Review/Swatches: Aromaleigh's Sol Invictus - Holiday 2014 Eyeshadow Collection

Swatch time! Here we have Aromaleigh's Sol Invictus - Holiday 2014 eyeshadow collection!

From Aromaleigh's site:

"Saturnalia was a festival of light leading to the winter solstice, with the abundant presence of candles symbolizing the quest for knowledge and truth. Most people find the word Saturnalia to be synonymous with drunken celebration, but there was so much more to this ancient festival! The renewal of light and the coming of the new year was celebrated at the Dies Natalis of Sol Invictus, the “Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun,” on December 25. Roman mythology of the Golden Age of Saturn’s reign differed from the Greek tradition. Saturn arrived in Italy “dethroned and fugitive”, but brought agriculture and civilization and became a king. As the Augustan poet Vergil described it, “he gathered together the unruly race” of fauns and nymphs “scattered over mountain heights, and gave them laws. Under his reign were the golden ages men tell of: in such perfect peace he ruled the nations.”"

 Click below for the pictures!

Review/Swatches: Aromaleigh Halloween 2014 Diavoli Eyeshadow Collection

Ah, the collection many of you have been waiting for!

Aromaleigh's description of this collection:
"Aromaleigh Halloween 2014 presents the “DIAVOLI” collection. Diavoli translates to devil in Italian, and this collection is inspired by the devilish demons of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. There’s 13 colors inspired by the Malebranche of the 8th circle of Hell, which in italian is called “Malebolge”, which translates to “evil ditches”.  The Malebranche (which means “evil claws”) were 13 devilish demons who patrolled the 5th Bolgia. (only 12 are named in the Inferno). Bolgia 5 was where extortionists, blackmailers, politicians and unscrupulous businessmen: sinners who used their positions in life to gain personal wealth or other advantages for themselves) are punished by being thrown into a river of boiling tar. Should they try to escape, the Malebranche, armed with grappling hooks and barbs, stand guard over them.  Visual inspiration comes from my own reader’s eye, as well as illustrations and paintings by Gustav Doré, Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni di Paolo and Giovanni Stradano.
The shades in this collection all feature a plush matte base with strong color-traveling duochrome/multichrome pigments. You can experience this color traveling effect by altering the angle of light as it reflects off your eyeshadow. The easiest way to do this is to move your jar/swatched skin underneath a direct light source, such as a desk lamp. As you move it, you’ll see the color switch from one to another. The effect is very dramatic in some shades."

Get ready to "ooh" and "ah" as you look through the swatches!

Click below for the pictures!

Review/Swatches: Aromaleigh Mineral Cosmetics Dryades Eyeshadow Collection

It has been a long time since I have reviewed anything, but here I am to show you Aromaleigh's Dryades Eyeshadow Collection.

Here's what they have to say about this collection:
"Autumn 2014 welcomes the DRYADES collection at Aromaleigh… ten dramatic duochrome shades imbued with the tones of Fall’s splendor. Dryads and Hamadryads were the Greek nymphs of the forests and trees. These colors were all inspired by specific Dryads or groups of Dryads, and incredible classic paintings portraying them."

We all know how difficult these types of shadows can be to photograph, so I did my best to capture their beauty.

Now onto the pretties!

I swatched these on the back of my hand with Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy Primer.

From the top left going clockwise: othreis, dryope, ekho, kyllene and dapnis

 indirect natural light

 direct sunlight

 with flash

 flash at an angle

 From the top left going clockwise: hesperides, kraneia, heliades, byblis and pitys

 indirect natural light

  indirect natural light at an angle

 direct sunlight

 direct sunlight at an angle

 with flash

with flash at an angle

Here are a couple looks I have put together using this collection.

More pictures of this look and what I used to create it, are posted HERE.

(Aromaleigh put together this collage of my look and I lovingly stole it)

More pictures of this look and what I used to create it, are posted HERE.

