Small Barry M order and about eyelid primers

Hiya pickles!

When Barry M had a 20% off voucher code recently I bought a few bits and bobs.

I thought I'd see if Darling Girl glitter glue works on other loose shadows other than their own (it was the nearest primer to hand) and the answer is a resounding yes. 

You can see you get a more vibrant shade over the glitter glue.

DD102 is a multi faceted burgundy-black colour. Patted on you see more of the burgundy (which they spell burgandy), but swiped on in a circular movement, as I did to swatch, you see more black. To get the most stunning results from this complex colour you'd be best to use DG glitter glue like I did here - or another good eyelid primer - and pat on the shadow, rather than swiping it on, using a flat 'lay down' brush for example. A lay down brush is simply that, a brush to lay down/pat shadow on with. It is not used to blend colour across the lid. You'd need a separate blending brush for that. A primer facilitates being able to pat on shadow to emphasize and bring out complexities, as it has a slightly sticky finish for the shadow to adhere to.

With complex colours like this one, you can actually achieve two looks using the same colour. You could lay down colour over your lid with a flat brush making the most of the burgundy shift in its un-blended state, then you could use a fluffy blending brush (using a windscreen wiper movement) in the crease of your eye which would show up the black tones. As well as Barry M, many indie companies do fabulous multi-toned loose eyeshadow, Darling Girl Cosmetics being the best of the best in that field in my opinion.

Whilst I'm on the subject of primers there are several eyelid primers available. Sometimes they're called eyeshadow primers. Same difference, I say. I use Too Faced Shadow Insurance sometimes, which is another fab eyelid primer. It retails for about £16.50, but I picked my tube up on ebay for about £6. It slightly improves the look of my eyelids (my upper lids near my brows tend to look a bit bumpy from the constant plucking of my wannabe monobrow) and you don't have any immediate rush to apply shadow, like you would with say ELF's eye primer. elf's primer is very effective with a view to longevity (as are TFSI and DG glitter glue) but you have to work fast and it does mean blending well is more laboured. TFSI is a good all rounder. DG glitter glue looks like PVA glue and takes about 30 seconds to dry. You only need a tiny amount of product, literally the tiniest squeeze of the tube will do both eyes.

PROS & CONS

Darling Girl glitter glue Pros - really makes shadows pop, inexpensive ($6.75), a little goes a long way, non-irritating (to me.) Cons - none found thus far. (This is my newest primer so I will report back in a couple of months.)

TFSI - Pros - available in many finishes, non irritating (to me), smooths the lid, a little goes a long way, lasts on the eye all day. Cons - expensive if bought through proper channels.

elf primer - Pros - cheap (£1.50), non irritating (to me), available in many finishes. Cons - dries pretty solid, you have to work fast, blending is a bit difficult.

I haven't mentioned one of the most raved about eye primers yet - Urban Decay Primer Potion, because it irritates the bejesus out of my eyes. I'm cry like a hayfever sufferer within 2 minutes of applying it and it doesn't stop until I take it off. Out of the 3 primers I've mentioned, the elf primer is the most similar in consistency to UDPP. Obviously for the reason it affects my eyes so badly I can't recommend it, but many people get on with it just fine. With all things, personal trial and error comes into play here, so have a try of a couple of primers depending on your budget and see how you get on.

Do you use eyelid primer? Have you tried one you'd like to recommend me?

I'll have swatches of the 3 nail polishes for you soon.

Thanks for reading!

Darling Girl swatches pt 3

Hello you!

Here are some more Darling Girl swatches for you. Here we have Cut Me Deeper from the Not an 80's Band collection, Bioexorcist from the Ghost With The Most collection, Black Day and Scarab.

Darling Girl colour descriptions:
Cut Me Deeper - Deep blood red and wine with golden shimmer.
Bio-exorcist - Black base loaded with gold and blue shimmer.
Black Day - A stunning, dark, coal black with blue duochrome.
Scarab - Deep cool greyish brown with strong green shift.

L-R Cut Me Deeper, Bio-Exorcist, Black Day, Scarab

You get 2 free sample sizes per order and also a gift with purchase (GWP) if you spend over $10. The GWP is a freebie in a little screw lid jar with a sifter. Delivery is $5 international.

Each sample bag you get - even though it has a tiny amount of product - will give you enough for 2-3 uses, certainly enough to tell if you want to buy a bigger size. You can buy 5 sample bags on the website for $4, which is a steal.

Full sizes have 3/4 tea spoon of product in a sifter jar and cost $5.90 (about £3.65.) Petit sizes have 1/4 tea spoon of product in a sifter jar and cost $2.50 (about £1.55.) It doesn't sound like a lot of product but it goes so, so far, especially if you use a sticky base to make your shadows pop. I did swatches today using Darling Girl Glitter Glue. It makes such a difference to the vibrancy.

All of these colours are stunning and I couldn't possibly pick a favourite among them.

You can see Part 1 of my Darling Girl Swatches HERE and part 2 HERE.

Did anything take your fancy?

Thanks for reading.

Darling Girl order/How to avoid customs charges

Hello loves!

