Gothique

I have awesome news.

Lex from SoBe Bontanicals has decided to turn her amazing Halloween Balms into GothLips Lipstick!!

She has sixteen AMAZING shades, from bright to dark, including one inspired by and named for this blog!!

I already know I’m in love with the black.  I’ve ordered five tubes and they were all consistently opaque and creamy and wonderful, even though they were different flavors.  And I know the purple was JUST as opaque and so  bright!  I’m very excited because I know these will be just as amazing!

I’ve already ordered a bunch!

1 - Laura Geller Lip Stip. I dunno if you noticed, but I’ve been doing a lot of lipstick reviews these days.  Once I got started it was painfully obvious I needed to find a product that was going to help with the accuracy of my reviews.  My lips are always well moisturized, but for some reason the lipstick was picking up on EVERY little wrinkle and dry spot.  Reading around, I find this is apparently common with a thick drying formula.

I have a scar on my lip from being stabbed with a pair of scissors as a kid, and it was just standing out like crazy until I started exfoliating.

I had been using my Mary Kay lip exfoliater, but it was less then effective.  I sat and read recipes online about how to make your own scrub, and a lot of them seemed promising, but digging through my lipstick cases I realized I had a jar of Laura Geller’s Lip Strip from the Sephora pink lip stick collection I’d bought earlier this year.  The jar holds about 1 ounce of product, which was more then enough.  I used quite a bit of it over the course of several days and there is plenty left.

I was scrubbing my lips, moisturizing,  and then applying lipsticks.  This product helped get a smooth base, which I want to say helped in the wear of the lipstick.  What it proved best for was removing the STAIN left after taking the lipstick off.  I used makeup remover towlettes to initially get the product off, but then I used the Lip Strip to work on the remaining stain.  It wasn’t 100% effect, cause that lipstick was just way over pigmented, but it helped enough that I could wear a different color after and not have the stain from the first show through the new color.  The Lip Strip is sweet and minty, not at all harsh.  It’s basically a sugar scrub in a refreshing emollient base.  After using it my lips felt smooth and moisturized, even without having at apply a balm.

2 – This Hair Thing.  Seriously, what do you call it?  I ran into it at Target and I had to have it.  It’s by Goodie and cost me a big bad 5$.  It’s slightly reminiscent of my Halloween Fasicnator, but on a comb.  It’s smaller and less dramatic, but has sort of the same effect with the black beads and faux feather.  I can wear it all over the place, and I have been.

3- Aromaliegh’s Arabesque from the En Pointe collection.

A refined bluish green with highlight shimmers of green and gold. Multi-facted and rich frost. (Frost)

It looks amazing foiled over my lid with a little black winged liner.  I always say I don’t like green and then I get a new one from AL and end up wearing it all the time.  Go figure.

Ordering

I’ve been back and forth to the Morgana Mineral’s website for a while. Initially I was turned off by the black background, in general I tend to find websites like that hard to read, and so I just don’t read them.  It was fairly easy to navigate and I didn’t have to search for my cart.  I was on a different site earlier trying to place an order and could NEVER find the “view cart” button or anything like that on the ordering pages, so I skipped it and closed the page.  On the Morgana site you’ll always find your ‘casket’ in the upper left hand corner along with a subtotal.  A lot of sites do that and I love it, I know when to stop adding things!!

After watching this video on how she makes her lipsticks, I knew I wanted to order one to try them out.  I happen to know that those lipstick molds are not cheap, and I like that I can trust she makes her own product.

She sells a large selection of other items as well.  Lots of other makeup and hair dye (although I order mine from the UK now) as well as brushes and few private label things such as gel liners and blushes.

All of her shadows have a bunch of ordering options from samples to larger sized jars and refills.

I ended up ordering:

Lipstick samples of Azalea, Gargoyle, and Shrieking Violet

A full sized tube of Cauldron -  A matte black with silver hologram sparkle. The sparkle looks silver, but changes colors depending on light angles. Hints of green glitter reflect in this picture.

Mineral shadows in :

Skeletons in Your Closet- This color appears purple, sometimes silvery green or pink-lilac depending on the angle.

Transylvania Twist – When used with a good shadow base this is a brilliant purple with an underlayment of black. Without a base or fixative, it is almost black with a hint of purple.

Shipping

My order arrived well packaged in a flat rate mailing box.  I always prefer to get things in a box, I know the envelopes have a tendency to crush and no one likes getting a bunch of broken jars.  I ordered on October 30th and my order arrived on November 9.  I was surprised it arrived so quickly, there was a notice on her site stating :

I am in the process of putting together the Christmas & Pirate Collections.

