A Mudslide of Brown, Gold, and Nude Eyeshadows

Arm 1

It's been quite a while since I've done one of my swatch-a-thon eyeshadow colour posts so being bored out of my mind this weekend I decided to do one of my most requested colour schemes the browns, golds and nudes. I've got three whole armfuls! Enjoy.

T-B: Revlon Matte 001 Vintage Lace, Wet n' Wild Color Icon Single Brulee, Fyrinnae French Vanilla Shake (Disc') 

T-B: Fyrinnae French Vanilla Shake (Disc'),  Too Faced Heaven,  Kat Von D Confessional,  Mac Dalliance (Disc')

T-B: Kat Von D Confessional, Mac Dalliance (Disc'), Mac Nanogold, Mac Stacked Pigment Gold (Disc'), Fyrinnae Polar Bear

T-B: Mac Nanogold, Mac Stacked Gold Pigment, Fyrinnae Polar Bear, Venomous Cosmetics Last Unicorn, Urban Decay Nylon

Arm 2

T-B: The Body Needs Pixie Dust, Morgana Cryptoria Mordred, Fyrinnae Atomic Afterglow, Fyrinnae Fire Opal, Fyrinnae Damn Palladins, Nyx Taupe, Too Faced Teddy Bear

T-B: Fyrinnae Atomic Afterglow, Fyrinnae Fire Opal, Fyrinnae Damn Palladins, Nyx Taupe, Too Faced Teddy Bear, Stila Eden, Urban Decay YDK

T-B: Nyx Taupe, Too Faced Teddy Bear, Stila Eden, Urban Decay YDK, Urban Decay Twice Baked, Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, Urban Decay Half Baked

Arm 3

T-B: Mac Spectacle of Yourself (disc'), Too Faced Push-Up, Too Faced Honeymoon, Too Faced Ever After, Wet N' Wild Bronze Goddess palette Top Left, WnW BG palette Middle Left

T-B: Too Faced Honeymoon, Too Faced Ever After, WnW BG palette Top Left, WnW BGP Middle Left, WnW BGP Bottom Left, WnW BGP Top Right

T-B: WnW BGP Bottom Left, WnW BGP Top Right, WnW BGP Middle Right, WnW BGP Bottom Right, Urban Decay Sellout, Urban Decay Mushroom

*Whew!* That's a ton more browns, nudes and golds than I thought I owned! My favourites are Urban Decay Mushroom, Sellout, Twice Baked, all the Fyrinnae shades, VC Last Unicorn, Too Faced Ever After and Too Faced Heaven, Mac Spectacle of Yourself, Stila Eden, MC Mordred, and Wet n' Wild Brulee.
Which ones are you digging the most? Any browns, nudes or golds you think are awesome that I don't have?

Cult Nails Iconic~ Review and Swatches

L-R: Get it On Base Coat, Living Water, Iconic, Wicked Fast Top Coat

Not too long ago I made an order from Cult Nails during a sale that Maria had. I ordered two colours and her top/base coat combo. However, this review is only on Iconic, a beautiful deep berry/burgundy with gold shimmer and gold flakies. (The other polishes reviews are coming).

Cult Nails for any of you that don't know, is a polish brand that was started by a fellow blogger, Maria from her love of polish. On her blog R3Daily (which I follow and love) you can really see the passion, creativity, hard work and care that she puts into each and every one of her polish colours. All her polishes are cruelty-free and lack the big 3 and Camphor which is great! This also means they don't smell nearly as bad as normal polishes. 

Cooler light

Warmer light

This colour Iconic is part of her main line and as soon as I saw it I fell in love. Normally, I'm not too traditional in my nail colour choices- I tend to avoid pinks and reds, but this colour is anything but traditional! Depending on the lighting this colour is rich royal red, deep burgundy, or a unique pinked berry shade. Not to mention the amazing gold shimmer and gold flakies throughout. Most of you probably don't know this, but I adore flakies. I just love how each nail is a little different and the effect they give is just fantastic.

Warm, Sunlight

Daylight

You need to see this larger to appreciate the amazingness going on here

 See! Do you see the awesome?! I wore this for Thanksgiving this year (Canadian Thanksgiving is in early October), and my entire family loved it. And yes I did show it off and ask them all including my mother, grandparents and my great uncle. The poor souls have to put up with the cosmetic addiction.

The formula on this was fantastic too. I can't tell you exactly how long it wore for (because I'm testing the Cult Nails top/base coat at the moment and telling you would negate the results for that review, which I want to try some other polishes with the top/base combo first) HOWEVER, it applied like a dream, especially for a flakie polish. For any of you that have used polishes with flakies or large glitter pieces before, I'm sure you know what I mean when I say sometimes there is dragging issues or clumping, but I didn't experience any of that with this polish at all. I had a little difficulty at the tip of one nail but a quick sort of re-swipe over the area fixed it up no problem, so that is more of a flakie handling issue than a fault of the polish. All the photos above are with only two coats. At first I was worried as it looked magenta on the first coat but a second coat turned it into a beautiful rich berry.

