My feelings on I Touch Roses are somewhat mixed. First, let's address the website. The homepage has a "color chart" of all their eyeshadows. If you go to the page labeled "Eye Shadows", however, there is a different color chart. Color descriptions are listed below, and include many shades not on the second chart. This confused me, and I ended up not ordering a couple shadows I would have liked, because I wasn't sure if they were actually being sold or not. The foundation, blush, lips, and skin pages are all straightforward. There is also a page of scents, none of which I ordered, because of the very vague descriptions.
When you click the purchase button you are taken to your cart, which shows you the shipping price, and updates it as you add more items. I thought this was a nice touch.
My products arrived in a package from Klaus Franz... one of my pet peeves for companies is when it has the person's name on the package, instead of the company name. I have lots of orders coming, so I don't know which order this is until I open it. And who is Klaus Franz? The company owner's name is Ahna.
My samples came in a little purple organza bag. You can't order individual samples (you have to order x amount, but you do choose your colors). I got 2 sets of 7 eye shadow samples, a set of 4 lip samples, and a set of 3 blush samples. The lippies were in a little plastic baggie, and the blushes and shadows were all together in another baggie. I couldn't remember which ones were the actual blush, as it wasn't stated on the bag, and no invoice was included. My e-mail invoices didn't list what colors I had chosen either. This note was included.
I understand people have personal issues, and I appreciate the extra lippie sample, but this was just another thing to add to the confusion of the website.
The baggies the samples come in have a typical amount of pigment in them, but are awkwardly small. Here are 3 I Touch Roses sample baggies compared to one each of Morgana Minerals, Aromaleigh, and Detrivore.
The first thing I noticed was that there were a few colors that looked exactly like some of the colors in my Hello Kitty lunchbox of repackaging shame. I decided to do some comparison swatches. From left to right: Heavenly Natural Beauty "Pixie", vs I Touch Roses "Moody"; HNB "Nymph" vs ITR "Perfection"; HNB "Diva" vs Pure Luxe "Grape" (these are both believed to be TKB's Grape Pop) vs ITR "Fantasy".
As you can see, they are not the exact same, but all these colors are very similar. I would not say I Touch Roses is a repackager, but I would say the colors shown above are not unique or creative. I also though ITR's "Herbal" (left below) was the same as Pure Luxe's "Vibe" (right below), but I was wrong.
Here are the rest of my swatches. From left to right: Tears, Unreal, Carisa, Best Friend, Love Me, Calm, Escape I, Whisper
You can ignore that random purple up top, it's just Pure Luxe's "Grape" again. Tears was an included free sample. I actually like this shadow the best out of all of them. It's difficult to tell from the pictures, but Love Me is basically just a pink iridescence, and Calm is a blue-green iridescence. They look just like pictures of the Sparks! on the TKB website, but I can't compare for sure as I don't own any TKB micas.
Here are more swatches. From left to right: Reason (free sample), Going Home, Twilight I, Twilight II, Rose Dust, Amorous, Mercy
Amorous is actually a very glittery pink, the other color I particularly like. Twilight I, TWilight II, and Rose Dust all turned out to be the blushes. I could tell by the way they blended, and I checked the website to be sure. I think Twilight I is a very flattering color.
Here are the lip samples compared in size to an Aromaleigh lip sample. They seem to contain slightly more product than the Aromaleigh sample, but are still in the annoying teeny bags.
From left to rightL Ever After, For Love, Tease, Princess, Crystal
In case you couldn't tell, I have just discovered the macro setting on the camera.
All the bags but one had handwritten labels, not printed, which could be rubbed off in all of 2 seconds.
I rubbed the label off of the Ever After lippie. Some of them had already gotten a little rubbed off during shipping.
So I Touch Roses has a few colors, lippies, and blushes I like, but nothing that really stands out. The website is confusing to order from, and I don't like the size of the sample bags, or the writing that comes right off. I think maybe in time, with some more unique colors, I Touch Roses could improve a lot. Right now though I'm not too impressed.
