Notoriously Morbid 'A Dark Christmas Dream' Swatches!

Ok! So I win the worst blogger of 2014 award so far! :P I completely underestimated how busy these 3 kids were going to keep me. Last year my 1 year old slept most of the time, my 3 year old didn't talk (constantly!) and my 5 year old .. well he's about the same, although he does fight with that 3 year old a bit more! But enough excuses :P

I promised I was going to show you swatches of the Notoriously Morbid Christmas collection 'A Dark Christmas Dream' and they've just been sitting here waiting. Fortunately Carrie has told me that she is going to be making the collection permanent so you can still grab these (and you will want to!). I purchased a full size set during the Black Friday sale.

The following swatches are over Pixie Epoxy and the descriptions are borrowed from Notoriously Morbid's website.

Ebenezer, I Release You: 'Perfect victorian pink shade with a violet duochrome.'

No Warmth Could Warm: 'Ice cold blue with a slight violet shift.'

Look Upon Me: 'Appears like a dusty mauve in the jar, this color, when applied or blended,changes to a metallic purple with a blue duochrome.'

Shadow of Things: 'Appears as a charcoal gray with aqua green sparkles in jar and on bare skin, this color, when applied over primer changes to a dark metallic teal green.'

(Left to Right: Ebenezer, I Releaes You, No Warmth Could Warm, Look Upon Me, Shadow of Things)

Melancholy One: 'Appears like a soft golden beige in the jar, this color, when applied or blended,changes to a light blue with an orange duochrome.'

Stake of Holly: 'A holly green with aqua sparkles.'

Spirit of All Three: 'Gold with green and red sparkles (the green is more prominent).'

Frozen Whisper: This beautiful shade was only available as a GWP during the Black Friday sale - so glad I snagged it!

(Left to Right: Melancholy One, Stake of Holly, Spirit of All Three, Frozen Whisper)

I mentioned in a previous post that this is not only my fave Notoriously Morbid collection so far, its my favorite of any eyeshadow collection I have seen. Its perfection - the shadows are perfectly creamy and pigmented and the duochromes are beautiful. There is a great range of shades here also.

Carrie has just launched her own website which looks great, plus for the next week you can get an extra 25% off with code NEWNM25 - this code expires 12AM EST on Jan 31st 2014.

Thanks for viewing my review - the madness at my home will end soon when the kids return to school and I should be able to get back to regular posting :) xx

White Rabbit Cosmetics - Swatches & Review

Hi guys! I know its been AGES since my last post - this time of the year is a bit crazy for me with the end of school / preschool etc (for us in NZ Christmas is our summer vacation), not to mention getting sick for nearly a week in the middle of it all! While I was sick though, I received a surprise package in the mail from the lovely Brooke of White Rabbit Cosmetics! It made my day so much better and I can't thank her enough - it was a complete surprise and super generous!

White Rabbit is a relatively new indie company that runs out of Glasgow, Scotland.  I've been eyeing up her Doctor Who gift set for a while so this was a great chance to try her makeup :) She sent me 4 full size eyeshadows which arrived sealed with a shrink band, as well as sifter seals. I love the labels, they're gorgeous!

All swatches are shown over pixie epoxy, and in natural light.

So Long (thanks for all the fish): 'a beautiful sea green with a shimmer!'

This is my fave of the bunch - its just such a pretty shade of green. This one is vegan too!

Earl Grey: Earl Grey is a deep brown with a rich glow and glitter highlights!

I like this one a lot more than I thought I would at first glance, brown isn't normally my thing but I'm really enjoying the sparkles here, it adds a lot of depth to the shade.

Exacitically: 'a cornflower color loaded with glitter!'
You can't see it in this pic as much as I would like but this is definitely loaded with glitter! Cute little tiny rainbow glitters! I recommend a sticky base for this one due to all the sparkles. Not vegan.

Love Potion: a creamy neutral absolutely loaded with gold glitter!
This looks a little more gold here than it is in person - this is my second fave of the bunch! And its vegan too!

