Lorac : Party Eye Shadow Palette {Ulta Exclusive}

Happy New Year, angels, and a Merry Tenth Day of Christmas, too!  If you're celebrating all the way up to Three King's Day on Tuesday, and are needing to elevate your holiday eye look, I might take a peek at Lorac's new Party Palette (released exclusively at Ulta on December 26). 

Icing : Cashmere "NYE" *starring Auntie Deborah*

Happy New Year's Eve, all you Twinkling goddesses out there!  Since I started this blog, I've been collecting pictures of manicures I have done for friends, as swatches and NOTD fun, but more importantly, as proof and validation that beauty reigns in all hands (and humans in general) regardless of nail shape, age, industry, etc.  My Auntie Deborah, once a makeup artist, now my fairy godmother, kindly posed for these swatches way back in September, but with a name like "NYE" I thought it only fitting that this polish, and my first guest feature, should debut on the last day of the year!!  Here's to a sparkling night of champagne kisses, and a most wonderful 2014!  Let this post and this night be a celebration of the profound beauty in heart, body, and soul that shines in all of us.

Sephora Formula X "Alchemy" & China Glaze "Golden Seal"

Happy Fifth Day of Christmas, loves!  I didn't even realize that we are already halfway through the Twelve Days of Christmas until an hour and a half ago, and even though I have a terrifying mountain of holiday swatches sitting on my desktop dying to be posted, I just had to make last minute room for these ones in honor of them *five ... golden ... rings*!!!!!

China Glaze "Golden Seal" + Sephora Formula X "Alchemy"

Sephora Formula X "Alchemy"

China Glaze "Golden Seal" + Sephora Formula X "Alchemy"

Candy Lacquer "Polar Unicorns" + "Santa's Beach House" ... Christmas In July

 Hello, darlings!  The glitter pretties I have to show you today were actually released this past summer as part of the Christmas in July collection, along with déjà-vu "Rudolph's Rum Punch", and while I almost love Christmas enough to want to celebrate it year round, I'm most in the mood for it around, well, Christmas!  I just really like immersing myself in the season and moment at present, and so I have actually saved these since August to enjoy during the most festive and wonderful time of the year!

"Polar Unicorns"

"Santa's Beach House"

❄ * ♥ * ❄ * ♥ * ❄

It Cosmetics *Naturally Pretty Celebration* limited edition eyeshadow palette - Holiday 2014

Hello Twinklings, and Happy Saturday!!  I've been playing around with the It Cosmetics *Naturally Pretty Celebration* palette lately, and just wanted to share some quick thoughts and a few ideas as to what you might do with it!

The dazzling aurora of holographic shimmers arcing across the palette's face are obviously what first captivated me (SHINY, NEED), and might seemingly suggest a more standard holiday palette: flamboyant, jewel-studded, brilliant, and bright.  However, It Cosmetics entertains a more subtle take on the season's delights with a cozy and comforting matte collection, plus a shimmer eyeshadow veil for creating lustrous "transformations", such as they are.  It's the cashmere sweater of holiday palettes, and despite the adorable, festive names, is equally cuddly and comfy as the seasons change.

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

♔ * ♥ * ♔

bareMinerals *Holiday 2014* The BIG TOP

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, and step right up!  Prepare yourselves for splendor, wonderment, and a spectacle the likes of which you have never imagined!  I present, for your fascination and delight... it's the "20-piece blockbuster color collection" that will take your breath away, and it's brought to us for a limited time only by bareMinerals... it's the one... the only... *The Big Top*!!

Rainbow Honey : The Yokai Collection : "Kitsune" & "Hebi" swatches

Hello, goddesses!  Many of you have been waaaiiiiting and waaiiiting for the Yokai, and as of this month they have returned, and doubled!  Last fall Rainbow Honey released the first three Yokai, and I'm so happy that you're here to help me welcome Part 2.  In case you were wondering, yokai are "a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore".  The word yokai comes from the kanji for "bewitching, attractive, calamity" and "appartion, mystery, suspicious". (Thanks, Wikipedia.)  The pair I have for you today deliver on all counts (especially attractive)!  I thought they made particularly bewitching couples when paired with some of the polishes from the September Mystery Bag <3

Rainbow Honey : The Yokai + guests from the September Mystery Bag

Rainbow Honey : October Mystery Bag!!! swatches & sniffings

IT'S HERE AT LAST!!  Two weeks of bated breath, and I could've hugged the postman when he finally delivered the Rainbow Honey October Mystery Bag a few hours ago.  I guess it was only two weeks; it felt like an absolute eternity.  I have no patience at all anymore, it seems; and yet I look forward to the Rainbow Honey Mystery Bags so keenly that I can't help it!!  But it's here, and it most assuredly satisfied the anticipation!

Unboxing the Rainbow Honey October Mystery Bag!

...

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.

 ...

Clinique : Party Pretty Box {shadow palette, chubby stick for lips, mascara, quickliner for eyes, nail enamel, eye cream}

Happy weekend, goddesses!  If you haven't already, it's about time that you heard about Clinique's Limited Edition box for Fall 2014, Party Pretty.  I couldn't believe what an amazing deal this is, and was delighted that it includes some favorites of mine.

Clinique Party Pretty

 

Stila: Eyes Are The Window "Spirit" [eyeshadow palette]

Happy weekend!!  Today is one of those idyllic early autumn days, with a most perfectly pure periwinkle sky saturating the blushing landscape with sunshine and contentment.  It's a treasure of a day.  And speaking of treasures...

Stila: Eyes Are The Window "Spirit"

...witness Stila "Spirit", a mystical eyeshadow palette sheathed in an luxe metallic compact of romantic rose gold and opulent white gold.  Something about this particular palette has the feel of prophecies and mysterious magic to me, like fate parting the mist before you.  Wistful and ethereal, this Eyes Are The Window installment so elegantly illustrates the element of spirit in shimmering mists, roses, and precious metals.

Stila: Eyes Are The Window "Spirit"

Stila: "In The Light" vs. Eyes Are The Window "Soul" {eyeshadow palette comparison}

Do you think there are fairies in the desert?  Whenever I think of faerie folk, I generally envision them as feisty and frolicking in a verdant forest setting, where magic could masquerade all around and one might never know.  Somehow a stark desert expanse, simmering under a relentless sun, seems much too exposed for the shy elfin peoples.  And yet... can't you kind of imagine sand fairies with wispy mirage wings that fluff about in the sandstorms and create those mesmerizing ripples across the dunes??  Maybe?

Stila "Soul" [top] vs. "In The Light" [bottom]

Well anyways, these palettes reminded me of sun-drenched sands and bronzed beaches, and they are also fairly magical.  One of the lovely ladies at my local Ulta warned me that I wasn't going to be able to resist the packaging of Stila's 20th Anniversary collection, and she was right, I was not.   The new compacts are positively transcendent; exquisite and elemental with a mirrored metallic finish of rose, white, and yellow golds.  I can't even.  Just take my money.