Aromaleigh Astronomical swatches, part one

Hi everyone!

This post is long due because Miss K sent me her Astronomical collection for a review and I received the package on Dec 16th. Of course, that was the day I got my epically epic sniffles that led to infection asthma. I've been more or less sick ever since and now it seems it's happening again. However, after washing my hands until they were red an raw I decided to post these swatches. Sorry about the image quality. It's very cloudy in Helsinki at the moment and it's fricking snowing. Again. We already have about 60cm of snow.

I'm doing the swatching in two parts because of the light issue and because I'm not feeling well. So just bear with me.

The swatches are inside without a flash and I've used TFSI + Pixie Epoxy as a primer. BTW, these are so shimmery and glittery that I heartily suggest using a sticky base for maximum sparkle fest.

The colour descriptions are based on what I see when I look at these colours. Ye be warned.

Top (L to R): Milky Way, Celestial, Umbra, Ephemeris
Middle: Magellanic, Apogee, Perihelion, Heliosphere
Bottom: Neutrino, Nadir, Extra-Galactic, Dark Matter

Milky Way: a peachy off-white with tons of green sparkle (which of course isn't visible in the photo).
Celestial: a very sparkly baby pink with golden shimmer.
Umbra: a shimmery, satiny mauve (not as sparkly as Milky Way or Celestial) with pink flashes.
Ephemeris: a light golden taupe with greenish shimmer.
Magellanic: a bronzey brown with red flashes.
Apogee: maroony, red-based brown with tons of shimmer.
Perihelion: a French Vanilla yellowish white colour with cool pink sparkle.
Heliosphere: a metallic olive gold.
Neutrino: dark chocolate brown with intense teal shimmer.
Nadir: shimmery pink coral.
Extra-Galactic: a metallic, slightly dusty purple
Dark Matter: a cocoa brown with golden tones with blue-ish (?) sparkle

My favourites from these are Milky Way, Celestial, Umbra, Ephemeris, Perihelion, Neutrino, Extra-Galactic and Dark Matter.

Colours that are more unique: Perihelion, Neutrino

This is the more neutral part of the collection. The shades are extremely shimmery and/shiny, it's like a burst of stars, really (well, duh). Perihelion and Neutrino stand out to me as the more unique colours but that doesn't mean that the other colours are somehow worse, not at all. For me these two are colours that I don't remember seeing anywhere.

Anything you like in this collection?

It's a Tartan Blur

Well folks,

it's the time of the year when you have sunlight in Finland only if you're extremely lucky. Now it's 12.46am and it's mostly grey.

MAC came out with a collection called Tartan Tale which really is no news anymore but I just wanted to share my haul with you. Initially, I was just going to get Courting Lilac lipstick, A Wish Come True eyeshadow and Style Clan nail polish. First I got Cut A Caper lipstick, A Wish Come True eyeshadow, Enviably Fun eyeshadow and Style Clan nail polish. I left Courting Lilac behind because it looked too murky at the MAC counter when I swatched it.

I was the second person on the counter on the morning of the release. I had a bit of a hassle because I told the MAC artist what I wanted and she checked some of the shade names except for A Wish Come True. So when I got home a few hours later, I had Semi-Precious in my bag. I had to run back and they changed the eyeshadow. By that time there were a lot more people and I was sure that A Wish Come True had sold out (we have only one MAC counter in Helsinki and they get their stock from another country so if LE stuff runs out, they don't get more of it because it takes about 3-4 weeks for them to re-stock. At least this was the case a year ago. And believe me, sometimes it seems they're out on everything).

Let me share the first blurry pics of my first haul...

The happy Tartan family reunion. Enviably Fun is the green tartan striped eyeshadow (as you can see, these are slightly bigger than regular MAC eyeshadows) and the pinkish one is A Wish Come True).

 Here's how Cut A Caper (lustre finish) looks on my chapped lips. It's a bright peachy pink lipstick but it applies pretty sheer. For me it's perfect because it really freshens and brightens up my skin tone.

Okay. I should explain this crappiness of a photo first. I tried to get a decent swatch photo of the eyeshadows (upper line without primer, lower line with TFSI+Pixie Epoxy) but I had to tweak the brightness because the photo turned out yellow without proper lighting and flash. However, you can see that these eyeshadows really do require a primer because otherwise they're really sheer. They are nice and shiny, though. The finish is very satiny and shiny. But if you want more pigmented dupes, check out Fyrinnae's Danse Macabre (lime with golden sheen) and Apparition (pink with mauve tones) as these are far more vibrant than MAC's.

