Mattify! Cosmetics: Harmony Blush and Earth Angel Eyeshadow Review

Disclaimer:  Products provided for review.

All opinions are my own. 

Mattify! Cosmetics specializes in making products for oily skin.  Yesterday I reviewed their face powders, but today we'll be looking at a blush and eyeshadow from their collection:  Harmony and Earth Angel.  Oily skin can decrease the wear time of most makeup products, leading to fading and breakdown long before you are through with your day or night.  Other than lip gloss, I'm not one to bring makeup with me to do touchups.  So, anything that purports to be long wearing is going to appeal to me! 

Harmony

Mattify blushes contain the same ingredients as their face powders, namely oil absorbing Kaolin clay, cornstarch, silica spheres, rice powder, and titanium dioxide.  Available in 3 colors, Harmony, Strawberry Wine, and Terra Cotta, I chose Harmony ($14) to try out.  The description said it provides just a barely-there hint of color to help brighten your complexion, making it best for those with fair complexions.

Harmony blush

Harmony is finely milled and applies smoothly.  I did not find that it looked powdery on, and it gave just enough color to make a nice neutral blush for when I'm emphasizing a bolder lip or eye look, or just want a natural look.  I'd say the main limitation of the blushes are that there are only 3 available shades at this point.

Earth Angel is also billed as long lasting, containing the same oil absorbing  Kaolin clay mixture as the other Mattify products.  Shadows definitely crease on me without an eye primer, and sometimes even with one.  If I can get through an 8 hour period without my shadows creasing, I'm doing well. So, to have a shadow with oil absorbing qualities....well, I'm guessing you know how I feel about that :-)  Mattify claims that you do not need to use a primer with their shadows, but I did out of habit.  Regardless, Earth Angel wore quite well without creasing.

I chose a neutral color as those are the ones I wear the most, and Earth Angel ($4.99) is described as a neutral champagne tone to brighten and warm any complexion.  It has a lovely shimmer and makes for a nice topper over other shadows, adding both shimmer and complexity without looking frosty.  I found it very versatile!  Mattify shadows can also be used wet for more intense color or as a liner and are safe for lip use as well.  There are a variety of colors available, which you can view here.

Overall, quite pleased with both Earth Angel and Harmony, and glad to have been introduced to Mattify! Cosmetics:-) 

Woodstock 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil by Urban Decay and Tropical ETOD

Woodstock as an eye color perplexed me when I first saw swatches online.  Would it make me look like I have pink eye?  Consequently, it was not one of the Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencils on my list to acquire.  Enter the eye pencil vault that I purchased in April, and now I have the luxury of trying colors I never would have otherwise!

Woodstock is a hot fuschia pink with silver sparkles.  It looks like it leans more warm than cool to me, as there is a bit of a red tone in there.  The word I associate with it is  "flamenco", for some reason.

Red Flamenco Dancer 11

I decided to attempt a tropical eye using salmon pink, orange, and fuschia pink/purple shadows from Bare Minerals and The All Natural Face with Woodstock on my upper and lower lash lines.  

 It came out better than I was expecting - I like it!

I also used Woodstock in this more neutral eye look featuring soft pinks and browns:

What eye liner colors are outside your comfort zone?

Disclaimer:  I purchased these.

e.l.f. Earthy Mineral Eyeshadow: Review, Swatches and Comparison

The second out of four e.l.f. shadows that I purchased a while back is Earthy, a spring green shimmer.  I love this color of green and am attracted to it in almost any form - furnishings, paint colors, clothes, eyeshadows.....

Earthy is a soft color and  you can see silver and pink shimmer bits in it, which gives it a hint of a glowing quality on the eye.  The consistency was very nice and I found that it spread easily and smoothly, with minimal fall out.  It wore well over primer, with very light creasing after a full day's wear.  My lids are quite oily, so wear time may be even better for others.

Sun

Late afternoon shade that had this interesting glow

The only other shadow I have that I could think of as a possible dupe was the bareMinerals Glimmer loose shadow Magnetize, which I picked up several years ago.  However, once I put them side by side it was evident that Magnetize has much more yellow in it, making Earthy look positively minty in comparison.  Comparisons like these really help me to get a better since of undertones and color families, as I would not have though of Earthy as "minty" prior to this.

Magnetize, Earthy

Earthy, Magnitize

I really like e.l.f.'s Earthy and think the quality is there.  Factor in that it is so inexpensive at $3, and you've got quality + inexpensive = winner!

