TKB Trading - Swatches

Hello again readers!

I'm really excited about this post (although, I'm excited about most posts to be honest), but this brand is something special. TKB Trading Company is a company that supplies micas, glitters, pigments, bases, tools, and so much more to companies, and to those passionate about makeup. 

The company features many pre-mixed formulations that you can wear right out of the bag, as well as ingredients that you can combine to make your own creations. 

I ordered all sample sizes (retail about $1.50+ depending on the product, sometimes even cheaper!), and was blown away with how much was included in each bag. Many Indie cosmetic companies that I buy from, ship out sample baggies (retailed for about $1 each) to try out their products before committing to the full-size (but they're so gorgeous you just can't help yourself a lot of the time!). With TKB, their sample sizes are HUGE. They have a nice weight to them, and there is so much product included it's like buying a full-sized Indie product.

Now, this isn't a post saying "Hey, don't buy from Indie companies!" because I love Indies, and a lot of their products are created with MANY different ingredients and not just one single bag. However, there are quite a few of these products that are just too good to pass up from TKB, and it's definitely worth a shot without taking away from the fun of Indies.

Mermaid's Gold:

I'm really impressed with this pigment. A beautiful yellow-gold with a green shift. The shift doesn't photograph well at all, and is much more intense in real life. I've used this as an eyeshadow and as a really intense highlight.

Chameleon Fine:

The most used duochrome ever. Rust-brown with a teal/blue shift. I'm so glad I can get a ton of this for cheap, as this is one of the best. It's exactly like the Makeup Geek Insomnia pigment, but SO much cheaper.

Nosy Be Chameleon:

The shift isn't as uniform, but the shimmer is more intense. A really beautiful shade. If you're a fan of duochromes, add this to your order.

Smokey XXX:

A plum-grey matte with a pink shift. Really gorgeous, and adds a beautiful effect to a smokey eye.

Ultramarine Blue:

If you're a fan of bright, matte blues, this one is for you. It does stain a little bit, and I find it works best over a base, but it's so freaking gorgeous. Darker in real lift, but pulls lighter in photos.

MyMix Slate:

Ready to wear matte light grey-blue pigment. Really pigmented, and so smooth.

Ferric Ferrocyanide:

Ferric Ferrocyanide I was hoping was going to be THE matte navy blue of my dreams. In the pouch, it's super intense. Of course, it was a pipe dream. You'd have to mix this in with another shade to make it work and so far I haven't been able to do that. I tried using a glitter glue since it won't adhere on it's own, and it just doesn't work out at all, it STILL comes out patchy even when I pat it onto the glue. I'm just not cut out for making my own cosmetics. My search for a perfect blackened navy continues...

Also, this will stain like crazy! If you touch it at all, you'll be dyed blue for days! Be careful of this ingredient!

Periwinkle Blue:
Well, as the name states, a matte Periwinkle Blue. I'm not sure if I really like the color, but the formula is nice. It's soft, and pretty pigmented. Easy to use.

Colorana Dark Blue:
Not that dark, just a blue shimmer. This is a really intense blue, and I wouldn't use this as anything except a lid color, or a pop of color on my lower-lashes.

Soft Aqua:

I was hoping that this would be a matte, but this is more of a satin aqua. It's a really beautiful aqua shade, and doesn't make me look sickly. Really impressed with the color.

True Green:

A green pigment with shimmer. I was really hoping it'd be a little darker, but I'm okay with this. I don't wear greens too often so it's not a huge deal.

Hydrated Chromium Oxide Green:

Similar to the Ferric Ferrocyanide, the Hydrated Chromium Oxide Green is just not cut out to be worn on it's own. In the packaging, it looks like a beautiful true green, but it's just not able to cling to the skin, even with glitter glue. What a shame it looked really pretty.

Soft Mauve:

A beautiful satin mauve. I've used this as eyeshadow, and as a blush. Such a beautiful soft shade. Very easy to wear.

MyMix Ariel:

 A burnt orange-red. I can't use this as a blush, but this would be so beautiful on people with darker complexions. I do however how it looks around my blue eyes as eyeshadow.

