EOTD Brown: Bronzed Gold

TKB's Bronzed Gold all over lid

EOTD Brown: Australian Amber

Australian Amber all over lid
Ivory Lace used on the browbone for blending

Do not like Australian Amber, will sell or give away

Here's some more of Australian Amber (May 5, 2009):
This time Australian Amber is applied wet the first layer and dry the second, blended with Bronze Fine just above the crease, which is in turn blended in with Sandy Fair (EDM, intensive) just under the brow. Sandy Fair is also the foundation for the day. The liner is Simply Naturals' Sandlewood, my absolute fave.

EOTD Rainbow

EDM Cool Fair as foundation

Manhattan's eye shadow primer on the lids
A Breath of Spring all over lid
Lemon Drop in the inner corner
Green Apple as liner
Grape in the outer V and crease
(Green Apple is toned down a bit using Ivory Lace and Sparkle under the browbone, all blended well)

Pictures are taken midday, makeup applied 8am, creased like hell at 6 pm. Think these micas need a layer of powder on top of the primer.

Another look, same colors, made in April:

EOTD Green

Promise of Spring all over lid
Green Apple in outer corner
Lemon Drop in inner corner

EDM collective haul has arrived

Ordered Feb 2, arrived Feb 16th. Now where the hell are the two sample kits I ordered a week before this package?

The testers ordered on January 28 arrived on February 27, testers ordered on January 26 arrived March 9.

Comparing all the EDM stuff I've got:

From top to bottom, all swatches done wet, no primer used:

My own mix of Conservatorie's Caramel Light
Fair Neutral semi-matte
Fair Neutral intensive
Ivory original glow
Ivory intensive
Sandy Fair matte
Sandy Fair intensive
(Cool) Fair semi-matte
Medium Summer intensive
Light Medium original glow
Linen semi-matte
Intensive Fair concealer
Multi-Intensive concealer
Aussie Perk Me Up concealer

And second one, in slightly different light:

The girl who got the 6 items on the far right (see the first photo) sent me her swatches too:
She is fair skinned like me but has darker hair. Says all the powders are a match since they are so light. She got:



Mint concealer
Multi-Tasking original glow foundation
Linen (intensive)
Olive Fair semi-matte
Olive Fair pressed powder
Finishing Dust
Walkee Talkee blush and
TKB's Zion Views eyeshadow.

EOTD Brown

This time no primer, just the tweaked Conservatorie foundi.

Conservatorie's Adobe as blush
TKB's Ivory Lace as highlighter
TKB's Moonstone in the crease, well blended (am rather surprised - that was too easy)
TKB's Australian Amber all over lid
TKB's Bronze Fine near the lashline in the center of the lid

Pictures taken in daylight. Elegant subdued look IRL as well.

This next one is anything but subdued: the coppers are incredibly intensive:
TKB's Copper Penny inner corner
TKB's Antique Copper in outer corner
TKB's Bronzed Gold under the browbone (rather think this would make a wonderful bronzer for someone just a little bit darker then me)
(forgot the mascara)

It's not wearable (much too daring for me) but I like it. This look can be worn in the evening with a matching copper-red dress. But I do not have a dress to match Copper Penny... And my ashen-blonde hair should be dyed deep red to pull this look off. It's perfect for a true goth. I guess it's gonna be one of these colors you just admire but cannot use much. Copper Penny reminds me of Archetype's Yowie the Night Beast.

Another subdued one - the Sun has set and pictures are taken in artificial light.
TKB's Athena all over lid
TKB's Dusty Rose in the crease
TKB's Ivory Lace as highlighter

Nüüd siis Moonstone, Athena ja Ivory Lace. Viimasest on saamas mu suur lemmik.
Aluspuuder seevastu läigib kaamerasse nagu pöörane... lisaks on ta ka kergelt kördiks muutunud - see näoõli, mida niisutajana kasutasin, see vist ei sobi...

I think the foundation disagrees with the oil I used to moisturize my face in the morning. Must be oil-soluble TiO2...

