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

Victorian Disco Cosmetics Mini Haul - Swatches and Review

I have a small Victorian Disco haul to share with you today!  I made a pretty huge haul from them awhile ago, so I haven't felt the need to order anything new.  They were having a really good sale since they were moving to Florida and had to get rid of old labels.  I decided to pick up some sample jars of colors I really liked/wanted to try and sample baggies of their Clow Blushes.  Since this is a short swatch post, I'll get right on it!

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

PS I Enjoy Acid Pops

PS I Enjoy Acid Pops:  shimmery mint green

Patronuses, Patronuses Everywhere

Patronuses, Patronuses Everywhere:  shimmery dark silver

Huge Victorian Disco Cosmetics Haul - Crystalline Affections, February 2014 Sub, and Adventure Time Swatches

This review has been a long, long time coming, but it's a pretty new record for me.  This huge haul was actually two separate orders from Victorian Disco Cosmetics awhile back.  The first one was when they released the Crystalline Affections collection for Valentine's Day, which features eyeshadows inspired by the couples of Final Fantasy.  The eyeshadows only came in full-sized jars and could not be separated.  What I found hilarious is that they included an AerisxCloudxTifa trio for the infamous love triangle (although you could always buy CloudxAeris or CloudxTifa).  My second order was for their subscription for February, this is the first time I'm trying their subscription and I figured I might as well try because the Adventure Time collection also released.  I threw in a few samples from that collection when I made my subscription order.

I asked the owner, Ashley, if she could ship them together since the Crystalline Affections order was not out yet.  She has amazing customer service so of course she said yes.  However, she was pretty overwhelmed with orders so this took awhile to get to me and USPS held my package for TWO weeks before they processed it.  Since this is a pretty big haul, I'm splitting it into three parts (all within this post), the first will be Crystalline Affections, then February Subscription, then the samples.  

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 ♥

Victorian Disco Cosmetics - Black Friday 2013 Haul and Swatches

Here's another Victorian Disco review!  They were having a Black Friday sale (called Pink Weekend there) which included a discount coupon, a free Pink Friday shadow with every order, and several other goodies if you spend over a specific amount.  This was my second time ordering so I wanted to pick up a few more samples.  However, something happened during the checkout process and I couldn't purchase from the site so I messaged the owner on Facebook.  Ashley was nice enough to stick by me throughout my order and sent me an invoice over PayPal.  

A few weeks went by and my order hadn't been processed.  She messaged me once again and figured out that since I paid through PayPal, my invoice was put into another pile so she packaged my things right away with a few extra samples for my wait.  I thought that was really nice and I didn't even mind the extra wait :)

I got my tracking number pretty quickly, but USPS was having lots of problems because of the snowstorm so my package was delayed a lot.  When I finally received my order, I found out that the Pink Weekend shadow wasn't included (sadface); I think it sold out or something, oh well.  It didn't really distract me from all the pretties I got and I swatched them all immediately.

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy January Subscription Box

Sorry for the SUPER late post!  I received my i+t January subscription awhile ago, but I was still backed up on other indie reviews to play with it.  I really enjoyed reading the letter that came with the order this time, it was cute, funny, and told us how she was inspired by the colors from the Naked 3.  That got me even more excited because I love the colors in that palette!

Aside from 3 completely new colors, she also included a sample from Victorian Disco Cosmetics, a blush from Dark Heart Designs, and a perfume sample from Black Violet.

First Victorian Disco Cosmetics Order!

Yay for my first ever Victorian Disco Cosmetics haul!  I'd been wanting to try this indie company for so long!  Their eyeshadows are all organized by collections based on geeky things like World of Warcraft, Harry Potter, Miyazaki, etc.  I actually ordered awhile ago, and while their TAT was 2-4 weeks then, it actually took 3 weeks for them to ship out.  It was within the TAT, but a lot longer than I'm used to waiting.

I ordered the Blogger Package, that includes two mini jars and six sample sizes for $6.50.  I also ordered a full-sized jar that was on sale and the owner, Ashley, kindly included two free samples with my order.

My order came wrapped in purple tissue paper with a cute Hello Kitty sticker - the same sticker was also stuck onto my invoice.  I asked for a picture of Totoro and Doraemon having a tea party with a Pokemon guest thrown in.  Ashley definitely delivered - look how cute it is with Pikachu hiding behind Totoro ^_^