Madd Style Cosmetics is a cruelty-free line of hand-made, richly pigmented vegan cosmetics for animal lovers, glitter junkies, and everyone in between. From "Classic Chic" to "Bold and Unique", we strive to give you "Madd Style".
Madd Style Cosmetics loose shadow $5.00 for approximately 1.2 g (sifter jars are filled by volume, not weight) - Poison Berry: shimmery royal navy blue with *lots* of aqua sparkle.
A little underwhelming when used dry, but intense and gorgeous when used wet. - Golightly: pale baby blue tone with color-shifting rainbow shimmer.
Subtle, a nice highlight or sheer lid color - Vortex: navy blue with a green iridescence and pink glitz.
I felt that this was more of a darkened teal than navy color. Really pretty. - Andraste's Grace: beautiful sky blue with a snowy shimmer.
A pretty, bright color when used dry or wet.
As with all of Madd Style Cosmetics' loose eyeshadows, the textures of these are smooth and the length of wear is good. The packaging is a small cute sifter jar. I LOVE these gorgeous blues. Poison Berry and Vortex really showcase how pretty indie loose shadows can be! Lipgloss+Spandex rating:
Madd Style Cosmetics is a cruelty-free line of hand-made, richly pigmented vegan cosmetics for animal lovers, glitter junkies, and everyone in between. From "Classic Chic" to "Bold and Unique", we strive to give you "Madd Style".
Madd Style Cosmetics loose shadow $5.00 for approximately 1.2 g (sifter jars are filled by volume, not weight) - Desert Punk: a shimmery silver-brown that seems to change its color in the sun.
A good basic neutral shimmery/frosty shade. Good when you just want to sweep a single shade over your eyes to look more awake! - Mystery Meat: a shimmery brown with a blue duo-chrome. Is it brown? Is it blue? Is it purple? Yes.
The duo-chrome makes this a really hard to describe color! It's so pretty/weird! - Birf'day Suit: a light toned matte nude.
A great basic matte for lids or browbone, depending on your skintone. Very subtle.
As with all of Madd Style Cosmetics' loose eyeshadows, the textures of these are smooth and the length of wear is good. The packaging is a small cute sifter jar. Desert Punk and Birf-day Suit are pretty basic shades (they might bore true indie makeup lovers), but they're done well. Mystery Meat is a really fun color to add a little bit of interest to your eye makeup look. It's versatile--you could probably downplay it for work, or go wild for a night out. These Madd Style Cosmetics browns are good stuff. Lipgloss+Spandex rating:
Madd Style Cosmetics is a cruelty-free line of hand-made, richly pigmented vegan cosmetics for animal lovers, glitter junkies, and everyone in between. From "Classic Chic" to "Bold and Unique", we strive to give you "Madd Style".
Madd Style Cosmetics loose shadow $5.00 for approximately 1.2 g (sifter jars are filled by volume, not weight) - Psychobilly Freakout: eye-catching green filled with aqua sparkle.
Bright with sparkle when used wet, and even better when used wet! - Misfits & Moonbeams: black base with green and blue overlaying hues & TONS of green glitz.
Subtle when used dry, but gorgeous metallic darkened teal when used wet. - Pisces: light aquamarine with a warm gold duo chrome
It looks seafoam green in the pot, but is a silvery blue with gold shift. Gorgeous. - Final Fantasy: soft grey with a heavy gold duo chrome that changes from grey to gold to green depending on the light
A great neutral but better shade.
As with all of Madd Style Cosmetics' loose eyeshadows, the textures of these are smooth and the length of wear is good. The packaging is a small cute sifter jar. I LOVE Madd Style Cosmetics--they really do indie loose shadows to the MAX. The greenish shades are especially lovely. All of four of these were quite pigmented even when used dry. Lipgloss+Spandex rating:
Madd Style Cosmetics is a cruelty-free line of hand-made, richly pigmented vegan cosmetics for animal lovers, glitter junkies, and everyone in between. From "Classic Chic" to "Bold and Unique", we strive to give you "Madd Style".
