Current Wish List

I have a pretty long wish list right now.  Of all expensive stuff.  Yeesh.

First up is my Charlotte Tilbury lemmings:

Filmstar Bronze & Glow Face Sculpt and Highlight -- This bronzer/contour and highlighter duo seems to be universally considered the best product in her line.  It looks like the bronzer/contour shade would be an excellent color for my skin tone, and the highlighter looks somewhat subtle, which would be good for me because I tend to go overboard with my highlighters.

My First Makeup Geek Eyeshadows

Hey!  Happy July!  A good way to start off the month is with some haulage, right?

So, it finally happened.  I jumped on the Makeup Geek bandwagon.  You knew it was going to happen sooner or later.  I bought a Makeup Geek blush last fall (Secret Admirer - a lavender shade), but didn't buy any eyeshadows for some inexplicable reason.  Well, I finally decided I needed some.

Makeup Geek is an independently owned company based in California.  It was started by Marlena, who is a YouTube beauty "guru".  It seems like everybody has some of her shadows (especially peeps in the blogging/youtubing world).  I'm a bit of a sucker for hyped up stuff.  Yep, I'm okay admitting that.

A Little Luxury (Haul)

I bought some fancy makeup recently.

First, my little haul from Beautylish.  If you are ever considering buying something from Beautylish (beautylish.com), you should totally do it.  They have free 2-day shipping on orders over $35 USD.  Everything was packed really carefully, and they even included a personalized note.  Oh, and if you create an account, you receive a $10 off a $50 purchase promo coupon thingy.

The little bag was slightly ripped, but there was so much padding around it that there was no damage to anything.

ColourPop Haul and An Announcement

ColourPop stuff is way to addictive.  Oh my goodness.  I've placed two orders recently, and I thought I share with you what I got.

ColourPop Haul, Swatches, and Wee Review

Hi everyone!  I hope the new year is treating you well!  I thought we'd kick of a new year of blogging with a little haul.

I have jumped on the ColourPop bandwagon, and my package arrived in the mail a few days ago.  The box was so incredibly carefully packed.  Like every shadow was wrapped in foam and paper careful.  I was definitely impressed.  Unfortunately, I was too excited to open it to take a photo of how well they packed it, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.  It came in a cute ColourPop box, and with a handwritten note.  They also included a "tips and tricks" card.

ColourPop is a small (although quickly growing, I suspect) cosmetics company based in southern California.  It is a cruelty-free company, and specializes in shadows/pigments and lip liners and lipsticks.  All of their single products are $5 USD.  All of them.

Here is my stuff:

Little BFTE Haul

I was perusing the BFTE (Beauty From the Earth) website and stumbled across a blush named "Babycakes".  Now, this might be too much information, but "babycakes" happens to be what my husband and I call each other.  I showed him the blush, and he actually told me I had to get it.  The fact that it is a pink blush with little sparkles that I knew I would love was just a bonus.  So, I placed a little order with BFTE (which is an indie company that has mostly loose pigment eyeshadows, blushes, and mineral face products).  Here's what I ordered:

Look at the pretty little bag!

I bought a full size Babycakes blush.  The full size blushes come in 10 gram sifter jars with 2 grams of product.

BFTE Babycakes Blush (heavy swatch)

sparkles!

Here is Babycakes blush on my face:

I have Marc Jacobs lipstick in Have We Met? on my lips

I also bought 3 sample eyeshadows: Miracle, Heat, and Harvest.

I've swatched the eyeshadows dry and over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy for your viewing pleasure.

from left: Miracle, Heat, Harvest

Harvest just seems like a perfect color for fall.  And just look at Miracle.  Look at it!

Like the other BFTE stuff I have, I am impressed by everything I ordered.  Also, shipping and turn around time was incredibly fast.

BFTE has an absolutely amazing array of colors, and it's hard to choose just a few to buy.  I want them all, of course.

Do you have anything from BFTE?  What colors would you recommend?

Throwback Thursday with Benefit

Who remembers the Benefit Show Offs!?

These are beautiful loose powder pigments.

The packaging for these is pretty terrible.  The tube container thingy is about the same shape and size as a MAC lipgloss.  In other words, not a nice short, squat pot that is appropriate for loose powder pigments, but a tall and narrow shaped tube that has the tendency to tip over and spill the contents everywhere.

I can't find the name of either of these anywhere on the package.  It's possible they had stickers on the bottom of the tube that fell off long ago.  I'm pretty sure I had more of these, but I suspect they were nabbed by my sister.

I haven't been swatching or reviewing any of the "Throwback Thursday" items because many, if not all, are long discontinued, and I didn't think it would be helpful (or fair) for me to do so.  Would you like me to, though?

MAC Alluring Aquatics Haul

Yes, I fell for the MAC Alluring Aquatics collection just like everyone else.  I did some website stalking to get the stuff I wanted.

I will be keeping these boxes (which look green instead of the turquoise they are because the lime green wall behind them is being reflected in the metallic goodness of the boxes)!

I bought Mystical Creamsheen Lipstick, Water Deities Lipglass, Silver Sun Extra Dimension Eyeshadow, and Refined Golden Bronzing Powder.

from left: Silver Sun eyeshadow, Water Deities Lipglass, Mystical lipstick, Refined Golden bronzer

I am now regretting not buying Fathoms Deep (the blackened metallic purple eyeshadow in the collection).