Cult Nails polishes are $10 USD, which is fantastic because the quality (including the packaging which is easy to use, and has excellent brushes) is better than more expensive brands by far. Shipping isn't too bad either, especially because Maria often has sales and deals up. My polishes came to me individually wrapped in rough fabric-paper (which my gerbils adored being able to chew up into nesting material) and surrounded by cotton balls- which makes the polishes safe and provides you with nail polish removal. Not to mention eco-friendly!

Overall, I think this polish is fantastic. It's perfect for fall as it's a rich hue and it goes with just about anything. It makes me feel all sophisticated and chic when I wear it.

Sprite Rating: 10/10. This is going to be one of my staples I'm sure of it, especially for pedicures and in the fall. There is nothing bad about the polish, everything about it blew me away from formula to packaging to design. Maybe if they can get a consistent sticker on the bottom of the polishes (they have different fonts/layouts) but that's not an issue really as I rarely look at the bottom of my polish bottles anyways.

Would I buy it again? Yes. Absolutely 100%. Needless to say I'm excited to try my other colour Living Water and you all will be reading more Cult Nails on here in the future!

New York Color Limited Edition Bronze Bliss Summer Blushable Cream Sticks~ Swatches and Review

Radiant Bronze and Gold Radiance

This summer New York Color (NYC) released a golden-goddess-esque collection named Bronze Bliss. In the collection was two Blushable Cream Sticks which was really exciting for me as I love their regular line Blushable Cream Sticks (you can read my review on Big Apple Blush here). The two shades in the collection were Radiant Bronze and Radiant Gold. Here is an unblended swatch of each.

T-B (Shade): One light swipe of Radiant Bronze, Three swipes of Radiant Gold

T-B (Sun): One light swipe of Radiant Bronze, Three swipes of Radiant Gold

I'm going to start with Radiant Bronze. This shade is perfection. Super pigmented and creamy this applies almost in excess. You'll need a light hand otherwise you'll overdo it. The colour itself is warm and rich with a very very fine gold shimmer throughout. When blended the shimmer is barely noticeable giving a lit from within look. It's lasting power is decent about three hours depending on how heavily you blend the product out. Plus as with all the Blushable Cream Sticks it dries to a powder finish. Unfortunetly the good ends here however. I gave mine to my friend because on me this just ended up looking like a bruise, the beginnings of a rash, or dirt. I've never had any luck with bronzers though so I don't blame the product itself. My friend has quite a yellow undertone to her skin and it really looks awesome on her. Perfect exotic beach dweller effect.

Shade- Radiant Bronze Blended (on N10 skin)

Next is Gold Radiance a white to light gold sparkle highlighter shade. This was the one I was most excited about, but to be honest it kind of let me down. In the tube it looks like it has a white-gold base with fine gold shimmer bits throughout but on the skin it ends up being clear (or near clear) with the gold bits instead. It's still pretty and I like using it along my cheek bones, but due to the translucent base it requires multiple layers to show up adequately (as seen below in the blended swatch). Another slight issue is that this one has a hint of a greasy feel to it not really drying down as quickly or fully to the lovely powder finish the other Blushable Cream Sticks have. It also doesn't have great staying power lasting around 4 hours maximum. I still like the product, the fine gold bits are really subtle and pretty but I was hoping for more.

I got these from Rite Aid for $4.99 USD each (I'm visiting the USA at the moment). They are also quite large holding a huge 8 grams of product. They are limited edition for this summer and can be found in a display.

Gold Radiance in the tube

Radiant Bronze in the tube partially spun up

Sprite Rating: Gold- 5/10, Bronze 7/10

Would I buy these again? If I had a darker and/or warmer skin-tone that actually cooperated with bronzers I would buy the Radiant Bronze one again. The Radiant Gold I probably wouldn't purchase a second time though. I like it and I'll use it but I was hoping for more and it doesn't last all that long for a very subtle gold glinty effect.

Lorac TANtalEYES Palette~ Swatches & Impressions

Out for Summer, Lorac has released a eyeshadow quad called TANtalEYES. I think the name is really cute, if a bit corny. The palette itself however is lovely!

All four shades are generous in size and highly pigmented. The four colours- white gold, copper, olive green and burgundy are all shimmery almost metallic finish.

All four shades were beautiful! I really wanted the palette myself but I already own shades that are near identical for the two darker shades. Plus the palette comes with a bronzer illuminator that I wouldn't use so it would have been a waste.

The real kicker about this palette and bronzer though is the price for us Canadians. The set costs $47 CND or (for you lucky americans) $36 USD.

So what do you think a great summer palette or just more of the same?