I love Style Clan nail polish. You can see the flecks of copper in the poop brown base in this photo. And yeah, it looks poop brown in your nails.. but the copper flakes make it more festive! Actually, this polish is a good alternative to black nail polish in case your workplace frowns upon black nails.

So I decided to leave Courting Lilac behind. Guess what followed me home from Tallinn's Kaubamaja's MAC counter? Yep, Courting Lilac lipstick. The shade looked better there (could it've been the lighting?) and it cost a few euros less than here. Win-win, I'd say.

Courting Lilac (glaze finish) is lilac with golden sheen. It's on the sheer side like Cut A Caper. I love the gold in it, it makes the shade interesting and it changes according to light.

Here's a swatch of the both lippies on bare skin.


Somehow the two blushes of the collection didn't tempt me as much as I would've thought. Highland Honey looked too yellow on me when I swatched it and Her Blooming Cheek has nothing on some indie stuff I have.

As you can probably guess some or all of these are following me to my trip to London which is in few weeks!

Did you shop Tartan Tale? What did you get?

Sugarpill: Burning Heart Monster Palette

Happy Halloween!


A few weeks back Sugarpill had a special Halloween sale on their shop where they sold 'Monster' palettes, i.e. their regular palettes that had some minor defects in them. I ordered the Burning Heart palette on a whim and I got it on Friday.

I know that some of you were interested to see what would a monster palette look like so I took you some pics! And swatches too!

Since this post will be picture-heavy, the story continues after the jump...

OHWTO Lip Tint swatches

Sooo yesterday I mentioned that OHWTO makes tinted vegan lip balms. I also promised swatches so here here they are.

I have three of the shades OHWTO is offering: Caroline, Arlette and Victoria. All of the balms are very smoothing and give a nice glossy finish to the lips. These are tinted lip balms but I think their pigmentation is better than with tinted lip balms usually (unless you count Aromaleigh's tinted lip balms, there are as pigmented as they were). Also, all of these are flavored and scented. I'm very sensitive to smells but I can smell these only for a couple of seconds after applying them. However, I don't taste the flavor in these tints and I'm renowned for eating my lip products when I'm nervous (not straight from the tube, of course, because that would be silly). My lips are extremely dry and chapped but the colour doesn't get "stuck" on the flakey parts of my lips. It just glides over them and hides them.

The swatches are taken on bare lips and pphotographed inside without flash directly in front of a window (so you can see how they look in natural light). Shade descriptions are taken from OHWTO's Etsy site.

Caroline: a bright, bubbly pink with a pearlescent sheen, she's the girl everyone can't help but love. This pink is on the cool end of the spectrum but it works great with most skin tones due to the transparency of this formula. Caroline is very lightly flavored- but not sweetened- with bubble gum lip balm flavoring.

Caroline is maybe the most used of my OHWTO lip tints. It's perfect for nude looks and also grey-ish smoky looks. It's very pink and the bubble gum scent (Juicy Fruit-type) is appropriate for the shade.

Arlette: A warm sheer red, but she's not one to follow conventions. Arlette stands out from the crowd with surprising green sparkles. Arlette is lightly flavored- but not sweetened- with my Absinthe essential oil blend of anise, lemongrass, peppermint and blood orange.

Arlette is a wonderful colour for my undertones and gives a great warm glow to my lips and face. However, if you don't like the scent of anise, you might be turned off by this one. I can smell the anise and not much else and the scent lingers a bit longer (and is also more powerful) than the scents of Caroline and Victoria. The green sparkles are very subtle and I couldn't catch them on camera but they are there!

Victoria: a dark queen indeed, Victoria is a mocha plum with subtle shimmer because you would not expect to see her Royal highness unadorned with sparkly things! Victoria is very lightly flavored- but not sweetened- with black tea flavoring oil. How appropriately regal!

I expect to wear the hell out of this one during this autumn.  It's such a gorgeous colour! Again, the shimmer in this is very subtle and definitely on the elegant/regal side. A delicious, vampy shade. The scent in this one is barely noticeable compared to Caroline and Arlette.

