Since I love all you wonderful ladies, and your beautiful eyes, I wanted to give some advice.
If someone claims to have "eye safe" neons, UV colors, glow in the dark colors, or fluorescent colors, turn around, and spend your money elsewhere. As of today, there is no such thing as a safe version of these according to FDA standards. Most people selling something like this are using harmful soap dyes that are not safe for your eyes. They can cause irritation, and can lead to blindness.
For example, the whole Glittersniffer fiasco started because her pinks and neons contained soap dyes. She admitted this herself. People were injured due to that makeup. Not just irritation but serious
Showing posts with label eyeshadow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eyeshadow. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Review: Virus Insanity Eyeshadow
I have wanted to do a review of Virus Insanity for awhile, but wanted to have time to play with everything for awhile before giving y'all a final verdict. They offer Super bright to super dark colors, mattes, shimmers, and glitter. They've got unique names, funny names, to down right dirty names... in the good kind of dirty I promise! What more could a girl ask for! So here's my 2.5 cents!
Packaging
Everything that I have purchased from VIE has always been packaged very nicely. my last order was a larger one, which is usually where companies have had issues with packaging, in my opinion. So here's what I recieved yesterday:
This was the box, fresh off the mail truck. It was sealed up tight, and there was no damage to the box at all. I could shake it and there was little to no movement of the items inside.
The top of the box upon opening it was packed with tissue paper to pad the top which was very nice. It helped protect things from shifting in shipment to me. I love this because that leaves less chance for things to break or open!
And finally, my order there are 55 shadows, 6 samples, and 6 of the shadows were one of a kind "experiments". I know how some of you feel about receiving experiemnts but let me tell you something that sets this company apart from the rest of those that I have used...
Every single one of the experiments has an ingredients list on the back. Even though they were experimental, VIE made sure you still knew what was going on your face. Not a "May Contain" list that most experiments have, an ACTUAL list. Did VIE earn brownie points for this in my mind? Heck yes! I have NEVER seen a company do this far with experiments if they weren't to become real colors.
VIE Packaging grade: A+
The Products
So, we all differ in opinion of color choices and such. So the first ones I am showing you are the above experimental ones as swatches. Other companies I had gotten "experiments" from were not anywhere as good as their usual products. I was a little worried when I saw experiments written on the bag, but hey, everything deserves a chance.
They do not have names, and I haven't had the creativity in the past 24 hours to name them yet. These colors are all beautiful, and I love them. This picture doesn't do some of them justice, trust me. They were just as good as all of VIE's other products. They went on smoothly, they were easy to apply, and took little to actually get this type of pigmentation. These were done over just a NYX eyeshadow pencil in milk, and applied with a clean q-tip, so I was impressed that they came out this bright without use of primer and such.
This is the best thing ever. Sifted Stickers. Prevents spillage in shipment, which makes me happy because that means I get more product to play with. These are the experiments, so they do not have colors names on them but behold:
All of VIE's None experimental colors have these little top stickers on them. These 3 colors are from the Goddesses Collection in case anyone falls in love at first sight with them. <3
When I applied the product to my face, there was little to no fallout on my cheeks. Loved that. Less clean up makes me happy. The colors themselves, even from different color groups blend together nicely. For example, this is my EOTD today:
These two colors are on my list of faves right now. The green is "Blow Me" and the purple is from my custom collection and is called "Heavens Mirror". They went on nicely and have lasted all day so far. I only used an NYX pencil to put them to the test so this is, again, without primer. I am again Impressed.
VIE's Product Rating: A
Customer Service
Here's the biggy. We all want to see stellar customer service out of Indie companies. I will be honest, my order was incorrect when I got it yesterday. I had ordered a custom collection with 6 colors: Noble Team, L'cie, Albion, Heavens Mirror, Assassin, and Subject Delta. Noble team was missing, but I had 2 jars of Subject Delta. I contact Jennifer Sherrodd right away about the mix up. She apologized right away and asked that I please check the rest of my order to make sure it was correct. I did, and told her this was the only error. She assured me that she would send out a replacement tomorrow, which would be today. I found this on my facebook moments ago:
So not only did she keep her promise of sending it today, she sent me a confirmation number to track it and informed me that she sent it priority. She went the extra mile to make sure I was happy. This speaks volumes to me about how dedicated she is as a business owner. Other companies where I received incorrect products I got the runaround, then was sent something I didn't want, was never sent anything, or was sent something sub-par.
