Kiss My Sass eyeshadow swatches

Unfortunately I couldn't get natural light for these swatches, it was super cloudy out every day the week I tried to swatch. They still turned out alright, but you can't see how really sparkly some of the shades are.

From left to right: Sandcastle, Champagne, Nude Beach, Hayride

Hayride is so pigmented and pretty, I can't wait to use it in a look!

1st row, left to right: Poison Ivy, Love the Way You Lie, Sailors Kiss

2nd row: Reign Over Me, Firestarter, Broken Hearted

I really wish you could see the shimmer better in these. Sailors Kiss is definitely one of the most beautiful blues I own, it's SO gorgeous and shimmery and just perfect. I also really like Firestarter, which is a yellow with some red shimmer, and Broken Hearted, which is a red with some yellow shimmer.


Here's Tea Rose eyeshadow (I forgot to swatch it with the rest, oops!) and Summer Lovin' lip glaze. Without the flash...

And with flash.

SHABAM! Look at the color shift on that baby! In real life the shimmer has a bit more green to it. I really love the marshmallow scent the lip glaze has, I'm a sucker for anything marshmallow scented.


Everything I've swatched is available from Kiss My Sass Cosmetics.

Kiss My Sass Highlighter Swatches/Thoughts

Some of the many products offered by Kiss My Sass Cosmetics are loose powder highlighters. I already had samples of Pink Horizons and Golden Rays from the amazing Wendi of Makeup Zombie, and I decided to go ahead and order samples of Halo and Glisten as well to have a full set. The highlighters are $1.75 for a 5g jar with 1/4 tsp, or $7.50 for a 10g jar with 2 tsp. Halo is described as "a very sheer white with a soft sheen (gives an extremely sheer "soft-focus" appearance on the skin)". It is extremely sheer, I think it could be mixed with a finishing powder for a really pretty effect. Click on the pictures to enlarge them, you can see the effects so much better that way!

Golden Rays is "a golden shimmer (doesn't apply as "yellow" on skin)". I really like this one, it reminds me of my favorite highlighter from e.l.f. (Gotta Glow)

Pink Horizons is my favorite! It is described as "a light pink shimmer". Simple and true.

Glisten is "peachy nude with a golden shimmer". This is one that seems like it would be good for summer.

At some point I'm going to order a full size of Pink Horizons, and probably Golden Rays as well. Have you tried any of the highlighters from Kiss My Sass? Side note: are these some issues with the new blogger or is it just me? I'm having really weird amounts of line breaks all over the place with this post, and I had to take out some links because they would only show up at the http:// text and not change into a link.

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?

Darling Girl Spring Fling collection swatches

Susan from Darling Girl was kind enough to send me samples of the Spring Fling collection so I could swatch them for my readers :) Sadly, it seems I've lost the shade 'New Grass', so here is a link to one of my favorite blogs; she has some great swatches of this collection. Top 3: Sorbet, Mango Tango, Forsythia Middle 3: Garden of Weedin', Butterfly Flutterby, Lily of the Valley Bottom 3: Plum Blossoms, Shower of Flowers, Lala I wish my camera would show the complexity of Shower of Flowers, it has a great blue flash to it. Lala also has amazing pink shimmer, which is what I tried to capture with that last picture. Those two are my favorite colors from the collection. A lot of these colors are heavy are the shimmer, so I would recommend using Pixie Epoxy or a similar type product with these. I got on the roof to take these pictures and my kitty Gloria decided to come up too! Here's a look I did with Showers of Flowers and Lala... and a more fun one with Forsythia, Butterfly Flutterby, and some Collection 2000 glitter liner. A customer at work told me I looked like I was going to the carnival :P

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.