Victorian Disco Cosmetics Mini Haul - Swatches and Review

I have a small Victorian Disco haul to share with you today!  I made a pretty huge haul from them awhile ago, so I haven't felt the need to order anything new.  They were having a really good sale since they were moving to Florida and had to get rid of old labels.  I decided to pick up some sample jars of colors I really liked/wanted to try and sample baggies of their Clow Blushes.  Since this is a short swatch post, I'll get right on it!

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

PS I Enjoy Acid Pops

PS I Enjoy Acid Pops:  shimmery mint green

Patronuses, Patronuses Everywhere

Patronuses, Patronuses Everywhere:  shimmery dark silver

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy Haunting Refrain Collection - Swatches and Review

Hello everyone, I'd like to introduce Innocent + Twisted Alchemy's newest collection - Haunting Refrain!  This whole collection came about when Linda was trying to make a dupe for Laura Mercier's famous African Violet eyeshadow.  Now I've never seen this shadow in person, but a lot of people love it and it's described as a violet with gold duochrome and gold sparkles, very pretty sounding indeed.  Linda posted a couple of swatches of her progress on I+T's Facebook page and was met with a lot of good feedback so she decided to make it into a collection.  I was one of those people who really loved the colors she created so I bought the whole collection.

There are 7 shades in Haunting Refrain and Linda kindly included one free sample for me.

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

Velvet Crooner

Velvet Crooner:  light pink lavender with golden sheen

Dawn Eyes Cosmetics Kate's Colors - Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, I'm so very excited to bring you this review of Dawn Eyes Cosmetics!  I've seen her recommended here and there by a reputable user on /r/Indiemakeupandmore and have always been curious.  DEC is an indie cosmetics company that sells high quality eyeshadows with prices that can't be beat.  Her full-size jars are only $3!  Awhile ago the owner, Dawn, had announced that her sister was having surgery and she would start making custom colors as a fundraiser to go towards it.  It was $20 to make your own custom shade and you will receive one 10g jar, two 5g jars, and 10 samples of your shade.  It's called Kate's Colors and is still up for sale.

DEC is also pretty known for having an incredibly short TAT, with Dawn shipping after one or two days of order placement.  The Kate's Colors TAT was a bit longer at 3-5 days, but that's still extremely short for indie companies.  I decided to use this deal to dip my toes into the brand.  I love that I can make my own color and help out her sister; it's a great thing all around!  

The hardest part was thinking of a color.  I actually had nothing in mind or no color I would really, really want to see and hasn't been made yet.  I decided to try for a color inspired by my favorite Pokemon, Lugia.  I described it as "pigmented pearly white shadow with blue sheen".  Unfortunately, that couldn't be made as the resulting color came out very silvery blue instead of white.  I decided to change my color to Shadow Lugia instead.  I sent her a reference picture and said I wanted a dark purple base (for his body), with a silver sheen (his belly), and red sparkles (for his eyes).

Dawn had been incredibly busy, so she actually surpassed her TAT by a good amount.  It took about a month for me to receive my color.  I was used to waiting that long for other companies, but since her TAT is usually very short, I thought she forgot about me.  She apologized profusely about the time and finally sent me a picture of the workup.  I loved it and thought the color was very true to the reference picture.  I received Shadow Lugia a few days later and she included 14 samples of the other Kate's Colors!  It was extremely generous and all the Kate's Colors will be put up for sale later on for $6/ea (full-sizes) - most of the proceeds will still go to her sister.  

Despite the time, I enjoyed my experience immensely and just put in another Kate's Color order.  I know I rambled on so much, so let's get on with pictures!

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

Jars are all sealed with shrink wrap and she writes lovely thank-you notes on them.

Ipsy July 2014 - Sensationally Sunkissed

I have a review of my July Ipsy bag today.  I actually received this a few weeks ago, and honestly, it was so disappointing that I really put off doing a review.  We're asked to take a personal preference quiz, to ensure that we won't get a lot of products we wouldn't like.  However, in this bag, they sent me some things I definitely did not check off.  The theme of July's bag is "Sensationally Sunkissed", and the only thing that I liked was the bag itself.

It's pretty cute and made from sturdy faux leather.  I love receiving Ipsy bags for organizational purposes.

Dreamworld Hermetica Haul - Swatches and Review

Today I have a review on an indie company called Dreamworld Hermetica.  This review is a little special because it'll also be appearing on Toxid Lotus' blog on 7/31/14.  Luna is an awesome indie blogger (one of the first blogs I read which got me into indies) and she's starting to do Thursday Guest Posts to showcase other indie blogs!  I think it's so amazing that she's featuring other blogs and getting them out there.  She takes amazing pictures and does very in depth reviews.  Please check her out!

Anyway, this isn't my first time trying Dreamworld's shadows, I actually have an older first impressions review I did when the owner, Ellie, sent some samples of her new formula to me to test out here.  I enjoyed their semi-loose eyeshadow formula immensely because they're pigmented and long lasting.  Dreamworlds was having a pretty big sale so I decided to finally use that opportunity to pick up a shade that I had been eyeing for awhile (Black Flamed Candle).  Mini-jars normally sell for $2.75 for 1/4 tsp, and full-size jars range from $6 to $8 depending on the collection and formula.  I was also interested in one of their CotMs (Color of the Months) called Plummy Penny.  However, I completely forgot it when I was making my order because it wasn't in the "Eyes" section of the website.  I only found out afterwards on the indie subreddit and was pretty disappointed that I missed it.

