie in seconds; it also made my fiancee buy a pack of gummy eyeballs haha!  

Ten Three Labs Howl O'Ween Collection - First Impression

Hey everyone, I have an exciting review for you today!  This is my first impression on the newly opened shop - Ten Three Labs!  A user on /r/IMAM had been talking about opening her company and finally did it :)  A huge belated congratulations to you, Cara!  Even though I already have a crap ton of makeup, I decided to scope out the shop and hopefully support a fellow redditor.  So far, the shop carries eyeshadow, salve sticks (lip balms), smudge sticks (tinted lip balms), and perfume oils.  I decided to get the limited Howl O'Ween collection in full size because she had a beautiful wolf on the label (yes, I am that shallow).  The collection consists of three shadows and one perfume.  I decided to pick up a Smudge Stick in All Vamp Everything and a perfume sample in Exorcists of Malignant Devils as well.  

My order came a few days later and it was wonderfully packaged.  Check it out below!

Everything came in the decorative bag above and was sealed with a sticker.  The perfume were all put into a cute potato-sack bag.  What I thought was wonderful was that she included sifters for the three full sized shadows as well!  I rarely use sifters, but I love that she was thoughtful enough to include it.  She included one free shadow sample, perfume sample, a bag of flower seeds, and a cute fortune fish!  I love both the flower seeds and fortune fish because it's not something you see all the time, plus I loved playing with those fortune fish as a child so I'll treasure this one.  

The contents of my order were packed securely as well.  All of my eyeshadow jars and Smudge Stick were shrink wrapped to prevent leakage.  Another great note is that my jars were packed COMPLETELY full, which was surprising and much appreciated.

Unfortunately, my order had some problems.  The perfume sample had no label on it, so I had no idea which one I got.  My Smudge Stick was also overfilled a lot and cracking, so I had no idea how to use it without breaking it off.  I messaged Cara on the subreddit and replied within an hour.  She apologized and offered me a refund or a replacement Smudge Stick.  I accepted a replacement since I really wanted to use the color.  I also asked about the perfume and described the scent to her (as best as I could do since I'm extremely new to perfume) and she was able to answer me with the horrible description I gave haha.  She sent out my replacement in the same day and I got it a few days later.  Along with the replacement stick, I also got the label for the perfume, a salve stick, and two other free shadows!  Top-notch customer service and interacting with her was great.

Shiro This is Halloween Collection - Swatches and Review

I'm sorry readers, I've been slacking off lately; I have so many Halloween/October collections on the back-burner that I really want to post before the month ends.  Today, I have Shiro's last release of the This is Halloween collection, inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas.  They also released a series of Halloween derps and I only managed to pick up two.  Lastly, they blended all their remaining CotMs together into one shadow called "Ghost of Colors Past", so I picked that one up as well.  

I actually got a full sized set of the whole collection because there was a good discount.  The whole set comes with seven shadows, three lip balms, and two lip glosses.  I actually regret getting a full sized set because it was so expensive and I'll never use up the eyeshadows.  I absolutely love all the lip products though, so I may just sell off the eyeshadows later on.

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

Not Drawing Room Fashion

Not Drawing Room Fashion:  dark green silver.  This was one of my free samples out of three, I had swatched the other two previously, so I left them out here.

Notoriously Morbid Winchester Gospels, Slay Me Wave 3, Lip Tints - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  As you can tell, I hauled pretty hard during my last Notoriously Morbid haul (there are a billion more baggies behind the two you see in the front).  It was also during a Free Day Friday, where you get one free mini shadow with every $10 you spend.  Since I have almost all of the shadows that have been released, I decided to give the shadows to my best friend.  I spent over $30, which means I got three free shadows; I won't name them here because she still hasn't picked them up yet and I want them to be a surprise :)

Additionally, that day was also when the highly anticipated Winchester Gospels, Wave 3 of the Slay Me collection, and Lip Tints were released.  I was so excited for the Winchester Gospels because I'm a fan of Supernatural and found out she had a color inspired by my favorite character, Cass!  She also brought back the Ripper's Rouge blushes for Crypt members only, so I snagged up a mini jar of Annie's Agony, the only blush I was missing.  The Lip Tints are tinted versions of her famous Coffin Kissers and I'm a lip product junkie, so I bought those too.  As you can see, self control was not practiced that day.

How cute is this candy corn packaging?!

Hello Waffle Alternate Universe and 1000 Likes Collection - Swatches and Review

Okay guys, I'm going to try and sound like a sane person in this review even though I'll fail miserably because I'm completely obsessed with Fringe.  For those of you who don't know, Fringe was an AMAZING sci-fi TV show that only ran for 5 seasons and is one of my favorite shows ever.  Sadly, this review isn't about how awesome Fringe is, it's actually about an eyeshadow collection inspired by Fringe!  

