Newest Loves: tokidoki Arte Palettes (Vegas & Til Death Do Us Part)

I recently (finally!) purchased these lovelies at Sephora:

I've had my eye on them for a little while now - they are super cute, I couldn't resist! I had a $5 off coupon/"gift card" to spend but I couldn't choose between these two so somehow I ended up with them both ;) What's worse? I want them all, now! <3

I'm not very familiar with the tokidoki line of cosmetics (this is my first purchase) but from what I've gathered  - it is exclusive to Sephora! These little travel size "Arte Palettes" retail for $10 (however, Sephora is currently having a sale on tokidoki products - hopefully they are here to stay and are just making room for new products!).

Each palette contains four lovely eyeshadows and a blush (each eyeshadow being 0.03oz/0.9g and the blush 0.11oz/3.1g). They have a magnetic closure and a mirror on the inside which is nice for on-the-go usage.

Here is what the inside looks like, open:

(sorry about that - slightly crooked! :p)

And the back of the packaging:

Annnnddddd... I did swatches (of course!). :)  The eyeshadows are swatched over NYX JEP in Milk. Instead of sweeping them on, I patted them on - they are actually quite vibrant over a base and are far more pigmented than I originally thought they were going to be! The blush was applied on bare skin, I simply swiped it on the back of my hand twice (they are very lovely and also nicely pigmented!). These colors are not named, so I went in the order they appear in the palette (blush swatch across the bottom). 

The only issue I had with this palette is with the white in the top left corner - it is a bit chalky and messy compared to the others, not quite as pigmented. Still makes for a nice highlight and personally it doesn't bother me too much. The grey is absolutely stunning and has an array of multi-colored sparkle. The lighter purple (bottom left) reminds me quite a bit of MAC Stars 'n Rockets - I would not go as far as to say it is a dupe by any means, but they do remind me of one another! ;) The darker purple (bottom right) reminds me of the galaxy a little bit - it has quite a bit of sparkle to it (looks blue, red, purple), so even being a blackened purple it isn't too harsh! The blush is a nice subtle pink with a golden highlight.

I really like that this palette has a "softer" feel to it. The cream color in the top left corner is slightly more chalky compared to the other colors in this palette, and has just a light touch of sparkle. The pink is a lovely light girly pink with a satiny finish. The blue-grey in the lower left corner is one of my favorites - I am a sucker for grey toned colors! It has a light blue/aqua shimmer to it as well. The black has quite a bit of shimmer, appearing to be mostly golden flecks. &The blush in this palette is a bit "warmer" than the other and seems a bit more shimmery (golden) in my opinion :)

FTC: These items were paid for by myself/by my boyfriend. I am not being compensated to write this post, these are my honest opinions on the products and company. All photos were taken by me in natural lighting, are unaltered aside from cropping/collaging!

Madd Style Cosmetics: Summer Lovin' Grab Bag swatches!

Since I recently started blogging, I never really got around to introducing one of my favorite companies: Madd Style Cosmetics! One of the very first "indie" companies I started purchasing from, &I've been a repeat customer for almost a year now :)
There is not a single product I haven't loved, and I can honestly say that Madd Style Cosmetics owns my heart and takes up the majority of my extensive makeup obsessed collection <3
One of my favorite things about Madd Style Cosmetics (or MSC for short) is that the entire line of cosmetics is vegan and cruelty-free, but also the quality and customer service always exceed my expectations!
If you would like to find out more about MSC - you can visit the facebook page here, or go straight to the shop and look around/purchase here.

I was lucky enough to snag one of the latest limited grab bags - released June 16th, the MSC grab bag (appropriately named "Summer Lovin'") had a "Grease" theme and contained; 

• 4 all new (and FULL size!) mineral eyeshadows; T-Birds, Greased Lightning, Beauty School Dropout, and Pink Ladies 
• A brand new MSC Lip Balm (also FULL size - with a mango butter base, a lovely coral tint, and yummy strawberry smell) named "Frenchie" 
• &last but not least a deluxe sample of an all new product entirely - "Cha Cha" Bronze Glow, a beautiful glowing bronze highlighter! 
• Also in my order - a sample of mineral eyeshadow "Pop Tarte" (which is a permanent color available to purchase in the shop.)

