Posts Tagged ‘Swatches’

They’re here! China Glaze Hologlam Haul

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013

I preordered eight of the twelve polishes from the new holographic collection from China Glaze, Hologlam, and they arrived earlier this week. This is a collection that many of us have been waiting for, but I’ve tried to keep my expectations low. The colors I chose where the following:

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L-R: OMG A UFO, Don’t Be A Luna-tic, Take A Trek, Strap On Your Moonboots

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L-R: Cosmic Dust, Galactic Gray, When Stars Collide, Infra Red

I love the color of Infra Red. OMG A UFO and When Stars Collide are really unique colors in my collection when it comes to holos. It’s going to interesting to try these out!

So, the big question is: Do they live up to the expectations of the now legendary OMG!-collection? To get an idea of the holographic effect I swatched two OMG-colors and two Hologlam colors that where somewhat similar in color.

From left to right you have: QT, Infra-red, L8R G8R, OMG A UFO. After looking at these in different angles in the sun you do see a difference in the holographic rainbows. The particles seem to be of a similar size, but the holographic effect is over a smaller area in the new colors, and also a little more diffused.

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201303_china_glaze_hologlam_omg_comparison_2

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Speaking of the colors, Infra Red is like a deeper version of QT, so if you have been lemming QT I think you can be quite happy with Infra Red.

So, what do you think? I think they look really good actually. If you wanted the mega holographic rainbows like the Color Club Halo Hues you might be disappointed, but compared to the old China Glaze collection I think they’re really nice. It’s way better than that Tronica collection, there’s not much action in those!

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Posted in Nails | 8 Comments »

Too Faced – La Crème Lipstick – Juicy Melons

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013

I haven’t posted anything else than nail polish in quite some time, I’m going through my photos to see if I can dig up some fun looks to post. But right now I have a new lipstick that I want to show you. Back in August I bought two of the Too Faced La Crème Color Drenched Lip Cream  in Nude Beach and Fuchsia Shock. Back then I thought it was the nude shade that I would use the most, but since I’ve been doing a lot of neutral eye looks this past Winter I’ve wanted a pop of color to my lips. So Fuchsia Shock has been perfect for that.

Someday Spring will come to Sweden (I hope!) and for that I wanted a new fun color, so I ordered the pinky coral shade Juicy Melons from BeautyBay.

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So here it is. I noticed that there is a relief (is there a better word to describe it?) on the top of the cap now, that was not present on the first two I bought. Well, it makes it easier to find this one at least.

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It’s a fresh and nice shade that’s useable at the office, if you don’t want to stand out too much but still want something fun.

I also swatched it together with my other two La Crème lipsticks:

201303_too_faced_creme_lipstick_swatches

L-R: Nude Beach, Juicy Melons, Fuchsia Shock

When I’m wearing these I usually just blot them a little, since they’re so creamy they can have  a tendency to slide off. If you you want maximum color and staying power I really think it’s best to use a lip liner underneath. I’ll have to try that with Fuchsia Shock sometime.

What do you think of these? Have you tried any of them yourself?

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Posted in Makeup | 5 Comments »

New IsaDora Polishes – Jewels of the Orient

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

I ran across the new IsaDora polishes from the Jewels of the Orient collection yesterday, and in a hurry I decided to pick up two of the new polishes. I bought Beetle Green when it was first released, but I don’t think I’ve shown it before, so I let join the others for the photos.

L-R: Orient Express, Silk Road, Beetle Green. The last cap looks weird since there are glue traces left from a label when I bought it.

Orient Express is a beautiful deep red shimmer. It’s probably not the most unique color but for some reason I don’t have that many in that color range in my collection, so I thought it was worth getting.

Silk Road has a sheer dark blue base, and it’s packed with shimmer in what seems to be blue, gold and purple. I really like this one, and don’t have anything similar to it in my collection.

Beetle Green is a dark cool green, and even though the purple shift you see in the bottle isn’t visible on the nail, I still like this one.

