Chinovi Cosmetics review

One of my favorite things to do is browse other beauty blogger's sites/ blogs. I love finding out about new indie companies, and just reading others' thoughts on products. While doing this one day, I stumbled upon a company that was totally new to me- Chinovi Cosmetics. The line is not officially up and running yet, but you can check out Vanessa's blog, 'Ooh...Makeup!'  here. It's definitely worth the read. Vanessa  does some gorgeous looks- check out her 'Fierce' entry for the Never Too Much Sparkle showcase on Facebook.
In one post, Vanessa mentioned that she was looking for people to test out some colors she was working on for the Chinovi Cosmetics launch (She's hoping to have it going early 2012). Of course, I was all over this. I emailed her right away with a few colors she'd posted that jumped out at me the most. Vanessa was quick to email me back, letting me know that, unfortunately, she was working on some formulation changes, and some colors I'd selected were not available. Luckily, one of the ones I wanted most (Fins) was still available. I told Vanessa I'd be happy to try out whatever colors she sent me. Three days after our last email exchange, an envelope arrived in my mailbox. Awesome TAT!
Let's take a look at what I got!

Ten baggie samples, and one full sized jar!
From the top: Independence,Fun Day, Cool Runnings, Blame, Nude Pearl+, Poison, Fins, Funhouse, Kettle, Poww. Full sized jar in Simona. All the baggies have the ingredients listed on them, as well as a note as to whether they are not lip safe, vegan, etc. Simona had the ingredients listed on the shrink wrapped portion, which looks nice, but once you've unwrapped the shadow, it's pretty much done fo.r I love the little bow design on each baggie as well!

Vanessa also included a handful of business cards, and a mini questionnaire page. I'll be answering these at the end of the post.

On the back of the page was a sweet little handwritten note. ^.^
I forgot to photograph this part, but inside the regular envelope, my items were in a hot pink bag with a star sticker to close it. The overall design of this company is really adorable!

Time to see some swatches!

Top row is bare skin, bottom row is  over NYX primer.
L-R: Fins, Independence, Poison, Fun Day, Funhouse.

As you can see, these really show up better with a primer. Applied directly onto bare skin, these will give you a nice, sheer wash of color, which is great for some girls, but I like my colors a bit more intense. Thankfully, the primer works perfectly for this!

L-R: Cool Runnings, Kettle, Nude Pearl+, Poww, Blame, Simona
Poww and Simona look nearly identical in pictures, but in reality they are very different. Poww is a blackened grey color with shimmery blue glitter, and Simona is a rich purple with pink sparkles.

 See the pink sparklies in Simona? LOVE.

Here's a look I did using Fun Day, Cool Runnings, and Fins. How cool do these colors look together?

Out of all the colors, the only one I was even a little disappointed with was Nude Pearl+. It's just too light for my personal taste. But I LOVE the rest of them, with Funhouse, Poison, Kettle and Simona being the top standouts.

Now onto the question sheet.
1. Was the product what you expected? Yes. The colors are fairly pigmented, and really pop over primer.

2. Did the product apply smoothly? Yes. No problems there.

3. Did the product bother you in any way? Irritation-wise, no. However, I did notice there was a decent amount of fallout with some shades. Vanessa did mention to me that she was in the process of reformulating some colors, so maybe that problem will be fixed with that. I did not have fallout issues with Simona, which is made with the  new formula, so we shall see if that does indeed fix the issue.

4. Would you purchase this product or another product from this line? Yes. I am in love with Kettle and Poison.

5.Anything else you would like to add? I love the color selection I received- I feel that's a good way to show a prospective customer exactly what you're all about, and gives them the chance to see what colors they prefer, to make ordering easier. Packaging is adorable, and email communication is top-notch.
I strongly recommend  making a purchase with Chinovi Cosmetics asap. You won't regret it.


Disclaimer: All items were sent free to me for review purposes. This does not change/ affect my opinions in any way, shape or form.

yeah, I'm here

just a quick update- finally got my first bottle of Seche Vite top coat. Also have reviews coming on Chinovi cosmetics, and an awesome little package I got thanks to Christina from Confessions of a Glitterholic.Posts on all this coming soon.

