Catch Up: Big Geek Chic Review Post

So I recently got a big order from Geek Chic Cosmetics and I wanted to do a huge swatch post. Some of these swatches are comparing similar color families and include previous purchases as I wanted to show the differences between certain colors and just why they ARE worth getting.

L to R: What's Under the Helmet? (N7), Game Over (Mushroom Kingdom), Fear Bomb (10 Man Raid), and Ambassador (Big Damn Heroes)

First up are the purples. I've been obsessed with trying this color due to it being great for parties and nights out. I also have interesting eyes because even though I was raised thinking I had plain brown eyes, I actually have a little bit of my dad's hazel eyes. Purple tends to bring out the green in them which is something I love. I can really play with some color theory and how eye shadow changes the color of me eyes.

The new colors I got in this order were:

• Fear Bomb
• Ambassador

Fear Bomb from the 10 Man Raid set is something I've been eyeing for a long time. It's on the cooler side of purple which I find is something that suits me quite a bit better. One thing about warmer purples is that a lot of the time, they make your eyes look bruised and tired and that's not a good thing at all. Cooler purples are a bit easier to manipulate and place on the lid in such a way that it actually enhances your eyes. Fear Bomb is slightly sheer as well. It's in between the dark intense What's Under the Helmet? and the ultra-sheer Game Over.

Ambassador falls into that tricky warm purple family. It's no fault of the company and I fell in love with this color almost immediately. It's a pink toned purple with gold glittery highlights in it. I think with a bit of eyeliner this would work out and I feel like that would be an amazing Inara/Companion look.

L to R: Inevitable Betrayal (Big Damn Heroes), Twilight Princess (Hyrule), Riddle Me This (Single Player)

New greens to my collection:

• Inevitable Betrayal
• Twilight Princess
• Riddle Me This

Inevitable Betrayal is another color that I've been eyeing for a long time. I'd describe it as an olive green. It's precisely what I think of when I think of dinosaurs which were an important part of this scene where we first met Wash in Firefly. This is more than likely going to be one of my go to colors for when I start work. I need to keep my makeup somewhat neutral but I think this has enough color to satiate my artistic side without being too distracting.

Twilight Princess was a color that I originally thought I would just use as a liner because it looked so dark in the swatches but when I got it, I couldn't help but try it out for religious services. It's more a green toned grey in my opinion which went quite well with my grey outfit. I had lined it with Solid Snake from the Single Player set and put Inevitable Betrayal in the crease. This one is more for evening or formal but a color not to be dismissed.

Riddle Me This is Phil's first try at making a color and I love the green tone with purple glitter. I think this is more of a weekend color than anything else but the green is sheer enough to use as an accent color. Something I was pleasantly surprised to find out. :) Kudos to Phil for this wonderful addition to Geek Chic's Single Player line up.

This next swatch is one that I didn't have a similar color family to from Geek Chic so I decided to swatch it with blues from two other companies who's reviews are forthcoming.

L to R: Blue Your Mind (Pollen Cosmetics), Blue Box (A'dor Beauty Supplies), Solid Snake (Geek Chic's Single Player collection)

Solid Snake is the only new Geek Chic color in this set of swatches and it's one that to date I have only used as a liner. I've been a fan of dark blue liners for a while and this one adds a little sparkle to the classic dark blue almost black liner.

Now for something which I had yet to buy at any point in time... Lippies.

Hipster Ariel

Hipster Ariel  is part of the Joysticks collection and probably the only one that the flavoring was obvious. I love Spearmint so that's not a bad thing at all. I had originally gotten this for LARP (live-action role play for the uninitiated) and I LOVE it. The coverage is great and the new slimline tubes are perfect for my tiny lips. Coverage is usually an issue because I have highly pigmented lips.

Electric Rat

Okay so I got Electric Rat because it was the perfect finish to a last minute gijinka Pichu costume I made. The costume was a hit at MatsuriCon but I wanted to add the touches of makeup to just push it further over the top and I think I've found it. Another lipstick with great coverage although the flavoring of fall spices and "Seduction" wasn't apparent in this one.

Mana Potion Geek Gloss

I wasn't sure quite what to think of Mana Potion but it's another one I got for Halloween/LARP. It's a sheer sky blue which makes it even more than just a sheer version of Hipster Ariel. Perfect for the Snow Queen or anyone who needs blue lips. ;) Due to their gloss nature they aren't as full coverage as the Joysticks but the blue of this still shows up brightly.

The Darkness Geek Gloss

The Darkness is another one for LARP but I was very pleasantly surprised to see how well it works for everyday. The gunmetal grey base mixes well with my lip pigmentation but also adds a dark silvery sparkle. Probably my newest holy grail product.

The geek glosses are a little sticky but it feels good, like it's protecting my lips and when I take it off, my lips are very soft.

Joystick (top) and Geek Gloss (bottom 2) packaging

Would I buy lippies again? In a heartbeat... In fact, I am currently waiting on Back to the Fuschia, Sweet Transvestite, and Happy Ending in my next shipment. I will be sure to swatch those for you and you can expect some reviews coming soon. As for the eye shadows, I'm almost always floored and these colors were ones that I had been dying to get. I was especially surprised when Twilight Princess turned out to be more than just a liner color for me.

Review and Swatches: Geek Chic Cosmetics - Fang Banger's Quartet

First of all, I should note that I approached Deb and Chantel at Geek Chic Cosmetics about doing a review. They sent me 4 sample baggies of colors of my choice so I chose the Fang Banger's Quartet. More about that later.