Morgana Cryptoria Haul, First Impressions and Swatches

A couple weeks ago I ordered from the online mineral makeup company called Morgana Cryptoria, a rather cute gothic themed site that has alternative as well as trendy shades. From the site I ordered two of their cult favourite Vegan Lipsticks, two eyeshadow samples (come loose in pots, but I've pressed mine here) and a sample of their Ethereal Veil Finishing Powder.

First up is the two Vegan Lipsticks I ordered Absinthe (a dark rich blue toned green) and Rose Plum (a rose with a plum tinge). And like many before me I love them! Richly pigmented, and super super long lasting this are sure to make an impact! I love the hue of Absinthe- honestly my favourite shade of my favourite colour! Yes, I know green lips are weird but I dig this so much I don't even care. It's a funky take on a gothic lip! Rose Plum on the other hand is just as great but for a more everyday occasion! Really really lovely lip colour that is quite unique, I don't have anything else quite like it. You really get a plum feel to it on the lips too, yet it doesn't look at all purple really. Both are a bit drying I found but I don't find it emphasizes my lip imperfections at all. Plus because these last for hours and through eating for the most part I'm in love! Plus, they were only $12 USD each, or for those of you who like to apply your lippies with a brush you can buy them in pots for only $5 USD. 

T-B: Absinthe, Rose Plum (Bright Light)

T-B: Absinthe, Rose Plum (Dull natural light- Cloudy)

Ethereal Veil

The sample size of the finishing powder I bought was called the Ethereal Veil, a white-blue slightly shimmery powder for use over foundation. If you pat it on quite heavily you can also use it as an eyeshadow. I'm not too sure how I feel about this one yet, the one time I used it so far I didn't really notice too much of a difference on my skin. No real slight shimmer nor a blue tinge. I found the sample jar (same size as the eyeshadow sample jars) to be a bit difficult to use out of so that may be part of the issue. Honestly I bought this because I always wanted that Ethereal look that elves and goddess etc. have in the movies. The almost soft-focus mystical beauty quality that seems so impossible to capture. (Perhaps I should invest in a lighting crew to fallow me around everywhere, I'm sure this would fix the problem!)

Mordred Eyeshadow

Harbinger's Eyeshadow

The two shadow samples I got were Mordred from the Medieval collection and Harbinger from the 2010 Haunted Eyes collection. Mordred is described as a deep mettalic bronze, and Harbinger is described as a deep metallic wine with flecks of aqua. I find Mordred an antique dark brass/gold and Harbinger a blackened red with the smallest amount of aqua shimmer. I found Mordred really lovely, richly pigmented and great metallic shine with subtleties that made it seem like real metal. I didn't like Harbinger as much as I found it chalkier and less pigmented, as well as blacker than I liked. All three were swatched on top of Pixie Epoxy. 

T-B: Ethereal Veil layered, Mordred, Harbinger (Bright Light)

T-B: Layered Ethereal Veil, Mordred, Harbinger

Close up of Mordred and Harbinger

Overall, I'm loving Morgana Cryptorium! The lipsticks are fab and I'll be going back for more (especially as a couple days after I ordered the new shades of lipstick shades were released). I'm eyeing up Roses and Violets, Nightshade, Sunset Peach, and Coraline's Kiss. I want to try a few of her other eyeshadows as well such as Chivalry, Axe to Grind and Lady Godiva from the Medieval collection and Brew HaHa from the 2010 Halloween collection. Plus shipping was quick too! As a side note I adore the type face she chose for her labels, really cute! What do you think of Morgana Cryptoria?

Quick look with Absinthe lipstick and Mordred on the lid

NOTD: Color Club Snakeskin

Please ignore the messed up thumb, look at the beauty of the polish in the bottle instead :P

It's been awhile since I've shown a nail polish post so I thought I'd upload my current favourite! This little is by Color Club (which means they don't cost much and they are vegan as well!) and called Snakeskin (Number 901). And honestly this colour is stunning! Metallic silvered green with gold and silver micro-shimmer. To me it honestly has the feel of some sort of reptile in a swamp, which is great as I'm taking a Herpetology class this semester! (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians :D) I think this color is really unique, I love the fact that it has some variation to it because of the gold and silver shimmer so it looks really reptilian! 

This polish not only looks really cool but the formula is awesome! Just as good as Revvvolution (Shown in this post!) you really can pull off only one coat with both of these two Color Club polishes I've tried. Though I did two coats in the photos, Snakeskin applies smoothly and without brushstrokes. (Quite a few of my nails are messed up in this manicure, but it's not due to the polish, rather the Top Coat I used. I'm on the last dregs of my favourite China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat and it has gone thick. In combination with not enough on my brush most times I destroyed most of the nails. *pout*)

Close-up to see the awesome shimmer!

Overall Rating: 10/10 This polish is amazing in my opinion. Great formula, Unique colour, Vegan and Cruelty-free brand and costs under $5 a bottle. Fantastic!

Would I buy this again? YES! Yes, yes yes! There is honestly nothing I dislike about this polish!