Dark Matter Makeup - First Impressions and Swatches

I know it seems like I'm trying to rush these posts out, but I swear I'm not!  I just can't wait any longer to share swatches of a company I recently discovered.  This company is called Dark Matter Makeup, and for now, their only storefront is Etsy.  They introduced themselves in another indie makeup subreddit I frequent called /r/IndieIslandofMisfits.  They only sell eyeshadow right now, but everything is astronomy themed which I absolutely love.  There are no swatches of the products yet, so I bought the whole catalog to swatch for you guys!

Initially, there were two separate listings for every product, which made it extremely confusing for me to see how many individual eyeshadows they had.  I messaged the owner, Dom, and asked how many eyeshadows there were and how much it would be to buy one of each sample.  She responded very quickly and said there were 18 so far, and she can put up a special listing just for me.  The price she gave was $17 for 18 eyeshadow samples and $2 for shipping.  After I paid, she gave it to the mailman that afternoon and it was on the way over!  For some reason, shipping took awhile, I'm not sure if it was some odd route they take or if it was because of Blizzard Juno, but it took a lot longer to get to me.  Tracking was stalled for a few days, so I was left waiting in anticipation.

I finally received it a couple of days ago and got to swatching.  The eyeshadow samples come in cute little test tubes that are about half the length of my pointer finger.  The cap is extremely secure and there's no risk of making a mess because it's half full.  Dom had listed the shadows in grams, and when converted to teaspoons, she said it should be 1/2 tsp.  However, other reviewers compared it with Shiro's samples which are 1/8 tsp (albeit super generous), and said Dark Matter's samples had less.  

Anyway, my samples came in a cute moon and stars bag that's fitting with the shop's theme.  Dom included a business card and thank you card in a small wax envelope.  There's an ingredient listing on the back of the business card as well.  

I've bored you guys enough with my ramblings.  Onto the swatches!  Just a fair warning though - I did buy the whole catalog, so this post is very picture heavy!  You have been warned.

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half) - click to enlarge

TMTYL

TMTYL:  satin chartreuse.  This shade is a bit sheer and took a bit of layering to reach full opacity.

Shiro Cosmetics CoTMs and Lip Gloss - Swatches and Review

I'm so ashamed of how long this review actually took me to post.  I made a Black Friday order from Shiro and got my package less than two weeks later, so it's been awhile.  They were having a small sale, which made me want to pick up their CotMs at the moment.  I also decided to give a shot at ordering a custom lip gloss dupe for the famous Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in 'Dragon'.  It looks extremely different in different swatches, but the general consensus is a bright, holiday red with gold microshimmer.  I'll describe my experience further below.

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

Something Sweet as Pain

Something Sweet as Pain:  light blurple with blue sheen.  This was my free sample and I was glad to see it was a color I didn't have yet.

AFK Cosmetics January 2015 CotM Swatch

I have a short swatch post for you guys today!  I finally got the January Color of the Month from AFK Cosmetics because it was inspired by the recently released Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby games.  I got Alpha Sapphire the day it was released and have loved it ever since.  Kyogre is also one of my favorite legendary Pokemon, so it was no contest.  The CotM is inspired by both of the games and features a mishmash of the primary colors of both legendary mascots (red and blue).  Dena also included a free sample with my order, so I will be swatching that as well.

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

Potato Girl

Potato Girl:  potato brown with copper shimmers.  This is a color inspired by Attack on Titan character Sasha Braun.  Our first introduction to her character is her boldly eating a potato while being lectured.  This is a perfect color for potato skin.

Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega:  shimmery sapphire blue with red and blue sparkles.  I love this color SO much!  I don't wear blues often, but I think I might be able to pull it off (and I must try for the sake of Kyogre!).  I hope Dena makes a sister shade called Omega and Alpha that's a red shadow with blue sparkles!  Or maybe one for ALL the legendaries in the game...

Potato Girl and Alpha and Omega

Alpha and Omega is only available until the end of January, so please pick one up right now!

- Jolie ♥

Ipsy January 2015 - Fresh Start

New year, fresh start!  At least that's what Ipsy trying to preach with their bag this month.  I got five products this month, and my experience is 50-50.  I only like two products so far, and haven't tried one out yet, so I won't rule that out so quickly.

Mojito Lip Balm

Mojito Lip Balm:  This is a lip balm by Malin + Goetz.  I've never heard of this company before, but the lip balm is okay.  It's not too slick or oily, perfect for throwing in any purse for travel.

Notoriously Morbid January 2015 Vanishing Cabinet - Truly Outrageous! Swatches and Review

Today I have swatches and a review of Notoriously Morbid's January 2015 Vanishing Cabinet for you guys!  I'm working really hard to get these subscription boxes out before their month ends, so I have about three posts I have to write up in two days :x  Anyway, this month's box looks super fun because it's inspired by an 80's cartoon show called Jem and the Holograms.  I'm a 90's baby, so I missed it, but I absolutely love 80's music and how colorful everything was.  The cool thing about this whole VC is that everything seems to be duochrome or have some sort of sparkles or sheen!  The sparkles might not show up as well in my swatches, but trust me, they are there.

