Monday, September 5, 2011

Alexeter Mineral Makeup Princess Collection review

I was really excited when the Alexeter Mineral Makeup Princess collection was released because I knew I'd love every single color it included. I was not wrong- and honestly the collection even exceeded my expectations if you can believe that. The Princess collection consists of the 4 AMM shades: Princess Buttercup, Princess Lala, Princess Cupcake, and Princess Toad. In my photos you are also seeing an awesome little lime green with a golden shift called Romp. Romp is not part of this collection, but I received it free during a sale event so it snuck into this review too.

Pretty labels!

L-R- Romp, Princess Buttercup, Princess Lala, Princess Cupcake, and Princess Toad. All jars came sealed with shrinkwrap, and contain a sifter.


Top right is AMM shade Romp-not part of the collection. L-R: Princess Buttercup, Princess Lala, Princess Toad, and Princess Cupcake. Used dry, no primer, natural light

Used over white base. Natural light

Oooo shimmery!


When worn dry these colors are shimmery, bright and nicely pigmented. When used wet or over a white base they are extremely vibrant. They all also look excellent over NYX black bean or a similar black base or pencil. Use these wet to bring out their crazy shimmery shine, or dry over eye primer for a sparkly soft look. They are high quality, vegan, and safe for eyes, face, lips, and nails.

I like to occasionally use Princess Lala as a browbone highlight and in the inner corners of my eyes. It's hard to photograph but it is a soft shimmer-packed pink with a very beautiful iridescent sheen to it. Princess cupcake seems to be an AMM fan favorite, and it isn't hard to see why. It's a rosey medium shimmer pink shade. Princess Buttercup is a gorgeous bright buttery yellow. When I ordered the collection I assumed it would be more of a gold shade and was pleasantly surprised by just how bright it applies. I love yellow eyeshadow in general and this one is definitely one that you have got to try for yourself. My absolute favorite color in the Princess collection would have to be Princess Toad. It is an amazing bright minty seafoam green filled with sparkles and shimmer. It looks great any way you apply it and compliments many other colors. It is particularly stunning over a black base or used wet as eyeliner.

Princess Buttercup, Princess Toad, and Romp


You can't see it that well in these pictures but I am wearing Princess Lala, and Princess Cupcake.


Other than having some great colors Alexeter Mineral Makeup has excellent customer service. She packs everything up neatly into a cute hand-stamped green bag filled with confetti, and instructions on how to get the most out of your makeup. Receiving your package from AMM is more like getting something from a friend rather than just another company. You can see the meticulous care that is put into packing every single order. It is evident by all the little details & finishing touches that this business really strives to provide you with a wonderful products as well as a good shopping experience with them.

In addition to those good qualities I also found their shipping to be fast, prices are great, website easy to use, and of course who doesn't love things like frequent facebook promotions and sales? . 

Overall my opinion of this collection is very high. It may be called the Princess collection, but it is totally fit for a queen ;)

Abigail's Boutique Designs review & swatches

As you may have read in my last post, I am now a promoter for Abigail's Boutique Designs. What that means to you is that I will be featuring these wonderful pigments from time to time and keeping you up to date on her specials, sales, new collections, and an occasional fun contest or two!

Obviously I wouldn't promote something I didn't actually like and use myself.

I actually spent the summer trying out a lot of different indie makeup brands. I like these small shops because I feel their owners put a lot of themselves into their products, and thus you end up with makeup that is completely unique. As with any makeup companies some are better than others. I've had the pleasure of purchasing things from several lovely people whose customer service just blew me away, and also from others I felt were just okay. Buying handmade products is a process of trial and error really, so it helps to try out a lot of things and figure out who the shops who best suit your needs are. Abigail's Boutique Designs is definitely one of those shops that meet my needs.

Here are just some of the positive attributes that helped me to come up with that decision:

  • Unique shade range
  • Good quality- compares to high-end makeup brands
  • Highly pigmented 
  • Easy to blend
  • Many complimentary shades and collections
  • Friendly, easy to work with customer service 
  • Fast shipping/Good packaging
  • Website is easy to use & navigate 
  • Good prices

L-R: Big Bird, Aurora, Unicorns & Glitter, Hidden Truth, Blaze in sample clamshells
Look how shimmery it is!
   
