Better Together Eyeshadow Palette + Mascara + Liner

Stockholm was good to me! The previous time I was there, I looked at this Too Faced x Kat von D set that was slightly discounted, but decided not to get it. It bugged me later, and I decided to go look the next time in Sephora if they still had it. Not only did they, but it was even cheaper! So I just had to buy it :>

The set has a full size Tattoo Liner in black, full size Better Than Sex mascara and a palette with two different sides that are held together by magnets, so you can easily take them apart if you want to use only one side.

The Too Faced side of the palette. Better Together is the perfect light smoky eye shade for pale skin!

Kat von D side of the palette.

I think the set was well worth the money. I paid around 27 euros for the set on discount, and even the Tattoo Liner alone would have cost about 20 euros. The mascara I sold, as my eyes water easily and water soluble mascara is really not an option. I've been using the Too Faced side of the palette quite a lot, and the Kat von D side looks very usable for evening and club looks too. I really like the design of the palette and the magnetic connection. Easy to use, nice looking and the shades are great!

Everlasting Lip Liner by Kat von D in Homegirl

I wasn't too excited when I heard Kat von D was releasing lip liners, but when I realized the line had the perfect shade for my brows, I just needed to give them a go. I bought this one from Vancouver. I always use lip liner when I wear traditional wax-based lipsticks, to get more wear out of them. My go-to liners are Mac lip pencils, but occasionally I use an OCC liner or a Nyx one. The Mac liners are very dry (I mostly use Nightmoth and Cyberworld) and stay on my lips well. Kat von D's liner is very different. Where the Macs, Nyxs and OCCs are waxy and will eventually melt, the Everlasting Lip Liner goes on just like a wax based liner, but then sets and stays on much better. Much like the Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks, it is very resistant to smudging and can be removed only with oil-based cleansers (or actual oil).

Homegirl was my choice of shade, as I just never get bored of dark reds! I own a lot of dark red lipsticks so the shade works with many lipsticks, but I also do my brows with lip liner so I wanted a shade that works also for that. I have to say that for brows the liner sets a little bit too fast. I would need more time to work the pencil. The skin on my forehead is also much more oily than on my lips, so the liner doesn't stay quite as well as on lips, but it's still very good.

The pencil is made of plastic and is of the twist up variety.

The tip straight out of package.

Kat von D Everlasting Lip Liner in Homegirl on pale skin.

I have to say I'm quite impressed with how well the liner stays! The shade is lovely and the packaging works well. I could happily buy this product in another shade too!

Nyx Lip Suede in Subversive Socialite

Moar dark purple lips! This is Nyx Lip Suede in Subversive Socialite, used with the matching lipliner. The liner looks a bit lighter on my lips than the Suede, but works well for fixing the outlines to get a very precise application with crisp borders. Usually liners tend to melt a bit on my lips and smudge, but this one is not very prone to it, possibly with the liquid to matte Suede keeping it free of any oils.

The shade is gorgeous, very me! I love my dark purple and Subversive Socialite is right up my alley. It's a plum purple, red based. On my lips the staying power is very good. While there is slight crumbling in the middle of the lips, the shade stays very nice for 5+ hours without touching it up. So it's not only beautiful, but also does what it's supposed to do. Perfect!

Sugarpill Dark Lipsticks

I tried to resist these babies for a long time, saying to myself that I have many dark purple lipsticks and that I barely use wax-based lipsticks anyway. Well, then Sugarpill had a sale, and the glittery packaging just overwhelmed me and I ended up ordeting two lipsticks anyway ;D But just look at that glittery goodness!

I was already swooning for the pink and white packaging, bit when white switched to black for the Darkside collection, I almost knew I couldn't resist. I'm a highly visual person, I want my surroundings and belongings to please my eye. I would probably choose something visually pleasing with a slightly worse performance over something that looked ugly to me but was more efficient. I'm willing to pay extra for beautiful packaging and special colours. Especially if there's glitter involved!

So that's why I ended up owning Sugarpill's Anti-Socialite and Darksided lipsticks. I do love dark lipsticks (just see this post and you will understand how far my obsession goes) and Cyber is my favourite Mac lipstick, so these two were easy choices. The line also has a plain black and a dark blue, but I have found my perfect black lippie and blue I simply do not wear.

Sugarpill Anti-Socialite

Anti-Socialite is a dark rusty red. You can layer it a bit, to get a lighter or darker shade. In my picture it looks too light. The tone is fairly neutral, I can't say if it's cool or warm. A very nice and easy colour to wear for many skintones.

Sugarpill Darksided

Darksided is a dark purple. Despite my worries that it would be a match for Mac Cyber, it's not even close. Darksided is way brighter and more blue. A true purple, I would say. It's not plum but a plain, nice purple, just the way I like it!

From left to right: Sugarpill Anti-Socialite, Sugarpill Darksided, Mac Cyber and Urban Decay Pandemonium.