Madd Style Cosmetics loose shadow $5.00 for approximately 1.2 g (sifter jars are filled by volume, not weight) - xRay Spex: semi-sheer off white tone with a heavy pink duo-chrome shift.
- Seedless: bubble gum pink with green glitter and a green duo chrome.
- Sugar High: shimmery white with a slight pink shift filled with pink and violet sparkle.
As with all of Madd Style Cosmetics' loose eyeshadows, the textures of these are smooth and the length of wear is good. The packaging is a small cute sifter jar. These are a very particular sort of color. They're a bit sci-fi feeling on my browbone, but can be subtle if a little bit is used on the lid. A really great show-case of how complex indie loose shadows can be! Lipgloss+Spandex rating:
When this first came out, I was skeptical that a palette with six shades of black-ish eyeshadow could be worthwhile. I mean, how many variations of black eyeshadow does one gal need?! Black eyeshadow and more black eyeshadow sounds like a recipe for a raccoon look. I felt like the one black shadow I had was plenty--I'd probably lose or break it before I used it up--and most of you probably feel the same way. Then I swatched it at my local Sephora. And I decided I needed every single one of those gorgeous shades in the Urban Decay Black Palette. I hadn't realized that there was a void in my shadow collection that would be perfectly filled by this palette. These shades are all gorgeous blackened jewel tones, with and five of them have shimmer to them. And the texture and pigmentation were beautiful. I bought the palette that same day that I swatched it, and haven't regretted it one bit. The Urban Decay Black Palette is one of my favorite palettes because it's perfect for creating a smoky eye, setting liner, or creating a dramatic look. It's been discontinued, so grab one while you still can from Urban Decay's sale page for only $16.00. Urban Decay Black Palette$16.00 (SALE PRICE) for 6 shadows (0.04 oz. each), mini 24/7 eyeliner (0.03 oz.), mini Primer Potion (0.13 fl. oz.); originally priced at $34.00 - Black Dog: matte black
- Barracuda: shimmery gunmetal grey
- Jet: shimmery blackened purple
- Sabbath: shimmery navy
- Cobra: shimmery blackened olive with gold
- Libertine: shimmery blackened green
For all six shadows, the texture is smooth, the pigmentation is above average and buildable, and the length of wear is great. The packaging is typical of Urban Decay's earlier cardboard palettes with magnetic closures. I like the packaging, especially since it has a mirror inside. Although most UD lovers probably have a bunch of mini 24/7 eyeliners in Zero, and mini Primer Potions in various shades, they're still nice additions to this set.
L to R (no flash): Black Dog, Barracuda, Jet, Sabbath, Cobra, Libertine
L to R: Black Dog, Barracuda, Jet, Sabbath, Cobra, Libertine
Seriously, this palette is a MUST HAVE. It's one of my makeup staples, and I use it all the time. I'm seriously considering buying a back up palette, in case I drop mine or something. It's not a palette that works well on its own, but it definitely rounds out my eyeshadow collection nicely.
I'm loving this new limited edition collection from Laura Mercier! Laura's inspiration for 2012 draws from her background as a fine art painter and focuses on the mood and attitude of women through different art periods. For the holiday season, Laura was inspired by the decorative architecture, style and mood of the Art Deco period in Paris in the mid-1920's, most notably the beautiful paintings of the artist Tamara de Lempicka... Laura created rich makeup shades of gold, red and black to beautifully contrast each other and add sharp definition that is geometrical, powerful and beautifully ornamental.
The Inspiration: For the holiday season, Laura was inspired by the decorative architecture, style and mood of the Art Deco period in Paris in the mid-1920’s, most notably the beautiful paintings of the artist Tamara de Lempicka. The Look: Laura created rich makeup shades of gilded golds, glamorous reds and striking blacks to beautifully contrast each other to achieve a beautifully ornamental look. Play up eyes with Illuminating Eye Colour in Gilded Moonlight, as seen on Marchesa’s Fall/Winter 2012 runway; Makeup artist Talia Shobrook used this eye colour to create glamorous gold-rimmed eyes. Golds and bronzes are paired with high-shine reds and deep blacks. Eyes are sharply designed and defined – lined in black, with gilded shimmer eye colours as a beautiful golden background. Lips wear super-shiny red lacquer.
