Morgana's Crypt~ Spring 2013 Swatches

L-R: Graeae, Orchid, Hera, Leucothea, Aphrodite

Way back in May Morgana's Crypt (formerly Morgana Cryptoria) came out with a bunch of new lip products. As I love the lipstick formula of this brand I had to make an order and so I cashed in all my easter codes from the easter egg hunt the owner had. I've now finally gotten around to posting (I know I'm really far behind!)

There are a couple different formula's I've tried and I shall attempt to explain the difference between the formulas. First there is the Lip Balm, a highly pigmented but slightly moisturizing lipstick. It doesn't feel much like a balm to me as there is good staying power with these. All of these are one shade with no shimmer or reflect to them.

The Lip Tints are similar to the balms in packaging but go on much sheerer. They also have a moisturizing component to them. These very much do let your natural lip colour come through and are actually quite unique. I found the Orchid shade to be quite interesting on.

The lip gel gloss is non-sticky highly moisturizing and very cushy. I love the new lip gloss formula from this brand- much much better than the previous glosses they released. I did notice a touch of feathering with my very dark shade though and needed a clear lip liner. Also because it is so pigmented I found I needed to be careful when I put it on as you can easily tell if I didn't line it up exactly with my lip line due to how dark the shade I purchased is.

There is also the slimline lipstick which is slightly more moisturizing than the regular lipsticks but less so then the balms. Also highly pigmented and with a shimmer.

And finally the lipsticks which are semi-matte. They have high pigmentation and contain shimmer. They last a long time on, don't budge unless you work at it and don't dry out your lips to the point of pain. They are slightly dry but not too badly.

These are the shades I purchased

L-R: Leucothea, Hera, Aphrodite, Graeae

Hera- A balm shade. A bright almost matte robin's egg/sky blue with a slight blue sheen.
Leucothea- Balm shade. A true rose shade with a touch of berry to it. Lovely almost matte colour. One of my favourites from my order.
Graeae- A balm shade. Appears almost blackened brown in the tube but applies a lovely vampy plum. I ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would.
Aphrodite- A balm shade. A mix between bubble-gum pink and baby pink. Very bold and single coloured. I didn't like this one, not due to formula but due to how it looked on me- I was hoping for something more natural and this definitely is not.

Blurry to show sparkle. Bottom swatch sheered out, top two layered for intensity

Necronomicon- Gel-Gloss formula. A very dark purple with violet and blue sparkle. Such a stunning colour but very gothic too. No way you are going to be unnoticed in this, but the formula is so comfortable I'm not sure I'd mind.

L-R: Passionfruit, Dragonscale, Rose Champagne

Passionfruit- Slimline Lipstick shade. Very bright fuchsia with a blue/purple reflect.

L-R: Rose Champagne, Dragonscale

Rose Champagne- From the regular vegan lipstick line, however I think this shade was limited edition. A brown-rose with silver shimmer.
Dragonscale- One of the Vegan Lipsticks. This is actually a shade that I asked Melissa from Morgana's Crypt to make for me. It's a bit pinker than I wanted but I wanted a neutralish berry shade with noticeable green shimmer to it. Unique but still out in public appropriate! You can see the green shimmer much more in real life but it doesn't look strange on the lips at all as the shimmer is so fine.

Orchid Tint full sunlight, Left two layers, right one layer

Orchid- One of the lip tints. Another super dark shade in the tube (dark purple) but ends up a medium-dark purple with slight grey/mauve undertones once on. Very unique but not too out of this world. Liked this one more than I thought I would when I saw the colour in the tube.

L-R: Prospective Specter, Masquerade Ball

Masquerade Ball- Lipstick shade. Dark green with blue undertones and blueish shimmer.
Prospective Specter- Lipstick shade. Mint green with silver shimmer.

I also purchased 3 of her cream shadows. I love the colours of these however the formula leaves much to be desired, even with the free powder primer included with these. They just don't set. They're very creamy and blendable but they never stop moving. To get these to work you'd need to do a heck of a lot of prep sadly. You also wouldn't want to travel with them as I fear if they were warmed up at all they would melt.

L-R: Layered, one swipe, layered, one swipe, layered, one swipe

And down below you can see after I rubbed these five minutes later seeing if I could give them time to set.

This was with the powder primer and only one rub. Smear city.

Now finally here are some lip swatches. I wasn't able to swatch all the colours as I've developed an allergy to one of Morgana's ingredients. This is in no way the company's fault my sensitivity has just greatly increased and I'm also no longer able to handle sunflower seeds or sesame seeds. It's because of this allergy that I can't properly review these beyond my initial impressions unfortunately.

Aphrodite neutral lighting

Dragonscale- couldn't capture the green shimmer but it is there!

