Winter White and Blue Eye Look: Wintery Bling!

Where I am, we don't have winter. It's more or less summer 24/7, but I thought, why shouldn't I do a Winter-inspired eye anyway, since half the world is still freezing? (Haha, suckers! :P) Anyway, I decided to try a white and deep blue eye, just for the fun of it. Well, the blue kind of turned a little grey on me, but you get the general idea.

For this eye look, I used Evil Shades Ice Star - again, I know, but it's just such a great sparkly, shiny, stunning white. It's starting to become the "I-need-a-blingy-white" default shade. For the deep blue, I used the shimmery navy blue from Sleek's Storm Palette, which I won in a blog giveaway almost 2 years back, but shamefully haven't really touched til now. Oops. It's a pretty no-brainer look, which was really just "paste eyeshadow on eyes and blend". But it still doesn't look too bad, right?



Evil Shades, which is run by Andrea, is a indie cosmetics brand that's been getting pretty good reviews. And Sleek Makeup - well the UK-based brand doesn't need any introduction, they're pretty well-covered on and off-line. Their i-Divine Eyeshadow Palettes are really value for money, and one of the best sellers in their line. I used Evil Shades Ice Star all over the lid, and I applied the Sleek navy blue shade in the crease and contour area. Here's a shot of the eye from the side, so you can see the placement.



I don't normally blue eyeshadow, but I quite like the effect of this look. I actually like the bling, although I wouldn't wear it out everyday. Ice Star does have a lot of fallout, and as you can see I got a bunch of it on my lashes, so a sticky base is best used with these.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Gold and Green Christmas Eye Look: Bling on the Holidays!

Since it's Christmas season, I figure should use the opportunity to try out colours on my eyes that I normally wouldn't wear - in this case, the Christmassy colours of gold and green! And of course, since it's the holiday season, I also made it glittery and blingy, just for good measure. I mean, why not?

For this look, I used two Evil Shades eyeshadows, Morning Star and Dryad. Evil Shades is an indie brand run by Andrea, who, by the way also runs the blog Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss. I know the blog name makes her sound like a total punk, but she's also one of the nicest people I've come across in the blogosphere. I've actually swatched Morning Star before and done an EOTD with Morning Star, and I've also reviewed Dryad before. But I've never used the two together yet, and since they fit nicely into the green-and-gold look I was going for, why not? You can visit those links for more on the individual shadows, but here's a shot of both of them together.



For this look, I used Morning Star on the inner half of my lid, and Dryad in the outer half and in the contour area, and then just blended the two. The look was simple enough, the hard part was really blending the two together, without having the chunky glitter from Morning Star fall all over. Okay, if I had used a primer, it would have helped. But I didn't. I was lazy. I just patted them over a concealer base, and then complained about how blending was difficult. LOL. (If you haven't realized by now, I'm really kinda lazy when it comes to eye primers. I think it's because in real life I don't wear that much eye makeup in real life, working in an office environment and all.)



Morning Star has big chunky bits of glitter that really add that level of glitz to the eye look. I typically hate chunky glitter, but Morning Star is interesting - the glitter in the eyeshadow really catches the light and sparkles in a very stunning way. Almost like a star! Dryad doesn't have big glitter, so there's less fallout, but it doesn't mean the shade is any less interesting. Dryad has a metallic sheen to it, and is a gorgeous shade of forest green with a lovely finish. I quite like the way the entire eye looks - the combination of two different finishes and glitter types really addes some textural interest.



Anyway, Dryad is still available on the Evil Shades website, if anyone's interested, although Morning Star isn't available anymore. I'm not sure how I would pair this look. I'd go for a nude blush, but I can't quite decide whether I should pair it with Christmas-classic red lips, or whether I should go nude for the lips as well. Anyone wants to help me decide on which is better?

(Products were sent for review - in this case, really means "given to me because Andrea is an awesome friend". Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Halloween Eye Look: Red and Black

After my Halloween nail look, I decided I needed to match it with a Halloween eye look. So here you go, a corresponding Halloween EOTD (Eye of the Day)! I decided to keep this look simple, and so I just followed with the red, black and white colour scheme from my Halloween nails, and simply used them in the most no-brainer way possible. And although this look isn't very complicated to reproduce (I mean, it's not very complicated), it really does stand out!

