Linnaeus Cosmetics Review + Swatches (and a FOTD!)

I've heard so many good things about Linnaeus, so when Marin, the owner, threw a 30% off sale, I had to indulge just a wee bit. I received my package last week and have had a bit of a play... so let's review, shall we?

Linnaeus Cosmetics can be purchased at http://www.linnaeuscosmetics.com/
A 5 gram jar of eyeshadow is $6, while a 1/4 tsp sample is $1.

Marin's website is laid out very nicely, everything is clear to read and easy to navigate. The eyeshadows are divided into colors and then also collections. As the entire company focuses around animals, the eyeshadows are all vegan and not tested on animals. Once Marin gets the business more steady, she intends on donating proceeds to wildlife preservation organizations. I have to say, that is something I can support for sure!

A photo, swatch, description of the color and ingredients are listed for each eyeshadow on the website. As I said, all of the colors focus on animals so she also includes a section called 'the wildlife' and 'the eyeshadow' where she talks about the animal the shadow is based on and then describes the shadow and why she choose it. Again, I really like this concept and respect it. I also found that the swatches on the site were pretty accurate to the shadows in real life.

I ordered the 10 eyeshadow sample package for $10, and received 30% off. My order total with shipping came to $8. I had a bit of a snafu in Etsy and couldn't list my colors before it confirmed my order, so I emailed my choices to Marin instead. She was so courteous and let me know that she received the email right away! I was kept up to date on the status of my order throughout the process, and she shipped in a timely fashion.

I received my package in just over a week after ordering and was absolutely amazed at what I received.

I received my 10 samples plus -4- additional samples! Marin also included a handwritten letter discussing why she choose the additional samples she did and also encouraging a Mac shopping trip if she visits here ;-) (she doesn't live far from me at all!). I was seriously blown away at the personal service (and even the moose stamp on the back of my package... and the tiger mini business card. CUTE.)

I ordered: Anomaly, Lanky, Kitsch, Hold Fast, Swoop, Pollywog, Bombastico, Flutter, Hope and Reef. I received free samples of Matriarch, Truculent, Largo and Anomaly.

You're probably ready for swatches, so let's go! As usual, natural light/no flash is the top photo and the bottom is flash, all over Darling Girl Glitter Glue.

Left to right: Matriarch, Twiggy and Lanky

Matriarch is from the Golden Lion Tamarind collection. It is a dusky, slightly bronzed gold with silver shimmer.

Twiggy is from the Maned Wolf collection. I found this to be a bit peachier and less orange than the website swatch. It's a peachy champagne with a stronger shimmer finish.

Lanky is also from the Maned Wolf collection. This is a burnt orange with very slight orange shift. Quite unique.

Left to right: Kitsch and Reef

Kitsch is from the Puna Flamingo collection and is an amazing shimmery magenta. There is a slight violet shift. I love that this is vibrant without being neon!

Reef is from the Orchid Dottback collection and is a pinky coral with a lighter pink shift, medium shimmer. This one had a bit of orange as well but was really hard to capture on camera.

Left to right: Pollywog, Hold Fast and Swoop

Pollywog is from the Green Mantellas collection. I have to apologize for the horrible swatch! It is color accurate but I know there is a huge gap where there is no shadow that stuck to my hand. This is a hard shade to describe... sort of a dusky green with gold shift and a bit of aqua as well. Strange.

Hold Fast is from the Emerald Tree Skink collection. This is your classic shimmering grass green with a bit of gold. It's a little darker in real life versus my photos.

Swoop is from the Ruby Throated Hummingbird collection. This is a dusky olive with bronzey gold shift. I like that this is an olive that isn't in your face or overly shimmery, it would be a great color for green eyes.

Left to right: Hope and Anomaly

Hope is based on the Vaquita Porpoise (I believe this is from a Porpoise collection) and is a slightly murky green grey. The depth on this is amazing and I love that it has the most subtle hint of blue.

Anomaly is from the Echidna collection. This is a deep brown with just a hint of lean to taupe and slight bit of purple. Sometimes it appears taupe and other times it's a golden brown. Interesting.

Left to right: Flutter, Largo, Bombastico and bottom: Truculent

Flutter is from the Lovely Cotinga and is a beautiful shimmering sky blue. I think this is actually my favorite shade!

