AFK Cosmetics Christmas on the Rift and Wassail Collections - Swatches and Review

Merry Christmas everyone!  I just came home from dinner with the fiance's family, so I hope I finish this post before midnight!  This is actually a combination of two collections from AFK Cosmetics - Christmas on the Rift and the Wassail collection.  When Christmas on the Rift was released, there were two GWPs included if you spent over a certain amount.  I spent enough for the first gift (eyeshadow), but I decided I wanted the second one (lip balm) enough to buy it when it was officially released.  The collection originally came with League of Legends labels, but I like the Christmas stickers so much that I requested them specially.

On the other hand, the Wassail collection is inspired by Dena's favorite Christmas songs.  I have an abundance of holiday spirit, so I love them as well.  My order came in awhile ago, but I've been taking all this time to test out the lip balms, which I ended up really loving.

Cute packaging!

Look at all these snowman stickers!!!

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

Free Samples

Three Dog, Owwwwww!

Three Dog, Owwww!:  shimmery bronze with gold shimmers

Notoriously Morbid December 2014 Vanishing Cabinet - Merry Monsters Swatches and Review

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!  I received my Notoriously Morbid Vanishing Cabinet yesterday, so I really wanted to get it out before Christmas.  The theme for December is Merry Monsters and is inspired by all the classic horror film villains.  Unlike the previous Vanishing Cabinets where the information and swatches are released as soon as they start going out, the Merry Monsters were kept a secret until people started receiving them.  I was already extremely excited because there would be a blush and lip gloss.  Notoriously Morbid's lip glosses are spectacular and the blushes are amazing as well!

When people started posting their hauls, I noticed they were packaged inside stockings (which varied with each order).  I love the attention to packaging because it makes the order that much more special.  The past few VCs have had special packaging with the Walking Dead one coming in a mini zombie tote, and two of the Sookie Stackhouse colors packed inside a cute coffin. 

As soon as I started taking out my stocking and saw the black top, I was hoping and wishing it would be a snowman of some sort.  It's not a secret that I love snowmen; it's also a big reason why I absolutely love Christmas and all the decorations.  My stocking did turn out to be an adorable smiley snowman and I was so happy that I shot Carrie a message about it.  I believe most VCs are packed randomly and sent out to subscribers.  I thanked her for sending me a snowman and wondered if it was actually random (because if it were, then she should definitely be a psychic).  She said it was definitely not random and saved the snowman stocking for me :'D  Yeah, best shop ever.

ANYWAY, before I ramble on and on, here be swatches!

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

Cute label art 

Scaredy Cat Cosmetics - Green Eyeshadow Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season and Christmas shopping :)  For the past several weeks, I've been receiving my Black Friday orders and Scaredy Cat was the first one to come in.  I've actually reviewed them in the past and really liked them, so I figured I might as well pick up some full-sized jars since they were having a sale.

Coincidentally, all the colors I picked up ended up being some form of green, which is great because green eyeshadows are my favorite!  I usually buy sample sizes from companies, but Scaredy Cat's packaging is so beautiful that I really needed a full size.  The owner designs her own label art for each color and I've been lemming after Draconia for the longest time - I only resisted for so long because it's a color I don't normally wear.  I made my order on the day of Black Friday and it shipped out the day after.  I'm pretty sure I received my package by the next Tuesday, which is lightning fast.

Scaredy Cat doesn't really personalize their invoices, which is what I'm used to, or give any free samples with orders.  So if that's one of the things that matter to you, then I suggest you skip this shop.  However, the quality of shadows are great and the packaging is very beautiful (so beautiful in fact, I had to take multiple shots of each jar...)

Onto the swatches!

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

Orbital

Orbital:  matte gray with teal shimmers.  This is an interesting color because it darkens over a sticky base and the teal shimmers are brought out, making it seem like a different color.  It's still relatively pigmented over a regular primer, just no shimmers.

