Naturalla Beauty

 
I know it's only been a week, but it feels like it's been a long time since my last blog post.  Either way, I'm happy to be back to posting.  I hope you all had a fantastic holiday.  As December's coming to a close, I've seen several "best of" posts pop up on different blogs and I decided to add mine to the mix.  I'm going to split it up into a few different posts, so you can expect a couple more of these before the new year.  Today's is going to highlight some of my favourite eye shadows.  

To warn you in advance, this year, I've either grown up or gotten terribly boring with my eye makeup.  I used to be a lot more adventurous with eye shadow colours, but these days I really prefer how I look with more neutral-toned shadows.  With that in mind, for your viewing pleasure, I've got my 10 favourite neutrals and my 5 favourite colours.  I made sure to pick shades that are still available, so you can easily get your hands on any of these!

(L to R) Darling Girl Cosmetics Smoking Gun, Darling Girl Cosmetics Chococat, Darling Girl Cosmetics Harvest Moon, Cheeky Cosmetics Sun Goddess, Cheeky Cosmetics Fairy Tale, Cheeky Cosmetics Silk, Chequered Lily Apothecary Neverwhere, Shiro Cosmetics Deku, Shiro Cosmetics Master Sword, Silk Naturals Splendid Perfecting Glow

Darling Girl Cosmetics
Darling Girl makes some of the smoothest eye shadows I've ever used and they have a ton of beautiful colours.  It was a struggle to pick just these three!  I use Smoking Gun a lot as eyeliner.  It's a beautiful dark, smokey taupe that ironically reminds me a lot of Honeybee Gardens' eyeliner by the same name, only in powder form.   Harvest Moon is a beautiful peach shade and Chococat is an almost metallic golden brown.  Both of them are great, mid-tone neutrals that come in handy for a lot of different looks.

(L to R) Darling Girl Cosmetics Smoking Gun, Darling Girl Cosmetics Chococat, Darling Girl Cosmetics Harvest Moon, Cheeky Cosmetics Sun Goddess, Cheeky Cosmetics Fairy Tale

 
Cheeky Cosmetics
Cheeky Cosmetics is a Canadian company that I don't see talked about very much.  They were one of my first introductions to mineral makeup and even though my collection's grown since, I still find myself reaching for these colours a lot.  Sun Goddess is a metallic gold that leans a little orange/bronze and reminds me a lot of swatches I've seen of Urban Decay's Half Baked.  Fairy Tale and Silk are my favourite shades for highlighting the inner corner.  I use Fairy Tale, which is pink-toned, the most, but Silk, which is more yellow-toned, is what I reach for when I want something more neutral/warm. 

Chequered Lily Apothecary
After how I went on about it in my review, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I've included Neverwhere in this list.  Probably top three material, if I were ever forced to narrow things down even more.  It's a great, more complex neutral - golden brown with pink sparkles.

(L to R) Cheeky Cosmetics Silk, Chequered Lily Apothecary Neverwhere, Shiro Cosmetics Deku, Shiro Cosmetics Master Sword, Silk Naturals Splendid Perfecting Glow

Shiro Cosmetics
Shiro is another of my favourite eye shadow companies.  Deku is a stunning reddish copper with green sparkles that makes blue eyes pop like no other.  Master Sword is a glittery pale taupe that somehow manages to be both gold and silver.  It's one of my favourite lid colours. 

Silk Naturals
Splendid is actually one of Silk Naturals' Perfecting Glow powders, not an eye shadow.  The Perfecting Glows are supposed to be similar to Bare Escentuals' Radiance powders in that they give you a slight glow, but they aren't over the top and can be dusted across your whole face.  Splendid made it into my eye shadow list because it makes a fantastic colour to blend out almost any other shadow.  It goes on as a pale gold, but it's quite sheer and as you blend, it basically rubs out to nothing.  At the same time, it's a lot easier to blend over Splendid than bare skin. 

(L to R) Shiro Cosmetics Twilight Realm, Black Rose Minerals Titania, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Divinity, Noella Beauty Works Mango Berry, Madd Style Cosmetics Lady Luck

Shiro Cosmetics
One more from Shiro.  Generally, I have the hardest time wearing blue eye shadows, but Twilight Realm is the exception.  It's a greyed blue that makes the most gorgeous blue smokey eye.  Love love love.

