Comet Vomit - Swatches & Review

Comet Vomit is one of the little-known indie stores; I only found out about it through its owner, whom I got to know on a subreddit last summer. /u/marsandtherealgirl did primarily nail polishes, and I won one in a giveaway last summer that I get compliments on ALL THE TIME. She announced a few weeks ago she was expanding her shop, and with a little disposable income after graduation, I decided to try some of her new products!

Most of Comet Vomit's nail polishes cost $10 for .5 oz. .5 oz is a standard size for nail polish; OPI, Essie, etc. all do that size of a bottle. Comet Vomit is thus a little bit more expensive than that. Her mini nail polishes are $4 for 1/3 of that, or about .16 oz. Eyeshadows are $5 apiece. Lip balms are $1 for a mini tub and $3 for a tube. On to what I got!

Big Balm Theory Flavored Lip Balm in Cherry
I opted for a tub rather than a tube, though both are cheap! I like the lip balm a lot. To me it's not quite maraschino cherry as she describes but darker, almost like a dark chocolate cherry. It smells amazing! The first time it went on very smooth. It was  little harder the second time. I'm 99% sure I closed it tightly, but it may have been user error. It's still easy to put on, just requires a little bit more rubbing to get some on my finger. I will be purchasing a full size of this at some point.

Behold my awful nails.

Nail Polish in Terek Noir
Again, I went for the mini, as is my tendency. Terek Noir is a matte black with silver sparkle - I don't know if you can have matte sparkle, but, there ya go. It took three thin coats to get to the desired opacity for me, which isn't bad. I like the formula and it dries REALLY quickly, which is always a plus! However, I'm not sure I'm in love with it. We'll see.

Eyeshadow in Light Years and Some Kind of God
These were the two shades I wanted to try most off of the website - I like the names & I like the colors. Of the two, I definitely like "Some Kind of God" more; it's right up my alley. Both shades were easy to work with and had a good formula.

Awful swatching oh god

Overal - I like Comet Vomit. I'm glad I have Some Kind of God, but I think I'll probably stick to lip balms and nail polishes for a bit. There are definitely a few of those I have my eye on! 

Project Swatch: Reds and Pinks

I've decided to swatch my entire indie collection. I made a spreadsheet of my collection, complete with 'color family'. After much deliberation, I decided to use the description from websites vs. my own perception of colors. I hope to swatch everything over the next week. Of course I have a haul from DG coming Monday which will possibly render some of my swatches obsolete, but oh well!

The following are swatches from Shiro, Notoriously Morbid, My Beauty Addiction, and Glamour Doll Eyes.

First up are the reds and pinks in my collection.

Shiro Unforgettable is a "hot pink-toned shimmery red with magenta sparks". On me, it reads a little bit more brown than the description.

Glamour Doll Eyes Fire Breather is a "vibrant red with orange undertones and gold shimmer". It's a little less "red" than I think of as red and more copper.

Notoriously Morbid Boca del Inferno is "a rich, deep oxblood". That seems about right! My first thought was "brick". NOTE: This shade was not swatched over Pixie Epoxy, as mattes don't play nice with most sticky bases!

My Beauty Addiction Aruba is "a light warm coral/pink with a HIGH shimmer". I totally disagree on this one; I categorized it as a neutral before I saw the description, and I wouldn't call it pink after the swatch. It could potentially be called a peach, but that's being generous. It looks like a light golden brown or taupe on me.

Shiro Wildflowers is a "soft petal pink with green and gold sparks". This shade is STUNNING, and definitely true to the description.

Shiro Destiny's Princess is a "shimmery, bright bubblegum pink with gold undertones". True to the description, IMO.

Glamour Doll Eyes Cajun is a "medium to bright pink with orange and gold sparkle and sheen". On me, it looks somewhere between a pink and a purple.

My favorites out of these are definitely Unforgettable, Fire Breather, Wildflowers, and Destiny's Princess. The first are great for a mostly neutral eye look! I can't wait to use Wildflowers as a highlight. Destiny's Princess is one that I don't quite yet know how to use, but it's BEAUTIFUL - and named after Zelda!

Ipsy - May 2014

Ipsy usually has pretty all-around decent customer satisfaction. Some people love it, some people hate it. This month is unique in that almost everyone hates this month's bag. It's especially interesting because the sneak peeks were promising and then... fail.

