Too Faced Review~ Exotic Color Intense Eyeshadow in Poison Orchid

 For my birthday this year my mom got me Too Faced's Exotic Color Intense Shadow Single in Poison Orchid. I'd been eyeing this shade for a while as I had swatched it when they were first released and was amazed by the shimmer but as they are rather expensive at $18 USD a pop I never took the plunge. I'm so glad I received this though as Poison Orchid is incredibly unique and super sparkly.

I've left a whole slew of things at school as I was so sick non-essentials were abandoned and promptly forgotten. I was focusing on trying to breathe- then it turned out that I was much sicker than I thought and I've not made it back to school and so most of my blogging things are there. Thus, my swatches are only on Too Faced Shadow Insurance. 

This shade is amazing on but it does have quite a bit of fallout, so it really does need a sticky base like Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. 

Poison Orchid is a charcoal-purple base with violet shimmer throughout. It has a duochrome effect to it as well as you can see when you compare the two pictures below.

The packaging is adorable- flower shaped with a little window in the lid so you can see the shade inside. It's a hard black plastic that seems quite sturdy and is easy to open and close. However it picks up finger prints and powder like crazy.

On the eyes this creates a very easy purple smokey eye that requires no real work to achieve. It has good pigmentation and the shimmer/glitter bits don't have any discernible feeling to them unlike some glittery shades I own.

You can get this shadow from the Too Faced's website, from Sephora or any other Too Faced retailer.

This really does look better in real life but I think you can get an idea of the shade from the above shots. Poison Orchid is truly unique, I don't own anything similar at all (which is amazing as I own waaaay to many purple eyeshadows).

Overall, though I do think that these are priced too high I am really digging Poison Orchid. The colour is unique and sophisticated, perfect for a holiday party. I'll try and get an eyelid shot up of it soon.

Sprite Rating: 8/10- lost points due to fallout issues and high price.

Would I buy it again? Yes, I think the shade is unique and beautiful. Though I may want to get it during a sale to save my wallet a bit! (And don't forget to use ebates! Sephora is currently 8% cash back)

Venomous Cosmetics Lip Poisons~ Review

Lip Poisons

When I made my order to Venomous Cosmetics I ordered 5 of the purse size (smaller) lip poisons. I ordered 2 more everyday colours and 3 more out there shades.

I just want to mention that Venomous Cosmetics was really vigilant on making sure my package made it to me safely. Everything was lovingly swaddled in an amazing amount of bubble wrap and tape in a padded envelope. Five stars across the board for the shipping package! In addition, shipping was really cheap only $2 USD. I couldn't believe it! Fantastic on that front.

Onto the Lip Poisons! I first want to assure everyone these do NOT actually contain poison, they're just named that way to go with the Venomous Cosmetics theme. These are actually lip glosses, so no worries on that front. And my god what amazing glosses these little babies are. When I first tried these the words that instantly came to mind were "Luxe" and "Decadent". These are so smooth and amazingly moisturizing, they feel like silk on the lips. 

Although they are sticky I wouldn't be turned off by that. These are sticky in a very subtle non-gloopy way. I love the feel of these and actually have never felt a gloss out there that feels as nice or as moisturizing on as these. Plus the limited stickiness makes for super long wear-time. These hold out and manage to last three hours on me. I am literally in awe. You can tell that these are meant to actually help you lips as well due to the great ingredients Tracy the owner has included in them. Things such as almond oil, jojoba oil and vitamin E are all included. 

One thing to take note of is that these are not vegan as some of the glosses contain carmine.

These Lip Poisons don't just stop there the colours themselves are awesome! These start as semi-sheer and are easily buildable to almost completely opaque. I love this as you can vary the intensity of you lip colour than. Plus they make for excellent layering looks too. Here are the shades I got, all are swatched by themselves on bare lips and taken in full sun. Please click to see the images larger and to really appreciate the complexity of these shades!

Wicked, Wicked Witch

Oxygen Deprivation

Zero Gravity

Fairy

Hypnotize

Wicked, Wicked Witch is a rich royal purple with a very slight navy blue sheen. It can be used to darken up and cool down too warm lipstick shades. This shade was part of the Limited Edition My Fairytale collection.

