All posts tagged: swatches

Makeup Inventory: Addiction by Ayako Eyeshadows

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One of my undeniable makeup loves as of late has been Addiction. I remember seeing a brown cheek/lipstick and a mustard eyeshadow on Xiao of Messy Wands and I was so intrigued by it. After a fateful visit to Japanese counters (or several), it was pretty much love at first sight. Addiction has similar aesthetic sensibilities with NARS, another favorite cosmetics brand, both with the products, the overall makeup philosophy (at least, it seems like), and the look and feel of the brand. They are like sisters. I’ve mentioned this before, but it doesn’t hurt to mention again: Addiction was created by Ayako, a former makeup artist and “student” of François Nars. It explains the influences and the similarities, but I do think that Addiction isn’t necessarily derivative; it just grew and developed from a foundation in NARS. I find Addiction to be a bit more careful in terms of production and collections than NARS, which is understandable since Addiction is a way smaller brand with a smaller market. A common critique with NARS is …

Makeup Inventory: Le Métier de Beauté True Colour Eye Shadows & Kaleidoscopes

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I have a love-hate relationship with Le Métier de Beauté, that’s actually more of a love relationship with a very serious side-eye at the price point. I’m not going to sugarcoat~ it or anything—this brand is pretty dang expensive. And yet I am lured in, all the time. It’s been a few months since I bought makeup from LMdB (not counting the Beauty Vault VIP items), though. As I mentioned in my last Beauty Vault VIP post, I’d be happy to swatch my Le Métier de Beauté eyeshadows for um, you know, science. Sunny said she’d like to see them, so here they are. In hindsight, I don’t have all that much, but hopefully this helps you out! The tricky thing with LMdB is that their production is so freaking limited, I almost always just give up on something Limited Edition and hope for the best. The singles are permanent, though, but I don’t have a lot of them. 🙂 I’ll start with the LE palette that I did hound: The Mélange de Colour Fashion …

Swatchfest and First Impressions: Oslo Cosmetics

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No joke. Every time I see a new purchase I receive in the mail, The National plays in my head: “Oh you’ve done it again, Virginia…” Except my name is Carina but I think I get the point. Anyway. This is a second order I placed for Oslo Cosmetics mid-December. It got shipped out on the 31st and I only got it today. Welcome to International Shipping! This time, my order is much smaller. I got 5 eyeshadows, a lip slick, an eye primer thing, and a blush sampler. I got a sample of a blush for free. Here us everything, swatched, but of course, I’ll talk a bit about each thing I bought. As you can see, I am the world champion at sucking at swatches. Swatched, L-R: Voltanis, Winter is Coming, Lux, Andromeda, Asterism eyeshadows, Hibiscus Lip Slick, Sextens, Equillus, Caille, Indi, Gemini, and Pictor blushes. Voltanis is a kind of a patina’d gold that’s pretty frosty as a finish. It’s described as a “Smoldering, metallic, deep primal gold.” It’s quite pretty and …

Recent Acquisitions: Rouge Bunny Rouge

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Oh look, a haul this early in the year. Typical. I bought a couple of Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadows because a couple of places, namely Luxola and the RBR site itself, had them on sale. I ended up buying one of the primers also (???) and a few items not on sale. Agh. Let’s begin? I only have one other RBR shadow (Solstice Halcyon), which I wasn’t super crazy about, but I knew that Belly, Sunny, Teri, and Shari all love the formula, so this purchase was pretty much a long time in the making.

Swatchfest: bareMinerals Degress of Dazzling

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Hey everyone! Here’s a quick swatch post for one of the few holiday items I ended up buying this year (I’ve been good, I swear!). I’ve gone crazy overboard last year, so I am taking my makeup purchases very seriously this year. This wasn’t supposed to be a purchase, since I am trying to cut down on eyeshadows and a 20-pc. set is not a step in the right direction, but I asked Sarie to look out for it for me in CA, since the set was on sale from $79 to $49 online and in actual bareMinerals stores (not counters). Luckily, she was able to find a set on one of her last few days out there. Similar to last year’s set, A Vision in Velvet (review), this set contains 20 eyecolors, but Degrees of Dazzling is such a way better deal, in my opinion, since the 20 colors come in 4 different finishes, whereas last year’s colors were divided into just two: mattes (or velvets) and satins. The swatches will be divided according …

My MAC Eyeshadow Palette (Swatches, Looks & Video)

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I know I’ve shown these before, but I have this feeling that it shouldn’t be left out of any eye month. Someone is bound to ask for these, so here: My MAC Eyeshadows. MAC eyeshadows seem to be the gateway to makeup madness. It’s a phenomenon quite unlike anything I’ve seen—anyone who’s at least knee-deep in the business of beauty knows what Satin Taupe, Woodwinked, and All That Glitters all mean. I don’t have a lot of MAC shadows and I don’t have a special relationship with them. I bought my first two eyeshadows in October 2012, and bought the rest in one go. Today, I’ll show you my MAC eyeshadow palette (plus, 2 that don’t fit), and give you a rundown of what they look like and how I use them. Here’s a pretty short video, if you want to see the swatches in action (different angles, etc): Here are the two out-of-palette stragglers. The Runaways: Amber Lights, and Trax — Amber Lights is a “peachy brown with shimmer” and has a frost finish. …

MAC Starter Kit (Colors & Tools) by Laura

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you’ll know that I hauled a major haul from MAC a few months ago, with the help of my friend from Canada-land, Laura. One of the reasons why it took me this long to accumulate MAC items is because I would get so overwhelmed at the counters. Another reason is because the MAC salespeople are tres unfriendly. Heh, just kidding. Kind of. Anyway! Kind, beautiful Laura suggested some colors for me to try. I asked her if it would be okay to post her suggestions on here and she said it was OK. I’ll mark the stuff I ended up getting with an asterisk (*). Double asterisks (**) means my sister got them. 🙂 Here we go! Eyeshadow: “You seem to really like neutral colours, so I would highly recommend you check out: Satin Taupe*, Twinks, Shale, Cork*, Blackberry, and Woodwinked for some deeper neutrals. For lighter neutrals I recommend checking out Bamboo, Yogurt, Malt*, and Blanc Type. Blanc Type is especially creamy (it’s a …