Evil Shades Review!

Anyone here a fan of Evil Shades Cosmetics? I just made my second order and realized that I'd never properly reviewed my first, which I made last fall. Whoops!

In the first order, I got full sizes of ceylon and ravishing blushes, and a sample of skön. Here are some better swatches! I love the full sizes I got, they go on nicely and the texture and staying power is good. Skön's texture is equally lovely, but the color makes me look like I bruised my cheeks. I can see this color looking great on a cooler-toned or darker skinned woman.  Evil Shades blushes might be my favorite thing on their whole site. I like how the colors she offers are bright and fun - there are absolutely no "universally flattering" pinky-brown shades here, just bright, clear colors that have a bit of an unexpected twist. Even Curiosity, which looks at first glance to have the most neutral appearance, has blue shimmer in the description! Ceylon has a green flash, and Ravishing shifts purple. This is about my favorite kind of product - things that look "normal" enough but contain sly winks at ideas like "professionalism" and "workplace acceptability."

I also ordered a blogger sample pack, and got a bunch of samples of lip stuff. To the left - More Synth Deviant Lipstick. It's pretty much a balm packed with rainbow glitter. I can't wait for the full size to get here! It's great on its own because it's one of those unassuming-from-afar-yet-edgy-up-close shades. I think it's best for a daytime casual look.

I also got samples of Primrose Path Deviant Lipstick and Féline's Kyss Hardcore Lips gloss. Primrose Path is pretty, and so is Féline's Kyss, but I did not get full sizes of these. Primrose Path is pretty, but I'm extremely picky about pinks, and this wasn't the best I'd ever worn. Féline's Kyss is also gorgeous, swatched on my hand, but on my face comes off as just a smidge too light for me.

The quality of the lipsticks is great, and the gloss is nice as well, though it can separate over time. In this same order, I got some limited edition lipglosses with a different formula that I did not like as much, and I have the same problem with them. The glosses are not sticky at all, which I both like and dislike. In my next order, I requested a sample of another gloss, and a larger size of her new black lipgloss so I'll better be able to form my opinion on them then. I don't know why I ordered black lipgloss, exactly, except that I don't have any and it seemed like a fun addition to my stash. All in all, Andrea offers a pretty wide selection of lip products, none of which contain my archenemy, beeswax! I hate to say it, but I definitely like Evil Shades lip products better than Silk Naturals, which were my first "OMG I can actually wear these!" lip things. The Evil Shades products come in more fun colors (some of which are a bit, um, adventurous for me!), and they stay on longer. My personal pickiness with shades of pink aside, a lot of what Andrea has is a winner here.

Let's also talk about eyeshadow, which is something you all know I love! I don't have swatches of the sample I got that is getting upgraded to full size, Eplefe, because it's such a stunning color I'm working on a separate post for it. So here's two pics of the other four I got. They're all swatched over Vitrum Spectrum Pot (also from Evil Shades!) which is a waxy white cream base.

I don't think this was intentional, but Wyvern and Whooo Are You? look like fraternal twins of the eyeshadow world. Whooo Are You? shifts yellow and warm while Wyvern shifts cool and blue, but they seem to have a similar base green. Twinkle Twinkle is a badass yellow, and Zombie is a rich oxblood color that looks like it would fit right in this fall. I did a look with Wyvern, Zombie, and Eplefe that I think shows the colors' versatility.

I like the texture of the shadows, and there's some fun stuff going on with them. They just work well and look nice, and I can't complain about that!

I'd definitely recommend Evil Shades Cosmetics, but recommend that you order two weeks or so before you think you'll want to use the products because turnaround time is in that range. Pricing is reasonable, and she offers generous samples in clamshells, full sizes, and enormous sizes for mega-fans and makeup artists. You know I like the company alright because I ordered another pile of stuff from them!

Look forward to my thoughts on her new Morbidly Beautiful collection, her black eyeshadow primer, and the peachy color corrector in a month or so!

I was going for surly teenager...

Did I nail it?

Eyes are heavily foiled Fyrinnae Calavera Cupcakes on the lid, the orange shade from the Sephora Pantone quad in the crease, and the purple shade from the same palette in the outer V. I used Tarte Lights Camera Lashes mascara and some very light UD Perversion liner to finish it off.

Lips are Korres Purple Red lip liner topped with Evil Shades Zombie lipgloss.

Close up on the eye:

Evil Shades Wyvern vs. Zombie

From a while ago:

Evil Shades Wyvern on inner part of lids, Evil Shades Eplefe on outer part of lids, Evil Shades Zombie in outer V and crease. Wyvern vs. Zombie. SyFy - are you listening?

Look at me! I'm making a face! I think I'm wearing Evil Shades Primrose Path lipstick here.

Taking good pictures of myself is hard.

April 2012 Used it! Part I (Sorry so late!)

C.O. Bigelow My Favorite Lip Balm* - Your favorite, maybe. Not mine.