Indie cosmetic companies are inspired by lots of things, including shows with huge fandoms such as Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones etc.  However, I had yet to see a Fringe inspired collection and I knew for a fact that my favorite company wasn't going to release one any time soon.  Imagine my surprise and happiness when popular indie Hello Waffle was releasing one!  The owner, Christine, is a godsend and I spammed her so often about this collection, mainly because it holds a very special place in my heart and Christine makes great products.  

You guys know that I rarely buy full sizes because I can never use them up.  However, each jar has a unique label art, so obviously I needed full sizes of the whole collection.  She also got 1000 likes on Facebook around the same time and released a collection commemorating that (and also her birthday).  I decided to pick up samples of that collection along with my full Alternate Universe (Fringe) collection as well.  Hello Waffle's TAT increased around that time because of the influx of orders.  When my order arrived, Christine apologized for the delay and upgraded my 1000 Likes collection to halflings (mini jars) and upgraded my free samples to full sizes!

I feel like I can go on and on about this, so without further ado, here be swatches!  

Warning:  Extremely picture heavy post!

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

Free Samples

Dormouse

Dormouse:  shimmery greige with silver sparkles

Ipsy October 2014 - Beauty Candy

The theme for Ipsy's bag this month is Beauty Candy.  If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed it was something aquatic related seeing as most of the things I got were blue and moisturizing/clean.  I received five things in my bag this month and I'm pretty happy with what I got, there was only one item I didn't like but we can talk more about that later. 

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

How cute is this bag?  This is my favorite item and it sort of resembles a chocolate bar?

Geek Chic Cosmetics Strange Aeons Collection Swatches

Hey guys, I have a very small swatch post for you today!  During Geek Chic Cosmetic's second Reckoning, I wanted to pick up the entire Strange Aeons collection that was being discontinued.  It's my favorite collection from them so I wanted everything, especially after I've gotten a few samples before and loved them.  However, other people had the same idea, so when I was checking out (8 minutes after the Reckoning started), several shades were already out!  I ended up purchasing from Beauty Bohemia, a store based in Australia which sells many popular brands as well.  Shipping was a lot, but I really wanted the full collection so I chalked it up and bought it.

I bought four other shades as well, but I already swatched Blood Wine previously, so I won't reswatch it here.

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

Hellfire

Hellfire:  pale pink with red sheen and silver sparkles.  My jar of this actually leaked a good amount and was pretty messy.  I shot Geek Chic a message with a picture and they sent me a replacement right away.

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy October 2014 - Swatches and Review

This month's Innocent + Twisted Alchemy subscription came as a surprise because I received jars instead of clamshells.  I initially thought I received a full-sized subscription by mistake and messaged Linda about it, she assured me that she was trying out jars this month to see how they go.  Personally, I loathe clamshells and I was contemplating on unsubscribing because of all the trouble they've given me.  I+T's products are amazing and beautiful, but the hassle is too huge to ignore.

I received four eyeshadows and one blush from I+T and four additional samples from other companies.  Since this is the first time I'm receiving jars from I+T, let's discuss the packaging.  The jars are not shrink-wrapped, instead they are wrapped with adorable Halloween themed tape.  I experienced some leakage in the square jar, but the tape prevented product from leaking outside.

Dawn Eye's Kate's Color Giratina and more Discontinued Shades - Swatches

I have another swatchfest of Dawn Eyes shadows!  It's true, I decided to create yet another Kate's Color; this should be the last, I promise!  I based this one off of my other favorite legendary Pokemon, Giratina, and I asked for the color to be a dupe of Shiro's discontinued "Party Escort" shadow with additional yellow/gold sparkles.  I wanted the shadow to be predominantly charcoal with strong red sparkles though.  While I was creating this shade, Dawn also put up several of her discontinued shades up for sale, and I bought all of them so she shipped them all together.  She generously gave me a ton of Kate's Colors samples AND two full sized discontinued shades as well!

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

Giratina

Giratina:  shimmery dark charcoal with red and gold sparkles.  I know the sparkles look silver in the swatch, and that's because it's taken under a daylight bulb which brightens the gold sparkles a lot.  The picture in the jar is a more accurate representation of the color.

Wet n Wild Halloween 2014 Collection - Swatches and Review

Hey everyone, I have a huge review for you today!  I bought the whole limited edition Halloween collection from Wet n Wild.  The collection comes with five 5-pan palettes, three new MegaSlicks lip glosses, three MegaSlicks Balm Stains, six MegaLast lipsticks, six MegaLast nail polishes, and one MegaRocks glitter nail polish.  All of these things are new and limited edition except for one palette that I will touch up on later.

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