I am a HUGE fan of the "Hilight"/"Travel to ____" series of powders. They make the most beautiful, "alien" highlights ever. They of course aren't standard looking like champagne or gold, but they catch the light beautiful. I use them as highlighters, but they can be packed on top of other shadows, or bases to change the effect too, even as liner – so many possibilities!

I can definitely see these gaining a lot of popularity in the future, with the introduction of unique and out-there highlights introduced into the cosmetics industry.

Hilight Blue:

Sheer white base with blue shift.

Travel to Pluto:

Sheer white base with a green/silver/gold shift. Beautiful shade and something that I reach for more often than I care to admit. (A lot).

Travel to Mars:

Sheer white base that shifts to a pink/red.

Highlight Violet:

A sheer white base with a violet sheen. 

Chameleon Glitter:

A glitter version of Chameleon. A beautiful rust-brown base with a blue/teal shift. I wasn't sure if I liked this as much as the pigment, but it's such a more dazzling version that I couldn't resist adding all three to my collection. Glad to have it, and this one is the easiest glitter I own to apply.

Luminosity Glitter:

A fine silver/holographic glitter. This is the kind of glitter to reach for when you want to dazzle at a party, and looks really nice applied to the nails as well. 

I tried Luminosity as a polish, and it really is just another version of China Glaze's Fairy Dust. It's easy to make polishes with these, but it needs a good base with them to suspend the glitter in the product. Otherwise the glitter just sinks right to the bottom.

I also bought a baggie of Multi Flakies. It's just flakie glitter, nothing super amazing, but the best part is I could use it on my face, body, or nails depending on the look that I'm going for.

I really liked it on the nail. It's a more subdued version of a multi-colored flakie nail polish, so it's very soft. I've only tried it over black (my go-to for trying out glitters and toppers!) so I want to try it over different kinds of polishes too!

It looks a little cloudy on the nail, and I"m not sure if I would have had to put another base instead of a clear coat. On top of that, it settles to the bottom and NEEDS to be shaken up. I'm not too keen on having to put that much effort into a nail polish.

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Thanks for reading!

Urban Decay Single Eyeshadow - Faint, Roach, and Lounge

Hello again readers!

I tried out some Urban Decay eyeshadow singles. I've used shadows included in palettes, and so far I've been really pleased with them. Of course, it's never a guarantee that the quality of shadows in a palette or shadows in singles will be the same. During the Days of Beauty event at Ulta, I picked each of these up for 50% off, so I wanted to really get a feel for a few of the singles. I picked up a matte, a satin, and a duochrome.

Tease:
Matte taupe brown. This is a fantastic crease shade, and so smooth to the touch. Blends out easily and applies well.

Roach:
Burguny-brown satin. I'd almost say metallic, but especially when it's blended into the skin, it loses a lot of it's impact. Looks good as an all-over-the-lid shade, and in the crease.

Lounge:
Brick red with a teal green color shift. I am a sucker for duochromes and I certainly resist my favorite duochrome color scheme. Of course, it's also the most easily found duochrome color scheme. So, this shadow I held to a higher standard. In the swatch, it looks fantastic, after applying to the lid and into the crease, it looses that duochrome finish and just makes the shadow look dull and lifeless – like it has faded after hours of wear. It was disappointing to say the least, as a $20 shadow I wanted to really impress me and knock all the other dupes I have out of the water. Save your money, get a travel size of MAC's blue-brown pigment, and get the same duochrome color scheme but with a better application and overall look.

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I'm happy with Tease and Roach, but I returned Lounge. I have a couple other Urban Decay single shades that I've been looking at, but aside from those, I don't think I'll be expanding my collection much more than that. The formula is okay, but I'm never overly impressed with these.

Thanks for reading!

House of Uni Lipstick

Hello again readers!

If you're like me, you've taken a notice of beauty bloggers talking about House of Uni lipsticks. It started with swatches of Rum Punch, and then a swatch of Fountain Lust sealed the deal for me. I checked them out, debated on buying from them, and then jumped on them when there was a buy three for $20 sale.

Each of the lipsticks comes in a gold plastic tube. The tops have little clear stickers with "House of Uni" printed on them. The bottoms have a white sticker with the shade names.

