Boy howdy am I happy to be sharing this with all of you: I was lucky enough to get to try out the new limited edition eyeshadow collection from Aromaleigh and it is awesome!! It’s called Victoria’s Revenge and has a gothic victorian steampunk nightmare theme that is dark, mysterious, and FUN!

After several attempts at getting my less-than-stellar camera to photograph the sample bags, I decided I’d point you to several other bloggers who have succesfully photographed the sample collection. Please visit Fresco Phyrra, or Lazy Beautiful, or Painted Moogle to get a look at all the shades laid out and swatched.

So far, I’ve tried Infernal Chaos (a taupe color on me) with Brazen & Bitter (coral-y red), a fabulous combination. Infernal Chaos is probably the least must-have color, unless you really love to collect taupe shades. Brazen & Bitter is probably going to be a must-have though, as it’s a very wearable red color – a lot of red eyeshadows make my eyes look bloodshot when they’re not. Not this one!

The pictures here are Mourning’s Whimsy (bright purple with blue and violet sparkle) with Poison Utopia (black with sparkle). I used Fyrinnae’s Nijiro on the brow bone, and black eyeliner. I LOVE Mourning’s Whimsy! This is a great sparkly purple color! Poison Utopia is a little more work – just a little bit chalky as black shades tend to be. Love the sparkles though. I’m using Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy for the first time today as well, and I’m totally in love with it! The sparkles all stayed where they should and the colors are so much richer than with just primer alone. Love!

I can’t wait to try out the rest of the colors. I will try to get a picture of each combination to share. This beautiful collection is two thumbs up!

I’ve got a lot of stress going on in my life right now, job stress mostly, and fun beauty stuff always cheers me up. So this 5 Things is about the stuff I’ve found lately that is just perking up my day!

1. Shrek by OPI nail colors. I am just loving these fun, bright colors! I have Who The Shrek Are You? on my toes and I’m going to do a mani today with What’s With The Catittude?

2. Aromaleigh Victoria’s Revenge Limited Edition Eyeshadows – I was lucky enough to receive samples to review and share with all of you, and boy howdy are they GAWGEOUS! Expect multiple posts soon.

3. The new Badger Balm Lip Tints & Shimmers are so fabulous! These double-ended goodies boast beautiful sheer lip tints with ultra-moisturizing cocoa butter and olive oil. Love them!

4. FLOWERBYKENZO La Cologne is Kenzo’s newest fragrance, a citrus twist on the original FLOWERBYKENZO scent. I like the bitterness of the petitgrain paired with the powdery notes of the original. I’ll be reviewing this in full soon!

5. Fyrinnae’s new Lip Lustre shades are so pretty! I ordered Puppy Love and Ultra Phantom, and of course now I notice there are another FOUR new ones! Gah!! Next order, next order…

I hardly ever write negative reviews. It’s because I try to select products to try that I have a good likelihood of actually LIKING. I just tend to avoid products that I’m quite confident aren’t going to work with my skin, or that have a formula I know I don’t like (I rarely review cream eyeshadow, for example). But sometimes I try something, expecting to LOVE it, and it’s a major FAIL. This is what today’s report is all about!

Urban Decay’s regular Primer Potion for eyeshadow is one of my Holy Grail products. I don’t apply eyeshadow without it, ever. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. So it was with no small amount of anticipation that I purchased a tube of Urban Decay’s newest, Primer Potion Eden. Eden is supposed to be Primer Potion with the addition of yellow pigment, to brighten the eye area and correct any purplish discoloration. And I quote:

An eye prep product that provides smoother, longer-lasting, and absolutely crease-proof eyeshadow—and is now offered in a very-wearable, tawny, matte hue.

And thus begins my tale of woe. Regular Primer Potion ROCKS MY SOCKS. My eyeshadow will stay crease-free for up to 12 hours, more if I don’t sweat much. Last time I flew to New York City I had applied eyeshadow the morning before the flight, for work, and it only needed light retouching when I landed, 24 hours later. It’s THAT GOOD. But Eden…

I want to love this product. I like the color-correcting effect, and my shadow looked lovely on top of it this morning. BUT! It barely made it past my lunch break for it all devolved into crease city on my eyelids! SOB! Yep, not even six hours later… Whatever they did to the formula, it definitely doesn’t have the same anti-crease magic of regular Primer Potion.

I may give it another try, or perhaps try it on my dark circles instead. But it was a FAIL at performing its primary function, keeping my eyeshadow in place. Perhaps someone whose lids don’t get as oily as mine do will find it ok.

