Saturday, September 17, 2011

Black Rose Minerals Swatches & Review

Good News Everyone!

Today I have another review & swatch-o-rama for you! I'd like to share with you my love for the newest shadows I've purchased from Black Rose Minerals. I started making a wish list, and a couple months later, Rosa had a sale and I decided this would be a great time to try on a few shades! :D
What I got: (You Pick! 12 Sample Jars)
Manson
Phantom
Ocean Potion
Ultraviolence
Alpine
Pegasus
Denver
Hi-Ho Silver
Mome Rath
Medusa
Stardust (Glitter)
...and of course.... Confused!!

Makeup Pr0n: (All over elf eyelid primer:sheer)

Click for more detailed pretties (if you dare.) 
Will not be held responsible for any addictions or random outbursts of squeeeeeeing! 




Packaging: All my jars came individually sealed/shrink wrapped.  All pigments which are not lip safe are labeled on the bottom of each jar. I thought that was nice, so I didn't have to look it up if I wanted to mix the color with something else. But the ingredients were listed on the side, and when I removed the shrink wrap, they ripped or came off with the wrap. I think I'd prefer the ingredients on the bottom as well as the "not lip safe" warning. But if I'm not mistaken she is in the works on getting new ingredient labels for the bottom.
Sealed jars with ingredient label on the side

Pretty Tape & Bubble Mailer
Shipping: Came very quick considering she was having a sale! Mailed in a bubble mailer. I had NO spillage. Everything came wrapped very securely and I absolutely adored her attention to detail. She personalized my order. These things are time consuming, yet she made sure to add all kinds of cute stickers and drawings to my order. I love that her creativity overflows into her package as well as her products!
Her business card, hand written TY note, stickers & samples in the package with Rose Stamp. Shadows came sealed in baggie, and then tightly wrapped black tissue paper. Tre' Chic!


Quality of shadows: They all seem to go on pretty nicely. Especially Phantom, Hi-Ho Silver & Pegasus! They are so soft! The color payoff for all of the shadows is really nice, aside from Ultraviolence, which I think is meant to be a faint color. On my fair skin, its harder to see without being used wet/foiled than I thought it would be. I have very little fall out with most of them. My Mome Rath is a little spotty in application. The only real "issue" I had was with Medusa.. and it just had appeared to be a brighter green in the photos online than in person. But I think its the nature of the shadow, because MY own photograph of it is a bit brighter than it is in person as well. Overall, these are extremely beautiful, sparkly shadows, in fun colors.

This was on the other side of my tissue wrapped shadows! How awesome is that?! (Sorry Rosa! Now your artwork is up for the whole interwebs to see! LoL!)

Color Variety: She's got quite a large selection of colors to pick from. I know she does LE collections as well. So there are new things being added all the time.

Customer Service/ Communication: I talk to Rosa all the time (personal conversation, not buisness related) on Twitter. I asked her for her personal favorites on Twitter, and decided to get Ocean Potion and Alpine on her suggestion. Aside from that I never needed to contact her, as my ordering went seamlessly. I ordered, got a confirmation my order was received, and then got a confirmation a few days later that my order was shipping and it arrived shortly thereafter. I feel that with all the ways shes made herself available for questions/comments/concerns she's quite reachable. But because I didn't utilize her customer service, I'm unable to comment on it directly.

Favorite Colors: Confused, Alpine, Phantom, Denver

BONUS LOOK! (Watch for this look soon in an EOTD for MORE photos!)
BRM Confused (Lid & inner corner), BRM Teddy (outer V/crease), Psyche Minerals Aerith (inner crease)
Summary: I'm extremely happy with my purchase and all the colors I picked out. I think with as much creativity as she has, and the genuinely sweet person she is, her business will take her anywhere she wants to go. I love the Gothic branding she uses and the thought that goes into the names of her shades. Now..if you are wondering about why I like confused so much.. colors "like" Confused, generally aren't my thing. It's not loud, or bright, or crazy in any way. Maybe that's a reason I love it so much?! It's different than the things I usually wear. Its ridiculously WEARABLE and SO sparkly, it makes my eye color pop and eyes sparkle with the pigment. Its safe for all ages and what I would call neutral. I wear it all the time, and with the way I'm wearing it, gonna have to buy a big one soon!

