Notoriously Morbid August 2014 Vanishing Cabinet - 'Writer of Dreams' Swatches and Review

Today, I have a review of Notoriously Morbid's August 2014 Vanishing Cabinet.  This review was actually further down my schedule, but since it's an August box, I figured I should post this up before August ends.  Every month since its release, the Vanishing Cabinet has been selling out within the hour, so to make things easier for us diehard fans, Carrie has made it into a subscription service.  You can bet I got my hands on that as soon as it was released...  Now I won't have to worry at all about not getting my goodies!

August's VC was named "Writer of Dreams" and was inspired by Neil Gaiman's works.  The eyeshadow "Morpheus" was snuck into several orders last month as a sneak peek.  I was surprised to not see it included in the package when the info page went up; Carrie confirmed that Morpheus was only made as a clue and not meant to be included in the VC.  The week it went up was also the week of a Free Day Friday and the item was one free mini shadow for every order $10+.  Since our boxes automatically fulfill that requirement, all subscribers got a mini shadow.  I asked if I could possibly receive Morpheus as my mini and Carrie graciously said yes!

The bag it came in was really cute and got me geared up for Halloween!

A bit of information about Writer of Dreams.

Ipsy August 2014 - Beauty Schooled

It's time for another Ipsy review!  The theme for the month of August is "Beauty Schooled", and I suppose the products are supposed to give you a "no-makeup makeup" look that's suitable for school.  All the products I got in this bag were either colorless, or very lightly colored.  The bag was also very cute, it's round and looks like an adorable pencil case.  I think I enjoyed this month's bag a little more than last month's.  I received five products and at least two were full-sized.

Pictures were taken under daylight bulb and swatches were done over bare skin (click to enlarge)

Cute pencil case styled bag

Dry Shampoo

Dry Shampoo:  This is a dry shampoo from Klorane.  I do enjoy getting dry shampoo because I feel like it's something that I might actually use.  I tried it once (half-heartedly because my hair wasn't that dirty) and I don't feel like it did anything.  Admittedly, I don't have much experience with dry shampoo as I find most don't work and baby powder works a lot better.  I look forward to giving this more tries since I don't wash my hair every day.

Wet n Wild LE Summer 2014 Collection - Summer Festival Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, is it just me, or did the summer go by really quickly this year?!  I found it a bit odd when my favorite drugstore brand, Wet n Wild, didn't release new summer shadows like they did last year.  However, they actually did and I was just very, very late to the game!  I noticed the empty displays in late August and basically rushed to find the whole collection before stores ran out.  After much traveling, I finally got everything, which included 6 eyeshadow trios, 4 nail polishes, and 2 new balm stains!  The collection is called "Summer Festival" and looks very similar to last summer's "Pop Art Craze" collection.

Without further ado, let's get to the pictures.

Product pictures are taken under daylight bulb, swatches are done over ELF's Essential Primer and taken under daylight (click to enlarge)

Eyeshadow Trios

Sun-Set to See

Sun-Set to See:  matte cream (soft and silky); satin finish tawny; matte pumpkin orange with faint silver shimmer

Glamour Doll Eyes Eyeshadows - Swatches and Review

I'm still trying to catch up with the plethora of reviews I have lined up.  Today I have six shadows from Glamour Doll Eyes.  Their owner, Vee, called out to bloggers asking if we were interested in reviewing their shadows.  I was definitely interested, but I had reviewed their shadows before and asked if it was okay to do another.  Vee responded and said it was fine, so we sent a few emails back and forth with my color choices.  GDE has a lot of color choices and it's a bit overwhelming to pick just six, luckily Vee sent me a link to the Bestsellers section and that was very helpful.  I chose six out of the Bestsellers and she had it packed and ready to go soon after.

I have a good amount of GDE shadows from past purchases, press samples, and samples from subscription boxes so I was aware of how nice the shadows were.  I also like the fact that they each come individually shrink wrapped to prevent leakage.  They also have no sifters and I find that it's much easier to work without since I find that product tends to collect at the rims and spill out.  Anywho, onto the swatches!

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

Flawless

Flawless:  shimmery light peachy pink

Shiro Cosmetics No Oscar for Leo DiCaprio, Lavender Town, and Nightfury - Swatches and Review

I have a small Shiro review for you guys today!  Awhile ago, someone from Shiro's team "accidentally" blended a batch of old CotM "No Oscar for Leo DiCaprio".  Now I'm not sure how accidents like that happen, but I'm super happy about it.  No Oscar was actually released and discontinued before I discovered indies, so I didn't have a chance to get it then.  Several of the Super Effective shadows also got discontinued and the leftovers were blended together to create the lovely "Lavender Town".  I used this chance to pick both of those up as well as the current CotM "Nightfury", a Minecraft sample that I'd been looking at for awhile, and a sample of her famous Finishing Powder.

I'm used to waiting weeks upon weeks for Shiro to ship my order, however, this time they shipped it lightning fast.  I believe I waited about two business days before I got my shipping notice!  In my order, I had asked for Detrivore samples and a picture of Doraemon sitting on TARDIS.  As usual, Caitlin did not disappoint:

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

No Oscar for Leo DiCaprio

No Oscar for Leo DiCaprio:  shimmery bronze with red sparkles.  I find this hilarious as it's a running joke how Leo really deserves an Oscar yet it always escapes him.  I really can't wait to pair this up with Still No Oscar for Leo DiCaprio.

