Evil Shades Review and Swatches!

In the mail today was my Evil Shades order. I placed it..oh I'll say 3 days ago. I'm too lazy right now to figure out exactly when I placed the order- but I do know the shipping was incredibly fast. So, in your standard manila bubble mailer was a cool plastic goodie bag with my eyeshadow, lip gloss, and 3 sample pigments in little ziplock baggies ( Heartless Queen, Panic, and Double Barrel) inside. I also received a really neat purple heart shaped sucker and a couple business cards. This is the first order I've received WITH a business card and I thought that was a great way to promote the business.

Evil Shades is a small Indie website that I heard about while stalking the web for mineral eyeshadow. I was drawn to it because of the eyeshadow called "Zombie." So, OF COURSE, I had to try them out. I was excited enough to fire off a quick email to Andrea Miller the Owner of Evil Shades with a couple of questions. Her response was incredibly fast and informative. 100% satisfied with her customer service. The website is neat, but it was a little difficult for me to find exactly what I was looking for- i.e. Zombie by itself. Once I did find the separate eyeshadow listings it was smooth sailing. I found a listing to Create Your Own Mini Set which included 3 eyeshadow (3 grams of product in a 5 Gram jar, this allows enough room to avoid spillage.) and 1 lipgloss (but you can mix and match) for $8.00. $8.00!! I couldn't  pass that up. So, I ordered Zombie (no brainer- no pun intended), Coffin, Acolyte (Illusion Eyeshadow), and the lip gloss in Guilty as Sin.


Zombie: A soft marroon color with sparkle. A nice crease color.
Coffin: A coopery salmon color. I love this one!
Acolyte: An intense green with holographic sparkle- another very nice color.

Guilty As Sin: Soft Rose Colored gloss with sparkle. I'm on the fence about this.

The good:

• The colors are all amazing. Andrea mixes her own shades and they are super pigmented. I adore sparkle and the shades are full of it! 
• Shipping was quick and the extra goodies in the bag were a plus. 
• I found the "Red" I've been searching for in Heartless Queen (free sample in ziplock) and will be purchasing a full size of that shade.
• The names of the shades are listed on the bottom of each jar.
• Andrea has her mission statement listed on the site: CLICK HERE!
• She has a shade called ZOMBIE!  I'll work on her to change it to "Makeup Zombie." YEAH RIGHT! ;)

The bad:

• The jars were not exactly what was pictured on the website. I guess I was expecting the strandard round jar with black or clear lid.
• I'm really on the fence about the gloss. While it's a nice color and has a great smell- it feels a little slimy and  (for lack of a better word) gritty on my lips. I'm assuming I'm feeling the glitter. I'll have to play around with it a little more.
• No invoice in the package- BUT that doesn't bother me because I prefer my invoices emailed to me. 
• No sifters. I'm not a sifter gal, but some of you might be.

The Ugly:

• I'm a little saddened by this. But as soon as I opened the first jar, it exploded all over me. Bits of pigment were stuck in the "teeth" of the lid so when I opened it, it went everywhere. Each jar was like that. I actually lost a bunch of product trying to get the lids open to review the shades. I might end up changing them to different jars. I had to end up blowing away the excess mineral on the edges of the jars before opening them. This also means I won't be storing them upside down like I do all my other minerals. At least the lid is clear so I can still see the color.

Overall, I'm very happy with my order and I will be placing more orders in the future.  I really want the full size of Heartless Queen and Double Barrel, but I might have to order them in baggie form because of the spillage from the jars.

Left to Right: Guilty As Sin, Coffin, Zombie, Acolyte

Concrete Minerals Review and SWATCHES!

Wooooot! In the mail on Saturday was my wonderful package from Concrete Minerals. I was overly excited about this order, because I had by happenstance run across this store on Etsy. (I'm officially an Etsy junkie!) The colors of the shadow..the names...the super friendly customer service (Emily rocks my socks) and kick ass Etsy store, just had me in giddy school girl mode. Luckily the order took only 2 days to get to me!

As I ripped open the neatly bubble envelope packaged "stuffs" like a little girl on Christmas morning, the first thing I noticed was that the shadows were wrapped in bright pink tissue paper. SCORE! I also received a personalized note card from Emily.

Before I start on the "eyeshadow" let me just say: I was not paid for my review of this product. I was however sent two free eyeshadow to review. All of the following information is from my very own twisted mind and is my very own opinion. Woot!

Let's begin-

Also inside the package was my invoice, which I thought was a nice touch. I ordered Smut and Temptress at $5.99 each and to my surprise she included Mad Hatter (which is in the Alice in Wonderland Collection), and Strobelight. I was very excited about this, until I opened them, then I was ecstatic!

