Christina Marie Mineral Cosmetics: Overview (Details and Things)

I recently had the opportunity to review a very new (or at least very new to etsy) little mineral makeup company called Christina Marie Mineral Cosmetics. For those of you who may have missed it, I used a blush of theirs in my last Adventures in Orange Eyeshadow post.

Adventures in Orange Eyeshadow: Foxy Lady

I decided to experiment with bright orange eyeshadow again this week! Hallelujah. I used shadows from Linnaeus's Maned Wolf Collection to put a look together!

Final Fantasy Inspired Look: Yuna

Final Fantasy X came out when I was just a little 9-year old girl. One of the main characters of that game was Yuna, a summoner on the mission to defeat Sin (trust me if you aren't familiar; it makes sense in context).

Evil Shades Cosmetics Review: Hardcore Lips (Doom, Feline's Kyss, Astraea's Embrace)

Top to Bottom: Doom, Feline's Kyss, Astraea's Embrace

Of all the products I bought, I saved these to review last because they were my favorite. Hardcore lips is said to offer "extremely pigmented opaque coverage but with the shine of a gloss." The exception is Feline's Kyss, which is marked "semi-sheer."

Evil Shades Cosmetics Review: Wicked Gloss (13th Hour, Venom, Deadly, Suffocation, Diana's Bow, Lillian's Light)

Top to Bottom: Venom, 13th Hour, Deadly, Suffocation, Diana's Bow, Lillian's Light

Evil Shades Cosmetics offers two different lip gloss options: Hardcore Lips and Wicked Gloss. I picked up six different shades during the buy-two-get-one sale, and here they are, for your viewing pleasure!

Evil Shades Cosmetics Review: Deviant Lipsticks (Zicke, Corset and Obscurity)

Top to Bottom: Corset, Obscurity. Zicke

Time to review the three Deviant Lipsticks I bought! As I said that I totally imagined that Legend of Zelda background music.

Evil Shades Cosmetics Review: Overview (Details and Things)

I have so much great indie stuff to review, that I literally used a random number generator to choose what I'd be reviewing next. Evil Shades Cosmetics, FTW! A while back (around Easter) I took advantage of a buy-two-get-one lip sale, and here are the spoils!

Adventures in Orange Eyeshadow: Playing with Lanky

Now that I have orange eyeshadow, how can I not experiment with it, am I right? Naturally one of my first experiments was red, orange and yellow gold.

Look: Test Day Makeup Revisited

Happy Saturday, y'all! I have a lot of look photos that I've taken, so I thought I'd post one of these guys today. The Monday after I took my final exams, I decided I'd revisit my exam makeup with some deeper colors. What I wound up with was, naturally, entirely different, but there you go! Also, I'm going to mention mascara in the post, but I have to confess that I'm not actually wearing any. I need to learn to stop forgetting.

Final Fantasy Inspired Look: Leblanc

It's Friday, which means Christa's back for another entry in our Final Fantasy series, and let me tell you, this week's look is totally hot!

This week's look is Leblanc. Leblanc is the leader of the Leblanc Syndicate. Leblanc is a sphere hunter, fighting along with Ormi and Logos. LeBlanc's obsession with Mevyn Nooj sometimes brings out the sensitive side in her. She eventually teams up with the Gullwings.

Now I know My ABCs

Well, I did know them before, too, but I thought it'd be a fun title for the tag post. Yesterday I was tagged by mNg of I'm Not Skinny, So What? and just this morning I was tagged by Vulcan Butterfly, as well! So let's get on this, shall we?

CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion

By now, I'm sure many of you know about my love for the CeraVe body lotion. This February I decided to try out one of their facial formulas as well! I started using CeraVe's facial moisturizing lotion (PM) months ago, and I'm completely in love.

Why I Won't Be Buying Nyx Anymore

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with all of the stupid stuff surrounding the Nyx sale this weekend. For those of you who aren't: They said they'd be offering all items on the site for $1.20. Watch my phrasing. That's what they said they'd do.

Linnaeus Cosmetics Swatch Assault

Hey, all. I was planning to have this up yesterday, but blogger randomly deleting my draft in combination with real life, interfered. Ugh. After I've done a ton of Linnaeus reviews, I thought I'd give you guys a good measuring stick to judge the differences between shades by showing them all side by side. I also thought I'd give some more overall thoughts on the colors. Hope you all enjoy!

Final Fantasy Inspired Look: Fran

And now for the second entry in my and Christa's Final Fantasy series, and my first contribution! Fran, of Final Fantasy XII, might have mediocre stats all around, but let's face it; she's still pretty cool (Oh my goodness that accent!) She uses a bow and arrow (though in FFXII you can have any character use any weapon if you buy the proper licenses, which is a really fun feature). And having a shadow called "Those Gams!"... Well, how could I not use it for a Fran-inspired look?

Linnaeus Cosmetics Review: The Gemsbok Collection

Left to Right: Tough Stuff, Kalahari, Fabled

And now, *ahem, drumroll please!* for the last of the Linnaeus collections currently in my possession, the Gemsbok collection! By the way, did you all notice the apparent eyeshadow explosion in the jar of Kalahari? The seal was on there and everything.