Don't forget to enter my first giveaway!

Update:  Just received an email from e.l.f. and they are having a sale:  40% off if you spend $30 (code MORE40) and 25% if you spend $15 (code MORE25).  Sale expires on June 3rd.

 Disclaimer:  I purchased this and have no affiliation with e.l.f..

Tiger Lily Eyes: The All Natural Face Creme Brulee, Tiger Lily, & Chocolate Brown Vegan Eyeshadows

Photo credit: harvardbeet / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

When I was eleven, my parents and I lived in a house on a lake outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  One large, sloping side of the yard had been planted with orange Tiger Lillies, and they were spectacular in bloom.   I have a lot of fun memories from living there, including fishing for Bream using bread balls and riding my bike around the lake.  I was reminded of all this when I pulled out these sample shadow pots from The All Natural Face last week. These were part of the Get Started Green Sample Set, and I've still got oodles to try out from it. 

Orange eye shadows naturally complement blue eyes (orange is opposite blue on the color wheel), and I was pleased to see that Tiger Lily was not as neon as it appeared in the pot.  The texture was a bit interesting, as it took a bit of buffing to get even color, but I did like the final effect.

Sun

Shade

Creme Brulee is a really pretty soft shimmer beige that makes for a great highlighter on my brow bone and inner eye.  Chocolate Brown is a warm medium brown matte that I used to transition the crease. The eyeliner is the dark brown matte Urban Decay 24/7 pencil Demolition, and the mascara is Julep's lengthening Boho Glam in dark brown. 

Disclaimer:  I purchase these.

e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow in Confident: Review, Swatches & Comparisons

I bought Confident, a mineral eyeshadow made by e.l.f, months back but wore it for the first time last Saturday.  I'm not sure why I waited so long to try it out, other than I go through phases when it comes to using loose mineral powders.

Confident is a lovely, shimmery taupe.  It actually reminded me of some bareMineral eyeshadows that I picked up several years back, so I dug them out to compare texture and finish.

e.l.f. Confident (sun)

e.l.f. Confident (shade)

Sand Dune was part of the Siren of the Sea set that came out in 2009 and was available at Sephora and QVC.  Sand Dune is a "high shine" light golden taupe, and you can see that it looks different in texture even in the jar.  It is very reflective and a bit crumbly, although it smooths out nicely, albeit with some fall out.

bareMinerals Sand Dune

Kudos is a bareMinerals Glimpse shadow in light taupe.  The Glimpse shadows are supposed to be soft, lightweight eye colors with a little less shimmer than the Glimmer shadows.

bareMinerals Kudos

Confident, Sand Dune, Kudos

No exact dupes here, but the finishes of these shadows are similar and I can't really tell any difference in quality and wear.  e.l.f. products are made in China and are significantly less expensive at $3 a jar, compared to bareMinerals $14 price tag.  I was encouraged to read that e.l.f. is cruelty free, so I'm going to keep an open mind going forward, although in general I'm ambivalent about beauty products manufactured in China for a variety of reasons  (working conditions, animal testing, quality control). 

For this look, I used Confident from lash line to just below brow bone, and Kudos on inner eye and along brow bone.  I used Urban Decay's 24/7 eye liner in the dark brown matte Demolition to line upper and lower lashes.  The mascara is Julep's Boho Glam lengthening mascara, which is a dark brown.  

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Pink Gold Vegan Mineral Eyeshadow by The All Natural Face

Occasionally, I'll find an eyeshadow that I can use all by itself for a quick but pretty eye look.  Pink Gold by The All Natural Face is that kind of color, and I've found myself using it over and over since I received it in my January Eco Emi box.  I've sampled more than a few products from the The All Natural Face and have generally been quite pleased, but something about Pink Gold is extra special.

It's the color that does it for me.  That pale, warm, iridescent pink shot through with gold.  Used dry, it applies a sheer wash of glimmer.  Used with a fixant or wet, the color intensifies and the gold is amplified, yet the result is still delicate.  

A bit of Pink Gold, eyeliner, and mascara makes for a pretty eye look that gets me out of the door quickly.  Or, on those mornings when color combinations seem more daunting than I want to deal with, Pink Gold is the no brainer. Various sizes of this loose mineral shadow are available here. 

Used wet

Disclaimer:  I received Pink Gold in my January Eco Emi box, which I purchased.