I Purchased This Press Sample
Today I'm really excited to introduce, swatch, and review a new cosmetics company for you guys called Limnit Lipsticks. I was introduced to the company only last week and I'm already so stoked to talk about them.
I was browsing on etsy (in between my school work because why not) and came across these listings of a beautiful bright teal and deep navy blue lipstick. Intrigued, I clicked to get more information and I'm immediately hooked. I'll admit I was a little hesitant at first because the company is so new (they opened about two weeks ago) but I was comforted by the fact that they have:
- Well-thought out branding and color names (Olly Olly Oxen Free for an Oxblood lipstick, Punkin' for a bright orange, etc)
- Detailed Ingredient lists. Each listing has an ingredient lists and the color index (CI) number listed for each colorant. I hate having to search around for the ingredient lists so I'm thankful it's listed nice and clear.
- Well-lit and accurate photographs and swatches that they actually took. I've been burned lately by companies stealing photographs or having poorly lit photographs so it was nice to see the photography.
They had sample jars available so I picked up three in Bewitching Hour, League of My Own, and Olly Olly Oxen Free. (I'm a sucker for lipsticks and especially a sucker for samples). The owner Trina was kind enough to gift me with two extra samples of Racin' Carnation and Deepest Taupes and Dreams.
FYI These lipsticks ARE Vegan and Cruelty Free.
I've got a lot of pictures in this post so I'll be putting it under a cut in case you're reading this from my home page!
Before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I wanted to compile some sales from a few beauty brands that I've tried and like. There are tons more sales out there but here are my picks!
Darling Girl Cosmetics is having a 20% sale with the code Gobblegobble, starting 11/28 5PM CST until midnight 11/29 CST. Orders over $20 will get a limited edition mini of "Who Cares, It's on Sale". FYI they will be closing the shopping cart down December 1st in order to fulfill all orders before they go on holiday and will not open until January.
em michelle phan is having a sale where you can get $10 off a purchase $30+, $20 off a purchase $50+, and for every $100, you get 50% off. (I reviewed their matte lipstick here and it's worth a try!)
Inglot is having 20% off all products excluding Freedom System Palettes and Accessories plus you get a free Gel Eyeliner in the shade 77 with any $80+ purchase this weekend from 3AM EST 11/28 until 3AM EST 12/4
Sephora (affiliate link) has a bunch of $10 specials beginning on the 29th, some that are available online only and some in store and online. You can check out the list on their Pinterest. You can use the code FIXIT for a 12 piece holiday sample bag with any $25 purchase.
Silk Naturals just released their Holiday 2013 Collection and you can get 7% off sitewise with the code "snowflake7" until the 30th. They rarely ever have sales so take advantage of it while you can!
Sugarpill Cosmetics (affiliate link) and their Black Friday sale is one that I anticipate most every year, it's usually when they have the best discount on their cosmetics. This year all items are 20%-50% off 11/28 thru 12/2 with no code necessary. If you want to pick up their products at a great price, now is the time!
thebalm will be having a 40% off sale on their website Monday 10am PST thru Tuesday 10am PST. Their blushes and eyeshadow palettes are fabulous! are fabulous
Disclaimer: The links marked with the affiliate link are links that give me a commission based off your use of the link. Feel free to use a nonaffiliate link, the affiliate link just helps to support me and the blog!
Nothing to Disclose
Hot diggity, a new Fyrinnae Winter 2013 Collection is up! There's seven eyeshadows, one powder blush, and one lip lustre available for purchase! I didn't expect them to be releasing a new collection so soon so I'm glad that they were able to. Peppermint Vodka and Because Cats looks beautiful!
FYI: Fyrinnae doesn't do limited edition collections so don't worry if you're not able to get the products now.
Question of the week: Do you struggle with pairing an eye look with a bold lip?
I usually keep it simple when I have a bold lip, usually just doing a liner look as opposed to a dramatic eyeshadow look so in a sense, I don't usually have trouble. I'll usually pick a feature (eyes or lips), then work around that.
Check out this week's posts from the Hue in the City Bloggers!
I've been noticing a disturbing trend, where certain companies have been stealing and manipulating photos from other companies or blogs to use in their product listings. This is extremely distressing because it's exceptionally deceptive, unethical, shady, illegal, and misleads customers.
I would hope that I don't have to tell this to anyone at this point, but here it is - STEALING is BAD. When you take something that is not yours and pretend like it is, that's stealing. While downloading and using a photo from the internet is not the same as shoplifting from a store, it’s theft just the same. When you see a picture of a product, take it, put it on your product listing, and insinuate that that picture represents your product, you are lying to your customers.
I do want to take the time to explain intellectual property rights in the context of photography. When you take a picture, you own that picture and all rights regarding the use and distribution of the photo. When you post the picture to the internet, you still reserve all rights to the photo. You do not lose the copyright to it. The photograph is still the intellectual property of the person who took the picture. If you download a picture and use it without the consent of the copyright owner, you can, in fact, be sued for violating their copyright. Companies that repeatedly, knowingly use product photos from other brands are opening themselves up to a serious amount of liability.
