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 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!

Meow Collections: Merry Mayhem, Glacial Grove, Winter Spirits

Meow Collections – Merry Mayhem, Glacial Grove, Winter Spirits

 Merry Mayhem

Secret Santa & Coal

            I decided to take a risk and try the Secret Santa although I typically stay well away from reds/ dark pinks.

Secret Santa: A true red with slight shimmer. This was a great buy considering Valentine’s Day was right around the corner.

Coal: Exactly what it sounds and looks like. Dark grey with multi-color sparkle. A nice all around liner and would make a good smoky eye.

Winter Spirits

Shiraz & Pinot Noir

         

   

Sheesh, could I have bought more purples?! Although, in hindsight, I think I should have got Chianti as well. Oh my fear of reds did not do me well.

Shiraz: Lavender that looks fairly opaque but glitters in the light and has some blueish undertones. Not that impressed because it feel like I’ve seen it before. Like it’s a blend of other lavenders I’ve seen.

Pinot Noir: Deep smoky purple with multicolor sparkle. I wasn’t super impressed with this either. Just didn’t strike me.

            These colors ended up not impressing me. I didn’t think they were rich enough so eh.

Glacial Grove

Brisk, Woodlands, Thicket, Icebound

            I think this collection is visually stunning and had really interesting glittery browns and tawnys that were different from what I have seen before.

Natural light: The pic doesn't actually show how glittery these are in the just regular light.

Brisk: Thought this would be pinker but it’s actually a slightly pinker, shimmery version of my skintone. It’s quite nice and would make a lovely brow highlight.

Woodlands: Dark rich brown with multicolor sparkle.

With Flash: This really shows the glitter

Thicket: Medium rich brown with multicolor sparkle.

Icebound: Interesting tawny silver with multicolor sparkle. I really liked this color and haven’t seen anything like it.

Woodlands and Thicket weren’t substantial different shades from the browns I have in my Kat Von D brown collection from Sephora but they have a ton of glitter in them. This makes them almost party or glamour browns and I’m glad I have them. I love Brisk and Icebound, they are interesting shades and look great with my skin. 

Next Christmas this is the collection I want to invest the most in.

All Together!

The Look! Modest Love

I was getting tired of my continuing Valentines theme (this was the last day on the theme) so instead of doing really red/pink eyes, I did red/browns; thus the name Modest Love.

Woodlands is the main eyeliner with Pinot Noir eyeliner in the outer corners. Brisk was on the whole eye with Secret Santa 

on the corners. Icebound is the 

brow highlight.

Whelp! That’s it for the Christmas Collections of Meow. I have a few collections left but they aren’t Christmas themed so they will be a little more spread out between other posts. Christmas is officially over for me now!

Meow Collections - 12 Pains

Meow Collections - 

12 Pains

This collection struck my funny bone as it’s all the bad stuff associated with Christmas. I loved reading the labels for these colors.

I was so excited for Tree Fire. It looked so beautiful! I also thought Lights Out looked stunning. In-Laws and Burnt Turkey also intrigued me while I thought Black Friday would be great as a liner. This collection excited me the most.

Tree Fire: It turned out a little redder and less orangey than I thought it would but I really like it and it goes well with Calories.

Party Crasher: Nice but not overly original. It’s very similar to other blues I got but it has a touch of seafoam.

In-Laws: This is actually a lighter glitterier (that’s a word!) version of Lights Out. It actually looks really nice paired with Lights Out.

Lights Out: Boy this does not look like its picture. I was expecting a smoky steel blue but instead I got a rich matte periwinkle. It’s very pretty though!

Burnt Turkey: A little bit of a disappointment. I expected it to be golder but it really just comes out brown. I prefer Geek Chic’s “We Are Coming” to this.

Black Friday: Plain glittery black eye shadow that works as a more complex liner than standard black. What I expected and I’m pleased.

This collection did not end up being as exciting as I thought but it had a couple of colors that I like and blending the blues together creates a really nice look.

The Look! Heat Wave Freezer

This creates a nice blue eye and the Tree Fire warms it up.

Lights Out as the upper eye liner and Black Friday as the outer lower liner with Party Crasher on the inside. Lights Out starts on the outside of the eye and blends into In-Laws then Party Crasher. Tree Fire is the brow highlight. I didn’t use Burnt Turkey.

This was the week before Valentine's and my nails were painted awesome in accordance!