I found these lip balms very conditioning and nicely tinted. I love the glossy finish and how they don't clump on your lips. As these are quite light and glossy, one does need to re-apply these a bit more often than a regular lip gloss or lipstick if one wants to keep the colour as vivid as possible. I love these colours and I love the formula of these tints so I'd recommend these for anyone who has chapped/dry lips and wants a nice wash of colour.

Have you tried OHWTO's lip tints? What do you think of these? Any favourites?

More Fyrinnae Lip Lustre lip swatches

Hi there! I'm home sick so I figured I'd post you some Lip Lustre swatches I took before I got sick.

I still have some shades I haven't swatched so I'll probably deal with them soon-ish. The red blotch on my lower lip is NOT herpes, it's a pimple. Also featured in the photos are black strands that obviously have come from my face towel. FAIL. But at least the Lustres are pretty! Descriptions are taken from Fyrinnae website.

All the photos have been taken in a direct sunlight without a flash.

Backstage Kisses: Light, yet vibrant peach enhanced with tiny reflective sparkles (not gritty glitter!). The sparkles are varying hues of blue and purple, changing to pink/orange in some lighting, making this a multi-dimensional shade. Similar in hue to Meloncholy, but considerably lighter and with a more "milky" appearance. (Tangerine-Vanilla scent)

I think of all the lustres with reflective sparkle (at least from my stash), this is the less-glittery one. There is some sparkle but it's not as prominent as in, let's say, Puppy Love that makes your lips glitter like crazy (and also the rest of your face too as the day goes by). I love this shade. It looks bright orange in the container but on lips it's a lovely shade of peach. The scent is nice, not too overpowering.

Ultra Phantom: Sheer aqua sparkle (not plastic or metal glitter, but soft, non-gritty sparkle!) that turns to pink in different light or angles, and sometimes almost pale orange. Looks cool worn alone, stunning over black or dark purple lipstick, or perks up a plain pink. (Dark chocolate peppermint scent)

This looks mint green in the container. On my lips (if I wear it on its own) it looks almost silvery white but the colour keeps changing according to how the light hits it. In the swatch photo you can see that in some parts of my lips it looks more greenish and on some parts it's almost pink. I hate to admit but... I hate the scent of this. I usually don't like the combination of chocolate and (pepper)mint and the scent makes me crazy! I tolerate it when I wear the colour on its own (because it looks slightly minty and smells minty) but when I wear it with another lipgloss or lipstick, I get slightly annoyed. (I know, I know! I'm crazy, no need to tell me! :) )

Mega-Hold: unfortunately this shade has been discontinued. It's a creamy beige-ish pink that looks a bit frosty. I bought it because someone had said that it looks like a low-class stripper shade on lips and then Mindy had said that it looked awesome. I'm with Mindy on this one. The scent is mocha, I think.

Candy Decadence: Looks quite green/teal, or rather forest green on purple in most light, but changes to a deep shimmering plum with pink shimmer at different angles and closer to light, or in sunlight. Looks good layered or alone especially on deeper skintones. (Candied kiwi scent)

I couldn't get this one apply evenly for the life of me! But as you can see, it looks very plummy with green cast to it. I got this one as a sample and I'm thinking about layering it with a lighter shade because on it's own it's way too dark for my complexion.

Shangri-La: Vibrant, azalea purple-pink. Much brighter than Hysteric.(Strawberry cotton candy scent)

I LOVE this colour! It's my all-time favourite of all the Lip Lustres! It makes my skin look all glowy and stuff and it's bright but not eye-searingly so. Very juicy shade, applies like a dream.

Beloved: Semi-sheer mauve-pink enhanced with tiny reflective sparkle (not gritty glitter!). The sparkles are varying hues of blue and purple, changing to pink/orange in some lighting. This shade also has a slight aqua shimmer that changes to pink in sunlight or as it's closer to light (almost a light version of Candy Decadence, but not nearly as dramatic). Gives noticable colour and sparkle, or apply lightly to enhance your own natural lipcolour. Also looks good over lipstick. (Melon scent)

This one is another favourite of mine. It's mauve (looks darker in the container) but it's not too cool for my skin tone. I think if Shangri-La and Candy Decadence had a baby, this would be the fruit of their forbidden love. I love the aqua shimmer to bits. I'll be definitely wearing this one a lot more. It's also a perfect autumn shade.

See anything you like? Have you tried any of these colours yourself?

More Morgana Minerals swatches

Hi everyone!