Smut: This is going to be a cult classic in no time. I think it's already on it's way. In the jar Smut looks like a deep brownish/gray color. But once swatched it turns into a burnt purple color with gold and pink reflect. It's the most amazing color and hard to explain in words. Definitely one of the favorites in my current mineral collection.

Temptress: A gorgeous Teal color with silver, gold, and pink shimmer (almost glitter.) Absolutely beautiful.

Strobelight: Looks dark grey/blue in the jar but once on it's a perfect silver blue with silver sparkle. I really think Temptress and Strobelight would go well together.

Mad Hatter: This color took me by surprise. It's dark and intense, but FULL of sparkle. Depends on which light you're in as to what the color is going to look like. To me it's a deep, burnt plum with silver and blue glitter. A great crease and.or liner color.

Each shadow came in a 10 gr. jar with a sifter- but the product is packed in! The bottom of the jars have the logo for Concrete Minerals as well as the name of each shadow and the weight of the product. 1.5 grams.

And as per the Etsy store:

"Concrete Minerals products contain no nonsense, commonly referred to as: :: Parabens :: Fragrances :: Dyes :: Nano-particles :: Bismuth Oxychloride, Talc or other cheap fillers We ship all of our mineral eyeshadows in full 10-GRAM jars (never in 5-gram or even 3-gram jars) to ensure your beautiful product lasts and we NEVER-ever-ever repackage straight mica!"

I give Concrete Minerals two thumbs way up and 5 out of 5 Zombies! I am drooling intensely over "Hearts" and can't wait to purchase it. I think the only con if there would be one- the colors are very bold and pigmented and a little messy. Use caution when opening the jars and applying the color.

The pictures below don't do the colors justice, but I tried to represent them as best as I could. I swatched each color sans any type of primer or base. Look at that pigmentation!








So stop by the Concrete Minerals store on Etsy and tell Emily that the Makeup Zombie sent you! It's well worth it!

Weekly Waunderings- Concrete Minerals

Well...I happened across yet another *gasp* Etsy seller that caught my eye. I really need to stay OFF of that site. lol The shop is called "Concrete Minerals" and is run by Emily. She's new to Etsy, but I have a feeling that her shadows are going to be a new cult favorite. I placed my first order today for the colors "Smut" and "Temptress" and I'm super excited to see them first hand. Check out the amazing colors! Click image below for larger size.

Did I mention the names are freaking cool my fellow Zombies?! I mean I get to wear "Smut" and feel ok with that! HA I will review the products just as soon as they come in. I tell you.. I <3 Etsy!



Image Property of Concrete Minerals

Earth Angel Minerals at First Glance

 I no longer buy from EAM as they do repackage their pigments.

Hey Makeup Monsters!

As I was browsing Etsy one day, I came across the store for Christine at Earth Angel Minerals.

I found a few gorgeous looking eyeshadow I just had to have. The main reason her store caught my eye was because:

Per the Etsy store:

"EARTH ANGEL MINERALS is the Pure & Natural, Organic Mineral Makeup! I created my line of healthy mineral makeup to offer women an affordable, more natural alternative to the national brands of mineral makeup. Most women don’t realize it but with the recent hype over mineral makeup, the major brands are now in the game…but do they really care about what is inside their jars?? I don’t think so…LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS ON THEIR LABELS!!! They list all sorts of bad chemicals with a tiny bit of minerals inside! Please be aware of what you are placing on your skin! Anything you put on your skin will be absorbed into your body & into the blood stream! You won’t have to worry with EARTH ANGEL MINERALS! Our cosmetics are CELIAC & VEGAN friendly! We don't use harmful & irritating ingredients! NO Bismuth Oxychloride NO NANO-PARTICLES! NO Parabens NO Talc or Synthetic Dyes NO Glycols NO Cancer Causing Chemicals NO Carmine See what the BUZZ is all about! Become an Earth Angel today! Your skin will love you for it!"

I asked Christine if she'd be ok with me reviewing her product on my blog. She kindly agreed. Christine did not send me any of the products free of charge with the exception of a few samples she threw in for me. I purchased the eyeshadow with my own money. With that being said, this is my clear and honest opinion..SO there! Ok, let's move on...QUICK!




I purchased 5 eyeshadow from Christine- each shadow came in a 5g sifter jar, with .5g Net wt.

"This size will last many applications without breaking the bank! " Per the Earth Angel store.

Hot Tamale
Top O' the Mornin'
Pot O' Gold
Fawn
Lemon Sugar

Samples received: 5 small clam shells of:

Butter Cream
Shamrock Eye Color
Emerald Isle
Light Tinted Angel Veil
Refresh Brightener
(I'm only reviewing the eyeshadow at this time.)



