Arcane Lacquer 'Funhouse' - Swatches & Review

I am so excited to show you guys these swatches - they combine two of my recent purchases, both of which I'm exceptionally happy about!
As soon as the Femme Fatale website introduced international shipping I snapped up some Arcane Lacquers I'd been eyeing up. The shipping didn't come cheap, but I definitely feel it was worth it - Sophie was really helpful and the package came lightning fast. 
The first polish I tried was Funhouse - a magenta base filled with a mix of magenta and blue glitter.

These swatches show three coats of Funhouse with one layer of Glitter Food and one layer of Jordana Quick Shine topcoat. Formula was perfect so application was nice and easy.

I stamped my accent nail with China Glaze 'Millennium' using Vivid Lacquer nail plate 'VL001' (my other recent purchase). I'm really happy with how it turned out - the plate was fantastic and the image came out nice and crisp. The design is super cute too :P

I adored this mani and I'm looking forward to trying the other Arcane Lacquers I purchased, as well as the other stamping designs. Arcane Lacquer is available within Australia at Arcane's etsy shop, or internationally at Femme Fatale or Llarowe. Vivid Lacquer plates and polishes can be found at her etsy shop, and she ships worldwide.

Thanks for viewing my post :) xx

Notoriously Morbid - Halloween Collection Sneak Peek (Swatches!)

Hey guys! I received my Notoriously Morbid order in the mail about an hour ago (seriously), and inside I found some samples from the upcoming Halloween collection. These shades... ugh, I can't even explain... so awesome! So of course I have to blog straight away to show you guys :D

Bram: Ahh Bram, how do I describe the level of amazing? There is a reason I normally borrow the creators description HA. Anyway, to me Bram seems like a greenish grey with a ghostly blue sheen (which is more ghostly and blue than it shows up here lol). Its a really unique shade and I love it!

Lugosi: An amazing rusty red shade with a gorgeous pink sheen. Another unique shade, that pink sheen looks amazing with the base.

Phew, I'm thrilled and these are just the free samples! I've got a lot more to swatch, as always I'm just blown away by the quality of Notoriously Morbids' products. The sheen on these two shades make them really special, I've got high hopes for the rest of the collection!

I've also just spotted an announcement on Facebook that Carrie plans to release two brand new products to the store this week so I'm excited for that. 

Notoriously Morbid products can be purchased on Etsy or Storenvy.

Hope you enjoyed this post! xx

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy 'Just Another Day' Collection - Swatches & Review

This post has been a long time coming! I placed my first order with Innocent + Twisted Alchemy a few months ago, received it quickly and loved everything. I don't know why its taken me so long to swatch, but its given me a good chance to trial the products properly.

There was a 40% off sale happening at the time so I ordered full sets of the Endless Rain Collection and also the Just Another Day Collection.  I received Arie .i. (full size!) and two blush samples for free. Before you ask, yes this was probably the most fun parcel I've ever received!

*squee* Just look at the gorgeous jar illustrations... and the handwritten invoice... and the cute little owl bag... and the amazing business card.. and the ingredients listings... I could go on and on seriously. I really appreciate the time she has put into presentation, and the fact that she handwrites her invoices - just adds that personal touch that I really love. And loook, she thinks its awesome that I'm from NZ! *has a fangirl moment*

ANYWAY!

Kristen over at Indie Know has already done some fantastic swatches of the Endless Rain Collection (possibly the most perfect full collection ever!) so for this post I've swatched the Just Another Day collection. I don't normally gravitate towards these types of colors but I thought grabbing this set would be a great way to add some variety to my collection. I'm glad I did, because these shades are beautiful and really versatile.

Draugr: "a dirty white with a dirty green undertone"

Flesh Hungry: "purple with a blue sheen and sparkles"

Viral Infection: "a green with a blue undertone and has a golden duochrome and shimmer and has red sparkles"

Contaminated Wastelands: "a silvery-brown with a slight green sheen and shimmers."

Living Hope: "a tan with green shimmers"

Corpse Door: "a light dusty blue with a purple sheen"

All of the swatches are over pixie epoxy. These shades are pigmented and sparkly! I've worn them quite a bit since I received them and I find they hold up well over the 8-10 hours I normally have makeup on for, with no noticeable fading. I love them, and can't wait to make another purchase from I+T Alchemy - I've been eyeing up the Life is a Game and Lovely Tomie collections.

Linda, the owner of Innocent + Twisted Alchemy is fantastic - she keeps up a great amount of contact with her customers and keeps us informed on whats happening with new collections etc. If you have a question for her (or want to add to your order because you can't resist more awesome like me) you can expect a prompt and friendly reply.