Will you be getting any of the polishes from this collection? I’m also interested in the dark wine red Ancient Ruby, but I will check first if there are similar shades from China Glaze, as I really don’t like Isadora’s wide brushes..

You can see the whole collection on IsaDora’s site: http://www.isadora.com/se/news/trend-nails-autumnwinter-2012/

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Posted in Nails | 11 Comments »

New Lippies from Too Faced

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

When I first read about the Too Faced La Crème Color Drenched Lip Cream, I knew I had to try them out. I really like creamy and moisturizing lipsticks, and there are quite some nice shades in the line. I ordered Nude Beach and Fuchsia Shock from BeautyBay.com. Unfortunately they didn’t arrive at the same time, and since I couldn’t wait I actually tried my Fuchsia Shock before the other one came, hence the weird photo montages.

First off, the packaging. They come in a cute pink package with the color label on top. The lipstick tube is a golden metal which feels quite heavy and luxurious.

The lipsticks themselves: Fuchsia Shock to the left, Nude Beach to the right.

These are swatches done on my hand. Nude Beach is a very nice nude shade, and Fuchsia Shock is a bright fuchsia shade.

I also swatched them on my lips:

Nude Beach will probably be my favorite lipstick for fall when I want a “My Lips But Better” shade.

Fuchsia Shock, what a gorgeous color!

I really like how smooth they are to apply, and they look really glossy on the lips. I don’t really know how to describe the scent, it makes me think of candy that has licorice and lemon flavor. The only downside with these lipsticks is that due to their nature they won’t stay on for that long, after a meal you definitely have to re-apply.

What do you think of these? Do you have any, or planning on getting them? I think I will end up with one of the coral shades as well, either Juicy Melons or Coral Fire.

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Posted in Makeup | 7 Comments »

Some new Summer Colors from Meow Cosmetics

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

I ordered a bunch of samples from Meow Cosmetics new Joys of Summer collection plus a couple of other samples, and for once I had some time to do swatches of my new pretties!

Here are the Joys of Summer samples (click picture below for bigger version):

Row 1 L-R: Iced Watermelon (blush), Endless Nights, Lazy Days, Heat Wave, Lime In The Coconut, Skee Ball
Row 2 L-R: Cricket Serenade, Sea Glass, Oasis, A/C, Azure Sky, Cannonball
Row 3 L-R: Iced Coffee, Marco Polo, Midnight Sun

I also ordered a couple of samples from the Rainforest collection; Canopy and Endangered.

The free samples are from the new Summer Spirits collection, I recieved Sex On The Beach and Spiked!

So, let’s move on to the swatches. The first photo of each swatch is in the shade, and the second one in the sun.

Row 1 L-R: Cricket Serenade, Sea Glass, A/C, Oasis
Row 2 L-R: Midnight Sun, Marco Polo, Cannonball, Azure Sky

Row 1 L-R: Cricket Serenade, Sea Glass, A/C, Oasis
Row 2 L-R: Midnight Sun, Marco Polo, Cannonball, Azure Sky

Row 1 L-R: Skee Ball, Lime In The Coconut, Iced Coffee, Heat Wave
Row 2 L-R: Endless Nights, Lazy Days, Iced Watermelon (I tried to blend it out a little to the right)

Row 1 L-R: Skee Ball, Lime In The Coconut, Iced Coffee, Heat Wave
Row 2 L-R: Endless Nights, Lazy Days, Iced Watermelon

Row 1 L-R: Canopy, Endangered
Row 2 L-R: Sex On The Beach, Spiked!

Row 1 L-R: Canopy, Endangered
Row 2 L-R: Sex On The Beach, Spiked!

Aren’t these pretty? I’m mostly weak for the blue/green shades like Oasis, Azure Sky and Sea Glass, but I also really like Lime In The Coconut and Endless Nights.

See anything you like? At the moment Meow Cosmetics is having a Founders Day Sale to celebrate six years, go here for more information about the sale.

Edit: I forgot to mention that that I applied a little of Too Faced Shadow Insurance to my hand before I did the swatches.