My order came in pretty quickly, I forget the exact time because I've decided to stop obsessively checking tracking information (which used to stress me out a lot).  When I opened my package, I noticed this Thank You post-it from Ellie.  I was wondering what surprise she meant...

It turns out this sweet woman saw my post on the sub and decided to throw in a full-sized Plummy Penny in for free!  I was blown away and really shocked that she actually connected my Reddit account to my order.  This was amazing and I'm extremely grateful.  It really is a beautiful color (thank you /u/daisyismydog / Rebecca for suggesting it!) and you'll see how pretty it is in the swatch below.

Jars are all individually shrink wrapped

Notoriously Morbid Vanishing Cabinet July 2014 - Out to the Black

It's time for Notoriously Morbid's monthly Vanishing Cabinet again!  I'm so excited for these since it means more NM, more often!  This month's collection is called "Out to the Black" and it is inspired by sci-fi lovers' favorite show - Firefly, and by extension, the movie Serenity.  Firefly was a great show about a crew travelling through the universe visiting several different planets.  It's a lot better than I'm explaining, I swear.  Each product corresponds to a character in the crew and it also marks the first appearance of NM's first nail polish (Morbid Mani), cosmetic glitter (Phantom Glam Glitter), and the second appearance of the lip gloss (Lipcraft Glosses).  

Everyone who had snagged up an order got a choice of the Morbid Mani or Lipcraft Gloss.  Because of international shipping rules, the Morbid Mani was not available for anyone outside the country and they automatically received the gloss instead.  For US residents, we got a choice and I decided on the Mani even though I would use the gloss more.  I figured I HAD to try their first nail polish and I was hoping to pick up a lip gloss if/when there are extras leftover.  Good news:  there were glosses leftover so I picked one up and I will update this post with swatches when I receive it!

The cabinet came in a white envelope this time.

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

Free Samples

Morpheus

Morpheus:  shimmery light purple taupe with red and silver shimmer.  This is actually a sneak peek color into next month's Vanishing Cabinet.  I wrongfully guessed The Matrix so that makes me even more excited about the true inspiration!  I'm thinking something Greek myth related so I will definitely love it even more.

Shiro Cosmetics CotMs and Avengers Haul - Swatches and Review

I'm review another Shiro haul today; I know it seems like I just made one recently...and I did.  I made an order during their 4th anniversary sale without realizing they would put up their CotMs up for Spring cleaning.  This time, I ordered the remaining CotMs I didn't have yet and two more Intertubes (which were being discontinued).  Shiro also released the Avengers collection, so I picked up several samples of those as well.

This time, I asked for a drawing of Totoro and a chincilla together because 'chincilla' was the Chinese phrase for Totoro.

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

CotMs

Dammit Moon Moon

Dammit Moon Moon:  lavender with rainbow sparkles.  This CotM had actually been discontinued awhile ago, but due to the overwhelming popularity of it, Caitlin decided to bring it back for this sale.  I'm so glad I got a chance to pick this up since I'd missed the last one.

Aromaleigh Cosmetics Okeanides Collection - Swatches and Review

Hi everyone!  I'll be doing a review of Aromaleigh's new Okeanides collection - a mini 10 shadow collection inspired by the daughters of Oceanus from Greek mythology.  Now this is really exciting for me for two reasons, one - I'm a huge Greek mythology buff, and two - I got these for free!  When Aromaleigh gave a sneak peek of this collection, I knew I had to have them all when they officially release them.  There was a contest on their Facebook page to win a sample set of the whole collection and I ended up winning by chance.  It was so exciting for me!  Shipping took awhile because USPS messed up the route a LOT and it was pretty annoying, but Aromaleigh's representative kept checking in with me to see if I received it or not.

I finally received it about a week ago and swatched them immediately.  I really enjoy the satin metallic texture of some shades.  I really hope they expand this collection because I really love this theme!

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

Galatea

Galatea:  sheer golden nude with red sparkles

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy - July 2014 Subscription

Welcome back everyone!  It's time for another Innocent+Twisted Alchemy subscription box!  For any new readers, this is a monthly subscription where you get three to four eyeshadows from I+T and several samples from other indie companies.  They are sold in two sizes, a sample size (I don't remember the exact price, I believe it's $12/month), and a deluxe size ($16, I believe).  The sample size includes sample sized eyeshadows, which are normally priced at $3/each and deluxe size includes full-sized eyeshadows, which retail for $6/each.  Either way, this is a really great deal and I love trying out products from other companies as well.

This month is different because it has a mermaid theme.  The owner, Linda, hand draws everything and they're always beautiful.  The picture you see below was drawn by her and the label art were drawn by a friend of hers.  As usual, we received eyeshadow from I+T and other companies, but this month also had a blush, liquid shimmer, and a beautiful lip gloss!