Swatch My Eye Shadow Part 3: Notoriously Morbid

Who knew I could actually make it through and swatch all the eyeshadows I have? I sure didn't! So here's the last installation. Notoriously Morbid is another one of my favourite indie companies, simply because her duochromes are insanely beautiful. I am a sucker for them, it's true. She often has a 'Free Day Friday' promotion which includes free shipping, free eye shadow minis, or sometimes a free lip balm. Definitely add them on Facebook to keep up to date with whatever it is she's offering.

This isn't my whole NM collection, since I swatched a few shadows in a previous post here, but it's everything I haven't shown before. Gorgeous stuff ahead!

From Left: Hearts of Black Lace, Garmonbozia, Witch with a Wand, Look Upon Me

Hearts of Black Lace: A blackened burgundy. Definitely needs primer to get the gorgeous red undertone.
Garmonbozia: A corn yellow with a chestnut undertone and a frigid blue shift. Couldn't get the shift to show in photos for the life of me but it's GORGEOUS and one of my favourite shadows.
Witch with a Wand: A gorgeously perfect cotton candy pink.
Look Upon Me: A metallic dusty mauve with slight blue shift.

From Left: Hallow's Eve, Shadow of Things, Bram, Walks in the Moonlight

Hallow's Eve: A black base with gold and copper shimmer and slight red shift. 

Shadow of Things: A dark, metallic green with aqua sparkles.

Bram: A darkened silver with slight blue shift.

Walks in the Moonlight: A dark grey-purple with shifts of green and a touch of pink.

Look at those duochromes, so pretty! You can find Notoriously Morbid here and be sure to follow them on Facebook to get information on all their Friday deals.

Victorian Disco Sale Haul

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to order more eye shadow until I posted my last bit of my collection swatches. To be fair I did order this before I instituted that no-buy, so I swear I didn't break down and purchase something. More on that bit later though.

Victorian Disco is an indie eye shadow company that has many collections based off of various nerdy fandoms. There's a Sailor Moon collection, a Studio Ghibli collection, as well as eye shadows making fun of Twilight and other such things. Their colour offerings are plentiful and if you can have the patience required for their occasionally long TAT it's worth the wait. I took the plunge at the beginning of April when they had their flash sale, and for the most part I wasn't disappointed.

I ordered minis and samples in jars of Keeper of the Forest, Jedi Council, Aura, Bella's Range of Emotions, Artist's Cottage, and Bus Stop. The free samples I received were Sailor Mars and Sailor Pluto. I was over zealous and pressed Sailor Pluto, Artist's Cottage, and Bus Stop before this review.

From Left: Aura, Jedi Council, Keeper of the Forest

From Top: Aura, Jedi Council, Keeper of the Forest

Aura is a lovely pale pink with a slight lavender shimmer. It was hard to get it to show up properly but it would be the perfect highlight shade. Similar to Shiro's Master of Whispers, but definitely more pink.

Jedi Council is a light grey with a white shimmer and silver sparkles.

Keeper of the Forest is a matte gunmetal grey. At first look I thought it and Jedi Council were close in colour but KotF leans more blue. It is definitely the perfect 'Totoro grey'.

From Left: Bella's Range of Emotions, Bus Stop, Artist's Cottage

I couldn't for the life of me get the duochromes of Bus Stop and Artist's Cottage to show up in the arm swatches (you can kind of see the green but barely) so I included the finger swatches below.

From Left: Artist's Cottage, Bus Stop, Bella's Range of Emotions

Bella's Range of Emotions is a deep brown matte. I was so happy to find an indie neutral brown since so many of my mattes lean more red.

Bus Stop is a deep brown base with a gold duochrome.

Artist's Cottage is a brown base with a green duochrome. It is absolutely gorgeous and part of me worries pressing it took away some of it's beauty. I may have to reorder it.

From Left: Sailor Mars, Sailor Pluto

Sailor Mars is a black base with a gorgeous red shift. I'm not huge on dark shades but this one is gorgeous.

Sailor Pluto is a emerald green base with violet sparks. Also gorgeous. Best samples ever. Both hugely improve with the use of a primer, as you can see at the bottom.

