Darling Girl Cosmetics Review

So I just got my first ever order from Darling Girl Cosmetics, a small indie makeup company based in Texas. I have a small budget as always but their stuff is very high quality and affordable; they also don't test on animals which I know is peace of mind for many of us.

In all I got four lip glosses and a mini eyeshadow for around twenty bucks with shipping, thats pretty impressive on its own. I'm very happy with all of them.

L to R: Fenix (Liquid Kiss Luxe), Graveyard Betty, Jasmine Boneforhands, and Hellspawn. (Zombie Apoca-Lips )

This is going to sound silly, but these are the first indie lip products I've purchased. I normally normally only buy eyeshadow, but Darling Girl has so many beautiful colors and formulas that I had to try some! They come in click pen style tubes with brush applicators- admittedly not my favorite. But the formula is fantastic, smooth, pigmented, and non sticky.

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Fenix: 'A gorgeous berry mauve with a green shift' I'd say thats about right, I'd describe it as a deep natural berry with a slight green shift. I was hoping the green shift would show up a little more, but alas only in certain lights. It really is beautiful though, its not as dark as it is in the tube or swatch. Its one of those mythical work appropriate but not boring colors. This is part of their permanent Liquid Kiss Luxe line.

Graveyard Betty: 'A sheer milky white with a pink/red shift infused with a green flakie' These are designed to go over darker lipsticks. I've been having soooo much fun with these! The green flakie is a little larger then the other glitters but its still pretty smooth. Part of their Zombie Apoca-lips line, not sure if these will be limited for Halloween or permanent.

Jasmine Boneforhands: 'Sheer milky white with a purple shift, infused with a gold flakie' I havent really noticed gold shimmer at all, but this one is a lot of fun to layer with. I wore it the other day over a cooler berry red and it turned it into a bright fuchsia with purple sparkle. Part of Zombie if you didn't guess.

Hellspawn: 'Sheer burnt orange with color shifting mica' One of my favorites, its a orange lipgloss with a pretty gold flash. Its more opaque then the other Apoca-Lips glosses and I like it by itself as well as other red lipstick. 

Inferno Room Eyeshadow: 'Bright true red with a metallic undertone and fine gold and copper shimmer' I'd say this leans a little bit warm, but that could just be the warm shimmer. Very pretty dry, and I can't wait to foil it. This is also from a Halloween collection 'The Ghost with the Most' which is Beetlejuice themed (Squee!) 

I'm very very happy with my new toys, and encourage you to place an order yourself. As I said very reasonably priced, my only annoyance was shipping time but they do tell you what to expect so I can't really fault them. You guys can definitely look forward for more reviews of them by me. =D

These can be found on Darling Girl Cosmetics Website!

Unboxing Benefit 'Ulta'mate Sexy Six Set

So I was at Ulta earlier this week and I found this absolutely adorable little set from Benefit. Its an Ulta exclusive set with six of benefits best selling products. And I have pictures!

This kit includes Posie-Tint a pink lip and cheek stain, Highbeam a liquid highlighter, That Gal a brightening Face Primer, Hoola Benefit's famous matte bronzer, Stay Don't Stray a Eyeshadow Primer, and Badgal Lash a Black Mascara.

I swatched the whole set going from left to right we have That Gal, Posie Tint (Top), High Beam (Bottom), Stay Don't Stray (Top), and Hoola Bottom, and lastly Badgal Lash.

I've gotta say I'm the most excited for Poise tint and Hoola, I'll probably do a full review on some of these later.

Benefit 'Ulta'mate Sexy Six Set is $24.00 in Ulta stores and on Ulta's website.

Halloween Series: Forest Nymph

Well I'm back for the third installment of my Halloween series, and this week I'm doing a wood nymph look. Its very pretty, and very very easy. I'm using some fantastically long Sugarpill lashes for this look but use whatever length you're comfortable with!

Startled Nymph!

After applying BB cream and eye primer I took a peachy colored eyeshadow I used it all over my lids and brow bone. Then with a wet angled brush I took a medium green color and lined my lids with it. Take the same green and gently work it into your crease. Then take a medium brown and blend it just into the corner of the green. Apply a little black mascara, if you're not using lashes you're done! This is where I applied my fantastic lashes, and batted them dramatically lots.

Now taking bronzer I contoured lightly around the edges of my face and under my cheek bones. Then I added a little bit of a peachy flush right above the contour, and dusted highlight on top of that.

On to my foresty head thing. Using the sides of my liner brush for a straight edge, I took a brush with light brown eyeshadow down the side flipped it to the other side, and made a triangle. Then I filled in the triangle with my bronzer. After that I made the little vines with green eyeshadow and a liner brush and applied a green sequin with a tiny amount of eyelash glue. Then to finish off the look I applied a neutral pink lipgloss and called it good. However I think a green, blue, or brown lip could also look super cool!