The theme, "Fresh Picks", is nice enough. Unfortunately, for some reason, they decided to do a skincare/haircare based bag. This didn't work for them in January... I'm not quite sure why they thought it would be better received now. Yes, sunscreen is a good idea - especially with the self-tan products they've sent out in the past. Other than that, though, this theme could have used a little more thinking through.

At least the bag's cute?

Here's what I got:

Pacifica Mineral Eye Shadow Duo, .07 oz, approx. value ???

Thoroughly mediocre. Decent colors; pigmentation is much better on the champagne color than on the purple. I will probably use the second color only. Weirdly, this isn't listed on Pacifica's website. I'm not sure why they'd send out a new product if subscribers can't repurchase it/buy for friends/etc.

Hang Ten Sunscreen, 1 fl. oz, approx. value $2.16

I mean, it's sunscreen. I'll use it. Meh.

Avene Thermal Spring Water, 1.76 oz, approx. value $3

...I have no idea what this product is supposed to do.

I even went to their website, and apparently, these are some applications for this product:

...I still have no idea why I would use this. Fortunately, someone is willing to swap me something I'll actually use for it. Hallelujah.

Nailtini Nail Lacquer in Frappe, .5 fl. oz, approx. value $13

I don't own a Nailtini polish, but I've heard good things. Unfortunately, I will never use this color. Ever. Hoping to swap this one for something more vibrant. This would be good for someone who doesn't have a lot of polish - a sheer pink/French mani color is great - but I have over 100 polishes, and if I wanted this color, I'd have acquired it by now.

Pur-lisse Pur-moist Moisturizer, .5 oz, approx. value $16

Having just calculated the value, I can only assume this moisturizer is made of unicorn jizz. I'm very happy with my drugstore moisturizer, though, so this is going into the swap pile.

Epic fail - there are exactly 1.5 products I'll use in this bag. A value of over $34 doesn't change that. The bag itself is super cute, though I wish it didn't have "ipsy" written all over it.

If you want to join me in seeing if Ipsy gets better, you're welcome to use my referral link here.

I'd like to close by quoting my April Ipsy review last month: "This probably means next month will be worse than January's skincare/haircare bag, but honestly, it'll be worth it."

Sometimes I hate being right.

Shiro Cosmetics - Review and Swatches

If I think about the big names in indie cosmetics, Shiro and Fyrinnae are the two that spring to mind. Shiro was actually my first indie purchase, back in August. This was before I knew what I was doing with indies and didn't have any sort of sticky base, so things didn't go well. I've rediscovered Shiro and WOW, am I glad I did!

Caitlin, the owner, bases her collections around various nerdy themes. There's a Zelda collection, a Minecraft collection, a Pokemon collection... She's mastered the art of creative names while still avoiding copyright infringement. While the eyeshadows are the star of her show, she also sells lip balms, face products, and glosses. Caitlin also recently acquired products from Detrivore, whose customer service issues threatened her business.

Shiro has multiple sizes of shadows: samples (1/8 tsp in plastic baggies for $1), minis (1g in jar for $3.50), full sizes (2g in jar for $6), and in some cases, collector's editions (2 grams in special jar for $8.50). Lip balms are $5 for .15 oz. Glosses have sample sizes starting at $2. The most expensive options are custom glosses, where you get to choose any lip-safe color or have Caitlin do a custom color just for you! They start at $9, but adding opacity or "flavoring" cost $1 a piece. Shiro also has face products, but I haven't used any, so I don't feel qualified to talk about them other than the fact that they exist and start at $1.50. Overall, I find that Shiro gives some of the best bang for your buck.

Onward! Recently, Shiro had an anniversary sale with 15% off. I took advantage and got a few eyeshadows as well as a custom gloss. Caitlin includes candy with each order (I ate the smarties before I could take a picture!) as well as a note. I placed my order on April 30th. At that point, Caitlin had upped the estimated turnaround time from two to four weeks. (She even apologized on Facebook to those whose order may not make it in the promised two weeks.)  It was shipped out on May 11th, and I received it on May 14th. Here's my loot:

I bought five minis and a custom gloss. The sixth jar is The Fourth Be With You, a full-size gift for anyone who placed an order $15 or more. The two samples are extras Caitlin throws in with every order. I was thrilled to get Maiden Queen from the Seven Kingdoms collection (if you have to guess what this is based off of, you clearly don't know me) and a Detrivore sample. 