Largo is based on the Hyacinth Macaw and is a medium blue with slight shimmer. As the light hits it, it shifts to be much lighter and brighter. Compared to the website photo, I found it to be slightly less intense in pigmentation.

Bombastico is another Hyacinth Macaw shade and has a deeper base tone than Largo. There is a little bit of violet lurking in there as well.

Truculent is another shade from the Orchid Dottyback collection. This is a beautiful purple with violet shift and pink sparkles. Love.

So far, I am really enjoying these eyeshadows. They are very finely milled so applying them is easy and no fuss. I like that they represent animals and while some shades are vibrant and full of depth, some of them are softer and more representative of nature and it's natural tones. I wasn't disappointed with any of the shades. I think I hoped Largo would be a little brighter based on how it looked in the bag, but it does shift lighter and brighter as the light hits it. Overall, definitely recommended for purchase.

I put together a quick FOTD showcasing some colors that my husband so graciously helped pick out.

FACE:

- Cover Girl Tinted Moisturizer in Fair to Light

- Mac MSF Natural in Light Medium

- Maybelline Superstay Concealer in Cream

- Maybelline Dream Mousse concealer in Ivory

- NYX blush in Terracotta

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance

- Linnaeus Cosmetics eyeshadow in Pollywog

- Linnaeus Cosmetics eyeshadow in Flutter

- Linnaeus Cosmetics eyeshadow in Hope

- Ben Nye eyeshadow in Ice

- Revlon eyeshadow in Vintage Lace

- Urban Decay eyeliner in Flipside

- MUA glitter liner in Shade 9

- Maybelline One by One mascara (black)

LIPS:

-Mac dazzleglass in Funtabulous

FOTD: Poised for a Purpose

Semi quick FOTD before I get back to swatching like a madwoman! I had a planned dinner with my family and a long time family friend so I wanted to be 'mature' looking but still have a bit of fun on my face. It was hotter than the devil so wearing foundation was a bit of a miss, but whatever, it stayed on all night!

Oh and I've finally gotten the hang of Glitter Glue... yay, no more creasing! One last thing, the gloss is awesome but didn't photograph right, it has little flakies of purple and orange! Seriously pretty. I'll review them later :)

FACE:

- Make Up For Ever HD Foundation in #115

- Mac MSF Natural in Light Medium

- Maybelline Superstay Concealer in Cream

- Mac MSF in Semi Precious Crystal Rose (highlighter and blush)

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance

- Darling Girl Cosmetics Glitter Glue

-Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in Jeweled Taupe

- Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in Shangri-La

- Darling Girl Cosmetics Eyeshadow in Stolen Kisses

- WetnWild Vanity palette, pale gold on inner tear ducts

- Ulta eyeliner in Raisin

- Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara in Black Brown

LIPS:

- Cover Girl Natureluxe Balm in Grenache

- Hard Candy Glossaholic in Chill Out

Lip Combo: Brick Red Lips

I'm going to get back to swatching here in a few minutes but I wanted to do a quick post for you showcasing a new favorite lip combo! It was actually requested by Mandy of PrettyMaking. She wanted to see Raining Blood from Darling Girl on the lips... and who am I to turn down a request from a friend?

The combo is: e.l.f. Lipstick in Posh (yes, the $1 one) with Darling Girl Cosmetics Holo Gloss in Raining Blood over top.

First, here is the lipstick alone:

And now with the gloss, first under flash:

You like my gap toothed smile, no?

Now, no flash (look at the copper sparkle!!)

You'll want to blow all of those pics up (even though you can see my shoddy application and a stain where I had to wipe away a mark ><).

Anyway, love this lip combo! The e.l.f. lipstick is VERY soft though. It's hard to get even lines around your mouth; would definitely recommend a lip brush for application.

Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned as I've got Linnaeus, Sugarpill, WetnWild Dreammakers and Darling Girl to show you!

Swatch Fest: Hi-Fi Cosmetics + Total Fail FOTD

A few weeks ago, the lovely Wendi a la Makeup Zombie (click that link, you know you want to) sent me a load of samples from Hi-Fi Cosmetics from her own personal collection. I got them and promptly squee'd as she had sent me -19- colors to swatch and use for my girly needs.

