True Blood Vampire Lips

Official True Blood Lips

I've been asked before how to capture the Vampirey goodness that is the True Blood Lips and this is my take on it! Enjoy!

I used:

• Scarecrow Small deluxe Vampire Fangs
• Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in Twilight
• Mac Kissable Lip Colour in Love Peck

You could also use:

• Any set of Vampire fangs you want (though I highly rec. the Scarecrow brand, you can read my review here!)
• Nars Cruella Matte Lip Pencil
• Hourglass Siren Lipgloss
• Any Dark Red Lipstick, to make a red darker apply a light layer of black lipstick and layer the red over it, you'll get a lovely rich red!
• Also the paler you make you face the more the red will standout- I recommend a white matte eyeshadow over any skintone tone to lighten your skin colour without having major mismatch between you face and neck :D

Hi-Fi Cosmetics 20% off Sale

Hey everyone! Hi-Fi cosmetics is having a Sale TODAY ONLY! It's 20% off everything on the site, plus full size Halloween items are even further discounted. I've placed my order already! It's the first time I've ordered from them, but I've heard really good things about them. The Beauty Spot has a bunch of lovely reviews and swatches on them so check them out there. Shipping wasn't too bad either so that's nice.

Enjoy!

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!

Spa Ritual Howl~ Review

SpaRitual's Howl polish from the fall Wilde collection was the only shade I felt I needed in my life. All the blogger photos were gorgeous, it looks stunning in the bottle. A dark brown with copper shimmer throughout. However, on the nail is just seems to fall flat. Even in bright sunshine you can barely see the shimmer at times, and the dark brown base looks black in most lighting. Plus, if you want any hope of seeing the shimmer you need a super shiny top coat. I tried it first with an older topcoat I had hanging around and it pretty much killed the uniqueness of the polish. 

I tried very hard to show the shimmer in these pics, they were all in direct sunlight but as you can see there isn't very much. This makes me sad because the polish in the bottle looks so gorgeous! Or when I'm in the process of removing it and the base removes a little before the shimmer so you can see it more.
The formula itself was pretty good. It went on easily in two coats and wear was about average for me (which is 2-3 days before major tip wear and chips).

Overall, I'm kind of disappointed. I was really hoping for a more unique and glowy sort of polish but mostly it just looks black or black-brown. Sparitual is vegan though so that's a plus, and I love the bottle, not only is it shaped nicely the rubber cap rocks.

Sprite Rating: 5/10, lost points for the potential it had but didn't live up to and the need for a super shiny top coat.

Would I Buy it Again? No, I wouldn't. I liked the idea of it and other bloggers seem to be able to coax out it's hidden wonders but on me it just looks black most of the time. *sigh* And I had such high hopes.

Indie Halloween Collections- 2011 Part 2

Hello all! I just wanted to say before I really got into the post that I'm not putting up all the Indie Halloween collections. This is mostly because I find the gory Zombie fad quite disturbing and so I just can't bring myself to post the Zombie collections up. In my previous post I literally hummed and hawwed for about 5 minutes on whether to include Meow's Zombie collection, and I did for completeness but that's it I just can't do it anymore! I'm a vampire girl at heart so I apologize but decay bothers me. So I just want to say I have nothing against these brands and their Zombie lines but I just can't deal with some of the promo images/packaging/names.

Onto what you're actually here to read about! (And if you missed it here's Part One Indie Halloween)

Venomous Cosmetics Happy Halloween Collection (i.e. not the Fear collection)
This one hasn't been released yet, but it should be available to buy on the 15th I believe. I can't wait as these swatches from VC's facebook page look gorgeous! Below is both swatches from the Fear collection and from the Halloween collection. I've mushed them together because I think swatches on skin are helpful and both of these collections will be for sale at the same time. You can see though that I've noted which items are from which collection. Fear is currently available and Halloween as I stated above will be released soon. These are Limited Edition though, I believe VC plans to take these down November 2nd. This isn't the full collection either there is still 2 more loose shadows VC will be adding to the Halloween collection.
P.S. I heard from a little birdy that Oct. 21st is Venomous Cosmetics birthday and that they'll be offering a 10% discount. Might be worth popping by their site that day. :D

Jack-O-Lantern: Pumpkin Orange Shimmer Lip Poison
Halloween Collection

Pressed Shadows from Fear collection L-R: Apocalypse, Claustrophobic, Secret Vampire, Buried Alive

Fear Collection loose shadows Clockwise from top Left: Paranormal, Haunted, Nightmare, The Beyond, Zombie's Reign

Lip Poison from Fear collection in Panic

Lip Poison from Fear collection in Spiders and Snakes

Lip Poison from Fear Collection in Epidemic

Lip Poison from Fear Collection in Pitch Dark

Lip Poison from Fear Collection in Drowning

Pressed shadows from Halloween Collection in L: Magic Potion, Loudest Heartbeat

Loose shadow from Halloween Collection in Curse of the Werewolf

Lip Poison from Halloween in Candy Apple

Aren't they fabulous?! I'm so excited to order from these collections! Curse of the Werewolf just looks amazing.
Next up is Morgana Cryptoria. Firstly, she released new Lip Glosses for fall with quite a few halloweenish colours, however they aren't specifically the Halloween release. Two new Lip Glosses (or Ghouloss as they are called on the site) were added for Halloween, as well as an eye themed eyeshadow collection. There will be a new blush called Gravely as well a purple-grey shade, and the lip glosses are now available to buy in sets of three mini tubes with a unique holder. The Gel Lipsticks are going to be coming out soon too. Can't wait!

Witches Brew Gloss

Sexy Spellcaster Gloss

Fangtastic Gloss

Eye See You Halloween Shadows collection

Swatch of Creepy Peepers shadow (doesn't it look awesome?)

Mini Gloss Trident

I think there collection image for Geek Chic Cosmetics says it all but I'll let you in on a hint it's a halloween cult classic movie.

Sweet Transvestite Lipstick swatched

Make sure to check out their facebook page for super close-up photos of the shadows for this collection. Wow bright! You can get the entire collection for a reduced price or purchase individual shades. :D
Here are a couple other places you can find swatches
Toxid Lotus Blog
Geek Chic Cosmetics Facebook

Fyrinnae is being slightly difficult this season because although some bloggers have gotten the collection, there is no sign of it (or any of their eyeshadows) on their site at the moment and no clue when they're coming back. However, here are two girls that have swatched the collection for you so go check them out. I've always had good experiences with Fyrinnae shadows in the past quality-wise and they are much more complex in person than can ever be shown on a computer screen. These shadows are not limited edition so there is no rush for you to order, unless of course if you want to wear any of the shades for Halloween.
Le Gothique
Makeup Zombie
Aijuswhanakno

Two smaller Indie companies that I've not tried anything from (nor do I know much about) are also getting sort of an honourable mention here. RagDolls Bath and Beauty, and Persephone Minerals.
Persephone Minerals is known for their Duochrome shades and I know next to nothing about RagDolls Bath and Beauty.

Persephone Minerals All Hallow's Eve Collection
L-R: Spirit Realm, Pumkinhead, Graveside Manner, Devil Doll, Cemetery Dirt, Deadringer

RagDolls Bath and Beauty This is Halloween Collection

The Beauty Spot has also got swatches and a review up of the This is Halloween Collection by RagDolls.

So that's it. Crazy right? But I love the halloween collections, everything is always so spooky and well named. Any collections you're definitely going to be buying from? Shades you are on the look-out for? Let me know!