If you've ever chuckled, giggled, or shaken your head at the name of an eye shadow, nail polish, or heck even a paint sample, go check out Stupid Nail Polish Names. The madam who runs this blog has a wonderful biting wit which she uses to give a thorough dressing-down to ridiculous, borderline offensive and occasionally outright baffling nail polish names. Currently she's featuring Mode's Cool As, which I sent to her as a suggestion. She's even used the crappy photo I sent her, haha!
I'll be doing a few more Blog Brag posts, mostly of blogs I like that have a small readership Stupid Nail Polish Names doesn't really fall into that category, but she is such a wonderful read I decided to make an exception ;)
Feel free to send me any suggestions to be featured in Blog Brag! My own readership is very small, I know, but I'd like to think that a starting/obscure blog would be grateful for even one extra reader through a mention from someone. I know I still have a little squee every time I get a new commenter/follower!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Comparison: BYS & Sleek, pt 1
I was very naughty and purchased the Sleek Curious palette from eBay during my no-buy (c'mon, limited edition!) I'd been hearing such rave reviews about these shadows and was curious (pun totally not intended! Seriously, I groaned when I realised what I'd typed) to see what all the fuss was about. There are eleventy-million reviews and swatch posts of the Sleek palettes, so I decided there was no point doing one of my own, since I'd just be repeating everything. In a nutshell: everything you've heard about these palettes is true. Sturdy, slimline packaging, great mirror, superior pigmentation, mouth-watering blendability, fantastic variety.The day I got Curious in the mail, I was so impressed by it, that I ordered Safari. I'm seriously considering the Storm palette, since they're so cheap and I really don't have neutrals in my arsenal.
'Metallic eyeshadow'. What a misnomer. I put this on in a rush to go out to dinner. Applying it over TFSI, I was like, "Huh? These are looking distinctly... matte. And sheer. And ew. Crap, I wish I'd brought my make-up removing wipes!" On the left here is the blue from BYS Metallic palette, over Pixie Epoxy, with the dark blue from the Sleek Curious Palette on the right (also over PE):
A tiny hint of glitter. Visible because I was using a macro setting. In person, I had to put my eye right up to my hand to see it. If your eye is any more than 5cm away, it looks completely matte.
Both blues, one swipe over TFSI (I bought a mini tube off eBay, it's seriously cute and tiny):
Ok, here's the really annoying part. Here is the actual eyeshadow in the Curious palete:
The eyeshadow from the Metallic palette:
Looks matte, right? Here's an untouched shadow from the Metallic palette.
All shiny! Now, here's the same shadow, and I have run my brush over the left-hand side of the eyeshadow.
WTF. Apparently these 'metallic' shadows have a nice shiny coating on them, so that they look metallic.. until you go to use them. Here is a close-up of the blue shadow over TFSI:
So not only is it matte, it's also stupidly sheer and was really hard to work with. BLEH.
I bought this metallic palette because I remembered the other BYS shadows being fairly satiny and straightfoward, and I wanted something shimmery, since most of the Sleek shadows in my palettes are shimmery. Fail and a half. I am going to pick up one of the regular BYS palettes this week, since I remember the quality of those being far better. In fairness, this palette was $3.95, which is dirt cheap. Sleek palettes are £5, which equates to about $8.70 Australian. I bought mine off eBay so I paid a fair bit more than that!
The difference in texture and pigmentation of these shadows really surprised me, because the ingredients are actually kind of similar. Both contain Mica, Talc, Magnesium, Stearate, Ethylhexl, Palmitate, and Propylparaben. Both are made in China, haha. Sleek does contain Kaolin, which surprised me, since I usually associate that with shadows being dull and foiling/going over PE funny. It does somewhat explain the much-lauded smoothness of the shadows, though.
Part 2 will discuss packaging, since it's late and I'm a bit tired! Hopefully the regular BYS palette won't be quite as disappointing, I'm chucking this so-called 'metallic' one in the bin.