There are so many companies out there have great product photography or if they're unable to have good photographs, they outsource the work. I know of a few indie brands that have actually paid someone to do product swatches for them, and I think that's fantastic. I know that not everyone has the budget for that, but there are still options out there for brands on a tight budget. If there's a blogger you like, contact them to see if they would be willing to swatch in exchange for product and/or a fee to license the photographs. There are plenty of bloggers out there who are great at swatching. Please don't resort to stealing.
While my intent for the post was to be a general rant, there is a specific company in mind that needs to be called out on their behavior.
Impulse Cosmetics.
I was so very interested in their lipsticks a long time ago but was turned off by their photoshopped listings for the lipsticks. They eventually switched over to having someone model their lipsticks so I thought "Okay cool, I'll keep them in mind and maybe pick up something later"
Then this happened...
I was in a Facebook group when it came to my attention that they STOLE a picture from Fyrinnae Cosmetics, cropped it, and used it in a product listing. When I saw this, I was very upset because Fyrinnae is one of my favorite indie companies. They are one of the companies you think of when you think indie and they do not deserve to have anyone stealing their work.
I won't take credit for the find, but I'm thankful for the information. Since it must be said, I have not manipulated or photoshopped ANY of these photos. I have merely screencapped the photos together for comparison.
I was discussing what had happened in a makeup subreddit I follow (feel free to check out the thread here) and I felt compelled to write on Impulse Cosmetics' Facebook wall about it, while someone else in the subreddit mentioned that they had messaged the company. My post linked to the image of the stolen photograph and I had chastised them for stealing the photograph from Fyrinnae. In the end, they deleted my post on their Facebook wall and they never responded to the person who sent the message. I did not manage to get a screencap of my post but if you look in the reddit thread, there are several people who mention that they do not see my post anymore (indicating that it was there).
After this, they had closed the shop for restocking (which they were actually doing) but after they reopened the shop, they removed the Fyrinnae photograph from the listing for Valkyrie. Whether it was directly because of me and the other person messaging them is unknown but the timing certainly suggests so.
This was the listing for Valkyrie. Again, the picture was removed but it's evidence that they were taking the photograph from Fyrinnae.
Further detective work (not by me but I wish I had such keen eyes) showed that they have stolen at least one other photograph from Fyrinnae:
Previously, I wasn't able to see the stolen picture being used and had to refer to a previous transaction, but I now see that they are in fact STILL using it.
You're probably thinking "Uh those aren't the same colors" and that's true but if you look inside the circle that's the part that has been cropped and merely color corrected.
and while this isn't an example of them stealing from another indie cosmetics company, it does show that their glitter appears to be sourced from The Conservatorie however there's no mention on the listing that it is not a custom blended glitter.
Quite honestly I'm suspicious of the rest of their listings that have been cropped in a circle but I don't have any concrete proof yet of further listings.
There has been no mention of the photography issue both publicly or privately. I was not messaged or emailed by the owner of Impulse Cosmetics regarding the deletion of my post. There has been no apology from Impulse Cosmetics to their customers or to Fyrinnae Cosmetics for stealing the photographs. Considering this, how can we really know if they will never do it again or feel remorseful for their actions?
You might be thinking "well they took the photographs for Scramble and Valkyrie off, the matter is over right?"For me, no the matter is not over. Like it or not, they clearly violated Fyrinnae's copyrights by downloading the photos and using them for commercial purposes in their shop. There's clearly a history of them misrepresenting their products through the use of those photographs.
I personally don't understand why they felt the need to steal photographs for their listings, they actually have some decent swatch pictures of their eyeshadows. Either way it begs the question, how can you rely on them as a company if they can't even manage to do their own product photography and think it's okay to steal photographs instead?
I am not saying that you shouldn't shop from them, or that you should somehow enjoy what you have gotten from them less, just consider who you shop from and the ethics system that they choose to follow. I don't want to be supporting unscrupulous companies who steal photographs from fellow indies. There's already so much suspicion around with indie companies due to the bad ones and it really just hurts the good ones. Please support the good indie companies and avoid the rest!
I Purchased This
Today I'm going to be reviewing the em michelle phan Creamy Color Matte Lipstick in Cuddling. When I first heard about the EM Cosmetics line, I was so so intrigued by it. They were having a sale (and they're having a coupon code out now where you can get 30% your purchase until the 30th with the code IPSY30) so I bought two, the matte lipstick I'm reviewing today and the creamy color classic lipstick in Nude Lace I'm reviewing later.
I've got a lot of pictures and thoughts to say so I'm putting a cut so your bandwidth won't be eaten up if you're on my blog's front page!
Nothing to Disclose
I've had a lot of people ask me questions about turning lip tars into lip pencils and I've answered most of them in this FAQ. However I hadn't covered the issue of metallic lip tars mainly because I didn't own any at the time. Now that I own one (Black Metal Dahlia) meant for wearing opaquely on the lips, I thought I would tackle the issue of the outcome of turning your metallic lip tars into lip pencils.