I'm glad I'm finally getting a chance to share these with you because I'm really happy with them. If Brooke is making shadows like this already I'm going to be interested to watch what she produces in the future. I adore that green - its found its way onto my eyelids a few times in the last week :)

White Rabbit Cosmetics are available on Etsy, and are offered seperately or in various gift set options. The Alice in Wonderland themed boxes are super cute. I didn't order these so can't comment on customer service, but the fact that she sent these over as a surprise and expecting nothing in return says a lot! I definitely won't hesitate to order in the future, I've got my eye on some other shades already.

You can also follow White Rabbit Cosmetics on Facebook.

Thanks for reading my post, I have a lot to catch up on so I'll try and get a few more out in the next couple of days :) xx

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy - Subscription November '13

Hey guys! Today I have my first subscription parcel from Innocent + Twisted Alchemy to share with you. I was so excited when Linda launched her subscription service, I've known it was coming for a while and I'm so happy its finally here :) The subscription is available in two options:

Samples: 

- 3 deluxe sized samples that are exclusive ONLY to the subscriptions.
- 20% off coupon code
- BONUS! Surprise items

Full Sizes:

- 3 full sized products that are exclusive ONLY to the subscriptions. 

- 25% off coupon code

- BONUS! Surprise items

I've gone with the sample option for now, but I'm hoping to upgrade to the full size after Christmas :) Here is what I received in the first package:

Look at her gorgeous drawings!! That is amazing presentation. She has included a sheet that lists all the ingredients of the shadows, a note about this months box, and websites for all of the other companies she has provided samples of. Those clamshells... so cute... look at the little faces... *dies*

The Innocent + Twisted Alchemy Shades:

Chastity Hymn: "a warm taupe that has green and gold shimmer and blue sparkles"

Broken Silence: "Smoky Purple that has a golden sheen and purple and green sparkles"

Purity Harvest: "Neutral orange that has a golden sheen and green and blue shimmers"

Look at them! I don't even think I can pick a fave! I do have a soft spot for Purity Harvest though, I wore it today and its so pretttty - I love getting surprise shades, because I get things I wouldn't normally pick for myself and they end up as favorites :) Linda has stated that she made a bit extra of these three shades, and will be releasing the remainder to her shop, so if you get in quickly you might be able to snap some up! I almost feel sad that they're not permanent shades... but I do feel special to have them so I'll get over it :P

The Bonus:

The bonus items I received were sanple bags from 5 other indie makeup companies. I just want to say... I think its so awesome in so many ways that Linda did this for us. First of all, the fact that she is using her own subscription service to promote other indie companies just shows how much she cares about the indie community in general. Also, I'm loving the chance to try a bunch of different companies in surprise shades! This must have a lot of time to organise, and I really appreciate it. 

My Pretty Zombie:
My Pretty Zombie is already one of my fave indie brands, my top shade of course being Violet Bites which was named after my daughter (read the story here). I received a sample of blush in the shade 'MDMA' - I hear about this blush all the time, its got a bit of a following in the indie world :)
MDMA: "rosy pink with a gold afterglow"

Notoriously Morbid:
Ok, if you read my blog regularly then you know I'm already a huge fan of this company. Again, I have had a sample of this shade before and swatched it already so I'm going to re-use that swatch here. Notoriously Morbid is a fantastic company with a superb formula, great color range, fast TAT, and all around excellent customer service. I am just about at the point of owning every color they produce, I love them that much.
Belle's Bounty: "A dark metallic gold with gold sparkles."

Kiss My Sass:

Another brand I really like - Linda has good taste! I also currently subscribe to Kiss My Sass's monthly subscription also, and I find that her products to be consistently of a high quality and she comes up with some gorgeous shades!

Aurora: " lilac with an intense turquoise shimmer that shifts to blue & violet in different lighting"

Oslo Cosmetics:
I was excited when I saw this - it is a brand I've been wanting to try for a while, and since I haven't reviewed them before I took a few extra pics.
Orphicus: "Dark, shimmery deep forest green."

