Package from Arika!

Presents from Arika!

I got an awesome package from Arika a couple weeks ago. This included some great tea samples, including the tea flowers that open in hot water, which I love!

Arika also included scented candle wax thing in Sweet Orange and Chili Pepper, which Ansell is a huge fan of.

I LOVED the jewelry Arika sent me too. The sparrow necklace is gorgeous and fits in perfect with my upcoming fall wardrobe. It’s a little long so I’m going to add a loop further down the chain to shorten it. I also received stunning chandelier earrings that I wore to the 1920s party I went to. It worked great with my outfit and I really like how it looks with my short hair.

I miss my girls!

And, of course, I received some make-up. The lip color is nice but I have to be careful what I wear it with since it pales my lips out a lot. The eye shadows are great! A lot are from the Egyptian Treasure collection from Meow Cosmetics, which is a fav collection of mine. Again, these samples are perfect for the upcoming fall. Arika has great timing!

I am super happy and pleased with my package! Who doesn’t like a fun package, especially when it’s from someone who is so in tune with your likes and dislikes?

Thanks Arika!

x o x o

Meow-Summer Spirits, Rainforest, Spirit of Summer

Meow Cosmetics

Summer Spirits, Rainforest, Spirit of Summer

 

I arranged these by color rather than collection so you could see the differences between the colors better.

In bright sunlight

Summer Spirits - Mint Julep: Awesome minty/seafoam, shimmery, pastel green with hints of lime.

Summer Spirits - Teal Tini: Arika said I HAD to get this, and indeed I did. I wasn’t actually impressed with the color on the website but I love actually love it. It’s a really fresh bright teal.

Rainforest - Tropical: A bright lime color. SO summery! This is actually what I thought Starfruit from the Carribean collection was going to be and totally wasn’t.

In medium light

Rainforest - Bromeliad: Wow, this is pink. It’s a bright pink with some peachy undertone. I’m not sure if I can actually wear this but I will try!

Joys of Summer - Beach Bonfire: I liked how this color looked on Arika’s blog so I got a sample. It’s a deep burnt orange. I’m really interested in trying this out as a liner.

Summer Spirits - Jungle juice: Another very bright pink that almost verges into peach/orange but pulls back at the last second. It’s a fun color but I’m not sure how it will look on.

Rainforest - Torch: A delicious bright blend of orange and peach. It’s a less deep version of Beach Bonfire and much brighter.  

With Flash

Rainforest - Macaw: A standard bright, pure, yellow. Good staple to have.

Summer Spirits - Caribou Lou: Another standard pastel, soft yellow.

Free Samples

Pandora’s Box-Depravity: Really love this sample! It’s a deep rich, plum. Would make a fantastic dramatic smoky eye.

End of Days-Nibiru: Looove this color! A soft peachy that is so pretty and reminds me of peach macaroons. I can’t wait to use this. It also blends down soft and delicate.

I’m seriously considering getting a full size of this.

Meow Cosmetics- Caribbean Escape

                   Meow Cosmetics 

Caribbean Escape

Without Flash

Liner - Pirates: Smoky mute purple. Nice enough but not really for me. I should have tried this wet. It may have given a deeper color.

Liner - Typhoon: Royal Blue with no real sparkle. It’s very similar to other Meow shades. Really nice as an eyeliner.

Aruba: Interesting green rather like cat eyes.

Atlantis: A beautiful gold orange. Wish I’d gotten a full size in this.

With Flash

Dolphin: Dolphin blue is a very apt name. It’s a nice bright blue powdery blue that reminds me of vintage cars. I have got to stop ordering blues. I really don’t need any more!

Kiwi: Perfectly named! Very bright green that is fresh and fruity.

Mai-tai: Powderery gold yellow. Basic but nice. I’m not really sure what’s mai-tai about it though as it’s not super jazzy.

Papaya: I think this pink is really cute. It’s nice and mellow with a hint of peachy orange.

Ocean Spray: A bright tropical green. Really fun shade and I can see myself wearing it.

Shipwrecked: Deeeeeep purple. I think it would work really nice as a thick, bold eyeliner.

Starfruit: Bright, happy, yellow with not a hint of green. Again, Starfruit is a good name for it.

Blood orange: A very coppery orange. Orange colors are my new fav eyecolor so I took a risk and ordered a full size of this.

I really like how this looks here but not how it looks on me. I need to play with it.

Jerk: A deep peachy orange. Again loved this color and bought a full size.  It’s not matte but not super glittery. I love it in swatch but haven’t used it yet so I hope it looks good on.

Blush - Calypso: A darker, sublte pink with some gold sparkle. I haven’t used this yet so I’m not sure what it will look like actually on but I like it here.

Blush - Soka: A much brighter, bubblegum-esque pink, good on the apples of my cheek. Excellent for a 1940s pin-up look. It’s the blush I used for my 1920s and 1930s photoshoots with Paul Bohman

Feliner: Cat O’Nine Tails – A powder eyeliner. It’s made to use wet and you can see why. The first swatch is dry the second is wet. Boring brown dry but wet it’s a deep chocolate brown with copper sparkles. I love this! It’s such a nice alternative to black and really brings out my blue eyes.

Free Sample - Midnight Sun: Medium periwinkle. Didn’t go on well. Needed water to get it on. So, while I like the color I’m not sure I’ll use this particular sample much.

