My Aromaleigh v.2 order & swatches (Ancient Magick & Brilliant Deductions)

I love it when I get packages in the mail; especially, when it's an order from Aromaleigh.  Aromaleigh v.2 recently released Ancient Magick (an Egyptian-inspired collection) and Brilliant Deductions (a Sherlock inspired eyeshadow mystery) and the colors and finishes were so enticing that I couldn't resist sampling some for myself.

Although I prefer to wear shades in the neutral family of colors, I occasionally venture out of my comfort zone (but usually not very far).  That makes is doubly nice when Aromaleigh surprises me with a few free samples of colors I normally wouldn't choose for myself.

My order arrived in a padded gold envelope and this was inside. . .everything wrapped in pretty tissue paper, velveteen ribbon and a logo sticker.

All of my individual samples were contained within one larger protective zipper baggie and the full sized powder has a sticker over the sifter to keep the Glamoured Vegan Correcting/Perfecting Finishing Powder (in Gypsophilia) from potentially escaping during shipping.

  Here's what I ordered. . .

 Hooray for unexpected freebies!

 At first glance, the four shadows below are some of my favorites from my order.

(Swatched over bare skin in natural light)

I love the variety these two new collections seem to offer.  Lots of different finishes and effects (metallics, frosts, duo finish, sparkles).  I can't wait to try them out on my eyes.  When I do, I'll post the resulting look here so be sure to check back.  Bye for now!

Aromaleigh v.2 Pure Eyes Frost Look: Secret/Fathom

If you read yesterday's post, you know that I posted a question on the Aromaleigh Aficionadas Facebook page asking the group members if they would like to see a look using the new Pure Eyes Frost collection.  One of the requests was for Zen (the look I did yesterday).  Another was Fathom. 

I tried Zen first because it was a color more in my comfort zone (neutral).  Honestly, Fathom scared me and I didn't think I would end up doing a look using it at all.  However, today I decided that "it's only makeup" and I was just going to grocery store so I figured out a way to make Fathom wearable for me. 

I'm so glad I did.  I love Fathom!  For me, it makes a gorgeous accent color.  It's very rich and adds lots of depth wherever you apply it.  Since I have large eyes with lots of lid space, I used it on the outer corner and almost 1/2 way across the lid extending it out at the corner to elongate my  eyes.  I used Secret as the lid color because I thought it coordinated nicely with Fathom and made my blue eyes pop.  If anyone tries to tell you that blue eyeshadow makes blue eyes look better, don't believe them.  Blue only competes with your eye color.  Warm tones like browns, coppers and reds are best in my opinion.

For a more daring lady, Fathom would look sultry and smoky applied all over the lid and blended out heavily in the crease to reveal the dark undertone.  Black eyeliner on the waterline and lots of mascara would complete the look.

I even think that mixed with water, Fathom would make an amazing liner. 

Here's what I did:

I used Aromaleigh's Bouvardia blush on my cheeks.  It's becoming my new favorite.  It has multi-tonal qualities that I really like.  It's like wearing a bronzer, blush and highlighter all in one.

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Aromaleigh v.2 Pure Eyes Frost Look: Zen

I recently received (purchased myself as well as some freebies) a lot of eyeshadow samples from Aromaleigh v.2's Pure Eyes Frost collection.  I posted a question on the Aromaleigh Aficionadas Facebook page asking if anyone would like to see a particular look.  Zen was one of the colors requested and since it's such a special multi-tonal color, I was happy to do this look for Thanksgiving.

 

Here's a step-by-step tutorial of how I achieved this look. . .

 

1.  I used Meow Cosmetics iPrime all over from brows to lashes with a concealer brush and then blended it gently with my finger.  Then I applied Aromaleigh Zen to the lid and slightly into the crease using a patting motion with a large shadow brush from Target.  I didn't do any blending at this point.

 

 

 2.  I applied Aromaleigh Caprice to the crease and slightly above using a gentle sweeping motion with a pointed duo fiber brush.  As you can see, I still didn't do any blending at this point.

 

3.  I applied Aromaleigh Mneme to the entire area below my eyebrows and just blending into Caprice.  I also used Mneme to blend out and soften all of the edges (outer corner, inner corner. . .everywhere) using an ecoTools eye blending brush from the 5 pc. bamboo mineral tools collection.

 

4.  I darkened the outer corner with Revlon Matte in Rich Sable (#009) using the same pointed duo fiber brush I used in step 2 above.

