Missed the Boat~ Aromaleigh

Hi All,

I got my swatches done on the Aromaleigh order I recieved a couple of weeks ago aaaand... the website is no longer accepting orders! So you can't get these, even if you wanted to :( The good news is that as a going out of business special, Miss K will be posting grab bags, so if you like what you see in general, you can wait for those to come up for sale. I got these for only a few bucks each since they're going out of business, and I found the quality to be mixed... Some colors are very sheer, and they seem to fade very quickly even when used with a base and/or wet. These are VERY sparkley colors; I'm not sure if it's my thing, but if it's yours, you'd probably be interested in the grab bags. I debated even posting these since they're not for sale anymore, but maybe someone will get a kick out of seeing these, get the opportunity to trade for them, etc... So, without further ado, here are the swatches!

Packaging

 This is the Wonderstruck! collection, with Alice in Wonderland inspired color names:

 This is the Astronomical collection, with colors named after astronomical phenomena.

And finally, the Spells!, a collection with colors named after... you guessed it, Harry Potter spells!

And here are the swatches; they're all swatched first on the left dry with my finger, and on the right wet with a brush; there's a smudge of the eyeshadow on the paper label.

Frumious

Umbra

Extragalactic 

Big Bang

Drink Me! 

Temper, Temper

 Ok, from this swatch on, you can see a red irritation on my skin from where the previous swatch was. I'm not sure what this is- it didn't hurt- but my skin was definitely irritated from *something* in this product. None of the other colors did this to me. If you have sensitive skin... you may want to be wary. I can't say for sure what color this was, but my skin remained red and irritated in that one spot for awhile. I am positive it was not leftover pigment.

Blueshift

Pink Portent

Perihelion

Megaparsec 

 Tunnel Vision changed a lot depending on how the light hit it, so I included two pictures :)

Tunnel Vision

Tunnel Vision

Priori Encantati

Nox

Milky Way

Melancholy Maiden

Dark Matter

Wingardium Leviosa

 This next one, Pass the Tarts, is by far the most pigmented. And look at how different it looks dry and wet!

Pass the Tarts

Well, there they are, hope you guys enjoyed seeing them! Sorry they're no longer available, I didn't realize that Miss K was so close to closing her blog! I can't say I'd have ordered from them again if the colors weren't being sold for clearance prices; that being said, even though they weren't for me (sheer and glittery!), I'm sure these are just what some people love. 

Night, kittens!

Urban Decay Vinyl and Perversion

Hello, all! My insomnia is working to your advantage, as I've decided to take advantage of my winter break and try to add a couple more posts!

Urban Decay is one of my all-time favorite beauty brands; I started using them as soon as I started dabbling in makeup when I was in junior high. Since then, they've changed their packaging and formulas, but I still adore them. They do a great job of staying modern and edgy, providing both really great, high-quality basics as well as unusual, eye-catching (but still flattering) colors. Although I am neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, I admire their position regarding animal testing (they are adamantly against it), and the fact that they go out of their way to keep their products vegan when it is viable to do so.

I picked up both of these colors back when Sephora was doing their Friends and Family promotion, so I got a 20% discount off the published prices; $19 for the Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Perversion, and $22 for the Lipstick in Vinyl. You can also find these products from the Urban Decay website (who I have ordered from and have never had a problem with) and Urban Decay counters at Macy's.

So. Here are some photographs of the beautiful product packaging. Urban Decay has a metallic purple and gunmetal theme for these two lip products' packaging, and the lipsticks have little daggers on the ends. I've never had these break off even though I cart them around in my purse, but I have read about others having this happen. The packaging for the lipsticks is heavy and bulky, but very beautiful; it feels luxe while still remaining playful. The packaging for the lip gloss has improved since their last design; those had seams that tended to burst (yes, I was an unfortunate victim), so when they released this line, they rectified that and made the entire tube molded out of one piece. However, as you'll see in pictures further down, the applicator for the lipgloss is angled with a hole for the product to squeeze through. I hate these; it seems unsanitary, and the bulky applicator does NOT lend itself to a smooth, precise application. The gloss tends to get all over and needs to be smoothed out so it doesn't look patchy, unless you squeeze it onto your finger or another applicator and apply that way.

Perversion and Vinyl

 When you twist the lipstick up, you can see "Urban Decay" printed into the product; very cute. It looks like a darkened fuschia-plum with shimmer in it like this.

Vinyl

Lipstick and cap 

 Perversion looks like a black that leans purple with lots of glitter in the tube.

