OPI: Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014 Collection ["Rollin' in Cashmere" trio, etc]

Hello darlings, and Happy Monday to you!  What with school started up in full force once more (for the last semester of my life!!!) the posts will be fewer and farther between, most unfortunately, and despite a desperate backlog of swatches, holiday and otherwise :(  However, I just had to get this one up for multiple reasons: one, because all of these polishes were popping up for excellent deals immediately after Christmas at TJMaxx, Marshall's, etc, well in advance of when I would normally expect these to appear at discount stores (uh, usually next year!).  But indeed, the Rollin' in Cashmere trio featured here (incorporating "Rollin' in Cashmere", "Comet in the Sky", and "Snow Globetrotter") was snapped up at TJMaxx for *$9.99* by my savvy Auntie Deborah, who very kindly loaned it to me for swatching and news-sharing, before she tried them even.  Thank you oh so much, Auntie!!  You may consider this your bargain-hunting hit list, kittens.

Lorac *The Royal* holiday eye shadow palette set

Hello there, princesses!  Seeking some shimmering shadows for your next royal ball?   Well good, because PRINCESSES ONLY*; we're talking about *The Royal* Eye Shadow Palette Set, after all.  (*Princesses-at-heart absolutely do count.  Welcome to Tiny Twinklings, Your Highness.)

I think I'll let the pictures do the heavy lifting in this post, since there are quite a few of them, and also because I'm feeling lazy after all dis photographing :P  Several of you have asked for eyeshadow looks to go with your eyeshadow swatches in the past, so I've been having a go at it lately.  Has it been helpful for you?  If this kind of post is working for you, or if there is something you would like to see, pretty please let me know in the comments so that I can optimize these reviews for you.  Because hey, my readers really are royalty around here!  ♥

Crowns of Copenhagen

This set hasn't received much press at all, though by merit of its packaging alone one would think it should.  These crowns look exactly like the three kroner that stack in a spire over every old government building in Copenhagen, and the ones imprinted on the Danish krone coins.  The colors also remind me of the Rosenborg summer castle interior; I lived four blocks away from the slot during my time in the Danish capital so it is a fond place for me.  I often walked, picnicked, and sketched in the castle grounds; once we even did a zealous group workout on the lawns.  Just imagine, a whole bunch of us out there in front of a fairytale Renaissance castle, doing lunges and pushups and planks... in honor of the Queen, of course.  Anyways, these palettes are kind of nostalgic for me, so I was bound and determined to own this set, even if the colors aren't wildly unique or imaginative.  This regal collection full of precious metals is quite perfectly suited to holiday soirées and parties, or anytime you just need a little glamour in your life and on your lids.

Rosenborg Castle

♔ * ♥ * ♔

Rainbow Honey : December Mystery Bag!

Happy Sunday, darlings!  Another month, another mystery bag!  This is a special month for the mini mysteries, because Rainbow Honey has new mini bottles and they are AWESOME!  The mini polishes used to be 5mL, but they have now upgraded to 7.5mL, though the price is set to remain the same!  I mean, when was the last time that your favorite product experienced a relative price DECREASE?  Fabulous.  Another thing I love about these minis is that the long-handled, regular-sized brush does not compromise polishing comfort or efficacy like many tiny polish bottles out there, cute and fairy-like as they are.

This month's mystery bag was inspired by "fictional characters of Russian literature", which is just brilliant for a holiday set.  It makes me think of the Russian lacquerware you see in Alaska, so deep and intense and fantastical, hand-painted with folkloric scenes of legendary figures riding swans and reindeer-drawn sleighs through gold gilt forests.  I think this mystery bag definitely captures that storytelling spirit of grand, mythological splendor!

Lucky 13 Lacquer "Some People Are Worth Melting For" {Frozen: Day 7}

"Olaf, you're melting!" - Anna

"Some people are worth melting for.  ❄ *♥* ❄

...Ehhh just maybe not right this second!" - Olaf

Lucky 13 Lacquer "Some People Are Worth Melting For" [Revlon "Northern Lights"]

"...just maybe not right this second!"