 

Here's what I have to say about this collection. This is one of those sets I believe anyone can wear. While these are more on the softer, wearable side, there is a bit of magic to these lovely shadows. They seem to have this glow about them and from different angles, shimmers of different colors can be seen.
Each shadow has such complex color shifts that they can look completely different in the package compared to when applied and worn. They are quite difficult to photograph and are so much more amazing in person. I really love this collection. I have had it for a couple of weeks and wanted to wear and play with it before I could give a thorough review.
A good thing that I noticed when doing some makeup looks, was that even when blending, the shimmers and duochrome don't rub off a lot. That's a common problem with duochrome/shimmery shadows. Blending can wipe away most or even all of the shimmers and multicolored finishes. But I didn't experience much of that with the shadows I have tried. My technique for applying such shadows involves patting the product on and then gently blending with a soft brush. :-)

I hope you enjoyed this review and found it helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know.

I received this collection from Aromaleigh for review purposes. All opinions here are honest and my own.

Morgana Cryptoria Eye See You Halloween Eyeshadows Haul and Swatches

My Morgana Cryptoria order arrived on Monday, but since I've been busy and behind on other posts, I wasn't able to swatch and get this posted for you until now.

Here's what I got:

Socket to me eye primer
Eye See You Halloween Eyeshadow Collection
4 Lipgloss Pots

Eye See You Eye shadow collection (my clumsiness spilled some dang it!)

Order came with a sparkly bat!

Eyeshadows were swatched with Morgana Cryptoria Socket To Me eye primer

From left to right: Cronea, Sneaky Seer, Freaky Peepers, Pumpkin Eye Patch and Glaring Goblin (taken with flash)

From left to Right: Oogling Ogre, Vampy Voyeur, Evil eye Candy and Creepy Peepers (taken with flash)

From left to right: Cronea, Sneaky Seer, Freaky Peepers, Pumpkin Eye Patch and Glaring Goblin (direct sunlight)

From left to Right: Oogling Ogre, Vampy Voyeur, Evil eye Candy and Creepy Peepers (direct sunlight)

Eyeshadow colour descriptions:

Sneaky Seer - Lavender with sparkles of shifting gold and silver.

Pumpkin Eye Patch - vivid orange with gold tones and metallic orange sparkle.

Glaring Goblin - slightly metallic olive with an intense gold sheen and golden shimmer.

Cronea - slightly metallic champagne with silver & gold sparkle

Evil eye Candy - dusky red with turquoise sparkles 

Vampy Voyeur - wine with a violet sheen & violet-blue sparkle. 

Freaky Peepers - grape with a shifting sheen of violet to blue-green

Creepy Peepers - deep grey-brown with a shift of green, steel blue and red-violet

Oogling Ogre - vivid green with a tint of blue & orange-copper-gold sparkles 

Lipgloss colour descriptions:

Alloy - doesn't have a description but it looks like a coppery gold to me

Cozy Coffin - brown-wine with lots of golden sparkles

Witches Brew - Deep wine with Red, red-violet and gold sparkles

Fallen Leaves - Red-Brown with intense green sheen, that changes blue-green and red-violet

Socket to me eye primer:

"A little bit of this light textured liquid-paste goes a long way. Applies clear.

Application tips: Apply a tiny amount using a brush or the wand for best results. Apply your shadow in thin coats to build opacity or simply pat on."

I didn't swatch the lipglosses because I intend to wear them with some upcoming looks so you'll get to see them in action.

If you have any questions, please let me know. :-)

~BLIX

What I look like when working on swatches...

No, not trying to start a weird trend. Just sharing with you how I tend to look on days when doing swatches.  I love it when the mail man comes to the door and I have to sign for a package looking like this. I'd totally appreciate if he'd crack a joke but he never does! Just smiles and is nice as usual.

No face makeup...just one eye/brow done and wearing lipstick (on seriously dry lips!)

Not so glamorous eh? :-)

~BLIX

Christmas Goodies/Swatches

Apparently some of my friends still think I don't have enough makeup because I got 3 palettes for Christmas.

 I just put lotion on my hands before handling these so those are my greasy finger prints. :-D

The first one is the 36 Smokey Palette from Coastal Scents:

taken with flash

taken in natural light

Then there's the Tropical 88 Shimmer Palette from BH Cosmetics:

 taken with flash

taken in natural light

just a few random swatches from the Tropical Shimmer Palette

I think I like this one the most, which is the Cool Shimmer Palette from BH Cosmetics:

 taken in natural light

 taken with flash

some random swatches from the Cool Shimmer 88 Palette

All swatches were done over Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel.