Here are the colors swatched; on the left is Perversion swatched sheerly, then a thicker daub of product.  On the right is a swipe of Vinyl. You can already tell that Perversion leans much more purple on the skin than in the tube, and that Vinyl looks much more like a fuschia-purple than in the tube, making both of these colors more wearable than they look at first glance.

 Here's just Perversion; you can see the great glitter in this shot! There's silver and teal glitter in there, which is unexpected but not too crazy on the lips.

Perversion Lip Gloss

 And here's Vinyl. You can see the shimmer finish here; it's in between a frost and a creme, very wearable and young.

Vinyl Lip Stick 

Ok, these are all blurry. Grr! Oh well, you can still get an idea of what the colors look like on... I did a few different "lip poses" to try to get the light to reflect off the product differently, so hopefully you'll be able to get an idea of what the finish is. The colors change quite a bit on my naturally pigmented lips.  These next few shots are just vinyl. It turns out to be a very pretty bright mauve with a purple sheen on my lips; fun and bright without looking shocking.

Vinyl

 The finish of this lipstick is great! They have a slightly off-putting smell and taste (I blame the vegan factor!), but it doesn't bother me after I've had the product on more than 30 seconds. The lipstick doesn't feel heavy, and it's not drying, though I don't find it particularly moisturizing. It applies smoothly, and it's buildable, so you can wear it sheer or heavy. For reference, I applied it heavily in these photos. I don't find it feathers or settles into lines at all on me.

Pouty Vinyl... mwuah! 

 And here's a full face shot, just to help put the color into context. I personally find it disconcerting to get lip shots without a full-face view, sometimes the color looks really different on a full face!

Vinyl on my lips 

In these next shots, I've layered Perversion lip gloss over Vinyl. I love how this cools the color down, deepens it, and adds some of that luscious sparkle! I wear this at night, or during the day when I'm feeling bold; it's really versatile!

Perversion over Vinyl

Pouty Perversion over Vinyl

Perversion over Vinyl on my lips 

In these next photos, I've just got Perversion lip gloss on by itself; it's billed as "sheer black sparkle" on the website, but this looks more like a really really cool-toned dark purple with sparkle to me. Over my natural lip color, the effect isn't nearly as "goth" as the shade in the tube might suggest. This color is great on its own, and so much fun to layer with... It's not a super slippery gloss, nor is it too sticky. I haven't noticed a flavor to the product other than the generic "vaguely sweet" that so many glosses have, but the scent is a very strong, sweet mint. I'm not a fan, but like the lip stick, it's not a deal-breaker for me since I like everything else about the product so much, and forget about the scent after I have it on for a couple of minutes.

Perversion

Perversion

Perversion

These products are both gorgeous on their own, but also look beautiful when layered together. This lip is equally wearable with a simple cat-eye as with a smoked-out gunmetal eye, and looks fresh and unexpected either way; a great, wearable alternative to a bright lip. The colors are great on their own, too! Yeah, I'd change the scents if I could, but the colors are to die for, the packaging is cute (I always get suckered in by the packaging!), and the products wear great. I'm afraid the pictures aren't doing these justice, but hopefully I've made you curious enough to go out and play with these on your own, or inspired you to come up with some funky lipstick/gloss combos of your own!

Me-RWOWR!... Meow Cosmetics

Alrighty guys, I've got some photos of swatches of products from the Meow Cosmetics Egyptian Treasures. They can be found on the meow cosmetics website right here: http://www.meowcosmetics.com/egyptiantreasures.htm 

I don't know if these are limited edition since they're in this special collection, but I don't see anything on the website that indicates they're going away anytime soon, and they've been around since Fall of 2009, according to this page. I ordered Scarab, Ra, Reincarnation, Bast, Artifact, Royal, and Tutankhamen. These are all eyeshadows, and are $8.00 each; I got them for 20% off during a special promotion! I also ordered samples for $1 each of an additional eye shadow, Nile, a blush called Nefertiti, and a Glow Powder in Eternal Glow. 

So, first up is a picture of all the products I received, arranged around the cute fabric bag they sent my order in: 

The Whole She-Bang

You'll have to forgive the utter lack of professionalism in these pictures; they are literally just meant to give you an idea of what the colors and products look like. I do not profess to have a professional set-up, nor do I have any skills as a photographer. 