Linnaeus Cosmetics Review: The Golden Lion Tamarin Collection

Left to Right: Charismatic, Bouffant, Matriarch

The Golden Lion Tamarin Collection is the second collection of oranges I'm reviewing from Linnaeus. It's very different from the Maned Wolf Collection, in that this collection is warm, where as the Maned Wolf collection pulls cooler and redder.

Linnaeus Cosmetics Review: The Emerald Tree Skink Collection

Left to Right: Skittering, Escape, Hold Fast

The Emerald Tree Skink Collection is a collection of greens. Be still my heart! As I've pretty much come to expect from Linnaeus, these shades are beautiful and complex. Also, green! The only way I could've been more excited would be if they'd been purple.

Exam Makeup: Because Going To School Doesn't Mean You Can't Do Colors

So, last Thursday I had my Theology and Science exams, my exam that would have been at 7:30 am (Child Psychology) was cancelled. The first of the two I had left (Theology) started at noon. What did that mean? For the first time since last term I got to wear fun eye makeup to school. Yay!

The Surveys, Twitter, Tumblr, Feedburner, And Some Other Stuff!

As many of you know, I set up a survey a little more than a week ago so that I could get your input (it's no longer accepting responses, but if you have any further thoughts that you'd like to share, feel free to shoot me an email). So now that I have the results I've made a few changes, and there may be more in the near future--right now I'm weighing certain options and trying to figure a few things out. Anyway, here are a few immediate changes you may want to know about!

Linnaeus Cosmetics Review: The Puna Flamingo Collection

Clockwise from Top Left: Go Go Flamingo, Kitsch, Stilts, Balancing Act

Haha, yes a bit more Linnaeus. I thought I'd post about the rest of what I have in the lead up to the opening of their site (which I believe is happening on the 14th!) The Puna Flamingo collection is a collection of lovely, flamingo inspired pinks.

Final Fantasy Inspired Look: Rinoa

Hola, all! So a week or two ago, the lovely Christa of Play Hard, Look Fabulous contacted me with an interest in doing a video-game-inspired collaboration series of looks, and we decided to do Final Fantasy! Basically, one week she'll be doing a Final Fantasy look, and the next week I'll be doing one and we'll both be posting one another's looks on our blogs. The first look is hers, and it's inspired by FFVIII's Rinoa. It's totally gorgeous, and we hope you enjoy!

I decided to do Rinoa from FF8 which is my favorite video game of all time! Rinoa is one of the main characters in the game. Rinoa is seventeen years old and is best known for the angel wings on her sweater, as well as her dog Angelo which she uses in battles. Her weapon is a Blaster Edge which is like a boomerang.

Stylish Blogger Award: Thanks, Gotham Polish!

So, around last Wednesday, I was oh-so-generously given the Stylish Blogger Award by Gotham Polish. I'm sure many of you already know how much I enjoy her blog: I awarded her with the Vertsatile Blogger award just last week! So firstly, a big fat "Thank you!" to her, and now for more nominating, fact listing fun!

Green Mantella

I don't do look posts very often; I think I've done 5 in 3 months of blogging. I've resolved to try and get at least one up every week or so, and I'll be starting with one that I put together using Linnaeus's Green Mantella collection. Sorry about the bit of powder foundation in my eyelashes: I didn't see it when I was taking the pictures.

MAC Lipstick in Summer Shower and MAC Fashionflower Lip Product Swatches

Before I dive into the review, I want to share some great, irrelevant news with you guys: I don't have to take one of my finals! My Child Psychology professor drops your lowest grade (including finals) and I just found out that the current average of my papers, assignments and prior tests already comes out to 100% (an A). Now I only have two more finals to take!

Now for what you were probably here for to begin with, the lipstick review!

I wasn't really all that into MAC's Fashionflower release, were you? I popped by the mall to have a look, and honestly, the Summer Shower lipstick was the only thing I wound up wanting.

Lazy Sunday: Choosing to Buy From An Indie Makeup Brand

I know, I'm doing this on Monday again. To be fair, though, I wrote this post on Sunday!

Also, a quick link drop: anyone interested in filling out a quick survey about my blog who hasn't already done so, can do so here. Thanks in advance!

Back to the topic at hand: One of the most common questions I get via email goes somewhere along the lines of "I was wondering if x indie company is legit. Do you know anything about it?" Honestly, though, while I've been reading about indie brands forever, I only started making purchases in February of this year. I haven't tried that many companies (though I'd like to be able to say that I have some day!) but I do have a "system" of sorts to decide if I'm willing to try a company if I stumble upon it, and I hope this helps those of you who have asked me about certain companies in a teach-a-man-to-fish sort of way. This post is long, but hopefully, it'll also be useful.

Favorites: April 2011

Goodness, was this April a rainy one, or what? Rainy, foggy, groggy, cold... But you know what they say about April showers bringing May flowers. (Insert pilgrim-related joke here).

So here are my April Favorites!