Tweaking the Conservatorie's foundi

Added a touch of Grape, extremely small amount of Blueberry and silica microspheres, a half teaspoon of boron glow and three full teaspoons of TiO2 to the Conservatorie's mix (6-7 teaspoons of it - do not have an exact measuring device) - result - DAMN! too light - I've not been able to say this for years. Beautiful glowing pinkish-grayish powder in the jar and white on the face - unfortunately my neck seems too yellow now...
Coverage and adhesion are both excellent, the texture is creamy. Had to use mom's coffee grinder to mix it up though - the tiny unmixed granules of Grape streaked...

In daylight - it's a match on my neck... how the hell is this possible? And the lady downstairs commented on my beautiful flawless skin :D. Oh what a happy day...

The TKB haul is here

Friday the 13th and there's finally a note in my mailbox telling me to come and pick up my parcel.

Some pictures of the haul:
The little round thingies in the picture are samples of Blackest Black and Crucible Khaki - the expensive piggies, that are only 1 teaspoon per sample. They are packed into clamshell-jars. They're not mine and I did not dare to open them - they look potentially messy :S.

I did not bother to take a picture of the boron glow sample and the 1 ounce TiO2 and silica microspheres baggies - they're just white powders.

So have spent a happy and exhausting day swatching the stuff. I spent 3 hours potting all my new piggies... The best way to get them potted was to lift the pigments out of the plastic bag using a teaspoon.


These samples are BIG - they fill a 25ml Sarstedt jar with no problem.

Some of the colors bare the same names as the Conservatorie's but are not exactly the same. First of all - the sample sizes differ significantly:

And the colors are not a match either (see Antique Gold):

For the record: I like Conservatorie's version of the Antique Gold a lot more - more gold and less black pigment in it.

I am in love with browns and golds at the moment and so it's naturally to be expected that they make up the most part of the haul (some Conservatorie's browns are also added for comparison):

Antique Copper - medium brown with copper sheen and orange sparkle
Antique Gold - has strong dark grey undertone if rubbed, a tad too dark for me
Athena Mica - perfect shiny purplish brown, very elegant
Australian Amber - shimmery light brown
Bronze Fine - beige with strong metallic sheen
Bronze Mica
Bronzed Gold - looks like red gold, would make a decent bronzer
Chameleon Fine - exact match to Simply Naturals Moca, beautiful reddish brown with silvery shimmer
Copper Penny - unbelievably bright metallic dark orange
Glimmer Beige - glimmery neutral
Honey Mica - extremely glittery, needs a good eyeshadow base
Mermaid's Gold - reminds me of Zion Views, more coverage and more yellow pigment
Moonstone Mica - seems matte medium brown, blends well
Swiss Chocolate Mica - beautiful rish dark brown with some gold sparkle
Zion Views - same as Conservatories Xian Vistas

And the pinks (with some browns for comparison):

Dusty Rose - not pink at all to my surprise
Winter Rose - looks like Archetype's Silk & Cyanide
Ivory Lace - skin colored shiny highlighter

Dusty Rose is NOT pink, it has a very strong coppery sheen - weird, methinks.

And the miscellaneous greens etc:

Blackstar Blue - black with blue sheen
Starlight Green - warm yellowish green sparkle
Ocean Green - beautiful light blue with gold sheen
Sparkle Turquoise
Pisces Blue - beautiful light blue with gold sheen with more sparkle
A Breath of Spring - like Archetype's Weeping Willow
Sparkle - more silvery sparkle
Satin White - pretty good coverage

And last but not the least: the Pop! Collection (gonna use this one to mix new shadows and tweak the ones I already have but do not like). Very vibrant and with good coverage.

Lemon Drop, Green Apple, Blueberry, Grape, Tangerine, Strawberry, Raspberry

(I think MAD Minerals Big Apple is mostly Raspberry.)

Not all these piggies are mine, about half of them will go to their separate ways.

Also ordered 7 of the 20gr stackable jars. I can safely say that there is NO WAY IN HELL one of these samples will fit in a 20 gr jar. So my friends just have to fill out their jars and stash the rest of the piggies away. It seems to me that the stackable jars are smaller than ordinary 20 gr jars - they have extra space under them to accommodate the next jar's rim.

The first thing I did in the morning was to wear my new colors, here are the results:

And here are all my multi-use piggies in their box:

PS! I think I am gonna be quite sorry that I have stored my Simply Naturals piggies upside down...

