Swatchfest: Darling Girl Halloween Collection!

That's right! I have the ENTIRE Darling Girl Cosmetics Halloween Collection to show you! This will be a long post, so sit back, grab some coffee... let's do this!

 
This collection will launch sometime next week on http://darlinggirlcosmetics.ecrater.com/. The collection will be set up like most of Susan's products. There will be sample, petit and full size eyeshadows available as usual. She is also bringing out new lip products, Sweet Cheeks Blush, and a totally new product called Spectral Shifts.

More after the jump!

New Youtube Video: Outfits of the Week!

Someone requested me to do another one of these so here you go! Enjoy :)



I will be doing a YouTube giveaway soon, so be sure to subscribe to my channel on there!

Quick Giveaway: Darling Girl Cosmetics Halloween goodie!

Hey guys, I'm doing a 24 hour Twitter giveaway for the Candy Corn loose glitter from Darling Girl's upcoming Halloween collection. This is goooorgeeeous and you'll want it, trust me :)

All you have to do is follow me on Twitter, @CydonianMU, and retweet the following:

RT and follow @CydonianMU to win 1 Darling Girl Cosmetics Candy Corn glitter -- perfect for Halloween! Winner at 10:00AM on 9/20/2011.

Good luck all!


(I'll be posting swatches of the Halloween goodies soon!)

BeautyUK Eyeshadow Combo Palette Review + FOTD

Robyn sent me over this cute little palette...

It's by BeautyUK, and combines shadows and two liners in one handy palette. There's two colors: this one is called Amazon and contains warmer tones.

The other is called Disco and seems to have brighter colors. I believe they both contain a brown and black gel liner.

These retail for £3.99, so around $5-$6. You get six 1 gram eyeshadows and I think that the eyeshadows are 3 grams each.

Swatches all over bare skin, no primer. These colors are fantastically pigmented... even the white/ivory is smooth. They have a soft creamy texture and apply like butter! I am really impressed for how inexpensive the palette is.

I've tested nearly all of the shadows now after having it for just over a week, and both liners, and they have great lasting power. Over primer, I get 9+ hours without fading or creasing. Another cool little thing about this palette -- it comes with a mini double ended brush. The 'fluffy' end of the brush isn't that great, but the other end is a liner brush that is really good! Normally the brushes that come with eyeshadow palettes aren't very useful, but this is just the right size to line your eyes with.

I think this is a great value for the money, and the fact that it comes with a handy brush makes it travel friendly. You've got the liner, shadows, and a brush in the set so it cuts down on what has to go in your makeup bag!

I did a basic look to show you the shadows. This is using the ivory, orange, gold, and the brown to the left of the gold. I also used the black liner.

Recipe Fun: Goat Cheese Pasta and Peach Basil Bruschetta

Nom nom... I could make some of this right now and eat loads of it.

This recipe was requested by a few people on Twitter after I showed the picture, so here we go!

Peach Basil Bruschetta
- Crusty bread of your choice, sliced or done into chunks. I used a multigrain French bread.
- Grape tomatoes, 30-35 of them, sliced in half
- 1 ripe peach. Ensure that this is ripe so that you can squeeze some of the juice into the mixture.
- Olive oil (tablespoon)
- Balsamic vinegar (to taste)
- Pomegranate red wine vinegar (tablespoon)
- Fresh basil leaves, approximately 10-15 depending on size, coarsely chopped

All you do is combine all of these ingredients. I usually do the peaches and tomatoes first, then the basil, then the liquids and toss it. Once you have it, serve with the bread! It's a great appetizer.

Goat Cheese Pasta, serves 4
- 16 oz. pasta, your choice (I used whole wheat penne)
- 10-12 oz. of goat's cheese
- 1 cup of 1% milk (do not use skim, you need the little bit of fat)
- 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese (to garnish)
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter or margarine, you can use light if you wish
- 4 tablespoons of flour
- 1 tablespoon of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of italian seasoning
- Fresh basil leaves, 6-7 of them, finely chopped

Start off by creating a rue over medium heat. Melt the butter and add in the flour. Stir until you have a thick paste. Do not allow the mixture to burn, and add the milk. Stir. Let the mixture come to a low boil; it will take 10 minutes or so.

Add in the goat cheese in sections by scooping out spoonfuls and stirring it as you add it to the mixture. Don't allow the cheese to congeal, so keep it moving. Once that is all melted, add the parmesan and a little mozzarella, if you wish. Add the fresh basil, garlic and italian seasoning. Continually stir the mixture until all of the cheese is melted. (Be warned that non stick pans do not like these types of 'wet' cheese in the pan, so if you don't keep the sauce moving, it will lump up in the pan.)

Bring the water for the pasta to a boil as you keep an eye on the cheese mixture. Taste it throughout and add more seasoning to your own tastes. You may need to add a little more milk (1/4 of a cup of so) to make it more fluid, it depends on the thickness of the goat cheese you select.

