Let's Check Out Two Different Shiro Alpaca Picnic Glosses!

Hey there, party people! Today's my birthday, and what better way to celebrate than to write a blog post? (No, seriously, I'm a dork and I'm really enjoying this.)

I made a custom gloss purchase from Shiro last month, and something went awry. I ordered a custom Alpaca Picnic gloss in moderate opacity, and I was sent one that was sheer (something something sheer-o joke). I emailed Caitlin with a few swatch pictures to show what was up, and she quickly replied with an apology and a few solutions to pick from. I decided to reorder another gloss in moderate opacity, because I love Animal Crossing, so I gotta slather this all over my lips. Well.. I was sent a gloss that's opaque, but when life gives you an insane metallic gloss, sometimes you just learn to rock it. I know if I emailed Caitlin again, she would be just as awesome as she was the first time and offer me a refund, store credit, or a new gloss.. but lately, I've been working on stepping out of my comfort zone, so moderate schmoderate! Plus, having an Alpaca Picnic gloss of every opacity would be a little crazy.

Since I have the lovely opportunity to showcase both sheer and opaque opacities, why not? So today I did swatches of both to show the differences. The sheer gloss was purchased in full by me, and the opaque gloss was sent as a replacement, free of charge, from Shiro. All opinions are my own, and all swatches are taken over moisturized and exfoliated lips.

Alright, here's the packing for both! I noticed the top of the sheer gloss is black and the opaque gloss is a metallic-y brown. Not sure if that means anything. Normally custom glosses come with a handwritten label, but since I'm such an Animal Crossing fan, I requested the Alpaca Picnic label art to replace the usual label. The sheer gloss looks fairly thin in the tube, and appears a little darker than the opaque gloss. Shown on the doefoot applicators, the opaque gloss is darker, far more metallic, and has the consistency of a liquid lipstick. Product sticks to the wand, whereas with the sheer gloss, the product slides right off.

For the arm swatches, I scraped any excess product off the doefoot before swatching the top row. For the bottom row, I slathered it on to give a better idea of how the gloss could be built up if desired.

Alright, let's start with the sheer! I think it's easy to see why I emailed Caitlin. It doesn't really add much color at all. It may as well be a clear gloss with a bit of pink glitter. I don't think the metallic nature of this shadow lends well to a sheer gloss.

The opaque gloss is ALL UP IN YOUR FACE with its brightness, and I love it. It's a Barbie hot pink with a strong metallic sheen. It's a liquid lipstick consistency, and I noticed that it had a tendency to ball up a bit around the edges. It's easy to fix, but I didn't see it until I was editing my pictures. Whoops! It was impossible to capture with my camera, but it looks like molten pink metal. It's fabulous, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're wanting something for every day wear. This is a gloss for those days where you don't give a friggity frack what anyone thinks. You do you, babe. You do you.

Welp, that wraps up my post! I'm not sure what I'd do next, but I'm thinking I might do an eye look tutorial. I've been working on my blending and I'm feeling really confident in my skillz lately. Stay tuned!

Swatches and Reviews of AFK Cosmetics' Inconceivable Collection

When I was but a wee lamb, my mom introduced me to The Princess Bride. My mind was BLOWN. I originally grew up on Disney films, and I was not used to independent badass princesses like the lovely Buttercup. Also Westley was gorgeous. I mean, c'mon. Who doesn't love a sword-wielding, RoUS-slaying blonde? Me snagging some samples from AFK's Princess Bride inspired collection was a given. Here are my swatches and reviews!

As always, all photos are taken by myself and all quoted product descriptions are taken directly off AFK Cosmetics' site. Shadow swatches are done over bare skin on the left and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the right. Lip swatches are done over moisturized, exfoliated lips.

As You Wish: "an orange-y apricot with a golden sheen"

This color pairs so beautifully with my pink shadows for a neutral look with a bit of pop. And it makes me think of Westley.. have I mentioned I love him a bit?

I'm Not a Witch, I'm Your Wife!: "an olive tone with a very bright blue/green shimmer"

For me, the shimmer wasn't bright, but it was definitely there. From indirect to direct light, this shadow shifts from a musty olive to something much more complex.

Have Fun Stormin' The Castle!: "a dark stoney grey with a light silver shimmer"

This shadow is almost a grey-blue. This picture doesn't really do its sparkle justice. Check out this shadow in its out-of-focus glory below to get a better idea of the sparkle.

Mawwage: "a shimmery pink based cream face highlighter"

Mawwage is wat bwings us togevva....todaaii. *ahem* Even though this is meant to be used as a face highlighter, I swatched it over Pixie Epoxy anyway, as I think it would look great as a sparkly inner corner highlight. The consistency of this powder is very fine and has a bit of a bouncy feeling to it. It reminds me of Make Up For Ever's HD finishing powder.

I've heard great things about Dena's tinted lip balms, and I hate to leave bad reviews, but I was pretty disappointed with both. If anyone can tell me how to get my swatches to look like the ones of AFK's site, please let me know. I couldn't get anything close. Read on, if you have the heart.

Is This a Kissing Book?: "a very soft pink/peach semi sheer tinted lip balm with a lovely gentle rose scent"

This balm was very, very moist. It almost felt like a gloss after applying, and applying wasn't easy. The rose scent wasn't enjoyable, and smelled almost identical to a Lime Crime Velvetine. Despite major consistency issues, I'll slap on this gloss-balm-thing every once in a while, but probably only because it's so sheer and it's easy to disguise it's consistency.

Mostly Dead: "a deep blue based red, reminiscent of dried blood"

This little balm was a bit of a trainwreck (read: trainwreck). The cap was so tight on the tube that opening it required Hulk-like strength and a lot of patience. Unfortunately, I had to grip so tight on the tube to wrestle the cap off that I ended up cracking the balm. My picture was taken right after the damage was done. Luckily (?) the balm is so liquidy that it mended itself after a few swipes on my hand. It's self-healing ability was it's only good quality, however. This balm is trying so hard to be moisturizing and pigmented, and I sympathize with the little guy, but it's a streaky mess. I applied it to my lips straight from the tube, then tried again with a lip brush.. and there's no taming this beast. The swatch on the AFK website looks beautiful, and this was the item from my order that I was most pumped about. I guess I'll have to agree to disagree with those whose rave about this balm formula..

Alright that wraps up my review of my little Inconceivable Collection haul! Some products thrilled me, some products were a total flop, but I'd still recommend AFK to any indie lover. I think I just had some bad indie luck this time around. You can check out the Inconceivable Collection here.