CVS brand tooth whitening strips* (not pictured) - These did seem to work a little bit, but they do not dissolve like the box said they would. Instead, they turned into a snotty, mushy, sticky goop. Also, some of them wouldn't come off of the paper backing very easily. Overall, not impressed.



CVS brand nail polish remover minis - regular and the one you dip your finger in.
The normal one is ok, but nothing earth-shatteringly awesome. The one you dip your finger in has some serious limitations, like being useless for toenails. Also, on this one, the hole for the finger wasn't wide enough. And the formula didn't seem to do anything.

Desert Essence Lemon Tea Tree Shampoo* I very well might buy this again. It smells amazing, just like lemons, works pretty well, and did I mention that it smells like lemons?

DivaWash* (not pictured) - Works fine for its intended purpose, but (TMI alert!) due to my "method" of choice, I haven't needed a cup or anything for years. It works nicely as a face wash or body wash, too, but not nicely enough to justify the price.

Evil Shades Opal eye primer sample - Decent stuff, but didn't keep things in place as long as I wanted. If your skin's drier than mine, go for it!


Kiss My Face Whenever conditioner* - This might be my Holy Grail of conditioners. I also think that this should count as two or three products, because it was the 32oz size with the pump. It's at least the third, if not the fourth, of these that I've gone through. It smells amazing (lime, cut with green tea), conditions my hair without coating it, and provides some slip but not so much I can't do anything with my hair.


Nivea moisturizer sample - Not bad, not great, don't put it on broken skin unless you like stinging.

Nuance Salma Hayek Macadamia Body Scrub* - Impulse buy at CVS. Mistake. This seemed slightly drying, despite the high moisturizer content, and I did not like the way it smelled.




I already reviewed these as part of my Sunblock Sunday series:
Devita Solar Body Block SPF 30+ sample
Devita Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30+ sample
Lavanila The Healthy Face Cream SPF 40 sample

Better late than never, February's Used it!

Look! I took a picture!

*Alba Botanica Hawaiian sunblock - spf 45 Buy again? No. I'm not happy with the UVA protection - it looks like it doesn't get all the waves.

*The Body Shop Wild Cherry Body Butter Buy again? No. It smells kind of fake and only moisturizes so-so.

*ELF nail polish remover pads Buy again? I have - it's cheap, portable, works, and fairly easily available. The only downside is that it seems to leave my fingertips a bit sticky, so I have to wash my hands.

*Garnier Nutrisse Anti-Dark Circle Rollerball Buy again? Not a chance. I didn't so much use this up as throw it out in disgust. It looks nice for the first hour or so, then creases. Who needs it? I don't.

*Physicians Formula Brow Definer Buy again? Nope. Formula is slightly too waxy for my taste.

*Silk Naturals Awesome Sauce Buy again? I did! I like it. I'm not sure if it's magic or not, but I like it and it seems to help a little.

*Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara Buy again? Maybe. I like the stuff, I really do. It looks great, makes a good natural but impressively so look, but it's expensive and dries out too soon. This stuff dried out before I wanted it to.

*Wet'N'Wild Rocking Rubies nail polish Buy again? Oh hell no. While pretty, I found that this had the tendency to flake off within a day or two. When I found a thumbnail-shaped flake in my snack bowl, that was the disgust point. I tried lots of top coats, base coats, etc - flake city!

*Evil Shades Gossamer Blush sample Buy again? Complicated question - I like the brand's blushes, but this color was too cool for me.

*Tarte Amazonian Clay powder sample Buy again? Nope. Too expensive for what it is. Glad this was a trial size - it works, but so does anything with that much silica.
 
*Too Faced Shadow Insurance Lemon Drop sample Buy again? Nope. If my primer's gonna be tinted, it had better double as a cream shadow. This doesn't. Also, it makes my eyelids gray. So there we go! 8 full sizes, 3 samples demolished in February

Evil Shades Haul and Swatch Pics! Finally!

Something is wrong with my computer. Maybe age or a lack of RAM. And also I blew out my Internet and spent an inordinate amount of time monkeying with wires and resetting things before finally unplugging everything and letting it take a nap before I tried again. So here, finally, are the pictures! You may want to click on them for full effect - they're a little small on this page.

My haul. Mmm. Hauley goodness.


The lip swatches. I wrote the shade name on my hand before taking the picture. I think I NEED a full size of More Synth (the glitter one on the top).


The blush swatches. From left to right: Skon, Ravishing, Ceylon, Gossamer. I bought the middle two in full size, and I'm glad I did. I'm such a blush addict!


Eyeshadow swatches part 1. I think it's awesome that they have a shade named Wyvern. Wyvern is one of my favorite SyFy Original Movies.
Before I did these, I put a big stripe of the Vitrum spectrum pot I ordered on the left and a big strip of the Opal eye primer sample I also got on the right. So that's what these babies are swatched over.


The purples. Same deal on the primers as the first batch.


What do you think? Review to come.