Swatcharama - Morgana Cryptoria Lipsticks (Take 2)

Morgana Cryptoria (formerly Morgana Minerals) is a great little indie company that is famed for it's vegan lipsticks. I have quite a few and some samples and for the most part I really love them. They now cost $12 (though the pastel formula are only $9) which is a bit pricier than most indie companies. However these come in proper lipstick tubes and (for the most part) are a lovely, long lasting creamy formula. They come in lots of colours from more neutral tones to really unusual shades. Great for finding really unique colours.

Samples are now only available for a short time after each new lipstick is released (I believe) which I think has to do with them drying out more quickly... Or something. Some of the ones I had (which were bought ages ago when the samples were still in baggies, now they're in clamshells) were very hard to apply and that can give you the wrong idea about the full size lipsticks, the vast majority of which have a fantastic formula so I do understand why they have basically been discontinued. However It's a shame. I very rarely buy any makeup without getting samples first (or if it's not indie then testing it in the shops) and while I could afford to take a chance on, for instance, an Evil Shades or High Voltage lippie which cost $4.25 and $6.50 respectively I couldn't really spend $12 on a lipstick that I couldn't be sure I would like. And that makes me really really sad because I love the Morgana lippies I have and there are so many new colours I like the look of :(

Having said that, Morgana has a lipstick membership program where for $25 a year you get all lipsticks for $9 plus extra exciting things. And Morgana is currently having a  25% off sale of the lipsticks. So they're $9 for everyone or $6.75 for Coven members.
So at this price I can afford to buy some new ones and will have new swatches soon :)

Sadly a lot of the colours I have are now discontinued which sucks cause there are great colours. I'm sharing them all anyway.  Another thing to mention is that some of the colours were recalled. Melissa was absolutely fantastic about this (you can see her post about it here) she made the recall as widely know about as possible  and offered a refund or exchange items without anyone having to send back her products. The problem was that the manufacturer gave her misinformation and it turned out some ingredients contained either carmine (making them not vegan) or pigments that weren't lipsafe in the US (they're fine in the EU and Canada though, oh you crazy regulations!). As soon as she found this out the recall was announced, the lipsticks with the non FDA approved ingredients were discontinued and the non vegan ones were moved to a separate section of the website and marked specifically as being non-vegan. I have some of these colours and still use them, if they're classified as safe in the EU I will assume they're fine and the FDA is just being picky :P

Anyway here be tonnes of swatches!

 Azalea - Fuschia pink (discontinued):

 

Agh

I don't know what happened but blogger ate about half of my last post. I had tonnes more swatches! I'm too frustrated to write the whole thing out again right now but will update it later >:( Stupid blogger!

Swatcharama - Morgana Cryptoria Lipsticks

Morgana Cryptoria (formerly Morgana Minerals) is a great little indie company that is famed for it's vegan lipsticks. I have quite a few and some samples and for the most part I really love them. They now cost $12 (though the pastel formula are only $9) which is a bit pricier than most indie companies. However these come in proper lipstick tubes and (for the most part) are a lovely, long lasting creamy formula. They come in lots of colours from more neutral tones to really unusual shades. Great for finding really unique colours.

Samples are now only available for a short time after each new lipstick is released (I believe) which I think has to do with them drying out more quickly... Or something. Some of the ones I had were very hard to apply and that can give you the wrong idea about the full size lipsticks, the vast majority of which have a fantastic formula so I do understand why they have basically been discontinued. However It's a shame, I really don't know if I will buy more Morgana lipsticks seeing as I can't get samples. I very rarely buy any makeup without getting samples first (or if it's not indie then testing it in the shops) and while I could afford to take a chance on, for instance, an Evil Shades or High Voltage lippie which cost $4.25 and $6.50 respectively I couldn't really spend $12 on a lipstick that I couldn't be sure I would like. And that makes me really really sad because I love the Morgana lippies I have and there are so many new colours I like the look of :( 

Also sadly most of the colours I have are now discontinued which sucks cause there are great colours. Anyway here be tonnes of swatches!

