The Frilly Panda

After spending a few years venturing into the world of indie cosmetic companies and simply falling in love with loose shadows, my best friend and I decided we should try to make some ourselves. At first it was just something fun to do in our down time (she's a graphic design student and I am a stay at home mom/seamstress designer) but it quickly turned into a project. We realized how much fun we were having and the ideas just kept coming and now we have a notebook full of ideas for future collections.

We wanted to focus on a huge love of ours for the first one, Harry Potter. So we developed a 24pc Harry Potter based collection; we will eventually expand on it (we already have but shhhh). We wanted it to be cohesive enough to wear any of the shades together but diverse enough to cover all bases (haha see what I did there?). The only things the current collection is missing is pink and orange. But don't worry, those are definitely coming :). For these swatches I will not divulge the shade names as we haven't finalized all of them, but will refer to them as a number from their house (ie. Hufflepuff 1, 2, etc). I am no photographer so these photos don't cover the complete awesomeness that these shadows offer, but we will be offering samples for test runs soon.

Gryffindor

Slytherin

Hufflepuff


Ravenclaw


So that is what we have so far. let us know what you think of them! Oh, also if the name we are running with sucks horribly haha, Transfiguration Cosmetics.

It's been a week since I posted about maybe having a giveaway and no one said anything about it. I think I will do some but I will start with something small first ans them move up to the bigger items.
I have a range of samples (packed by me), samples in baggies from the company, and full sizes of the following companies:
Lime Crime
Beauty From The Earth
Sugarpill
Mon Ennui
Geek Chic Cosmetics
Julep
Revlon
E.L.F.
I also may have time to make some small bags to put them into.

So let me know what company samples you would like to see first and I will get the rafflecopter set up to start by the end of the month.

I may or may not have a few things stashed away for a giveaway or two but I want to know if there is interest for it or not. I know I don't have a lot of readers to begin with and I have seen large blogs have giveaways and have no one enter until a day or two before the deadline because the writer has posted literally everywhere on the net reminding people to do so.
Prizes range from full size cosmetics, cosmetic samples (that I have jarred myself), cosmetic sample baggies straight from the companies, hair bows, tote bags, etc. There's lots of stuff hiding in my gift box :).

I have been slowly collecting some Revlon lip butters and Maybelline colour whispers since they were released and now that I have a decent collection I figured it was a good time to swatch them.
First of all I really like the texture and pigmentation of these lippies. They are super lightweight and feel like lip balm but have super buildable colour. Very nice for a light swipe of tint or a richer look without the weight or dryness of a lipstick.

Left to right they are Raspberry Pie, Tutti Frutti, Peach Parfait, Candy Apple, Berry Smoothie, Sweet Tart

Each swatch is swiped 3 times so you can see just how some are more pigmented than others. Another thing is some of them have a slight shimmer while others are more of a creme finish.
My personal favourite is Berry Smoothie - it is almost just a richer shimmery version of my natural lip colour so it pretty much lives in my purse. That being said, some of these I haven't even tried on my lips yet as our weather has been crap and just started getting nice. So hopefully I'll be able yo wear all the colours soon and swatch them on my lips for you all.

Next up are the Maybelline Color Whispers
Left to right they are Pin Up Peach, Coral Ambition, Who Wore It Red-er, Made It Mauve, A Plum Prospect.

And just for fun here's the Maybelline Vivid in Shocking Coral.

As some of you well know, I am dipping my toes in cosplay. I have made some cosplay outfits for clients before but I have always been given either specific instructions to change parts or creative lisence to change or add anything I wanted. I am now making a costume 95% accurate for myself and it's proving to be interesting. It is just as fun to make, I am just finding spots where I would change bits to suit my personal tastes and it is difficult to decide whether to make it accurate and take the risk of not wanting to wear each element separately afterwards or make it the way I like it and have it not accurate enough for recognition. Even worse (?) is I am entering it into the costume contest at CCEE so it does have to be accurate enough.
That and I am using this as a kind of trial for a fabric I need to use for a clients order next month. I don't like this fabric. It looks great but is such a pain in the ass to work with. It is sticky, it stretches, the top rips off when something rubs against it too hard. This particular vinyl sucks. Thank god I am done the part of the costume with it; I just have some hand stitching to do on it now.
To clarify, I am making the Chromaggia outfit Blind Mag wears in Repo! The Genetic Opera. The corset is done aside from the feathers and a clasp I need to add to the bust. I made it about an inch and a half taller than it really should be because the busk I used was slightly too long and if I made it straight like hers is it would cut into the bottom of my boobs and make them a really weird shape. So I made it taller to cradle them similar to a balconet bra. My next obstacle is trying to figure out how to build the top of the dress to conceal my nursing bra as well as help support it as the dress has to be strapless. And they don't make strapless nursing bras. Well if they do, I don't have one. I'll probably just build some bone channels into the dress for a fully supported top half. I won't be able to wash the dress aside from hand washing anyways because of the feathers on it so it doesn't really matter if there's steel in it.

