A Sneak Peek of Ten Three Lab's Upcoming AHS: Coven Collection

Hey, guys! I am so, so excited to share this with you. I bought a few goodies off Cara's destash, and inside my package she included a small sample of an upcoming perfume. I asked her if I could blog about it, and she sent me info about the entire collection to share with my readers!

The new collection, launching April 1st (no lie), is inspired by the incredible third season of American Horror Story, which centers around a small coven of near-extinct witches. I'm going to keep this post spoiler-free, so if you've yet to watch the Coven season, you're safe to read this! The New Salem Collection will consist of five perfumes, two Saucebox Sheens, and two eyeshadows. The April CotM shadow will also be inspired by Coven.

All photos are taken by Cara from Ten Three Labs. All information was sent to me with permission to post about it publicly.

Palate Cleanser, New Salem, Fell, Resurgence, Mulligetawny Soup

Palate Cleanser- "an assortment of melons, white peach sangria, yuzu, cucumber and lime"

New Salem- (Cara's favorite) "cacao absolute, labdanum absolute, burnt earth, spiced apples"

Fell- "moss, kelp, water lillies and sugar cookies"

Resurgence- "vetiver, Spanish moss, wet dirt, and honeysuckle"

Mulligetawny Soup- (Cara dubbed this her weirdest scent ever, but it works) "black pepper, rice, almond milk, coconut, apple, lemon, curry and cardamom"

I was lucky enough to be sent a sample of Resurgence, a perfume inspired by my boo, Misty Day.

(seriously, look at how gorgeous she is)

In Coven, Misty Day has the power of Resurgence, meaning she can bring back the dead (though magic always comes with a price). Misty's a hippie at heart and possibly the biggest fan of Stevie Nicks ever, and I couldn't think of a better perfume to represent her.

On cold sniff, this perfume smells of wet, overturned earth and a hint of sweet honeysuckle. My fiance took a cold sniff as well, and he said it smells like an "old, forgotten house". I've been wearing the perfume for the past few days, and upon initial application, it smells dominantly like moss and grass. After about half an hour, the moss and grass faded a touch and I started to smell the dirt and honeysuckle. The perfume wasn't very far-throwing, which I was okay with. For more "unique" scents, I try to keep them more to myself. I don't think the majority of people like smelling wet dirt and grass on a person. Resurgence lasted a good five to six hours before I wanted to reapply. I really like this perfume, and I'm pumped up to try the other four!

Wednesday and Sopresa

Cara's Saucebox Sheen gloss formula debuted in her last subscription box, and these will be the first to be available to everyone. Wednesday is a "black with red sheen", and Sopresa is a "plain old red". These look super opaque, and I'm really interested to see lip swatches of Wednesday. Usually darker colored glosses have issues with streakiness, but this picture doesn't show any! The color is definitely not accurate in these photos, and I'll swap out this photo for something that gives the colors more justice if possible.

Last but not least, the two permanent shadows of the collection! There aren't any available pictures yet, but I'll add them if any are posted before the release. Both shadows are matte.

Liiiiiiiiiiiies- "a dirtied beige"

Dog- "a deep brown"

Cara also teased that her April CotM will be connected to the New Salem Collection, but she's keeping it a secret for now! Overall, I'm ecstatic about this collection. I'm a huge fan of Coven, and his collection does it the justice it deserves. Awesome work, Cara!

The New Salem Collection launches on April 1st.

Swatches and Review of Aromaleigh's March Ephemera Box

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. :)

This is horribly belated, but I love this box so much that I'd rather review late than never! My lovely fiance, Charles, gifted me the Aromaleigh Ephemera Box subscription for Valentine's Day. Nothing says love like a little box of makeup treasures every month! This was the first box I received, and it's inspired by Norse Mythology. Most know their Norse Mythology from watching movies about vikings, or your interest grew when you saw that Chris Hemsworth was set to play Thor. Personally, I know my Norse legends from playing The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. I have no shame in this, and I will wave my Stormcloak banner high until the day I die. If you side with the Imperials, there's a little red X button at the top right of your screen. Go ahead and click that. I kid (only a little).

Anyway, let's dive into the contents of the March Emphemera Box!

This box included one full-sized blush, three full-sized shadows, two shadow sample baggies (which I poured into jars as usual), and a sample of a Kiss My Sass lip gloss. There were also two Swedish Fish candies, but those were long gone by the time I took pictures. Extras of this box will be made available on Aromaleigh's site in May.

All shadow swatches are taken over, from left to right, bare skin, Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Blush swatches are applied over bare skin, with a heavy swatch on top and a blended out swatch on the bottom. Lip product swatches are taken over exfoliated and moisturized lips. The skin around my lips is blurred to hide imperfections, but otherwise, no editing is done. Product descriptions are taken directly off the product description sheet found in the March Ephemera Box, off a post on Aromaleigh's blog, the Aromaleigh website itself, and Kiss My Sass's website. If you have any questions as to where I pulled individual descriptions from, please don't hesitate to ask.

L-R, T-B: Valkyrie, Ragnarok, Valhalla, Yggdrasil

Next Month's Hint, Carina, Kiss My Sass Sheer Lip Glaze in Daydreams

Valkyrie: "an easy-wear, soft warm rose shade". Inspired by the choosers of the slain, who hovered over battlefields, decided warrior's fates, and showed the fallen the way to Valhalla or Folkvangr. Don't make a Valkyrie angry, or it's a spear to the leg and a swift trip to Folkvangr for you.

