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 :)

Black Rose Minerals - Swatches & Review (Part 1)

Hey Guys!! Today I was talked into swatching a few of my Black Rose Minerals shades for a friend that is wanting to place an order in the 30% off Birthday Sale, so I thought I would put them up here for you all to see! I ordered from Black Rose Minerals a looong time ago (well by long I mean early this year, but since then my makeup collection has escalated lol), they were one of the first indie makeup brands I tried. I loved everything I chose, and I've had a list ready for my next order sitting on my desktop for a couple of months. I will definitely be placing an order during this sale! Swatching these reminded me how much I adore these shadows. Looky! I even found my haul pic! This makes me happy because look how beautifully everything was packaged:

Eeee, look at all those pretties! Yes yes, a new order is imminent.  Anyway! I swatched 5 of the shades today and will do my very best to get the remaining 11(?) swatched tomorrow before the sale ends. These are shown over Pixie Epoxy because thats how I tend to wear my shadows, but I have tried these over regular primer and they performed well :)

Hecate: "light lavender with a slight green duochrome"
Hands down my fave BRM shade. That duochrome... Application was super smooth on this one, and I luuurve it.

Hemera: "A sheer, light bluish gray with a captiavating light violet shimmery duochrome"
This one reminds me a little of 'The Garden' from Kiss My Sass, but the base is a more blue-green and its a bit more sparkly. I love The Garden, and I love this - I'm happy to have them both in my collection :)

Thirteen: Wear it dry for a mid-tone shimmery violet with slight blue highlights. Wear it wet for a deep violet hue with a metallic blue sheen.

As a fan of purple I am in love with this one, the blue sheen on it sets apart a bit in my collection. How could I have let this sit unused? *puts the jar aside to use tomorrow*

Disintegration: A grey base with blue undertones and aqua sparkles.

I received this one as part of my Mystery Pack and I was thrilled, its definitely a 'me' shade. It has the almost ghostly look to it that always appeals to me.

Black Math: This hue has supreme color coverage with a fantastic red shimmer. It can look brownish depending on skin tone.

I wore this a lot when I received it, in fact I may need a full size.. it is incredibly pigmented and a little goes a long way.

I am very impressed with Black Rose Minerals. I find that their shadows have a superb formula, application is always smooth, and I haven't had any problems with wear time. I am actually glad its taken me so long to review these, as I can quite honestly say that out of all of the indie brands I've now tried (thats a lot), BRM has one of the best formulas. I am particularly fond of their duochrome shades - I will be trying to include as many as possible in my next order.

The branding is fantastic, the website is easy to navigate and their product range is HUGE. There are some fun collections listed including collections based on: Edgar Allan Poe  (A Collection of the Perverse), Lord of the Rings (The Collection to Rule Them All), Bleach (Space Cowboy) and Adventure Time (The Righteous Collection).

Why haven't I placed another order yet? I'm going to have to remedy this! Now is a fantastic time as BRM is running a sale for their 3rd birthday - 30% off using code 'THIRD', and they have also just released a new birthday collection.

Black Rose Minerals have a website here, a Storenvy site here and you can follow them on Facebook here.

Thanks for reading my post, sorry for any damage done to your wallets! :)

Notoriously Morbid - Halloween '13 'Bitten' Coffin Set - Swatches & Review

Hi guys! Sorry its been a while since my last post - I've been having a pretty busy couple of weeks. But some things just need to be shown, and the Notoriously Morbid Coffn Set is one of them!!!  I'm not going to lie... I tracked this parcel like a crazy person, and there may have been a fair bit of flailing when it arrived. :D

As a sidenote, I got sidetracked and just spent 30 mins looking at David Tenant gifs. I have no regrets.

Moving on! This is the coffin:

Eeeee, I know right? Hence the flailing!! It came packaged nice and securely in a big box full of packing peanuts, and all of the jars and the lipbalm were individually sealed. 

From the Notoriously Morbid site:
"Inspired by the many different faces of Vampire throughout the centuries, Bitten is a special collection that brings together 4 of the most popular ones whether it be a celebration of the vampire, the author, or the actor. Each color was crafted to work well with each other and stand alone."

