virus insanity eyeshadows, first impressions

through another company on facebook, i caught out of the corner of my eye virus insanity eyeshadows. while looking through her albums, i saw the st patrick's day collection and nearly died of love. i love greens and golds, they are only second to my love of purple. jenn is the owner and is awesome. 

currently they are only available to purchase on facebook. i know some people are wary of that, but i promise this is legit. paypal is accepted or you can use the 'shop now' tab on her page. 

i bought the st patrick's day collection for 20$ including shipping. i chose not to get the glitter that came with the collection because honestly, i never wear glitter and it would be a waste. including the glitter, it would have only been 2$ more though. 

jenn is always having promotions on her page, like the
10 random shadows for 25$ or something similar. she posts them regularly so it's never hard to find a good deal to try the shadows out.

anyway! on to my package. which got here super quick! i received a shipping notice on march 9th, and when i went to get my mail yesterday, the 12th, there they were!

they arrived in a simple bubble mailer which i prefer because i have a little mailbox and bubble mailers always fit. 

inside were my pretties!

they were wrapped up tight in a ziploc bag that was taped so they had no breathing room. that's a good thing because loose pigments in the mail can be a big disaster if not properly packaged.

here's the bottom of the shadows^^

and here's the tops. the little white things are stickers over the sifters to make sure no product spills out of them.

close ups of all the labels.

unreal is a sample i received with my order. it's pretty common for mineral makeup companies to send a free sample with every order. it's packaged in a clamshell, which i hate. i feel they are too messy. much like sample baggies. i understand they are probably cheaper though and that's why so many companies use them. personally, i just wish they would go. away.

as always, i swatch over a primer. this is the one i used because this is my everyday primer. i swatch over a primer because i wear eyeshadows over a primer, so i would like to see how they really look. you can buy this at victoria's secret or their website for i do believe 8$. very similar to too faced shadow insurance, but that's another post.

on to the swatches! virus insanity describes the colors like this:

Shamrock: Shimmery white with green and lime glitter.
Kiss Me, I'm Irish: Bright green with gold glitter.
Luck of the Irish: Light gold.
Drunken Leprechaun: Light green with red iridescence.
Pot of Gold: Medium gold with lime glitter.

you can click these to make them bigger!

i swatched these with my fingers over primer.

can i just say that luck of the irish is the softest eyeshadow i have ever touched? when i dipped my finger in it, it felt so smooth and soft. like a soft buttery cloud, but better. they are super pigmented- the swatches are just me touching the shadow from the pot and then putting it on my arm. no packing on, just a touch. amazing!

can't wait to use them on my eyes and do a full review!

have you used these before? let me know what you think.

elf haul!

my target put out a seasonal elf display much like they did at christmas time, with a bunch of limited edition stuff. then i went to super target in pensacola and they had an actual elf area with regular line and studio line products.

i've bought a few elf products before, the 1$ eyeshadow brush [my favorite brush ever], the all over color sticks, and the giant makeup box thing i got for christmas a year ago.

so this week, i bought their brush cleaner for 3$, 4 studio line eye brushes each for 3$, a 32 eye shadow palette for 4.99$, and not pictured i bought a 5 pack of glosses for 4.99$ as well. both the glosses and palette are limited edition. all available at most target locations currently. you can also find elf on it's website, occasionally at dollar tree, if you're in the south i've found it at kmart and dollar general as well.the limited edition stuff is target exclusive i do believe.

here are so pictures!

excuse the mess. and yes, that is my stove. the kitchen is the only place with decent lighting after dark.

the outside of the palette

inside look

full on view. it has a mirror and sponge applicator. this picture also captures the colors most accurately. there's a more neutral version of this palette as well.

the brushes. these were really soft taklon. i was surprised.

after one use of the cleaner. i washed the brushes above.

if you click any of the pictures, they get bigger:)

if you want a review on anything, just let me know. 

until next time,

Updates && News

hi loves!

i apologize for being gone for so long. i've moved into my own apartment with my other half, and we had a baby, so that has taken over my life. thankfully i am no longer working so hopefully i can get back into the swing of things.

a few new things:

i am changing the way i review things to model temptalia's grading scale. you can read about her grading system here. any questions? just ask. i feel like it's a lot more streamlined and easy to follow.

i will be redoing my glamour doll eyes review to update it and follow this new scale.

also, i will be doing a first impressions, then a full review on lucky 107's eyeshadows and virus insanity's eyeshadows, along with my love letters necklace. i also have an elf haul to add.

i'm going to also start categorizing things differently. i'm going to try to focus on four main things: swatches, hauls, first impressions, and full reviews.

i changed my blog name, obviously. but now i'm also trying to make it pretty and easy to navigate. let me know if you have any suggestions.

i think that is all for this update loves:)