Dark Matter Makeup Deep Sea Collection Swatches

I have swatches of Dark Matter Makeup's newest Deep Sea collection!  I've been excited for this one because it's been awhile since I've seen DMM release anything new.  Fortunately, it's a mini collection consisting of five eyeshadows, two lip creams, and a face highlight.  I also purchased Big Bang, a shade I didn't have before and I'm not sure which collection it belongs in, if it belongs in one at all.

Pictures taken under LED bulb and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (top/left half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom/right half)

Big Bang

Big Bang:  tan with strong gold duochrome

T. Dohrnii

T. Dohrnii:  semi sheer lavender with pink sparkles and blue shimmers

O. Formosa

O. Formosa:  purple with green shimmers

C. Undulatos

C. Undulatos:  teal with copper sheen

M. Microsloma

M. Microsloma:  swampy green with pink shimmers.  I know it looks more blue in the swatch, but it's definitely more green to me in person.  It also reminded me of Notoriously Morbid's Poison Ivy inspired shadow.

C. Aguineus

C. Aguineus:  metallic slate blue

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence:  pretty white highlighter with blue shimmers

V. Infernalis

V. Infernalis:  opaque dusty pink lip cream; stains lips magenta

O. Darwini

O. Darwini:  opaque bright pink red lip cream

Big Bang, T. Dohrnii, O. Formosa, C. Undulatos, M. Microsloma, C. Anguineus, Bioluminescence, V. Infernalis, O. Darwini

Even though this collection is small, I quite enjoyed it. The colors were reminiscent of deep sea creatures and their soft illumination.  This was also the first time I got to try Dark Matter's lip creams.  They feel very comfortable and are moisturizing as well as being extremely pigmented.  They have other lip creams in their shop but are Star Wars themed, so I never picked them up.  Just note that the lip creams aren't matte, so they don't dry down.  I think I'm one of the few that don't really enjoy matte lips, so these are great for me.

Hopefully, Dark Matter has more time this year to release more collections because I do enjoy their short TAT and inspirations!

- Jolie ♥

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy September 2015 Subscription Swatches

Today I have swatches of Innocent + Twisted Alchemy's September subscription box.  This one is particularly exciting because it's inspired by the Predator franchise and features some absolutely beautiful duochromes!  If you haven't read my previous posts, I really enjoyed their Alien themed box and was hoping for a Predator one and they delivered.  I like the Alien franchise more than the Predator franchise, but I like the Predator culture more as they're a mostly honorable warrior race.  Anyway, onto swatches!

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

Marked By the Kill

Marked By the Kill:  shimmery orange copper

Cold & Dirty

Cold & Dirty:  gorgeous brown with green duochrome.  The formula and color of this shadow blows me away and is one I would consider getting a full size of!

Dark Matter Makeup Solar Sailors Swatches!

Oh my godddd, I have had this post sitting in my draft box for months.  I'm sorry everyone!  These are the swatches of the Solar Sailors collection from Dark Matter Makeup!  There are currently ten shadows in the collection, one for each soldier and an additional one for Chibiusa.  This collection features quite a bit of purple shadows because that's the owner's favorite color, and I also have a swatch of their Aurora Borealis highlighter.

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

Usagi

Usagi:  lavender with gold shimmer.  Usagi was one of my least favorite characters in the series and it sucked more because she was the main one :(  That's probably the reason why I never got into the first series too much (plus the age difference with Mamoru was weird considering she was in middle school and he was in college...)

Dark Matter Makeup Women of Science and Gravity Primer Swatches

Ohhhhh boy, is this review late.  Dark Matter Makeup released their version of the sticky base and primer combo awhile back and it's taken me this long to post because I did want to test it before reviewing.  Along with the primer release, their collection inspired by women of science also debuted, so I picked that up.  As usual, shipping was very quick after ordering so I received my package in less than a week.  

I also have to mention the inclusion of several sponge tip applicators with my order!  I was pretty impressed with that because it's been hard for me to get my brushes in the cute centrifuge vials and have expressed that several times, despite really liking the shadows.  I used the sponge tip applicators in my swatches and found them very useful, even though I used to always hate getting those in my drugstore palettes.  

Proof that Dom reads reviews!  USPS has been notorious for taking a long route to NYC, but they got to me quickly this time.  (Psst Dom, maybe they heard you ;) )

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over Dark Matter Gravity (top/left half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom/right half)

Gravity primer

Gravity:  white toned, slightly tacky primer.  I've used this several times and had varying results.  If you put a light layer on, glitters don't adhere too well, so it's almost no different from using a regular primer.  However, if you put on a thicker layer, it tends to crease if you don't wait for it to set.  I made the mistake of putting a semi-thick layer on my lids, applying shadow almost immediately, and seeing creases within an hour.  I suggest waiting at least 15 seconds for this primer to set before applying eyeshadow so it can dry down a bit.

Emmy

Emmy:  shimmery rose gold

Dark Matter Makeup Zodiac Collection Swatches

Welcome back, everyone!  I have more swatches of new indie company Dark Matter Makeup for you today :)  I had initially swatched their entire catalog here and the lovely owner Dom asked if she could use my swatches for her site.  Obviously I said yes (what a huge honor!) and to thank me for it, she sent me samples of her recently released Zodiac collection for free!  Now she ships things super quickly but the weather has been terrible in the US and mail was getting delayed here and there.  Also, I've noticed that the route USPS decides to take from her state to mine is really long.  None of this is Dom's fault, since she tends to drop off packages the day of purchase, but from there on USPS decides to go on a joyride before arriving at NYC.

I'd be seeing a good amount of Zodiac swatches popping up on /r/IMAM, so I was getting really excited!  As soon as my package showed up, I wanted to do swatches immediately while I still had some daylight.  Included with my package was a sweet thank you card :')

Since her samples come in little centrifuge vials, it's a bit tricky to get product onto your brush.  I've seen some people suggest getting some product onto the cap and dipping your brush there; unfortunately, that wasn't an option for me because the brush I use is quite wide.  I did the previous swatches by covering the opening with my finger, shaking the vial several times to get some product, and swatching with whatever was on my finger.  I wasn't getting much product that way and it was really hindering my swatching so I started pouring product onto my palm and using it from here.  I'd get more product out that way and yielded more even swatches this time around, so I may redo the Cluster 1 & Cluster 2 later on.

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

Capricorn

Capricorn:  orchid with pink and gold shimmers

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy February 2015 - Swatches and Review

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  I hope you're having fun whether you're spending time with your partner, friends, or family :)  I'm home alone so I figured I might as well get my February subscription reviews out.  I have Innocent+Twisted Alchemy's Feb box for you guys and I actually really liked it!  It came in an adorable heart envelope with some lipstick tape.  For this month, we had three beautiful eyeshadows from I+T and several other indie samples.

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

Pearls Before Wine

Pearls Before Wine:  ballet slipper pink with gold shimmers.  This is a very pretty and very feminine color.  I didn't expect to like it because I don't usually go for pinks, but this changed my mind.  It's very subtle and glowy.

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.