Oxygen Deprivation is a dark sage green. Most of you won't be interested in this but the colour is very unique. For sure this is a new twist on a punk rock or gothic lip! This shade reflects a light pinkish-purple which really adds dimension. I may not wear it often but when I do it will most certainly make a statement!

Zero Gravity is a shade everyone should own. It doesn't look as fantastic as it actually is here, but in real life this is breathtaking! It has a super pale peach base that reflects strongly a bunch of different shades. In the tube it reflects green but on the lips it reflects blue and pink. Amazing! Plus over other lipsticks this really adds pizzaz and actually makes my lips look bigger, especially when used slightly above the cupids bow. 

Fairy is one of the two more sedate shades I picked out. It's a medium pink that has a strong blue reflect that makes it look purple in many lights. It also seems to have a bit of gold shimmer in it too. Not truly unique (I have a similar gloss called Cliche by Lorac) but a very lovely shade none the less and I'm getting a lot of wear out of it. Plus I love the name :D

Hypnotize is last but certainly not least in my opinion. What is so great about this shade is that a sheerer layer on the lips is a lovely coral shade but a more heavy application it turns into a great orange-based red with a golden sheen. So sophisticated and pretty. It's the perfect match to some flowers on my new summer dress too.

The Lip Poisons are $3.50 USD for a purse size one (3.7ml) and $5.00 USD for a full size tube (5ml). They have the standard doe-foot applicators and have a lovely matte see-through label that lists the product name, company, shade name, and ingredients list. 

My only points that could possibly be considered cons are that they have a very small amount of Mint Extract in them making them slightly smell of mint. I don't mind the smell and it is faint and goes away almost instantly but if you really dislike the smell of mint that may put you off. The only other con is that like all doe-foot applicators the posts that hold the doe-foot can get covered in gloss, but this happens with every doe-foot applicator and I just wipe the post onto my lips then spread with the doe foot. 

All in all I adore these. I will most certainly be ordering more as these are the best glosses I have ever tried. I just love how moisturizing and long wearing they are with the unique colours.

Sprite Rating: 10/10 Holy Grail glosses. I have found a new love. :D

Will I buy these again? Look above I think the answer is an obvious YES! 

Hard Candy Visibly Wet Glossy Lip Pencil~ Swatches and Review

Jezebel

Candy Apple

At my last trip to Walmart while I'm here in Vermont I stopped by the Hard Candy section and instantly fell in love with the glittery sparklyness that these fantastically pigmented Visibly Wet Glossy Lip Pencils. My friend bought one (Jezebel) and I got a different shade (Candy Apple). Jezebel is a purpled fuchsia and Candy Apple is a bold red. Both have the most fascinating glitter in them and they look awesome on- here are some swatches!

Dabbed off once on my friend (Liana) to sheer it slightly so you can see the sparkles in Candy Apple

Candy Apple in Sunlight

Candy Apple Lip Swatch

Candy Apple after stuffing face and 4 hours later

Jezebel

Jezebel

And here is my friend Paula wearing Jezebel Lip Pencil it looks so great on her!

Now onto the review. First off the good, these are amazingly pigmented, feel nice on, have no detectable taste or smell, and have a really pretty shimmer. They also tend to stain your lips underneath and the glitter stays well.

Unfortunately, these have quite a few bad points too. They are a pain in the ass to get on your lips, so difficult to apply. The formula on these makes it really difficult to keep the colour within your lip line. In addition it transfers like crazy- I had to clean my teeth off about three times before it finally stopped transferring. 

Another major issue is that for some people (both me and Paula had this but not everyone has reported it) they burn on application. Seriously my lips had this burning sensation which was unpleasant and weird as they are not supposed to be plumping or have this reaction. I found that if I blot it off a bit the burning goes away or at least dies down. If I wait it out it burns for about 5 minutes for me before it seems to go away. Honestly I've tried to find the ingredients for these and I can't find them, so I don't know what ingredient(s) are causing this reaction. 

These cost $6.00 USD. 

Would I buy it again? No. Not with the burning issue. If they fixed that I may be able to overlook the formula issues. 

Rating: 5/10 It loses major points for the burning issue and the formula issues. Which is a real shame because the colours and pigmentation is fantastic.