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Posted in Makeup | 5 Comments »

Some Urban Decay Stuff

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

While going through the photos on my computer I found some swatches that I made sometime before Christmas, I guess it’s not too late to show them. I had ordered some Urban Decay stuff from BeautyBay.com.

Hey, what’s that? A butterfly? *sniff sniff*

Once he realized it wasn’t a real one and moved along, I could take this photo:

It’s a Pocket Rocket lip gloss in the shade James, the Mariposa Palette, and the 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Flipside (Finally! I’ve beeen craving that one for years..)

The palette is packaged in a metal tin with the Urban Decay logo and a butterfly on it (Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish). When you open it up it looks like this:

Click on the next photo if you want to enlarge it:

And then we have the swatches, in the sun and in the shade. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Row 1 L-R: Rockstar, Gunmetal, Skimp, Infamous, Wreckage
Row 2 L-R: Haight, Money, Mushroom, Spotlight, Limelight

The reason I bought this palette was mainly for the shades Haight, Money, Mushroom, and Skimp. Wreckage and Infamous are also very nice shades. Spotlight and Limelight can be a bit tricky to apply as they are a little gritty, but I’ve worn Spotlight a few times without problems.

On to the lip gloss, James. If you’re not familiar with the Pocket Rocket lip glosses they all have different guys on them (James is the Emo guy), and if you look at them in a certain angle they’re undressed to their undies.

It’s so tacky it’s fun! The applicator is a tiny brush, which I think works pretty well.

I swatched it on the back of my hand together with the Flipside pencil.

James is a cool pink gloss with tiny blue/purple shimmer in it, and Flipside is a gorgeous teal color.

Here’s a shot of James on my lips.. Hmm, I hope my fiance isn’t reading this =)

It’s quite a sheer gloss, so I like to wear it on top of a more covering lipstick or stain, I think it makes the shimmer more visible that way as well. And then we have the scent is reminiscent of creme brulee, and being the sweet tooth that I am I love it!

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Posted in Makeup | 4 Comments »

Two New Isadora Trios

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

I’ve aquired a couple of Isadoras new Eye Shadow Trios, Purple Vain which is new for this Fall, and Golden Fig from the winter collection Red Rush. And where did I find these if not at the local supermarket? These are not the best photos, but I hope they give you some idea of what they look like.

Purple Vain to the left, Golden Fig to the right.

And here are some quick swatches on my arm:

With the purple shades you can probably do a gorgeous smokey eye. In the Golden Fig trio I’m really fond of the middle shade, I think I would describe it as as a golden peach shade.

I wore the shadows from Golden Fig the other day so I thought I would show you that as well:

I’ve used the lightest shade in the inner corners, the middle shade on the rest of the lid, then the plum shade in crease and outer v, and also applied it as a liner with an angled brush.

And here’s the rest of the face:

Face
glominerals – gloPressed Base Powder Foundation in Golden Medium

Eyes
Too Faced – Shadow Insurance
MAC – Orb applied all over lid and browbone
Isadora – Golden Fig Trio (lightest shade in the inner corners, the middle shade on the rest of the lid, and then the plum shade in crease and outer v, and also applied as a liner)
Make Up Store – Blush in the shade Must Have (applied veeeery lightly)
Lumene – Blueberry Curl Mascara on upper lashes
Isadora – Clear Conditioning Mascara on lower lashes
Isadora – Inliner Kajal in Blonde on lower waterline
Viva La Diva – Mix & Match Eyebrow Color, medium brown shade used to lightly fill in eyebrows

Lips
Nyx – Round Lipstick in Indian Pink

 

I really like these trios, they’re small and handy. But I have to warn you, don’t drop them! You don’t want to see what my Cool Browns palette look like now.. =)

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Posted in Makeup | 6 Comments »

Some Swatches Of Isadora Light Touch Natural Radiant Make-Up SPF 15

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

I’ve seen a lot of posts about this new foundation from Isadora, and when I went past them at the super market I decided to make some quick swatches of three of the shades. I also had my Flawless Finish Foundation from ELF in my purse, which I find is a fairly good match for me when applied lightly, so I put that on as well for comparison. The photos are taken after I came home, unfortunately the sun was pretty much gone so you’ll have to do with poor indoor lighting.

