Disclaimer: I am currently in the process of reswatching duochromes and photographing them differently to give my readers a more accurate depiction of the shifts. Please be patient while I go through the process of updating my past reviews. :)
Hey, guys! Today I'm going to show you guys what the lovely Kristen included in her April Ephemera Box. The March box was fabulous and inspired by Norse mythology, and I loved this box even more. The inspiration was Floralia, an Ancient Roman holiday that celebrated Flora, the Goddess of Spring, flowers, and youthful pleasures. This was such a great choice for a Spring box. I've only been really into makeup since Autumn of last year, so my collection is all deep oranges, dark purples, browns, and nudes. I'm excited to bring some peaches, greens, and other pastels into the mix for Spring!
As per usual, blush and highlighter swatches are done under bare skin and buffed out slightly. Shadow swatches are done over, from left to right, bare skin, Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy (this excludes the cream shadow I reviewed, which is over bare skin only). All quoted descriptions are taken off the little informative paper included in the Ephemera Box.
L-R, T-B: Vernal Roses, Realm of Flora, Locus of Desire, Metamorphose
La Plus Heureuse, Minthe, GDE Floralia
This box included a blush, a multipurpose highlighter, four powder shadows, and a cream shadow from the indie guest, Glamour Doll Eyes. As I said earlier in my post, this box was inspired by Floralia, and here's what Kristen wrote about the festival:
"The Queen of Spring was a beautiful and serene Goddess. She was married to Zephyrus, the west wind. Flora is the twin sister to Faunus, the god of wild creatures. She was originally called Sabine, and was known as Chloris to the Greeks. Offerings of milk and honey were made on this day and the surrounding five days, which comprised the Florifertum and Ludi Florales. The city would have been decorated in flowers, and the people would wear floral wreaths or flowers in their hair. Day and night there were games, pantomimes, and theatre with people of all classes in their brightest clothes. The color names are inspirations from reading Ovid's 'Fasti', a long-form poem with described the origin of many Roman festivals. Numerous painting, such as Tiepolo's Triumph of Flora and Poussin's Realm of Flora, are inspired by Ovid's work."
Vernal Roses (blush): "a muted, mostly matte mauved rose with delicate copper shimmer"
This.. was incredibly sheer. I put up the white flag and took this picture after five heavy applications. If you're looking for an indie blush that isn't intimidating with its pigmentation, this is for you, and it'll be available on Aromaleigh's site in two months with the other extras from this box. However, this was really disappointing to me. The blush from the March box was beautifully pigmented, so this was a bit of an unpleasant surprise.
Realm of Flora (multipurpose highlighter): "a pale creamy peach with a violet highlight"
This was also very, very sheer. It also didn't help that it just about matched my skintone perfectly. It did have a good amount of sparkle to it though, so I'll use this for subtle highlights on my cheeks and on the inner corner of my eyes.
Locus of Desire: "a soft coral peach frost with golden shimmer"
Okay, now we're getting somewhere! Spring has inspired me to dive into the world of peach shadows, and I love Locus of Desire. It's very delicate over bare skin and primer, and really amps up over Pixie Epoxy. I'll combine this with pinks and golds for simple eye looks.
Metamorphose: "a midtone mauve with buff tones, and green/chartreuse interference highlights"
This was included in last month's box as a hint, and I'm so happy to have a full size of it. It's pretty consistently pigmented over bare skin, primer, and glitter glue, so I know I'll get a lot of use out of it. It'll pair beautifully with Locus of Desire.
La Plus Heureuse: official description unavailable; I would call it a dusty grey-purple with subtle silver sparks.
This is the hint for next month's box, and my guess is that it will be inspired by Anne Boleyn! I think this was an interesting shadow to include in this box, considering how similar it is to Metamorphose.
Minthe: official description unavailable; I would call it a muted semi-matte mint/sea foam green.
This shadow is such a beautiful color in the jar, but it applies very sheer, even over Pixie Epoxy. This picture was taken after three heavy applications.
Floralia (cream shadow): official description unavailable. I would call it an orange-toned pink with baby blue shimmer.
The paper included with the Ephemera box says this shadow is available for purchase in full-size on the Glamour Doll Eyes site, but I'm not able to find it. This is my first experience with a cream shadow, so I don't have much insight as to whether or not this is a "good" cream product. I do know the color is vibrant and the shift is beautiful. I'll have to teach myself how to apply this properly. This is also my first product from GDE, and now I'm having to restrain myself from placing an order! Low-buys are hard!
Well, that wraps up my review of this month's box! Overall, it was alright. I really liked 3/7 of the products, but the others have problems with sheerness/are too similar to another product in the box. I was really excited for this box, and I felt it had a lot of potential. I'm still subscribed to the Ephemeras, and I'm hoping May's box is more consistent in terms of product quality.
