My Pretty Zombie - Swatches & Review

I have been eyeing up My Pretty Zombie on etsy for a while, so when I saw that she was running her annual sale of 33% off I decided it was a good excuse to pick up some samples!

I placed an order for 6 eyeshadow samples and 5 blush samples. This is what came in the mail:

A cute kitty card filled with powdered awesome! There was a bit of leakage from one of the blushes, but meh.. it happens, not enough to bother me :) I ordered 6 shades of eyeshadow and a sample set of 5 blushes (I received 6!).
I have to admit, I worried about what would happen if this got opened by customs lol - little bags of powder labelled with diseases and drug names.. fortunately it didn't get inspected :D

Now... the swatches!!! Unfortunately I don't really think my pics did these shades justice, but hopefully you get an idea of how amazing they are!  Swatched over Pixie Epoxy in natural light and the descriptions are taken from My Pretty Zombie's store.

First up: the eyeshadows:

Gangrenous: "starts as a dark lavender and switches to a glossy green depending on the light and the angle"
This shade went straight into my top 5 eyeshadows - I had decided before I even finished one eye that I needed a full size. The duochrome effect is gorgeous and purple and green is always a winning combo for me.

Anthrax: "Purple to Green with a gold to red shift"

Grr, my picture of this is not great, I couldn't seem to pick up the green - its much more obvious in person, I love it.

Hoof and Mouth: :Blue to purple with a pink and silver shift"
I found the shift in this shade to be less obvious than the one in Anthrax, however its still a gorgeous shade.

Grandma Cleavage: " a cornflower crayon blue with a gold shift...tacky yet fascinating"
Lol.. love the description. I think this shade is really pretty, the gold makes it really unique.

Rabies: "Minty green with a purple shift"

Another one that frustrated me when I tried to capture its complexity! You can't really see the purple shift in my pic, but its there - I promise!! This was my second fave after Gangrenous.

mNg #3: "Bubblegum Pink with a blueish purple shift"

I don't normally gravitate towards pink... but I admit I really like this one. The blue in it makes it wearable for me.

Next, the blushes...

PCP: "peach with gold glitter"
I have to admit, I haven't been brave enough to try this one yet, I really don't know if I could pull off orange blush.... I like the idea of giving it a try though.
THC: "lavender with a sticky green shift"
Again with the purple and green, it goes without saying that I love this one - its my favourite blush of the bunch!

Benzodiazepine: "a red, red, red blush"
Woah... this blush.. its so RED. I am super pale so I'd have to be feeling brave to try it... I wish I could pull it off though!
LSD: "a muted gray plum with a groovy red to gold shift"
Such a unique shade for a blush - looking forward to giving this one a go.
6-Mam: "plum with violet shimmer"
I like this one a lot, definitely won't have trouble using up the sample.

MDMA: "rosy pink with a gold afterglow"
This blush is pretty well known in the indie world, and for good reason - its gorgeous. I nearly ordered the full size of this but it occurred to me that it might be quite similar to Femme Fatale's 'Fire Bloom' blush. Heres the comparison:

Pretty similar right? In my opinion you don't need both. If I had to pick a favourite it woould be MDMA, its slightly more pigmented and has a bit more shimmer - but its really close. 

Overall, definitely a great first experience with My Pretty Zombie. I received my order in about 2 weeks (to NZ) and that was during a sale. I've already placed another order which includes full sizes of Gangrenous, Rabies, Anthrax and THC - the thought of running out of any of them is devastating! :P  Would love some suggestions on which other shades to try. :)

Thanks for reading my post, hope you enjoyed it! xx

Happy Hands 'Sweet Dreams' - Swatches & Review

Hi everyone - hope you're having a fantastic weekend! My kiddies are a bit crazy today, so I'm taking a break to do a blog post! :P This polish is from Happy Hands' spring collection.

Sweet Dreams is described as a "dreamy aqua blue jelly with pastel green, pink, aqua and holographic purple glitters." Such a cute color!

These swatches show three coats, plus one coat of topcoat, but this polish would also be great layered over a similar shade. I didn't have to do any fishing for this amount of glitter which I thought was pretty good!