Lime Crime Elf

I've seen a lot of controversy surrounding Lime Crime...I hesitated buying these, but they were so damn cheap I couldn't resist. (thank you, Mega Geeks Inc! ) I ordered Elf and Empress. I was originally going to get only Empress -I'm a sucker for purples- but after finding swatches of Elf, I fell in love.

 Blinked at the wrong moment :(
The purple is Bliss by Vixoden cosmetics.. (love it)

 SOOO PRETTY

Sparklies! Yes, I'm aware I look like a dork :/
I've made it through my week of hell hours ^.^ Two whole days off!!

I leave you with this quote from The Office (love that show)
Andy: "I'm not insightful enough to be a movie critic...Maybe I could be a food critic: These muffins taste bad....Or an art critic: This painting is bad." *shrugs*

Pretty Addictions contest look

just a short and sweet post today.
Here's my contest entry for Pretty Addictions' 'show us your palettes' contest. The rules were simple: take a picture of your palette collection, pick one as your favorite, then design a look using ONLY those shadows from that palette. (You could, however, use any lipgloss, mascara, etc that you wanted.) The winner gets to design a new shadow trio to be released next month. Here's my entry. (This is the Kleancolor Hawaii Rainbow collection)

I'll be honest, I wasn't able to take as much time on this as I'd hoped, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out, and hopefully I'll win, because that would be amazing..the artist in me is hoping super badly to win this. designing an eyeshadow trio for PA would be a dream come true. Wish me luck!

so..yeah.not makeup related in the least.

I really don't have much to say. Next week is going to be slammed for me..Hard to believe there's only 10 days til Christmas. Thank God I get paid tomorrow so I can get some gifts shopped for... I hate not having $$ to do things, and hate even more relying on people to have to pay stuff for me. I can't wait until 4 pm rolls around tomorrow...at that time I'll be off work, and can start to shop my lil' heart out,lol. I loveee Christmas shopping. Hell, I love shopping in general...it;s one aspect of me that is very girls XD. There's just something about searching stores high and low for that special gift for that special someone..and then wrapping them all up...oh yeah, I love that too! But I feel so so behind at this point in time... I just got my grandparents taken care of, and I've had my aunt and uncle's stuff for a couple months, but everyone else...hoo boy. I still need :
Gifts for: Mom
Brother
Sis
Great Grandma
Great Aunt
Bf's family- his parents, his two sister, his brother, and of course, the bf himself XD At least I already know what I'm getting him..I just have to actually get it, lol
And on that note, I think it's time to go start decorating.., Our tree is sitting in the corner looking sad and naked..I must do something about that. I'm also waiting on a sample package from Pretty Addictions, which should be arriving in the next day or so, so keep an eye out for that.

NYC New York Color

After hearing about all the goodies that  box subscription services like Birchbox and Luxebox had to offer, I went on a search to find a cheaper version. Luckily, I stumble onto Influenster. link here. Influenster was only accepting a certain amount of people to recieve their Holiday Voxbox. I sent them my information, and was pleasantly surprised when I recieved an email from them a few days later, saying that I was selected to receive the 2011 Holiday box!


I'm going to get to all the items in a whole post another day, but today I'm going to showcase one of my favorite items I recieved in the box: NYC liquid lipshine.
I've been a fan of NYC for years. I loved their double ended eyeliners and their roll on lipglosses (I've been wearing this stuff a long time...I'm honestly not even sure if they still make either of those products...) I've never gotten to try the liquid lipshine, though.

From the Voxbox NYC page: A beauty-editor favorite is Liquid Lipshine ($2.49). It has pure pigments that created a 3-D gloss effect. Vitamin E provides shine and a moisturizing feel. The formula is non-sticky, super shiny & soft. Available in 10 on-trend shades from neutral nudes, to berries & fuchsias.