The packaging looks nice, but it feels cheap. I'm more impressed with a lipstick that's ugly but feels sturdy, over a lipstick that looks beautiful but feels like it's going to break if I hold it too tightly.

To be honest, I have no idea how many ounces/grams are in each lipstick. I wasn't really pleased with that, as each of these lipsticks regularly retail for $9 (The site says $10, but every time I've checked the site it says that they're marked down to $9) so not knowing exactly how much you're getting isn't ideal. Although, by the look of the lipstick alone, it looks like  a standard sized lipstick.

The other packaging issue I had, is that each of these shades is poured differently? Fountain Lust is poured like a standard bullet lipstick with a pointed tip. Rum Punch and Blackberry has a flatter pour. It makes it harder to apply, and it frustrates me greatly. You'd think they'd all be poured into similar molds.

Fountain Lust:

A beautiful teal semi-matte opaque lipstick. I can apply this quickly, no liner, and it looks perfect. It doesn't wash me out, and for having a lipstick with green tones in it, it doesn't pull out the yellow tones of my skin, and doesn't make me look sickly. It's such a beautiful lipstick to have, and this formula has been a pleasure to work with.

My favorite shade, even with it's flaws. The flaws being, that even though it's easy to apply, that it smells like gross fake cherry flavoring. It's disgusting. I'd prefer my lipsticks to have no flavor, hell, I'd settle for the crayon-flavor over cherry. It makes me hate wearing this lipstick ...

Rum Punch:

A true cobalt blue shade. This shade is more like a crelly – a mixture of a sheer jelly, and a creme formula. It makes the color come off as streaky. If I put it on top of a primer, or even a lipliner, it makes it more opaque, but it needs a little help. It will go all over the place, and fades from the inside of my mouth quickly. It needs constant touch-ups to keep looking good.

The formula was so strange, because even though it was smooth, it had a bit of grit to it. Like chunks of pigment weren't broken down enough. It made wearing the lipstick uncomfortable. It also smelled like traditional play lipstick, the kind of crayon-scented lipstick you'd use as a kid. I prefer this over the cherry flavoring of Fountain Lust, but it's still not great.

Blackberry:

A beautiful blackened violet shade with warm undertones, this is what I wanted NYX Wicked Lippy in Betrayal to be like, color-wise. It has a similar crelly finish, where it's not too sheer, but it's not fully opaque either. This is another shade that needs some TLC to get to work best. I can't wear this without a lipliner, because it's such a smooth formula that it'll just slide right off! With how dark this shade is, it also needs constant touch-ups.

The texture was consistent with this shade, but it also had the issue of smelling like crayons.

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With the differences in flavor, and pour, as well as having the grit issue with Rum Punch, makes me not want to buy from this company again. I really love Fountain Lust, and will continue to wear it even if I HATE the flavor of it, but I know I can depend on it lasting longer than an hour without touching it up. For $9 a lipstick, I expect it to be better. I'd rather buy something else with my money, and though I won't have as many color options, I'd rather have something that I can depend on.

Thanks for reading!

ColourPop Super Shock Shadows & Blush

Hello again readers!

I'm really happy to start doing the reviews of my ColourPop collection. I've been placing orders and really getting a feel for certain products. I love some, I'm okay with others, and so far I haven't hated anything which is a good sign (just not for my wallet)!

Starting with the Super Shock Shadows/Pigments, I'm really sort of surprised with them. They have a mousse texture that dries down to a powder finish. They're $5 a piece,  soft to the touch, and a bit of fun to press around in the pan since they're malleable. 

A few things to note is that since they are a wet formula, they can't be depotted. This is frustrating for anyone that wants a large collection of ColourPop shadows, but doesn't want to sacrifice the space to house the products. It's also frustrating that for each shadow I want to use, I have to unscrew the product. It's something really silly to be frustrated over, but I've always preferred a pigment or pressed powder shadow for this reason, since you don't have to store them in air-tight containers.

I really couldn't resist the Forever Freshman set (since sold out! sorry for the inconvenience!) since it contains a few of my favorite things: 90's culture and beautiful shadows.

Crimper: Light metallic gold with gold glitter
This one is more like a shadow I'd pat in the center of my lid, compared to all over my lid. It's pretty, but it's not pigmented enough to be worn on it's own in my opinion.