First Impressions:

• I was pleasantly surprised that each jar was tamper resistant and sealed. That's really cool! That insured that I was the first person to touch the shadow. Christine took great care in the labels on each jar as well. The name, ingredients, and weight are all on the bottom of the jar. Great detail for the win!
• Christine wrote notes on the invoice- pointing out a color I would love. I thought that gave it a really friendly and down to earth touch.
  
• The generosity of the samples was cool too. I ordered two shadows from her new 2010 "Luck of the Irish" Collection in full size and she sent me samples of the rest of the collection. "Shamrock" and "Emerald Isle." I LOVE the greens.
• Customer Service was fast and friendly. My package got here in exactly 5 days via USPS First Class Mail. No complaints there.
• The products were packaged nice and secure.

Shadows:

So far I am LOVING Hot Tamale. It's a smoking hot coppery red color with reflects of gold. It is hard to explain, but beautiful. I'm excited to use it as an eyeliner or for a dramatic look. It's pigmentation is just enough to not be overly "in your face" red and can be easily toned down. This is my top favorite so far.

Next comes Top O' The Mornin'. A beautiful mint green color with reflects of green and blue. I have never actually seen a color like this. It reminds me of green cotton candy...that's the only way I can describe it. I can't wait to see what I can do with this baby.

Fawn is a pretty brownzy cream brown with tons of sparkle. Just fun enough to kick a daytime neutral look up a notch. And if you know me, you know..I love sparkle!

Pot O' Gold is a neat subtle green color with tons of gold reflects. Hence the name! Such a fun color!

And Lemon Sugar.. I don't know what I was expecting, but from the pictures online, I was expecting a little more out of this color. It's a shimmery light pink color with sparkle. Great for a highlight. I think I was hoping it would have more iridescence to it. But still a nice shade.

Samples:

Shamrock is a medium shimmery green with blue reflects. VERY pretty. And Emerald Isle is just a bit darker than Shamrock with the same blue reflects. I really do like this collection. Though I'm only going to review the eyeshadow now, I did receive a sample of Butter Cream, which I'll talk a little about. In the package there was a little brochure talking about Butter Cream.

"Butter Cream- Multi Tasking Mineral Eyelid Primer and Skin Balancer Butter Cream is a great multi taking mineral! Helps to neutralize your skin tone! Brightens the eye area! Tones down too much "OOPS" blush!"

I've only swatched the colors on my hand minus a primer. The colors do fade quickly, but with a good primer, I'm sure they are meant to last. My first test run will be tomorrow and I will update everyone on how it goes and what the staying power is like.

So far I give these shadows 4 out of 5 Zombies.

FYI- The lighting just does not do these shadow justice, but I tried!

Elf Eyeshadow Craziness!

I'm doing a collective Elf eyeshadow review as I have a couple of nays and one very big YAY! I admit, while I do love the creaminess of high end eyeshadow, I'm a sucker for a sale. And when I see eyeshadow on sale, 9 times out of 10 I'm going to cave.. Now imagine eyeshadow on sale that is ALWAYS on sale. Anyone familiar with Elf (eyelipsface.com) knows their products are just a buck. Products in their professional and studio line go for $3.00.. So, when I saw the two eyeshadow duos in a holiday set TOGETHER for $3.00 I was sold. Unfortunately in this case, you get what you pay for. The duos are soft purple and brown and white and silver. Out of the 4, I do like the silver eyeshadow. It's very glittery, but it does NOT last. I even had a primer and base on and it was gone within 2 hours of wear. Though the purple and brown duo look pigmented, they are not. And again, there really is no staying power. If you're new to makeup, the Elf duos might be just the ticket and I'm pretty sure had I piled on the shadow they would have stuck around... But really in my opinion they are just meh...





On the other hand, the mineral shadow from Elf called "Socialite" is another story totally! This again was $3.00 and one of the very first shadows I purchased from Elf. I am actually pretty amazed. I'm on a total mineral kick right now and I dug this one out of my shadow drawer the other day to take a second look at it. It's this super cool taupe color with hints of blue and silver reflects. I'll even go out on a limb and compare it to MAC's Satin Taupe. The color lasts forever, even without a primer, and a little goes a long way. The thing I love most about mineral shadows and pigments are that they last forever. I would recommend the Elf Mineral line, judging from this eyeshadow. I think the quality is great and it's very blendable! Way to go Elf!




If you're interested in Elf products go to: http://www.eyeslipsface.com/makeup

Wendi
-The Makeup Zombie