Passionflower warm light

Passionflower cool light

Orchid lip tint cool light

Orchid tint warm light

Graeae

Aphrodite cool lighting

Necronamcon lip-gel gloss

Whew! That's everything! How about everyone else, have ordered from Morgana's Crypt? Which shades are drawing your attention?

Darling Girl Darling Deer Christmas~ Swatches and Review

I'm a bit late on this collection but I'm enjoying it! This is the Darling Girl Cosmetics Darling Deer Christmas collection! Some of the shadows and the liner are from the main collection but I'm including them anyways as they were a part of my order :D. I'm going to start with the lippies but I've got quite a few of the shadows too!

L-R: Kiss You Off Lip Balm in Cookies for Claus, Holo Gloss in Jolly Holly

L-R: Kiss You Off Lip Balm in Cookies for Claus, Holo Gloss in Jolly Holly

I'm ADORING the Kiss You Off Lip Balm in Cookies for Claus! Such an amazing Cranberry with gold reflect! Just amazing and festive!

The Holly Jolly Holo Gloss is also lovely. Slightly gritty due to the holographic glitter but a true red shade with gold and light green (but it looks gold on) glitter.

Midnight Train Aqua Liner

Aqua Liner in Midnight Train

Close-up of Midnight Train Aqua Liner

The colour of this liner is fantastic. Really beautiful and complex. Slate blue with magenta glitter. These aren't waterproof, but I believe Susan from Darling Girl is working to try and make them water resistant. I've not been able to try it on yet due to holiday madness but I hope to soon!

Loose Pixie Glitter in White Christmas

This glitter realllllly needs a glitter adhesive base. I tried it over two different primers and just had it ball up and fall off. It looks so pretty but as I left my Pixie Epoxy at school I'm not going to able to use it until January. If I remember I'll try to review it then.

Eyeshadow in Comet

Comet is a beautiful shade! However, I think this one would too benefit from a sticky base as just on primer it tends to go plum-red and loose the beautiful purple-green interplay. You'll be able to see what I mean in my swatch.

Dancer

My favourite from the collection is Dancer! A beautiful forest green with silver and red glitter! *Drool* So happy I got this one!

Blitzen

Blitzen is the most neutral shade I got from the collection. Gorgeous light peach-gold with a very faint pink reflect and gold shimmer. Something easily useable all year round!

T-B: Blitzen, Persuasion (GWP), Comet

Persuasion, the gift with purchase is a fantastic super shimmery light purple with gold shimmer. 

Comet if you look in the left part of the swatch you can slightly see the green reflect.

Rudolph

Rudolph is another really neat shade. Deer brown with lots of silver glitter, it also has a faint red reflect (like Rudolph's nose!). I love how unique this shade is.

Rudolph 

And finally the samples I recieved :D

Angel Face

Angel Face is a lovely matte purple (that looks grey in some lights) with light blue subtle shimmer.

Angel Face

Angel Face (Artificial Lighting)

Here you can see Angel Face as grey and if you click to enlarge you can see the blue shimmer.

T-B: Mustang eyeshadow, Purple Haze Blush

Mustang is a lovely neutral medium smokey brown eyeshadow. Purple Haze is a super pigmented magenta/berry blush with a slight sheen. 

Did you buy anything from Darling Girl Cosmetic's Darling Deer Christmas? Anything here that really pops to you? 

Note! Darling Girl Cosmetics is closed until the New Year, but the Christmas collection will still be available then!

 Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day!

Darling Ghoul, Darling Girl Halloween Swatches and Review

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but my family has just moved houses and I've been going through midterms so trying to get my package has been difficult. I didn't get a chance to do lip swatches but Darling Girl's Halloween collection Darling Ghoul is one of the best Halloween releases of the year. I'm really happy with my order and wish I had gotten more. Though the shop is closed right now, Susan will have it back up after Halloween for a week before the limited edition collection will be taken down. 

My samples! Starting from the clam-shell clockwise: Going Batty Holo Gloss, Will-o-wisp Spectral Shift, Everything's Rosy Blush, New Grass e/s, Pumpkin Eater e/s, Darling Ghoul Sticker, Whimsy e/s, Incognito e/s

Starting from centre going down and clockwise: Corpse Candle Spectral Shift, Jack's Lantern e/s, Monarch e/s, Ghost Light spectral shift, Ghouls Gone Wild lip jelly,  Just Bitten Cream Blush, Poison Plum Kiss You Off Balm, Sweet Lips Sugar Scrub in Amaretto

A little bit about the products. Spectral Shifts are duochrome highlighters/eyeshadows/blushes in one. They can pretty much be used in any fashion you like and are completely awesome. The Sweet Cheeks Cream Blush is also multi-use in that it can also be used as a lip tint. In addition to this, I got quite a few shades from the core line so I'll make note of that  when I come to a swatch of those. First up is the lippie items.