The description is spot on and the color is rich and pigmented. The only issue I had is with application. Oslo shadows are semi-loose - their base contains oil, which is why they have a different kind of texture and tend to clump into little balls or flakes. I found that I really had to press my brush into the flakes to pick up product, and then kind of squish them onto my skin to break them up and apply them evenly. The only other semi loose shadows I have are Fyrinnae, which I find are slightly softer and easier to pick up and distribute on the skin. However, this review is only based on this shade - I haven't tried any others so this is just my initial impressions. I'm still interested in giving a few more a go, especially given the end result.

Black Rose Minerals:
My previous two posts were on this company so you've probably figured out I'm quite a fan, I love the formula and they have an enormous range of colors. I was excited to see this particular shade, as its been on my wishlist for a while!
Fearless: " rich lavender that shimmers away with aqua sparkles"

Phew! If you've made it this far, here is your reward: Linda has told me that she'll be running a Tragic Tuesday sale this year (she doesn't do Black Friday sales because she works a lot over that weekend). The sale will be 40% off for one day beginning Dec 3rd @ 1am and ending Dec 4th @ 1am PST. I have begun compiling my list... lol, I'm grateful for a bit of notice so I can save!

I am so excited about this subscription! I can't wait to see what next month brings :) If you would like to subscribe, click here. Innocent + Twisted Alchemy store can be found here, and you can follow on Facebook for news and specials here.

Thanks for reading! :) xx

Black Rose Minerals - Swatches (Part 2)

Hey guys! Turns out the weather didn't agree that I should have this post up yesterday, because there was no sun to be seen! As soon as it peeked out today I ran off to finish up these swatches! You can find my first few swatches and overall review here. The 30% off sale at Black Rose Minerals is on until Monday at Midnight PST, so you still have a bit of time to get an order in :) In the interest of getting this post up speedily I'll leave out my comments on each shade, and just tell you my faves at the end. I will include the offical descriptions though. On to the pretties!!!

Into the Void: "Black base glitters with violet and green sparkles"

Lady of Light: "A sheer white with a golden sheen"

Crazy on You: "A soft green with a golden glow reminiscent of the moonlight. And a bit of silver sparkles sprinkled throughout."

Follow You into the Dark: "Dark grey with warm sparkles."

Blood Moon: "An eerie ethereal bluish-lavender with loads of red and purple shimmer and a pinkish/reddish/coppery/purple shift."

(Left to Right: Into the Void, Lady of Light, Crazy on You, Follow You into the Dark, Blood Moon)

Venom: "This shimmery violet has magenta hues shimmering under pink iridescent glitter"

Nobodies: "A deep, shimmery electric blue"

Hell Hammer: "This bright bloody red shimmers with highlights of red sparkles"

Wise Wizard: "A silvery grey with a white sheen."

Grape Drank: "It doesn't get much more purple than this. If this were a drink, it would taste purple."

(Left to Right: Venom, Nobodies, Hell Hammer, Wise Wizard, Grape Drank)

Leela: "this electric violet shimmers with female charm and prowess. Not for the faint of heart, this one is sheer and sparkly dry and a deep glowing violet when wet."

Bittersweet: "A mid tone orange with slight pink highlights and greeny gold sparkles." Note: The green hid from my camera, but it was there and it was so pretty!

Bender: "This silver shines with a touch of blue."

Luna: "A sheer ethereal light purple with lots of blue, red and purple shimmer."

(Left to Right: Leela, Bittersweet, Bender, Luna)

Phew! Lucky that sun hung around for a bit :P Hopefully this helps you make your decision on what to order from Black Rose Minerals, as I said yesterday I really recommend this company - the formula is superb. 
My faves of this bunch are: Into the Void (makes a great liner), Lady of Light (great highlight), Follow You into the Dark, Nobodies, Hell Hammer and Blood Moon. As you can tell I had some trouble narrowing my faves down lol, they're all great shades!

Thanks for viewing my post, hope you're having a great day :)