So did you pick up anything from the BRM sale? Do you have any BRM colors? Whats your favorite BRM shade? Thanks for reading and watch out for lots of new EOTD in the near future and an Evil Shades review coming up that includes 10 eyeshadows, 7 lippies & 4 blushes!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

EOTD 09.12.11 Grim Bettie

Hiya!

Today's EOTD turned out way better than I thought it was going to. I had no inspiration for this look. I just started playing and ended up with this beauty! :D I've used some wonderful piggies by MPZ in this look.

What I used:
2FSI- Primer
My Pretty Zombie: Grimdeva - Crease
MPZ: Anthrax - Outer V & over grimdeva in crease
MPZ: Bettie - Lid
MPZ: Unicorn Pee- to set white liner under lower lash line & in the inner corner
Maybelline Expert Eyes Quad: Urban Scene (White matte from top right) - Highlight
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara: 003 Extreme Black - on my Lashes
ELF Liquid Eyeliner: #00908 black - 1/4 line top eyeliner +wing
Wet n Wild Coloricon eyeliner: 656A White - lower liner (as base for unicorn pee)



Look at that green shift in Anthrax!!Unicorn Pee's awesomeness shows good here too!


Oh yeah! Can you guys tell I'm enjoying my MPZ shadows! :D  I loved how the greenish blue hue's in Bettie just made the shift in Anthrax more prevalent.  I've got a lot of reviews coming up for you guys soon. Including one for Black Rose Minerals and Evil Shades Cosmetics. Hope to see you all back for those! Later Gators!

Monday, September 12, 2011

EOTD 09.11.11 Phantom Pegasus

Good News Everyone!

A new EOTD! Featuring the sparkly goodness that I recently purchased at Black Rose Minerals. Oh yes. They are proving to be quite good indeed. :D I'm having a blasty blast playing with all these new colors I have. I'm hoping to have a review and swatches coming up for you guys very soon. I can say this.. If you are ordering from BRM in the near future.. don't hesitate to snag Confused!  It is absolutely beautiful! It's so sparkly it looks like there are crushed diamonds in there, and somehow each one of those sparklies catch the different colors in your eye color and just make it POP! As hard as it was to pick, I think it's my favorite! Enough about that, because this post has nothing to do with Confused! :D Here is the look I wore today.

What I used:
2FSI - Primer
NYX Jumbo Pencil: Milk - white base (over lid only)
Black Rose Minerals: Phantom - All over lid and under lower lash line
Black Rose Minerals: Pegasus - Crease
Black Rose Minerals: Stardust - Over Phantom on lid only
Maybelline Expert Eyes Quad: Urban Scene (White matte from top right) - Highlight
ELF Liquid Eyeliner: Stardust - lower lash liner
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara: on my Lashes yah dingus! >.0
ELF Super Glossy Lip Shine: Angel - Lips ( BTW.. I love this color! I wear it all the time just for the clear glittery awesomeness it has. It makes my lips shiny and sparkly without any pigmentation. The smell is a little overwhelming (like berries) sometimes though)

On with the show!

Stardust Glitter - "Can ya see me now? .....good."

So who else out there wishes that glitter would show up like it does in real life, on photos? :D Anyone have any photography tricks they'd like to share with me on how to get it to show up better? Thanks for taking a peak you wonderful, beauties, you! Talk to you soon!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

My Pretty Zombie Swatches & Review

Today I have a little haul & review to share with you all. I recently had the pleasure of purchasing from My Pretty Zombie. I used a heartsy voucher to purchase my first order, and was hooked. First order you say? Yup. I have never done this before but literally the day my first order came, I jumped back online immediately to place an additional order, and Andrea was ever so kind as to send me out a blogger pack with my order as well. In total, I am now the proud owner of 13 gorgeous MPZ shadows.

What I got:

Full Size jars:
My Pretty Zombie
Mad Cow
Anthrax
Unicorn Pee
Thundernuts

Samples in jars:
mNg #3
Miasma
Katrink
Moist
Bettie
Monstrous Industry
Amacyst
Grimdeva

Makeup Pr0n: (All over elf eyelid primer:sheer)

Click for more detailed pretties (if you dare.) 
Will not be held responsible for any addictions or random outbursts of squeeeeeeing!
MPZ looks red, its hot pink & Unicorn Pee needs a STICKY base or the glitter doesn't stay put.

MPZ: hot pink w/ pink shimmer, MNG#3: bubble gum pink w/ blurple shift, Moist:creamsicle orange w/ shimmer

Miasma: Buttercup yellow w/ pink shift, Bettie: Teal w/ shimmer, Unicorn Pee: iridescent white blue w/ multicolor glitter

Amacyst is purple for sure, not blue. Grimdeva is more purple, the pearlyness of it is throwing off the camera I think.

