Makeup Withdrawal

Showing posts with label Indie. Show all posts

Top Ten Favorite Eyeshadows (That Are Still Available)

Thursday, March 14, 2019

I recently posted a photo of my entire eye shadow stash on Instagram and it prompted a question from @anafterglow: what are my top ten favorites? I decided to pick ten that were still available, though truthfully many of my most unique powder shadows were limited edition and long gone. Nothing is worse than seeing something you really like, only to find out that there's no way of getting it - a tad cruel for me to do that to you, right?

Fyrinnae Whipped Metallics: Vintage

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Late last year, Fyrinnae was having a little sale (15% off) and one of the things that I snagged was this Whipped Metallic lipstick in Vintage. I didn't have any metallic mattes; thus far I lived entirely on cremes. At the moment, some of the protruding little knobby attachments on my teeth for my Invisalign seem to be responsible for lip product ending up on the orthodontia, and so liquid lipstick (also stains) are my best bet right now.

I didn't find this lipstick to be very whipped or mousse like. It dried within a few minutes down to a pretty matte finish. I also don't seem to get anywhere close to as much copper gleam as in stock photos. It's possible to trace a really nice outline with just the doefooted applicator. I had to go back and fill it in three times to get full opacity.

Wish I saw some more of that pretty copper. I could dust some Mehron Metallic Powder in Copper in the center of the lip if I wanted, to amp it up. Instead I think the color looks like the color of black ball point pen, the ink is the deepest of violet with that slight metallic gleam.

It transferred a little, here's what a gentle rub left on my finger tip. In addition, it did break down very easily even while sipping water, crumbling into gritty little bits. Upon removal, some of the dark blue colorants stained my lips, but mostly just the dead skin.

I could have looked passed many of these (many) shortcomings, but this lipstick was also quite drying and I found it uncomfortable to wear. Each time I would take it off within a couple of hours. Fyrinnae Whipped Metallic and Mattes are $8 each. Do you have a favorite maker of matte metallic lipsticks at the moment? Product featured was purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Pretty Serious Stop! Collaborate and Listen Collection

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Good evening!

I've my first polishes from Pretty Serious to show you guys today. Pretty Serious has long been on my radar; not only was it one of the first indie companies to have a wide distribution but I thought it was pretty cool that Kaz was a blogger turned polish line owner. That's the dream, right?

The Pretty Serious Stop! Collaborate and Listen Collection was made with nail bloggers, which is always fantastic because nobody knows how to come up with a unique polish like someone who has seen a ton of it!

Left to right: Stuck in the Middle, Undercover Mermaid, Swatch and Learn

Stuck in the Middle. Two coats. A magenta base with beautiful blue/fuchsia glass fleck. This one is really glossy and remarkably opaque. This shade was made with Kristy (@thepolishhaven)

Undercover Mermaid. Three coats. The first picture is more color accurate, but the second reveals all the beautiful flakes. A stunning slightly lavender dusty taupe. Super work appropriate but has all this green/blue flake action going on. Made in collaboration with Lab Muffin.

Swatch and Learn. Two coats. A green polish just loaded with glass fleck of all colors. Depending on how you're viewing them, they look fuchsia/pink/green/blue. This is the eponymous creation of Swatch and Learn.

I really loved all the shades but I find Undercover Mermaid to be the particularly beautiful. It combines two of my favorite things; dusty cremes with blue/green flakies. Win-win. Each shade is 11ml and is priced at $9.95 per bottle.

The Stop! Collaborate and Listen Collection is available now from Pretty Serious. PS is based in Australia so us international folks can purchase Pretty Serious shades from the stockists (here).

Products featured were press samples. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Review: KBShimmer Nail Vinyl Decals

Monday, July 14, 2014

Hi folks!

A few weeks ago KBShimmer launched their line of Nail Vinyls, decals made from adhesive backed vinyl that can be used for quick and easy nail art. I received a sample variety pack for review and was able to try them out. This is actually my first time using any sort of nail vinyl sticker product. I guess I just never really jumped on the chevron/zig zag trend!

Some KBShimmer Bath & Body Products

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Now I know I've posted about KBShimmer polishes before, but I haven't really said much about their bath and body products. A few weeks ago, they had a 20% sale and I used that opportunity to try out a lotion, a cuticle oil pen and a sugar scrub.

Impulse Cosmetics Get Lippy Palette - Opaque Matte Lipsticks Review

Saturday, February 22, 2014

I recently stumbled upon Impulse Cosmetics while looking for reasonably priced cosmetic glitter. While I did pick some of that up (to be reviewed at a later time), these lipsticks caught my eye and I purchased a Get Lippy Palette during a recent sale.

Get Lippy Palettes are custom made, filled with your choice of five Opaque Matte Lipsticks or METALUXE shades. I opted for matte shades because metallics have just never been my cup of tea. The shades I selected (you also pick a backup shade at checkout) were not so much for wearing on their own (though hey, if you can pull off a striking mint lip - you're pretty much my hero) but for mixing around/editorial looks and ombre lips. Regularly, each shade is $6.99 for a full sized, balm like twist up tube. According to the listing, each palette is roughly the amount of three lipsticks. This five shade palette is $22.95.

