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)

AFK Cosmetics - Blogger Pack First Impression Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  Today, I have for you a first impression on a company I've been hearing about.  AFK Cosmetics has a store on Etsy that carries eyeshadows and tinted lip balms.  I've been receiving sample shadows from them in my other indie subscription boxes and had my interest piqued.  When the shop owner, Dena, announced on /r/IMAM that she was giving out samples of her lip balms to try out, I jumped at the chance.  They have several collections, including one inspired by Attack on Titan which I had begun reading recently.  I decided to get the Blogger Pack ($5.50 for 5 sample shadows) and I decided to get random ones, but let her know I didn't want yellows or light greens as I don't wear them.  I then put in the lip balm code; my order came out to be $8 total ($2.50 shipping) and my order arrived pretty quickly.

Sweet note from Dena :)

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

Female Titan

Female Titan:  light golden pink with gold sparkles.  This color is semi-sheer but can be built up and would make a pretty inner corner highlight.