So overall Victorian Disco impressed me. Their shadows are gorgeous and pigmented, though some of the mattes I found slightly difficult to apply compared to some other companies. The only downside to my order was that it took over a month to get to me, past the TAT of 4 weeks. I ordered April 8th and got the package May 24th. It looks like her TAT has improved though so I'm willing to gamble and make another order when the time comes. Especially since some of her duochromes are absolutely gorgeous.

You can find Victorian Disco Cosmetics here.

Swatch My Eye Shadow Part 2: Shiro Cosmetics

Ah, Shiro. Yet another popular and highly praised brand that is completely worthy of it's mass following. Caitlin's eyeshadows are based on various nerdy fandoms and there's sure to be something that tickles your fancy. Whether it's the gorgeous Hobbit and Game of Thrones collection, or the playful Pokemon and Minecraft collections, Shiro has almost every colour of the spectrum accounted for. I don't own as many of her shadows as I wish I did, but one of these days I'll get around to updating my collection. You can find Shiro here.

All swatches have a swipe of UDPP at the top and bare skin on the bottom.

From left: Kaepora Gaebora, Hodor, Master of Whispers, I Tried

From left: Kaepora Gaebora, Hodor, Master of Whispers, I Tried

Kaepora Gaebora: Shimmery taupe over a light brown base.

Hodor: Medium near-matte taupe.

Master of Whispers: Soft golden shimmer shining through pale lilac.
I Tried: A gorgeous, glittery rose-gold.

From left: Mother of Dragons, King Under the Mountain,
Climbing Chaos, Epona

From left: Mother of Dragons, King Under the Mountain,
Climbing Chaos, Epona

Mother of Dragons: Silvered royal purple over a blood-red base.

King Under the Mountain: Rich brown-grey, filled with silver and sky-blue sparkles.

Climbing Chaos: Rich velvety brown with a warm metallic copper-bronze shine.

Epona: Soft velvety brown with a misty cream overlay.

From left: War of Five Armies, Badger, Yzma's Essence of Llama

From left: War of Five Armies, Badger, Yzma's Essence of Llama

War of Five Armies: Near-matte, the darkened red-brown.
Badger: Shimmery blackened chocolate with gold sparks.
Yzma's Essence of Llama: Dark plum purple with coppery gold duochrome.

Swatch My Eye Shadow Part 1: Aromaleigh

A few weeks ago I promised myself that I had to swatch my current collection of indie eyeshadows before I bought anymore since I was starting to see doubles pop up unexpectedly. Nothing is worse to me then to buy a new colour from a company and notice you already have one almost exactly the same from someone else, so this is my attempt to stop this. Also to try and not spend money on things I don't need, but we'll see how well that goes.

First up is Aromaleigh. They were my first indie company that I purchased from since they have some really good sales through out the week, and I found it easier to bite the bullet on 50 cent samples than $1.00 samples. Every Monday they have 50% off a collection, while every Thursday you can find 25% off various collections. Not bad at all. They have a crazy amount of colours in mattes, lustres, glitters, etc. so you're guaranteed to find something you like. You can find them here online.

I've tried to organize these according to collection though the first swatches aren't since I only had two from one and another from a separate collection. Everything else is sorted properly.

On to the swatches! All are swatched with UDPP on top and bare skin underneath.

(From L-R: Password Protected, So Changeable, Ma'at)

Password Protected and So Changeable are from the Brilliant Deductions collection, while Ma'at is from the Ancient Magick collection.

(From L-R: Password Protected, So Changeable, Ma'at)

Password Protected: A light mauve with copper shimmer and gold sparks.
So Changeable: A nice light brown with gold shimmer.
Ma'at: A soft brown with rose gold glitter.

(From L-R: Island of Misfit Toys, Azimuth, Crocus in the Snow,
Skeleton Key, Et Tu Brute?, Gaslight Tears)

All of these shadows are from the Monthly Special Edition Shades. These are limited edition but seem to hang around until their supplies run out so many are still available if you want to snatch them up.

(From L-R: Island of Misfit Toys, Azimuth, Crocus in the Snow,
Skeleton Key, Et Tu Brute?, Gaslight Tears)

Island of Misfit Toys: A soft nude without noticeable glitter. A good highlight colour.

Azimuth: A soft taupe with a green/blue shift in certain lights. 