Sephora OPI Spring~ Urban Ballerina Collection

Sephora OPI's spring collection has just been released and it's theme is a pretty modern ballet one! Called Urban Ballerina the collection brings to mind downtown city performances and classic ballet. I am actually quite intrigued despite the fact I'm neither a fan of charcoals or pinks! Here is the swatches Sephora's website provided.

First up is Break A Leg Warmer, an opaque Charcoal Grey which most likely has a cream finish. Most certainly reminds me of city lofts and architecture!

Leotard Optional is a nude shade, described as an opaque mocha beige. It also likely has a cream finish, and defiantly looks like the body suits in some ballet performances.

Let's Plie is described as an opaque metallic light beige, though it's a very pinked beige in my opinion. I think it looks like the satin finish of pointe shoes. Can't wait to see a swatch of this!

Shiny Dancer is another metallic though this one reminds me more of actual metals. Sephora describes it as an opaque slate with fine iridescent glitter that from the swatch looks silver in colour. Not too unique but interesting.

Comparing the bottle image and this swatch I'm fairly sure one of these is off in colour by quite a bit. Either way though The Way Tutu His Heart is a typical ballet colour, opaque light pink. How light and how purple-pink or yellow-pink the actual colour is, is yet to be determined as the two colours don't match (at least to me!)

Who's Spinning Tonight is my favourite from the collection, though I'm a sucker for purples and this royal purple with shimmer is lovely! Sephora calls it an opaque metallic true grape and doesn't it look lovely? *drool*

So what do you think? I like the way they chose the colours for the collection and the theme even if the colours themselves aren't super unique. What do you think? If you want to take a look or order the polishes on the Sephora website ($9 USD, $12 CND) click on the bottle of The Way Tutu His Heart below to take you to the page. Or there is the mini set of four at the top for $18 USD. :D

P.S. I just heard that  The Polish A Holic has swatches of the mini set of this collection up as well as the Sephora Glee collection if you're interested :D

Purple Rain of Eyeshadows (And a Magenta)

I got bored in my attempt to avoid doing physics work and decided to swatch all my purple eyeshadows! I also included my one magenta almost purple eyeshadow just because. All the shades are pretty true to life so I hope you enjoy!

Bottom to Top: Mac Silverwear, Make Up For Ever Star Powder in 90942 or white-purple, Wet n' Wild Sugar Plum Fairy Palette (WnW SPFP) Top Left, WnW SPFP Middle Left, WnW Color Icon Single Kitten, Urban Decay Asphyxia

WnW Kitten, Urban Decay Asphyxia, Almay Gree Eyes Trio Purple shade, Mac To the Ball, Clinique Violet Ice Duo Dark Purple shade, Kat von D Groupie

Bottom to Top: Almay Green Eyes Trio Purple Shade, Mac To The Ball (more purple in real life),  Clinique Violet Ice Duo dark purple shade, Kat Von D Groupie, MUA Shade 9, Urban Decay Ecstacy

Bottom to Top: Mac Plum Dressing, Gosh Jamaica Quad Purple Shade, Mac Altered State, WnW SPFP Darkest purple shade, Mac Magic Moor

What do you think? Do you like purple eyeshadows? I love purple with my hazel eyes as it brings out the green in them! Any questions feel free to comment and I'll try to respond ASAP!

Urban Decay Cowboy Junkie Set

Don't let the sedate colours fool you, the Cowboy colours are shimmery frosty pigmented bombs! Urban Decay loves their Midnight Cowboy Rides Again and they put it everywhere. The only problem is the glitter fallout. (If you like glitter and have issues with fallout- like me!- try the Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy over your normal eyeshadow primer. Huge difference!) This palette also comes with a new shade called Romp a dusty, silvered dark purple and a full size of their new Lip Junkie gloss in (I'm sure you've guessed it) Midnight Cowboy. These just came out, and are limited edition. You can get them on the Urban Decay Website for $38 USD. 

Included in this set is Midnight Cowboy eyeshadow (Pink champagne with lots of silver glitter), Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (Golden Beige with bronze, gold and silver glitter), Midnight Cowgirl (Subtle Golden-Beige with gold glitter), Romp (Deep silvery grape), Lip Junkie Gloss in Midnight Cowboy (Sheer Nude sparkle) and a 24/7 glide on eye liner pencil in Whiskey (Dark brown).

Personally I'm going to pass as I already have the MCRA shadow and similar colours of the other shades, but what about you? Interested?