It may come as no surprise to anyone that I am a little obsessed with make up. I'm addicted to sparkles. Someone who does sparkles very well is Susan from Darling Girl Cosmetics. DGC are based in America. There is every colour you could possibly imagine on the website and then some. Furthermore, her products are phenomenal value for money, as her eyeshadows are so finely milled that you only need the tiniest amount to strike the wow factor. You literally need product smaller than a match head to cover both whole eyes. You get 2 free sample sizes per order and a gift with purchase if you spend over $10, which is a larger freebie in a little screw lid jar with a sifter. Delivery is $5 international.

Here is my latest order. Susan was kind enough to include some Halloween bits and bobs, including some candy corn, which I scoffed!

Every order gets 2 samples and a small gift with purchase, which varies weekly.

5 samples are $4 to buy, about £2.50.

I bought a glitter fixative, a mini lip gloss and 2 shadows.

Each sample bag - even though it has a tiny amount of product - will give you enough for 2-3 uses or more, certainly enough to tell if you want to buy a bigger size. Full sizes have 3/4 tea spoon of product in a sifter jar and cost $5.90 (about £3.65.) Petit sizes have 1/4 tea spoon of product in a sifter jar and cost $2.50 (about £1.55.) It doesn't sound like a lot of product but it goes so, so far, especially if you use a sticky base to make your shadows pop. I did some swatches today using the Glitter Glue from this order and OH MY DAYS does it make a difference! I have some swatches coming up in my next post so you can see what I mean.

How to avoid paying customs fees on purchases from the US.

All my orders from Darling Girl (including this one) cost below $18 INCLUDING POSTAGE (which is about £11.20), because $18 is the threshold for not being charged import duty. Anything costing over $18 stands the risk of being opened by UK customs, and then you get charged. For example, once I ordered from America and spent about $19 by accident, and customs charged me £11! That's doubling the amount I'd spent. Bollocks to that. Don't fall prey to the customs man, be crafty like me :) Lots of little orders rather than one big one will save you lots of money.

My next post has some swatches for you.

Do you ever buy things from abroad?

Darling Girl is cruelty free.

LOTD using Darling Girl Cosmetics

Hiya!

I decided to have a play with my Darling Girl Cosmetics eyeshadows and this is what I came up with. All photos can be clicked for larger images.

I used:

The Seam on my lower lid

Persuasion under my bottom eyelashes

Survival Instinct in my crease area and above

Lucky as highlight under my brows (all by Darling Girl Cosmetics)

Avon Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation

Urban Decay Buck matte shadow to fill in my brows

Avon Supershock Max mascara in black

Avon Supershock gel eyeliner in black (on waterline)

MUA bronzer shade 2 as contour

Sleek MakeUP Rose Gold blusher

MUA shade 2 gold glitter eyeliner

Sue Moxley Famous lipgloss in Pink Sherbet

The MUA gold glitter eyeliner really picked out the gold in Persuasion and topped everything off nicely. 4 shadows is probably as many as I've used in a look. I'm usually pretty simplistic with my make up.

EDIT - Be careful if you have the MUA glitter eyeliner - when you take it off, do it gently. I did it in my usual hurry with a make up remover wipe and it made my eyes water. It's a wee bit gritty when you take it off. Ouch! Be gentle and you'll be fine.

Thanks for looking!

A few Darling Girl swatches

Hi all!

I'm mostly over the migraine from hell and am ready to rock again...so to speak!

I love Darling Girl Cosmetics and can't enthuse enough about the quality of the products. I've dipped my toe into quite a few indie make up companies thus far, and Darling Girl are by far my favourite. The complexity and vibrancy of shades has to be seen to be believed. Here are three colours swatched for you.

LONDON CALLING.

DGC says "It's an indigo base with heavy red shift."

It's very rock chick - right up my alley.

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PERSUASION

DGC says "Persuasion is a gorgeous, medium lavender base with gold shift and turquoise sparkles."

It's like fairy puke! I love it so much. It makes me think of My Little Pony and mermaids, and all kinds of other girly things.

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On-X (pronounced Onyx, I believe.)

DGC says "ON-X is a sheer black base with loads of rainbow star sprinkles."

Pretty!

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Darling Girl Cosmetics are based in the US. They're sold in full sized jars (with 3/4 teaspoon of product approx.) at $5.90, and petit sizes (with 1/4 teaspoon of product approx.) at $2.50 (at the time of writing.)

You only need a TINY amount of product to cover a huge area. Every order over $10 gets a generous sample of product, which has varied every time I've ordered. I find DGC to be the company with the quickest turnaround time (out of the companies I've tried so far), usually about 2 weeks from order to arrival. If you're in the UK and keep your order under $18 (before postage), it won't be opened by customs and you will save yourself the trouble of having your parcel opened AND being charged for it. To give you an idea, once I forgot and went a couple of dollars over $18 and got charged over £11 to have my parcel opened by Royal Mail. Bum.

The only trouble with these eyeshadows is they're so gorgeous I can hardly bear to use them.

Have you tried anything by Darling Girl?

Thanks for reading!