Crocus in the Snow: A silvery grey with violet sparks.

Skeleton Key: A grey with gold shimmer and tons of blue and violet sparks. Very glittery.

Et Tu Brute?: Bright purple with slight red shift and red sparks. Definitely need to use primer.

Gaslight Tears: A grey-violet with silver and gold sparks. Very glittery.

You can really see the glitter in Skeleton Key and Gaslight Tears
in this photo. So pretty!

(From L-R: Clotilda, Honoria, Boudicca, Lagertha, Aethelflaed)

And finally the Ignis Antiquita collection. I think if I had to pick a favourite collection it would be close between this one and the Hannibal collection. Gorgeous pigmented colours in a wide spectrum that I find hard to resist to buy. I would definitely recommend them. Plus, who doesn't like eye shadow based off amazing historical ladies?

(From L-R: Clotilda, Honoria, Boudicca, Lagertha, Aethelflaed)

Clotilda: A muted grey with slight lavender shift.
Honoria: A soft lavender with a gorgeous silver shimmer.
Boudicca: A rusted red with slight magenta shift, only noticeable in certain lights.
Lagertha: A fiery copper-orange with a slight gold shimmer.
Aethelflaed: A cool deep green with silver shimmer.

And that's that. There's so many more collections I want to try after my no-buy is over, especially the Hannibal collection, but I still have two more companies I need to highlight before I do so. Shiro and Notoriously Morbid are the others in the queue, so keep an eye out for those posts in due time.

Mini Fyrinnae Cosmetics Haul

Even though I swore I wouldn't buy any more eyeshadows until I swatched and posted my entire collection, I couldn't resist one last purchase to kick off my 'eyeshadow no-buy'. Fyrinnae was always one company that intrigued me, but after the inconsistent open times and long processing times I resisted. I wasn't sure if I wanted to support a company that had less than ideal customer service, but some of their colours spoke to me and so I eventually gave in. Plus, the mini Pixie Epoxy was adorable and gave me an opportunity to finally test it out. Awesome.

The haul! Four mini shadows , a mini of Pixie Epoxy, and a free sample of highlighter.

Top row: Serendipity, Mauve-o-matic, Rapunzel Has Extensions
Bottom row: Center Stage (highlighter), Tapir

My order included a mini Pixie Epoxy, and the minis of Serendipity, Mauve-o-matic, Rapunzel Has Extensions, and Tapir. The free sample that was included was a highlight called Center Stage, and though I was initially disappointed since I don't use highlighter, I found out the colour is gorgeous and totally works as a beautiful eyeshadow base.

All swatches are done with Pixie Epoxy at the top and UDPP below that. I've never used any sort of glitter base before so the strip with the Epoxy is not as nice as it could be, but in some of the pictures you can see how it brings out the sparkles just a bit more than the primer.

From left: Center Stage, Rapunzel Has Extensions, Mauve-o-matic, Serendipity, Tapir

I have to say, I'm impressed. I had heard how wonderful Fyrinnae shadows were, and though at first I didn't think they could have anything different to offer than other brands, they were quite lovely. They applied well, have great colour payoff, and are quite reasonably priced. 

Look at those duochromes!

And just look at those duochromes! Center Stage didn't have much (which makes sense since it's just a highlighter), but the others were quite distinct. Even over just UDPP you can get the multidimensional shades to pop out, which is great for days I don't feel like fussing with Pixie Epoxy. The shades I picked were also all from the 'matte/shimmer' selection since I'm not a huge fan of glitterbombs or sparklier shades, but I would be interested to see how Pixie Epoxy reacts with those types of shadows.

In direct sunlight the sparkles really show through.

Overall though, I'm impressed. The shadows are lovely and I didn't have any major customer services issues that would prevent me from wanting to order from them again. The TAT on their website was high, but I received my order within a week from placing it. The constant open and close of their website is frustrating, and probably off-putting for a few people, but I think I would purchase from them again whenever I feel the need for duochrome goodness.

You can find Fyrinnae Cosmetics here, though their site does periodically close from time to time.