Alima Pure is a company I’m really excited about. They have foundation, primer, concealer, bronzer, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip balm, and brushes that are vegan, cruelty-free, and free of irritants such as bismuth oxychloride. They’re so convinced you’ll love their product that Alima has a guarantee that you’ll love any full sized product that you purchase, or you can return it within 30 days. I’ve been wanting to try Alima products for awhile, since I’ve heard fabulous reviews about them on MakeupAlley, and they’ve been featured in Whole Living, Allure, Glamour, Nylon, Real Simple, Body+Soul, and other magazines. And when I found out that their company is in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, I was super stoked. I’ve got a lot of hometown pride. I was born and raised in the Pacifc Northwest (Portland/Vancouver) and it’s a pretty great place to live. Yeah, there is a lot of rain, a lot of hippies/protesters and a lot of all around weirdness. But it also has breweries, vinyards, shopping, scenery, outdoor activities, art, beaches, mountains and awesome indie companies, like Alice Cosmetics. I was sent the Let Them Eat Cake collection. Unfortuantely, this particular limited edition collection is no longer available, but there are over 100 other eyeshadows to choose from, and they have new limited edition seasonal collections coming out all the time. So let’s take a bite... I mean... a look.
MAC Eyeshadow Duo in Marche Aux Puces (Limited Edition) $27.50 for 1.0 oz The first shade (Chessa) is a warm light orange with a beautiful golden sheen to it. It's sheer but buildable an good for layering over other shades. I don't think there's really any other shade that's just like it--Temptalia has some good matches--but I'd say it's pretty unique. The second shade (Indie Spirit) is a matte warm burnt sienna. The pigmentation on this one isn't great--it takes a little work to get it to really show up. Its not an amazing or terribly unique color, but I feel that the colors compliment each other well. The two colors are both quite warm toned. Two of the makeup artists at the MAC store were wearing it--a very fair cool toned gal, and an African American lady with dark brown skin and I thought it looked amazing on both of them, and found it also looked good on my medium NC37-40 skin tone. I like to add a little warm-toned deep plum shadow in the outer v to complete the look. This duo is already sold out on MAC's website, but I'd try and pick it up at your local counter! Lipgloss+Spandex rating:  MAC Styleseeker eyeshadow duo in Marche Aux Puces with MAC Styleseeker Fluidline in Local Wares |  MAC Styleseeker eyeshadow duo in Local Wares: Chessa, Indie Spirit |
All too frequently, cosmetic companies promise unbelievably fabulous results. And I personally feel that major mineral makeup companies do this more than other types of makeup, and have built an empire based on partial truths and dissing traditional makeup. I appreciate that indie mineral makeup companies avoid this, and I REALLY appreciate that Alice Cosmetics actually addresses this issue head on. This is what they have to say: - We promise not to make exaggerated claims about mineral makeup.
- We promise not to confuse cosmetics with a good skin care regimen.
- We promise to bring you the best formulations of mineral makeup on the market and the best new ways to apply it.
- We promise not to cut corners and compromise quality.
- We promise to avoid hype and hyperbole.
- We promise not to dazzle you with made-up words like redensify, bioactives, and mattifiers.
- And we promise not to overpromise!
Additionally, there’s no animal testing and they claim to have feather-light makeup that is water resistant, non-reactive, and safe for sensitive skin. Although sometimes I hesitate to order from online-only sellers, Alice Cosmetics has great customer service and a fantastic return policy. There’s $5.95 flat rate shipping on all orders, and you can return within 5 days for any reason that you’re dissatisfied (customer pays return postage, does not apply to samples). I tested out four eye shadow samples, and also a mineral veil sample. All of the samples come in mini sifter jars--I really like that their samples come in practical packaging, and have a good amount of product as well.
|