Since today is Sunday and I have made a promise to my man not to wear any makeup on Sundays (unless it's a very special and public occasion), I only have swatches for you. Negative feedback can be directed to my boyfriend. he actually says I look cute without makeup. Weirdo.

So I got some mail from Morgana Minerals. I picked up some more Get Medieval Shades (also full sizes of the some of the ones I've already swatched here) and also some other eyeshadow shades. Once again, these are swatched on TFSI + Pixie Epoxy. Shade descriptions are taken from Morgana Minerals website .

Note: Sinister and Uninvited Presence are currently being discontinued as they were part of Halloween 2009 collection. Melissa is working on new Halloween shades for this year.

(L to R, indoors without flash) Joust, Winifred, Mordred

Joust: Bright lemon-gold with intense gold sheen
Winifred: Lilac with a blue sheen and shifts of blue-green and violet
Mordred: Deep, metallic bronze

Joust just makes me smile. I love the golden toned yellow. Usually pale yellows look like crap on me but the gold perks this one up. Winifred looks like a wallflower in the jar ("another pale lilac" etc) but the blue duochrome effect makes this very lovely and interesting. Mordred is simply gorgeous. Just check out the pic taken outdoors in direct sunlight if you have any doubts.

(L to R, indoors without flash) Sinister, Uninvited Presence, Grog Blossom

Sinister: A brilliant, lustrous green that shifts aqua, blue-violet, and purple depending on the view
Uninvited Presence: Green with intense gold tones
Grog Blossom: Soft peach-red with subtle color shifts & green sparkle. Appears peach or coppery red depending on the angle

Sinister is like blueish pine green. I'll probably use this one as a liner. Uninvited Presence is just an amazing green. Mindy should so get this one (are you reading this? You should definitely get it). The golden tones pop up in sunlight (check the outdoors photo). Grog Blossom is one of my definite favourites. Peach with green sparkle? How many times I have said it: LOVE.

(L to R, indoors without flash) Coraline, Twinkling Cherrine

Coraline: A luscious, stunning coral with a pink highlight
Twinkling Cherrine: Bright, twinkling red

Coraline is such a sweet colour. I'll probably pair it up with Grog Blossom as they seem to be close friends. Twinkling Cherrine is just stunning, firetruck red with a hint of sparkle.

Okay, here are the same shades, in the same order but now the photos are taken outdoors in direct sunlight.

Joust, Winifred, Mordred

Sinister, Uninvited Presence, Grog Blossom

Coraline, Twinkling Cherrine

Hope you liked the swatches! Anything caught your eye?

Now I'm off to for a Sunday dinner with my boyfriend's family. Hope you all had a great weekend! :)

Aromaleigh Victoria's Revenge swatches and a look

Miss K from Aromaleigh sent me samples of her new collection, Victoria's Revenge, for me to swatch and review. First off, my camera freaked out by the complexity and the sparkle of these colours and is now on medication and demanding an all expenses paid holiday to Bora Bora. I tried to tell him that he's just a camera and he has no right to demand such things and how could he even handle himself on a holiday but you know cameras. Demanding little buggers.

The collection is inspired by Victoriana, steampunk and gothloli themes so the shades are all very deep, complex and edgy. As said, these are very hard to photograph or even describe accurately because so many of these colours change according to lighting or application. Colour descriptions aren't available because there's a contest going on. Bloggers, such as I, who received samples for review and customers who have ordered samples can participate to write shade descriptions. More about the contest can be found here. I've swatched all the eyeshadows on top of TFSI + Pixie Epoxy. I'd strongly recommend using a sticky base with most of these because there's so much sparkle in them.

(L to R) Infernal Chaos, Cyanide Sorrow, Oleander Vapor, Airy Ethos

(L to R) Brazen & Bitter, Perpetual Motion, Magick & Metal, Bleeding Poppy

(L to R) Scratched Scruples, Frigid Gloom, Obscura, Mayhem's Trilogy

(L to R) Private Lunacy, Freakshow, Tarnished Strychnine, Splintered

(L to R) Skeleton Key, Gaslight Tears, Mania's Locus, Mourning's Whimsy

(L to R) Apocalypse Pansy, Phantasm, Ruthless Indulgence, Poison Utopia, Nightshade


I also did a look with Oleander Vapor, Private Lunacy, Tarnished Strychnine and Splintered yesterday.