Black Rose Minerals
After neutrals, purples are probably my favourite colour to wear.  Titania is a plummy purple that works as either a shadow or a liner.  I love that while it's clearly purple, it isn't super bright or in your face.  It's a colour, but it's still completely work friendly.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics 
Femme Fatale is an Australian company that makes the best duochrome eye shadows of any indie brand I've found.  Divinity is a soft pink with a pretty gold duochrome. 

Noella Beauty Works
Mango Berry is a perfectly balanced coral.  It's a little more orange than it appears in my swatch.  I don't reach for it much in the winter, but it's a beautiful shade that just screams summer in the warmer months.

Madd Style Cosmetics
I think Lady Luck was released with last year's St. Patrick's Day collection, but it's still available as of now.  On first glance, it's a light yellow/gold, but it has the most amazing pale green duochrome that adds just the right amount of interest to any green look.  


I hope you enjoyed checking out my top eye shadows picks for 2012.  I'd love to hear what would make your list!

I know a lot of people don't like using loose eye shadows, but aside from the stress of traveling with them, I don't find them any more difficult to work with than pressed.  Which is a good thing, since if you've ever looked for natural pressed makeup, you'll know just how difficult it is to find without silicones and other nasties.  

Today, I'm excited to show you these shadows from The Chequered Lily Apothecary, an etsy-based store that makes what is possibly my favorite eye shadow shade ever.  More on that later!



Ingredients
Vary by colour.  The five I have do not, but some colours contain FD&C dyes, so please refer to the individual listings if these are something you choose to avoid.   

Price
$6.50 for a 5-gram sifter jar (about 1 gram of product.)  Samples are also available.

No flash.  (L to R) Neverwhere, Mr. Wednesday, Gilty, Ivy, Alice

With flash.  (L to R) Neverwhere, Mr. Wednesday, Gilty, Ivy, Alice

My Thoughts
I guess I've already gone and spoiled things by announcing early on that one of my all-time favourite eye shadows would be making an appearance in this review.  Let's start there. Neverwhere is my my idea of a perfect neutral.  It's neutral but not boring; sparkly and shimmery, but not to disco ball standards.  It's dark enough that it works in the crease but light enough for a lid colour too.  The shop describes it as "warm, dirty pinked-grey with pink and gold reflect," but to me it's just the perfect golden brown.  It does have visible pink sparkles in it, but they blend in without looking gaudy or taking over.  Seriously, this colour is magic.  Even as just as an all over wash of colour, it makes you look perfectly sophisticated and put together.  And because my photos aren't doing it justice, here are a couple from the store:

(Source)

Alice, a beautiful pale blue with a golden duochrome, is the other standout among the shades I have.  I sometimes struggle wearing blues, but the gold somehow manages to make it more wearable.  Again, I borrowed these to give you a clearer idea of the colour:

(Source)

In terms of formula, these eye shadows are fantastic too.  They're nicely pigmented, apply smoothly and blend like a dream.  Even with the high sparkle content in some colours, they never feel rough or gritty.

The Bottom Line
The Chequered Lily makes top notch eye shadows.  The colours are complex and unique and I've received only the best service as well.  More specifically, Neverwhere is a favorite - certainly one of my most worn shadows.  If you're a fan of neutrals, you NEED it in your life.  I realized when taking the photos for this post that mine is starting to run out (cue eery music!)  I'll be ordering a backup (or three) and I'm interested in trying some other colours too.   Highly, highly recommended.

I know this post is almost two weeks late, so first off, I want to appologize for letting the blog lag for so long!  I started a new job right before the holidays and I've been working 6 out of 7 days, which hasn't left much time for blogging...or anything else for that matter!  It's been hectic, but things are settling down now, so I hope to be able to keep more on track with blogging again.

2011 was a big year for me in terms of trying new products.  After not using much makeup for the several years previous, I got a lot more into makeup towards the end of 2010 and have discovered a lot of great companies and products since then.  A lot of these I've reviewed before in more detail, in which case I'll link the original review in case you'd like more information.  Now, without further delay, onto my top 11 makeup picks of 2011:






1) Lucy Minerals Lucy Light Foundation in Light - I only discovered this towards the end of the year, but I've been wearing it pretty much every day since then.  It gives a really natural, flawless coverage and hasn't irritated my skin at all.  You can find my more detailed review here.


2) Silk Naturals Sleep in a Jar Under Eye Concealer in Light Peach - This does a great job of hiding dark circles and also generally brightens the whole eye area.  I reviewed it here.