Products Used:

In order of application 

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Urban Decay Freestyle Eyeshadow, Lime Crime Jade o Lade (Chinadoll Palette), Urban Decay Barlust Eyeshadow, Maybelline Full n Soft Black Waterproof Mascara, Sugarpill Shady Lane False Lashes.

Face: Holika Holki Petit Clearing BB Cream, Hard Candy Baked Blush in Pin Up, Hard Candy Fox in a Box Blush in Spicy and Sweet, theBalm Mary-lou Manizer Luminizer.

Head Thing: Clinque Brown Eyeshadow (Sorry its nameless!), Hard Candy Baked Blush in Pin Up, Lime Crime Jade o Lade eyeshadow (Chinadoll), craft store sequin.

Lips: Nyx Megashine Lipgloss in Sponge Cake.

Marina and the Diamonds Electra Heart Look

So I feel in love with the makeup that Marina has on the cover of her most recent album, Electra Heart. For those who haven't heard of her Marina is a British pop singer (the Diamonds refers to her fans not her band) who I'm mildly obsessed with. So I put together this look, I think I did a pretty good job; however something to remember is that we have very different face, eye, and lip shapes so its bound to differ a little. 

After applying liquid foundation even;y all over with a buffing bush I took my normal primer and went all over my eyes and brows. Then taking a small liner brush I marked where to end the crease on both sides of my eye. (It should be right where you lid starts to get narrower) Using a dark brown color I carefully filled in the crease, it should be fairly thick but make sure not to blend too far down. After that I used a q-tip with makeup remover to keep the edges sharp and went around the edges with a nude color to keep the crease uniform. For the lid I took a peachy color and put it in the center, and then I blended white in the corners to make the crease stand out more. 

I lined my lids with wet black eyeshadow and a angled brush, I made a little wing angling downward. Then with a smudge brush I took the same dark brown from before and took it about 3/4th's the way out making sure to taper the end. After that I applied black mascara, I'm almost certain she's wearing falseies in that picture but I don't have any that would suit this. To finish the eyes off I drew the little heart with a red lipliner pencil.

Remember how I mentioned that Marina and I have different face shapes? By that I meant we look absolutely nothing alike. So to help remedy this I contoured my face to look a little more like her. I went under my cheekbones because she always has quite a bit of cheek going on and then went along my jawline to make my face a little more heart shaped. I also added some highlighter to make the contour stand out more.

On to lips! Like the face her lips are also shaped differently then my own. Her lips are fuller and her cupids bow is much softer. So with a red lip pencil I rounded out my lip shape. With a lip brush I filled im my lips with red and then blotted the excess. With a dark lipgloss I darkened the center of my lips just like the cover.

Products Used:

(In order of Application)

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Urban Decay Backdoor, Urban Decay Kinky, Urban Decay Freestyle, Sugarpill Tako,  Urban Decay Blackout, Maybelline Full n Soft Waterproof Mascara in Black, Mac Cherry Lipliner.

Face: Rimmel Lashing Finish Foundation in Ivory, Hard Candy Pin Up Baked Blush, theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer Luminizer.

Lips: Mac Cherry Lipliner, OCC Lip Tar in NSFW, Illamsqua Intense Lipgloss in Hermetic.

If you like the look please comment! Also if you're a fan of Florence and the Machine or Natalia Kills definitely check out Marina and the Diamonds.

Ramblings: Adventures in Gingerhood!

Psst... I've got a secret... I have a fairy godmother. She's wonderful, and sometimes will take pity on my sad little locks and help me. There isn't a whole lot more to say, but I love my new hair!

Halloween Series: Cat Look

Hello pretty kitties! Today we have the next part in my halloween series, a cat look from yours truly.
I decided to be a rust colored cat with spots, but you can change up the color of the eyeshadow and lipstick to suit the color of your cat costume. I'll have recommendations for different colors below the instructions.

I started out with a light layer of my normal foundation, but then I blended a layer of cream bronzer around the edges of my face and down my neck to deepen my skin tone a little. Then to add depth back to my face I contoured a little under my cheeks with a powder bronzer.

Moving on to the eyes I started out by priming my lids up through the brow underneath my eyes and the surrounding area. To get my lid color I mixed a bronzy gold with a dark red orange to create my rust colored cat shade. I sort of out lined where I wanted the wing to be, and then filled in the lid. Then I cleaned up the shape with a nude colored shadow. Add black mascara, to you top lashes only. Now cats don't have eyebrows, however my eyebrows are SUPER blond so I filled them in a bit so it didn't look weird, but I imagine you normal people with eyebrows could probably get away with not doing them. ;D

Then taking black gel eyeliner on an angled brush I made a fairly thick wing then brought it in to the corner making the cat like dip in the inner corner. After that I took a white shadow pencil and lined my water line and just under connecting it to the corner of the liner in the inner corner. Then I outlined the the white with more black liner to complete the eye shape. Underneath I added more of the rust color (I used less of the bronzy gold though) and extended the cat eye shape.