Notoriously Morbid Assorted Swatches

I'm going to preface this post by saying that I absolutely adore Notoriously Morbid. This isn't the first time I've purchased from them and it certainly won't be the last. Will I ever get my other shadow swatches up here? Maybe. Eventually. Whenever I have a full day with great lighting and nothing else to do. Otherwise, this is my newest order from one of my favourite indie companies. I'd been eyeing their matte Slay Me Collection for some time and when a Free Day Friday came up where I could get two free minis I caved. Not only did I get the three mattes I'd been gazing at, but I found a few others I'd missed in previous orders and snatched them up too. Afterwards I noticed my order was mostly of the red/purple and grey/green family but hey, we all have our favourites.

(From L-R) She's Got Gidget Hair, He's Going Through Changes, Sometimes My Arms Bend Back,
Where the Kids and the Vamps Go, Carly

Some I pressed while others I left in jars or depotted in jars. Captivated and Rain On Cold Glass both had Ferric Ferrocyanide (something that never presses well) so I put them in spare pill cases I had. Since Where the Kids and the Vamps Go and Neno were my free minis I kept them in the jars they came in.

(From L-R) Captivated, Rain On Cold Glass, Lizard On a Window Pane, Teacher in Tweed, Neno

This was also the first time I've ever pressed matte loose shadows and I have to admit I was fairly certain I'd mess them up when I first went to test them. A weird film had formed on the top and I could barely get any sort of colour pay off. After silently mourning them for a few minutes my husband suggested scraping off the weird film and sure enough after that they worked beautifully. I use the Pressing Medium from TheBodyNeeds and 70% Isopropyl Alcohol for reference, and other than the strange initial film no other problems have come up.

Now for the swatches! I'll go into the finer details on the close ups, but otherwise enjoy the sparkly, duochrome goodness that always comes with Notoriously Morbid shadows. All swatches were done over Urban Decay Primer Potion.

(From L-R) Carly, Where the Kids and the Vamps Go, Sometimes My Arms Bend Back, He's Going Through Changes, She's Got Gidget Hair, Neno, Teacher in Tweed, Lizard On a Window Pane, Rain On Cold Glass, Captivated

(From Top) Captivated, Rain On Cold Glass, Lizard On a Window Pane, Teacher in Tweed, Neno

• Captivated: NM's website describes it as a olive green with copper sparkles. In certain lights it can definitely appear more brown because of that but otherwise it's a gorgeous, deep green.
• Rain On Cold Glass: A gorgeous shimmery gold with hints of blue. I think because I pressed it some of the blue sparkles were lost, but I think it's beautiful regardless. A lovely neutral.
• Lizard On a Window Pane: In the first picture you can actually catch the green duochrome, though it appears more brown in the above shot. More of a satin finish, which is good news to those that are wary of glitter.
• Teacher in Tweed: Lovely neutral matte brown. Takes a bit of work to get good payoff but that's probably due to the pressing problem I had. Otherwise it's fantastic.
• Neno: Similar to Rain On Cold Glass but with a lot more glitter. Fallout occurred as to be expected with shades this sparkly but it was easily dealt with. Definitely has the 'wow factor' described on the website.

(From Top) She's Got Gidget Hair, He's Going Through Changes, Sometimes My Arms Bend Back,
Where the Kids and the Vamps Go, Carly

• She's Got Gidget Hair: A nice matte nude. It kind of gets lost on my eyelids since it's so close to skin colour but it makes for a nice base for other shadows.
• He's Going Through Changes: I'd call it a more gingery-nude than Gidget Hair, but also makes for a nice matte base. Could be built up a bit more as well than I did on my arm.
• Sometimes My Arms Bend Back: Rose copper was the best description of this beautiful shade. I can't notice the blue shift mentioned in the description but it's fantastic otherwise. Could be considered quite glittery though, so a glitter glue would work nicely.
• Where the Kids and the Vamps Go: Very similar to Sometimes My Arms Bend Back, but more of a berry copper. In certain lights it's obviously more magenta but in others they look almost identical. Also very glittery.
• Carly: I love this colour! It looks more purple in the pressed pan but comes out a nice shimmery burgundy on the skin. The copper sparkles are subtle and not as messy as the previous two. 

So overall another fantastic haul from Notoriously Morbid. I've never been disappointed with her products and this time is no different. I would definitely recommend their eyeshadows for indie newbies and pros a like, that much is for certain.

You can find Notoriously Morbid here!