 

5.  I applied Revlon Matte in Rich Sable to my upper and lower lash lines using Loew-Cornell #370 liner brush (I got it at Michael's) dipped in water.

 

 

6.  I added a tiny bit of Aromaleigh Fiona (a discontinued Aromaleigh v.1 color in a light frosty silvery vanilla tone) just underneath my brow as a highlight.  I curled my top lashes and applied Covergirl lash exact wp mascara in Black.

 

 

 

I also used Aromaleigh Bouvardia blush and NARS lipstick in Klute.

 

 

 

 

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Aromaleigh v2 Pure Eyes Frost Look: Neutrals

I received an order from Aromaleigh day before yesterday and I thought I'd share it with you.  If you've never ordered from Aromaleigh, here's what you can expect.

• Your items come all wrapped up in bright pink tissue paper and affixed with an Aromaleigh logo sticker (inside a yellow bubble mailing envelope - not shown).


• All items are securely placed inside a plastic zipper bag and additionally closed with a staple.


• All of the full sized eye shadows, powders and foundations have stickers over the sifter holes to prevent leakage. 


• The sample baggies are packaged separately in yet another zipper bag.


• A detailed invoice in included with your order.

I love the attention to detail.  Everything arrives neat and tidy just as you would expect.

I ordered three full size eyeshadows (Robin's Nest, Branch Out, and Mneme), Gossamer mineral powder foundation in 2y, Glamoured finishing powder in Gypsophyllia, numerous Pure Eyes Frost shadow samples (free samples were included in my order as well), 3 rotating sifter lids (love these!!!) and two little flocked sponges. 

I went shopping with my teen daughter yesterday and this is the look I put together.

I used Boudoir, Voodoo and Caprice from the Aromaleigh Pure Eyes Frost collection.  Makes Me Smile (from the now closed company The She Space) is a light brown matte shadow that I used to blend out the crease.  I used Revlon matte eyeshadow in Rich Sable (mixed with water) as liner on my top and bottom lash lines.  My mascara is Covergirl waterproof Lash Exact.

Descriptions from the Aromaleigh web site:

• Caprice has a frost finish in a light neutral champagne color with beige and grey tones.  I can't say enough wonderful things about this color.  The description is spot on.  I can see myself wearing this regularly for those days I want a quick one-color look.


• Voodoo has a frost finish in a dark, neutral almost-black shade with beautiful complexity. I usually don't work with colors this dark for a daytime look but I wanted something to deepen the outer corner and I think this worked nicely.  It's not too black so I feel that it will go with lots of lid colors.


• Boudoir has a frost finish in a pale buttery peach shade.  I love this color.  It almost matches my skin tone exactly.  It makes a very subtle highlighter and is not overly frosty which is my preference for a daytime highlighter.

Same shadows, just different lighting.

Aromaleigh is having a 25% off everything sale (minimum precoupon order of $13.50 applies) until November 28th so you can save quite a bit of money trying out some new products or stocking up on your staples (use coupon code THANKFUL25).

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Aromaleigh v.2 "Moulin Rouge" Limited Edition Eye Collection: Review and FOTD

Hi everyone!

It's been quite some time since I've done a FOTD (face of the day) post.  I just went and checked through my old posts and found that I haven't done one since May.  Not that there haven't been any cosmetics out there worthy of wearing and showing, but rather I really don't wear as much eyeshadow during the summer months since it gets so hot here (in September alone we had 29 days that were 90 degrees or hotter with 6 of those being 100+) and everything kind of slides off anyway.

So even though it was 100 today, I had a cold and pretty much felt bleh for the past week, so I decided to break out some colors I haven't used before and experiment a little since I'm finally feeling like my old self again.  For this look, all the eyeshadows are from Aromaleigh's Moulin Rouge limited edition eye collection (check out the Aromaleigh color chart below to view all the shades in this collection).  They were samples I had purchased a while back when the collection first came out but I just never got around to using.

MY THOUGHTS ON MOULIN ROUGE:    The biggest surprise was Flutter.  The surprise about it wasn't the color (which I do like a lot) but rather the finish.  It was the first color I applied in this look and as my eyeshadow-filled brush touched my lid, I immediately thought "Wow, this shadow feels so luxurious."  It wasn't thin or wimpy.  Not that I thought it would be it's just that it was more plush and cushy feeling than I anticipated and had a sumptuous satin finish.  Just what I want from an eyeshadow.  The sparkles weren't overwhelming as with some shadows that contain sparkles, sparks or glitter, which was nice since I'm not a sparkly eyeshadow kinda gal.

