Corvus Cosmetics Kinder-und Hausmärchen Collection Swatches

I have some exciting swatches for you today!  Corvus Cosmetics recently released their Kinder-und Hausmärchen collection, which is based off of classic Grimm fairy tales.  I'm actually a fan of the classic, non-Disney ones, since they are much more morbid and gruesome and the villains actually get what they deserve.  I've been a fan of Corvus ever since their inception and their owner, Noel, is such a funny girl!  The quality of the eyeshadows is superb and the themes so far are really up my alley.

Now their debut collection, Year 3000, based off of Futurama, ran into some copyright issues.  Instead of renaming the collection and hoping for the best, Noel decided to incorporate those shadows into Kinder-und Hausmärchen with different names.  Since I bought the whole Year 3000 collection when it was first released, I didn't buy them in this order.  Instead, I looked through every individual listing to find the new ones.  That made it ten times more fun because Noel actually put up the stories that inspired each shadow and they're extremely interesting to read!  (I literally just spent about ten minutes reading all the stories.)  I've swatched the new shades of the collection in this post, but for the other shades in the collection, feel free to refer to my first impression post here.  I also purchased the March CotM inspired by St. Patrick called "Banished", which is featured here as well.

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind (top/left half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom/right half)

Banished

Banished:  green with gold sparkles.  This is March's Color of the Month and inspired by the snakes that were banished from Ireland.  It's a lighter green that I normally wear, but I'm going to have fun incorporating this into a look!

Notoriously Morbid Slay Me Wave 4 - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  I have swatches and reviews of Notoriously Morbid's Wave 4 of their Buffy inspired "Slay Me" collection today.  It came out in February and also marked the return of their Color of the Month series.    A new Glass Tint was released as well and I have that for you here (spoiler alert - I really like it!).  Last but not least, with the release of Wave 4 came two Gift With Purchases (GWPs) - a color for each of Buffy's men.  Since I got a full mini sized set of Wave 4, I received both GWPs!  Fans were also asked to vote for which one they liked more, the Spike shadow, or Angel shadow.  I haven't finished the series, but I always loved Angel and Buffy's love story, but Spike's shadow was just too gorgeous to pass up, so I chose Spike :x

Onto swatches!  

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over NM's Shadow Bind (top/left half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom/right half)

That's Why Her Hair is so Big, It's Full of Secrets

That's Why Her Hair is so Big, It's Full of Secrets:  gorgeous tawny with strong green sheen.  This was actually a Morbid Mistake of the color "She's Full of Secrets", but Carrie decided to make the name more Mean Girls-esque.  I was lovin the idea and was ecstatic to find out a Mean Girls collection may be coming out in the future!

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy March 2015 Subscription Swatches

I have swatches of Innocent + Twisted Alchemy's March 2015 subscription for you today!  I was pretty excited for this box because Linda said it was inspired by Mirror's Edge.  I haven't actually played the game, but I'm aware of the concept and the theme song (Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky).  It seems like a really fun game and I'd like to play it someday.  Anyway, we got three shadows from I+TA and samples from other companies as usual.

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind (left) and ELF Essential Primer (right)

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith:  shimmery silver

Corvus Cosmetics February 2015 CotM Berenice Swatches

I have a short swatch post today of Corvus Cosmetics' February CotM 'Berenice'.  As soon as it was released, I needed it because I love red shadows, especially dark reds.  It's inspired by a lovely tale about a guy obsessing over his cousin until he kills her and steals her teeth.  I told Noel (awesome owner) that one of my adult fears was losing all of my teeth.  Not them getting loose and falling out from old age, but me just hanging out one day and start spitting out teeth *shudder*.  

Anyway, it comes with the wonderful artwork you see above and should still be available for purchase on their website.

Sweet note on the business card :P

Haha, thank you Noel for making teeth kind of cute.

Berenice

Berenice:  matte dried blood red with faint silver shimmers.  I swatched this over Notoriously Morbid's Shadow Bind (top/left half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom/right half).  The faint silver shimmers (I think they're supposed to represent the teeth...) come out more over a sticky base like Shadow Bind.  The color is still fairly pigmented over regular primer, which impresses me.

Another angle of Berenice

Overall, this shadow is a great representation of actual dried blood with a horrifying story tied to it.  I haven't used it yet, but I can see myself using it in a crease of a smoky eye.  Corvus has just launched a brand new website and a collection based off Grimm fairy tales.  If any of that sounds interesting to you, check them out!

- Jolie ♥

Aromaleigh March 2015 Ephemera - Swatches and Review

The theme for Aromaleigh's March Ephemera box was Norse mythology.  A sample of Ragnarok was snuck into our box last month and it was gorgeous.  Before I get to swatching, I have to commend Aromaleigh on their packaging and attention to detail.  I love how the ribbon they wrapped the box with and packaging paper/worms inside the box correspond with the colors we received.  I also appreciate the label art showing the eyeshadow/product names.  It's these little things that really pull everything together.  I also knew I would love these colors because I really love fall/nature colors; I'm a huge fan of deep greens, browns, and reds. 

 Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half)

Valhalla

Valhalla:  white gold with blue sparkles.  I used all the eyeshadows for an eye look with Valhalla as my inner corner highlight and got a few compliments :)

Geek Chic Cosmetics Moon Prism Power Makeup Collection Swatches

Hey guys, I have swatches of Geek Chic Cosmetics' Moon Prism Power Makeup collection!  This collection is inspired by the very popular Sailor Moon.  Now I was never a fan of the series because I really disliked the main character, but I did like almost everyone else.  This collection didn't actually excite me until I saw the limited edition tin.  For some reason, I just had to have it - I still don't know why.  The limited edition tin comes with all 12 full sized shades in the collection.  When I made the order, I didn't realize their CotM was Kirby inspired with an adorable label art.  I emailed the Geek Chic team to ask if I could add it on and have them invoice me separately.  They responded quickly and generously said they'd add it on!

I also commend them for their customer service.  They had a supply shortage and emailed everyone about their slightly increased TAT.  I greatly appreciated them reaching out first instead of the customer having to ask.

One thing about the collection I noticed is that they almost definitely need a sticky base to be opaque and glittery.  There are a lot of lighter colors in this collection, so if you want to use any on the lid, I would suggest either a glitter adhesive or a white/nude cream base underneath for the color to really pop.

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over Notoriously Morbid Shadow Bind (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half)

Hypernova

Hypernova:  shimmery pale pink with gold sparkles.  This was the February CotM and not a part of the collection; it does, however, look like it belongs!  I've used Hypernova twice as an inner corner highlight and really love it.  As you can tell in the swatch, it's pigmented enough on it's own without a sticky base and is very glowy.  (And how cute is that label art?  It really was the reason I bought this shade.)

Limnit Lipstick Swatches and Review

I will be swatching and reviewing several Limnit Lipsticks today.  This post has actually been super late, probably the latest I've been, since I made this order during their Black Friday sale :x  It was actually my first order with Limnit even though I've had my eye on them for awhile.  I always held off purchasing because I have way too many lip products already and I have a strong hatred of lip products in jars.  I much prefer lipstick bullets, or anything I can apply straight from the tube - I have long nails, so using my fingers isn't really an option and I don't like using a lip brush.  Anyway, they were having a sale and I figured it'd be a good time to try out some bolder colors.  Apparently I was one of the first 100 orders so I got a free sample, yay!  My order came super quick and I never had to contact the owner with concerns.

Awesome instruction card