Notoriously Morbid Little Melancholies Collection - Review and Swatches

I'm back again with another order from my favorite indie company!  Once Notoriously Morbid announced that they were releasing a Valentine's collection I knew I had to buy it.  After receiving several free samples of the collection in my last order, I went ahead and ordered mini-jars when the collection came out.  I also picked up another full-size jar and several samples I've been interested in.

This is what my package looked like!  Such a cute Valentines themed bag with a skull sticker; it definitely resonates with the brand.

Another absolutely lovely message written by Carrie.  She makes me feel warm fuzzies :3

Shiro Cosmetics Valentines Derps - Swatches and Review

You'll probably notice that my post is titled Valentines Derps which means I am late with a post, yet again.  I'm sorry guys, I really need to start making an effort to keep up with things like this.  As amazing as Shiro Cosmetics is, they make mistakes too!  Usually colors don't turn out exactly as they had hoped, or maybe there's an ingredient they were using that ended up being unavailable.  Such colors are too pretty to throw out so they are sold as pretty mistakes - a.k.a. "Derps".  There haven't been a new round of Derps for months, so when Caitlin announced that there would be a new round, everyone jumped at the chance.

She decided to release them during Valentines Day and give them extremely cynical candy-heart like names.  Truth be told, I love them and I got a few just because of the names.  When my package came, she included two pieces of love-themed candy; they were devoured before they had a chance to melt.  

February 2014 Ipsy - The Look of Love

Here's the Ipsy February bag, the theme is "The Look of Love".  I was pretty excited to receive this because I do like getting into the spirit of Valentine's day and I enjoy getting reds.  I didn't get any shipping or tracking information this month though, so that was weird and a huge surprise when the bag finally came.

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy - February Subscription

I was super excited to receive my February subscription from Innocent + Twisted Alchemy.  Their January subscription impressed me so much that I promptly resubscribed and awaited the beautiful shades for the month of love.

the package it came in

How cute is this candy hearts bag??

Instead of the normal 3 clamshells in the subscriptions, Linda included a bonus fourth that was made for Black Violet which she had extras of (yay!).  There were also five extra samples from other companies which were great.

Eyeshadow Pressing Tutorial

Hi everyone!  If you didn't know already, I've been buying a lot of indie eyeshadow and almost all of them are in sample baggies.  I end up pressing all of them for ease of use and convenient storage.  The picture above shows some neutrals from Shiro Cosmetics that I've pressed.  I've been asked by several people how I get them so clean and professional-looking (thanks guys!) and that I should really post a tutorial.  Well, here it is!

What you need:

- Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol (at least 70%; the higher the percentage, the faster it dries)

- Fractionated Coconut Oil

- Tiny spoon (I'm using this little scoop/nail cleaner thing that came with a manicure set)

- Medicine dropper

- 26mm pan

Femme Fatale Giveaway!

Indie company Femme Fatale is doing a giveaway with FIVE winners!  I have yet to try their brand, but they're on my list :)

The prizes are amazing also:  5 mini eyeshadows and 1 full-size blush of your choosing.  Giveaway ends on March 14, 2014.

Enter on the Rafflecopter form here - and visit their Facebook page.

Good luck everyone!

Detrivore Cosmetics - First Impression and Swatches

Hi everyone!  I have a review from Detrivore Cosmetics for you today.  This is actually very belated since I ordered during Black Friday; it took a long time to ship but I didn't mind.  Detrivore always gets rave reviews, so I wanted to try them out.  I ordered 7 samples only and it took a few weeks to get here because the owner was having personal problems.  The problems have been resolved now and the company is now being helped out by Shiro Cosmetics.

I really like the overall theme of this company; it seems to deal with all things macabre and creepy.  It's right up my alley, as is Notoriously Morbid.

Rose Gold EOTD

If you guys weren't aware, I'm currently on a low-buy until I use all my indie eyeshadows at least once.  I press my indie samples into palettes, so they've been put into rotation.  I finally rotated into the Scaredy Cat palette containing their "Rose Gold" shadow!  I'm a huge fan of rose golds and can never resist getting one when a company releases them.  Since rose gold is a nice neutral, it made for a pretty subtle work-safe look.  Of course, I can usually wear what I want to work, but for more conservative environments, this look should work well too!

Eyes:

Scaredy Cat's Rose Gold - lid

Victorian Disco's Sin'Dorei - inner corner

Victorian Disco's Queen Beryl - outer v and crease

ELF's Liquid Eyeliner

I was pretty surprised at how soft Queen Beryl came out to be.  I may have added too much glycerin while pressing, so color payoff may have been dampened a bit.  It still went with this eye look nicely, so I didn't mind.

Another full-face picture

I really enjoyed this look, but then again it's a neutral eye and it's pretty hard to go wrong with neutrals.  This is why I usually like to experiment with brighter colors, sure it leaves more room for error, but when it's done right, I feel confident.  Neutral looks are a tried-and-true method for me, and I do them when I'm in a rush or feeling lazy and I need to rush out the door with someone I know will look good.  I really recommend Rose Gold and Sin'Dorei.  They're both really nice colors and the textures are silky and pigmented.