Kristen dubbed this a "Your cheeks but better" shade, and she couldn't be more right. When I blend Valkyrie out, it gives me a delicate rosy flush. This blush is also incredibly pigmented, so this full size might just last me a lifetime. Valkyrie was my first indie blush, and I couldn't have been happier.

Ragnarok: "a deep, reddish brown with gold/green interference shimmer". Inspired by the Norse end of days. A prophecy depicted the falling of the Gods, the destruction of the earth, and the renewal of mankind after a great flood.

I didn't pick up any of the green shimmer. For me, this shadow is a deep, warm brown that almost has a metallic bronze finish over Pixie Epoxy. Over bare skin and primer, this is a flat brown. I can't complain about a brown shadow, though, because the three Norse themed shadows in this collection mesh together so well.

Valhalla: "a soft pale weathered gold with strong blue interference sparkle". Valhalla is the "hall of the slain", a beautiful hall in Asgard, where Odin welcomes his chosen fallen warriors with open arms and a bountiful buffet that never ends. (I'm going to be a little nerdy again. Skyrim's chosen Nords are sent to the Hall of Valor in Sovngarde when they perish, and I always think about how you get to travel there when I use this shadow. All of that food, mmm.)

Kristen's description is spot-on. This isn't a normal gold, or an antique gold. This is a soft pastel, with plenty of sparkle. It's ethereal and more than fit to represent Valhalla.

Yggdrasil: "a midtone heathered green with copper interference shimmer". Yggdrasil is a great yew tree that's central to Norse mythology and considered very holy. Its branches extend into the havens, and its roots extend into distant lands. Within Yggdrasil, majestic creatures dwell, and every day the Gods go to the great tree to assemble.

Before I started this post, I looked up pictures of the European Yew tree, which is the agreed species of tree that Yggdrasil was. This color is perfect. Yews are conifers, and the color of the foilage reminds me of the trees you find on Christmas Tree Farms. That subtely paled forest green is wonderfully replicated here. I did find that Yggdrasil performed the worst over bare skin, as it lost most of its dimension. Still, it's a gorgeous green.

Next Month's Hint (name not yet revealed): "a beautiful mauve shade with green/chartreuse interference shimmer"

Sneaky, sneaky Kristen, making us all guess the theme of the April Ephemera box! I didn't even attempt to. Later on, Kristen revealed the next box is inspired by the Ancient Roman festival of Floralia, a celebration of Flora, the goddess of flowers, vegetation and fertility. Floralia was a real party, complete with nude dancing prostitutes, the release of fertile hares and goats, and pelting each other with legumes. (I especially like the legume part.) Anyway, this is a muted, dusty mauve with green and yellow sparks. It applies beautifully over bare skin, primer, and adhesive. I have a feeling I'm going to love April's Ephemera Box.

Carina: "a rich violet with a strong teal duochrome shift"

This was originally a sneak peek of Aromaleigh's newest collection when the boxes were sent out. The Galactic Collection, Mission One has now been released, and Mission Two is set to blast off (hehe) in May. Carina is a major standout in Mission One with a strong duochrome that, of course, my camera just couldn't capture well. The teal shift is bright and has that glowing-from-within effect. If you can only snag one shadow from the Galactic Collection, grab Carina. The rest of Mission One is gorgeous, and the label art is amazing. Each shadow is inspired by NASA's beautiful pictures of places far away from our little planet Earth. Here's a look at the label art for Mission One:

(Carina is top center.)

Kiss My Sass Sheer Lip Glaze in Daydreams: "a sheer pale pink glow"

This has a faint pink shift in the package, but my lips unfortunately are that exact shade of pink. For me, personally, this may as well be a clear gloss. The minty smell is strong and the tingling sensation from the peppermint oil lasts a long time, so if you're not a fan of either of those things, steer clear of this gloss. Despite all that, I loved the consistency and texture of Daydreams. It's light and moisturizing. Not sticky at all. I'm definitely going to try out some of their more pigmented glosses in the future. The formula is great; this color in particular just didn't work well for my lips.

Well, this wraps up my crazy late post about Aromaleigh's March Ephemera Box! My next steps for Bellibone Beauty are to give the site a little makeover, as well as work on incorporating looks and videos into my reviews. I made a quick test video of my swatches tonight, so let me know what you like or don't like. Feedback is going to be critical for me while I try to get my blog at full potential. Thanks, everyone!

The Great Battle of Shadow Over Primer!

I saw a lot of discussion today on IMAM about how shadows should perform decently on bare skin and over regular primer, but some don't. I thought it'd be interesting to see how the brands I own fare over bare skin, UDPP, and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, and how much I'm paying for each shadow. Five hours and six episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion later, I present to you: The Great Battle of Shadow Over Primer! Don't critique the name, man. It's four in the morning and I'm a little loopy from being tired. Just roll with it.

Swatches are taken, from left to right, over bare skin, Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Dollar amounts are in USD, and by teaspoon unless the brand measures product by gram. There won't be much commentary in this post, because the pictures pretty much say it all.

So the cheapest shadow by tsp is Brija Cosmetics, and the most expensive by tsp is Daily Lovelies. I thought that was interesting because I prefer Brija over Daily Lovelies any day. A lot of these shadows were pretty sheer over bare skin, regardless of price. Corvus shadows totally dominated over bare skin. Noel's always been pretty proud of the way her shadows look over bare skin, and she has every right to be. It's also interesting to note that her shadows are one of the cheapest of the bunch.

Well, I hope this was informative for you guys! I definitely got a kick out of swatching all these, and it'll lead to smarter purchases in the future. My next post will either be a tutorial on how to use Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy or how to apply pigmented blushes.. or maybe I'll combine both into one post! Stay tuned!