Just a quick heads-up for my Canadian gals! Annabelle will be discontinuing some shades, so they’ll be disappearing from your shelves over the next little while… if any of the following perk your interest, make sure to get on that now ;) I’ve been quite happy with Annabelle shadows in the past, so I’d definitely recommend them now. And, I mean, at less than $5 a pop for the singles, these are a bit of coloured goodness that we can actually afford.
- Aedes de Venustas — seven 0.1oz glass fragrance samples for $15 shipped, or free with any purchase. Choose the samples yourself from the niche lines that they stock, or they’ll choose them for you.
- LuckyScent — samples only come in one size, 1/32oz glass vials, and not all fragrances are sampled, but LuckyScent carries many hard to find niche lines. Prices range from about $2-8 per sample, but most are $3-4 not including shipping.
- Sarah Horowitz Parfums — 1/32oz samples from $1.75 for single-note perfumes (parfum formula) to $3.00 for 1/2oz samples of the Sarah Horowitz crème perfume products. Prices do not include shipping, and I don’t see a limit for the number of samples you can order.
- Four Seasons — 1/6fl dram fragrance samples; $10 shipped for four samples or free with any order. (They also sample skincare, loose powders, and liquid foundations in 5 gram jars.)
- Parfums Raffy — glass vials of niche fragrances starting at $1 each, not including shipping. Vials are 1-3ml.
- The Perfumed Court — various sizes, types of vials, etc, of a ton of fragrances. This is definitely the place to be if you’re looking to buy a large variety of samples! They have everything from tiny glass vials to large rollerball decants.
- Sage Jewlery — 0.025oz glass sample vials available for $3.25 per scent, shipping additional.
- BPAL — easily the most popular “natural” fragrance line on the internet, the Black Pheonix Alchemy Lab offers a slew of scents, almost all of which are available in “imps ears,” or simply “imps.” Please see their site for more information!
Urban Decay has never let us down before, and the Alice in Wonderland palette is no exception! All the shadows (even the glitterbombs, which I personally adore) are just divine — they’re just as vivid with or without primer, foiled or not. I’m looking at the palette from the point of view of an Alice fan, though, and/or from the point of a shadow whore. So if you’re looking for someone to reason with you and tell you that, well, most of these are dupeable… that’s not me. That doesn’t even look a tiny bit like me.
Queen/Last Call: Insaaaane cranberry with that same gorgeous finish!
Happy Monday, ladies! As promised, more photos of Urban Decay’s Alice in Wonderland palette. Here are the product photos of the shadows, liners, and primer. Make sure to check back tomorrow for your AiW swatch fix, and if you haven’t seen the product photos of the box, click here to see them now :)
Oh, Alice. I don’t care if you’re going by “Urban Decay’s Alice in Wonderland Box of Shadows” or simply “UD AiW BOS,” I love you. But do I love you at $62? No. Not on this no-buy, at least! A friend of mine apparently does, though…
I thought I’d give you a bit more info on MUFE’s new HD blush, because it’s bound to make it over to Canada/the US eventually… right? RIGHT??! *panics*
There’s one way to start with fragrances that you simply cannot get around: you have to smell things. I have spent countless hours sniffing around the fragrance department, or in some cases, the fragrance wall, but sometimes you just can’t win — certain fragrances will be unavailable to you, but you’ll read about them and lust after them, and contemplate buying “fbs unsniffed,” aka full bottles without smelling the fragrance first.
What it is: Dove’s Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar… is it just me, or does it feel like I haven’t done a review in ages? *sigh*
The basics: The SS BB (oh yah, acronym me, babyyy) is large, white, and heavy — yes; you read that right! A BB is 120g, but for whatever reason, it feels more dense/heavy than the Pears I grew up with (which is actually 5g heavier per bar.) I’m guessing this is because of the curved shape, which has two other positive effects: it looks pretty, for starters, and it keeps the soap from getting too soggy on the bottom! The SS BB has a light “soapy” scent, which I’ve been informed is from the maltol, an ingredient that is added in very small amounts to conceal the smells of the cleansing agents.
Each year, the Marc Jacobs fragrance division releases three new “splashes,” available just for the season. Once they’ve sold out, they’re really gone — and I, personally, think it’s a great tactic. Each scent is fresh, simple, and in splash form*; they’re like the super cute t-shirt that you know you’ll only be able to wear for a month before there’s a hole in the thin fabric but buy anyways.