L-R: Sheered layer of Ghouls Gone Wild Lip Jelly, Layered Just Bitten Cream Blush, Single layer Just Bitten Cream Blush, Layered Posion Plum Kiss You Off lip balm, Single layer Poison Plum lip balm.

L-R: Going Batty Holo Gloss single layer, Multi-layer Ghouls Gone Wild lip jelly, Single layer Ghouls Gone Wild, Multi-layer Just Bitten Blush, Single layer Just Bitten

L-R: Going Batty Holo Gloss layered, Single layer Going Batty, Multi-layer Ghouls Gone Wild lip jelly, Sheered Ghouls Gone Wild

Sweet Lips On The Go Sugar'd Lip Scrub in Amaretto

Sweet Lips On The Go Sugar'd Up Lip Scrub

 I was really impressed by the lip products I got from Darling Girl. My favourite has to be Poison Plum Kiss Me Off Lip Balm though. The colour is absolutely stunning for fall and I think it really suits all skin tones. A dark berry with a ton of gold and violet sparkle. The packaging is slim and easy to use, plus the label is waterproof, though it does overlap slightly. The balm itself is moisturizing and balmy in texture, but not so much that it slides around. It has a buildable texture so you can apply sheerly for a tint for layered for a lovely darker lip. I absolutely love it. Poison Plum costs $4.75 USD.
Mini Rating: 10/10 

Ghouls Gone Wild is very pretty but much more subtle than I was hoping. Certainly it is full of holographic glitter which is non-gritty but I was personally hoping it would impart more of a green tint when applied than it does. When you look at it in the pot, it has this amazing light green irredesence but this doesn't transfer to the lips, it really goes on clear. I also wasn't crazy about the pot, as though it was full I had to be really careful when opening it as the whipped texture had a tendency to drag and get outside the pot edge. It does feel nice on though, slightly moisturizing and non-sticky. Doesn't last too long however is better than some glosses I have. It will make a nice layering product. Ghouls Gone Wild Lip Jelly costs $4.25 USD.
Mini Rating: 7.5/10

Going Batty Holo Gloss at first looks scary and unwearable but is the exact opposite in reality. It's absolutely stunning and I wish I bought the full size product instead of just a sample. It's a dark-medium brown based gloss with holographic, orange, pink and green sparkle. On the lips it goes a pretty pink-brown with fantastic sparkle. I've never seen anything even remotely like it. It has a slightly stiffer texture than Ghouls Gone Wild but feels very similar on. Gloss-like with no stickiness and slightly moisturizing. It has decent wear-time for a non-sticky gloss too. I think it looks great on it's own and would be a nice addition over lipsticks in berry and wine shades too. The holo glosses cost $4.50 USD.
Mini Rating: 8.5/10

The Sweet Lips On The Go Sugar'd Up Lip Scrub is a wonderful product too. It is a sugar scrub that you can choose the flavour of out of 36 different flavours (that's a HUGE amount!). I chose Amaretto (my favourite alcoholic drink. I particularly love it mixed with strawberry daiquiri instead of rum. Yummy!), and I am SO glad I did. This smells amazing and exactly like Amaretto does (a sort of almond-cherry for those of you who haven't tried the drink). Plus it tastes awesome too, lovely and sweet without being overpowering. A bit tough to get the hang of, you only need the smallest amount of scrub from the top of the overpacked spin-up tube to sufficiently scrub dry patches from your lips. When you're done you can sort of rub/wash/lick away the excess. *guilty of licking* It doesn't leave much of a residue, though I kind of wish it did. Though I found my lips very soft and smooth afterwards, I did feel that I needed a balm after to really finish treating my lips as they felt a bit battered. This may be because I used a bit much on my first go though (I'm still experimenting with perfecting exactly the right amount to use- you need so little it's hard to estimate at first.) Overall, this is the best lip scrub product at the most decent price I've found to date. Most of the bigger brand companies only offer lip scrubs at exorbitant prices in pots. I love not having to dip my finger in a pot then transferring it to my lips afterwards. This lip scrub costs $5.50 USD.
Mini Rating: 9/10

Just Bitten Sweet Cheeks Cream Blush was originally made as a dupe for the Tarte for True Blood Cheek Stain, and I have to say I like the texture of this one even more! Though slightly expensive for the size at $6.50 USD you need so little of this product to get the needed amount for your cheeks it will take you quite an amount of time to get through the pot. It's a beautiful red flush with a very subtle and spread-out gold shimmer (you can only sometimes barely see it). I do wish the gold showed up a bit more personally but others who complained about the Tarte True Blood one having too much gold shimmer will like and appreciate this one. This product spreads well and sinks in super quick. Despite some of the main  ingredients being oils they aren't bad for your skin oils but instead ones that are good for it instead- meaning it won't break you out. I love the flush this gives and it makes me want to try out other shades from the Sweet Cheeks range. I'm not too sure I like the pot, just because I find it kind of deep so as I go through it I can see having to angle my finger weird to get product out and I don't like grooves near my blush/gel products because I'm spoiled and messy and am likely to eventually get product stuck in the  threads.
Mini Rating: 8/10