Sweet Poison

Face:

Aromaleigh Glissade foundation in ICL
Aromaleigh Pure Mineral Rouge blush in Rosette
Aromaleigh Ultra Resolution Finishing Powder in Clear

Eyes:

TFSI (as a primer)
Aromaleigh Victoria's Revenge eyeshadow in Oleander Vapor (inner 3/4 of the lid)
Aromaleigh Victoria's Revenge eyeshadow in Tarnished Strychnine (outer vee and crease)
Aromaleigh Victoria's Revenge eyeshadow in Private Lunacy (to blend in Oleander Vapor and Tarnished Strychnine)
Aromaleigh Victoria's Revenge eyeshadow in Splintered (to darken the crease)
Aromaleigh Carolina Summer eyeshadow in Oyster (below brow to highlight)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara in Rich Black

Lips:

Aromaleigh Botanical lipstick in Rosebud

I somehow like to combine pinks with greens and even though this is not my best attempt to pull it off, it looked really cool irl.

Here you can see that although Oleander Vapor looks bright-ish sweet pink in the swatch photos, it has that murky undertone that makes it very dramatic.

No, I haven't gotten a perm or curled my hair. This is what happens when I crunch my hair dry when I blowdry it. I wanted to look a bit more girly than usual and is this collection is so decadent and luxurious, I figured that wavy hair would only be appropriate.

I love Aromaleigh's Glissade foundation. It makes my skin look so glowy and even. BTW, what do you think about the colour of the foundation on me?

Victoria's Revenge is a really different than other collections that come out during the spring/summer season. Usually you get bronze, turquoise, peach, lime green and pink so Victoria's Revenge is really standing out. There are so many colours that have a contrasting shimmer to them (like Mania's Locus and Frigid Gloom) and black-based glitter explosions (Nightshade, Ruthless Indulgence, Poison Utopia) that it'll make any person who craves darker shades really happy.

My favourites from this collection are Infernal Chaos, Cyanide Sorrow, Perpetual Motion, Frigid Gloom, Private Lunacy, Tarnished Strychnine, Skeleton Key, Mania's Locus and Phantasm.


What do you think about this collection? BTW, if you want any swatch photos re-taken, let me know in the comments!


And now for something completely different. This is my knee today:

Storming the Castle: Shiro Cosmetics swatches and mini-review

I was approached on Twitter by Caitlin, the owner of Shiro Cosmetics, asking if I were interested in trying out and reviewing her products. I found out that she had just opened her store and that her eyeshadows were named after Pokémon which made me giggle, in a good way. I agreed to swatch her products and write a review. Since she's a new company owner, I offered to show my review before publishing it but that she couldn't alter the contents of the review or I wouldn't publish it. She agreed to this so here we are :)

Disclaimer: these products were sent to me for review by Caitlin of Shiro Cosmetics. However, this does not affect my opinion of the products nor the tone of my review.

I thought I'd be getting a few sample baggies. Instead I got this:

A LOT of products, samples AND full sizes. Everything was packed neatly in a red organza bag with business cards. The jars were secured with scotch tape to prevent any spillages. The jars have no sifter so opening them is a delicate job and there may be spills (this happens with Fyrinnae, too since they don't have sifters, either). I saw Caitlin mentioning that she would add sifters to her jars which is a good move. The jars were filled to the brim and there were no concave bottoms so no need to fear that you're getting less product than expected.

Now onto the swatchies! These colours are very intense, some more opaque than others. These are all swatched on Too Faced Shadow Insurance + Pixie Epoxy. Shade descriptions are from Shiro Cosmetics website.

(L to R): Pikachu, Charmander, Mew, S.S. Anne

Pikachu: Vivid, opaque, shimmering yellow with eye-safe red glitter sparks. Chuu!
Charmander: Soft yet bright shimmery orange, like a candle's flame, with yellow undertones and just a hint of gold.
Mew: Cheerful, bright strawberry-bubblegum pink with a slight peachy tone.
S.S. Anne: Lovely, shimmery, subtle yet rich golden brown with a peachy-copper tinge - appropriate for all ages and occasions, universally flattering, and pretty much just gorgeous. 