Another angle

Thundernuts: Cocoa brown w/ blurple shift & sparkle, Monstrous Industry: Lavender w/ blue shift, Mad Cow: Med Purple w/ blue shift



Amacyst: Med purple w/ purple sparkle, Katrink: Dark pink w/ glitter, Grimdeva: Dark Purple w/ sparkle


Anthrax: Purple to green shift





Swatch Fail >.< : I obviously forgot to take the close up photo of Anthrax in my first swatches, so I went and reswatched it for you guys, cuz its probably my favorite shade so far from MPZ. And I couldn't just leave it out!

Packaging: The packaging was wonderful. I received everything in a tidy little black black with hot pink tissue. I also, now have a small army of cute little bloody fingers. Yay!  I had zero spillage. All containers were sealed. They do not include sifters. 

Shipping: Was extrordinarily fast. This was a major reason I decided to place an order again so fast after I got the first order in. (That and the shadows were amazing.. but more on that in a minute) I was more than impressed. It seemed that it made no difference to her that I used a discount (heartsy voucher) to place this order, and that in itself was a great tribute to her professionalisim and top notch customer service.

Quality of shadows: The colors all apply very nicely for sure. These shadows are unique. I have nothing that comes close to any of these colors. I love the color shift on them all. I do notice that certain colors tend to shift more in the jar/ swatches than they do used in looks. But that could be for many reasons. 1) I'm not using a sticky base, or using them foiled/wet. 2) There's only so many different angles I can actually look at myself in a mirror. etc.

Color Variety: They have a wide color spectrum of shadows to pick from. Especially when you consider that each one of them is multi-dimensional and most of them are duo's. What you've heard is true for sure, the color complexity is absolutely inspiring here. I found her color descriptions to be wonderfully exact. Even when I didn't think yellow could be pink, she proved me wrong. :D

Customer Service/ Communication: Was awesome. I didn't really have any issues with my orders so I'm not sure how she deals with things on that side, however I had questions. She answered them promptly and sometimes even within the same hour. I foresee her as being just as professional with "trouble" tickets as she is throughout her other business practices. But again, that's just my own speculation.

Favorite Colors:
Anthrax, Monstrous Industry, Miasma, Mad Cow, Thundernuts, mNg #3

Summary:
All in all I had a wonderful experience with My Pretty Zombie Cosmetics. They have 5 new colors being released in the near future so keep an eye out for those! I thoroughly enjoy and adore everything I've received from them so far. I would certainly purchase from them again!

So have you shopped at MPZ? Do you have a favorite shade of theirs? Does she carry a shade I didn't list here and MUST have?  Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, September 9, 2011

EOTD 09.08.11 A little Denver Ultraviolence

Hi there!

I recently made my first purchase from the sale over at Black Rose Minerals. I'll be doing a review post about that later, however I got them in the mail today and quickly threw some on (not being able to resist the pretties!!) for my EOTD. :D I think it turned out pretty neat! Please excuse the little bit of creasing I have, I'm having some trouble right now with my primer .. well I think its my primer anyway and I've been getting a ton of creasing lately.  I opted not to use any primer for this look, and of course got a bit of creasing too. Anyone have suggestions for .. like.. I guess I have deep set eyes? Hooded eyes? Im not sure.. whatever's going on with my eyes. Haha! I just need halp!

What I used to create this look:

No Primer
No Base
Black Rose Minerals : Denver - All over lid
BRM : Pegasus - Crease
BRM : Phantom - Outer V (just to darken/define a tiny bit)
BRM : Ultraviolence - Highlight, below lower lash line & to set waterline
Wet n Wild Color Icon eyeliner pencil : 656A (White) - waterline
Wet n Wild Color Icon eyeliner pencil : 651 (Black Black) - upper&lower eyeliner
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara : 003 Extreme Black - on mah lashes

oooh click on me for Sparkly goodness ! :D
So what are your thoughts on orange eyeshadows? I just got Denver from BRM and Moist from MPZ, these are my first orange shadows and I can tell you, Im really loving them a lot! I think its going to be super fun to play around with. I can't wait to share with you all what I got from BRM! What have you guys been up to lately? Have you gotten any great deals or know about any sales going on right now? Talk to you soon!