Threading the eyebrows

I watched this Youtube post and tried to imitate it. I think I did something wrong, because my eyelids were seriously damaged after this. I mean - I could see blood, the tiny hairs were not pulled out at the right angle. My eyelids have hurt for two days now...
Glittering eyeshadows help to hide the puffiness, overall redness and incrustations. I presume it would have helped had I had just 2 more arms to hold the skin on the eyelids more firmly.
What the hell did I do wrong? On the videos the people just slide the thread on the skin and the hair is removed.
I'll stick to my tweezers...

(3 days later)

Uus või pigem igivana meetod kulmukarvade kitkumiseks: võtad veidi niiti, seod otsad kokku ja hakkad "vurri mängima". kahjuks ei tõmmanud see meetod mu kulmukarvu pärikarva välja ja jättis mu laud veidi veriseks (karv tuli ära koos tillukese naharibaga - ei soovita). Seda on vist parem lasta kellelgil teisel teha, sest mõistlik oleks laugudel olev nahk selle protseduuri ajaks pingule tõmmata. Karvaeemaldusmeetodina on see väga efektiivne.

My tiny Archetype haul is finally here

Took it long enough - almost 4 months.

The foundation samples I ordered for my friends (5 samples, 15 USD incl shipping) and my own order (2 full foundies, 2 small pigments and some samples totalling 31,75 USD incl shipping) arrived at the same time in different envelopes. They were shipped out on the same day too, January 27.

The foundation samples are in darker tones then the foundations I wear myself. It will be interesting to swatch them.

As for me - I've got full size foundations in Striptease formula Level 1 Yellow Beige for day wear and Level 1 Pink Beige for evening wear (the first tones down the redness of my face during the day and the latter supposedly helps to give a more radiant look to me in the artificial light - the theory is yet to be tested). I am a little disappointed that the foundies are only 20gr jars - they will not last long.

Also ordered some small eye shadows: Burlesque Revival (on the homepage described as:

"Looks dove grey in the pot, and in the picture, but when applied it reveals a spectacular pinkish iridescence and a moderate silver sparkle. Applies fairly opaque."

and Erotic Underground (on the homepage described as:

"Flat out gorgeous color- this one has a velvety grey satiny silverypink look straight on, but tip it to the side and see it change to a blackened green, and has a tiny bit of blue sparkles. Looks very multidimensional when applied, like several shades rolled into one.";

I have begun not to like the last one - too dark for me) and some more multi-use pigment samples - they are so affordable, I could not resist: Madame Terpsichore, Dirty Blonde, Epiphany, Silk&Cyanide and Angel Dust have been now added to my collection.

The foundies I am going to swatch later on are:
Yellow Beige Lev 1
Yellow Beige Lev 2
Yellow Beige Lev 3
Pink Beige Lev 1
Neutral Lev 2
Neutral Lev 3
... all in Striptease formula. According to the Archetype homepage the Striptease formula consists of:

"Striptease Contains: Titanium Dioxide (77891), Zinc Oxide, Mica (77019), Boron Nitride, Silicon Dioxide, Polymethylhydrogen Siloxane, Iron Oxides (77499, 77491)."

They also carry a very minimalist formula called In the Buff for those who wish to entirely avoid any man-made substances (that one is completely matte, Striptease has an in-built sheen, which I absolutely adore).


The samples in this haul:

Angel Dust
Apocalypse Meow
Autumn Leaves
Child of Hounds
Dirty Blonde
Dungeon
Epiphany
Fool in the Rain
Lisa's Busted Camaro
Madame Terpsichore
Silk&Cyanide
Spun Sugar
Starfall
The Oak King
Xibalba

The haul:

Full sized foundies (20gr) and mini eye shadows (5gr)

Eyeshadow and blush samples:

Now the foundation swatches:

(dry application, no primer) just in case - another photo too:Swatches of the samples
(dry application, no primer)
All the Archetype browns I have:
(dry application, no primer)
All the Archetype pinks:
(dry application, the upper ones are applied on Manhattan Cosmetics eye shadow base but there seems to be no difference - they are so shiny the camera is unable capture the colors)
EOTD in browns:


Absolutely love this foundation...
no primers, no nothing - looks absolutely flawless on it's own