Take a look:

Each eyeshadow comes packed in a clear 5gr jar with sifter and glossy black lid displaying the MSC logo:

Here you will see the stickers that cover the sifters (easy to peel off and no spills during shipping):

The MSC Lip Balms come packaged in basic glossy black twist up lip balm tubes (shrink wrapped):

As seen above, my samples came packaged in little sample baggies :) I did not get around to swatching the "Cha Cha" Bronze Glow (I am currently searching my stash for an empty jar to put it in as it will be easier for me to use). I did, however, put together some swatches of the eyeshadows and lippie! All swatches were photographed in natural lighting and the eyeshadows were swatched over NYX JEP in Milk - lippie is on bare skin.

(A glowing gold, perfect for summer!)

(A gorgeous vintage teal color with a hint of aqua sparkle)

(A pearl white containing 50% silver and gold glitz!!!!)

(A metallic poodle pink with felcks of silver laced throughout)

(Mango butter lip balm: a coral lip balm)

Gorgeous, right!? Unfortunately, the grab bags were limited and sold out rather quickly - but there is a new grab bag in the works for the 4th of July and a little bird told me there will also be a sale coming up so you may want to keep an eye on the MSC Facebook page! ;)

FTC: These items were paid for by myself/by my boyfriend. I am not being compensated to write this post, these are my honest opinions on the products and company. Descriptions of each eyeshadow/lippie (underneath swatch photos) were copied directly from the listing of the product. All photos were taken by me in natural lighting, are unaltered aside from cropping/collaging!

There's Something Magical About Fyrinnae... Pt. 2!

So, I realize I haven't blogged in months (crap!)... But I hope this will make it up to you ladies (and gents?) <3 <3

I recently placed another order with Fyrinnae (this was end of last month - I want to say on 5/28, which I then received on 6/4). &It really is no surprise that everything came beautifully packaged, as usual. So - I will cut to the chase here and keep the pictures minimal in that aspect :)

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&This is pretty much how I summed it up:

;)

In this order, I received "Bifrost" as a sample - I couldn't be happier since I was going back and forth trying to decide whether or not I should add it to my order ;)  The colors I chose were primarily newer colors recently added to the shop (with the exception of Cuddlefish - which was purchased in my last order. I also added in Orangutan and Damn Paladins to get more of a "neutral" variety.) *I do realize there are a few colors that have been added to the shop since this purchase - I fully expect to get my little hands on them soon!*

**I will say that I did not quite make it through all of the swatches yet.. And, as you may recall I promised some swatches of the Arcane Magic eyeshadows that I have - Stay tuned! I wanted to get these up for now and I will continue to update this post until I squeeze them all in here! :)

As of right now, here are the swatches I did manage to get done today! As usual, these were only done over NYX JEP in Milk, I photographed them in the sunlight on my windowsill, and the photos were not altered (aside from cropping/collaging them). Some photos may appear out of focus - I did this intentionally so that you can see the glitz/sparkle! Underneath each collage I am posting the description taken directly from the Fyrinnae website which will be followed by an *, which you can click through to the current listing of each eyeshadow.

(It's back! Reformulated in 4-2012 but very close to the original. Vivid shimmery royal purple. Almost two-toned because it has a blue base, yet the shimmer has a warmer hue.)*

(Bright, shimmering mauve-pink graced with a touch of blue sparkle. Looks slightly more pink over a regular primer, slightly more cool lavender over a sticky base. Named for all you gorgeous beauty bloggers.)*

(Bright complex coral with a slight golden (pun not intended) shimmer finish. Leans more orange than pink, but that varies depending on application.)*

( ;) This shade is a bright shimmery warm red filled with multi-color sparkle, much like Immortality and Shenanigans.)*

(A rainbow of sparkle fills rich, metallic gold over a dark base.)*

This shade is SO gorgeous and unique, I decided to try something a little different with my swatch to show it from two different angles as to capture it more accurately!

(This shade is a pale soft copper (or dusky peach). With a slight satiny finish, it's an ideal highlight or all-over wash colour for many skintones.)*

This shade did appear lighter from other angles!