I say Neutralish because I feel like there is no such thing as a neutral with Aromaleigh! When I think neutral, I think boring. There are no boring Aromalrigh colors. It's the only place I order a lot of non brights from, because even colors I would typically consider "dull" are just beautiful. Moth is a browny grey, with an amazing green interface that only shows up when it hits the light just right. Totally grab a sample ;]
What I used:
Detrivore eyeshadow primer
Moth, by Aromaleigh (inner lid)
Brianna, by Aromaleigh (outer lid)
Oh Precious Patience, by The She Space (crease)
Feel the Heat, by High Voltage (highlight)
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cottage Cheese (inner v)
Covergirl eyeliner in brown black (waterline)
NYX eye pencil in Acid Green (under waterline)
Urban Decay Lingerie lash primer
mark scanda-lash mascara
Revlon Colorstay under eye concealer
Revlon PhotoReady translucent finishing powder
mark blush in After Glo
NYX lipstick in Georgia
mark luxe gloss in Pearl Luxe
What is up with the mascara in that picture... anyway. I really like the new Revlon PhotoReady face powder I've been using. I always try to keep my face as matte as possible, because I usually feel like I can't pull off the "dewy" look. I think this keeps shine on my face without making me look oily, so I really like it. Downside to this powder is the cost: $11 is a huge leap up from the $4 Covergirl stuff I was using. Drugstore makeup is getting pricey these days! Also, it has a weird smell, like a bathroom that's just been cleaned with a floral cleaner... I don't know how to describe it. I think it makes my skin look really nice though, so the pros outweigh the cons.
HKOTD!
Trash can! 16th birthday gift :] That's my 2009 calender next to it... too cute to throw away.
Oh, and in case there's someone who hasn't seen this article from anyone else's blog... here. I've already left my pissy comments about it on other people's blogs, you can rant here if you want. :P
I got 4 packages in the mail today!
From Avon/mark
Aromaleigh
High Voltage Cosmetics
and Cherry Culture!
These pictures are pretty lame colorwise, everything looks a lot brighter irl. The L.A. Colors due, though, actually looks like that, definitely NOT like the picture on the Cherry Culture site *sigh*
Hmm... nope.
I also wanted to show you my nails, using Wet N Wild's "Rain Check" which I got for 99 cents :) I used a coat of CG's Matte Magic on top.
It's grey, it's blue! I love it! PS, I know the yellow is dirty! It's not my carpet, but the towel I keep under my makeup area to try and stop ruining the carpet ;]
I was going to take pictures of my whole Hello Kitty collection and post it, but I decided I'm going to do a Hello Kitty of the Day instead! I don't think showcasing some of my weirder things individually will make me look like any less of a loony, but it'll be more fun! Here are some knee socks my friend Emily just picked me up. I can't wait for warmer weather so I can wear them with a cute little skirt!
I hope everyone's week is going well.
5. e.l.f. Candy Shop Lip Gloss in Mocha Maniac
I got this in a set of 3 sliding gloss tins at Big Lots for $2.50 a couple weeks ago.
I really hate coffee smells but for some reason I love this.
4. mark juice gems in Honeydew Melon
It smells EXACTLY like honeydew melon, I swear. I love melon scented glosses, and this is the strongest and most true of all the ones I have.
3.Any e.l.f. tube glosses from Target
They all have a really sweet, candy scent to them. This may not appeal to everyone, but I love it.
2. Jelly Pong Pong lib sorbet in Blood Orange
I really don't like anything orange scented, but I guess blood orange smells a lot different than a typical orange (I've never tried one). I'm sitting here sniffing this one over and over right now, it smells so good.
1. Evil Shades lip gloss in Lethal Kiss
I don't even know what words to use to describe this because it is so darn amazing and unique :) If you ever get just one thing from Evil Shades, it has to be this amazingly delicious gloss.
What glosses do you think smell delicious?
and HeavenNJR gave me the Best Blog Award.
I'm supposed to give these awards to some great blogs I've recently started reading, so here they are!
Red Lipstick and Black Liner
99 Pink Balloons
A Girl and Her Shadows
Lately I'm Obsessed With...
Painted Moogle
Shakeup Your Makeup
Closed Eye Typing
Ramblings of Purple M
These are all great blogs, and you should be following these lovely ladies if you're not already!
I understand people have personal issues, and I appreciate the extra lippie sample, but this was just another thing to add to the confusion of the website.
The baggies the samples come in have a typical amount of pigment in them, but are awkwardly small. Here are 3 I Touch Roses sample baggies compared to one each of Morgana Minerals, Aromaleigh, and Detrivore.
The first thing I noticed was that there were a few colors that looked exactly like some of the colors in my Hello Kitty lunchbox of repackaging shame. I decided to do some comparison swatches. From left to right: Heavenly Natural Beauty "Pixie", vs I Touch Roses "Moody"; HNB "Nymph" vs ITR "Perfection"; HNB "Diva" vs Pure Luxe "Grape" (these are both believed to be TKB's Grape Pop) vs ITR "Fantasy".
As you can see, they are not the exact same, but all these colors are very similar. I would not say I Touch Roses is a repackager, but I would say the colors shown above are not unique or creative. I also though ITR's "Herbal" (left below) was the same as Pure Luxe's "Vibe" (right below), but I was wrong.