As If: Mid-tone matte brown
This was a little "dry" to work with, and needed a few layers for best application. I like using this in my crease shade, so it works perfectly for that!

Melrose: Matte rust
My favorite shade in this collection. I can't get enough of it. The pigmentation is really good, and it makes the blue in my eyes pop! I wish they kept this on permanently.

Koosh: Metallic silver-taupe

I'm a sucker for a good taupe, and Koosh is no exception. It always looks good on my eyes, and the formula and pigmentation are really good.

90210: Grey-tone taupe with gold and pink glitter

Another shade that I wish they kept on permanently, because it's just such a beautiful shade. The pigmentation was phenomenal, and the color really pops even on the lid. This shadow does have a bit of fallout if I blend, but it's nothing too major and it's easy enough to wipe away.

 Baby T: Navy blue with blue sheen
This said it was a matte, but it has a sheen to it that just makes it look more like a satin. I was really disappointed, because I thought it was going to be the answer to my matte navy prayers. How sad. When blended out the sheen isn't as prevalent, but I don't wear this all over the lid for that reason.

 Doe-A-Deer: Matte blackened violet

I had high expectations for this color (one of the first shadows I ever bought) and I was really let down. The shade isn't bad, but the formula is really bad. It's patchy, and requires a ton of layers to build up to full opacity. I don't know what it is about this shade, but it just doesn't want to work out.

Downtown: Matte cool-toned taupe

I can't find this on the ColourPop website anymore, and that's a crying shame. This is such a beautiful cool taupe, that's perfect for the crease or blended all over the lid. It's very rich in pigmentation and easy to use. Really if it wasn't for this shade, I never would have bought another ColourPop shadow again.

Central Perk: Matte dark burgundy
This is such a beautiful color, but a little hard to work with. It wants to be patchy so bad, even though it can be blended out it takes some time to work with it. I find it to be worth it, because it's such a beautiful color (and a FRIENDS reference!).

Plaid: Blackened Olive

I was just a sucker for the entire fall line to be honest, and a blackened green? Sign me up! I only like deep greens really, and this is just such a beautiful shade for the lid. Incredibly pigmented and easy to apply.

Straight Trippin': Matte blackened violet
This is such a deep shade. It needs a couple of layers to have full opacity, but it's so well worth it. It's intense, it's deep, and it's very flattering to wear. I'm really pleased with this shade.

Mixed Tape: Mid-tone cool taupe grey

It's not quite a taupe, but not quite a grey either. It's a beautiful middle ground shade, that looks incredibly all over the lid. It catches the light just enough to be interesting, without being a metallic or a shimmer.

Straight Trippin' and Doe-A-Deer are incredibly different, even if they're approached in the same way. They're both blackened violets, where Straight Trippin' has far more black, and is far more pigmented over Doe-A-Deer which is lighter and more patchy. Straight Trippin' is a much better use of your money, and everything I wanted Doe-A-Deer to be.

Above is Mixed Tape, which has compmletely fallen out. I'm not sure what sort of glue they used, but it's an awful adhesive. It felt like gel when I went to scrape it off, like it's wet and never dried. This isn't the only one I've had issues with either.

Straight Trippin', As If, 90210, Crimper, and Plaid have all been loose. Either I can feel them shaking when I pick up the container, or when I go to use them, the pan moves around making it harder to pick up pigment. 

And it's only the new products. I wish that this wasn't the case, because it makes me really hate reaching for them. I can't super-glue the pans back in, because I don't want the toxic fumes to get anywhere near these cream products. I'll have to hot-glue them back in as soon as I can find my hot-glue gun. Very disappointing in that regard, which makes me not want to buy more.

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Aphrodisiac: Neutral Matte Blush

I reach for this blush all of the time, so much that I'm almost hitting pan! The pigmentation is really good, and it's a very flattering blush on my face.  The formula is similar to the Super Shock shadows, where it's a mousse-like texture that dries to a powder finish. I use a stipple brush to apply it, and it blends into the skin like a dream, I was really impressed with how easy it was to apply and blend. I'm not interested in any other colors from the blush range but I really enjoy this one. If the rest of the shades are anything like Aphrodisiac, then they are well worth the $8 price tag.

