Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadows~ Swatches and Review Part 2

This review is going to feature Periwinkle Cardinal and Delicate Hummingbird.

To view Abyssinian Catbird and Resplendent Quetzal go to Part One!

Or there is Bashful Flamingo and Fire-Tailed Sunbird in Part Three.

Male and Female Northern Cardinals

Firstly for Periwinkle Cardinal. Gosh this name kills me. No Cardinals are Periwinkle in colour. None. There are 3 species of Cardinal, the Northern Cardinal as seen above, the Vermillion Cardinal a slightly orangey but still red cardinal and the Desert Cardinal seen below.

Desert Cardinal from E.J. Photo

As evidenced from the photos none of these birds are purple-blue (i.e. periwinkle). None of these birds are the green-blue of this eyeshadow either. WHYYYY?!!?!?
As a zoology major this bothers me. There are so many lovely birds that would fit this eyeshadow perfectly, even ones that are related to Cardinals such as the Indigo Bunting.

Indigo Bunting from Birds of Corpus Christi

Anyways, for this post we also have Delicate Hummingbird. This is also not named after a specific species of Hummingbird but I think we can all agree that Hummingbirds in general are rather delicate so I don't mind so much. Here are some photos of Hummingbirds that match the purple-taupe of this eyeshadow. See the purple-taupe bits on his belly?

Purple-Throated Mountain-Gem Hummingbird from Jim Scarff photography

Purple-throated Mountain-gem Hummingbird photo by Latafat Correa

So gorgeous!

L: Periwinkle Cardinal, R: Delicate Hummingbird

Periwinkle Cardinal is interesting as depending on the light it can look medium pine green with blue undertones, or blue with silver undertones. On the lid it's semi-sheer meaning it looks like your skin shows through the shadow at certain angles but not when you change the way the light hits it. If you build it up you can get a more intense look but it never quite covers your skin colour entirely. This allows it to be very wearable of course but is something to keep in mind if you like a more pigmented eyeshadow look. Personally for the depth of colour I was expecting something more pigmented as this semi-sheer consistency is better for a highlighter shade in my opinion. Delicate Hummingbird is similar in that sometimes it looks distinctly purple whereas other times it looks quite silver-taupe.

Left pair is over bare skin, middle is over Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Right is over Pixie Epoxy

As you can tell Delicate Hummingbird is the more pigmented shade. It's easy to build up and almost creamy in texture. It's also the longer lasting one, actually living up to the claim of long lasting. As with Abyssinian Catbird in the first part it seems to do best over bare skin for the long-lasting claim. Periwinkle Cardinal seems to fade over time, but lasts slightly more than Resplendent Quetzal from part one. It doesn't however last all day and it doesn't seem to do well over primer either. 

T-B: Urban Decay Flipside, Hi-Fi Slime and Snails, Barry M Kingfisher, Rouge Bunny Rouge Periwinkle Cardinal, Too Faced Rich Bitch duo blue side, Wet n' Wild dark green from Snow Sprite palette, Urban Decay Misdemenor

As you can see none of these really comes close to Rouge Bunny Rouge's Periwinkle Cardinal. Too Faced Rich Bitch has no green tones and has a gold highlight, whereas Hi-Fi's Slime and snails isn't as deep has a duochrome and mini glitter as well as lacking green undertones. They all seem to lack the silvered sage look that Periwinkle Cardinal has too.

Top: Rouge Bunny Rouge Periwinkle Cardinal, Bottom: Darling Girl Serenity

Then thinking I was finished of course I found a closer shadow match for Periwinkle Cardinal. Darling Girl's Serenity is very close in tone and just a tad bluer. It's also sparklier whereas the Rouge Bunny Rouge shadow is more satin-metallic in finish. Honestly on the eye I think either would work.

T-B: Urban Decay AC/DC, Urban Decay Mushroom, Rouge Bunny Rouge Delicate Hummingbird, Scaredy Cat Cosmetics Arctic Royal, Almay Green Eyes Trio purple shade

Delicate Hummingbird I actually found a very close dupe for as well. Surprisingly it was in one of my old Almay trio palettes called Trio for Green Eyes. The purple shade (if you can get ahold of that palette, I think it was discontinued but may still be avaiable online in some places) is a satin, less silvered version of Delicate Hummingbird. Delicate Hummingbird has better pigmentation and is a tad more complex but they are very close.

Would I buy these shades again? Though I have a dupe of the Delicate Hummingbird I would purchase this shade again due to the lovely pigmentation it has the neutral but still fun shade of it and the decent wear-time. The Periwinkle Cardinal I would not purchase again however due to the strange semi-sheer consistency of it. If I wanted that it would be great but I was hoping for a richer more true to pan colour, as it is a lovely unique shade. The only way I can see myself wearing this shade is over Pixie Epoxy whereas at least with Delicate Hummingbird I can wear it without extra prep.

Sprite Rating: 8.5/10 for Delicate Hummingbird, 6.5/10 for Periwinkle Cardinal

What does everyone think? Do you like either shade?

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?

Cult Nails Living Water~ Review and Swatches

L-R: Living Water, Iconic

Living Water has been a polish I've been eyeing since it's release so when I placed my order for Cult Nails not that long ago I knew I needed to include it! Living Water is a dark blue-teal jelly with bright aqua shimmers in it, and to me looks exactly like the name in the sun! It's very unique and is the perfect dark shade as it's distinctly blue-teal even in low light. A pet peeve of mine is shades so dark they look black except when in full sun, so this made me really happy!

Living Water applied well (just as Iconic did- you can see my review here: Iconic Cult Nails Review). I had a little bit of patchiness on some nails but that was solved with a third coat. It lasted well like Iconic did too. One thing I'd definitely like mention though is that this polish dries a weird sort of matte texture, so it really really needs/benefits from a top coat in my opinion.

Same great brush and bottle as Iconic had. I really wish my photos showed just how lovely this polish is but they really just don't capture it. I tried though!

Cult Nail's polishes cost $10 USD and are shipped really quickly and securely! I love how they're packaged in little wraps of paper-towel/cloth-like material.

Overall, I think this polish is a good pigmented and unique shade. Perfect for fall in it's richness. Though again, I think it needs to have a top coat (which for me isn't a problem as I use a top coat always anyways). I do love the Cult Nails formula though, I get the best wear and application with these!

Sprite Rating: 8.5/10- lost points for slight patchiness (i.e. three coats and some spot touch-ups) and weird matte dry-down but other than that an awesome polish.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes, I totally would. Great shade, easy application, great wear.

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!