Things I Never Did Before Beauty Blogging

I stole this idea from a post in Lisa Kate's blog. Read & follow if you don't already- love her. 1. I had bought a crappy primer from a crappy online repackaging brand one time, and thought primers didn't work. That was before I learned about Detrivore primer and UDPP... now I always use one of the two, usually along with Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. 2. Repackaging, you say? What's this? Almost ALL the online makeup I had bought pre-blogging was from repackagers. I thought Lime Crime colors were so unique and pretty, I was almost willing to shell out the $12 for them. Thanksfully blogging has opened my eyes, It is a lot easier for me to tell if a company is a repackager now. 3. This was technically about 1 1/2 or 2 years ago, right when I first started getting into makeup. I saw L'Oreal HiP colors and thought they were the brightest, most unique colors out there. :P Now I laugh at the thought, they are so plain compared to places like Aromaleigh, Fyrinnae, and Hi Fi. 4. Another one that was before blogging, but still. ONE eyeshadow color. I thought that was a whole look in itself. Now I wear one or two eyeshadows on my days when I don't have time, or I'm going somewhere like my grandma's house, so I don't want to be over the top. Most real looks of mine now use between 3 and 6 colors. 5. Lipstick! I had actually never worn real lipstick (aside from some Hello Kitty stuff meant for little girls) until just about a month ago, after seeing this post on Julissa's blog. Her lipstick swatches looked so pretty I decided I had to start trying lipstick out. I think I have 8 now. 6. Nice, expensive, name brand makeup never seemed like something I'd get. I had barely ever even heard of Sephora, and I had browsed the UD website but just gave up cus it costs so much. I never thought I'd be willing to shell out $17 for a primer. Just recently I got 4 UD products from that Haute Look sale- cost with shipping was only $21! Beauty Ticket has lead me to get products from Too Faced, Stila, and Jelly Pong Pong. My friend just got me a Sephora palette and AMAZING Bare Escentuals glosses. I love indie makeup, but I do love the "nice" stuff, too. I'm sure there's more, but these are what come to mind. And of course, I've tried out so many new makeup and polish brands I see on everyone's lovely blogs. Blogging is a really important thing to me now, reading your blogs and writing my own makes me really happy. I love chatting with people who share my obsession! I <3 all my followers, have a great week!

Stuffstuffstuff

I grabbed all my eye colors I believe may be repackaged, and put them in one of my Hello Kitty lunchboxes (the other is full with Hello Kitty makeup!). It was 40ish colors, so around 1/3 of all the colors I have. Damnit you repackagers! Stop wasting my money with your crock of shit. Here is my EOTD. I am sooo not in the mood for bright colors today, so I did kind of a brown and dark purple thing. What I used: Oh Precious Patience, by The She Space (inner lid) Samhain Spirits, by Fyrinnae (center of lid) Forbidden Lover, by Fyrinnae (outer lid) Covergirl eyeliner in brown black (waterline) A Bit Naughty, by the She Space (under waterline) Max Factor 2000 Calorie Extreme Lash mascara. WHYYYY DID YOU TAKE MY MAX FACTOR AWAY FROM MEEEE base: Urban Decay Primer Potion, with Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on top e.l.f. lip gloss in New York City Today I ordered from Sobe Botanicals, Evil Shades, Beautiful Girl Minerals, and mark by Avon. So that's 8 orders I've placed in the last week... uh oh! I'm really itching to place another Fyrinnae order, and get some NYX stuff, since I remarkably don't own any. We'll see if I give in to temptation. >_>

Merry Midnight, Mineral Makeup Mutiny

That title has way too much alliteration for my my taste, haha. First off I wanted to show a picture of OPI's Merry Midnight, my favorite color right now. It is such a unique color, a purple with blue sparkles and red flecks. It's so cool. Since my hand has icky burn marks all over it, here is a link to Grey's blog. This picture captures it perfectly. I managed to succeed today in not making my right hand look like a 5 year old did it, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I feel like since I'm part of the makeup blogging community now, I should share my thoughts on the Mineral Makeup Mutiny. I think it's great that there is a list out of companies I can trust to take my money for something they worked hard to produce themselves. It also saddens me that there seems to be a need for a website like this. I feel nervous about placing orders lately, because I'm learning how many repackagers there are, and how I've probably lost a good deal of money to them. I consider makeup my art medium, and basically the only thing I really have talent and passion for, and it's upsetting to have to worry about if I'm getting ripped off every time I place an order anywhere. I was recently googling the names of companies I've ordered from with the word "repackaged" after it. I stumbled upon this entry from the MMM blog. If you scroll down to the comments, you will see the first one is from Christina, owner of Pure Luxe cosmetics. Seeing this really upset me- the way she threatened a legal statement, as has been seen with Orglamix and LimeCrime, is a very poor and juvenile way to run your business, in my opinion. It also upset me because because now I am quite certain (although one can never be 100% positive) that Pure Luxe probably repackages some pigments. I have at least 30 samples from there, and it really pisses me off I spent my money getting what could be jacked up prices on products I could have gotten elsewhere. Then, while reading this post in Grey's blog yesterday, I saw the pictures of Heavenly Natural's 'Hush a Bye' next to Glamour Doll Eyes' 'Dirty Jeans'. To me these pigments look nearly identical to a color I own from Pure Luxe called 'Galaxy'. I also own many Heavenly Natural Beauty eyeshadows which are also nearly identical to straight pigments. Do I think the owners of these businesses make some completely unique eyeshadow products? Yes. Do I also think that they are repackaging pigments and not disclaiming it right on the page? Yes. I think, even if you will answer honestly to an email about whether or not you repackage, to not directly state it on your page is being dishonest. I also emailed the owner of Glittersniffer asking if her products were original. This was 6 days ago and I have still not received a response, which leads me to believe they are indeed not original. And if they are, it's poor customer service to leave an email sitting for so long, especially when she states she will "answer emails pretty quickly". Sorry for the rant, I'm just pretty bummed I put my money into companies that aren't seeming too honest at this point. To end on a happier note, here's some kissing anteaters!

Heavenly Natural Beauty swatches

I'm sick! I spent my entire day playing Pet Society on Facebook instead of completing the difficult tasks of showering, getting dressed, and putting on makeup. I didn't want to leave my blog empty today though, so I decided to do some swatches. I rarely see anything about Heavenly Natural Beauty, so I decided to swatch my favorite colors of theirs. From left to right: SangReal, Ransom, Pixie, Dazzel Linda, Bambie, Panic, Diva Since I'm newer to the online makeup industry, there are still many companies I have yet to order from. I have also never ordered any pigments from TKB. I know HNB repackages some of their colors, but I don't know which. If anyone knows if any of these colors are repackaged from TKB, I'd love to know which. I'm guessing Panic and Diva, since I've seen so many almost identical colors. One thing I would like to see changed about websites who repackage as well as making their own colors is a listing somewhere of which colors are repackaged, or a notification on the color's page. I'm all for honesty, but I think without stating which colors are repackaged, you're really not going the extra mile to be true to your customers. Besides that, I wonder why I haven't seen HNB reviewed more, or used in more looks. The colors that are obviously created by the owner are gorgeous, and it surprises me I don't see them pop up more often in blogs. I plan on ordering more colors from them soon. I hope everyone is feeling well, cold season is beginning! Keep that sanitizer loaded and ready (I use Bath & Body Works Cumcumber Melon) :)