Whimsy eyeshadow (Main Collection)

New Grass eyeshadow (Main Collection)

Everything's Rosy Blush (Main collection)

Incognito eyeshadow (Main collection)

T-B: Ghost Light Spectral Shift, Pumpkin Eater eyeshadow, Will-o-Wisp Spectral Shift 

L-R: Monarch eyeshadow (Main collection), Jack's Lantern eyeshadow, Will-o-Wisp Spectral Shift 

T-B: Corpse Candle Spectral Shift, Ghost Light Spectral Shift, Pumpkin Eater eyeshadow

L-R: Pumpkin Eater eyeshadow, Ghost Light spectral shift, Corpse Candle spectral shift

I tried to get these as colour accurate as possible but some of them are off or only showing one part of the duochrome effect. I tried but I wasn't as successful as I'd hoped to be. All the eyeshadows and spectral shifts came with sticker-sealed shifter tops on them.

The spectral shifts are lovely products. Well pigmented and slightly washed out shades they have awesome duochrome to them. I LOVE Corpse Candle and Ghost Light- both are truly unique and pretty. Corpse Candle is a light grey with lavender duochrome. Ghost Light is a washed-out teal/medium blue with lighter blue duochrome. Exactly what a ghost-light I think would look like. The shade is really other-worldly and ethereal. It's not as bright as the pictures show it to be in real life. Will-o-Wisp is a slightly coral pink shade with slight blue reflect. Another really unique shade though I'm not quite sure how it will look as a blush I'm highly tempted to try it as such. 

Spectral Shifts Mini Rating: 8.5/10

Pumpkin Eater is a bright orange metallic shade with really small green glitter. I was a bit disappointed with this one as I was hoping for a more obvious/denser green sparkle as it is really subtle. It is a very pretty shade though.

Jack's Lantern was the last of the Halloween eyeshadows I got. It is a black-plum shade with a medium/dark purple/burgundy highlight. It's supposed to represent the glowing cut out portions of a Jack-o-Lantern. I think the colour idea is a great one and I get the feeling of the inspiration from it but personally find it a bit too black/charcoal-like. I had to layer it quite heavily to get the burgundy/aubergine aspects to really show up.

Mini Rating for the Halloween Eyeshadows: 6.5/10

Monarch eyeshadow was the Gift with Purchase for the week that I purchased my order from. It's a reddened brown with super-sparkly blue/green shimmer. It's reminiscent of Mac Club though not as duochromy or dark as that and less green. It also reminds me a bit of Fyrinnae's Sumatran Tiger eyeshadow. It's a nice shade that was prettier than expected because of it's uber shimmer but one I don't think I'll use too often.

Whimsy is a light grey shade with a light green duochrome. Very pretty and subtle but an interesting everyday shade. It was well pigmented too.

New Grass was a free sample from my purchase. It's a bright grass green with an interesting but subtle purple/red glitter. Not obvious enough to make it look christmasy or strange but unique for sure. 

Incognito was my other free sample with purchase. A bright reddened purple shimmer. It's very rich and pigmented. 

Eyeshadows Mini Rating: 7/10

Everything's Rosy Blush is a yellow based medium pink with very faint gold in it. It is very pigmented so you'd have to go extremely light when applying this but it is a nice shade. Not too unique but pretty.

Mini Rating 6.5/10

Darling Girl has a slightly long TAT (Turn Around Time) of about 14-16 buisness days but everything is well packed and her samples are generous. Plus I got little goodies with my order (a package of Candy Corn a Darling Girl Sticker and two Halloween rings which was cute). The variety of product sizes was great (most things have a sample size, a small size and a large size). The prices are also reasonable and the shipping is low. Plus Susan the owner is an absolute sweetheart to speak to in person or over facebook. Plus she keeps a blog that regularly updates with information about what is happening in her life, what is going on at Darling Girl and upcoming products.

The most popular products from the Darling Ghoul collection are Poison Plum Lip Balm, Ghost Light Spectral Shift, Bats in the Belfry eyeshadow and Jack's Lantern eyeshadow, if you want a starting point at what to look for!

Sprite Overall Rating: 9/10

Would I buy from Darling Girl Cosmetics again? Yes! I'd love to try more of their products. This company is so unique and the quality is really there. Not to mention the sheer variety of products!