What I feel really made this look stand out was the use of Evil Shades Lucia, a shade I'd had for awhile now but had never dared to use up to now. It was just so scary looking in the pot, all red and bright and...just really intimidating, you know? I've had this for a long time, but I'd just never dared to use it! In fact, as you can see from the photo below, Lucia was part of Evil Shades' Auld Lang Syne Collection (yes, a CHRISTMAS collection) from last year. So yes, I really had it lying dormant for awhile. But I thought, well, since it was Halloween, why not bust out the shades I hadn't tried yet?



Lucia is a bright red shade, very bright, and very red. It's also a true red - no orange or blue tones in this one, just screaming, pure red. But in true Evil Shades style, Andrea (the owner of Evil Shades, blogger at Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss, and generally awesome all-around friend) has thrown in something a little more special into what would be just another matte red. There is actually pink shimmer dispersed throughout the shade, which gives it an interesting pink dimension in some lights and angles.



I really like the pink shimmer in Lucia, because on my eye, it reflects pink at different angles. This effect is most noticable when light hits the shade, and you get a pretty cool pink flash. In the photo below you can see the pink flash where the red meets the black portion, as that one is reflecting the most light. Pretty cool, huh?



For this Halloween eye look, I used Evil Shades Lucia on the lid, and used just a shimmery white on the browbone, and a matte black in the contour area. It probably doesn't really matter which white or black you're using with a shade as stunning as Lucia, but the white was Stila Moonlight and the black was Stila Ebony. Another thing I thought I'd add is that all the Evil Shades eyeshadows I've tried so far are really very pigmented. Evil Shades sure knows how to create a good shade, and they don't skimp on the quality!



Because Lucia is so pigmented, and because it's so intensly red, I found that where this shadow goes, it STAYS. Sure it's blendable (as you can see from the EOTD photos), but I did end up having to really wipe my brushes down to remove the last bits of Lucia before applying the next shade, in order to avoid colour mixing. Although Lucia isn't available, the latest Evil Shades Halloween Collection , has a couple of very interesting reds, with a shimmer and slight duochrome flash much like Lucia (although not pink).

All in all, I'm really glad to be rocking this awesome colour, although it's really quite far out of my comfort zone. (I have to confess: I eventually chickened out of wearing this out of my house, and had to wash it off before heading out. I'm a loser, I know.) I've always been a great fan of Evil Shades, and Andrea is such a nice person, everytime I use one of her products I really wonder why I don't have more Evil Shades stuff - I think it's just because I tend to prefer my eyeshadows in pressed form. But if you like indie makeup brands with very unique pigmented colours, it's a brand definitely worth your money. Now, I'm officially ready for Halloween!

(Evil Shades product given to me because Andrea is just a great friend. All other products were purchased by me. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Dupes or Not? Rock and Republic Kinky Vs Evil Shades Backtalk

Finding dupes in my stash always produces mixed feelings in me. Sometimes, it makes me happy, (Yes! That limited edition shadow has a permanent dupe!), sometimes it makes me sad, (What, did I just spend double the amount of money for two of the same product), and sometimes it just makes me incredulous (What?! You mean that expensive overpriced thing has a cheap dupe!?). In today's case, I'm feeling incredulous. And you'll see why.

Just take a look at these two blushes. They look pretty much the same in the packaging, don't they? Looks like they might just be dupes. And this is why I'm incredulous - the blush on the left is the cheap and cheery Evil Shades blush in Backtalk, while on the right is the ridiculously overpriced Rock and Republic blush in Kinky.



I know what you're thinking - wait, you mean that cheap indie Evil Shades brand has a dupe of that expensive Rock and Republic blush? Sure does look like it, doesn't it? When I saw these two side-by-side in my stash, I almost wanted to kick myself for having shelled out the money for Rock and Republic Kinky. I mean, sure, I did get it when it was on sale, but still... I felt vaguely cheated.