The top mess is ELF Flawless Finish Foundation in Sand, which looks quite a bit lighter than the Isadora shades. And then we have the Light Touch Foundation swatches:
Bottom row L-R: 50 Nude, 51 Beige, 52 Sand.

I tried to swatch them on my face as well:

Unblended, L-R: ELF Sand, Isadora 50 Nude, 51 Beige, 52 Sand.

Blended slightly, L-R: ELF Sand, Isadora 50 Nude, 51 Beige, 52 Sand.

The ELF swatch looks quite yellow on me but I think it helps to even out the pink overtones in my face. My face really doesn’t match my body…

I’ve actually only used one liquid foundation in the past, and that was Lorea’l True Match in C1 Rose Ivory. After a while I realized though that it was too pink for me, so I think I should go for more yellow tones.

I may pick up this foundation in either Nude or Beige, I haven’t really decided which one looks the best yet. I’m hoping they’ll melt in and not look quite as dark as they appear to be. Have anyone of you tested this foundation yet?

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Posted in Makeup | 2 Comments »

Urban Decay 15-Year Anniversary Eyeshadow Collection!

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

You guessed right, it’s the 15th Anniversary palette from Urban Decay! I fell in love with this palette when I first saw it, and I just couldn’t resist getting it from Ebay. It wasn’t cheap, but I do find it worth the money I paid for it. Prepare for a lot of photos!

The palette comes in a purple velvet casing, which makes it feel quite luxurious.

Don’t you just love the design? The lid is quite reflective, and I warn you, there will be fingerprints!

This is what the palette looks like, 15 brand new eyeshadows!

You can actually lift off the palette since there’s a velvet compartment underneath, not that I have any idea what I’d put there. I can’t get it open without using something small and pointy. It looks like this:

I took this photo on another day if you wonder why the shadows look messed up here.

Click on the following photo to see the shadows more up close:

I’ve also tried doing some swatches, I hope I got them fairly accurate. If you want some better quality I suggest you check out Phyrra’s swatches of this palette. The color descriptions are from Urban Decay’s site. The swatches were made on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

Row 1 L-R: Midnight Rodeo (medium metallic brown w/silver and gold glitter), Tainted (pale matte purple with golden shimmer), Deeper (deep shimmery golden brown)

Row 2 L-R: Midnight 15 (oyster pearl w/silver glitter), Junkshow (bright pink w/fuchsia shift), M.I.A (soft shimmery dark brown)

Row 3 L-R: Vanilla (shimmery white gold), Omen (shimmery metallic bright purple w/blue shift), Ace (dark gunmetal shimmer)

Unfortunately you don’t see that much of Vanilla in my photo, but it is a beautiful light yellow/golden highlighter.

And then we have the last two rows in the palette:

Row 1 L-R: Flow (soft peach shimmer), Evidence (deep metallic blue), Blackout (darkest, most saturated black)
Row 2 L-R: Chase (metallic bright bronze), Deep End (bright teal shimmer), Half Truth (shimmery smoky purple)

Evidence and Deep End doesn’t look quite right in the photo above, they’re a bit too blue. The next photo shows the colors a bit better:

As with most Urban Decay eyeshadows these are wonderful! The color payoff is great, and there are some lovely duochromes in there. There are no major glitter bombs, the only glittery shades are Midnight Rodeo and Midnight 15, but it’s nowhere near the amount glitter in Midnight Cowboy or Uzi for example.

I really love the mix of neutral and bright colors, which makes it suitable both for everyday looks, and for some more colorful party looks. My favorite shadows are Junkshow, Omen, Flow, Deep End, Midnight 15, and Half Truth.

Do you have your eyes set on this palette?

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Posted in Makeup | 2 Comments »