 Azalea - Fuschia pink (discontinued):

 

Mr Darcy

I just thought I'd share some photos of our new pet, Mr Darcy :)

He was a stray up until last week when we rescued him :) He's a complete sweetheart already, he loves being stroked and ticked and has a lovely loud purr. Also he learned to use a litter tray in about a day! The poor lad has to stay in our bathroom for a couple of weeks (which is why he's in the bath) because we got him castrated straight away and he had some fight wounds that needed patching up, so he can't meet the other animals until he's fully healed up.

So he gets to join the rest of the family including:

Weevil

Minnie

Digby

And Feargal

(also the 2 other ferrets, Rikku and Yetta and our Guinea Pig Portia, I don't have any photos of them on this computer :( Sorry guys)

Also I wondered if I could pick your brains for a moment. It's for the secret project I mentioned yesterday. Claire and I are trying to think of a tagline for it. Our favourite of the ones we've come up with so far is 'All the fun of the fair for you to wear' (yes what we're making is wearable :P ) but we worry that it might seem too fairground-centric. Hearing that would you assume the brand only sold fairground related things? Or just whimsical fun stuff (which is what we hope)

Thanks for any feedback you can give!

Guest Post

Today I did a guest post for Wendy at Turtle Beauty while she's on holiday here in merry old England. Go check it out! Well if you care to that is! No pressure! (But you should be following her anyway cause her blog is awesome.)

Also I'm just done replying to all of your comments, phew! Sorry it took me so long!

I've got some good posts coming up ASAP including a review/haul/swatches of my first Shiro cosmetics order and a Morgana Cryptoria lipstick swatcharama. I apologise if I'm not posting so often at the moment, I'm working on a secret project which is taking up a lot of my time. I'm very excited about it though and will share it with you when I'm ready! :D

A,B,C,'s of me-tag

I've seen this doing the rounds, no-one tagged me specifically but I've seen a few 'I Tag Everyone' posts, and I love surveys like this so I thought I'd do it. I'm insanely tired with a sore neck so it's not like I'm up to a proper post anyway! Sorry i haven't replied to comments in a while, I've been busy and then today I'm too sleepy to make any proper sense :P

A. Age: 23

B. Bed size: I think it's a double. It seems a little smaller than normal doubles, but it's very old (possibly antique) so maybe they were smaller in the olden days.I sleep on my own though so I've got plenty of room :)

C. Chore you hate: Washing up, emptying the bin, cleaning the hob and fridge, basically anything where I have to touch bits of old food.

D. Day: It's Sunday.

E. Essential start to your day: Cleaning my teeth.

F. Favourite colour: Light pink (the shade of the pink snooker ball). I also like bright red, green and silver.

G. Gold or Silver: Silver. I'm getting more fond of gold than I used to be though.

H. Height: About 5 foot 8 or 9, I'm not sure.

I. Instruments: I used to play the bass and regular guitar, I can play the ukulele and melodica a little. I'd love to be able to play the theramin.

J. Job title: Unemployable artist/illustrator.

K. Kids: No. No no no never. No.

L. Live: London, I've always lived here.

M. Mum’s name: Linda, but she prefers to be called Lou.

N. Nicknames: Ooshie, Cookie, Squill, Squilly, Squillina, Squillicent and so on and my Mum calls me Funny Face.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None luckilly.

P. Pet peeve: People who don't get back to you! It's just bad manners.

Q. Quote from a movie: The Queen promised to ream us with twenty inch cattle prods, and I'm still waiting!

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: Two older sisters.

T. Time you wake up: About 10 - 11 in the morning.

U. Underwear: I'm in my pyjamas, I'm always sleep in my bra but I've got no knickers on. Usually I wear proper knickers, I only like pretty ones. Sometimes I wear girdles or shapewear.

V. Vegetables you dislike: I loathe and despise Mushrooms (do funghi count as a vegetable?) and I've only tried Okra once so it might have been the way it was cooked, but it was absolutely disgusting. I also dislike cabbage, sprouts, parsnips, sweet potato, and lots of others!  I only like broccoli raw and I hate raw tomatos. I don't hate peppers but I'm allergic to them.

W. What makes you run late: I'm always losing essential things like my shoes and keys.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth and my chest when I was very small.

Y. Yummy food you make: I make very good tomato and vegetarian bolognese pasta sauces and vegetarian lasagne (the secret is to make a cheese sauce instead of a plain white sauce) and I can make souffle with no problems.. I like baking too and make tasty cakes.