The coffin also came with lots of extra halloween goodies - candy, spiders and bats!!!  All of which was snapped up pretty quickly by my 3 kiddies :) My 5 year old son normally tells me that 'eyeshadow mail is boring' - he didn't say it that day :P

Guuuys.. guys. If you didn't pick up this set then I apologise for what you're about to see. This set was limited edition for Halloween and has completely sold out (although at the time of writing this there is one poor lonely little jar of Lugosi left <-- my mind boggles at this, please enlarge the swatch! :P ). I've previously posted swatches of some of these shades but will add them in here as well to make things all nice and neat :D

Lugosi: "wine red w/ golden sparkle"

*Please note: this jar pic is from my sample, this is not a pic of the full size jar I received in this set*

This is such an elegant red, and I'm beyond impressed with the application - it goes on so smoothly! Somebody! Snap up that last jar before I buy it as a backup :P

Bram: "light silver with light blue sheen"
*Please note: this jar pic is from my sample, this is not a pic of the full size jar I received in this set*
Oh Bram.. this one is so ghostly and fantastic. I want to write that this is my favourite of the set, but then I look down and see Orlock... and I'm torn! I don't need to pick a favourite anyway right? :P

Orlock: "dark grey with a blue sparkle"
I was looking forward to this shade, and it did not disappoint. Just, ugh, just.. enlarge the pic, words are failing me to describe how much I love it!

Lioncourt: "red/copper highlight"
This shade did not want to be photographed. I spent so long trying to capture the red sheen on this one - its so much more obvious in person! Lioncourt is a beautiful highlight color, I think this jar is going to see a lot of use.

Bitten: "black semi-matte with burgundy shimmer and sparkle."

Bitten, Bitten, Bitten... you and your camera-shy ways. Please trust me when I say that the shimmer on this is just beautiful, and much much more apparent in person, as is the gorgeous sparkle.

aaaand the lipbalm:

Bitten Beauty (raspberry mint)

I loooove Notoriously Morbid's lipbalms, they're so moisturising and lovely. This one may have my favourite scent yet!

I know there have been issues with some of the jars people received in this set leaking a little around the top. I personally didn't experience any leakage but there was some product in the threads of the jars (doesn't really bother me personally, it wasn't too much), however Carrie has told me that she received a bad batch of jars, but has since found a new supplier that she is happy with and all products from now on will be in the new jars. 

Notoriously Morbid also released 3 stand-alone shades for Halloween which are still available to purchase until the beginning of December:

Hallowed Ground: "Hallowed Ground is a mustard yellow with a purple shift."

Such a fantastically unique color - its not something I would usually choose for myself but at times like this my Pokemon mentality towards Notoriously Morbid (gotta catch em all) really pays off. It ended up being a bit of a surprise favorite for me!

Hallows Eve: "Hallows Eve is a dark blue black based delight with an orange to purple shift and sparkles."

'That one time of year when all of our darkest desires and morbid obsessions can be delightfully enjoyed.' - it is the most wonderful time of the year after all! I'm glad it has a beautiful color shifting chameleon of a color to represent it. :D

Cry Wolf Cry: "Cry Wolf Cry is a shimmery taupe with a touch of purple sheen and silver sparkles."

This shade is fighting it out with Boe for me in the browns category - obviously that purple sheen wins me over pretty quickly, but even without that this shade is just such a wearable brown - just quietly I think she should make this one permanent :P

So... has Notoriously Morbid lived up to my extremely high expectations with this set?

(This one is for you, Carrie!) :P

I resisted pretty much every other Halloween set that came out this year so that I could buy all the things from Notoriously Morbid, and I couldn't be happier. The time and care that has been spent here with the presentation, the theme and the shades themselves is amazing. It shows that Carrie really enjoys what she is doing, and cares deeply about the quality of the product she is putting out. This company is just perfect, as usual I can't praise them enough. Do yourself a favor and visit the Facebook page here, and the Storenvy here. I have already placed my order for the new 'Save Me' and 'Magical Mystery' collections. I live in hope that my husband doesn't read my blog posts lol. Now I wait eagerly to see what Notoriously Morbid comes up with for Black Friday....

Thanks for reading, hope you're having a great week and enjoyed your Halloween! xx