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Thanks for reading!

Regrets #4: Eyes

Hello again readers!

The last installment of my regrets series! Also my biggest. Saved the best (worst) for last, as some of these were downright abysmal. 

Jordana FabuLiner Bold:
I really liked the other Jordana Fabuliners – they're really juicy, easy-to-apply felt tip eyeliner pens that make quick eyeliner looks without too much hassle. This just didn't stand with the others. The eyeliner was pretty sheer, requiring multiple layers of liner to look remotely black instead of charcoal. This also has a huge tip, which is great for bold looks, but when you're like me with a shaky hand situation, a trendy, fashionable bold eyeliner look can look more like raccoon eyes, or like I'm joining the Black Parade when trying to make the eyes even. The pigmentation wasn't there, and I wasn't in love with the end result.

Elf Essential Eyelid Primer – Pearl:
Thought I'd give this a go. For the longest time, the ELF Essential Eyelid Primer was my go-to eye primer (before discovering a trove of gems out there that work better for my oily lids!). This version, just sucked. It's supposed to add a nice, luminous base that pairs well with shimmery and glittery shadows. However, it doesn't hold pigment as well as the original. It's a bit too sheer to really add any extra oomph to shadows, and then it fades quickly. If you have oily lids like me, then it'll end up creasing too, which I found disappointing.

L.A.Colors Liquid Eyeliner – Navy:

The most gorgeous blue eyeliner ever, and it's Satan's tears in a bottle. I applied this, fell in love with the color, and then quickly burst into tears of my own. This product STUNG my eyes so bad, and they wouldn't stop tearing up no matter what I did. I tried to wear it again, with tight-lining my lash line and blending it onto my lid a little bit, and then applying this a little bit above my lashes, but the formula of this liner was so watery, it ended up dripping down into my eyes anyway. What a shame, I really wanted to like this one.

ELF Precision Liquid Liner:

This liner had the same issue as the L.A. Colors liner did – it burned my eyes! I've seen a few people rave about this liner, and wanted to try it out myself. You can never have too many good black ones. Unfortunately, this one wasn't a good liner, or even a decent one. It went on really nicely, but then would sting my eyes  within thirty seconds of application. Not worth it.

Maybelline Master Duo Liquid Liner – Navy Gleam:
This one might have worked, if it was pigmented. I would shake, and shake, and shake this product and no matter what I did it was still a sheer, watered-down navy. I tried adding multiple layers, but that just looked messy. To top it off, it took forever to set, and with having watery oily eyes, it was just a recipe for disaster.

Milani Crystal Eyes – Glamorously Glittering:
This was a good idea in concept. A liquid glitter that you can just pat onto the lid, or use as a bit of a liner topper. I really wanted to see how it did. Just wasn't for me though. Patting it on my lid would lift up eyeshadow that I already applied. Using it as a liner topper just, wasn't as glamorous as I expected, since it needed many coats to look somewhat intentional and even, and it would still look streaky. I'm not sure how someone would use this to be honest, it just isn't practical.

Jordana Pencil Eyeliner – White:
This may just be the worst pencil eyeliner I have ever had the displeasure to use. Almost no pigmentation whatsoever (and what little pigmentation there was, looked like a faded white liner, not a liner that was freshly applied) and the product itself is very hard. To get any payoff, I would have to press down HARD with the product, and when you're working around the eye area, you want to be as delicate as you can. I tried it once, and never touched it again.

NYC High Definition Mascara:
I thought I'd try this mascara, and was just underwhelmed. It was really wet and messy, getting all over my eyelids and smearing like crazy no matter how careful I was with it. Then within a few hours it would start crumbling off and leave mascara flakes all over my cheeks.

Maybelline Colossal Mascara:

At first I really liked this mascara. It applied well, gave my lashes a lot of length, and just the right amount of volume for my liking. But then it had the dreaded crumbling effect, leaving flakes all over the place. Disappointment.

ELF Glitter Mascara – Black Glitter:

I thought this was an eyeliner when I bought it to be honest (I really should read closer sometimes!) so it wasn't until I pulled the wand out that I discovered that it was indeed a mascara instead. The wand is so strange, like a screwdriver instead of traditional bristles. I tried it as both a mascara, and as an eyeliner, with the same effect – it dried like cement. As a liner, it came off in chunks. As a mascara, it clumps the lashes together to make sharp spikes – and you can't even see the glitter!