Linda is hoping to release a new collection (The Lunar Sacrifice Collection) and Monthly Subscriptions in October.

You can follow Innocent + Twisted Alchemy on Facebook, and purchase her products at the I+T Storenvy. Full sizes and Sample clamshells (packed FULL) are available and she ships worldwide.

Thanks for viewing my post, hope it was helpful! :)xx

Makeup Monstrosity Link Love!

Linda shares her August subscription box from Kiss My Sass! 

Indie Know tried out My Pretty Zombie blushes and posted swatches! 

 Estelle shares her Notoriously Morbid haul with us! 

 Linda shares her thoughts about Impulse Cosmetics! 

 Check out part 1 of 2 of Shiro's Randomly Generated Collection! 

 A couple of new indie companies that sell pressed eyeshadows have popped up! Oslo Cosmetics and Rhapsody Cosmetics!

Jindie Nails 'Battle Royale' - Swatches & Review

I've had swatches of this on my computer for a while, I don't know why its taken me so long to do a post because this polish is gorgeous! Battle Royale has a royal blue crelly base with lilac, lavender, silver, purple, turquoise, teal, periwinkle, magenta hex, dots, shreds and squares in holographic and metallic finishes.

The pics show three coats with one layer of Poshe top coat. The formula was good - application was easy, especially for a polish this packed with glitter. I didn't have to put any effort in to get a good amount of glitter on my nails.

Only complaint I had about this polish is the bright pink label lol.. glad they have been changed! The new bottles look so much nicer in my collection :)

Jindie polishes are available from Harlow & Co., Llarowe, Mei Meis Signatures and within the US at the Jindie Nails website.

Thanks for viewing my post :)xx

BFTE Cosmetics - Swatches & Review

Beauty from the Earth Cosmetics is another indie company with a great reputation. They have a large range of eyeshadows and other powder cosmetics and have a professional looking and easy to navigate website - always helpful!

Every week BFTE offers a deal for a full size eyeshadow (the Color of the Week) and 3 samples of your choice for $6 (plus shipping). I've ordered the COTW deal 3 times now and its always shipped out within a couple of days.

Last week they had a new shade 'Drama Queen' as the color of the week, so I picked another 3 colors and placed my order. I received the package about a week and a half later (to New Zealand) - pretty quick!

This is the full size I received - I'm pretty sure these are the same jars Fyrinnae uses for their full sizes, but they contain less product due to the sifter. (Fyrinnae jars are absolutely PACKED).

I have to admit, I don't like this color as much as I thought I would - it has a bit too much sparkle and not enough base for my taste. The base seems to be a brownish color packed with green shimmers and sparkle.

These are the samples I picked - Whisper, Meissa and Dew Drop. Whisper and Dew Drop are from the Duotone category since I'm such a huge sucker for the duochromes :P Meissa is from the Pro Colors range. These samples are a pretty good size (about 1/4 teaspoon), and I do love that they come in jars.

I adore Whisper, it has a sheer pale base with an intense blue-violet sheen. I'm pretty sure I'll end up grabbing a full size of this one! Meissa is a great shade, and I found it smooth and easy to apply. Dew Drop is a 'pinkish purple with a greenish gold duochrome' - I generally love anything with a green duochrome, this one has a great base color too.

I'm impressed with my experiences with BFTE so far and I look forward to finding out what the color of the week is each Monday. The price is great for the amount of product you receive and picking out the 3 samples is always fun too - I'm working my way through the duochromes - gotta catch em all! :P

BFTE cosmetics are available from their website and you can follow on Facebook for updates, COTW announcements etc.

Thanks for viewing my post! :) xx

Lush Lacquer 'Freckles' - Swatches & Review

A while ago I purchased Lush Lacquer 'Clowning Around' and loved it, so when they released the same polish but with smaller glitters I snapped it up. Freckles is a mixture of 2 different sizes of neon glitters in a clear base.

This swatch shows 3 coats of Freckles over 2 coats of OPI 'Alpine Snow', with 1 coat of topcoat. I could have gotten away with 2 coats of Freckles but I wanted a nice dense coating, especially since some of the lighter glitters get a bit lost on the white.

Formula was pretty good, I got a decent amount of glitter with each coat and the glitter sits nice and smoothly. Just like Clowning Around, this polish would look great over a variety of colors!

Lush Lacquer is available from their Etsy Store, Mei Meis Signatures and Femme Fatale.