I also finished some Emperor robes and a tunic for my son and I may say it is super cute. Once I am done my outfit then I have to make a tunic and robes for my husband as well. His are going to be pretty fun as they aren't cannon, the character is an expanded universe one but very important to the regular story.

I have, as most everybody does, a go-to neutral face that goes with absolutely everything. I decided to finally photograph it (sadly not overly well) and show it off.

Eyes:
BFTE - Kiss and Tell
Mon Ennui - Trinket
Mon Ennui - Drink Me

Lips:
Lime Crime - Red Velvet
OCC - Super NSFW

I change out the lip color depending on what I'm wearing to a bricky brown red or plumy color or a nice pink but the red is my bolder normal choice.

Yes that is Backyardigans on the tv in the background - I have kids and that is an awesome show. I kind of wish I could download the soundtracks and put them on my iPod. Don't judge me.

I just sent in my first entry for a make-up contest based on album covers and I quite like it even if it is a bit simpler than the other entries. I used Malice Mizers album Merveilles as my cover inspiration and I did a mostly wearable look for it. I say mostly wearable as I left my right eye with the base colors as a totally wearable day or night look and took the left eye a bit further by bringing in a wider shape and some details - still wearable but just a little out of the norm. My only sad face thing is that I didn't apply the brown shade dark enough but on the same note I didn't want to look like I had a big ass bruise around my eye.

I have finally started to go through all the stuff I have accumulated since my last posts and swatch some of it. I will start with the awesome-sauce Mon Ennui Cosmetics. I cannot say enough good things about the company and the lady behind the scenes, Vivi. She is the single most wonderful woman behind a company I have ever seen. She is so supportive of her clients and always has something encouraging to say.

I won't gush over her extensively but I will say this - I received a gift certificate for Mon Ennui for Christmas from a family member who doesn't even wear make-up and she raved about Vivi's customer service and excessive awesomeness.

Fore warning for these photos, it was very overcast when they were taken so they aren't phenomenal but they do show the colors. They were all swatched over Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper.

Top row: Skeleton Key, Jinx, Benthos, Pin the Tail, Snitch
Bottom Row: Drink Me, Eat Me, Zou Bisou, Wish for More Wishes, Poison Ivy
My favs from this batch are Snitch, Drink Me, and Poison Ivy, They are all wonderful and insanely pigmented. I don't think I could capture the sheens and shifts in them so you must see them in person.

Top Row: Trinket, Sleepy Hollow, Frosting Flowers, Strobe, Emily's Lament, Taupe Opera, Whisper
Bottom Row: Birthday Girl, Antique Pearl, Party Favor, Bonsai Treehouse, Briar, Illusionista, Fire Opal
Favs from these are Trinket, Strobe, Emily's Lament, Party Favor, Bonsai Treehouse, and Fire Opal.


There's some more shots of the last set just to show the sparkle, shift, and sheens.

Glitters: Blood Lust, Van Gogh, Sparkle Pony
I'm not a huge fan of yellows and oranges but Sparkle Pony is amazing. It is one of their UV Glitters so it is formulated a bit differently. I found that it also went on more smoothly and opaque than the other two. I used LIT Cosmetics Glitter Glue for these and while it works fantastically with the LIT glitters it seems not to like the Mon Ennui ones - it gets all clumpy and such. I may have to invest in Mon Ennui's All Nighter Glitter Adhesive and give that a try with them.

Mon Ennui Cosmetics: www.monennui.com

Holy crap have I been a busy panda lately. I guess you can tell by my lack of posts for the last few months and I hate to say it but I think that trend is going to continue into the new year. I only have 8 weeks left in my pregnancy (eep) and I can't believe it's creeping up so fast.

I had a summer sale on my corsets and bags last month and I am still super busy with it. In total I got orders for 9 corsets, 8 bags, 3 alterations, a dress, a belt, and a bridal set including the dress alteration, custom bolero, and matching garters. I currently have finished: 4 corsets, 6 bags, the dress, the belt, and all 3 alterations. 1 corset is 90% done, 4 more are half done, 1 bag half done, waiting on the fabric for the last bag, and the bridal stuff is in progress. Its the kind of set that I can't move onto the dress until the corset is done, the back of the dress until the tailoring is done to fit the corset underneath, the bolero until the dress is done, etc etc. It is, however, right on schedule to be completely done by the 20th of September. I want to have absolutely everything done and out of house by then as there is always the chance I could deliver early and I want to elave that last month open just in case. On top of those I am going to be making myself a new bag and dress, plus the quilt for the newborn and my annual quilt for my son (it's Star Wars this year). So I have to do all that plus any Christmas gifts I'll be making before the baby comes. The hubby and I want to have all our Christmas/Birthday stuff done before then because we certainly don't want to be doing the holiday crap with a newborn. I say Christmas/Birthday because between Dec 23rd and Feb 21st we have not only Christmas but 5 birthdays including the entire family (aside from new baby). It's gonna be a busy few months thats for damn sure. I still have no idea what we're doing for halloween... I was going to do Neo Queen Serenity and Chibi Usagi for me and baby as I will be staying home and handing out candy so the whole family doesnt have to match like we would like (we did Leia, Luke, and Chewie last year).