Wet n Wild Summer 2014 MegaLast Nail Polish - Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, I know this is super crazy late as summer is almost ending!  Since I've recently gotten my hands on some limited edition summer collections, I'll try to churn these out before it hits September.  Today, I have swatches of Wet n Wild's Summer 2014 MegaLast nail polish collection.  I don't believe this collection has a name; it's comprised of 6 beautifully bright summer shades.  I found these awhile ago and have just been sitting on this review, I apologize.  

Pictures taken under daylight bulb (click to enlarge)

Beat of a Generation

Beat of a Generation:  hot pink crelly (creme-jelly).  I like this shade a lot and it's opaque after 2 coats.

Life's Entropy Blogger Pack - Swatches and Review

First off, I must apologize for my long absence, I've had this set for a few weeks already and should have reviewed it earlier.  I've been extremely busy/tired with work and I also caught a cold.  I'm still super backed up with my reviews, but I'm getting around to them slowly!

Today I have a much anticipated review from the new indie company Life's Entropy.  It was started by Jane, a user who frequents /r/IMAM and had a blog that everyone loved.  Her line boasts not only eye products, but also face and lips as well.  I'm very impressed with the shop's website, as it is clean and easy to navigate.  Most of her products are science themed and that's a first for me; she has two collections of eyeshadows so far - inspired by DoTA and Animal Crossing.  What really caught my eye were the cute holographic stickers on full-sized eyeshadow jars!  Another thing everyone was excited about were her Lip Theories, which were dupes of OCC Lip Tars.  I haven't tried Lip Tars yet, but I hear a lot of raves about the pigmentation and lasting power.

I decided to purchase a blogger pack ($25) which includes: 1 full size eyeshadow, 1 full size Lip Theory, 1 full size Particle Contour Stick, and 10 lip, face, or eye samples.

LE's packaging has been raved about all over the subreddit and it definitely impressed me too.  Check out the pictures:

Look at that cute little flower!

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy August 2014 Subscription - Swatches and Review

Hi everyone, today I'm reviewing my August subscription package from Innocent + Twisted Alchemy!  Let me tell you, Linda has been shipping these out so early; it's really amazing.  I received my shipping notice on August 4th and received it two days later!  This month is also quite special because it's another themed package.  If you couldn't tell from the envelope already, the theme of August is Nana.  It's a manga that's quite popular; sadly, I couldn't get into it.  I've actually read the other work from the same author called Paradise Kiss.  Either way, I'm sure the colors of this month will call out to fans of Nana!

Also, look how cute the packaging is!  I absolutely swooned over the pretty decorations and swooned more when it actually opened up to be a mini paper bag; ughhh.  Anyway..onto the swatches (before I swoon more).

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

7 & 8

7 & 8:  shimmery pale pink with silver sheen

Geek Chic Cosmetics Sample Haul - Swatches and Review

It's been a pretty long while since I've made a purchase from Geek Chic Cosmetics!  Even though they are one of my favorite indie companies, I don't buy often because the samples contain a lot less product than I get from other companies.  Since my last order, they have come out with three new eyeshadow collections, a Color of the Month, a new solid perfume line, and brought back an old eyeshadow collection.  They were having a small sale so I decided to pick some new shadows up along with some solid perfumes.

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

Gunkata

Gunkata:  black base loaded with blue and red sparkles.  The blue sparkles are a lot more prominent than the red, but the red is still there.  Gunkata was one of their Color of the Months and I was sucked in by the color and label art.  I enjoy watching movies featuring Gun-fu, so this was a no brainer for me!

Dawn Eyes Cosmetics Eyeshadows - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  Since I was so impressed with the texture of Dawn Eyes Cosmetic's eyeshadows, I decided to make another small order.  I've been intrigued by Gold Gilded Blue for such a long time, it's one of the shadows that first put them on the radar.  However, it had been discontinued for awhile before I discovered DEC.  Luckily for me, Dawn actually does remake discontinued shadows, and only charges $1 extra for it.  I ended up emailing her for an invoice of my choices and she shipped it out on the same day I paid!

I received these about 2-3 days after shipping and noticed that Gold Gilded Blue had leaked a bit.  Her full sized jars come with a sifter sticker and is also shrink wrapped.  Somehow, the shadow ended up leaking from the sifter rim so it was a bit messy to clean up.  I carefully took out the sifter to avoid further problems.

Enough talk; onto the swatches!

Swatches done over ELF Essential Primer (click to enlarge)

Gold Gilded Blue

Gold Gilded Blue:  shimmery blue-tinted gold.  Now I normally don't wear this kind of color, but there was just so much hype surrounding its beauty.  I don't regret this purchase one bit.  It has an extremely buttery texture and is very pigmented.  I can't wait to start playing around with this!

Spearmint Peppermint

Spearmint Peppermint:  super pale pink with light green sparkles