 NYC Liquid Lipshine in Nude York City.
My first nude lippie ever. I've never been one for nude lips, for fear they'll make me look like a mannequin  0.o. I usually stick with clear . So this was an interesting new experience for me.
Frst impression: This stuff applies like a dream. Or at least, pretty close to one. It applies smoothly, smells great (very subtle smell, but nothing plastic or artificial.) There's virtually no stickiness either. This stuff is pretty nice, and definitely one of my favorite items in the Voxbox.

You can find nyc cosmetics on their website (http://www.newyorkcolor.com/)  as well as most stores: Target, Walmart, Walgreens, etc.

Anotehr Pretty Addictions look

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of what I wore to work today :( so, here's another look I did earlier this week and didn't manage to post yet. Yay for procrastination!

Products used: Pretty Addictions eye candy in Gossip on the eyelid and Electric Lemonade blended above.

Speaking of Pretty Addictions, Kas had some games on her Facebook last night. (facebook.com/prettyaddictions ) , and yours truly won the final round scavenger hunt. So I'll be getting a sample tin here soon. I can't wait to see what colors she picks to put in my prize (it's all a big mystery,lol )
 I actually like the fact that I won't know what colors I'll be receiving. I've ordered from PA twice in the past, and Kas knows I'm a fan of bright eye colors, so we'll see what colors she chooses ^-^

Til next time...

so tired...

So very, very tired. Getting ready to face an 8 hour shift today, followed by a 7.5 hr one tomorrow. I'm off Monday (hopefully the bf and I will be heading to Busch Gardens), then I work Tuesday- Saturday. >.<  I should also mention 2 of these shifts are closing shifts, which I hate with a passion, especially during the holidays. On the plus side, this should make for a fairly decent paycheck, and I can finally do some damn Christmas shopping!
Anyways, there's a few looks I've taken pictures of that just haven't made it up yet for one reason or another. Here's one of them:

Products used:
Eyes: Urban Decay cream shadow in Delinquent, Pretty Addictions' Wicked, Mary-Kate and Ashley glitter in Night. (Side note- I love this glitter. I could give two shits about the Olsen affiliation. It's a gorgeous black glitter with pretty holo glittery bits mixed in. Amazing. )
Lips: Urban Decay Lip Junkie in Crush over Urban Decay lipstick in Jilted . I am officially in love with Crush. I stopped in Sephora the other day while I was out an about, and this just happened to be a different Sephora then my normal haunt. So I walked around for a minute, trying to see if there was anything pretty I could test out. I spotted the Lip Junkie and impulsively decided that was the sample I would take home. The sales girl gave me the teenyist amount, so I may have to actually go back and buy a full size... *sigh* But it'd be worth it. The lip junkies have the minty tingly goodness, which is a huge bonus for me, and Crush is gorgeous on my lips. Damn near perfect lip gloss, IMO.

 Woah, check out the mega sparkle on one eye only -.- not sure why that happened :(

I'm not terribly thrilled with how i look in any of these pictures..I rarely do dark eyeshadow, and this may be why 0.o
That's it for now.

OPI by Sephora

I belong to a group on Facebook called Never too Much Sparkle.You can find it here. The girls in the group post different looks, opinions on companies, and things like that. Well, one of the girls on the page mentioned that she'd gotten a $15 gift card from Sephora emailed too her. Other girls were saying the same, so I checked my email, and sure enough...there it was. The email said the card was good for $15 off a minimum $50 purchase...Sigh. But wait! Back at NTMS, girls were saying if you place the order online, there was no minimum! Worth a shot. I logged onto Sephora's site, and started looking around. One of the first things that caught my eye was the nail polish two-pack in Just a Little Dangerous and Silver Blasted. I love anything purple, and I've been dying to get my hands on silver crackle/shatter, so this was a win-win for me. The set is a $19 value (OPI by Sephora runs $9.50 a bottle), and was offered as a package deal for $10. With the gift card,I ended up paying .95 out of pocket to cover the remaining shipping. not too bad.
Let's get to some pics!