Drain the pasta and serve the cheese sauce over top with a garnish of fresh basil leaves and mozzarella. This is a very flavorful dish -- the goat cheese is creamy and smooth with a slight nutty flavor. Really lovely with the peach bruschetta.

Enjoy!

Quick Swatch Spam: Items from Sephora

I meant to post one of these a while ago but am finally getting back around to it... just some items that I was requested to swatch when I've gone to Sephora!

This was taken on my phone, so I apologize for the poor picture. These are the Sephora Jumbo Waterproof Pencils. These are fabulous products for eyeliner or as an eyeshadow base, or even as a cream eyeshadow over top of an eyeshadow primer! A few of the colors were identical to some of the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencils and I will put those in parenthesis next to the color.

Top row, left to right: Glitter Black (Urban Decay Barracuda), Grey (Urban Decay Mercury), Brown, Taupe, Beige and Marine
Bottom row, left to right: Turquoise (Urban Decay Clash), Violet (Urban Decay Delinquent), Purple, Green (like Graffiti eyeliner), Khaki, Gold and White

The Sephora pencils are $10, while the Urban Decay are $20, so they are literally half price for the same amount of product.

Next are some lip pencil swatches and some lipsticks, all Sephora brand. I was curious about their Vinyl Lip Pencils and ended up doing a couple of lipsticks too.

Left, top to bottom: Vinyl Pencils in Sweet Beige, Gorgeous Peach, Fuchsia Fever, Vinyl Raspberry (this and Fuchsia Fever could be switched), Fancy Red, Strawberry Delish, Coral Glow and Miami Pink

Right, top to bottom: Rouge Cream Lipstick in Bewitch Me and Crush (this looks like Mac Rebel only more intense, I may need it), and the bottom is a random one... Maniac Long Wearing Lipstick in #01 (kinda Gaga, no?)

The Vinyl Pencils are $12, which made me hesitate to buy them. I have Milani and Hard Candy pencils that are more pigmented. These are very smooth though. Coral Glow was a total let down -- it looks like Hard Candy Inferno, fyi, and that one is cheaper.

The lipsticks are very pigmented but could be drying. I need Crush badly. They are $12... eek.

Anddd that's about it! Very random post but hopefully it's erm... helpful?

Sleek Pout Paints Mini Review + Pictures

My favorite English woman ever, Robyn, kindly sent me a goodie package recently... and guess what was inside?

Along with other bits which I'll show later, she got me Pinkini, Peek-a-Bloo and Mauve Over.

Left to right: Pinkini, Mauve Over, Peek-A-Bloo

These retail for £4.99 (or $8 USD) and sell at Superdrug. They go on 3 for 2 occasionally, so keep your eyes peeled.

Ingredients:
Polyisobutene, Polybutene, Ricinus communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Bees Wax, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Silica, Butylated Hydroxy Anisole, Glycol Distearate, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond Oil), ,Octyl Palmitate, Ascorbyl Palmitate, tocopheryl Acetate, Squalane, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexyiglycerin, Fragrance
May Contain: Titanium Dioxide Cl 77891, D&C Red 6 Cl 15850, D&C Red 7 Cl 15850, D&C Red 27 Cl 45410, FD&C Yellow 5 Cl 19140, FD&C Blue 1 Cl 42090, Iron oxides (Cl 77499, Cl 77492)

They've done an across the board list for all colors instead of including colorants in each one. While I don't mind it, I know some people want to know what colorants are in each individual shade, as some people have allergies and need to avoid certain ones. 

These do have a slight fragrance, it's lemon but not in your face. I hate the smell of lemons and I can tolerate the smell of these, so it's really not that overpowering.

The purpose of these is a smooth lip gloss that applies with the opacity of a lipstick. Now, you may be wondering why someone wants a blue lipgloss... but the purpose of these is for mixing, as well as wearing alone. They even have a white in the range, which would lighten any of the other shades. 

The applicator is a tiny little squeeze tube hole, which is great for squeezing out a small amount onto a lip brush. You literally need a pin-head sized amount for your entire mouth -- these are VERY pigmented. The amounts shown in the swatches would probably cover my lips three or four times over.

So far, I really like these. It's a mini review as I haven't tested them too much yet -- but these have serious staying power from what I can tell. I mostly wanted to show you swatches and a few colors I came up with (as usual, top is natural light, bottom is flash):

Pinkini

Mauve Over

Peek-A-Bloo

Mauve Over + Peek-A-Bloo

Pinkini + (little) Mauve Over + Peek-A-Bloo

Pinkini + (little) Peek-A-Bloo

Pretty cool, huh? I can't wait to get Pinup (Red), Lava (Orange) and Cloud 9 (White) to make more colors! I wish I had gotten the white the first time around, as it would have been helpful to lighten up some of the darkness in the shades I made. Lilac lips, here I come!

In case you were wondering what I look like with the Mauve Over + Peek-A-Bloo mixture:

My big 'ol head, for your enjoyment.

Hope you enjoyed, and I hope you check out the Pout Paints if you can -- I think they're great fun and would also be good for makeup artists!