Aromaleigh April 2015 Ephemera - Swatches and Review

Woooo, I've gotta say, I really do look forward to Aromaleigh's Ephemera box every single month.  Their packaging and presentation is always impeccable.  For the month of April, the inspiration comes from Floralia, and all of the shades are very light and springy.  We got two eyeshadows, two face products, and a cream eyeshadow from Glamour Doll Eyes.  

Information on this month's box

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

Locus of Desire

Locus of Desire:  shimmery warm pink with gold sheen

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

Rose Gold EOTD

If you guys weren't aware, I'm currently on a low-buy until I use all my indie eyeshadows at least once.  I press my indie samples into palettes, so they've been put into rotation.  I finally rotated into the Scaredy Cat palette containing their "Rose Gold" shadow!  I'm a huge fan of rose golds and can never resist getting one when a company releases them.  Since rose gold is a nice neutral, it made for a pretty subtle work-safe look.  Of course, I can usually wear what I want to work, but for more conservative environments, this look should work well too!

Eyes:

Scaredy Cat's Rose Gold - lid

Victorian Disco's Sin'Dorei - inner corner

Victorian Disco's Queen Beryl - outer v and crease

ELF's Liquid Eyeliner

I was pretty surprised at how soft Queen Beryl came out to be.  I may have added too much glycerin while pressing, so color payoff may have been dampened a bit.  It still went with this eye look nicely, so I didn't mind.

Another full-face picture

I really enjoyed this look, but then again it's a neutral eye and it's pretty hard to go wrong with neutrals.  This is why I usually like to experiment with brighter colors, sure it leaves more room for error, but when it's done right, I feel confident.  Neutral looks are a tried-and-true method for me, and I do them when I'm in a rush or feeling lazy and I need to rush out the door with someone I know will look good.  I really recommend Rose Gold and Sin'Dorei.  They're both really nice colors and the textures are silky and pigmented.

- Jolie ♥

Holiday EOTD with Sparkly Golds

Here's another super belated EOTD I did during the holidays.  As you can see, I'm wearing reindeer antlers that my boss gave me at work.  I decided to wear red and gold that day and wanted to attempt a sparkly gold eye.  Of course, I had to break out the sparkliest indie eyeshadows I had at the time.

I used Oslo's 'Equinox' on the lid and Shiro's famous 'Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon' in the outer v and crease.  Equinox and Nic Cage both have an almost obnoxious amount of glitter that I can't sport on regular days.  Because of Oslo's semi-loose formula, the glitter stuck on my lid throughout the whole day and was great.  Nic Cage, however, might have benefited more from a stickier base.  Without a sticky base, the sparkles almost blend away, but I was still left with a nice dark brown in the crease.

Here's to more belated EOTDs coming up!

- Jolie ♥

EOTD with Shiro's CotMs

I'll be uploading a series of EOTDs that I've done recently (but haven't had time to post).  I'm so sorry for the crap quality of this picture, it was taken by my phone's front camera.  If I have time later on, I may do an updated version of this look.

I used Shiro's Butts on my lid and Yzma's Essence of Llama in the outer v.  I blended them out a lot for a more subtle look for work.  As usual, my eyeliner is ELF's $1 Liquid Eyeliner.

Here is another full-faced photo; I quite liked how the light hit my face and made my contouring look pretty nice haha.

- Jolie ♥

Weekend FOTD

I went to IKEA with my friends last weekend and decided to do a full-face makeup.  My skin's always been pretty nice so I didn't feel the need to use foundation.  However, I have bought a bottle of foundation from ELF to try out just in case I ever need to use it for special occasions.

These pictures are taken in daylight; the card I'm holding up is for white balance.

Face: 

ELF Acne Fighting Foundation (Buff)

ELF Tone Correcting Concealer (Light Beige)

ELF Clarifying Pressed Powder (Apricot Beige)

NYC Bronzer (Sunny)

ELF Blush & Bronzer Duo (Turks & Caicos)

Shiro Doge for highlighter

Eyes:

ELF 144 Eyeshadow Palette (Neutral) for brows

ELF Eyelid Primer

Wet n Wild eyeshadow (Brulee)

MSB (Fern) on lid

MSB (Navy) in crease

MSB (Wintergreen) inner corner

MSB (Black Orchid) for tightline and lower lashline

ELF Liquid Eyeliner (Black)

Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara (Black)

Lips:

Jordana Easy Liner for Lips (Baby Berry)

Wet n Wild MegaLast lipstick (In the Flesh)

ELF Shimmer Lip Gloss (Believe)

I was so not used to having that much makeup on my face.  It felt very caked on and uncomfortable; I could NOT wait to get home and shower.  I do admit how nice my skin looked though, but it definitely was not a good trade-off.  

Overall, the ELF foundation had a very nice texture, it applied and blended very well.  The pressed powder also mattified my skin very well, but in hindsight, I should have used the translucent pressed powder instead.  I'll try to do more EOTD/FOTDs in the future since my blog is being riddled with reviews haha.  Until next time!

- Jolie ♥

FOTD with Oslo Cosmetics

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  I hope you're all warm and comfy with your families :)  I've decided to post up some FOTDs/EOTDs separate from actual reviews.  I've been stuck in a makeup rut for awhile and wanted to delve into some colors again.

Face:

NYC Sunny Bronzer

Oslo Cosmetics 'Sextens' blush

Eyes:

ELF 144 Neutral Eyeshadow Palette - Matte gray shadow on eyebrows

Oslo 'Carinae' on inner corner

Oslo 'Tremor' on lid

Oslo 'Asterism' on crease

ELF 3-in-1 Mascara

Lips:

Oslo 'Odetta' lip slick

I love Oslo eyeshadows and I'm really happy to have other products to try out too.  The lip slicks are staining which is great if you don't want to keep reapplying throughout the day.  The eyeshadows stay on for 12+ hours because of the binder that's added.  If you haven't tried Oslo Cosmetics yet, then I strongly recommend their eyeshadows.  Thanks for reading and enjoy the holidays :)

- Jolie ♥