All of the shadows come with a sifter, which some people like and some don't. I'm ambivalent. On to swatches:

All swatches are over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy

Custom gloss in Steve

I'm thrilled with all of my choices. Additionally, all of Shiro's swatches on the site seem to be pretty close to real life. I don't know if The Fourth Be With You will get any use, but hey, it was free. I'll probably see if anyone on the indie subreddit wants it. As for my custom gloss - it's incredible! Caitlin recently added the option to add flavoring and I'm glad she did; I have a gloss in Women's Weapons that smells like tires. I chose "champagne" as the flavor, and it smells sweet and inoffensive enough.

I feel I also have to mention Shiro's stunning customer service. I had initially ordered the Honey flavor and then read some things that changed my mind; Caitlin was happy to change it for me. Additionally, I want to place pictures on top of the jars to make them more uniform. It's easy to find individual designs for the Legends collection, but I needed the mockingjay pin/pokeball for those collections and couldn't find it. Caitlin sent me the image files from her website twenty minutes after I'd asked if there was any way I could get them. Seriously, she's amazing.

Look: there's a reason Shiro just celebrated its fourth anniversary. Their products are great, the price is right, and customer service is amazing. I would highly recommend Shiro for anyone's first foray into the world of indie cosmetics. 

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Birchbox - May 2014

Birchbox is the subscription I am consistently on the fence about. I have been disappointed by boxes, but I have yet to be "wow"ed by a box. There are three factors that keep me subscribed:

• The hope the box will get better
• It's cheap ($10/month)
• The rewards

Birchbox allows you to review each item in their box for 10 points. 100 points are redeemable for $10 off anything in the Birchbox shop. With 4-6 items a month to review, this adds up quick. Additionally, any dollar you spend in the Birchbox shop gets you a point. After discovering the product in my January box, I just ordered a full-size Beauty Protector Protect and Detangle (IT SMELLS SO GOOOOD) for a whopping $1.95. That being said, I've spent $60 on Birchboxes so far. Is it worth it? This month, no, but the rewards soften the blow!

Here's what I received in my box:

Gilchrist & Soames Spa Therapy Body Lotion, 1.35 fl. oz, approx. value $2.52

I am so unimpressed with this lotion, which is disappointing because it's FINALLY a decent sized sample. It smells like any lotion you might find in a hotel room. Additionally, it's more slippery than other lotions - like, it doesn't feel like it soaks into my skin. I've used it once and that's enough. It's going up for swap.

Number 4 Volumizing Shampoo, 1 fl. oz, approx. value $4

This stuff smells amazing! As for whether or not it gives me volume.... eh. The jury's out. I would also never in a million years pay $34 for shampoo. That's ridiculous. 

Number 4 Volumizing Conditioner, .25 fl. oz, approx. value $1

This was a "bonus", and as such is a foil packet rather than a bottle. The sample is bigger than some, but I have so much freaking hair that this was still barely enough for one conservative use. Liked the smell and texture; still not paying $34 for something I only used once and saw no life-changing difference. If I'm going to buy hair products that expensive, I'd better come out of the shower looking like a supermodel. Also, this teeny-tiny sample was worth AN ENTIRE DOLLAR. That says more, to me, than the price of the full-size product. 

SmartyPants Gummy Vitamins, 2, approx. value: $0.33

In what world am I going to take six vitamins a day, especially when said vitamins don't provide iron? Answer: no world. Ever. Also, this packet has two gummies. Yeah. They didn't even bother sending a "full" sample. C'MON, Y'ALL.

Marcelle BB Cream, .28 oz, approx. value $4.73

Yeah, I'm gonna level with you: I didn't even try this product. BB creams don't do shit for me, and I'd rather keep this teeny sample intact so I can swap it for something I might at least try or throw it in as a freebie when I do a swap. 

Cynthia Rowley Eyeliner in Silver, .03 oz, approx. value $12

I didn't have high hopes for this eyeliner, but then I swatched it.

ONE swipe. ONE. 

OH MY GOD. A beautiful, brilliant, metallic silver, this product is everything I never knew I needed.

In short, this month kind of sucked, despite a value of nearly $25 for all of the products I received. But hey, at least the points system is great! Take note, Ipsy. If you are suddenly desperate to get a Birchbox, I'll get 50 points if you use my link here.

Makeup =/= High Maintenance

I find myself clicking a lot of links as I tour my university's career services website. One of these links had advice for what not to wear to an interview and had this gem about eye makeup:

Too much eyeliner and shadow will only start to bleed and smear as the day goes on (and who has time for touch-ups?) so use eye makeup sparingly.

