Cleodelinda's blog

McDowell's Dreamworld and Lumiere foundation swatches

I recently ordered a bunch of foundation samples from McDowell's. I have heard great things about their foundations and I finally decided to give them a try. :) I ordered 8 samples in the neutral/peach/pink range and I tried to get the ones that where light to medium in depth. The colors run really light and most of the colors was to light for me right now, but maybe they will be nice for the winter. I use a mix of Astrild and Anine right now.

McDowellvsLumiere

I made a swatch chart and added some Lumiere colors to compare. In Lumiere I wear Light Medium Beige and Medium Cool Beige 2.3. I made the swatches with a damp concealer brush and I learned the hard way that Lumiere doesn't mix well with water... LOL
McDowell's on the other hand melted like a charm in water. I really like the finish and I think I will order a full size and some more samples during the 15% sale.

McDowell's: S = Sand, L = Luna
Lumiere: C = Cashmere, VV = Vena Velvet, Lum = Luminesse

 

 

Silk Naturals MOAC glosses & Kiss Bliss Demi Gloss

Silk-Naturals-MOAC-lippies

I got three of the Kiss Bliss Demi Glosses in the mail today. I love them! :) I really like that they have the same sweet scent as the glosses. I didn't like the "organic" scent of the original lippies.
In the picture are also four of the glosses from the MOAC collection that I got some weeks ago. They are all lovely, but XOXO are my fav, without doubt :)

Archetype Cosmetics

I have been waiting for this order a looong time, but it was truly worth waiting for! :)  This webbstore was new to me and I first read about it on the mmu forum on Specktra.net.

I placed the order February 29 and it arrived March 25. Holly (the owner) did send some emails to keep me updated about my order and she did throw in two full size eyeshadows to make up for the delay. This store is a one person operation, but she has hired some help now so hopefully she will get the ordering time down a bit in the future.

Archetype-cosmetics

Archetype cosmetics looks and seems like the lovechild of Fyrinnae and The She Space, for better or for worse... :) The site has a cute gothic design and a romantic underground atmosphere with unusual graphic color descriptions.

The Archetype eyeshadow samples are only $0.25 and samples of the lipglosses are $1. I got no less than 33 eyeshadows and 3 lipglosses and I payed $18.25 with shipping to Sweden. Not bad!
I wore one of the eyeshadows today and my first impression was that the staying power was good. I think I will order some fullsizes, but I'll wait for the tat time to improve first.

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Updated with swatches!
The swatches was made with a dry brush an taken in bathroom lightning.

Archetype-browns-and-golds-swatches

Archetype-pink-swatches

Archetype-green_swatches

The Ornaments Of Gold sample deserved a photo of its own. It is a truly unique sparkling black gold. The second photo shows both a dry and a wet swatch.

The She Space - Smoke and Chocolate

I have played with my samples from week four and five of the February Limited Edition Collection. They give an new dimension to the color brown! :) Heather has truly outdone herself this time!
These pigments to be even better than described IMHO. For reference I have included links to the original pictures on theshespace.com.  

The picture on top shows swatches of the pigments in this picture and in the bottom one you can see these pigments.

Shespacechocolate

The picture below shows swatches of the pigments in this picture.

Shespaceeve

 

Lumiere "Be Mine" Valentine Collection

I got this kit from my SO today! :) He did order it a few days before Valentines day. I had wished for this kit since I got a free blush sample with my last order and it was absolutely stunning. The label on the sample said "Valentines Collection Be Mine Limited Edition Blush." I assumed that this was the blush from the Be Mine Kit, the one called "I Love You". Unfortunately, it is not the same color. The sample is a smooth silky deep pink/wine color and the blush in the kit is a sparkling light pink. Still pretty, but not the color I wanted. :(
This was quite a disappointment. Did Lumiere actually have a another LE Valentines blush called Be Mine? I have sent an inquiry to the CS.