See? She sent me a literal load. Let's get onto swatches! (Top photo will be natural light, bottom is flash)

Left to right:  Morals in a Hole, Millions of Peaches and Grapevine

 

Left to right: Reflections of Self, Dead or Alive and London Bridge

Left to right: Aphrodisiac, Emptiness and Lies and Morbid Faith

Left to right: Hell Frozen, Dark Carnival and Lithium

 

Left to right: So What, Sex Drugs and Rock & Roll, and Rusty Axe

Left to right, then bottom: Raid the King, Savage, Beautiful Tragedy, Lost and Lonely

Yow, I really love all of these! Overall, the shadows tend to be HIGHLY shimmery. The only one that wasn't was Raid the King (and how amazing is that color?!). The shimmer is interesting in a few of them because while they're all shimmery, they have different shimmer finishes, if that makes sense. Some are light shimmer that change in the light while others are heavy glitterbombs with multitudes of multi glitter thrown in throughout. I love Grapevine, Raid the King, Beautiful Tragedy and Aphrodisiac, if I had to pick favorites.

Unfortunately, only two of the colors are still available on Hi-Fi's Etsy shop. They have an Artfire shop as well but are currently closed due to an overwhelming number of Heartsy orders. It is possible that more than the two colors are available on the Artfire shop, but I am unable to access it to tell you for sure. On Etsy, she has Rusty Axe and Aphrodisiac still available.

From what I've seen so far, definitely recommended for purchase! I feel that the shades are unique and fun. They are quite loosely packed so you'll need a sticky base to apply them over, as usual with loose powder shadows.

I tried my hand at a FOTD and assembled colors that I felt went together. I loved how the look turned out so I took my camera with me so I could photograph it at work (as usual). By the time I got to work, the shadows had creased! I was so upset as the colors were pretty. I think I used too much Glitter Glue (still testing that) so I don't blame the shadows or glitter glue but myself as the user. For the look, I used Beautiful Tragedy on the lid, Morals in a Hole in the crease, Dark Carnival to darken the crease, and Grapevine on the lower lashline. Lips were e.l.f. Sociable lipstick with Mac Funtabulous Dazzleglass over top.

 

Well... on the plus side, my lips looked good.

New Darling Girl Pretties: Swatch Fest!

I got my Darling Girl order from last month on Friday and I was SO excited to use everything... but I had to be a good beauty blogger and swatch everything for you first (well, I cheated on the lip balm, k?)

I've talked about Darling Girl a lot on my blog, but in case you're new... you can order from http://darlinggirlcosmetics.ecrater.com/. The owner's name is Susan and she is absolutely lovely.

Here is what I ordered and the price:

Last Dance Liquid Kiss Luxe -- $4.25
Stay Beautiful Kiss Me Tinted Lip Balm -- $4.75
Raining Blood Holo-Gloss -- $4.25
Glitter Glue - Glitter Fixative/Foiling Medium -- $6.75
Eyeshadows:
Stargazer (sample) -- $0.60 USD
Gargoyle (sample)
Polaris (sample)
Shangri-la (sample)
Groovology (sample)
Frolic (sample)
Electra (sample)
Cydonia (sample)

I received a petit sized eyeshadow called Brat as a gift with purchase and free samples of Susan's latest eyeshadows, Jeweled Taupe and Wahini. My order date was July 15, 2011 and I received my items on July 29, 2011 (they shipped on July 27).

First up, let's take a gander at the lip products:

(I blurred the 2nd photo to show the glitter in the glosses)

Left to right: Kiss Me Tinted Lip Balm in Stay Beautiful, Liquid Kiss Luxe in Last Dance and Holo Gloss in Raining Blood

The Kiss Me Tinted Lip Balm is just fabulous. Not only is it named after my mermaid princess Robyn, but the color is beautiful. It's an orangey coral with a slight pink/violet sheen in certain lights. The formula is moisturizing and smooth as all get out. I wore it to work and it actually lasted through eating and had left some color behind nearly 9 hours after application, which is amazing for a balm! As for the color, observe:

You can just barely see the violet pink shift it but it's there.

Last Dance is my first Liquid Kiss Luxe and I like it. It's a lilac pink with multicoloured (but mostly green) sparkles. I'm wearing it today over Up the Amp and I have to say that it's an amazing combo. This gloss is a strange consistency. It's not glossy like you would think, it's more like a creamy product with a ton of glimmers.