Free Sample - Endless nights: Love this light, sparkly purple just wish it played better with my skin. Maybe it would look better on Arika.

Meow Cosmetics - Neptune's Grotto

Meow Cosmetics - Neptune's Grotto

Meow Cosmetics does some great sale and I got this collection at 14% off with free shipping. Yeah!

This whole collection is just various shades of blue, greens, blue-greens, and silver-grays. So while I love each and every one of these shades if you aren’t a big fan of those colors there’s no need to forge ahead.

 

I will note that the greens you see in Meow’s collection picture are nowhere near that green as you will see below. I know I sound like a broken record but c’mon get some skin swatches for these things.

Since the colors were all so similar I washed my brush between each one of these swatches so you get the truest color possible.

Malawi: Nice strong medium blue with light sparkle.

Acheron: Probably the only shade that looks exactly like the Meow picture. A smoky medium-dark blue that is shimmery but not sparkly.

Tanganyika: Lovely light-medium blue with shimmer. More intense than the Meow picture.

Saltwater: In the Meow picture this looks like a light smoky green. Not at all, instead it’s an intense shimmery light silver with a few sparkles and a slight undertone of blueish-green. I like it better than the Meow picture color.

Blue: Similar to Malawi but perhaps less deep and a little more silvery.

Chasm: This is an interesting color. When used wet it’s a blue even more intense than Malawi but with less shimmer and more silver sparkle. However if lightly brushed on dry it’s a very light blue with more silver sparkle.

Grotto: Any time you see a shade that looks green in the collection, it’s not. However, I think the actual color is so much better! Grotto is the lightest blue of the collection without tripping into being silver. It’s lovely, light, and shimmery with no sparkle.

Seaspray: A medium-light blue with some green undertones and shimmery with light sparkle.

Black Crystal Abyss: LOVE this color! It’s slightly darker than the Meow picture but pretty close. It’s a deep color that treds that fine line between blue and black without turning grey. Has pink/red sparkle in it with very light shimmer to it.

Phlegethon: A stunning deep blue that is darker than the Meow picture and more complex but pretty close to the actual color. This color is so beautiful and really stands out as the deepest, most intense blue of the collection with light sparkle.

Dead Sea: True to the Meow picture, an intriguing mix of intense smoky blue and green without quite being teal or aqua. Intense shimmer and sparkle.

Abzu: A silvery aqua green. A nice color and would be very complimentary to a certain color outfit but it’s such a specific shade that I’m not sure I would wear with just anything.

The grays in this collection are stunning!

Styx: Well heeelllooo gorgeous deep dark grey with pink sparkle that will look amazing as eyeliner! Oh yes, we will be keeping you around.

Cocytus: Can I have your number? An amazing strong silver with plenty of shimmer and sparkle. Underneath lurks just a hint of green for complexity. Goes on easy and intense. A must have for any silver lover.

Rio Negro: Gah! I don’t know if this sample was just made wrong but it is such a beautiful light silver that is more shimmer and sparkle than anything else but boy was it clumpy to put on! It has an almost pink undertone warming it up and it’s a real stunner.

Lethe: A fairly standard medium silver that is mostly shimmer and less sparkle. Rounds out the grays nicely but as a stand-alone (especially compared to Cocytus) it lacks complexity.

All together now!

Without Flash

With Flash

      I LOVED this collection. I'm going to do some serious sampling over the next few weeks and then buy several full sizes from this collection. For sure I will at least get the two deep blues Black Crystal Abyss and Phlegethon and my top favorite silvers Styx, Cocytus, and Rio Negro. I will have to think about the other blues and greens. They are all so beautiful!

Ansell's Spanish House Party

Spanish House Party

Ansell invited a few friends over for a Spanish themed party. In total we had about 12 people and it was a great mix of company.

BAM!

Ansell made all the Spanish tapas himself. Here is he working on a Spanish omelet.

In total he made:

Grilled pepper sticks

Serrano ham with various olives on baguettes

Chorizo and Manchego, Tuna and tomato with anchovies, salmon and cream cheese with olives and cream cheese with guava paste on crackers. Shiva brought along peanut butter cookies.

Toasted bread with garlic and tomato, potatoes with aioli, deviled eggs (I did those!), Spanish omelets, and various olives.

One of our friends Jessie and his girlfriend brought along a baguette with Brie and homemade olive spread and sweet date spread.

Brian made an amazing pastry dessert with Brie and sugared walnuts.

Haysel made a delicious stiff flan that I didn’t get a picture of unfortunately.

We heard and exchanged some interesting stories while we ate. 

Mock fights broke out and champagne runs were made.

Then we smoked the hookah and Ansell showed our group some hookah tricks.

If you get a toilet paper tube, dip it into dish soap, then blow hookah smoke through it you can make smoke bubbles.

It’s fun to see how long you can keep the bubble in the air until it bursts.

It was a great night and a great success! Can’t wait to have another one… as long as Ansell still does the cooking!

The Look! Hippy Chic

  

I used the Glacial Grove Collection from Meow Cosmetics for this look. 

Woodlands was the eyeliner, Thicket on the eye, with Icebound as the brow highlight. I dusted the Gold Aurora from Meow Cosmetics over the whole eye for extra shine.