I consoled myself by saying, well at least there's some difference - Kinky is entirely matte, while Backtalk has some fine gold shimmer through the blush. So they're different enough to own both. I swear the fine gold shimmer in Backtalk is there, my camera is just having problems picking up the shimmer. I promise I didn't invent it to make them seem different and make myself feel better!



Anyway, the only sure way to know if something is a dupe or not, is to swatch both products side by side. So I did, and here we are:


L - R: Evil Shades Backtalk, Rock and Republic Kinky

Here you can see that they are close - very, very close - but they aren't absolute dupes. For one, as I've previously mentioned, Backtalk has non-obvious fine gold shimmer throughout the shade, while Kinky is matte. Also, Backtalk is a hair more neutral in undertone, probably due to the gold shimmer warming up the colour, while Kinky is a bit more blue-based, and thus cool-toned. But these differences are pretty minute, and I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference between them if they were worn sheerly on the cheek, except perhaps for the shimmer.

So, which one should you get, if you decide you don't want two almost-dupes in your collection? Well, I guess it would depend on your brand and price preference. Some people love Rock and Republic blushes, while some people love good prices, and that may be enough to sway a purchasing decision. But if you prefer a blush that's a bit more shimmery, then Backtalk is a better choice. Also, I feel like Backtalk's more neutral undertone would suit it better to a wider range of skintones, so if you aren't cool-toned, Backtalk would probably look better on you. They aren't perfect dupes, but I'd say you probably only need either of the blushes. (Although as a blush fiend, I still insist on keeping both!)

Evil Shades Dryad: Perfect Smokey Spring EOTD

I rarely wear loose eyeshadow, because I'm scared of the mess, but recently I've been venturing more into the arena with some colours that are pretty complex. Evil Shades, one of my perennial favourites for loose eyeshadows, has again captivated my heart, this time with another beautifully complex eyeshadow from their Mythology Collection, Dryad.

The Mythology Collection was launched some time ago, and Dryad is a beautiful metallic forest green, which is a very appropriate name, given that a dryad is a tree nymph in Greek mythology. Right from the start, Dryad captivated my attention even in the case. It just looked so intriguing:



That's a lot of product, given that it's all in a small container. These things can be massively pigmented, so a little bit will go a long way.

Here are dry and wet swatches. Dry, you get a blackened green, which is pretty to have, but perhaps not very stunning. However, once you foil it a little, you get a gorgeously stunning metallic forest green.



Don't you just love how it morph into something that's just pretty, to something so eye-popping? It's like the colour really comes to life when it's foiled.

Here's an EOTD I did using just Evil Shades Dryad, blended out into a white highlight - in this case, I used Evil Shades Ice Star. Simple, but pretty eye-catching:



And here's the eye closed. I liked this shadow, once foiled, it went on very well, and didn't give as much fallout as I thought.



And here's my eye in a really weird half-open, half-closed position. I was trying to get the picture at an angle where you could see the metallic finish of the eyeshadow, but obviously I failed, because the camera didn't pick up the subtlety of Dryad.



I don't normally wear such dark shades on my eyes, but I really enjoyed wearing this one! It's green, but it isn't your usual Springy-bright-happy green. Instead, this one is a Spring with a smokey twist - a sparkly, metallic, foil-like forest green. I do kinda feel like a forest nymph wearing this one!

Metallic Gold EOTD: Evil Shades Morning Star

Ooh, I'm finally stepping out of my comfort zone and wearing metallic shades on my eyes! OMG! What's next? Blue eyeshadow? LOL. Well, this came about because just awhile back I was raving about Evil Shades The Stars eyeshadow collection, particularly the shade Morning Star. I was going on and on about how it looked so cool once it was foiled, and I was just so excited that I had to do an EOTD (eye of the day) to show you guys.

So, ta-da! Here it is. I know it doesn't look like much, but I swear it looks better in real life. Photos seriously don't do this colour justice.



I'll be honest with you guys: being the glitter-phobe that I am, I seldom, if ever, wear glittery eyeshadows, so this was one of the few times I had to experiment with such a glitter-laden eyeshadow. Hence the fallout, so please pardon my newbie attempt! That said, I really love the shiny, sheen-y, shimmery effect this gave. Everytime the light hits my eyes from a different angle, I get all excited! It really does look much more vibrant and alive in real life...the photos just kind of flatten out the colour.