Z. Zoo: I haven't been to the zoo in years. There's a lovely one up in the North called Southlakes Wild Animal park where they keep the animals really well and keep their behavious as natural as possible. 

I tage anyone who wants to do it :)

OOTD - That's The Way To Do It!

On Sunday my friend Foz invited me to come to an exhibition about Punch and Judy with him. It was in Brighton (where he lives) and seeing as I love Foz and I love Punch and Judy I decided I had to make myself go, despite being scared rather witless. But I made it and after about an hour of trembling and panicking and failing to be a normal person I started to get comfortable enough to talk with him properly and we had a lovely day at the seaside. The exhibition wasn't as good as we had expected but we got to see a Punch and Judy show which I loved, I hadn't seen one since I was a tiny child. I'm pleased that the Devil still turns up and Judy still gets beaten with the slapstick (though the baby didn't get abused. I guess that's going too far these days :P). Then we wandered around the seafront looking at some galleries and mocking the psychics and carousel owner who cares naught for art, only for fish and chips and had tea in a cafe and chatted about his upcoming shows (Foz is a musician and arty performer man) and my rubbish circumstances. It was really nice and I'm so glad I made myself go! Now I feel all brave and proud of myself (and yes I do realise how pathetic that is). Anyway as It was a Punch and Judy themed trip I decided to dress in my most Mr Punch-esque outfit:

 

Yes, I do realise now that my tits are ridiculous, I thought the cardigan would cover them up a bit, but as you can see it didn't really help.

Dress: Homemade (designed and made partially by me but mostly by Claire :P)

Cardi: H&M

Tights: H&M

Shoes: Minna Parikka

Hairbow: Dolly Dagger

And now my big puppet face:

  

Face: Avon tinted moisturiser, Gosh porcelain foundation (as concealer), ELF complexion Perfection, Evil Shades Brazen blusher

Eyes: High Voltage Cosmetics Redhead brow powder, black mascara

Lips: Mac Russian Red lipstick

Because I generally dress like a sort of scarecrow/clown/80s pop star/ pantomime dame I'm used to having annoying comments shouted at me on the street (I don't think I deserve it and it does frighten me a lot but it's gone on since I can remember so I just put up with it) but sometimes the things that get shouted at me are amazingly stupid. For instance on Sunday some blokes started shouting 'Oi Coco The Clown! You look like a clown!' at me... Well Duhh! Oh God, I had no idea that my painted on cheeks, bright red lips and silly puffy metallic dress made me look slightly clownish! Thank goodness I have middle aged men pointing it out for me. It also made me giggle on the inside as Foz actually does dress as a sort of clown for performance.

Here's a couple of punch photos incase anyone else is interested:

 

Poor sad dead looking punch :(

 

Awesome advert.

Swatcharama - NYX Round Lipsticks

Doesn't look like Blogger is ever going to regurgitate those comments it ate so I'm really sorry if yours disappeared!

Hmm this might not be the most timely of posts because of the all to recent NYX sale debacle (how do all these companies keep getting it so wrong??) but I had this post all ready to go and even though it sounds like the customer service is appalling I still think the products are good and worth sharing.

I have a tonne of these lovely little things. They're so so cheap (especially if you buy them from Cherry Culture during a sale.) and pretty good! They're really pigmented and creamy, not at all drying, and while they aren't super long lasting they don't fade away instantly, I need to reapply after a few hours or after eating. A couple of the paler shades go a bit patchy on me, but not terribly. The only thing I don't really like is the scent, they're sort of flowery or perfumey and I don't like that on my mouth. You can't smell it at all once it's on though, just while applying. They're definately worth the price! The swatches on Cherry Culture are appalling though, so I've ended up with some I probably won't wear and will stick on my blog sale when I finally get it up.

Orange Soda - Very unusual pastel orange with a tiny hint of peach.

 

Lots more after the jump

Stupid blogger!

Just thought I'd post quickly while Blogger is behaving. A few of the comments on recent posts appear to have been eaten, hopefully they'll appear at some point but if they don't I'm very sorry! I never delete comments unless they are spam (or very offensive, but I haven't had any of those yet!) so if yours ever disappears I can assure you it isn't my doing (unless of course you are posting spam or offensive comments).