Orders may take 5-15 business days to ship during November & December.

I was willing to wait if it means I might be able to order something piratey soon.  My items were packaged in the same glittery spider web bag I’d gotten from Meow so I was really happy to get another one.  I can use these buggers year round!  There were no other samples included, which I admit I was hoping for.

There is a minimum order requirement of 20$.  Shipping is free on orders over 50$, all others are about 5$ or less.  There is no additional shipping and handling fee.

The Packaging

The lipstick arrived in a lovely silver tube.  It wasn’t sealed or anything like that but when I twisted it up I could tell it was brand new.  For some reason I have this irrational fear someone else has used anything that isn’t sealed.  The only issue I had was that it wasn’t in the tube straight and it scraped along the inside of the barrel when I twisted it and now it’s got a funny gauge.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s no big deal.

The shadows were both in clear jars, the bottom containing a label with all the product info.  I always appreciate when all the info is included, such as shade name, volume, ingredients, etc etc.  They each weighed about 9grams and the average empty jar with a sifter is about 7grams so that’s nearly 2 grams of product.

The samples were basically little smudges of lipstick in a baggie, which is actually what I expected.  I’m not sure how I’m going to apply them, but I’ll figure something out.

The Colors and Formula

I love this lipstick.  There is no debate it’s the most unique black lipstick I’ve ever owned.  And it actually IS well pigmented that I only did need one swipe over my lips for coverage, although I went over them a few times cause of the sparkles!!  Even then it was NOT thick and cakey, it remained moist and I loved it.  After a while some weird stuff started happening and I had to do the old lollipop (after applying lipstick, take your index finger and pop it in your mouth, then pull it out. The excess lipstick will come off on your finger rather than your teeth) trick to remove some color that had accumulated.  I had to do it a few times as I wore it, but curiously my lips never lost any color or opacity.  Odd?  Yes, but it didn’t stop me from ordering another tube.

I am really on the brink of calling this the perfect black lipstick.  Far superior to another brand I recently reviewed and VEGAN.

Of course the shadow colors I ordered were both purples.  I like them both very much.  I tend to order mostly purples, so I can’t really say for certain theses are the most unique colors I own, but I’m wearing the brighter of the two, Transylvania Twist right now and it’s beautiful.

The formula of these shadows is one of my favorites.  The ingredients for Skeleton in Your Closet are : Mica, Carnauba Wax, Tin Oxide, Silica, Polyester-3, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Carbon Black.  I love the wax.  I have no idea why, it’s just a personal preference.  That’s not to say I don’t like all of the incredible formula’s that MM companies blend!  But I tend to like the buttery finished of the wax coated sericite blend.

The Conclusion

Would I order from Morgana Mineral’s again?  Yes, in fact I paused half way through this review and did just that.

• Even with her ‘delayed’ shipping it was a very reasonable wait.
• The lipsticks are a-MAY-zing.
• She has a wide variety of shadow colors to chose from that would suit anyone.  Don’t let the Goth image of the shop fool you.
• Her prices are right about where I am comfortable with.  Nothing seems too extreme.

One major major bonus I love about this shop is the following:

Sale items – If within 14 days of your purchase date, an item from that order drops in price, let us know and we will issue a store credit for the difference. Just e-mail us your previous order # and the item description. We will then send you a code to use on your next order. I haven’t seen another mineral makeup site that offers this service. Please note, that we do not issue price satisfaction credits to your credit card, Paypal, or other payment method. This guarantee only applies to products from Morgana Minerals. Discount codes are good for the period stated only. Discount codes do not apply to previous orders or orders placed after the code’s expiration. Some codes can only be used once per customer.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve ordered something and then had it so on sale THE NEXT DAY.  This is a true example of great customer service.

Order between now and November 15th and you can get 15% off your order with the code ‘Fresco’ courtesy of Fresco Phyrra!!
Overall: /5

More From Morgana

Mini Haul

I was so happy to see that Aromaleigh was bringing back some of their Limited Edition collections at the end of the year. They’re going to be available for a limited time only at a reduced price, and then gone for good.  Several from each collection will be carried over into the permanent line, customers can vote for their favorites.

I was dragging my feet, for some reason, on ordering any of these colors.  So many of them appealed to me.  I’d wander over, put a few things in my cart and then wander off.

Finally late Halloween night Kristen offered a 31% off promotion.  I went back and forth and then only ordered ONE full sized and two samples.  Along, of course, with a few other things.

