Makeup Geek foiled eyeshadows - review and swatches

Man, I am SO excited to tell you guys all about these products. If you've been looking at my indie powder eyeshadow swatches and thinking, "I love those, but I don't have the time/skill to be messing around with loose eyeshadow" I have good news!

Makeup Geek have released a series of foiled, pressed eyeshadows that have colour payoff like the loose indies, but are even easier to use than mainstream pressed shadows. No, really!

A good friend was kind enough to score me five of these beautiful shadows for my birthday, as well as the world's sparkliest Z-palette to keep them in. From left to right, we have Mesmerised (a rose gold that leans burnished copper), Caitlin Rose (an irridescent purple), Showtime (rusty brown with a copper shine to it), Houdini (a black based green/blue duochrome) and Centre Stage (actually comes out slightly more navy than it appears here)

Being the skeptical person I am, I was pretty damn skeptical of Makeup Geek's claim that "just one swipe" would pick up enough product to do your whole eye, but as you can see from the swatches below, it's actually true. The swatches below are "just one swipe" with my finger straight onto my arm - no primer required.

Caitin Rose and Centre Stage are a tiny bit paler when swatched than I had hoped, but the others are just staggering with how pigmented they are.

The most mind blowing thing for me about this product though is how easily it applies with your fingers. I have all the brushes and the froofarah for my loose shadows, but sometimes I'm in a hurry or feeling lazy and I just want to smoosh on something. Nothing hard, that needs lots of blending or careful placement, just makeup for when I couldn't be bothered with makeup. Below is my new, everyday, "I couldn't be bothered but want to look nice" look.

It's just Mesmerised, patted all over the lid and smooshed out at the edges. That's it. (Well, and mascara) No brushes, no fiddling - because the shadows are so creamy, you can just blend it out with your fingertip. I could literally do it with my eyes closed and one hand behind my back! SO, SO GOOD.

If you want to get a bit fancier, these shadows also work really well with loose shadows like I usually show here. Because they're quite creamy (but somehow not sticky at all), they really grab the loose shadow. You only have to press the tiniest amount over the top, and you can get some really fun effects.

This is Centre Stage patted all over the lid and up the brow bone, with a tiny bit of Hello Waffle's Whale Hello There patted on the inner half. Add a bit of eyeliner, and you're looking fancy without the fuss!

As for the wear time, let me just say that I wore Mesmerised the other day for a full day of classes, then a nap, then went out, and there was not a crease to be seen. NOT ONE. No fading or patchiness either - it just stayed exactly where I put it, apparently forever.

The only downside of these shadows is that they come separately in little pans, not already in a palette. If you're an indie aficionado, you probably already have a palette floating around to hold your goodies, but if not Makeup Geek sell magnetic palettes to hold the pans on their site. Alternatively, they're packaged in a relatively sturdy cardboard sleeve that will hold them safely if you're careful.

You can get the full range of foiled eyeshadows direct from the Makeup Geek site!

Celestial Cosmetics Callisto - Review and Ramblings

I am such a sucker for burgundy at the best of times, but when I saw Celestial Cosmetics had put out a deep rich berry burgundy with their trademark holo fire, I knew I had to have it. And I was not disappointed!

Just look at this beautiful thing! These swatches were just two easy coats as well, giving this polish real bang for your buck.

Even inside the lightbox, the ridiculously strong holo fire still burns bright.

In keeping with Celestial Cosmetics astronomical theme, this polish is named for the fourth moon of Jupiter, which was in turn named for the mythological nymph Callisto, - guess which one I wanna talk about today?

Callisto was a follower of Artemis, and as such had declared she would forever stay a virgin. The followers of Artemis, and indeed Artemis herself weren't too hot on men in general, so pledging to stay away from them was a way for Callisto to show her devotion to her goddess.

No Boys Club

However, Zeus is in this story, so if you've ever read a Greek myth you'll know where this is going - that's right, Zeus rocked up and raped Callisto because she said she'd never be with a man.

Afterwards Zeus's wife Hera found out (as she always did) and lost her shit (as she always did). Unfortunately, she never seemed to lose her shit at Zeus, who I feel really deserved at least a serious talking to. Instead, she directed her wrath at poor Callisto. What happened next is quite different in different versions of the story. Some early versions have Hera bullying Artemis into just straight up killing Callisto, but later versions have Callisto being turned into a bear either before or after giving birth the Zeus's love child.  Some version have Callisto being turned into a bear after giving birth,  then roaming around the woods doing bear stuff until her son comes back to the woods all grown up and nearly kills her. In all versions, Callisto gets the rough end of a very shitty stick.

Sadly, NONE of these storylines were used when the TV show Xena decided to introduce a character named Callisto. It's not like turning a character into a bear would have made the show any more bizarre and silly than it already was. Seriously, according to the Wiki, over the course of the show Callisto "died twice at the hands of Xena and was sent to Tartarus, Hell and Heaven. She has been a mortal, an immortal, due to the golden apples, as well as a Deity, due to Ambrosia. After final death, she was sent to Hell and became a Demon and later an Arch Demon. She was then sent to Heaven by Xena and became an Angel, before reincarnating into Eve, Xena's daughter, who would later become the bringer of Twilight and peace." But no bears. RIPPED OFF. 

Celestial Cosmetics is currently out of stock of Callisto, but you can still pick it up from Femme Fatale Cosmetics, and Edgy Polish.

P.S If you have a minute, I'd love to hear what you think of my little Etsy endeavor via a short survey I'm currently running. It doesn't matter if you've bought from me or not, I want to hear from everyone!