Swatcharama - MAC Lipsticks

I've just finished replying to all comments since my hiatus (well apart from the post where I asked what I should post next :P) Sorry for the delay!

Mac Ruby Woo was the first lipstick I ever bought for myself and while I now hate that particular one I still really like Mac lippies. There are some Mac Products I won't buy anymore because I don't think they're as high quality as I can get from other brands or I think they're good but overpriced. But I still love the lipsticks, particularly the amplified cream and matte finishes. I do wish they'd make some more exciting colours though.

Aranged by finish :)

(I don't actually know what finish this is, it doesn't say on it and I've googled but can't find it anywhere! I don't know what collection it's from either. Sorry! If anyone knows I'll add it in :) )

Blue Eve - sheer and shimmery greeney blue with the tiniest hint of gold shimmer.

 

Tonnes more under the cut :)

Miracles Happen

This was from a David Devant gig about 2 months ago. I tried to do a Veronica Lake-ish thing with my hair, it looked nice but as soon as I left the house it got destroyed :P

  

More under the cut :)

High Voltage Cosmetics haul, swatches and review

I made my first High Voltage purchase during a 50% off sale (I'm going to review them as if they were the full price though because the sale is no longer on). Stupidly I forgot to put in the sale code in the paypal coupon note thing so I emailed immediately panicking and begging for my discount. but I needn't have, as soon as my order went through Jasmine refunded me the extra money I paid before I could even ask. She's one of the sweetest, friendliest people I've met through beauty blogging. She's always happy to chat on twitter about anything and seems genuinely interested in what I have to say. It's always a bit awkward reviewing things made by people you like because obviously I have to be honest about everything so I did worry a little when ordering. But I really needn't have. The items I got are overwhelmingly awesome! There's a couple of things I didn't really like, but it's not even because I think the product is bad, they just doesn't suit me or weren't as goodin comparison with the other products! This was one of the most positive expeiences I've ever had with an Indie makeup company. Usually there's one or two bits I have slight issues with, but with this order I really had to nitpick to find negatives to bring up!

I ordered:

2 Lip Candies in Beth and Just A Girl

1 Amplified lipstick in Alter Ego (Amplified lipsticks are now discontinued)

4 Lip Whips in Iron Butterfly, Spellbound, Lady Like and Midnight Desire

1 Eyebrow powder in Redhead

1 Mineral Mini blush in Hooking Up (called 'Hookin' Up' on the website)

 

Review after the jump :)

Swatcharama - Revlon Lipsticks

I really really love Revlon lipsticks and would buy a tonne more if I didn't already own basically every colour of lipstick available (and if I had any income boo hoo) . As it is I only have 5. They all apply smoothly and easily, are really pigmented, last a super long time and not even the matte shades are in the least bit drying.

Matte 006 Really Red - a lovely matte 'true' red that hints slightly towards the blue side of the spectrum.

  

More after the cut :)

Brazen Cosmetics Haul, swatches and review

...Finally. God I suck :P

Brazen were on my 'to try' list for a while, and while they did not win my little indie brand poll, I decided to ignore your wishes and order from them first because they had a sale on :P

I ordered:

4 3gram Lip gloss pots in La Femme, Make Out, Pixie and Burlesque

Good glitter gone bad in Naughty Gold

Yummy Gummies lip scrub

The beauty guru sample set

Brazen is available on both Etsy and Artfire, but I found out a special sale through their facebook page (4 3 gram pots for $10 ) so I made my order by just emailing my list of wants to them. There was a little delay because they didn't have the ingredients for something I ordered, but it was only a few days and communication was great, I was kept well informed throughout. Sandi, who I spoke with, was really friendly and very helpful. One of the colours of lipgloss I wanted was sold out (it was the limited edition Blaze, which is now back for a small time) but she suggested La Femme, which is in a similar colour family and she had seen from my wishlist on my blog, the fact that she'd taken the time to look seemed really great to me, it showed she really cared about giving me what I would like best. The package was sent on the 4th of march (I got a shipping confirmation email, which I appreciated) and arrived on the 11th of march which is really quick for a parcel from the US (and yes, this should have been written 2 months ago, I know, I suck).

So here's everything I recieved:

Review and swatches under the cut :)