Here's a side by side comparison with some lipsticks I though might be close to Darksided. Mac Cyber looks like a blend between Anti-Socialite and Darksided, it's a lot more plum toned than Darksided. Urban Decay has lots of great purples in their new lipstick line, but Pandemonium looked like the closest match, but it's not at all close. So yay, I managed to buy a purple lipstick that does not look like my other purple lipsticks, go me!

I have to say I am happy I got these lipsticks. I've been using wax-based lippies to touch up liquid-to-mattes during the day, as they moisturize better and don't create the crumbling effect that sometimes happens when you try to add some more liquid-to-matte to the center of the lips and end up with a too thick layer. And just looking at the glittery packaging makes me happy!

ArtboxWolf Hand Painted Clothing

Vaiva from ArtboxWolf contacted me to ask for a collaboration. As soon as I saw her beautiful designs, I knew this was something I really wanted to do. I was traveling at the time, but when I got home, a wonderfully packed gift from ArtboxWolf was waiting for me.

What's inside, you ask? I brand new black harnessed top with Mystic Master design! What Vaiva does is that she uses the same sketch, but paints each picture by hand, so no two are similar. I'm really a big fan of painting by hand, I went to art school and have a soft spot for the extra work that goes into painting. Unique pieces with personal touches by the artist are wonderful! The themes of the designs are occult and nature related, and have Vaiva's touch on them, creating a lovely mystical atmosphere. I love forests and am interested in old pagan traditions of nature worship, so I feel like there designs speak to me. There is something very Nordic in them.

I paired the top with a long flowing skirt, a faux leather jacket and a faux leather harness. It is very comfortable to wear, nice soft fabric, and the painting feels like it will last for a long time. The black and white design is easy to pair with almost anything, but if black is not your thing, you can order this same design in many different colours, and the print can be done in different colours as well. I ordered the top in M just to make sure it would not be too snug, but the sizing is quite generous, no need go a size up. Especially with this top, I think it might look even better if it was a tiny bit tighter, but I'll just take it in a bit when I have the time :)

While the design is hand painted, it's doesn't require any extra care. I'm super lazy with high maintenance clothing, so I am very happy about this. You can wash the top in the machine inside out and even tumble dry on low heat.

I really love the harness detail on the top, it's the perfect addition to the slight sheen of the fabric and the lovely rough painting style. Looks good, has interesting details, and is easy to wash and dry. Just my kind of a thing!

Milani Amore Matte Metallic Lip Crème in The Ultimatte

I have to say I simply love the new metallic matte lipsticks that are beginning to make their way to shops! This one is called The Ultimatte, and it's a Milani Amore Matte Metallic Lip Crème, what a mouthful! The shade is basically a cool dark pink with a metallic sheen. A simple and easy colour, and looks great with my skin tone. The product looks a bit darker in the tube, but on my lips this is the perfect tone. They staying power is amazing, I barely have to touch it up once or twice during an eight hour work day with lunch.

The Ultimatte is one of the newest shades in the range. I picked mine up from a CVS at San Francisco. It looks like the Nordic online shops don't yet carry this shade, but I hope they will get the new ones, as I'd love to try the other shades as well. 

Lets see if my matte lipstick obsession will move towards the metallics, as more appear. So far I only have this one and a metallic Velvetine from Lime Crime, and both look gorgeous. While matte finishes allow you to shape your lips easily, the metallics make lips look more plump and are maybe a little bit less drying than mattes. I still love the liquid-to-matte formula that makes the lippie stay in place with no smudging or feathering. This is the best of both worlds!

Sugarpill Trinket

I'm a big fan of Sugarpill products, as you might already know. When they came out with liquid to matte lipsticks, I just had to try them out! I have so far tried three: Trinket (pictured here), Kim Chi and Strange Love, the lippie from Sugarpill's Valentine's set. Kim Chi was insanely hard to get to work with my skin tone, and Strange Love wasn't as dark on me as in the shop pictures, so those two have gone to new loving homes.

Sugarpill Trinket

Trinket has stuck, and maybe you can see why. The shade is very unique, a peachy pink with golden glitter. In my pics the lipstick is freshly applied, but the glitter becomes more obvious with wear. Trinket leans towards orange on me, but it just somehow works amazingly.

The golden glitter makes the shade appear more orange than the peachy base on its own. It's still not too orange, but just the perfect golden peachy blush shade that is hard to capture and describe. The formula is very nice, lightweight and stays forever. I'm not a big fan of the truffle scent, but it doesn't linger long on the lips, so I can live with that. For some reason the printed markings on my tube seem to fade very fast when I keep the lipstick in my bag or a pocket. They don't stand as much wear as what I'm used to with lippies. It's a minor issue, but makes the tube look a but untidy.

Trinket is very easy to apply and I don't need to touch it up in hours. It is a bit demanding on the eye make-up, I would maybe not do very colourful looks to go with it since Trinket is so bright. I find this to be a good thing, as I can just put on mascara and add Trinket and be all ready to go. A lovely product!

Kat von D Shade + Light Plum Quad and Two Looks

I had had my eye on the Shade + Light Plum Quad by Kat von D for some time, but since I didn't come across any lightly used previously owned ones, I picked one up from Debenhams at London. They had a wonderful counter with shiny black antique furniture and lovely sales reps.