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

Enticing Elba

Enticing Elba:  beautiful cornflower blue with copper sheen.  This is a free sample to next month's VC and I'm so curious about the theme!  Texture-wise, if you notice any patchiness, that was totally my fault.  I didn't wait for the glitter glue to completely dry before applying the shade, oops.

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy January 2015 - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  I would also like to welcome back Innocent + Twisted Alchemy!  They took a few months off during the holiday season because Linda works retail and it's extra stressful for her during that time.  The holidays are over now, so January marks the return of the subscription boxes.  I'm excited to share that the samples have been switched to jars instead of clamshells!  As you all know, I absolutely HATE clamshells and they really put me off from re-using my I+T colors (which is a damn shame because her colors and texture are amazing).  Now that they're in jars, I know I'll be reaching for them more :D

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

Majestic Life

Majestic Life:  buttery sandstone with blue sparkles

Geek Chic Cosmetics Black Friday 2014 Mini Haul - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, lovely readers!  I have a very small haul for you today.  It's my Black Friday order from Geek Chic cosmetics.  I only picked up two eyeshadows and two lip products, so this review/swatch post will be short and sweet.

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

The Dark Days

The Dark Days:  shimmery forest green with gold sheen.  Since I have a lot of Geek Chic shadows, there weren't a lot I had my eye on, but they did come out with two new collections since I last purchased.  This shadow is from one of them inspired by the Hunger Games trilogy.  As I've mentioned countless times before, I absolutely love greens and jewel tone shades, so it's no surprise that the only shadows I ordered were jewel tones.  This shade applied beautifully and very buttery over a sticky base and the gold sheen was obvious in person.

Life's Entropy Cosmos Lipsticks - Swatches and Review

I have a very exciting review for you guys today!  Over the holidays, Life's Entropy released the Cosmos collection - a set of five beautiful, high-quality lipsticks that were inspired by various mainstream lipsticks from Nars and MAC.  These were only supposed to be Black Friday exclusive, but the demand was so great that they will be released again very temporarily.  Because the lipsticks were around $12 each, I only picked up two that I thought would really flatter me and got the rest as samples.  LE also released their Brow Pomade, which is a tinted wax for eyebrows.  I picked up the medium and dark brown because I wasn't sure which would look good on me.  Lastly, I picked up the lip theory in Enzyme because I had been eyeing it for awhile and didn't pick it up the first time around.

I've actually had my package for awhile now, but I didn't want to post it until I had lip swatches up.  The weather finally complied with me today, so here we are!

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

Enchant

Enchant:  grass green with gold sheen.  This was my free sample and the quality was great!  The formula was silky and pigmented.

Notoriously Morbid Black Friday 2014 Murder of Crows Set - Swatches and Review

Hi everyone!  It's starting to get really cold here in NYC, so I tend to snuggle in bed on my days off instead of blogging.  As a result, most of my posts are back-logged, including this Notoriously Morbid review.  Over Black Friday weekend, they released a limited edition set called Murder of Crows, inspired by The Crow.  I've never seen the movie, but I think I might have to because the names are incredibly interesting.  The set was released in two waves, the first wave purchasers received a year long discount code (mine was 30% off!) and the second received only the set.  A GWP shadow inspired by Youtube entertainer, Jenna Marble's, dogs was also released if you bought over a certain amount.  

A few more things were released to coincide with the holidays as well, since NM wasn't doing a holiday release this year aside from the Vanishing Cabinet.  A new Lipcraft gloss called Sparkle Horse, a trio of lip balms called Santa Kissers, and a special lip balm called Krampus Kissers were released as well.  Since I am a hoarder and I love all NM products, I bought them all.  I also picked up one of the CotMs that I was missing to complete my collection.

Onto the swatches!  (Note:  This is the first time I've taken swatches with my DSLR, so please be gentle.  I'm still getting the hang of focusing on the right parts and getting sparkles to show up.)

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

Cermet & Paesh

Cermet & Paesh:  shimmery blue silver wtih multicolored sparks.  This shade is semi sheer and took a bit to build up but works beautifully as a lid shade or inner corner highlight.

Ipsy December 2014 - Thinking of You

Happy New Year, everyone!  I know I'm slightly late with bringing you the Ipsy bag for December, but better late than never?!  The theme for December was 'Thinking of You' and I was quite pleased with what I received.

Heat Defense

Sexy Hair Heat Defense:  I haven't tried this yet, but I've been wanting a heat treatment since I want to start curling my hair more often.