Edited: I got an explanation - the Be Mine blush I got an sample of is not offered yet. Kim decided to make this blush permanent instead of adding it to a LE collection. This blush will be out sometime next month. I will get one :)

Anyway, the collection is very pretty nevertheless. Apart from the blush the kit consists of: One & Only Lumi Lips - Muted Pink with soft brown undertones, Sweetheart Eye Shimmer - Palest Pink with soft subtle sheen, Cherish Eye Shimmer - Soft tan with pink undertones and gold and pink sparkle, Risque Eye Liner - Deepest Black with raspberry understones. This will make the perfect shimmery neutral smoky eye/nude lips combo.:)

 

Edited again: Added swatches :)

Lumiere-Be-Mine-swatches

 

 

The She Space Velvets and Twinkling + some Joppa

I got my samples from the first two Color Fest collections from The She Space yesterday. The colors are very pretty and I love the finish of the Sprinkling of Twinkling collection. The finish doesn't differ much from the regular collection, (but that's not a bad thing). :)  I wasn't as impressed with my Velvet Ladies
samples, but then I haven't tried them on my eyes yet. Heather was also kind enough to bubble the size of the full size Heat It Up Powder I ordered, yay! :)

The-she-space-velvets-and-twinkling

I also got my order from Joppa's free shipping sale. The shipping was super fast, 5 days from US to Sweden, WOW!
The shadows looked pretty dull in the sample bags, but gave a nice satin finish. They will be useful as great base shadows and the staying power seems to be good too.

Joppa

I noticed that the Joppa shadows that are described as shimmery still are more matte than the She Space Velvets, LOL!  I got 5 free sample bags with this order and a sample of the Perfecting Eye Cream too. :) I ordered some foundation and finishing powder samples too and all the colors look great. I will try them out soon.

 

McDowell's DreamWorld Minerals

I got my first sample order from McDowell's today! :)
I ordered 15 e/s samples and 1 blush. I like that the shadows are shimmery but not over the top due to the subtle range of colors. The samples came in bags and the amount was good, (about 3 x as much as in the She Space samples). The bags themselves are quite hard and I was afraid that I would crack them when I opened them. I haven't tried the shadows on yet, but I can't wait... :)

McDowells-swatches

One more pic with flash just to show how shimmery they are:

McDowells

I updated the post with the imaginative descriptions from the store:
1. Ra's Chariot - The color of true greenish gold that will make you think of the ancient golden artifacts from Egypt...
2. Morgana's Garden - A pretty green shadow with undertones of red, blue and gold that creates the look of a garden...
3. Midnight snow - that dark purplish snow that is common in the dead of night with very little light... probably what the vampires see when they are out in the winter...
4. Vampire's Lust - A deep black with undertones of gold and glitters of white and gold...
5. Indera - A pretty taupe color until you put it on...then it shows undertones of green, blue, and gold...
6. Dragon Gold - A deep golden green with undertones of gold and red...
7. Shimmering Seas - A beautiful aqua green with undertones and sparkles of gold...
8. Sirens of the Seas 3 - A medium green color with white sparkles and green undertones and sparkles...
9. Persephone's Rose - A golden pinky color that is a rare find in colors such as this...
10. Blushing Werewolf (cheek) - A pretty shimmering pink color that will make your face glow... with gold undertones...
11. Mountain Laurel - A mixture of deep colors that have come together to create a deep purplish color that will work great as a liner or a shadow...
12. Sirens of the Seas 2 - A deep purple color with undertones of aqua blue and green
13. Aurora - A deep silvery purple with sparkles of bronze combine to create a gorgeous shadow...
14. Amethyst Mist - A medium purplish color that is a semi-matte in texture...
15. Sirens of the Seas 1 - A mixture of different blues blended together to create an aqua blue color with sparkles of white and green...
16. Amelia - A deep purplish blue color that has undertones of gold, so when placed on the eye will turn 3 colors...

 

 

Lumiere foundations

I have been looking for the perfect foundation and I have found Lumiere's Veena Velvet to be the best formula for me. The colors on the other hand are quite complicated and I haven't found a perfect match yet. I tried lots of different samples during Lumiere's free worldwide shipping campaign last year. Right now I use a mix of Light Medium Beige and Light Medium Cool. I *love* the Silk Powder too. It is the best finishing powder I've tried!

Lumiere-samples

The same color looks different in different formulas. Below are Light Medium Beige and Light Medium Neutral for example.

Lumiere-Light-Medium-Beige-&-Light-Medium-Neutral

This is a picture of all the Light Medium colors in Veena Velvet formula.

Lumiere-Veena-Velvet-Light-Medium