Corvus Cosmetics First Impression - The Year 3000 Swatches and Review

Welcome back everyone!  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a safe Black Friday.  I have an exciting first impression today.  It's a new company called Corvus Cosmetics that has an Etsy storefront for now.  They opened recently and introduced themselves on the indie subreddit.  The first collection is inspired by Futurama and features nine shadows.  If you buy the whole set, a free eyeshadow is included.  Each color is inspired by a character on the show and the full sized jars have a label art with the character's face.  I opted to buy samples since I can never finish a full size (although I was really tempted because of the labels!).  Since they are new, the TAT is very quick and I received my order within the week.  

Look at this sweet card!  So generous, right?  ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.  O_O

Each full sized jar comes individually shrink-wrapped.

The sample sizes are said to be 1/4 tsp, but look how insanely generous this is?!

Notoriously Morbid November 2014 Vanishing Cabinet - Dead Love Swatches and Review

Hi everyone!  As I'm eagerly waiting for the clock to count down to midnight, I'll share my Notoriously Morbid November Vanishing Cabinet with you.  This month's theme is called "DEAD love", based off the Sookie Stackhouse novels and True Blood.  Instead of the regular four mini shadows that are included in each month, NM gave us five this time!  There's one shadow inspired by the main girl, Sookie, and the other four are her various suitors.  The packaging was also super cute this month, featuring a small black coffin and two shadows inside.  It's worth mentioning that the two shadows inside are Sookie and probably her most famous love interest, Eric.  I thought that was an adorable touch and shows how much NM cares about packaging.

The special guest this month is Glamour Doll Eyes and they made a shadow just for this collection.  Another free NM sample was included as a sneak peek for next month's VC.  I have no idea what it is yet, so I'm excited for the reveal.

If you guys haven't noticed, my product pictures might look a bit different and that's because I finally got a DSLR!  My product pictures will be taken with the DSLR now and I tried doing the same with swatch photos but it wouldn't focus for some reason.  Therefore, swatch pictures are still taken with my regular (still really great) point-and-shoot until I figure out how to focus on my DSLR.  Another change is that I've started doing half my swatches over ELF Glitter Primer because I have started using that in my almost-daily routine, so here's how these shadows look like over a sticky base!

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

Mittens for Michael

Mittens for Michael:  beautiful purple with gold sparkles.  The gold sparkles are very obvious and that's what's giving off the sheen you see in the swatch photo.  I'll be looking forward to receiving this next month because it's absolutely wonderful!

Ipsy November 2014 - Girl Meets Glitter

Hey everyone!  I have the November Ipsy bag for you guys today :)  The theme is Girl Meets Glitter, but I only had about two glittery things in my bag - including the bag.  My bag had pretty silver glitter all over it, but came with a tear on the other side.  After contacting Ipsy, they're sending me out a replacement with no hassle at all.  Their customer service is pretty great!

Aromaleigh Cosmetics Holiday 2014 Sol Invictus Collection - Swatches and Review

Welcome back, everyone!  I'm so excited to bring you Aromaleigh's newest collection - Sol Invictus!  This is their collection for holiday 2014 and was inspired by the Roman holiday Saturnalia.  For those of you who are interested in learning more about the holiday and the meanings of each color, feel free to read them here.  After being excited by all the sneak peeks they were posting on their Facebook, I was contacted by Aromaleigh's representative and asked if I was interested in swatching this collection before it was officially released.  (Note:  It is released now, which you can buy from the link I posted above).  Of course I said yes!  I had such great experiences with their past collections, especially the Halloween 2014 Diavoli collection.  A sample set was shipped to me soon after and I received it within the week.  

The owner, Kristin, also included two free samples from their Mythical Monsters collection that I was eyeing so that was a great treat as well!  The day I decided to photograph these was a day I actually had natural light, which was another plus because my lamp was being weird.  However, my swatches couldn't focus on the beautiful sparkles as well as I would have hoped, but you can definitely catch a glimpse of them towards the bottom, where my camera gets a little out of focus.

Without further ado, here are swatches!

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over ELF Essential Primer (click to enlarge)

Oscilla

Oscilla:  sparkly peach with red, silver, and blue sparkles