Bird Bird is such a fun shade
I know this picture is blurry and crappy, but I wanted to show how sparkly Hidden Truth and Blaze are

Wouldn't these 3 together make a great Halloween look?

 There isn't a color i've tried that I don't like really lol. Hidden Truth is so hard to photograph because it's this weird charcoal grey with a gold-green shift and lots of microglitter. It is a MUST HAVE. I really like it wet, or over a black base to show off it's sheen and glittery goodness. Another favorite is Blaze because of it's versatility. It looks amazing dry for bright, but wearable fiery orange. It looks even better wet, over black or white base. Like all mineral pigments, all of these colors can be worn several different ways to make many different types of makeup looks. There quality and pigmentation rivals that of most of the high-end store brands I have used. Their silky formula makes blending super easy and they do not ever apply "patchy" for me. They also are really long lasting with eye primer (they last pretty long when you forget the primer too...oopes lol).

All colors have been swatched over white eyeshadow base. That stunning blue you see is the shade Mabeline. The last two swatches are hidden truth over nyx black bean and unicorns and glitter over nyx pacific.

Natural light

with a flash


These colors do not need to be worn with a white base to be very vibrant, but I found this to be the easiest way to photograph them. Many shades are very pigmented simply used dry over eye primer. A white base will make your eyeshadow shades pop, and last longer though. My camera is not great so these pictures really don't do these colors any justice, but they are true to shade.




Hidden truth & Unicorns & Glitter over a white base.







Aurora, Blaze, and fusebox Coral Burst over eye primer.


I definitely love these colors shown, as well as all the other colors I have that are not shown. You'll be seeing a lot of looks using these colors and many more in the near future. If you have a request for a certain collection or color you would like me to review please let me know in the comments section!

Playing catch-up & new stuff

So.... I have been slacking on my blog again. That tends to happen from time to time. I am back though, and with several updates!

As you may or may not already know I have started a Youtube channel to compliment this blog. I will be trying to put out a different video at least once a week. I already have several up right now, so please check them out and give me some feedback. I put a lot of work into them- although you'd never know it from how amateurish my videos are lol. I am terribly awkward on camera so don't expect me to be talking much :P



(And then there is *this*. I (obviously) didn't make this video, but it is noteworthy to say the very least LOL. Thanks Celeste & the fabulously hairy Dancing Dror! )


I plan to focus a lot on Halloween makeup through the end of October, but I definitely will be doing some makeup looks for fall soon as well. I am fairly new to making videos so bear with me while I learn and (hopefully) improve on my skills. If you have special requests for ANY sort of tutorial please let me know in the comments! I will also be doing more natural skin treatments/masks just because I think they are fun :)

I do want to briefly touch upon the other 2 non-makeup related videos on my YT account for those who were wondering. I made these videos (along with 2 other ones that are no longer public) awhile ago because I wanted to address an extremely sad large scale animal hoarding situation. I have received some backlash for these videos however I feel they serve a greater good so they will remain on my channel for the time being. I had considered just making a whole new channel for the glitter blog but I didn't want to have to resubscribe to everyone's beauty channels. I made these videos because I have done cat rescue for several years and just think it is important to give a voice to those who have none. I probably won't be putting many more videos like this up though so it's not really anything you guys need to worry about too much. If you are interested in Caboodle Ranch, why it's a bad place, and animal hoarding please check out these links: Caboodle Ranch: save the kitties, ASPCA Facts about Hoarding


Other than YT and Halloween excitement, I am also now a promoter for a wonderful indie boutique- Abigail's Boutique Designs. ABD offers a wide variety of amazing mineral pigment shades ranging from subtle and sparkling to the bright and bold. They are all unique hand mixed pigments made with high quality ingredients. I'll be putting up a review later with some swatches, so I'll save the rest of  my praise for that post :P Here is a sneak peek at some of the beautiful colors for you though.
which one is your favorite???
Abigail's Boutique Designs also offers many other things such as bath & body products, cute clippies and bows, soy candles, and many other things for you OR your little princess. How cool is that? Check out Robyn's facebook fan page & Blog for more information, news, and contests/giveaways.



That's my news for now! Stay tuned for some reviews comin' up here soon.