I paired Morning Star with Urban Decay's Twice Baked eyeshadow, a warm brown, because I'm boring like that, and it seemed like a sensible choice. I love Twice Baked, It's got some hint of shimmer, but not too much. I feel like it seems more of a matter to me than a true shimmer. It's awesome for pairing with zingy colours and for giving the eye a little bit more of a contour.

And another photo with my eye in this really weird angle. It was one of my failed attempts at capturing the complexity and blingy-ness of this colour.



Here's the breakdown for anyone interested:
Evil Shades Ice Star (applied dry for a highlight)
Evil Shades Morning Star (applied damp on lid)
Urban Decay Twice Baked in crease
Urban Decay Bourbon 24/7 Pencil Liner
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

I hope I did a good job at capturing the colour, and at not getting fallout all over my undereye and lashes!

(Evil Shades product was sent to me for review. Review is my honest and complete opinion. I am not affiliated with the company.)

Bling for your Eyes: Evil Shades Ice Star and Morning Star

Lately, I've been discovering a few lesser-known brands. One of my favourites of late is Evil Shades, which is all the work of Andrea, who, by the way also runs the blog Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss. Yup, she's one pretty funky lady, so of course the shades she makes would also be out of the ordinary. As you can imagine, like most other indie brands, her mantra is high quality and high pigmentation at a low cost - but unlike other brands, Evil Shades actually lives up to its name.

Case in point is the collection of loose powder eyeshadows, called The Stars, which were released awhile back, but are still available on her Evil Shades website here. These look like unsuspecting normal eyeshadows, right?



Wrong! These are actualy pretty darn awesome - once you foil them. The two shades I have, Ice Star, and Morning Star, actually primarily consist of a coloured glitter base with larger complimentary glitter. So yes, these are glitter-heavy. They were formulated to glisten and sparkle like stars, which would account for the glitter-intense formulation.

Here's a swatch of Morning Star and Ice Star:



L - Morning Star (applied dry), Morning Star (foiled), Ice Star (applied dry), Ice Star (foiled)

Morning Star is just a bunch of orange glitter dry, but once foiled it's a gorgeous pale gold with red specks of larger circular glitter. Really like what a morning star might look like!

Ice Star is a white that leans slightly blue, and has larger specks of blue circular glitter. Very icy and cool. This one also looks better foiled, but the difference isn't as drastic as Morning Star.

These aren't as interesting dry, but once you foil them, they totally wow you with their absolute gorgeousness. In my swatches, I foled both Morning Star and Ice Star with jut a spritz of water, and already they're blinging like nobody's business. No wonder they're shining like stars! Even though I'm not too keen on glitter, I really like the effect these give foiled.

Now the bad part: glitter fall-out. Because these are essentially just bits of glitter in varying sizes and colours put together, they do tend to fall out more than other loose shadows. Evil Shades has formulated them with some adhesion properties, so that helps, but glitter is as glitter does. So if you're not too keen on dealing with fallout, then these may not be your cup of tea.

So do you need these colours? Not if you're glitter-averse, or don't want bling for your eyes. But if you love the high-shine, intense-sheen, metallic effect, and you have the patience to work with these, you'll love them.

(Products sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affilated with the company.)

Fall/Winter 2010-2011 Dark Lip Trend on the Cheap: Evil Shades Deadly Wicked Gloss

Unsurprisingly, the dark lip is back for fall. This has been seen on the runways of Proenza Schouler, Missoni, Dior, blah blah other-boring-brands-I-never-look-at-because-I'd-rather-save-the-money-for-yet-more-makeup-and-polish. Okay, I honestly don't really care which brands featured it on the runways, but I'm glad that it's finally fashionable to wear some colour on your lips - I was starting to wonder if I was the only red-lip girl in a sea of nudes!