In addition to the super-cute Sweet Obsessions eyeshadow set, for the holidays Bare Escentuals also came out with the adorable Candy Cocktails eyeshadow set that I just HAD to have! (I’m such a sucker for eyeshadow sets…)

The four colors, named for popular beverages, are Kir Royale (deep plum), Long Island Iced Tea (vintage copper), Mojito (icy clover), and Strawberry Daiquiri (icy pink shimmer). I was initially drawn to the Mojito, since I have something of an obsession right now with pale green colors (it was the green in the Sweet Obsessions that got me too!) but I think perhaps my favorite of the four is the Long Island Iced Tea. It is the perfect shade of coppery brown, not particularly shimmery, but just this perfect pearly brown shade that coordinates well with many other colors.

Candy Cocktails is a limited edition set introduced for the holiday season, but is still available on the Bare Escentuals website. Get it before it’s gone!

J. Lynne Cosmetics is offering 20% off their Classics Collections, which is only available through 12/31! If you like beautiful pastels and also bright colors, check them out!

From the Classic Multi-Dimensions Eyeshadows, I decided that Mist was a must-have shade. I am strongly tempted by Dewdrop as well. If money wasn’t a consideration, I’d buy one of each, actually!

I chose Bluebell from the Classic Satin Pearls Eyeshadows, and would buy Java Berry, Jade, and Clover too, if I had the budget.

Wild Child, a purple shade, looked like my best bet in the Classic Ultra Intensity Eyeliners, but honestly, they all look great.

This is one of the few makeup collections where I seriously want one of everything. Every single shade is fantastic, they ALL look great!

I ordered some samples from Meow Cosmetics’ various holiday collections and I’m really loving the colors! The collections have awesome names like “12 Pains of Christmas” and “Glacial Grove” and the shades are really perfect for this time of the year.

So far, I’ve tried Cat In The Tree from the 12 Pains, which is a great shade of dark green (dark forest green with copper undertones and gold metallic iridescent shimmer), paired with Iberian Lynx from Fyrinnae. (Iberian Lynx is a great slightly-darker-than-taupe shade.)

Hangover (another 12 Pains)  is a great purple color, bright but not too bright. I paired it with a silver color and got lots of compliments.

The Snowflakes collection has Flurry, which is an awesome icy blue color. I love it with a purple like Hangover or Fyrinnae’s Cupcake Sprinkles.

I still have samples from Glacial Grove and Winter Spirits left to try. I love new colors!

Sometime earlier this year I picked up a mini-size of Bare Escentuals’ new Hydrating Mineral Veil, a Sephora Beauty Insider sample. I liked the sample, so I decided to spring for the full size product and the brush that comes with it. Also, Bare Escentuals recently had their Friends & Family sale, and since I work at a mall with a store, the lovely ladies there hooked me up with an invite. Yay! I bought the Sweet Obsessions set with the F&F discount.

The Hydrating Mineral Veil is pretty cool stuff. It’s a powder that actually contains water, as well as some flower extracts, that works to hydrate your skin without adding shine. It absorbs oil, and leaves behind a soft, flawless finish. I love it! It does seem to help keep my skin from feeling dry in the very cold, very dry weather we have been having. I also really like the very subtle shimmer the powder has. It brightens the complexion without any disco-ball effect. I bought the set with the brush, which seems to help with applying just the right amount.

The Sweet Obsessions set is an eyeshadow set featuring nine shades. It was the mint green that suckered me in, but really all the shades are really pretty and wearable. The box includes an insert with suggested combinations of colors, and so far I’ve tried the green with browns, and the purple/pinks. The finish is not quite matte, but not shimmery either. It’s a soft pearl finish, which looks really nice. These colors will be fun to wear year round, as they are not particularly “wintery” or anything, despite being a Holiday special.

What new products have you bought lately?

I’ve been a busy girl, happily ordering makeup to play with (and then write about, lol!) and my orders are here! W00t!

From Aromaleigh, I ordered full sizes of Strawberry Despair from the Gothic Lolita collection and Winged Psyche from Les Papillons. I also ordered a full size tube of Sweet Tart Nourishing Color Creme (also from the Gothic Lolita collection). I ordered two samples from Les Papillons, Flying Flower and Vigil of Change, and also received samples of Bete Noire Solange, Ozone and Destination Unknown from the Rocks! Collection, and a Nourishing Color Creme sample in Limbo.

I decided to order the sample set of the Japanese Garden collection eyeshadows from J. Lynne Cosmetics. I can’t wait to try them all out! I’m thinking Sakura, Mokuren, and Wakakusa look particularly awesome and I wore Mimoza and Seri together today (that’s a gold and sage-y pale green) and they were so pretty! I will try to get a photo of some of these soon. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to photograph my eyeshadow this morning. I’ll post a full review on this collection soon.

From Fyrinnae, I ordered samples sizes of Shinigami, Sumatran Tiger, Jaguar, Iberian Lynx, and a Lip Lustre in Bloodstains. I am really loving that Lip Lustre, and the greenish tinge of Sumatran Tiger seriously rocks! I need to try to get some eyeshadow pictures with these colors too. Shinigami is an AWESOME shade of purple.

I love new makeup! What have you ordered recently?