Did you get your hands on anything from this collection?

P.S.  All right.  Full disclosure time.  I couldn't decide on which bronzer to get (Refined Golden or Golden), so I bought them both.  *sheepish grin*

Here they are side-by-side.

 from left: Golden, Refined Golden

Golden is definitely lighter and more subtle, and not as warm-toned as Refined Golden.  Refined Golden also has some gold sparkle, which is more obvious in the pan than on the face.

I've been self-tanning, so Refined Golden is my color of choice right now, but Golden will be great for when I'm not self-tanning.

bareMinerals "The Dream Sequence" Swatches and EotD

So, bareMinerals used to only sell loose powder products.  A few years ago, they branched out into skincare, then added pressed eyeshadows and blushes.  Now they have a liquid foundation.  So much for the "only powder for the skin because it has no binders and no pore-clogging ingredients!"  I don't mean to rip on the brand, but they were awfully fervent about their powders.  In any case, they do make some good stuff.  Case in point: their pressed "READY" eyeshadows.

Pardon the grubby packaging.  I've had this for at least 2 years.

The Dream Sequence is one of their "READY Eyeshadow 4.0" eyeshadow quads.  It contains a satin cream called 500 Thread Count, a purple-y taupe called Romp, a purple with blue duochrome quality called Bourdoir, and a dusty dark purple called Nightcap.  The names are fun, aren't they?

With the exception of the cream color, which is a little sheer (which I find acceptable because I really only use it as a highlight color), the shadows are soft and well pigmented.

from left: 500 Thread Count, Romp, Boudoir, Nightcap

Here is the eye of the day I created using the quad.

I used:
   Romp (shimmery purple taupe) on the moving lid
   a mix of Boudoir (bright purple) and Nightcap (dark purple) in the crease
   Nightcap on the outer third of the lower lashline
   500 Thread Count (satin cream) under the brow and in the inner corner
   Maybelline Full 'N Soft Mascara (one coat)

This is a really pretty set of eyeshadows, and I'm impressed by the quality.  The bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 quads are $30 USD.

Almay Intense i-Color Shimmer-i Kit in Trio for Browns Swatches, Review and EotD

Almay has three different kinds of eyeshadow trios: shimmer, smokey and bold nudes.  All three formulas come in trios that are meant to compliment your eye color.  They have sets for brown, blue, hazel, and green eyes.  I don't think the colors are particularly well chosen for the eye colors they are meant for, because the shadows actually match the eye color they are meant to enhance.  Contrasting colors work better to intensify eye color (like coppers and browns for blue eyes, not blues for blue eyes).  Anyhow, you certainly don't need to choose the trio based on eye color.  For example,  I chose to buy the Intense i-Color Shimmer-i Kit in Trio for Browns because of the pretty peachy gold lid color.

The plastic packaging feels pretty cheap, but I think the way the shadows are shaped like an eyelid is cute.

I wasn't expecting too much from this, honestly, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nice and blendable the shadows are.  The first time I used it, I over applied the dark brown color, but was able to blend it out easily.  The lighter colors aren't as pigmented as the dark brown, but they look more intense over a primer.  The lid color is quite soft and buttery.

The lid color is a golden shimmery iridescent peach.  The crease color is a satin (not completely matte) dark brown, and the highlight color is a slightly shimmery ivory.  The highlight seems to have a blueish pearlescence that makes it look almost white.  Beautiful!

However... even with a primer, the shadows crease on me slightly after a few hours.  Now, I do have rather oily eyelids, and a lot creases on me -- even shadows (with a primer) like Urban Decay, and the Maybelline color tattoos that seem to be bulletproof on just about everybody.  

Here's the eye of the day it created using the trio.  I placed the shadows how they are shown in the palette.

Because of the creasing issue, I can't give these a total thumbs up for oily eyelids.  I give it a thumbs up for everything else about it, though.  I think this trio would probably work just great on someone with non-oily eyelids.

So, the upshot of this review is: I think this trio is quite pretty and I definitely like it.  It just seems easy to use and great for an everyday neutral look.  The creasing doesn't really bother me because I'm used to it.  The Almay eyeshadow trios retail for around $7 USD.

Fyrinnae Enchanting Otters

This is Fyrinnae loose eyeshadow in Enchanting Otters by itself on the lid.

daylight bulb

daylight bulb

flash

from left: swatched dry, swatched over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

so sparkly!

Enchanting Otters definitely enchants me.

More Darling Girl Eyeshadow Swatching Fun

I have more Darling Girl eyeshadows to show you today!

swatched dry

From left: Pink Nightmare, Limelight Diamond Dust, Nice F*cking Model, Farmer Ted, Crypt Keeper, Hell Hath No Fury

swatched over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

You can see how differently they perform over a sticky base.

dry

 From left: Pink Nightmare, Limelight Diamond Dust, Nice F*cking Model

over Pixie Epoxy

dry

From left: Farmer Ted, Crypt Keeper, Hell Hath No Fury

over Pixie Epoxy

Pink Nightmare, Nice F*cking Model and Farmer Ted really transform when foiled.

The names of the Darling Girl shadows are so fun and the shadows are beautiful.