(Missoni Fall/Winter 2010, Image from Style.com)

This season's vampy lip colour of choice is a very blackened berry colour, almost a blackened purple. It looks cool on the runways, but obviously most of us will have to adapt it for real life, given the intensity of the colour. I'm not sure if I want to look like this if I wasn't on stage, performing, or strutting down a runway for obscene amounts of money (hah!):

(Proenza Schouler Fall/Winter 2010, Image from Style.com)

So I love the dark vampy lip, and I celebrate it's return. Question is - how is a poor student with a shoestring budget supposed to get her wearable vampy lip shade fix? Well, fortunately for us, we don't have to plunk down too much cash to actually get a vampy yet wearable shade!

Just look at this beauty I recently bought. Oh yes. Just admire it's beauty. It's vampy and dark, but still wearable, and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a lipgloss from indie makeup brand Evil Shades. I saw this online and I just HAD to have it. You understand, don't you? :P



Evil Shades is the creation of fellow blogger and twitterer Evil Angel, and her blog is awesome. It's a regular read on my RSS feed. And in addition to being a great blogger and a great person in general, she also makes killer cosmetics!

The beautiful thing about her Wicked Glosses (that's what she calls her lipgloss range) is that they're buildable and can be layered sheerly or applied more heavily for greater opacity. That's what I love best about Deadly, the drop-dead gorgeous shade I bought. If you want to wear it as it appears in the pot, you can layer it on for that runway effect, but if you don't want to wear it as an all-out vampy shade, you only need a little bit.

Let me stress - you only need a little bit:



You see that little swipe I made in the lid of the pot? Yes, that's how much you need. You really need that little if you want to wear it more sheerly. Don't make the mistake I made which was to goop it on, because you don't need that much! These Wicked Glosses are massively pigmented, so don't be fooled by the small size of the lipgloss pot. It is indeed small (it's the same size as their eyeshadow pots), but that tiny pot will last you a long time.

Here's a picture of my bare lips so that you have something to compare the lip swatches to. (I hope no one's getting sick of seeing the same picture of my bare lips everytime I do lip swatches!)



So, using that tiny blob of lipgloss, this was the look I got:



Applied sparingly and lightly, Deadly doesn't look deadly in any way. In fact, it's a very pretty deep rose shade. For sure, it's still a dark shade, but it's very wearable. If you're afraid of wearing a dark lip, this is a great way to ease into the colour family. Also, although you can see some fine glitter in the pot, it doesn't show up on the lip, because the glitter is very sparse and small, and because I only used a tiny amount. I actually like it better this way.

But what if you want to imitate that runway look a little more? You know, if this ain't vampy enough? That can be easily solved by using a greater amount of lipgloss. In fact, given the huge amount of pigmentation in this lipgloss, you're much more likely to end up applying too much colour instead of too little!

Layering the lipgloss, I was able to get this. I don't think the photo really did it justice though, it's richer and deeper in real life:



Here you get a really beautiful deep, dark berry shade. As you can see, the gold glitter is slightly more apparent on the lip now that I've used more gloss, but even so the amount of glitter in this is very small. I don't like glitter in my lipgloss as a general rule, but the amount of glitter in this isn't enough to bother me. I really love this shade. It's dark and vampy for sure, but it's not blackened like on the runways, so it's still wearable if you're looking for a shade like this.

Wear time on these was pretty good. They pretty much stayed on for as long as I wasn't eating or drinking. So I'm quite impressed. The quality is also excellent for the price - this wasn't sticky, and the scent is a fruity scent that's not cloying or overly artificial, and dissipates upon application. And they're just $3 at the Evil Shades Online Store! That's really cheap, even by etailer makeup pricing standards. And if you're lucky, she occasionally does free shipping deals, so you can even save on shipping.

So if you're looking for your wearable vampy lip, you can end your search and buy this now, and thank me later. Just don't buy up all the stock and remember to leave some for me. On second thoughts, I'd better tell you this sucks so you won't buy it, and they'll be more for me. Yup, that's right. This seriously sucks. If you hate pigmented lipglosses, if you hate non-sticky lipglosses, and if you don't want a versatile lip colour that can be layered, then this isn't for you. Yeah, it really sucks, you don't want it. Now excuse me while I sneak off to the Evil Shades website to stock up on these...um, I meant, buy them all up so you wouldn't have to suffer the pain of using such pigmented products.