I did have a bunch of posts planned over the last little while but they obviously never happened.
1. Make-up for my sister in laws wedding - how I ended up designated MUA and what I used
2. My fav baking tools and recepies
3. step by step making of - the progress of making all these comissions (or dress diaries if you prefer)
4. Revlon Scented Nail Polish
5. Julep - my personal opinions and experiences
There may have been more but I have since forgotten about them. If you still want to read about them let me know and I'll do my best to actually make the posts. Or if you have any requests let me know and I'll think of something :)

While I was looking a while back for some comparisons between OCC's infamous Lip Tar and the Liquid Lipsticks from SweetPea and Faye I was quite suprised that there were none to find. Being as most of the people who have swatched, blogged, youtube'd, and generally posted somewhere about either product has another post about the other. So I have decided to make the comparison :). I will be looking at a few things with each so please bear with me as this will most likely be a long and pic heavy post.

General:
SweetPea and Faye
J'Adore Les Levres (I love lips) Liquid Lipstick

0.37oz/10.5g per tube
$7.99 per tube (USD)

Each color comes in a regular lip gloss slanted tip tube so you can either apply straight from the tube or with a lip brush. They have all ingredients and color name printed on the back on the label  along with the website - as with any printed label, the text will come off with wear so I would suggest putting scotch tape or a coat of clear nailpolish on it if you want to keep the text around for the lifespan of the lipstick.

The texture of the liquid lipsticks is very creamy (anyone who is familiar with Lime Crime lipsticks, these are similar but more paint-like). Because they are so creamy I have a difficult time squeezing them out of the tube - the darker colors are harder to get out than the lighter ones for me. I know from reading other posts that this is a common thing so no it's not just your tubes, they're all like that.

Application is easier, I find, straight out of the tube than with a brush. I find that with a brush they tend to go on less opaque than they actually are and can end up streaky unless you put a top coat of gloss over it. Straight from the tube I tend to get a more opaque and even color.

Opacity is amazing! These can be applied sheer with a lighter hand and less product in order to layer and blend with other colors - which is also totally easy being as these are almost the consistency of acrylic paint. I have yet to achieve the look of the swatches on the site but honestly that is not my preferred look anyways. (links will be a the bottom as always)

Each color has a slight vanilla smell (again similar to Lime Crime) which is awesome cause let's face it, lipstick and gloss smell is not attractive.


Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
Lip Tar

0.27oz/8 ml per tube (old packaging) 0.33oz (new packaging)
$14.00 per tube (USD) new packaging - I cannot remember what the old was but it was definitely around $13/$14

As the packaging has changed since I purchased my colors I won't go into an in-depth review of it but be noted that everything is listed - ingredients, website, color name, address, vegan & cruelty free, etc. The old packaging is the same as SweetPea and Faye's with the slanted applicator whereas the new one is more tapered.

Texture of these could not be more different from the Liquid Lipsticks (LL). They are way more watery, due to a completely different base but the pigmentation is out of this world. Where as you would need about a small pea sized squeeze of the LL, you only need between a pinhead and rice grain sized amount for full coverage. I have had no problems with streaking or even-ness of color with the Lip Tars (LT) and they are super easy to build up and mix due to their lightweight feel. The finish on these goes from matte satin (light coat) to glossy with multiple coats. You will definitely have to use a lip brush with these. They get everywhere otherwise.

The pigmentation of LT is so incredible that like I said you will only need the smallest amount. You honestly dont know what I mean until you try them for yourself.

The LTs have a minty smell which I quite like as I am partial to mint but because of this OCC has requested that you do not use this product on or around your eyes as it may get irritated.

SweetPea and Faye
Pictures!

Apocalypse
SP&F: Apocalypse is a bright pin up red shade with a completely opaque look. Also has a hint of lip stain for lasting wear.
Me: Definitely a purple tint to the red on me but otherwise very true.

Paper Cut
SP&F: Paper Cut is a dark neon pink with purple undertones and a completely opaque look.
Me: Very true again :)








Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
Pictures:

Anime
OCC: Seriously neon pink.
Me: Damn straight seriously neon pink! Everywhere you find swatches and videos of this color you will also find the disclaimer that photos do NOT capture the neon-ness of Anime. It's like if Jem and the Holograms had a baby with Cindi Lauper, and that baby took acid this is what it would see.