3) Detrivore Cosmetics Eye Shadow Primer - After a lot of searching for a natural eye shadow primer, I found Detrivore Cosmetics.  This primer does a great job of holding onto loose eye shadows.  It also decreases creasing and intensifies colors.  Detrivore has since released new primers in black and white that I'm interested in trying, but as of now, I've only used the original.  Full review is here.

4) Jade Esthetics Soothing (Jing) Eye Drops - I'm not sure if Jade Esthetics is still around.  I got these years ago from a naturopath I was seeing and recently rediscovered them.  I don't really use eye drops in the traditional sense, but after hearing about people using Visine as a foiling medium for mineral shadows, I decided to give this a try.  These are water based eye drops that contain only distilled water, aloe vera, eye bright, cineraria, and vitamin C, but I find they do a better job than straight water.  I tend to only foil eye shadows when I use them as eye liner and this makes them less likely to move or smudge throughout the day.

5) Zuzu Luxe The Mascara in Onyx - I tried a couple other mascaras in 2011, but this, which has been my go to mascara for the last several years, is still my favourite.  It's buildable and can create more dramatic lashes than other natural mascaras I've tried.  It also doesn't smudge, run or flake.  More details are here.

6) The Chequered Lily Apothecary Eye Shadow in #15 Neverwhere - You'll notice this is the only eye shadow that made it onto this list.  I'm a bit of an eye shadow junky and since I have far too many to choose from, I really like to vary what I use day to day.  In spite of that, I immediately fell in love with Neverwhere when I bought some samples from The Chequered Lily Apothecary during their Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale.  It's described as a "warm, dirty pinked-grey with pink and gold reflect," but to me it looks more like a medium golden brown with pink sparkles.  I mostly only buy eye shadow samples and I rarely even get through those, but I managed to use up Neverwhere already and was quick to buy a full size.  Review and swatches of The Chequered Lily will be coming up soon.


7) Young Living Lavender Lip Balm - I've tried a lot of lip balms recently and have actually been writing up a big lip balm comparison post that'll go up sometime in the next week or two, but I guess this will spoil the results early by revealing my top pick!  This is a really creamy lip balm with that perfect texture somewhere between overly thick and waxy and too thin or oily.  It does a great job keeping my lips hydrated, even in these dry winter months.

8) Revolution Organics Freedom Lip Gloss in Innocent - I won this a while back in a giveaway from The Healthy Beauty Project and I'm so glad I did!  It retails for $26, which is more than I'd be likely to spend on a lipgloss, so I doubt I would have tried it otherwise.  Ironically, at first I wasn't a huge fan of this gloss because of how sheer it is, but at some point I did a complete 180, because now I love it!  In fact, I just noticed I'm having to scrape the sides of the tube to get anything out and I'm so sad to see it run out!

9) LUVU Beauty Lip Liners in Classic Red, Blush and Candy - I really like using lip liners when I need my lip color to be long lasting.  I use these to fill in the whole lip and then top with a balm or gloss and I know my lip color will still be there hours later.  Blush is the most natural of these three, a mauvy-pink that's great for everyday.  Classic Red is, as the name implies, a classic, bright, pinup red shade.  More than any other lip colour, reds make me nervous, so I especially appreciate that this one won't smear or go anywhere.  Candy is a super bright fuschia.  Review and swatches are here.

10) Honeybee Gardens Truly Natural Lipstick in Soft Kiss - This is another product that stood out in 2011, even though I haven't had it for very long.  It's a beautiful baby pink color that is perfect with a smokey eye.  Soft Kiss is also creamier in texture than the other color I have in this lipstick, Karma.  Review and swatches of both colours are here.

11) Silk Naturals Lip Products - Saving the best for last, these are probably my favourite discovery of 2011.  I decided not to even try and pick specific colours.  Some colours get more use, but I actually use and genuinely like every single colour I have.  Silk Naturals has tons of colors to choose from and several formulas of lip products - kisser slickers, butter creams, vegan lipsticks, and liquid lip gloss to name a few - and I've liked all the formulas I've tried.  I went through a few of the different formulas in more detail here.  If you're in the market for new lip products, I definitely recommend giving Silk Naturals a try!

Phew!  That ended up being longer than I anticipated.  Looking back on these, I just realized almost half of these were lip products.  Oh well!

And because late is better than never - I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season and wish you all the best for the new year :)