So far I've been really impressed with all Happy Hands polishes I've tried so I'll be keeping an eye on their future releases :)

Happy Hands is available internationally from: Harlow & Co, Happy Hands store, Etsy, and Mei Mei Signatures.

Thanks for reading!! xx

Notoriously Morbid - Swatches & Review

I'm really excited about todays blog post because I get to share my review of a relatively new brand - Notoriously Morbid (love the name by the way!). I've heard them mentioned a few times recently in the indie makeup world so I headed to their website to have a look. I was immediately drawn in by the pic above.. ahh I mean it has BATS! Who doesn't like bats? And FANGS - love it! Seriously, its like this brand was made for me! 
Anyway.. then I started looking through the collections and colors - there is a great variety and a lot of the shades looked quite unique. I decided to place an order for a blogger pack which includes one full jar and five baggie samples. The shades are random but I left a note asking if I could have Morgana as my jar since I love purples. This is what I received:

I love it when I get personalised notes like this! This is one of the reasons I buy from small companies, its obvious that time and thought was put into my order.  I even got purple tissue paper <3 The owner of Notoriously Morbid seems like such a lovely person too, I emailed a few times with shipping related questions and got a super polite reply almost immediately.

I didnt just get five samples, but SEVEN! Look at those colors! I was so excited when I saw this - I took one look and ran off to get swatching supplies.

I got my jar of Morgana! And its just as amazing as I had imagined.. *drool*. If you like purple you really need to check this shade out.  Onto the swatches! All are over pixie epoxy and I've used the descriptions from Notoriously Morbids' store because I dont think I could describe them better!

Morgana (Sun)

Morgana (Shade)

Morgana: "A beautiful purple that is very deceiving, it goes on blue with a purple duochrome. It's the perfect blurple!" 
Ahhh.. perfect, even better than I'd hoped for <3 It really is the perfect blurple.

Mystique (Sun)

Mystique (Shade)

Mystique: "A deep lush blue with a gorgeous silver sparkle". This shade is amazing - pretty sure I was drooling while swatching this lol. With all of these shades I found a little goes a very long way - super pigmented. 

Stripper Zombie (Sun)

Stripper Zombie (Shade)

Stripper Zombie: "A sour apple green with a gold duochrome and packed with gold sparkle".
This shade took me by surprise, I didn't expect to love it - but then I swatched it... and it instantly became one of my faves of the bunch. This particular shade of green just looks perfect with the gold, and the duochrome effect is really strong. I can see myself using this a lot, might have to get it in a full size.

Lunatic Shrilling (Sun)

Lunatic Shrilling (Shade)

Lunatic Shrilling: "A dark purple grey with copper sparkles and a copper sheen".
As soon as I saw this I knew I would love it, I really like these sorts of purples, and this shade really came alive in the sun.

Silence (Sun)

Silence (Shade)

Silence: "Silence a very dark grey boarding on black except this bad baby has a crap load of sparkles to lighten your eyes!"
Awesome description lol, and pretty accurate too! This shade is quite unique in my collection, and I'm looking forward to trying it as a liner. 

Poisoned Grapes (Sun)

Poisoned Grapes (Shade)

Poisoned Grapes: - Limited Edition shade "A gorgeous shiny purple verging on metallic".
A nice solid purple! Definitely one to grab before it disappears.

Goodbye Sweetie (Sun)

Goodbye Sweetie (Shade)

Goodbye Sweetie: "A gorgeous semi matte white with a golden hue and silver sparkles".
Ooo I really like this one.. really soft and delicate looking. Another one I can imagine using a lot!

Zinthos (Sun)

Zinthos (Shade)

Zinthos: "A dark grey purple with blue and pink sparkles".
I dont feel like this one photographed quite right - it was a bit more purple in person, although it is very dark.

I am so excited about this brand - the quality, wear time and complexity of the shades is stunning, I highly recommend grabbing some samples and trying them for yourself. 

Notoriously Morbid offer three sizes:
Sample Size (generous -  seems similar to Shiro's samples - approx 1/4 teaspoon in bag) - $1.25
Mini Size (1.5 g in jar - this is comparable to other indie full-sizes) - $2.75
Full Size (Completely packed 5g jar - a LOT of product)- $5.50
International shipping is available.