(L to R): Vulpix, Brock the Rock, Squirtle, Acid

Vulpix: Gorgeous shimmering coppery red-brown, soft but intense - kind of like hugging a Vulpix, I imagine.
Brock the Rock: Dark, rich, shimmery chocolate brown with red tones.
Squirtle: Bright, clear, shimmery pool blue. Apply it wet to get a gorgeous metallic effect!
Acid: Vivid, opaque, shimmery yellow-green with golden undertones and just a touch of darker green eye-safe glitter.

 

(L to R) Bulbasaur, Zubat, Team Rocket, Lance the Dragon Trainer

Bulbasaur: Bright, opaque, shimmering grassy green with a hint of a gold undertones.
Zubat: Dusky, shimmery, semi-sheer blue with a violet tinge.Team Rocket: Opaque, shimmery red-toned purple, kind of a cross between the Team Rocket uniform and Jessie's hair.Lance the Dragon Trainer: Deep, rich, shimmering indigo with golden sparks of eye-safe glitter.

(L to R): Articuno, Mewtwo, Hyper Beam

Articuno: Pale, powdery silver-blue with plenty of shimmer and sparkle.Mewtwo: Sheer, shimmery, medium purple with blue tones.
Hyper Beam: Sparkly opaque black, absolutely loaded with silver eye-safe glitter.

What I LOVE about the ingredients listings on the sample baggies is that they mention if the colour is lip-safe or not. As you can see from the photo above, Pikachu is lip-safe and Zubat is clearly marked as not lip-safe. Awesomeness for those who are like me and are too lazy to check the website.

I like the colours, my favourites are Mew, S.S. Anne, Team Rocket, Charmander, Articuno, Mewtwo and Bulbasaur.

These colours are extremely long-lasting with TFSI+Pixie Epoxy combo. I wore Mew with Team Rocket for our company's cruise to Tallinn. I sat on a sunny terrace for about 2 hours, I dragged my shopping bags... My foundation has melted a bit but my eyeshadows were intact except from the outer corners because my allergies caused my eyes to water. Other than that, these shadows lasted from 6am to 9pm and they still looked vivid when I took them off at night.

The lovely Phyrra got to check out these colours before I did and I went through the comments becasuse some people were worried about these colours being repacked TKB stuff. Here's Caitlin's reply (taken from Phyrra's blog):

Dropping in to clarify a bit: I consider the wax part of the base. I do use the C-SMAX from TKB, which is mica coated in carnauba wax, but I blend that with titanium dioxide and occasionally, depending on what I'm working with, additions like zinc oxide, magnesium myristrate, or silica. So it's a pre-mixed base within a base, I guess. I wanted to use the wax because of the finish it gives, and I thought the best way was to use the C-SMAX.

As for the colors themselves, I do get what you're saying about them not being especially unique. All of my colors have at least 3 unique colorants in them, but as you said, several are at least somewhat based on the Pop! colors. They're noticeably different when swatched side by side, though, and not just because of the inclusion of the base. That said, most of them are in fact fairly basic - I'm attempting to create higher levels of complexity as I learn more about how the colorants interact, but these 15 colors are my first attempts.

I appreciate Caitlin for her honest and friendly response and also the fact that she's admitting that she's still learning the art of making more complex colours.

I can't comment on the customer service since these were sent to me for review but Caitlin seems very friendly and is willing to answer any questions about her products and she's also taking new colour suggestions.

I'm sure I'm going to order some stuff from Shiro Cosmetics in the future. I already saw a swatch picture of a cool pink shade called Jigglypuff on Twitter and I've read some pretty interesting shade suggestions Caitlin may be working on in the future.

 Have you tried Shiro Cosmetics? What do you think about these swatches?

Lip Lustre swatches: The Summer Edition

I have more funky lip photos for you to laugh at! As you know, I love Fyrinnae Lip Lustres. Well, I love Fyrinnae stuff in general but the Lip Lustres are pretty awesome. So I pulled out a couple of shades I've been wearing lately and noticed that they all are pretty lovely for this spring/summer season. So I ended up swatching 10 Lip Lustres on my lips. The neighbors must've thought I was a crazy person, taking photos of my lips in my balcony wearing my jammies. Oh, the things I'd do for my lovely readers :)

So swatches are on bare lips. That's the great thing about these lippies: they're so moisturizing that you don't need to wear lipbalm underneath. Some of them last longer than others but you can get more miles from them if you blot after the first layer and then apply another one. Colour descriptions are taken from Fyrinnae website.