Four More Glam Polish Shades

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Good evening!

My apologies for not blogging much last week. We went to visit the newest addition to the family over the weekend (a new niece!) and I didn't get to schedule posts like I had planned. Tonight I have four more Glam Polish shades to show you.

First up, we have Jem. This is a pink shade that is really jam packed with small iridescent peice and metallic blue and pink glitter. Is it not the perfect representation of Jem and the Holograms?

Next we have Indigo Sparkle. A cool blue based purple scattered holographic polish. This is three coats. What I really liked about this holo was that there is vivid purple sparkle and the color is really rich in any light setting. You know how some holos look really silver and dull indoors? Not this one! Though the holo is muted indoors, the color is still very vibrant. Picture taken outdoors.

Nickle Nackle. Three coats. This is a really beautiful sky blue crelly with metallic purple glitter as well as satin pink and teal glitter and beautiful holo teal dots. This is my favorite out of the four!

Lucky. Another three coat crelly. It is a stunning delicate lighter teal-green with dots galore! The glitter inside is teal, gold and green. I also added some accent round studs on this one.

All the Glam Polishes that I've tried so far have really great formulas. They are smooth and the perfect viscosity and the glitter lay really smoothly on the nail. I do a bit of dabbing to place the larger dots because they can be a bit tricky but that is just something to be expected with such large glitter.

Australian ladies can purchase their polish directly from the Glam Polish shop here. Don't fret, all us international folks! There are many distributors for Glam Polish worldwide including:

Color4Nails (US, ships worldwide)
Llarowe (US)
Rainbow Connection (UK)
Norway Nails (Europe)
Mei Mei's Signatures (Singapore)

Be sure to check out each distributor's Facebook or Instagram for the latest updates on availability, as they may differ.

Which of these four shades call out to you the most?

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Cupcake Polish Review

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Good evening! Tonight I have some very playful polishes to show you from Cupcake Polish. Cute, adorable, fun are all words I describe Cupcake Polish. I have six shades do show you, so let's get started!

Pretty Penny. A sheer shimmery pink with various copper and pink holo metallic glitters. Here, two coats over Morgan Taylor Fix. Really dainty, like pink sprinkles. The largest hexes do seem to curl a tiny bit but lay relatively flat on the nail.

Off the Deep End. A GORGEUS teal glitter mix with stars. The glitters are holographic and really dazzling. This was one generous coat over black.

Purple People Eater. My favorite! A bright neutral neon purple jelly with various hexes. Three coats. Like a grape jelly sandwich!

Off to the Races is a really unique shade. It has satin/matte glitters in a base with pink shimmer so I used it as a topper over a navy shimmer.

Just in Lime. Off the Deep End's chartreuse-gold non-holographic cousin. One coat over black.

The Black & Blues. A shimmery blue charcoal with a really pretty mix of glitters. A bit sheer but looks really nice over black. Here, I did two coats over a clear to black gradient to show you the versatility of this polish.

I didn't comment on the formulas because minis have a tendency to really dry out in transit. I can restore them no problem but then I feel like I can't accurately describe the original formula.

Usually I'm not a big fan of shimmery glitter (it tends to look frosty and kinda lumpy) but I think Cupcake Polish shades are just too cute and delectable! My favorite is definitely Purple People Eater but I'm also very fond of The Black & Blues.

Which is your favorite? Cupcake Polish can be purchased here. For the newest store updates and swatches, be sure to follow @cupcakepolish on Instagram!

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Messy Mansion Plate #17

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Hello folks!

A few weeks ago, Julia from the Australian website Messy Mansion contacted me to see if I wanted to review some of her stamping plates and I instantly said yes! I hadn't previously heard of Messy Mansion before but was really impressed to see the shop stocked with so many different stamping plates, some of which I had never seen before. Today I'll be showing you plate MM17 from her own Messy Mansion line of plates!

The MM plates are much bigger than the popular Konad or Bundle Monster series. The images are larger as well, roughly 23mm by 17mm. They came with blue plastic covering but no paper backing. The edges are rough but not sharp though. MM17 has cute dragonflies and ladybugs, and even a pair of cute googly eyes.

I used Morgan Taylor Prettier in Pink as my background shade and used Konad Black to stamp. I'm not used to such nice large images so I kept messing up at first (also pretty rusty, it's been a while!) with my plastic Konad scraper. I eventually figured out that I was scraping way harder than I need to be, which was scraping away too much polish and creating bald spots on the images with large etched areas. Overall this plate stamped well. The designs are just too cute! I can't wait to do a dragonfly manicure next (check out Wacky Lacki, Anutka already did a stunning manicure with those images).

Perhaps the best thing about Messy Mansion? Even though the shop is Australian based, international orders with just plates ship for only $2.50 USD unregistered! Fantastic right?

MM17 plates is only $7. Click here to start shopping!

What's the cutest nail plate you currently own?

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.