They arrived yesterday.  Orders from Aromaleigh are always shipped quickly and packaged well.  Someone takes time to wrap your order carefully and they always include samples.  As I mentioned in my previous posts, these small attentions to detail are so important in small businesses.

I purchased L’Orchidee Moonset, Rocks Sonic Rouge in Breatless, and Shell and Bougainvillea in matte.  The samples I received were L’Orchidee Shadow Witch and Showy as well as Just Like Heaven from the Sonic Rock.

I should have ordered more of the L’Orchidee in full sizes.  They are stunning delicate colors with an amazing doze of fine sparkle.

Showy is such a sweet baby pink, very subtle.  Shadow Witch is an amazing denim blue with gold sparkle.  I’m going to wear it today, I was surprised at how much I really like it.  I admit I got it for the name since blue isn’t normally a color I might wear.  If possible I would order this in full sized.  Moonset is my purple.  It’s a multidimensional color with a shimmer.  Just brilliant.

Overall I am always amazingly impressed with Aromaleigh’s colors.  It blows my mind the work that must go into blending and making these colors.  Some colors may seem the same but the differences are just subtle enough that they become two totally different shades.  From the reflects, to the undertones, to the shimmer, to the glitter there is always something there working to make these shadows unique.

It’s always best to apply them over a primer, I use either UDPP or TFSI.  Applying them wet is also an option.  What I would do is apply a wet coat, let it dry and then go over it again dry for an added dimension and to blend out the edges.  Using a colored base, such as a paint stick under bright or dark eye shadows make the shimmer and colors have a lot of depth as well as staying power.

I also finally broke down and got the BRIGHT pink blush I’d been eying.  Breathless is a clear bright pink.  Candy pink.  OMG can I wear that on my cheeks pink.  I probably can, very carefully, but I’m always looking for a challenge.  What put it over the top for me was a recent Moulin Rouge tutorial on YouTube that featured a bright blush used in the eye and then pulled out and onto the upper cheek.  That I can do!

The matte colors I got, Shell and Bouganvillea are for when I need a more subtle eye color when I want to go glam with my eyeliner.  I’ve really been into wearing false lashes (I’ll be posting one of my new favorite pairs soon!) and doing a cat eyed liner.  I can play it up with bright colors, but I thought the Shell on the lid and brow with Bougainvillea in the crease might be nice as well.  It was a great way to sample some of her matte colors, which I don’t have many of.  These are very smooth almost creamy.

Don’t be surprised if I do another Aromaleigh review this weekend already.  Another of her Limited Edition collections was released and I’m expecting my order any day now!

Top to bottom, left to right : Shell, Bougainvillea, Shadow Witch, Moonset, Breathless, and Showy.

A girl can never have too many pair!

If one more person asks me “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob” I seriously might hurt them.  Last night I was dressed as a vampire, yes, but as Mina Harker I was more “Team Dracula”.

I kept things very simple and very wearable.  I was going to be out doing several things and didn’t want to be too over the top or inappropriate.

• I primed my face and covered any imperfections with concealer.
• Then I used a full coverage foundation mixed with a little white to lighten my face and neck.
• I didn’t use a contour or a blush, instead I finished with Twilight Lustre powder from Aromaleigh for a glow.
• My eyes I kept really simple but smokey.  I used a neutral shadow from my 88 palette and then Doll House Plush and Still In Hollywood Rocks from Aromaleigh.  I changed my mind on the eye last minute and used this tutorial from Tiffany D.  It was perfect, subtle and Gothic all at once.  I obviously used a blend of purples instead of greys.  I also added some long spiked lashes from NYX.
• For my lips I used my new A Lady Never Tells lip color from Spell.
• I defined my brows very lightly with my ELF Brow Kit.
• I of course wore my Scarecrow fangs and used a little Graftobian wax to make a pair of fang marks on my neck.  But since Mina is somewhat only half a vampire, they would be healed scars, so no dripping blood, just well blended marks.
• I curled my hair in little steam rollers and messed with it a bit so it looked like my somewhat short hair was actually pulled up and then wore the custom fascinator I got from eBay.  I also used a streak of white clipped in for effect.
• I had sort of a spider theme going as well with the spider web stockings so I wore my glass spider plugs.

The overall look wasn’t very camp or obvious but I got compliments all night.  The ‘costume’ is actually an outfit I would normally wear to work, but with solid tights and without the belt and feathers.  So those small additions, plus the spider pin at my throat were perfect to add just a touch of Goth.