Black Rose Minerals review

Edit: So much for me taking a break... I wanted to finish up this review I started ages ago :) After being mesmerized by the swatches on Sirvinya's blog, I decided to place a small order from Black Rose Minerals. I ordered all sample baggies, which are priced at $1, the typical price for most samples from indie companies. They contain 1/8 teaspoon. You can also get 1/4 teaspoon in a mini jar for $2.50. Full sizes cost $6, and you can choose whether or not you want a sifter, which I think is great since I hate sifters. Every color listed on the website has swatches on skin and on the eyelid, which is nice. Some pictures seem to be a lot more color accurate than others, though. Ingredients are listed for every individual color, as well as if they are lip safe, vegan, etc. With so much skepticism surrounding indie makeup companies lately, it's refreshing to see a company so open with their ingredient and safety information (as they all should be). There's currently a 10% off discount code on the front page, and I believe there was one up when I placed my order a while back. I ordered sample sets of the Sprinkles collection, the NSFW collection, as well as various other samples. For some reason some of my sample choices didn't go through when I placed my order, and Rosa, the owner, immediately emailed me to get it worked out. My package was shipped the NEXT DAY. Everything arrived very nicely, with some cute little stickers and a discount code included for my next order. I also got 2 free samples. Swatch time! Top 3: Lioness, Insect, Don't Be Brassy Middle 3: Titania, Confused, Silver & Cold Bottom Lone Wolf: Magic Potion Top 3: Limon, Noxious, Denver Bottom 3: Lady, Candy Floss, Mome Rath Sprinkles Collection Top 3: Meringue, Sunset, Bubble-Bobble Bottom 3: Minty, Prozzac, Ultraviolence NSFW Collection Top 3: Mother Sunflower, Trafficking, Doll Face Bottom 3: Gremlin, Ocean Potion, Dionysus Bonus cat shot! I have nothing but good things to say about this company, the colors are absolutely beautiful and the service is amazing. I've been wearing my BRM shades more than any others ever since I got them. Have you tried Black Rose Minerals? Lemming any shades?

Hard Candy Glossaholic review

From reviews I've read, Hard Candy seems to be pretty hit-and-miss with their product line. I can't say myself, since aside from these glosses I've only tried the primer, and I don't see much else from the line that seems too exciting. That being said, I do really like these glosses. They cost $5 and are only available at your local evil empire, Walmart. They have a REALLY strong vanilla-frosting scent to them, which I don't like, but luckily it doesn't stay long. They also sport a giant applicator, which I didn't like at first, but now I do- it has kind of a dip in it, so it can get a lot of gloss in one go, and cover your lips in one go too. It's the same size as the gigantor MAC Wonderwoman glosses- here's a size comparison. Hard Candy, MAC Wonderwoman, Rimmel. I have 3 different colors- Fairy, Tipsy, and Chill Out. Tipsy is a sheer hot pick, and Fairy and Chill Out both show up mostly clear. I love these glosses because they have FLAKIES! Much like my favorite lip gloss of all time, the MAC Superglass (of which I only own one). You can click on the pictures to see them full size so the flakies are much more visible. I just think it looks so cool, I love wearing these with a neutral eye, layered over lipstick, to give my look something more interesting. These glosses are really sticky, which I normally don't like, but I can deal with it for these because they're so gorgeous. Do you have any of these Hard Candy glosses, or tried any others from the line? Do you have any of the coveted MAC Superglass?

Darling Girl Cosmetics Holo-Gloss Review

Right as Susan from Darling Girl Cosmetics was releasing her new collection of Holo-Glosses, she sent me samples of a few colors so I could review and swatch them :) Basically, a Holo-Gloss is a pretty sheer lip gloss, and it has TONS of gorgeous glitter, or an amazing sheen. If you've seen the Lorac 3D glosses, than you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Since they're so sheer, I think they're best for layering over another lipstick or gloss. What I liked about these is that even the ones that are PACKED with glitter don't feel gritty on my lips- the glitter is really fine. It does tend to stay on my lips though, even after everything else has worn off, much like MAC Superglass or the Hard Candy Glossaholics- I don't think there's really a way to avoid this. I get about the same wear time on these as I would any other gloss, which is maybe 2-3 hours. I'm a huge lip licker :P The Holo-Glosses are $4.25 for a 3.5 ml tube, which I think is a great price. These are so amazingly gorgeous, and there's quite a few shades now. After using these, I can't see myself paying $22 for any of the Lorac glosses I was lusting after. Now for the fun part, swatches! I left these first 2 pictures pretty big so you can really see the detail if you click to enlarge. Top 2: Wish You Were Here, Violet Hill Bottom 2: Blue Suede Shoes, Pennies From Heaven Blurry so you can see all the sparkly! Wish You Were Here Violet Hill Blue Suede Shoes Pennies From Heaven Pennies From Heaven is my favorite, and not just because the name was my idea ;) I really want to try Jar of Hearts and Queen of Hearts, I'm sure those will manage to find their way into my cart on my next DG order. Have you tried the Holo-Glosses yet? Which shades are you after?