I didn't catch that the the palette has actual bevelled letters on the cover until I took it out of the cardboard box. I love it!
I really like the shape of the palette and the lettering is gorgeous.

Plum shades usually work very well on my eyes, bringing out the green in them. For some reason this palette is quite tricky to get to show correctly in photos. I think it looks too red in my pictures, when IRL the two middle shades, especially the darker one, lean more towards purple.

The shades don't seem to have names, so I'll call them by their use. Base is a pinkish beige, a bit darker than my skin but not much. Define is a deep plum, less red than in my pictures, but still with red undertones to make it nicely bring out green eyes. Contour is much like a darker version of base, but slightly more taupe and cool. Highlight is a very light warm pink. All of the are matte.

I did two different looks with the palette so far. All of the shadows are very pigmented but are still easy to blend. With so much pigment you really need the base shade to use as help when blending out the edges of the darker shades. I often use the same brush and just lightly brush off the pigment to switch to another shade, but with these shades you really need to grab a new brush if you go for a lighter shade. The two middle ones are intense and dark.

Highlight on inner corner and brow bone, define at the crease and outer edge, contour on the lid and blended up. I blended the edges of contour with the base shade. The liner is Urban Decay Delinquent, a dark purple with some glitter.

 I'm still learning how to do make-up after the eye lift, but I'm pretty happy with my lids now! I don't have to bring the crease shadow as high up as I used to, so I have much more space for blending it out towards the brows. Also my lids is more visible, so it allows better use of light shades on the lid, instead of everything looking like a smoky eye when the hooded part of the lid fell over the moving lid to hide anything I put there.

Naturally I wanted to try a smoky eye next!

For the smoky eye look, I put higlight on the inner corner and brow bone. The I added countour on the whole lid and blended up with the help of base. I then put define on the lash line on both upper and lower lid, and just a touch in the crease. The lipstick is a metallic liquid-to-matte from Milani. The look is quite dark, but that's just how I like it!

Look how the scar is almost invisible already! It's been a little over three weeks since the operation.

I would have wished for the shades to be even more red, to have a more stunning effect on my eyes. I have one ancient pressed eyeshadow that is just the right shade of plum to make my eyes look vividly green, but I have not been able to find anything that does the same. I still do like the Kat von D quad, it's easy to use, the highlight shade is good (I mention this because for some reason palettes rarely have light enough highlight shades for my pale skin) and you can do many kinds of looks with the four shades. The pigment is amazing and the texture of the shades is great, they are easy to blend and all the shades work well together. While this palette may not be the one I pick up for party looks, it is a very nice palette for sculpted matte looks and matte smoky eyes. 

Lime Crime Diamond Crushers in Choke Review

Please note, I cannot recommend ordering these products from Lime Crime's own online shop due to people having problems with customer service!

I bought a Diamond Crushers lip topper from Urban Outfitters at San Francisco. The product seemed unique, I've never seen something like this, and even though the brand is not among my faves due to bad customer service, it felt safe enough to try a couple of products bought directly from a store.

The lip toppers are meant to be worn as is on lips, on top of other lipstick, on cheeks as highlight and on brows, according to the Lime Crime site. I tried Choke on its own and on top of Kat von D liquid lipstick in Echo, which is a dark blue. I have the feeling I should have swiped the product on my fingers and patted it on my lips instead of applying straight from the wand on top of another lipstick. Applying with the wand resulted in a very thick application, even when I tried to pat it a bit to get the product to go on evenly. It did not melt the lipstick underneath, which is great.

I have to say I'm a bit confused with the name, as it seems to be a plural.

Diamond Crushers in Choke

 In the tube Choke is light pink and shimmery. On its own the base is see-through and the glitter is lavender, pink and green, but seems to shift with the base colour. The doe foot applicator is bright pink, which made me first think that the product is bright pink too, but it seems to be just the colour of the fluffy end of the wand.

The glitter is very hard to capture in the tube

Choke on bare lips

Choke goes easily on bare lips and dries to a non-sticky finish. The glitter is intense and shows well and does not feather or otherwise escape to other areas, which is great! So the natural next step was to try Choke on top of another lipstick.

On top of Echo, a dark blue, all the pink seems to vanish and Choke looks more silver and blue. It goes on quite thickly, but isn't too bad to wear.

Lime Crime Diamond Crushers in Choke on top of Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Echo

Choke in direct sunlight on top of Echo

Even when layered on top of another lipstick Choke does not make my lips sticky, as the gif below tries to artfully demonstrate. You can press your lip together without the lipsticks shifting on transferring.

I like this product. It's very unique and I have a soft spot for all things glittery. I also own lots of liquid-to-matte lipsticks and these kinds of products might help me get some extra out of my collection! Choke does what it is supposed to do and gives me a way to wear glitter without having to fiddle with loose glitter and mixing liquids, and the finish is long lasting. I might even get this in another shade eventually!