I'm very impressed with this brand so far and I look forward to trying more from them and possibly posting some looks. I already have the Lady Lovely Locks summer collection of mattes on the way :) 

Find Notoriously Morbid on:
Storenvy
Etsy
Facebook - they run some great sales on Fridays which they announce on their facebook page.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post - hope you enjoyed it! Now I'm off to browse NM's site some more and plan my next order :) xxx

Scofflaw 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot' - Swatches & Review

Today's post features a polish from Scofflaw. Scofflaw is a small indie polish company based in Chicago, USA. If you haven't tried them yet you should try and pick one up, they make amazing polishes, the glitter combos are fantastic and the formula is always amazing. 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is "a teal jelly base packed with red, white, gold and brown glitters of various shapes and sizes". This swatch is three coats with one coat of top coat. I did find that the glitter sunk a little in the bottle, so it did require a good shake.

Scofflaw is available in the US via her etsy store, or internationally through Llarowe and Femme Fatale (soon to be shipping worldwide).

Thankyou for reading my post! xx

My Lush Haul

So yesterday was my 5th wedding anniversary - its certainly been a productive five years with three kids to show for it!  Anyway I got super spoilt and my hubby took me to Lush to buy me a pressie - he knows how to keep wifey happy :)  Heres what I got...

Lucky huh? He had a bit of help from me, but some of it he picked on his own!

Rock Star soap - this is one of his picks and its the second time hes bought it for me. I ran out of it a while ago and I've really missed it - I wish they would put this smell in more products because I could just sniff it all day.  Rock Star is vanilla scented.

Karma solid perfume - mmm this is the only Lush smell that can give the Rock Star soap a run for its money imo. From the Lush website: 'Karma is a powerful, spicy and unique patchouli and citrus perfume'. This is going to be a product I buy again and again, its just amazing.

Chou Chou .. I Love You toothy tabs - This is a product I've wanted to try for a while. Its quite an interesting experience! You just crunch the tablet between your teeth (I advise slowly, as they're quite strong), then brush your teeth as normal - the tablet froths up as you brush. My teeth did feel clean afterwards and I had lovely rose scented breath! I quite like these, and I will definitely repurchase - I would like to give the other kinds a go too.  I did make my husband try these too - hes not a fan lol - didn't like the texture and the taste. Oh well - least he won't be stealing them!

Lovely Jubblies - YES, finally!  I've wanted to try this product for a long time now, I've breastfed three kids so Lush's description appealed to me: 'We’ve developed a cream to keep your bits firm and supple. This blend of cold-pressed, organic oils can keep your knockers, decolletage, stomach and bottom in top nick'. This sounds amazing - looking forward to seeing if I notice any changes after using this for a while. It definitely smells great - a mix of orange blossom and rose.

Tiny Hands solid moisturiser - I'm a mum to kids in nappies, so I wash my hands about 238676 times a day - I use a lot of moisturiser. I trialled this product in the shop and loved the way it felt on my hands so my husband insisted on getting it for me <3  Its a blend of vanilla, chamomile, marigold and cocoa butter and you just rub it between your hands to help 'soften and repair dry and sore hands'. I've already used this quite a bit and I love it - the moisturising effect really lasts.

So overall I was super happy with my pressie - I love absolutely everything I got and I can see all the items becoming fixtures in my body care routine. What Lush products have you tried - anything you would recommend? Get your fix in your local lush store or online.

Thanks for reading my post! xx

Ninja Polish 'Hydra' - Swatches & Review

I just have to apologise in advance... the following pictures may create a new lemming! I was lucky enough to snag Hydra from the new Ninja Polish Dragon Collection - its a gorgeous multichrome glitter that shifts from green to blue to pink.

The color shift in this polish is really striking!  This is shown at 4 coats alone, however I could have gotten away with 2, and next time I wear it I'll definitely layer it.  I found that one layer of top coat was enough.

I'm so glad I nabbed this while it was available!  It sold out pretty quickly but you can head on over to Ninja Polish and sign up to be notified via email when it gets restocked - its definitely worth stalking ;)

Thanks for viewing my post, I hope you enjoyed it and that you're able to get your hands on this polish :) xx