Very Berry Happy: Semi-sheer "milky" pink shimmer (vanilla cream scent)

This shade gives your lips a bit of "frosty" look. It's a very cool pink but somehow I don't end up looking like a corpse wearing it. I use it by itself or on top of another lippie for a cool plumping effect (dab it in the middle of your lower lip when wearing a darker cool pink/mauve shade and you get an instant lip plump).

Romantique: Semi-sheer soft warm pink with gold shimmer (toasted marshmallow scent)

This shade is like Rapunzel Had Extensions for lips. Unfortunately I can't wear this own it's own because it clashes with my skintone (which is odd because I have pink/peach tones in my skin). I do use it on top of other golden pink lippies.

Bare Shoulders: Sheer sandy rose shade with lavender highlights (cafe au lait scent)

Although this should be sheerer than Rapunzel, it's a lot more opaque on my lips. I love this shade and I can't quite explain why. It looks taup-ish but it also has this pinky metallic finish to it. Also, I love and hate the scent. Everytime I apply it, I'm like "eeewww, hate this scent" and then I have to sniff it more. This is definitely one of my favourite shades.

Lace Gloves: Sheer pink with red highlights (melon scent)

Another favourite of mine, this shade makes lips look rosy and luscious. I pick this shade quite often when I want that "my lips but better" look. It gives you the nice pink afterglow...

Devil Horns: Warm coral-pink with a brighter pink shimmer, which changes to a sizzling coppery-coral shade as it gets close to light (vanilla rum scent)

I couldn't capture the colour change on camera but if you look at the corners of my mouth, it does look a bit more coppery there. I use this colour a lot, it's a lovely warm coral that makes my skin glow.

Flavor of the Day: Semi-sheer light peach-pink with gold shimmer (strawberry cotton candy scent)

Utterly delicious. This looks almost matte peach in the container but the shimmer and the pink undertones become very visible on lips. I've noticed that lot of blogettes have fallen in love with this shade.

Puppy Love: Vibrant cool pink with tiny reflective sparkles, offering an almost "holographic" appearance. The sparkles are varying hues of blue, making this a multi-dimensional shade, but at different angles will appear pink or even orange and gold (candied kiwi scent)

This one I got as a freebie sample gift from the Fyrinnae boys. It's a very lovely colour and I love the shimmer. It's very very shimmery so don't be surprised if you find the shimmer on your cheeks and your nose when the colour wears off!

Lollipop-Pop: Fun vibrant light pink with a blue highlight (lychee scent)

I believe this was one of the first Lip Lustre shades I ever tried out. As it is pink with blue highlight, it's obviously one of my favourites although I lately I haven't used it as much.

Trickster: Vibrant fuchsia topped with shimmering blue highlight (creme de menthe scent)

This is like Lollipop-Pop's outgoing big sister. This shade was requested by Phyrra and like Phyrra herself, the shade is awesome and edgy.

Fanservice: A matte, vivid milky lavender (sweet rose scent)

I love this shade but I can't wear it alone because it makes me look slightly hypothermic. So I either blot it so it turns into light lavender lip stain OR I wear it on top of another lippie. This shade makes me think about milkshakes. Yum yum.


Some people are not fond of Lip Lustres, saying that they don't last well or that they feel oily on lips. As with any cosmetic product, people are very different and react differently. I personally love Lip Lustres. Some of the shades last longer than others (for instance, Puppy Love wears off quite quickly on my lips) but I like the formula and it feels moisturizing to my lips. All of these lippies are vegan.

What do you think about Lip Lustres? Any favourite shades?

MAC Tissueweight swatches

My dear and lovely Welsh blogger friend Chloe was kind enough to get me the much-coveted MAC Tissueweight eyeshadow. Thank you, Chloe! She also sent me and my boyfriend some yummy chocolate treats which I ate all by myself. My boyfriend didn't even get to see the wrappers.

I wanted to swatch this delicate beauty to you all (and to Chloe since she was debating whether to send it to me or keep to herself, lol). Tissueweight is a frost eyeshadow so it has that lovely shiny finish. I've swatched it only over TFSI (I use epoxy only with loose pigments).

This first pic was taken outdoors. Look at it glow. I'm sure I'll be using this a lot this spring/summer. It looks lovely combined with darker shades but it's light enough to use as a highlighter, too.

This pic was taken indoors. Drool. Nothing more to say really. This is what delicate, light shades should look like: simple but not bland.

Do you have Tissueweight in your stash?