VIE's Customer service grade: A
Overall: A- for AMAZINGLY AWESOME! <3 I will order again, and I will recommend VIE to anyone and everyone. Link to their FB fan page/shop is in the sidebar!
To finish this off, I sent Jennifer and asked her a few questions about her company, so here's what she said:
Q: What made you decide to make MMU?
A: This is a pretty generic answer, but honestly I was sick of spending so much money on eyeshadows so I decided to start making my own. I did a lot of research first and ended up buying the TKB Pop Color's kit to start making myself eyeshadows because I tend to go for really bright colors. I slowly started buying more ingredients and my friends caught onto what I was doing and wanted to try them too! So eventually I made a Facebook fan page and figured out how to go about selling my eyeshadows.
Q: Is there any meaning behind your company name?
A: Virus Insanity is a name I thought of when I was a teenager. I was full of angst and thought it sounded cool ;) It kind of stuck with me for a long time, and I wanted something kind of edgy for my eyeshadow line so I decided to use it.
Q: What is your goal as a company?
A: When I first started out, my goals were to make incredible colors that no one had ever seen before. Much more recently I've been concentrating on making sure I have great customer service because I honestly consider my customers to be friends. Eventually I would love for this to get big, I want VIE to be successful.
Q: To you, what is amazing customer service?
A: I would consider amazing customer service to be admitting your mistakes and making it right. Everyone messes up once in awhile. Occasionally I will forget a color or send the wrong color, I'm only human. Once I marked an international package as goods instead of a gift and the girl ended up having to spend nearly $23 to get her package. I immediately sent her the money through Paypal, no questions asked. If I forget a color or send the wrong color, I send out a package the next day (or as soon as possible) and include extras. I think that as a seller you have to live up to your mistakes, admit that you messed up, and fix it. The customer is always right, because as a small business owner my customers are EVERYTHING.
Q: Out of your product line, what are your favorite colors?
A: My all time favorite color is Becca-ecca! It's named after my best friend so it definitely has a soft spot in my heart! Becca's favorite color is suuuper bright green so I had to make a crazy lime color for her. Some other favorites of mine are Smoked Lilac, Mohawk, and Ocean Mystery. And another color I really love is Ferris Wheel, it's a hot pink with green iridescence and lime green glitter. For some reason it reminds me of pink puke, but in a really GOOD way!
______________________
Love ya!
EDIT: A little disclaimer. I have become an Admin on the VIE page. Jennifer did not pay me for this interview, she didn't give me free product or any compensation at all besides a thank you after reading it. I bought from her before becoming admin in order to do a review, not imagining that she would ask me to be an admin on her fan page to help her out. I spent roughly $130 on all that you saw in the photos, and that was all I got. Jennifer also did not ask me to write this review, and did not know about it until I asked her to answer the above questions for my blog.
Packaging
Everything that I have purchased from VIE has always been packaged very nicely. my last order was a larger one, which is usually where companies have had issues with packaging, in my opinion. So here's what I recieved yesterday:
VIE Packaging grade: A+
The Products
So, we all differ in opinion of color choices and such. So the first ones I am showing you are the above experimental ones as swatches. Other companies I had gotten "experiments" from were not anywhere as good as their usual products. I was a little worried when I saw experiments written on the bag, but hey, everything deserves a chance.
When I applied the product to my face, there was little to no fallout on my cheeks. Loved that. Less clean up makes me happy. The colors themselves, even from different color groups blend together nicely. For example, this is my EOTD today:
VIE's Product Rating: A
Customer Service
Here's the biggy. We all want to see stellar customer service out of Indie companies. I will be honest, my order was incorrect when I got it yesterday. I had ordered a custom collection with 6 colors: Noble Team, L'cie, Albion, Heavens Mirror, Assassin, and Subject Delta. Noble team was missing, but I had 2 jars of Subject Delta. I contact Jennifer Sherrodd right away about the mix up. She apologized right away and asked that I please check the rest of my order to make sure it was correct. I did, and told her this was the only error. She assured me that she would send out a replacement tomorrow, which would be today. I found this on my facebook moments ago:
VIE's Customer service grade: A
Overall: A- for AMAZINGLY AWESOME! <3 I will order again, and I will recommend VIE to anyone and everyone. Link to their FB fan page/shop is in the sidebar!
To finish this off, I sent Jennifer and asked her a few questions about her company, so here's what she said:
Q: What made you decide to make MMU?