Athan claiming Jason's head as a pillow. This was taken Christmas morning. How cute!

~BLIX

Morgana Cryptoria Haul + Glitter, Shadow and Lipstick Swatches

Here's the order I received early this week. I was so busy with work and unpacking, I didn't really get to look at it until the day after getting it.

 

 Stuff with flash

 

 Stuff in natural light

 Glitter swatches 1st row from left to right with flash: Grape Twist, Red Plum Jam, Wine, Ancient, Teal, Pining, Celedon and Olivette.

2nd row from left to right: Mystery Mix, Twinkling Purple, Embers, Cranapple, Navy, Mysterious, Elfin and Rainbow Sea Serpent.

 Glitter swatches 1st row from left to right in natural light: Grape Twist, Red Plum Jam, Wine, Ancient, Teal, Pining, Celedon and Olivette.

2nd row from left to right: Mystery Mix, Twinkling Purple, Embers, Cranapple, Navy, Mysterious, Elfin and Rainbow Sea Serpent.

 Lipstick swatches with flash from left to right: Twinkling Rubies, Apple Plum, Otherworldly, Plumeria lipgloss

 Lipstick swatches in natural light from left to right: Twinkling Rubies, Apple Plum, Otherworldly, Plumeria lipgloss

 Eyeshadow swatches with flash top row from left to right: Barely Lilac, Snowsheen, LE #5
2nd row: Grape, Graphite, Black Spot

 Eyeshadow swatches in natural light, top row from left to right: Barely Lilac, Snowsheen, LE #5
2nd row: Grape, Graphite, Black Spot

See anything you like? I'm drooling over everything. The glitter is sooo amazing. The lipsticks are yummy. The shadows are really nice too. I'm not a huge matte shadow fan but I like these so I grabbed them. :-)

~BLIX

Morgana Cryptoria Cleopatra & Haunted Eyes Collection Swatches!

Today you get a sneak peak at Morgana Cryptoria's new Cleopatra eyeshadow collection! It has not been released on the site yet, but you can drool over these babies and plan ahead to get these when they are finally up! I received the Cleopatra and the Haunted Eyes Collections for promotional purposes AND...

Stay tuned as I will be posting a giveaway VERY soon with these two collections that Melissa gave me to offer up for you guys. She's so sweet! I will be including something extra in the giveaway too. :-D

I also received an order I placed, so when I can, I will swatch the AMAZING glitter and lipsticks I bought!

Now onto the pretties! These were swatched on my hairy arms with Detrivore eye primer. :-P

Haunted Eyes Collection:

Open jars in natural light

Open jars with flash

Swatches in natural light. From left to right: Cryptic, All Holos-Gleam, Brew Ha-ha, She Creature, Underworld, Harbinger, Zombie Tramp, Bloody Mary

Swatches with flash. From left to right: Cryptic, All Holos-Gleam, Brew Ha-ha, She Creature, Underworld, Harbinger, Zombie Tramp, Bloody Mary

 Cleopatra Collection:

Open jars natural light.

Open jars with flash

Swatches in natural light. From left to right: Actium, Senet, Selene Auletes, Pyramid Scheme, Sarcophagus, Helios Auletes

Swatches with flash. From left to right: Actium, Senet, Selene Auletes, Pyramid Scheme, Sarcophagus, Helios Auletes

 Swatches in natural light. From left to right: Ptolemy Auletes, Anubis, Aspbite, Isis, Pharoah's Curse, Alexandria

Swatches with flash. From left to right: Ptolemy Auletes, Anubis, Aspbite, Isis, Pharoah's Curse, Alexandria

They are so pretty!

It's really hard to pick favs with these. I really like them all! But I keep staring at Anubis, Pharaoh's Curse, Harbinger, Senet, Helios Auletes, All Holos-Gleam, Zombie Tramp...mmmm...*drool*

Which do you like?

Again, stay tuned as I will be posting a giveaway that includes both of these collections of very generous samples soon. The jars/swatches you see here are mine, but the giveaway will be the same ones that haven't been touched by moi. :-)

Check out Morgana Cryptoria!

~BLIX