Next, I have a couple more pictures of the packaging, and of the products in their sifter jars so you can get an idea of how the product translates from in the packaging to the skin

All of these shades are very metallic with a lot of depth, and very different finishes depending on whether they're applied wet or dry; when applied wet, they can be painted on and produce an opaque, metallic finish. When dry, they look shimmery, but not glittery, and can be layered to near-opacity. When they are dry, they rub off pretty easily, so I recommend wearing them with a base if you plan on wearing them sheer like this. I've been wearing these on and off since I received them, and I tend to use them wet because I love the metallic foiled appearance. Wet and dry, they're a little tricky to blend together, even though they apply directly onto the skin beautifully; I've been going back over them with a fluffy brush to buff the edges together, and using a medium-colored shadow to soften the edges as well.

Ok, these next photographs are of the product on my skin. Here was my process; the left/ top swatch (depending on how I have my hand oriented in the photo) is a sheer swipe of product (applied with my finger), the middle swatch is the product patted on heavily with my finger, and the far right/ bottom swatch is applied wet with a damp brush. Additionally, I swiped some on a white paper towel labelled with the shade name so you could see what the color looks like on its own, without my skin tone changing the color. I don't know if I'll do this in the future, but it seemed like a good idea at the time... There are two pictures of each swatch; the first is in indirect indoor light, the second is in direct indoor light. None of the following pictures were taken with flash.

This is reincarnation, which is a bronze color. It's just a tad yellower than a very shiny penny.

Reincarnation, indirect indoor light

Reincarnation, direct bright indoor light

 This is Bast, a mauvey metallic brown; rather than a coppery brown, this is more of a taupe/platinum brown:

Bast, indirect indoor light

Bast, direct bright indoor light

 This is Artifact. I've been loving using this one wet as an eyeliner, because it has a lot more depth than a regular black. It almost seems like a matte powder with shimmer mixed in, rather than an all-over metallic finish, which gives it a very velvety appearance. It's a very dark burgundy black-brown.

Artifact, indirect indoor light

Artifact, bright indoor light

Next up we've got Royal. This is a metallic warm plum.

Royal, indirect indoor light

Royal, direct bright indoor light

This next color is Tutankhamen, an orangey-er red than Royal. I initially expected the shades to be very close, but they're considerably different. It doesn't really show  in the photos, but it looks much redder when used dry, and leans a bit more orange when used wet.

Tutankhamen, indirect indoor light

Tutankhamen, direct bright indoor light

This next shadow is Nile, a dusty, metallic Wedgewood blue. This definitely brings to mind Hollywood Cleopatra...

Nile, indirect indoor light

Nile, direct bright indoor light

The next color is Scarab; it's a faintly olive-toned metallic gold that feels ever-so-slightly blackened. When the light hits it, it glows a very wearable chartreuse.

Scarab, indirect indoor light

Scarab, direct bright indoor light

And here's Ra, a bright, true gold. This one is so incredibly glowy; I've been loving it for lining the inner corner of my eye and the waterline (though I don't know whether or not it's waterline safe, so don't take my word for it!) When wet, this looks like gold leaf.

Ra, indirect indoor light

Ra, direct bright indoor light

Next I have the swatches of the cheek products; I swatched these heavier than I would actually wear them on the face, so that you could see the color, but didn't swatch them wet or opaque so that you could get a feel for what they look like blended out. I find these to be too brown on my very pale skin, which is a shame because the colors are gorgeous, but they look muddy on me. However, if you have medium to dark toned skin, I think these would be gorgeous. 

This is Eternal Glow, which seems to be bronzey-peach with a mauvey shimmer throughout. 

Eternal Glow, indirect indoor light

Eternal Glow, bright direct indoor light

 This one is the Nefertiti blush, a pink-lavender shade with gold shimmer and a little glitter.

Nefertiti, indirect indoor light

Nefertiti, direct bright indoor light

Overall, I'm really happy with these products. I don't think I'd order the full sizes of these face products because they don't suit me, but with the great sample policy, I would definitely sample other blushes from them. The eye shadows can be tricky to blend and work with since they look best wet, but the effect is stunning and definitely worth it, if you're willing to put in the time to play around and learn how to use them. I had no issues ordering from Meow Cosmetics, and they seem to run 15% and 20% off promotions fairly frequently. I also really like the idea of supporting a smaller cosmetics business, and all of the products came looking pristinely clean and securely sealed, with a sticker around the lid and on top of the sifter holes. Another bonus: shipping was free! With frequent sales on products and shipping, generous samples for only $1 (enough for at least four or five generous uses, probably more), and gorgeous colors, I'll be back for more! 

Thanks kittens, until next time!