Venomous Cosmetics review pt. 2

I already talked about the awesome pressed shadows Venomous Cosmetics has to offer, and now I'd like to cover their loose shadows! Samples are $1 and full sizes are $6.50, pretty standard. They adhere very well using a primer, which of course is a necessity with all loose shadows. The colors are all very pretty, some more complex than others. Something I don't like about the full size jars is that the ingredients list is on the inside of the lid. I was sent these a few weeks ago, so that could have changed by now, I'll make an edit if I learn that's the case. Personally, since I don't have allergy concerns or anything, it doesn't matter to me, but I'm sure it could to some people. Here's a sample baggie:

Swatch time! First up is the Well-Traveled collection. Top row: Beaches in Maui, Secrets of Cairo, Irish Countryside Middle row: Vegas Casino Bottom Row: L.A. Smog, Surfing the Gold Coast, NYC Nightlife Surfing the Gold Coast has really pretty yellow sparkle in it, and NYC Nightlife has all this amazing rainbow sparkle to it! They're both really unique colors, and my favorites of the loose shadows. The next 3 are Monster Under Your Bed, Indian Violet, and Falling Star (from the new All-Stars collection). The purple looks patchy, but since I started doing q-tip swatches, all purples I've done have turned out that way, so I'm blaming it on the q-tips. Lip Poisons are the glosses offered by Venomous. They're $3.50 for a purse size (3.7 ml) and $5 for a full size (5.9 ml). The texture is difficult for me to describe... it's thicker than a regular lip gloss, and it's somewhat sticky. When I applied I felt like it kept getting a bit patchy, but after a few minutes everything seemed to kind of settle down to an even coat. I'm really not good with anything lasting a long time, since I constantly snack/apply lip balm/ lick my lips, but it stayed on pretty well through me eating ice cream (albeit carefully), and 3 hours later it was still pretty vibrant. On the left is Genie, on the right is Trouble. I was BLOWN AWAY by these colors! I barely looked at them when I had browsed the Venomous site, but honestly these are my favorite product of what I was sent. I love the shadows, but right now I'm really into lippies, and these colors are just stunning. I did some awesomely awful lip swatches for you guys! Here's Genie: And Trouble: The flash makes Trouble look more flattering on my bare lips than it actually is, the blue in it gives me that 'Zombie Chic' look. It just doesn't work with my skintone by itself, so I've been wearing it layered over other colors. Here's a look I did with L.A. Smog & Surfing the Gold Coast loose shadows, and I'm wearing the Trouble Lip Poison over Clinique Chubby Balm in Super Strawberry. Honestly, my only complaint here is that some of the website photos for the shadows seem inaccurate. The Lip Poison photos seem right on, but some of the shadow photos are too overexposed or something, while some seem too washed out. I know it's difficult to get super accurate photos, but I feel like the current ones could be improved. Overall, I enjoyed everything I tried from Venomous, and I would certainly recommend them, especially if you're going through a pressed shadow phase as a lot of people seem to be. Don't skip over the Lip Poisons as they're the company's hidden gem, IMO! And it looks like there's going to be lip and eyeliners coming soon, which is neat. Disclaimer: I got everything mentioned in this review for free. This did not change my review, it's all my honest opinion.

Venomous Cosmetics review pt. 1

Venomous Cosmetics is pretty new to the indie scene. With so many new indie companies popping up left and right, you have to have something special. Venomous offers not only loose shadow, but also pressed shadows! They also have glosses called Lip Poisons. I was interested in trying this company out, so it was really exciting for me when Tracy, the owner, asked if I was interested in trying out some products (free of charge, this is my disclaimer, blah blah). As always, my review won't be affected by this. First up is the pressed shadows. A full size is $6.50, which I find reasonable. I think the price reflects the time it probably takes to do the pressing. They have SAMPLE pressed shadows, which is really cool! Those are $2. Here's what the sizes look like (next to a full-sized loose shadow for comparison): The pressed samples are so tiny! I had to run my shadow brush over the sample size a few times to get the brush covered, since they're so small, but that's not really an issue. The pressed samples are too small to have the name written on the back, so here's what Tracy does: Is it the most convenient thing in the world? No, but it works. I really can't think of a better way to do it, the text would be too small to read if you put the whole name on there. Here are my swatches of the pressed shadows: Top 4: Yellowjacket, Amazon Rainforest Expedition, Mermaid, Gaboon Viper Bottom 4: The Last Unicorn, Tazelwurm, Can't Give You Paris, Phoenix You guys, these are gorgeous. I didn't take them in direct sunlight so they look a little flatter than they actually are. I could not believe how especially pigmented Gaboon Viper and Phoenix were, they apply like a dream. I love using The Last Unicorn as a highlighter. Tazelwurm is probably my favorite, it has a gorgeous blue shift to it. Here's a quick look I did with Tazelwurm, Can't Give You Paris, and The Last Unicorn. On my lips is VC's "Genie" Lip Poison (formerly called "Cupid's Arrow"). As far as packaging, Tracy sealed everything very well, and as you can see, none of them broke. She put them in little baggies and bubble-wrapped the hell out of everything (pink bubble-wrap)! You definitely don't have to worry about any of them arriving broken or crushed. My final verdict: I love these. There are so many absolutely gorgeous colors to choose from, and I think it's great that you can get samples. Now I need to make my own palette to keep them in... In the next part of the review I'll talk about the loose shadows and lip poisons! I'll try to get it posted by tomorrow or the next day.