Now, I'm not disagreeing that some looks aren't office friendly. However, I find this reason laughable. I can only conclude that these writers either a) suck in their makeup application, b) have a job that involves dipping their faces in coconut oil,  or c) have no idea what they're talking about.

For reference, I am a server. This is probably a little bit more stressful on your face than an office nine-to-five as there's lots of sweating and risk of ranch dressing splattering on my face. (It's happened before.) So I did a little experiment, applying my eye makeup as usual. Here's me an hour before leaving for work:

I blended a little more after this picture was taken. Sorry y'all.

And here's what I looked like after a six-hour shift. Excuse the coloring. Yay artificial light!

...Hm. Not seeing a lot of this bleeding. Let's look again.

My wings are faded a bit, which is par for the course for me. Other than that, my eyeshadow really hasn't budged. Would I wear this look to an office job? Eh, depends. Probably not. The point is, "because it will bleed/smear" is a really crappy reason not to wear eye makeup.

If you want to ensure your eyeshadow stays on like mine, I rely on two steps in my makeup routine.

1. Eye Primer - No, seriously, buy it. Drugstore is better than nothing, but mid-end/high-end is the best. Robyn has a great comparison here. I was an Urban Decay devotee until I bought Too Faced Shadow Insurance on sale. My HG (Holy Grail), though, is definitely LORAC Behind the Scenes primer. I got a deluxe sample with my Pro Palette and OMFG. This stuff does not budge. Ever. I use that on days when I put my makeup on early and need it to last through a dinner shift. For my standard 6-8 hours, I go with the Shadow Insurance. Whatever you get, it will not only increase the life of your eyeshadows, it can make colors appear more pigmented. 
2. Setting Spray - This helps keep my whole face on, so to speak. The only ones I've tried are by Urban Decay. I can't tell a difference between All Nighter and Deslick, though the latter is apparently better for oily skin. You can also allegedly make your own using glycerin, but I don't trust the Internet that much. Also, I'm lazy. 

So, there you have it. The myth that eye makeup necessarily smears/fades over a workday debunked, and the reasons mine stays on so damn well. Go forth and be fabulous. 

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms (Review)

Usually, I am all about shiny. Sparkly eyeshadow? Silver shoes? Get at me. When it comes to my lips, though, sometimes I just crave a matte finish. This partially, but not completely, explains my addiction Revlon's matte balms. The rest can be explained by the opacity and ease of application. I love bright/pigmented lips but, as a server, I can't take time to reapply during a Friday night shift. I need something I can reapply with one hand while carrying five drinks and/or flipping off a coworker with the other. These fit the bill!

Revlon released ten of these shades. Over the past few months, I have collected five. This should give you an idea of how damn good these things are.

Revlon Matte Balms in Audacious, Unapologetic, Sultry, Standout, and Shameless

The tubes are fairly simple. I like that they're roughly the same color as the balms themselves, because it makes them easy to find. They look like oversized crayons, with one glorious difference: when you start to run out of product, you twist the silver portion at the bottom to get more. This glides up and down quite gracefully, which is good if you're easily entertained as I am.

Audacious

These have a slight mint scent as they glide on, which is a plus for 99% of the population and a minus if you are someone who hates mint, like me. Fortunately, it's bearable. These are some of the most moisturizing lip colors I've ever worn. I experience drying when I wear them, but it is minimal.

Onward to the colors! 

Left to right: Audacious, Unapologetic, Sultry, Standout, Shameless

 Audacious is an orange-y coral.

Audacious. Excuse the blurriness. 

Unapologetic is a beautiful medium pink, perfect for spring.

Unapologetic

Sultry is a dusty pink. Perfect for days when I don't want too much color but want something on my lips.

Sultry

Standout is a red that looks a bit darker in the tube, but comes out as just a hair darker than true red on me.

Standout

Shameless is a purple that leans dark on me.

Shameless (OH GOD MY POOR BANGS. Getting a trim this week, I swear.)

For an idea of their staying power, I wore one to work today and vowed not to reapply. Here's what it looked like after four hours and copious snacking:

Very minimal fading. What did fade is mostly around the inside of my lips, which I have trouble keeping color on anyway.

Overall, I love these things. They're easy to apply and re-apply, opaque in just a few swipes, and long-lasting. Perfect for those of us who don't have time to worry about how our lips look at work!

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms retail for $8.99 apiece.