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara:
This formula was just not for me. It was super wet, super messy, and even though my lashes looked really pretty after initial application, it soon crumbled and flaked. How sad, I know so many people really get along with this one, and I wanted to like it too.

Make Up For Ever Smokey Extravagant Mascara:
This is a mascara that came in the 2014 Sephora Birthday duo (just goes to show you how long I've held onto products I hated ...). The brush is HUGE, like a large Christmas tree just shoved into the tube, making it really difficult to apply mascara for me. I can't move my hand really well in certain angles, so unless I use my left hand (which is a disaster in the making) I can't get the mascara to work for me. I would have just chalked it up to user error, but then again this one also had the crumbling flakes all over my face. Suffice to say I didn't buy the full-size.

Revlon Diamond Dust – Night Sky:

This shadow looked beautiful, but when I applied it, the shadow was sheer, and all that really showed was the glitter. This was a good shadow to apply on top of a makeup look for extra glam, but I'm not someone that enjoys a lot of glitter, so it's useless to me.

NYC Duo – NYC Times:

No pigmentation at all. No matter how much I scrapped and tried to get product onto the skin, nothing came up. It's better off as play makeup for children.

Sally Girl Eyeshadow Single – Burgundy:

The pigmentation left much to be desired, but the real issue was that when I would go to blend the shadow, it would blend away completely! It wiped away far too easily, and left nothing behind at all. It's a real shame, because I've used a couple other shades from this range, and it just didn't stand up to the plate like the others.

RueBeaute! Rue 21 Eyeshadow:

This one was odd. It had pigmentation, but applying it was so strange. Blending it out made the color change from a taupe shade, to more of a straight up grey. I tried using it as a transition shade, and it made any shadow I paired with it look blotchy and not blended. It was an odd experience, and one that isn't worth repeating.

Forever21 Love and Beauty Eyeshadow – Dark Blue:

The only way to get this product to show, is to really build up the color and use it wet. That caused a hard layer to form on top of the powder, rendering it useless. I think I used this eyeshadow once, and that was apparently once too many.

Thanks for reading!

Becca Glow on the Go Set

Hello again readers!

I was really happy to get my hands on this set, because I've been wanting to try Opal for ages and ages now. Since I returned another product, I used that money to go towards this so it was really cheap for me!

The BECCA Glow on the Go duo comes with a Shimmering Skin Perfector (SSP) Pressed and Spotlight Wand, both in Opal. Now it's funny, because I have three of the liquid SSP in Opal, but this is my first pressed version of the highlighter.

The Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed, comes in a small plastic container, which has .085 oz of product. The powder feels so smooth to the touch, and just one swipe picks up a lot of pigment!

The SSP Spotlight Wand contains .17 oz of product, and comes with a wand applicator, with flat sides. I like the applicator for the reason that the flat sides hold onto a lot of product, and once I pull it out I can highlight my entire face without having to dip the wand back in again.

I was really happy with both of these products. The pressed version of the SSP I found to be super intense (contrary to photos where I used one swipe of the pressed for swaches, while I jsut used one side of the want for the swiped swatches and a the whole other side for the "blended" swatch, that's my bad) if I wasn't careful. I apply the pressed version with a fan brush, and I sweep it over my cheekbones, tip of my nose, and on my cupid's bow. I just tap my brush into the product, and it's enough. If I swiped my brush through the product, or went in for more powder, I could very quickly look super radiant,and a little over-highlighted.

The Spotlight Wand version I was in love with. It creates a very natural glow to the skin, and it's really easy to apply. I just apply a few dots over my cheekbones, one tiny dot on my nose, and one dot on my cupids bow and blend in with my finger. It catches the light without being too intense, and just looks like I have nice, dewy skin.

If I'm going for a glam look, I use the two products together to create a highlight that you just can't ignore. It catches the light in such a gorgeous way.

I like how i have a little variety with Opal, and that I have three different ways to use them! The set retails for $20.

Thanks for reading!