A: This is a pretty generic answer, but honestly I was sick of spending so much money on eyeshadows so I decided to start making my own. I did a lot of research first and ended up buying the TKB Pop Color's kit to start making myself eyeshadows because I tend to go for really bright colors. I slowly started buying more ingredients and my friends caught onto what I was doing and wanted to try them too! So eventually I made a Facebook fan page and figured out how to go about selling my eyeshadows.
Q: Is there any meaning behind your company name?
A: Virus Insanity is a name I thought of when I was a teenager. I was full of angst and thought it sounded cool ;) It kind of stuck with me for a long time, and I wanted something kind of edgy for my eyeshadow line so I decided to use it.
Q: What is your goal as a company?
A: When I first started out, my goals were to make incredible colors that no one had ever seen before. Much more recently I've been concentrating on making sure I have great customer service because I honestly consider my customers to be friends. Eventually I would love for this to get big, I want VIE to be successful.
Q: To you, what is amazing customer service?
A: I would consider amazing customer service to be admitting your mistakes and making it right. Everyone messes up once in awhile. Occasionally I will forget a color or send the wrong color, I'm only human. Once I marked an international package as goods instead of a gift and the girl ended up having to spend nearly $23 to get her package. I immediately sent her the money through Paypal, no questions asked. If I forget a color or send the wrong color, I send out a package the next day (or as soon as possible) and include extras. I think that as a seller you have to live up to your mistakes, admit that you messed up, and fix it. The customer is always right, because as a small business owner my customers are EVERYTHING.
Q: Out of your product line, what are your favorite colors?
A: My all time favorite color is Becca-ecca! It's named after my best friend so it definitely has a soft spot in my heart! Becca's favorite color is suuuper bright green so I had to make a crazy lime color for her. Some other favorites of mine are Smoked Lilac, Mohawk, and Ocean Mystery. And another color I really love is Ferris Wheel, it's a hot pink with green iridescence and lime green glitter. For some reason it reminds me of pink puke, but in a really GOOD way!
______________________
Love ya!
EDIT: A little disclaimer. I have become an Admin on the VIE page. Jennifer did not pay me for this interview, she didn't give me free product or any compensation at all besides a thank you after reading it. I bought from her before becoming admin in order to do a review, not imagining that she would ask me to be an admin on her fan page to help her out. I spent roughly $130 on all that you saw in the photos, and that was all I got. Jennifer also did not ask me to write this review, and did not know about it until I asked her to answer the above questions for my blog.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Primer, Primer.. Who's got the Primer!?
Why use eye primer? What's the point of adding another step to (for the most part) our already long makeup application project? Lets take a look at 2 options for eye primer!
First off, what is eye primer used for? Well it helps with making your eye shadows/pigments stay on all day, helps prevent creasing, and because more color will adhere to it, helps make a brighter look. There are people that swear by primer, and there are those that don't. The following is all in my own opinion, and this is my first time EVER using primers. Enjoy my fail y'all.
First off, what is eye primer used for? Well it helps with making your eye shadows/pigments stay on all day, helps prevent creasing, and because more color will adhere to it, helps make a brighter look. There are people that swear by primer, and there are those that don't. The following is all in my own opinion, and this is my first time EVER using primers. Enjoy my fail y'all.
The Contenders:
Sephoras Basic Eye Primer
Urban Decay Primer Potion
(In the original sheer)
So, a side by side comparison. the SEP just kinda absorbed the NYX pencil into it. The UDPP held only the NYX Pencil like it was glue!
Close up for the SEP eye. You can see where the primer changed colors where the NYX was applied originally.
SEP with Irish springs and Supernova: Irish springs took an orange undertone thanks to the coloration of the SEP primer. Not happy.When you apply a color, you want that specific color, not a variation of it. So, I'd say that SEP would be a better primer for looks with all oranges, or browns. That way, the colors are less affected by the coloration of the primer itself.
(In the original sheer)
The question is, which one works better? Which one holds up to show the true colors of eyeshadows/pigments? That's what I have set out to find out for you guys!
Observation #1: Application
The above picture is my eyes with both primers applied. SEP is on my Left eye, UDPP on the right (Hey look! I figured out how to label my photos without them looking like crap! <3) Both applied well. SEP has a built in brush, and UDPP has a wand. I do have to say I much prefer the wand to the brush because it doesn't clog up like the brush does. SEP dispenses by a twist bottom that pushes product up into the brush, which means that you can have to much, or the brush will cause clogs later on if not sealed properly. They both set themselves and were ready for base in about 1-2 minutes.