Ruffle also had a nice satiny feel/finish but the sparkles were just slightly more apparent for my liking at first glance.  However, when I blended the color (from brows to crease) the sparkles were imperceptible. 

Ma Cherie and Tantalize (both more matte than Flutter and Ruffle) were the only darker colors I have from this collection so I used them for my crease and outer corner.  Both shades are warmer/pinker than I usually like (I always think these types of colors make my eyes look sore) but I think they look pretty in this look nevertheless.  Sometimes it's nice to break out of your comfort zone and try something new.  I'm glad I did in this case. 

I used Belle in such a minuscule amount to highlight just under my brow and in the inner corner that I don't really have any thoughts one way or another on it. 

The liner I used on my upper lash line is Revlon matte eye shadow in Rich Sable.  I add a few drops of water to the pan and apply it wet with a brush just like old fashioned cake eyeliner.

 

 

Color descriptions from the Aromaleigh web site:

 

Flutter- A paled lustrous grey-green (or green-grey?) sheen accented with brilliant green highlight sparkles.

 

Ruffle- A slightly sheer pale cream yellow with the slightest undertone of warm green shimmer and fine borealis highlight glimmer. 

 

Ma chèrie- A softly sheer plush luster in a midtoned cocoa rosy buff, highlighted with fine shimmers of green and blue.

 

Tantalize- A perfect warm brown, softly lustrous plush finish with surprisingly vivid sapphire and gleaming citrine sparks.

 

Belle- She's the palest grey lilac lustrous frost sheen accented with vivid sparkles of lilac.

 

 

 

Here's me with my new shorter bangs wearing my favorite maxi dress (Nicole Miller).

 

 

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*All opinions expressed in product reviews are my own and can't be bought. I do not work for any of the companies whose products I review. In some instances, products are provided to me free of charge for purposes of testing in order to provide an honest and unbiased review.

Aromaleigh v.2 "Dusk to Dawn" Overnight Mineral Treatment - A Product Review

I recently had the opportunity to review Aromaleigh v.2's Dusk to Dawn Overnight Mineral Treatment, which was based on Aromaleigh v.1's Nocturne for those of you who have been longtime customers.

WHAT IS IT:  There is so much great information on this product at the web site that I won't bother posting it all here.  But in a nutshell, it's a mineral treatment powder you apply to your clean skin at night before going to bed.  It's supposed to nourish your skin with minerals, vitamins, herbal extracts, and amino-rich silk powder among other skin-loving ingredients.

MY SKIN:  I am over 40 and have combination skin (oily t-zone/normal cheeks with occasional blemishes) but I use several anti-aging products (like Retin-A and glycolic acid serum) on a regular basis.  So for my product test, I decided to use the Dusk to Dawn on the in between days when I'm not using those harsher treatments and want to give my skin a rest. 

HOW I USED IT:  So I did what the instructions said and I applied it in a light layer to my freshly cleansed skin (face as well as neck and chest since I always use skincare treatments on all three areas) using a flocked sponge.  I use flocked sponges for applying my mineral foundation so I had them on hand.  A regular powder puff would work just as well.  In the morning, I just splashed my skin with water to rinse it and patted it dry.  I didn't feel the need to use any additional cleansers since I washed my skin the night before.

MY RESULTS:  What I found is that my skin started to feel "healed" after several days of use.  The pink/red areas were calmed and my occasional "monthly" blemishes were reduced.  I've only been using the product for a couple of weeks now, but so far I like what it's doing for my skin.  In addition to using it on my face/neck/chest, I also tried it on my scalp.  Occasionally, my scalp gets a few itchy and angry looking red spots around the hair line and other places here and there (usually when I go a day without washing it).  I experimented and dabbed some of the Dusk to Dawn on those spots and it helped heal them as well.  If you're looking for something different to add to your skincare routine or have tried higher-priced nighttime mineral treatments, I suggest you at least try a sample of Dusk to Dawn and see what it does for your skin.

MORE INFO:  It comes in two shades, Dusk to Dawn (original shade) and Dusk to Dawn II (the darker shade).  I don't have a shade preference since I'm wearing it to bed and no one is going to see me, but if I had to pick one I think it would be the original shade and then only because it would keep my pillow cases cleaner.  Samples (1/2 tsp) are only $2.50 and come is plastic baggies.  The regular sized jar (known as a 20 gram jar) is $28 and contains 10 grams net weight of product.  The large jar (known as a 50 gram jar) is $50 and contains 25 grams net weight of product.  And again, the web site has more details regarding jar size, ingredients, etc.


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