- Jolie ♥

Holiday EOTD with Sparkly Golds

Here's another super belated EOTD I did during the holidays.  As you can see, I'm wearing reindeer antlers that my boss gave me at work.  I decided to wear red and gold that day and wanted to attempt a sparkly gold eye.  Of course, I had to break out the sparkliest indie eyeshadows I had at the time.

I used Oslo's 'Equinox' on the lid and Shiro's famous 'Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon' in the outer v and crease.  Equinox and Nic Cage both have an almost obnoxious amount of glitter that I can't sport on regular days.  Because of Oslo's semi-loose formula, the glitter stuck on my lid throughout the whole day and was great.  Nic Cage, however, might have benefited more from a stickier base.  Without a sticky base, the sparkles almost blend away, but I was still left with a nice dark brown in the crease.

Here's to more belated EOTDs coming up!

- Jolie ♥

EOTD with Shiro's CotMs

I'll be uploading a series of EOTDs that I've done recently (but haven't had time to post).  I'm so sorry for the crap quality of this picture, it was taken by my phone's front camera.  If I have time later on, I may do an updated version of this look.

I used Shiro's Butts on my lid and Yzma's Essence of Llama in the outer v.  I blended them out a lot for a more subtle look for work.  As usual, my eyeliner is ELF's $1 Liquid Eyeliner.

Here is another full-faced photo; I quite liked how the light hit my face and made my contouring look pretty nice haha.

- Jolie ♥

ELF Haul!

It's been such a long time since I've made an ELF order!  If you didn't read my blog in the early stages, I bought from ELF Cosmetics so much.  I only stopped because I discovered the greatness that is indie companies.  However, I was running out of some products and needed some new brushes, so here goes my haul :)

Yay brushes :D

Notoriously Morbid Free Friday - Sneak Peek at Valentine's Collection

So if you guys didn't know, my New Year's resolution was actually to go on a no-buy.  That was completely broken by Notoriously Morbid's announcement of their Free Day Friday.  I promptly decided to change my resolution into a low-buy instead.  For their Free Day Friday deal, they were including a free full-size shadow of the new Valentine's collection that was being released (it's released now, called Little Melancholies!).  I picked up a few samples that I've been interested in and anxiously waited for my package.  When I received my package, I was really happy to see that she included shades from the V-day collection as my free samples :)

As usual, Carrie writes me a nice note.  I had told her I was breaking my no-buy for her beautiful shadows :)

Victorian Disco Cosmetics - Black Friday 2013 Haul and Swatches

Here's another Victorian Disco review!  They were having a Black Friday sale (called Pink Weekend there) which included a discount coupon, a free Pink Friday shadow with every order, and several other goodies if you spend over a specific amount.  This was my second time ordering so I wanted to pick up a few more samples.  However, something happened during the checkout process and I couldn't purchase from the site so I messaged the owner on Facebook.  Ashley was nice enough to stick by me throughout my order and sent me an invoice over PayPal.  

A few weeks went by and my order hadn't been processed.  She messaged me once again and figured out that since I paid through PayPal, my invoice was put into another pile so she packaged my things right away with a few extra samples for my wait.  I thought that was really nice and I didn't even mind the extra wait :)

I got my tracking number pretty quickly, but USPS was having lots of problems because of the snowstorm so my package was delayed a lot.  When I finally received my order, I found out that the Pink Weekend shadow wasn't included (sadface); I think it sold out or something, oh well.  It didn't really distract me from all the pretties I got and I swatched them all immediately.

BFTE Cosmetics - Review and Swatches

Oops, I was hoping to have this up earlier than this!  Beauty From The Earth (BFTE) was a big indie company that had over 400 shades of eyeshadow.  Sadly, they closed indefinitely yesterday because the owner wanted to take a break from the industry.  I hadn't been too interested in this company before due to the lack of themes, but I knew a lot of beauty bloggers love the shadows.  I decided to try out a few samples and one full-size.  The full-size shadow I picked was a rose-gold called "Dusty Rose".  My order shipped out two days after purchasing.  However, USPS was being really crappy this month and delayed my order for a really long time and then claimed that I refused it at the door and sent it back.  We got it sorted out and I got my package to play with.

Lumikki Cosmetics - Swatches and Review

Hi everyone!  I have a mini-review of Lumikki Cosmetics for you today.  They're an indie shop that I've been interested in a very long time.  One of their best sellers, Dragon Scale, caught my eye and I really wanted to try it out.  They recently reopened their Etsy shop along with a standalone shop and had good reviews so I figured I'd make a small purchase and try them out.  The website is a bit annoying to navigate and there are no color descriptions for most shadows so you have to just guess from the pictures.

Their samples are a bit more expensive than I'm used to at $2.50 per jar.  However, they're supposed to have 1/2tsp in each jar so it's not a bad deal.  I decided to order Dragon Scale and something from their beautiful Galaxy Collection, Supernova.  My order shipping in two days and I received it by the end of the week.

There were two free samples included with my order and the jars had a good amount of product so I was impressed.