February Photo Challenge

DO IT!

Walmart Beauty Box

I signed up for the Walmart Beauty Box.  It is a quarterly subscription, and only costs $5!  For $20 per year, you will receive 4 boxes, one each season.

“Your Fall box provides you with beauty products that are uniquely you and will soon be a part of your everyday routine”.

In this first box, I received 1 FL. OZ. Dove shampoo, 1 FL. OZ. Dove conditioner, a full-size Secret Clinical Strength Clear Gel Deodorant in Completely Clean, a perfume sample of Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj, a sample of L’Oreal Youth Code Pore Vanisher, a .4 FL. OZ. Dove Pure Care Dry Oil hair treatment, 3.5 ml CoverGirl Glossy Days Glosstinis in 670 #GetGlowing, a full-size L’Oreal Glossy Balm in Petite Plum, and an 8 pack sample of Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Makeup and a $2 off coupon for the Neutrogena.

For $5, this is a steal!  Visit Walmart Beauty to sign up!

Innocent + Twisted Alchemy Subscription – September

This is my second month of the I+TA full-size subscription.  The full-size subscription costs $18 per month, and comes with samples from other companies!  Although subscriptions are currently sold out, you can like I+TA on Facebook to find out when they open up.
I love that every subscription comes with a theme and background info, as well as artwork from the owner, Linda. This month also has a coupon code for 35% off your next order!

Now on to the swatches.  All eyeshadow swatches over WnW Take on the Day Eyeshadow Primer.

Souls Entwined

Chains of Reality

Slumber in Peace

These colors are all pretty, and I love how smoothly they apply for mattes!  The colors are deifnitely reminiscent of woodland colors, and I think they will look great used together.

Now, the samples:

Hivemind from Scaredy Cat Cosmetics

Mikasa from AFK Cosmetics

Island of the Fay Opulent Opaque Lipstick from Beauty Bar Baby

Perfume sample in Mermaid from Midsummer Dreams Apothecary

I am loving the lipstick!  I wish it had a little flavor though, but the color is goegeous.  Im also surprised at how much I like Mikasa, it is a really pretty red, which I am not normally drawn to.

With MSC closing, I am so thankful I was able to snag this subscription!

Antimony Blue

I bought myself some new perfumes for my birthday!  Antimony Blue is a new company, and you can find them on Facebook and Twitter.
I purchased The Beast You Made and Dreams to Sell, and received a sample of Hearts Devoured, a limited edition summer scent that will be available soon.

The Beast You Made is described as ” Forests of birch trees and evergreens, carpeted with thick green mosses and hung with the misty, electric haze of a summer thunder storm. Tart red fruits and sweet yellow berries cut the fog like lightening, melting against something alive and warm. This blend contains rainbow moonstone to strengthen our ties to the natural world, awaken long-forgotten intuitions, and soothe the wild beast within”.
This scent reminds me of tarot readings I have had done.  It smells earthy and clean, and it will be a wonderful fall scent.

Dreams to Sell is described as ” A cool, green tidal wave, replete with fresh herbs, aquatic flowers, and oceanic musks, topped with bright peppermint and exotic acai berry. Infused with sodalite to bring tranquility to unconscious thoughts and encourage mental clarity and stability”.
This scent is very bright and feminine, without being overly floral or sweet.  I will be wearing this a lot this summer.

Hearts Devoured is probably my favorite, and the description includes “Sliced mango and sweet rice, spiced tea and candied ginger, offerings to the Limitless and Transcendent. Labyrinthine gardens of imperial blossoms, regal iris, and memorial chrysanthemum”. It is tart and sweet, and I will be ordering it in a full size.

I like the complexity of these scents, and appreciate the thought behind them.  I can’t wait to see more from this company!

DarlingClandestine Giveaway *CLOSED*

I have been into indie perfumes for a few years now, and one of my favorite companies is DarlingClandestine.  The tagline is Smell Original, with a description stating that the fragrances are “much more than scented oil mixes.  They’re incredibly complex. And they are based on stories.  People.  Memories.  Microcosms.  They really are like nothing you have tried before”.

I have put together a sampling of all current products offered, in three of my favorite scents, with a lipbalm too!

On to the descriptions!

Body Balm in Serpentina – Inspired by the silky, ever-so-applicable texture of my solid perfumes, I’ve created a rich balm that you can smooth all over your skin (and also use as a pretty wonderful hair gloss). It’s crafted with nourishing avocado butter, shea butter, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, and vitamin E.

Serpentina was my first love from DC, and still one of my favorites.  It is sweet and sexy and provocative.  I own multiples of this scent in balm, perfume and solid perfumes.  The scent description for Serpentina states ” The burlesque? It’s got nothing on you. They’re only women. You are mermaid and siren, the wind, the wonderment, the shipwreck, the storm. Beneath your smile, your coiled limbs, men see diamonds or doubloons, glory or gooseberry wine. Each day you’re placed like a crown on a pedestal, and every night you’re carried home like a prize. And the crowd secedes into reveries that you spin, tucked under your velvet elbows, a willowy song bending like a girl without bones. You own their dreams.