(Soft, satiny taupe with a gentle light blue highlight.)*

&Last but not least (for now) - here they are, all together in natural sunlight. Ignore the white - it is actually just the base (NYX JEP in Milk) because I did not get to finish swatching today ;)

From top to bottom, left to right: 

Parental Advisory, Blogger Beauty, Picture It: Sicily, *You're

Shenanigans, Orangutan, & Damn Paladins

06/20/2012 Update: I was able to get a few more swatches done today! These are the last of the swatches from my last order, and I will be working on the Arcane Magic eyeshadows this week. Enjoy :)

(Deep shimmery blue, slightly subdued and lighter than navy, enhanced with lime green sparkle.)*

(Vibrant Kelly/emerald green on black (appears navy in the jar). Great over regular primer, but over a sticky base it's a gleaming jeweltone metallic green.)*

This was a difficult one to photograph! 

My swatch does NOT do this color justice! The description of this color is more accurate - 

I imagine if I had put this over pixie epoxy the green would have been much more vibrant!

(Deep, vibrant, shimmering turquoise, enhanced with a touch of silver sparkle.)*

(Brilliant lime green. Vibrant green and gold shimmer top a lush green base. More green than "Omgwtf" and less flat. Very close to our old Danse Macabre.)*

This beautiful color is actually not currently listed in the shop, does anyone happen to know where it disappeared to? :(

(Brilliant yellow, filled with coordinating yellow sparkle and a touch of contrasting pale blue and green sparkle.)*

06/25/2012 Update: Finally had a chance to finish up swatches! So, as promised (a long, long, long, long time ago.. :X) here are the Arcane Magic eyeshadow swatches - I did my best to accurately capture the color shifts on each of these. This time around I DID use a small amount of Pixie Epoxy over NYX JEP (Milk) to give the shimmer more to adhere to.

(This is an antiqued deep copper on black, with a touch of gold sparkle and hues of pink. Move it toward light or change the angle, and it becomes gold to chartreuse, the black base setting off the vivid highlight while still retaining its Victorian-era depth.)*

(Pyromantic Erotica is a vivid orange with an obvious chartreuse highlight. As it gets closer to light, the shadow changes to a brighter, gleaming orange.)*

(Sequined Master is a gleaming, sparkling silvery grape-purple. Brought closer to light and it shows off it's true nature of bright lush purple, almost reaching to fuschia.)*

(This shade is a complex deep reddish hue that varies between molten cool crimson and a firey phoenix-red, all laced with gold sparkle and glimmer. Bring it closer to light or change the angle, and it turns to a metallic glittering gold with subtle "underhues" of copper.)*

(Rich burgundy-brick shade topped with shimmer that changes from aqua to bright crimson, depending on proximity to light or angle.)*

This shade is not listed on the Fyrinnae website at this time :(

(Electric Stardust is a light, shimmery, sheer mint green. Brought closer to light, it changes to a lighter aqua then to a pale silvery blue. This shade's changes are subtle compared to most other Arcanes.)*

(It starts out a vibrant, gleaming emerald green. Closer to light or at an angle this shade takes on a striking deep pink color, almost a maroon.)*

(Glitterboi is a deep blend of midnight blue, violet, and a hint of pink sparkle, and as the angle changes or light-distance decreases, changes to a light, gleaming grape, then to vibrant metallic pink.)*

This color is SO complex and gorgeous, my pictures do NOT do it justice!

(Violet base with an aqua shimmer that changes to a bright pink when closer to light.)*

Probably one of my favorites! I tried SO hard to get a picture of the pink shift, I even resorted to the kitchen lighting for the swatch on the right - very hard to see in the photo, much more vibrant and beautiful in person!

I cannot stress to you all enough that you NEED to see all of the Fyrinnae eyeshadows in person! There really is nothing like them and in pictures it is hard to tell just how lovely they really are :)
I came across this image while searching google and I think it pretty much sums up how I feel:

(I did not create this image and take no credit for it)

So, until I place my next order - this concludes my swatches on my little Fyrinnae collection <3

*If you would like to see swatches from my first post or read more about Fyrinnae, click here. :)

FTC:  These items were paid for by myself/by my boyfriend, I am not being compensated to write this post, these are my honest opinions on the products and company, descriptions of each eyeshadow were copied directly from the Fyrinnae website and are followed by a link to the product, all photos were taken by me.