Here are the rest of my swatches. From left to right: Tears, Unreal, Carisa, Best Friend, Love Me, Calm, Escape I, Whisper
You can ignore that random purple up top, it's just Pure Luxe's "Grape" again. Tears was an included free sample. I actually like this shadow the best out of all of them. It's difficult to tell from the pictures, but Love Me is basically just a pink iridescence, and Calm is a blue-green iridescence. They look just like pictures of the Sparks! on the TKB website, but I can't compare for sure as I don't own any TKB micas.
Here are more swatches. From left to right: Reason (free sample), Going Home, Twilight I, Twilight II, Rose Dust, Amorous, Mercy
Amorous is actually a very glittery pink, the other color I particularly like. Twilight I, TWilight II, and Rose Dust all turned out to be the blushes. I could tell by the way they blended, and I checked the website to be sure. I think Twilight I is a very flattering color.
Here are the lip samples compared in size to an Aromaleigh lip sample. They seem to contain slightly more product than the Aromaleigh sample, but are still in the annoying teeny bags.
From left to rightL Ever After, For Love, Tease, Princess, Crystal
In case you couldn't tell, I have just discovered the macro setting on the camera.
All the bags but one had handwritten labels, not printed, which could be rubbed off in all of 2 seconds.
I rubbed the label off of the Ever After lippie. Some of them had already gotten a little rubbed off during shipping.
So I Touch Roses has a few colors, lippies, and blushes I like, but nothing that really stands out. The website is confusing to order from, and I don't like the size of the sample bags, or the writing that comes right off. I think maybe in time, with some more unique colors, I Touch Roses could improve a lot. Right now though I'm not too impressed.
What is up with the mascara in that picture... anyway. I really like the new Revlon PhotoReady face powder I've been using. I always try to keep my face as matte as possible, because I usually feel like I can't pull off the "dewy" look. I think this keeps shine on my face without making me look oily, so I really like it. Downside to this powder is the cost: $11 is a huge leap up from the $4 Covergirl stuff I was using. Drugstore makeup is getting pricey these days! Also, it has a weird smell, like a bathroom that's just been cleaned with a floral cleaner... I don't know how to describe it. I think it makes my skin look really nice though, so the pros outweigh the cons.
HKOTD!
Trash can! 16th birthday gift :] That's my 2009 calender next to it... too cute to throw away.
Oh, and in case there's someone who hasn't seen this article from anyone else's blog... here. I've already left my pissy comments about it on other people's blogs, you can rant here if you want. :P
From Avon/mark
Aromaleigh
High Voltage Cosmetics
and Cherry Culture!
These pictures are pretty lame colorwise, everything looks a lot brighter irl. The L.A. Colors due, though, actually looks like that, definitely NOT like the picture on the Cherry Culture site *sigh*
Hmm... nope.
I also wanted to show you my nails, using Wet N Wild's "Rain Check" which I got for 99 cents :) I used a coat of CG's Matte Magic on top.
It's grey, it's blue! I love it! PS, I know the yellow is dirty! It's not my carpet, but the towel I keep under my makeup area to try and stop ruining the carpet ;]
I was going to take pictures of my whole Hello Kitty collection and post it, but I decided I'm going to do a Hello Kitty of the Day instead! I don't think showcasing some of my weirder things individually will make me look like any less of a loony, but it'll be more fun! Here are some knee socks my friend Emily just picked me up. I can't wait for warmer weather so I can wear them with a cute little skirt!
I hope everyone's week is going well.
5. e.l.f. Candy Shop Lip Gloss in Mocha Maniac
I got this in a set of 3 sliding gloss tins at Big Lots for $2.50 a couple weeks ago.
I really hate coffee smells but for some reason I love this.
4. mark juice gems in Honeydew Melon
It smells EXACTLY like honeydew melon, I swear. I love melon scented glosses, and this is the strongest and most true of all the ones I have.
3.Any e.l.f. tube glosses from Target
They all have a really sweet, candy scent to them. This may not appeal to everyone, but I love it.
2. Jelly Pong Pong lib sorbet in Blood Orange
I really don't like anything orange scented, but I guess blood orange smells a lot different than a typical orange (I've never tried one). I'm sitting here sniffing this one over and over right now, it smells so good.
1. Evil Shades lip gloss in Lethal Kiss
I don't even know what words to use to describe this because it is so darn amazing and unique :) If you ever get just one thing from Evil Shades, it has to be this amazingly delicious gloss.
What glosses do you think smell delicious?