After turning Black Metal Dahlia into a lip pencil in addition to seeing Phyrra's swatch of her metallic Super NSFW and Batty+Tarred Lip Pencils, I would NOT recommend turning your metallic lip tars into pencils. When I was using Black Metal Dahlia with a brush, I noticed that the lip tar wasn't as watery like my regular lip tars and I had to use more than usual in order to get opaque coverage on my lips. That's because the lip tar is packed full of shimmer and sparkle which makes the base color less pigmented. Some of the other metallic lip tars are also pretty sheer which means they'll be even less pigmented as a pencil.
Using the ratio of 2 grams of lip tar to 3 grams of eyeliner base won't work since the 2 grams of metallic lip tar in a pencil will be more diluted than an equal amount of the regular lip tar. When I followed my original ratio, the color was weaker AND the sparkle seemed very dull. The color didn't seem as "glowing" and "lit from within" the way it was when I applied the lip tar normally.
Here is a swatch of Black Metal Dahlia applied regularly on the top lip and as a pencil on the bottom lip so you can see what I mean. The pigmentation of the pencil is quite poor compared to the lip tar applied normally.
Although you could certainly increase the ratio of the lip tar in your formula, I am a little worried about it impacting the texture and compromising the wear time. I also think that at a certain point you're just diluting the lip tar way too much in an effort to be convenient and I think it's better off staying in liquid form.
In the long run, I'd say apply your metallic lip tars with a brush and save the penciling process for your regular lip tars. I don't own a Stained Gloss lip tar so when I do get my hands on one, I'll be sure to write another post on it!
I hope this post helped!
Today I have the lovely pleasure of hosting a giveaway (with my fellow beauty bloggers) for $250 and set of Lilly Brushes! More information will be posted later on in the post but I wanted to take a chance to explain what a Lilly Brush is.
The Lilly Brush is a pill removal brush that helps restore and rejuvenate natural fiber clothing and removes pet hair, lint and fuzz. It comes with a houndstooth carrying cover and is sleek enough to fit in a purse or jacket - perfect for anyone on the run! It's an eco-friendly solution to sticky rollers, and is made to last for years.
In case you're wondering, the Lilly Brush works on all natural fibers including cotton, wool, cashmere, hemp, and alpaca. The soft, nylon bristles of the Lilly Brush won't snag or make holes in delicate sweater weaves. For washable fabrics the Lilly Brush can be dampened before use to eliminate static.
To use: apply moderate pressure while sweeping the Lilly Brush across your garment in any direction to make short work of pills, pet hair, lint and light soil. To clean the Lilly Brush, simply wash with light soap, rinse, and tap briskly to remove excess water.
The people behind Lilly Brush get just how annoying it is to part with a favorite cashmere, wool or cotton sweater simply because normal wear has left it covered in pills and the Lilly Brush is a quick alternative to sticky lint rollers.
For more information, visit Lilly Brush. LillyBrush also has an active social media presence on Facebook and Twitter.
All of us are giving away $250 plus a Lilly Brush in each color (graphite grey and red) to one lucky winner! US only. You must be 18 or older. By entering, you agree to the official rules.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
You know I don't think I ever explained what the Hue in the City roundup is, I think I just started posting about it without explaining! Basically Hue in the City is a small roundup of blog posts from a variety of beauty bloggers who represent a variety of different ethnicities and hues. I think it's wonderful way to be introduced to different bloggers who represent the varied spectrum of beauty.
Question of the week: What are your top 3 go-to makeup products when you're getting ready in a rush?
My top three go-to makeup products would be my Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream, Almay Liquid Lip Balm in Just Plum Good, and Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash.
What are your guys' go to products when you're in a rush?
Today's post is a little more serious because I wanted to talk about this event called Love, Preview happening in Orange County, CA on November 10th. I first heard about this event from Jen at The PolishAholic. She mentioned this curated beauty and fashion charity shopping event that benefited No Kid Hungry, a charity that works towards ending childhood hunger and it sounded like a wonderful cause.
The event was started by Victoria, the owner of Serum No. 5, an indie brand of hand mixed nail polishes. I personally haven't tried any of their polishes but I know they're well-loved in the indie nail polish world. The event has many different fashion and beauty brands that you can purchase from (check out the list in the flyer!). All the profits from the ticket sales, vendor fees, sponsorships and donations will go towards No Kid Hungry.
The event will take place in Orange County, specifically the Shark Club in Costa Mesa.
You can purchase tickets for $10.59 online (until the 9th) or $15 at the door. This is a 21 and over event however. Tickets include admission, a raffle ticket, and gifts from Seven til Midnight, Planet Beauty and NAIL IT! Magazine (while supplies last). All the money collected from ticket sales (after the administrative costs) will go towards No Kid Hungry.
If you're not able to attend the event, you can donate to their Indiegogo campaign for another week! There are many donation tiers and you can donate any amount you'd like.
I know not everyone will be able to go or donate so feel free to share information about this event if you'd like to!
FYI: I'm not being paid to post about the event. I'm actually going to be attending the event and asked to be a media partner to promote the event but I do not receive any compensation (it'd be terrible if I did anyway yeah? I mean all the money should go towards the charity)