Silk Naturals swatches & review

Silk Naturals (link) is a company that's been on my 'to-try' list for ages, but I've just never gotten around to ordering since they don't offer samples. Every time I've browsed the website I've found so many things I wanted, so I was really excited when Karen, the owner, contacted me about sending me some products to review. So this is my disclaimer right away, I received these products free of charge. Hopefully my other reviews have led you to trust that I'll be honest with you :) I would never give a false statement or opinion on a review. Here we go! Karen included a 'company info' sheet with the package she sent me, which I thought was a really nice idea. On the back it had ingredient listings for all the different products they sell, which is good since it's not listed on the products themselves. Here's what an eyeshadow jar looks like (super close up): And here's a liquid lip gloss and a Kisser Slicker next to my phone for a size comparison: Silk Naturals seems to have a really great discount/reward system set up. They give a free Gift with Purchase (usually a shadow) with every order over $10. For every $30 you spend, you get a free shadow or lip balm of your choice. For every $100 you spend, you get a $5 discount. If you spend $125, you get free shipping (seems like a high number to me, but better than no free shipping offers I suppose). I mentioned earlier that the reason I'd never placed an order before was because they don't have samples. I am a sample queen, and I actually only own a small number of full size shadows. However, as far as prices go, $4 for a full size shadow (3/4 tsp in a 5g jar w/sifter) is a pretty darn good price. The other products I got, the Liquid Lip Glosses and Kisser Slickers, are also very reasonably priced at $4.75. What Karen DOES do is take returns on any lip or eye products if you end up not liking it. Normally I don't talk about website design, because I really don't care, but I wanted to mention it because I think it's really helpful. Most of the listings have swatches, and they are all very descriptive of the product- they have a 1-5 scale that rates things like opacity and shimmer, which I think is awesome. Here are swatches of all the different shadows I received: Top row: Sonic (MAC 'Vanilla' clone), Fire, High Beam Bottom row: Canary, Superfly, Madison, Prowl These shadows have amazing depth to them that I just couldn't capture. Fire has a really pretty reddish iridescence. Canary is a fabulous matte yellow. Superfly has lots of golden shimmer, and Prowl is LOADED with gorgeous shimmer- it's a very interesting purple based brown. Here's a look I did using High Beam, Superfly, Prowl, and Sonic. Top row: Orchid, Romp, Rollick Bottom row: Poly (MAC 'Parrot' clone), Scandal, Vandal The second picture is more accurate. Orchid and Romp are both beautiful, but applied a little patchy (I don't see Orchid on the website anywhere). Poly is a really pretty blue-green that makes me think of mermaids ^_^ Scandal has AWESOME red shimmer that absolutely would not show up for me, but it's there! For my lippie swatches, I have the Kisser Slicker lip glosses on the top, and the Liquid Lip Glosses on the bottom. Top row: Tender, Gold Blush Bottom Row: Bubblegum, Icing Tender is a VERY sheer brownish pink color. Gold Blush is basically just slightly golden shimmer, it looks great applied on top of other lippies. Bubblegum is a bright pink, and Icing ends up looking clear with a pink iridescence. The liquid lip gloss formula is normal, nothing especially good or bad. I really like the Kisser Slickers, they're almost like a tinted lip balm. The website has a few other lip products as well, many of them vegan. One last thing I wanted to add was that SN makes dupes (they call them clones) of lots of eyeshadows/lippies from brands like MAC, Bobbi Brown, BE, etc. As you might have realized by now, I really like the company! I thought the products I got were nice, COMPLEX colors, and the brand has a great product range with very reasonable prices. I will most definitely be making orders in the future. :)

Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes review & swatches

I know the reviews for these have been making the rounds lately, but I thought I'd share my opinion on the new Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes from as well. First, swatches! I ordered Leeroy Jenkins and Yo Dawg, and got a free sample of Over 9000. Leeroy Jenkins- swiped once, twice, three times Yo Dawg- swiped once, twice, three times Over 9000- swiped once, twice, three times As you can see, these are somewhat sheer, but are definitely buildable. My favorite is Leeroy Jenkins, which I've been wearing a lot lately. Even though it's purple, it's very wearable, and this is coming from someone who rarely strays out of the rosy-mauve area. If I had to try and compare these to a normal lip product, I'd go with 'an extremely tinted balm'. They're moisturizing the way a balm is, but have enough color to equal a lipstick. For $6.50, it's well worth the price, and I'm definitely going to be ordering more colors in the future. I also got a full size of the shade Everything Is Bears, which is a dark brown with awesome gold sparkles. There was a similar shade from Morgana I bought a long time ago, which is now discontinued, so I decided to pick this one up. Have you ordered anything from Shiro recently? I'm dying to try Caitlin's new pressed blushes!