I love the packaging these came in, but I couldn't justify saving it, so it went in the trash :/

One coat of Just a little dangerous. I think it's a bit more wine colored than the website's swatches show, but I'm still really digging this color.

Shattery goodness ^.^

Just another view.



 All in all, I really do love these polishes. I am not the girl who shells out $10 for a nail polish, so I'm really glad I was able to pick these two up for free! Not to mention I finally got me some silver shatter! lol

vixoden..again.

I owe Kim a review for my awesome promoter package...very sorry to the girls at Vixoden for the delay on this. But here it is, better late than never, I suppose.

As stated in a previous post, I applied to be a promoter for Kim's Kreations/ Vixoden Cosmetics. I got a package in the mail last week containing a the entire Cyber Goth colllection. I was beyond excited about this, because the Cyber Goth collection has two of my FAVORITE colors, Ecstasy and Cryogenic. I couldn't wait to dive in and examine my sparklies.

 This is Ecstasy. The most beautiful blue in the universe. More on that later.The shadpw names are written on a sticker on the bottom of each jar. no ingredients are listed. Each 5g came with a sifter top. The sifter was covered with a kind of strange sticker..I'm going to try to find my picture I took of it, it might be on my other laptop :/  The stickers covering the sifters are those little round colored dots you use to mark prices on yard sale stuff, you know what I mean? I'm hoping in the future they switch to different covers, as these were kinda difficult to remove. (Side note- I removed the sifters from my jars as well. I just prefer jars w/o sifters, but I know everyone has a different opinion of that.)

Freak Show: This is one color I didn't yet have. Kim's facebook describes it as a ''fake bake'' color with red, orange and yellow glitter.
I actually don't have many nude colors, they're not really my thing, but I was blown away by this color. It's sooo pretty. Swatches below:

Initially, I thought this would be a good bronzer color, but upon applying it, I think it'll be a touch too dark for that. Doesn't matter though; the color is gorgeous. Swatch above is bare skin in top, and over NYX primer on the bottom.

Sex n' Candy: gorgeous shimmery pink color. This makes me happy every time I open it, and it compliments my purples nicely. Kim says: ''This is an awesome bubble gum pink with a blue duo chrome exploding with pink, purple, and rainbow glitter with more shimmer and sparkle than you you imagine!!'' I'm inclined to agree. I LOVE duochromes. I think there's something so cool about a color that looks one way in one light, and a completely different color in another light. ^.^

Rave: Gorgeous teal. Sparkly and awesome. Kim says it's not too bright, but not too light.The picture doesn't capture the sparklies in the shadow at all, but believe me, it's stunning.

Cryogenic: This is one of the color that truly made me fall for Vixoden. It was sent to me previously as a random sample in my first ever Vixoden order, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have more. Cryogenic is a gorgeous shimmery green color. Not neon, and not subtle, it's the perfect springtime green. I'm in love. But even Cryogenic, as wonderful as it is, cannot hold a candle to... *drumrolllll*

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. That is all. I want to fill a pool with this and Shiro's Majora's Mask and just...bathe in it...Yeah. Sooooo sparkly and Shimmery...if Sex n Candy makes me happy (hm.That sounds...wrong...), Ecstasy makes me...ecstatic. Like,HELL YEAH happy. If you only get to order one product from Vixoden, make Ecstasy the one. Trust me.

Sex n Candy without the sifter, to show the fullness of the jars, as well as the lid. How cute is their logo???

 Freak Show. Not this orangey/pink IRL

Cryogenic <3

 Rave ^-^

All in all, I realllyrealllylove vixoden. Kim is super fast to respond, and ultra sweet. Vixoden and Pretty Addictions are my 2 favorite Indie makeup brands, and their colors play very nicely together. I'm super grateful to Kim for allowing me to be a promoter so I could spread the word of the sparkly goodness that is Vixoden Cosmetics !

Disclaimer: These colors were provided to me at no charge. However, this fact does not influence my opinions or blogwriting in any way, shape or form.