Raining Blood was a must have for me as 1) it's a Slayer song and 2) it's blood. The color really does look like congealed blood and suspended within it are copper shimmers. I can't wait to wear this over a red and vamp it up!

Next, eyeshadows (all over Pixie Epoxy):

Left to right: Stargazer, Gargoyle and Cydonia

Stargazer is a near matte medium hot pink. In the bag, it looks slightly orangey, strangely enough. This over Pixie Epoxy applied a little funny, but that was Pixie Epoxy and not the shadow, as you'll see later on.

Gargoyle is a olive green with bronzey copper flash. So hard to describe and a really unique color. I'm not sure what I'll pair this with but I'll find something ;-)

Cydonia is a cool color, not only because it's the same as my 'name', but because it's a greige with gold shift. This one was a little hard to swatch because I couldn't tell if the color was right or not... I think this is how it's supposed to look!

Left to right: Frolic, Polaris and Electra

Frolic is a little more pink in person but it's a magenta with strong violet shift. Gorgeous and exactly what I was looking for.

Polaris is - you guessed it - a warm taupe. Sorry! I love taupe! This has a strong silver flash but is darker than the average taupe, and has very soft turquoise and orange glimmers.

Electra is a chartreuse green but darker than what I would normally think of when I think of chartreuse. I need to swatch this next to Mac Lucky Green.

All together now!

Left to right: Groovology, Shangri-La and Wahini

I have to apologize about Groovology as this picture is COMPLETELY color inaccurate. It's a very very very strong blurple and my camera picked it up as blue. It's not at all. I want to apologize 10,000 times because I just couldn't get a color accurate picture of this. Anyway, it's lovely.

Shangri-la is less taupe and more brown in person. It's lighter than Polaris for sure but they look similar in photos. There's a bronze flash to this shade as well.

Wahini was the only one that gave me a bit of trouble and I think, again, it was Pixie Epoxy and not the shadow. This is another matte shade (but very soft and satin like), and it's a darkened blue-teal.

Jeweled Taupe (left) and Brat (right)

HOLY GORGEOUS. Look at Jeweled Taupe. Look at it. Look at it again. Susan is going to have to make this by the truckload because I will give a sample of this to everyone possible. You don't just want this, you need this. This taupe has a very strong silver flash and a load of rainbow sparkles, mostly pink though. Stunning.

Brat is another stunner -- for some reason this one photographed fine but Groovology lost its marbles. This is a violet with pink shift and a load of turquoise sparkle. I actually want to pair Jeweled Taupe and this together!

There's Groovology being a meaniebutt again :( Sigh. At least you can see how much darker Shangri-La actually is.

I haven't had time to test the Glitter Glue much so for now, I'll just have some preliminary comparisons to Pixie Epoxy. I'll do a more detailed review when I've had time to properly test it!

Stargazer and Electra. Pixie Epoxy is on the left and Glitter Glue is on the right. As you can see, GG doesn't cause Stargazer to go all funky like PE does... PE hates mattes. (this is a new swatch, by the way, not the same as the other you saw earlier in the post). I definitely prefer Stargazer over GG. With Electra, there isn't much of a difference except that the base comes through stronger over GG. It's really strange how you think you're getting the most out of something until you see it next to a different product. I won't say GG is superior yet but just looking at swatches, I already prefer it.

Overall, as usual. I love everything. I really feel like Susan puts out some of the most unique products you'll find in the indie market or even the makeup market in general. Two thumbs and two baby toes up!

FOTD: It's Time for a Pool Party!

Basically this is what I wore to a pool party over the weekend! I wanted something pretty but basic, and also mostly waterproof for obvious reasons. Simple yet effective.

I'll review the tinted balm in a later post, for now you just get to stare.

FACE:

- Cover Girl Tinted Moisturizer in Fair to Light

- Mac MSF Natural in Light Medium

- Maybelline Superstay Concealer in Cream

- Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blush in Natural

EYES:

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance

-Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in Plunder

- Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadow in Snuggle

- Revlon matte eyeshadow in Vintage Lace

- Ulta waterproof eyeliner in Olive

- Maybelline The Colossal mascara (waterproof)

LIPS:

- Darling Girl Cosmetics Kiss Me Tinted Lip Balm in Stay Beautiful (<3)

And just for good measure, you get a picture of me and my husband (he looks like an axe murderer, but it's okay. He's a grumpface in photos.