The spots are totally optional, but I took a bronze cream and pretty much just added random spot to start out with. Then with a much smaller liner brush then I used before I took more gel liner and outlined the spots. I added a few small spot with just black to fill the space in a bit too. You could probably do the black with just pencil liner if you prefer. Then draw on your little whiskers.

I couldn't find a lipstick that matched perfectly, so I applied a sheer bronze lipstick and put a orangey gloss over it.

Tips for Different Colors:

Black Cat: I suggest using a shimmery grey or sliver, not black. That way it'll suit your costume but the liner will still be visible.

Tiger: Do stripes instead of spots. 

White Cat: Skip bronzer, just add a little contour and lots of highlight. Use white and or light pink eyeshadow.

Products Used:

Face: Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation in Ivory, Hard Candy Glow All the Way Cream Bronzer in Glamazon Bronze, Hard Candy Baked Blush in Pin Up.

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, MAC Amber Lights + Sleek Sunset Red Orange color, Urban Decay Foxy Eyeshadow, Maybelline Lash Stiletto Black Mascara, Nyx Red Blonde Brow Powder, Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black, Nyx Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencil in Milk.

Spots: MAC Rich Ground Fluidline, Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black.

Lips: Avon Ultra Color Rich Lipstick in Burnished Gold, and Nyx Round Girls Gloss in Apricot.

Thanks for reading! Please comment if you liked the look!

Quick Look: Job Interview Look!

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting lately, huge fail on my part. I've just been feeling sort of crappy and down lately and have had a ton of work. But thats no excuse! I try to post every other day, and thats a goal I need to work harder to uphold. So yesterday I had a job interview and I thought I'd so you my makeup. So for the crappy quality, I took this with my computers camera.

Look at that face. That face is downright employable.

I wanted to keep my makeup light but polished so I started out with my Holika Holika Petit Clearing BB Cream all over my face. Then I added Urban Decay's Kink a light matte nude color all over my eyes. Then with an angled brush I lined my lids fairly thickly with MAC's Rich Ground Fluidline. I Define my brows with MAC Omega Eyeshadow (OH! I'm totally blonde at the moment, all my color is gone for now) and then added mascara to my top and bottom lashes using Maybelline Full n Soft Waterproof Black Mascara. On my cheeks I blended out a tiny bit of E.L.F Studio HD Blush in Encore  for a rosy flush. I topped it with a light dusting of theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer Luminizer for shine. (I was reminded of neopolitan ice cream!) For a little perk up I used my favorite and dwindling lipstick Tarte LipSurgence lip tint in Moody.

When ever I'm nervous I wear my Euphoria perfume, it always makes me feel more confident. Do you guys have a 'confidence scent'? Also would it be cool if I told what scent I'm wearing in posts? Let me know!

Review: Illamsqua Intense Lipgloss in Hermetic

Hmmm.... sort of on the fence with this product. Thats not too common with things I review. You see I try to do only positive reviews, unless I find something dangerous that I think people should know about. And this.... I don't know if its right for me. But if its right for you is completely your choice so lets move on to the pics!

Illamasqua describes this as "a deep wine red". I've seen a bunch of swatches to back this description up, lots of lovely deep glossy red lips. But on me it definitely pulls bronze. On me I'm say this is a dark red toned bronze, and I'm a little disappointed about that. Thats not really anyones fault, I just don't know how well I like it on me.

Now for the more important details. The formula for this gloss is on the thick side, but isn't overly sticky. Which is the deciding factor for me personally, I can't stand sticky lipgloss. It lasts more like a lipstick and as the title says is very intense in color. Its easy to go overboard and apply too much with this gloss. I'm grateful I have  their packaging with the brush applicator rather then a squeezey tube, I imagine that would've been harder.

I've found a couple ways of making this a little less intense that I like the look of better. The first is to apply only a little on top of a reddish color.

Hermetic over Covergirl LipPerfection Lipstick in Enthrall

The second method is to apply the gloss full force and then blot it so a little more lip color shines through. This makes the color lighter and more wearable; however blotting takes away the pretty shine that lipgloss has so I put a clear gloss over it.

So for quality and intensity these are brilliant, but I have to work a littler harder to get my desired color.

I may or may not return this one, I've yet to decided. However I will probably try out more over Illamasqua's Intense Lipgloss line, Galactic (a metallic silver) looks amazing so I might have to get that one. If I do return this lipgloss I'll replace it with Succubus which is a lighter blood red, but that doesn't have the pretty shimmer.

Illamsqua Hermetic Intense Lipgloss is $20.00 for .02 oz at Sephora or Illamsqua 's websites or certain Sephora stores.