"Some People Are Worth Melting For" is a snowman glitterbomb full of black hexes, golden orange triangles, and pearlescent white glitters in squares and hex glitters, large and small.  This composition is pure genius.  I mean, even if you didn't know about the Olaf reference this is the perfect illustration of a melted snowman.  It should be woebegone, but there is something so happy about this mani!!  It makes my fingers want to do a twinkle dance ❄

Lucky 13 Lacquer "Some People Are Worth Melting For" [Revlon "Northern Lights"]

Serum No. 5 - fall polish swatches [Twilight Sparks, Sleepy Holo, Second Spring]

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus 

Happy Sunday, Twinklings!!  I've had these swatches sitting around for aaa-ages, and it suddenly occurred to me that I could maybe, I dunno, do something with them :)

Serum No. 5:  a few spontaneous polishes from various fall collections

ILNP "Black Orchid" // Lorac - The Elegant Orchid Collection swatches

Hello, dolls!  It's ORCHID DAY here on *Tiny Twinklings*, or at least, I have a few orchid things to show you!  ILNP "Black Orchid" and the Lorac Elegant Orchid Collection are not at all affiliated, but I was wearing "Black Orchid" when I found the Lorac box at Kohl's yesterday and I was like, well THIS is happening.  I adore orchids, so I've been loving all of the Radiant Orchid-ness inspired by the Pantone Color of the Year.  I was an orchid mommy once, but although I loved my orchid baby very much it was much too delicate for my hapless, erratic plant mothering :(  I'm probably better off with orchid lips and tips (or rather, the orchids are better off that way).
 

my erstwhile Phalaenopsis orchid <3

Essence Cosmetics : Dark Romance Collection

Calling all vampires!!  Essence's Dark Romance Collection is all about thrilling trysts in Gothic castles, and forbidden love in haunted ruins... Jane Austen's wide-eyed heroine Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey would be all about this, what with her naive fascination with Gothic novels bordering on hallucinatory obsession.  The Brontë sisters would undoubtedly approve as well.  But do be sure to accessorize properly with a shadowy gloss and unearthly lacquer when you curl up with Wuthering Heights, or maybe Jane Eyre, for a good October thrill... ;)  A spiced tea will be in order as well.  Purrrrr...

As Essence is a German company, the Dark Romance Collection was actually released as early as January 2014 in various parts of Europe (definitely Poland and Romania), but only just debuted in the United States.  According to the Essence website it was supposed to be a September limited edition release, but it only hit my local Fred Meyers on October 2 so it would seem that schedule has been pushed back a month.  I immediately pounced on every item Fred Meyer is carrying (except for the tattoos, they were a bit too biker chick for my taste) though the full collection also has one more each of the eyeshadow quad, lipstick ("Painted Love"), and nail polish (a gray), as I recall.  Ah well, I'll take whatever I can get!  I LOVE Essence's Limited Edition collections (though I rarely get to avail myself of them, seeing as they are available so sparingly in the U.S.); they do them monthly, and yet they are always consummately imaginative and original.  The themes are quite wide-ranging and the packaging is always adorable.  Not only that, the products generally quite excellent (at minimum, they are above average for a drugstore line), and are amazingly inexpensive!!  So much love for this brand, I has.

Oh, you demand to see this stupendously seductive collection, do you?  Well, okay.

 ...

Wet n' Wild : Enchanted Halloween : Happy Hour Hop, Roadwork, Pot of Gold, & Under Your Spell

Hello, Twinklings!!  It's my last week in Montana before I have to go back to school, and it's been bumming me out but I can't be too sad because it's my birthday week!!!  Whee!!  Yes, I am unabashedly a birthday week person.  I can't help it, I just love birthdays.  Secretly, I've been kind of having a birthday month, mostly because it has been my last-ditch validation for all of my makeup shopping :)  As a result of Birthday Month activities, I have lots of fun new stuff to show you before I become bogged down with thesis research next week.  My fall collections packages have begun arriving *today* so while I'm swatching those like crazy, I wanted to share with you part of a collection that has come as a pleasant surprise to me: Enchanted Halloween!!

Wet n' Wild : Enchanted Halloween