Embrassingly enough, the only pressed shadows I've used before are by a cheap and crappy little Australian 'drugstore' brand called BYS. Now, BYS do have some nicely pigmented eyeshadows, but whenever I used my palette it always smelled sickly sweet and chemical-y, so after a little while (and a lot of mineral eyeshadow purchasing) I threw it out. For the purposes of a comparison, I ducked into Gloss (a budget makeup/accessories shop) and bought this palette:
'Metallic eyeshadow'. What a misnomer. I put this on in a rush to go out to dinner. Applying it over TFSI, I was like, "Huh? These are looking distinctly... matte. And sheer. And ew. Crap, I wish I'd brought my make-up removing wipes!" On the left here is the blue from BYS Metallic palette, over Pixie Epoxy, with the dark blue from the Sleek Curious Palette on the right (also over PE):
Both blues, one swipe over TFSI (I bought a mini tube off eBay, it's seriously cute and tiny):
Ok, here's the really annoying part. Here is the actual eyeshadow in the Curious palete:
The eyeshadow from the Metallic palette:
Looks matte, right? Here's an untouched shadow from the Metallic palette.
All shiny! Now, here's the same shadow, and I have run my brush over the left-hand side of the eyeshadow.
WTF. Apparently these 'metallic' shadows have a nice shiny coating on them, so that they look metallic.. until you go to use them. Here is a close-up of the blue shadow over TFSI:
So not only is it matte, it's also stupidly sheer and was really hard to work with. BLEH.
I bought this metallic palette because I remembered the other BYS shadows being fairly satiny and straightfoward, and I wanted something shimmery, since most of the Sleek shadows in my palettes are shimmery. Fail and a half. I am going to pick up one of the regular BYS palettes this week, since I remember the quality of those being far better. In fairness, this palette was $3.95, which is dirt cheap. Sleek palettes are £5, which equates to about $8.70 Australian. I bought mine off eBay so I paid a fair bit more than that!
The difference in texture and pigmentation of these shadows really surprised me, because the ingredients are actually kind of similar. Both contain Mica, Talc, Magnesium, Stearate, Ethylhexl, Palmitate, and Propylparaben. Both are made in China, haha. Sleek does contain Kaolin, which surprised me, since I usually associate that with shadows being dull and foiling/going over PE funny. It does somewhat explain the much-lauded smoothness of the shadows, though.
Part 2 will discuss packaging, since it's late and I'm a bit tired! Hopefully the regular BYS palette won't be quite as disappointing, I'm chucking this so-called 'metallic' one in the bin.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Steamy Steampunk (review)
Two alt-y clothing styles I adore, but haven't the time or funds to properly try, are Lolita and Steampunk. But indulging in one or the other doesn't have to break the bank, as I realised when I stumbled accross KandKartistry on Etsy. This daughter-and-mother-in-law shop (how often do you get to say that?!) do a mix of steampunk and more traditional jewellry designs. The pieces are beautiful, wearable and so affordable, especially compared to other steampunk pieces on and off Etsy!
I ordered a necklace and a bracelet, which K was kind enough to put into a custom listing for me, as one didn't have an Aussie shipping price on it and thus Etsy wouldn't let me check out with it.
Necklace:
Bracelet:
These pieces are so well-made. I have worn silver for most of my life, but these brass/copper and resin gems are really gorgeous. I have my eye on a few other things from their store (not telling you what in case somebody goes and steals them!) I thought that these would be quite heavy, but they're actually really light and wearable. The gears in in the bracelet links are quite smooth and well-attached, so they don't catch on anything. I adore the little resin 'cups' filled with little watch pieces. KandKartistry do rings and earrings in a similar style. I want some.
K's response to my request for a custom listing was fast and friendly. The low prices in no way reflect the craftsmanship or the customer service - K isn't a full-time Etsy owner, so she isn't after a huge profit margin. I would definitely reccommend these ladies to anyone looking to add to, or start a steampunk collection. Move over comic books, I think I have a new obsession!
I ordered a necklace and a bracelet, which K was kind enough to put into a custom listing for me, as one didn't have an Aussie shipping price on it and thus Etsy wouldn't let me check out with it.
Necklace:
Bracelet:
These pieces are so well-made. I have worn silver for most of my life, but these brass/copper and resin gems are really gorgeous. I have my eye on a few other things from their store (not telling you what in case somebody goes and steals them!) I thought that these would be quite heavy, but they're actually really light and wearable. The gears in in the bracelet links are quite smooth and well-attached, so they don't catch on anything. I adore the little resin 'cups' filled with little watch pieces. KandKartistry do rings and earrings in a similar style. I want some.
K's response to my request for a custom listing was fast and friendly. The low prices in no way reflect the craftsmanship or the customer service - K isn't a full-time Etsy owner, so she isn't after a huge profit margin. I would definitely reccommend these ladies to anyone looking to add to, or start a steampunk collection. Move over comic books, I think I have a new obsession!
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