Hebridean Sprite Beauty: High Voltage Cosmetics

Monday, August 15, 2011

High Voltage Cosmetics~ Norse Mythology Collection Swatches Part 2

The sample baggies

There has been a TON of crap flying around about this company lately and I'm not going to get into it. However, I did just receive the rest of the Norse Mythology collection by HVC because in my previous order at least one sample was missing. Jasmine the owner when I got ahold of her (her e-mail gmail automatically spammed my hotmail account e-mails) offered to send me the rest of the set as I wasn't sure which ones I was missing.

Onto the swatches!

Click the picture to see the swatches larger!

T-B: Mani & Sol, Njord, Mjolnir, Magni, Rind, Saga, Aegir, Glitnir, Gullveig, Valkyries, Frorgyrn, Modi

Sorry for only one picture, I thought I had taken more. The shades are lovely, very well pigmented and some are subtle beautiful duochromes. Here are some colour descriptions.

Mani & Sol: Grass green with a beautiful gold duochrome
Njord: Doesn't look that spectacular in this photo but it is the nicest softest light blue-grey
Mjolnir: Olive green-gold or antique gold
Magni: Another stunner that really didn't look like it was going to be anything special in the baggie. In fact it looked black in the bag. It's a really stunning purple with royal blue shimmer. Fantastically pigmented.
Rind: Light pink- with quite a bit lavender in it.
Saga: Awesome duochrome in lovely pastel shades. Light blue/lavender with light green reflect.
Aegir: Frosty light blue with a touch of gold shimmer
Glitnir: Bronze with a touch of green and a dash of gold shimmer
Gullveig: Light rust shade
Valkyries: Soft light yellow with pretty green reflect. Very unique.

I'd have to say the shades that really stand out to me are Njord, Saga, Valkyries, Mani & Sol and Magni. I do really like the shades so though I know many people are angry at the owner I do hope that eventually the company straightens itself and practices out. The eyeshadows are well formulated overall in my opinion.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

High Voltage Cosmetics~ Review and Swatches

A couple months ago I had ordered a ton of samples from High Voltage Cosmetics, an indie company that has a high variety of eyeshadow colours as well as some lip products (which I didn't get samples of). Everything came nicely packaged in a bubble-wrapped envelope with the samples in little baggies with the names on little stickers. All the baggies were placed together in a larger baggie with gold stars on it which I thought was nice. There was also a small hand written thank-you as well. Unfortunately, I didn't receive all the samples I ordered and though I've e-mailed multiple times I've yet to get a response in return.

The best thing about High Voltage eyeshadows I think is the wonderful duochrome options. Truly unique and absolutely fabulous, there are options available for everyone! I ordered the entire Norse Mythology collection as well as some from the permanent lines too. I certainly have some favourites but some I was a bit disappointed in too. One thing I was kinda disappointed about was that one of my shadow samples was missing- part of the collection was the shadow Mani and Sol from the Norse Mythology Collection but I never recieved it. I did however recieve 2 Vali and 2 Uggdrasil for some reason. I received a couple other extra shadow samples in my order too but I would have liked the Mani and Sol alot I think.

Favourites- Vali (MOST FAVOURITE!), Stiletto Strut, Twilight Symphony, Vor, Baldr, Thorr, Radio Waves, Born to Rock (not shown- was mixed into the purple mix), Sif, Aasgard

Disappointments- Smoke and Mirrors (darker than I wanted- not as pigmented as I wanted), Snotra wasn't unique enough, Mead of Suttungr (kind of patchy- looks white instead of off-white on), Manhatten (too dark- not really different than alot of charcoals out there), Tyr (really looks rust like to me, too close to rust coloured for me to want to wear).

I did attempt to contact the owner of High Voltage cosmetics twice and never heard back from her. I had asked her a bunch of questions about her company and herself- even just getting a response saying they were happy I was reviewing their shadows but can't take the time to fill out my questions would have been appreciated. But I didn't have any issues with the service at all- cheap shipping, good sample prices, lots of variety and fairly quick shipping. The only downside was the one shadow missing.

I found the sample baggies a pain due to their finickiness and difficultly to not get the shadow everywhere using them though they were well labeled. The samples weren't large enough to even press a shadow pan a quarter of the way filled- the mixes were three or four shadows combined together and the shadow pans still weren't full- which was a shame as I was hoping to press them to use. When I use them out of the bags I get the powder all over my hands and the surface I'm working over. Also, the website could really benefit from a search bar! I found it hard to find certain shades a second time browsing the website.

All in all though I do like the company and I think there are some great options here. However unless you can handle eyeshadows from little baggies I don't recommend ordering any samples unless you're really unsure of a colour- just choose wisely based on online swatches and order the full size. Anyways here are my many swatches- Enjoy!

Top to Bottom: Green Mix, Purple Mix, Stiletto Strut, Acoustic, Smoke &; Mirrors

The Green Mix is Prince Charming, Odin and Einherjer samples mixed together; the Purple Mix is Ala Rock, Frozen Love and Born to Rock samples all together.