Innocent and Twisted Alchemy March 2015 Subscription

This is a little late in being posted because I forgot my nice camera at school (we were turning two years worth of independent art study). I was however rather impatient, so a few of these photos are just cell phone quality, sorry about that.

 To the left is the little bag which everything came packed in. It is adorable and sealed with bear tape and says "Especially for you". On the other side, it is pink stripes! Pink is my favorite color, so I was very pleased.



Also, if you were wondering why I didn't review last month's its because I forgot I hadn't purchased a recurring subscription so I was waiting for weeks all excited about getting my bag only to realize I wasn't going to because user error.  I have remedied that now.

 Above is everything laid out all together to show you the contents of the previously displayed bag. This month's collection was based on Mirror's Edge, which is a game I do not play so I can't tell you much more than that. This month includes samples from My Pretty Zombie, Corvus Cosmetics, Brija Cosmetics, Darling Girl and Detrivore Cosmetics. I had a ridiculous amount of trouble photographing the other side of the full colored drawing of Faith (the game's main character) which explains all of these things and tells you what you get in better depth.

Apparently Corvus Cosmetics and Darling Girl Cosmetics created special shades just for the Alchemist's box, and Linda has a speed drawing video of her making this month's image here.


First I thought I would show off the shadows from this month's collection, and then do the samples. The jars came packed full and sealed with colorful tape that matched the color that were supposed to be represented in the game (apparently minus red).










This is the yellow jar, but as you can see, the color is not yellow, so that was a bit confusing as the others matched. This color is called Leap of Faith. It's a gorgeous silver though, it has a very slight green shift to it and it applies nicely even without a primer.





This is the orange (Critical Objective), it is a carrot shimmery orange color. I was worried about how this would turn out, but it looks really pretty.






The blue shadow is labeled Runner Vision. It looks like a royal blue matte base with some interspersed shimmer. This is the only shadow I have a legitimate complaint about as it had a rather patchy application.




Finally, all three of them are swatched on one hand. I was trying to redeem the blue a little bit, and so I ended up not grabbing all the shimmer in the orange, and not showing off the prettiness of the silver.

 The top left swatch is The Shard by Corvus Cosmetics. I am in love with how complex and beautiful it is.

The Boy Who Lived by Brija Cosmetics is the far right swatch, it is a very pretty antiqued gold. It is not only a part of their permanent line, but also Harry Potter themed. I am actually slightly disappointed I did not get a sticker with their logo on it, because they have the prettiest company logo I have ever seen.

 The bottom swatch is Celery and Bile by My Pretty Zombie (more on it below). It is a pale green with a gold sheen.

Celery and Bile by My Pretty Zombie. It is a very pretty pale green with a golden shimmer, but the name kind of skeezes me out. Now to be fair, all things bodily, unpleasant and questionable is the entire premise of the company, and if they had an eyeshadow named Anxiety or ADD a package would already be on its way to my house. My mental illness struggles are a part of me and help to define me but they are not all of me, and makeup and beauty follows in the same vein.

Anyway, the left swatch is with primer, and the right swatch is one bare skin. I'm going to actually play with this as a highlight.

Finally, Nymph and Adorned. Nymph is the top swatch and is a matte and slightly purple red. Adorned though, which I initially thought was purple is more of a sparkly old brick color.

Cost, Value, and Personal Value 

The Subscription itself costs 12$ including shipping for the Deluxe Size subscription (which I have). Each jar of the month's collection is labeled with an exclusive monthly label that was hand drawn by the shop owner herself. It includes samples from various indie companies which vary from month to month. 

This also came with a 30% of i+ta cupon code, a 15% DG code (I have been considering a purchase for a long time and took this as a sign from the universe I needed to purchase from them), and a 15% off code from Brija Cosmetics. So keep that in mind as well. These are price estimates based ONLY on the amount of product you get from each company, this does not consider that some shades are LE or come with discount codes or come in special packaging

3 eyeshadow samples from i+ta cost 3$ each (we get jars in the subscription, which are more expensive). That means these three shades would cost 9$ at least.