Carefully blended and infused by me in small batches in vintage glass wine bottles, this is a crisp, green, ethereal tea fragrance with a little opium bite. More than a dozen different scent elements and several days of methodical alchemy make Serpentina no ordinary scented oil mix—it’s a truly inimitable fragrance. Just for tart little kicks, this batch is laced with tiny beads of blood-red wine”.

Bitsy Vial of Tapadero – ” True enough, you’re everything Buffalo Bill said you were. Some days you’d never admit it—and other days you find yourself trying desperately to prove it. These crowds, they’re here for the show. They want you to be as real as your rope, and they want to oust you as a charlatan. Sometimes both at once. They want saguaros and whiskey and painted Indians. Galloping shootouts, saloons and their girls. And true enough, there was that. All of that. But there was also the iron black night and its billion billion stars, the leather and the smoke, the mountain lion mother and kittens that allowed you an uneasy understanding, the heady breath of windswept sage in September, that peak in Montana where you could see the whole wide world and not a single soul. That’s where you got to wondering what mattered and what didn’t, where the line between hero and outlaw always got blurred, where you planted on a certain somebody a certain sweet kiss; where, when the crowds fade away, you always return. And wherever you go, the Wild goes with you.

Tapadero begins bold and bright with sage and roses, and ends with dusky sweet smoke and leather. Unisex, clean and cuddly. More than a dozen different scent elements and weeks of methodical alchemy make Tapadero no ordinary scented oil mix—it’s a truly inimitable fragrance, part of my Calliope Crash line”.

The Bitsy Vials offer you a chance to order fragrances in a one dram vial, larger than a sample size, but smaller than a full size.  I didn’t think I would like this scent because I am not a fan of leather, but it works.  I own this in balm and a full size perfume.

Solid Perfume in Kendraberry – ” They smell just like Kendraberries.
Created for a dear friend, this fragrance is a bright, effervescent candied floral, tempered with fresh fruits and green tea and amber and ozone. Intense and feminine, perfect for those who enjoy a more “traditional” perfume but don’t like the headiness that comes with a commercial eau”.
This is my scent.  I love it, and own the both versions.  It’s so much fun to put on a perfume and know it’s you.

Lip Balm in Mariposa – ” I start with raw, unrefined ingredients—like Ghanaian shea butter, raw organic cocoa butter (with its natural cocoa aroma), and satiny extra virgin coconut oil, so they’re “recently refined” when I cook them together. 😉 I also use beeswax from a family farm in Ohio, Honeyrun Farm here on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/honeyrunfarm
My balms are UNSWEETENED, making the flavors more like fragrance for your lips than compulsively lickable. And the flavor is mild, enough to notice, but not to pester your nose. 😉

Mariposa’s flavor is violet blended with pear. Contains shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax, sweet almond oil, coconut oil, vitamin E, organic flavor oil blend”.
My favorite lip balm is the unflavored one, and I use it every night before bed.  I think Mariposa is a great representation of the flavors Evonne offers.

Now for the giveaway!  This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only.  Sorry, shipping is so much for international!  To enter, leave an individual comment for each of the following, and include your email address with every comment so I can contact you if you win.  This means you can have up to five comments, each counting as an entry.  The contest will be open through Saturday, May 3rd.

1 – Like DarlingClandestine on Facebook
2 – Visit the DarlingClandestine etsy shop and tell me what scent interests you the most
3 – Tell me which giveaway item you are most excited for
4 – Let me know what your favorite thing about my blog is
5 – Follow my blog, and let me know how you are following.

Cant wait to see how this goes as it is my first giveaway!

Life

The past few weeks have been so much fun, but so busy!  Here are a few FOTDs, with their EOTDs to match.

I visited the Indianapolis Art Museum and took some photos of my favorite pieces.

In case you can’t tell, I love pointillism.

My mom and I also went to a Wine and Canvas event.  We always try to choose one when she visits.

And here is what the original looked like:

Lots of fun has been had, and I am working on getting things done.  I still have to file my taxes!  I am currently on a no-buy.  This means no new makeup, bath and body, nail polish, or anything else.  I decided to keep my Ipsy and MSC subscriptions because they only total $22 monthly.  I still have some orders I made previously to blog about, plus some swaps I received last week.  I think I will participate in a swap while on the no-buy, because I love giving gifts and receiving mail.  I am still saving a ton of money not buying anything new for myself.  It also gives me the chance to use what I have, which is enough for 50 people.

So keep reading, lots of things are coming soon, including a DarlingClandestine giveaway!