First of all, I was so excited to get the ball rolling on a potential addiction. I've been eyeing Geek Chic Cosmetic's site for a long time and every time they come out with a new set it makes me drool with envy.

In this review, packaging, although noted and described won't play a huge part in my review. They have just changed their sample packaging so what you receive will be different. Also, the pots you see in the photos are my own. I took the shadow out of the sample baggie so that I could apply it easier. The one thing I will note is that everything comes with a sticker with a full list of ingredients which is great!

The following swatches are on bare skin with no primer:

With Flash: Top L to R - Viking King and Purity Burns

Bottom L to R: Blood Bond and Eyes of the Werewolf

Natural Light: Top L to R - Viking King and Purity Burns

Bottom L to R: Blood Bond and Eyes of the Werewolf (I mention later how Eyes matches my skintone, I promise it's there.)

The following colors do contain metal powders so speaking of ingredients, if you have allergies to any metals, I would take note of the ingredients before ordering.

Viking King:
This was the first color that I tried. It's a shiny, uber-metallic antique gold. While gold eye shadows are easy to come by in the world, I have yet to find one with this type of color pay off without a primer. It made my lids look gilded which was something I loved at the time. Having a week off from my blog to deal with real life let me wear it multiple times. The first time I put it on, I was worried because my eyes itched a little bit. It wasn't anything big but I was concerned because I knew about the metal powders. I decided to give it one more try and I was very relieved to find out that the feeling I had was more than likely due to fatigue and not an allergic reaction. One of my favorite looks is to put Blood Bond (review and swatch further down) on the bottom of the lid and put Viking King on the rest of the main lid. It has a hint of Gryffindor to it as well as a bit of royalty.

This is a great everyday shadow and can be used in a variety of ways.


Final Verdict: 4/5

Purity Burns:
A silver shadow with iridescent sparkle. Another great everyday look with a frosty light gray color base. More than likely officially my go to Slytherin silver color and I will be wearing this tonight to the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter movie. The shadow goes on smooth with very little fall out. The powder is fine and very light weight. Something that I love about all of these. I don't feel like I'm made up when I just put a little bit on. Being someone who never used to bother with make up and also was a stage actor, while I am used to feeling made up from the thick base needed for stage work, I don't like it for everyday. Yet again, silver is pretty easy to find elsewhere however I think the iridescent sparkle is what sets it apart from others.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Eyes of the Werewolf:
The base color of this reminds me of the dog that Sam Merlotte tended to shift to. This color matches my skin tone almost perfectly and is the quintessential eye shadow for me to just add a shimmer to my lids. Although the site bills it as a copper, it's not as orange as traditional coppers and this is what I like about it. There's not much else to say about it that I haven't already spoken about the other colors just that it's even more an everyday color for me due to the neutrality.

Final Verdict: 5/5

Blood Bond:
Probably the only color that isn't an everyday color for me. It's not to say that the deep, shimmery burgundy is bad but more to say that I don't go out often enough to see use for it. To me, it's something I would wear to a club or with specific costumes that call for a dramatic burgundy eye look. The one thing I did do with it was my Gryffindor Eye of the Day and I wore it to Ba-Con's Barfleet party.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Overall:
I am really pleased with this set as my first experience with Geek Chic Cosmetics. Deb was very helpful in communicating with me about any delays in the shipping of the samples as well as answering any questions. Always a great plus when dealing with independent companies. I potted all of my samples in some old sample pots I had left over from products I had received but I don't use and this makes it a bit easier to use the right amount of product. Although now, samples are shipped in clamshells which will be massively easier.

I will definitely be rebuying Viking King, Purity Burns, and Eyes of the Werewolf on a regular basis. Blood Bond will probably already last me a long while  but eventually I probably will rebuy it. Being a LARPer who plays a vampire, it has it's uses. :)

Final Verdict on Whole Set: 4/5

Thank You to Everyone

I wanted to post a quick thank you to everyone who wished me well over the past week. I really appreciate the support I've gotten and this is one of the reasons why I like sharing my adventures with all of you. I am relatively new to blogging in this manner but the support I've gotten already has bowled me over so thank you!

Coming This Week:
* EotD: Bellatrix Lestrange
* EotD: Tonks
* EotD: Cunning and Wit
* EotD: Brave and True
* EotD: Lily Evans
* Review and Swatches: Geek Chic Cosmetics Fang Banger's Quartet
* Review: Geeky Clean - Portal Soap

I am also working on a few things for some events coming up so expect some in progress costume updates as well as some makeup ideas. I am hoping to do a very makeup intensive costume which will debut at Dragon*Con this year. I know there are a lot of tutorials out there for her makeup but I am looking at things and seeing which is the most viable for me and will make the most impact.

Hopefully soon I will get right back into regular posting.

Thank you again.

Swatches: Wet n' Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trios

So this is to supplement my previous review. Just thought I would post photos of some swatches in natural light.

L to R in natural light: I Dream of Greenie  the Eyelid, Crease, and Browbone colors.

L to R in natural light: Spoiled Brat Browbone, Crease, and Eyelid colors.

Spoiled Brat's colors made me instantly think of Codex from The Guild as her costume colors are predominantly a deep pink, white, and gold so I would subtitute the silver in for the white and probably use the black as a liner. This is probably going to be my next Eye of the Day as well. 

Also Note: These photos are swatches without primer. When I do my eyes, I always use a primer and my primer of choice at the moment is Too Faced Shadow Insurance. It increases the vibrance of the color and also increases wear time.