A petite jar from DG costs 2.50$ 

The sample baggie of The Boy Who Lived costs 1.25$

A sample baggie from Corvus cost 1.50$

Finally the samples from Detrivore costs 1$

Total value: 15.25$ which is 3.25$ more than what you paid for, not including shipping. 

For me personally, I won't use Runner Vision, and I probably wouldn't have bought Adorned or Nymph, but we'll count Adorned because of the coupon code. That works out to being a personal value of  11.25$ which is .75$ less than the cost of the box, and I didn't have to pay shipping which would have cost more than seventy-five cents. 

The value is there, the quality is there, I get to try indies from several different companies for even cheaper than they already are, I love the themes of this brand even if I can't personally relate to this one, and it's not nearly as competitive as other indie subs. This month I think all the subs sold out in 12 hours, but I came in 7 hours after release time and still managed to get one. A lot of subs sell out in under ten minutes. 

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette- Review and Swatches

Hey everyone, today my Revealed Palette came in the mail and so I thought I would do a review. While Coastal Scents is a mid-range brand, the palette retails for about 20$ and in my area I couldn't find it in stores.

I've gotten a few of the Revealed samples in my Birchbox and from trades with other girls, and I really loved all the colors and the quality of the shadows, so I picked it up when it was on sale at Zulily without a second thought.

These photos are of the packaging it came in. I happen to like the look of it a lot. This palette is a neutral palette as you can see, so if you aren't too big of a fan of neutral looks this may not be the best choice for you.

A lot of reviews I've seen have raved about it being great for travelling. To give you an idea the palette measures 7 x 4 x .5 inches.

For an eye shadow palette with this many shades, it is compact.  The packaging and the palette aren't heavy, and there is a magnet which holds the cardboard lid in place.
 Here you can see swatches of the first row of shadows on my arm. The very first shade (the blondish color) is actually about my skin tone and doesn't show up very well off camera.

As for the quality of the shadows, I'm a huge fan of the pigmentation and variety of finishes. I also really love the texture, because even though they are powder shadows they feel almost creamy, while still maintaining a soft feel and blendability.

Here you can see the second row of colors swatched on my other arm. I was a little nervous when I saw how dark the palette looked overall, but everything is really wearable and it has all the basic neutral colors you could want, with just a few really muted but more colorful shades mixed in.

I would personally recommend this, especially with the holidays coming around. It would be a good gift for someone who uses and knows how to use makeup as a gift-worthy makeup staple, or maybe for a teen who is just starting out, as a high quality first set of eye shadows.

(or yourself, because you deserve presents too)

Urban Decay Primer Potion vs. Benefit Stay Don't Stray

If you are going to spend 20$+ on an eyeshadow primer, it's nice to be a little more informed beforehand. These are two primers I have heard tons of hype on, and so I decided to compare them. They are both great products, but there are certain aspects of each that may make one work better for one than the other.

Urban Decay Primer Potion (original) vs. Benefit Stay Don't Stray

(Note: Pictured is the full size Urban Decay Shadow Primer, but the deluxe sample of Benefit's Stay Don't Stray. It came in the Primping with the Stars Kit.)

Amount of Product and Cost

Urban Decay (original) is 20$ for .2 fl oz

Stay Don't Stray (in fair/light) is 26$ for .33 fl oz

Texture
Urban Decay's comes out as a gel, while Benefit's goes on as a thick liquid.

Applicator

Urban Decay is in a squeeze tube, Benefit's deluxe sample (which you might get if you purchase a kit) will apply with a wand like you would get in a lip gloss, however the full size uses a pump.

Color
Both blend in really well with my skin tone, to the point where I can't really swatch them. Benefit's is a lot more opaque and brightening on the lid, while Urban Decay as promised goes on so sheer it's practically invisible.

Staying Power and Shadow Potency
They both seem to hold shadow in place really well, but I feel Benefit's brighten the shadows and the eye more.

Overall

Stay Don't Stray is my personal favorite of the two, especially because I have visible veins on my lid so having the shadow primer conceals my veins and also preps my eyes.

However, Benefit only has two shades and I think as an African American woman this might not blend well, Urban Decay also has a very soft and invisible feel to it, Stay Don't Stray is more noticeable in that regard.