Observation #2: Adding a Base
Close up of the UDPP eye. The UDPP held onto the pencil, and allowed me to spread it fairly easily across my eye.
I really did not like the appearance of the SEP. It looked kinda gray-orange on my skin after the base was applied, and it felt strange. It really felt like I had poured straight foundation on my eye lids and just left it there. Not a great feelings. UDPP is nearly invisible, which means that if you don't take your makeup to the base of your brow, it won't show as much as the SEP would. It's also easier to apply a base onto, and it still maintains the bases color. I would be afraid to use colored bases with SEP since it would discolor them.
Observation #3: With Eyeshadow/pigment added on
UDPP with Irish Springs and Supernova: Very true to color. The green popped and remained that way until I took off my makeup this evening. The Orange looked amazing as well, and wasn't made too bright or darkened by the primer. UDPP seems to be the better choice so far because it doesn't add more color to your eye shadow, it just helps it remain in one piece
Also, a short side note: Facebomb Cosmetics is a brand new indie company run by my friend Shayna Toole. Just got my first order from her today, and I love these two colors. Check out her facebook page to see all currently available colors!
The Verdict:
After trying both, and wearing both for a few hours, I have to say that Urban Decay Primer Potion is the clear winner this round! It does it's job, doesn't color the pigments because of the shade of it, and dries slightly faster than Sephoras Eye Primer. I really suggest it, and have to say it is well worth the money you have to pay for it. Wanna try it out? Sephora has their sample size bottle for $9 and they go a LONG way! I highly suggest giving them a try at least once. Urban Decay is my official eye primer of choice for now. Do you ladies have another suggestion? Let me know in the comments below!!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Giveaway... I think so!
Alright ladies! So, time to list a giveaway a friend of mine is doing, as well as Prepare my own giveaway for you all to do!
A fellow Glittersniffer gal is doing a give away on her blog here--- Confessions of a Glitterholic
All you are required to do is follow her blog and post a comment on the blog to be entered! Read more on her blog for details.
TIME TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY GIVEAWAY!!!
What is it you might ask?? Well it is simply this.. I am going to do a gift basket of some of my FAVORITE products, and send them to YOU!! Free of charge! The basket will include--- Ecotools eye brush set, 5 random Glittersniffer pigments, small bottle of the Suave Professionals Almond and Shea Butter Shampoo and Conditioner, an Almond Sugar Scrub (I will be doing a review on it in my next blog <3), AND Make-up remover pads. All together it will total a gift basket worth about $40. Who knows... maybe I'll throw in some other random goodies later on too!
How to enter this wonderful giveaway? I want you, to comment below, show me your favorite look with eyeshadow/pigments! Post it on your blog, or on your facebook, and link me here! This is not a competition for best look. I will choose a winner at random at the end of the month! That's right. You have until Feb. 1st to do this! Why? Because I know some of you are waiting on getting GS trades and purchases off the discussion boards, and to give you time to create the best look possible!
Good luck guys, and I can't wait to start seeing entries!! Pass this along to friends, family, whoever you'd like!
Also, should you win and certain scents are ones you don't like, feel free to suggest another and I will do my best to compromise! <3
A fellow Glittersniffer gal is doing a give away on her blog here--- Confessions of a Glitterholic
All you are required to do is follow her blog and post a comment on the blog to be entered! Read more on her blog for details.
TIME TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY GIVEAWAY!!!
What is it you might ask?? Well it is simply this.. I am going to do a gift basket of some of my FAVORITE products, and send them to YOU!! Free of charge! The basket will include--- Ecotools eye brush set, 5 random Glittersniffer pigments, small bottle of the Suave Professionals Almond and Shea Butter Shampoo and Conditioner, an Almond Sugar Scrub (I will be doing a review on it in my next blog <3), AND Make-up remover pads. All together it will total a gift basket worth about $40. Who knows... maybe I'll throw in some other random goodies later on too!
How to enter this wonderful giveaway? I want you, to comment below, show me your favorite look with eyeshadow/pigments! Post it on your blog, or on your facebook, and link me here! This is not a competition for best look. I will choose a winner at random at the end of the month! That's right. You have until Feb. 1st to do this! Why? Because I know some of you are waiting on getting GS trades and purchases off the discussion boards, and to give you time to create the best look possible!
Good luck guys, and I can't wait to start seeing entries!! Pass this along to friends, family, whoever you'd like!
Also, should you win and certain scents are ones you don't like, feel free to suggest another and I will do my best to compromise! <3
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