Darling Clandestine Strange and Skin Scents

This is the third and final part of my Darling Clandestine scent review series - just in time for the shop re-opening on the 8th!

All photos in this post (except the shark sketch) were taken by my extraordinarily talented friend and photographer Olivier, who as well as being a truly inspired artist, is easily the most exciting man to party with. Here's his official facebook page if you want to get lost in thousands of beautiful photos.



Neither Here nor There:


Supernova Sway
Black metallic, musk, mint and floral
Opens sharp with a whisper of fresh mint (but not that generic fake mint in toothpaste and gum) amongst a thousand other scents, then morphs to something imperceptibly sweet and finally a base of something beautifully dark pulls through. This is probably the most difficult scent to understand let alone describe as every sniff yields something different - it's like staring into an abyss of shadows; every new glance bring different shapes so that you're never sure whether or not you're imagining them. This is a scent to ponder the vastness of the universe to - and a glowing example of Evonne's genius. 

Obviously pondering the vastness of the universe

Aragon
Lavender, sea salt, wine, leather, caramel and chocolate
Another weird one - opens with bitter dark chocolate, leather and something I now call 'Darling Clandestine's "skin" scent.' The lavender is fighting for scent priority with the muskiness and only slightly loosing, but after a few seconds everything mellows out to a smooth dark-chocolate-lavender-leather-ness, it's what a biker's jacket would smell like after he'd visited his mother's for the weekend. I really can't make up my mind if I like this scent or even whether it leans more masculine or feminine, which is strange because unlike most of Darling Clandestine's scents I can pick out quite a few distinct scent notes. If I had to choose I'd say it's a cologne from a woman's point of view.

Secretly a mummy's boy

Circassian
Coffee, chocolate, resins and floral
Bitter, burnt and salty - Circassian is wholly unappealing to me, though I can see fans of bitterly black coffee, burnt steaks and chocolate so dark it is literally black would find something sexy in this pungent mix.

Pungent

Falchion
Sex, chocolate and cinnamon
Although I seem to have lost my sample of Falchion before I was able to sit down and write this review I remember thinking it was Circassian's sweetened, softened sister - although the heavy dark chocolate scent remained it had lost all the bitterness I dislike so much in Circassian. But don't take my word for it, I haven't smelt it in over a week.

I like this photo so we'll just assume it represents Falchion

Love & Sharks
Salty shark skin, pepper, cherries, apricots and clove
Gagging sweetness underlaid with that strange and "skin" scent again, after a few minutes the sickliness fades and you're left with weird, burnt, bitter, salty skin with a touch of artificial fruit. This is similar to Dewlap Valentine in the cloying sweetness mixed with something akin to decay, and I really, really hate it.

My Great White Shark sketch (I LOVE SHARKS)

Skinscence:


Inked
Skin, salt, leather and wine
Inked is the very definition of Darling Clandestine's "skin" scent - that deep, sweet and salty base note that is so evident in Love & Sharks, but with none of the artificial fruity sweetness. It's such a unique scent it defies my attempts to define it, but is a common element in Evonne's darker creations. Intriguing, original and with absolutely nothing 'perfumey' about it - although this wouldn't smell out of place on a woman to me this is scent smells so distinctly masculine, and is honestly most reminiscent of hot sex.

Stop thinking dirty thoughts

Rivet
Leather, beeswax and flowers
Opening with an not altogether appealing chemical sharpness it quickly fades to a strange and sharply musky sweetness. This is what a rock band after a drug fueled bender would smell like - strange but with an oddly sexy edge.

I'm questioning how I got here but... I'm OK with it

Fisticuffs
Honeyed wine, green, earth and concrete
Opening with a sharp greenness so fleeting you're left wondering if you imagined it, Fisticuffs settles comfortably in with a drink to watch that sports game and occasionally check on the barbecue. Fisticuffs smells exactly like a man-picnic, with the clash of grass, booze, earth and sweat.

My ideal man picnic

Aequitas
Smoke, blood, whiskey, leather, steel and gunpowder
Aequitas has a poisonous element, like that perfectly blended, deceptively strong cocktail the bartender promises will solve all your problems - at least for tonight. Ever so lightly green and whispering sweetness it is dangerous, intoxicating, a thousand temptations cloaked in virtues.

After reading and adding Evonne's scent notes I'm honestly surprised by how 'off' I was/am in Aequitas - and even after a second round of sniffing I stand by my above impression, strange as it is.

The ambiguous angel corrupting my shoulder

Pestanas
Cotton, tobacco leaf, rose, marigold, leather, machine oil, amber, lilac, pepper, copal, chocolate, wine and pimento
Pestanas smells like a mechanic - the metallic ring of engine oil roughly smeared on worn jeans and softened by the warmth of skin, sweat, sweet breath and a hint of dark chocolate; this scent defines fission. This is the most authentically masculine scent I've ever come across: it's intense, rugged and so deeply sexy. It's what that bad-boy no one approves of smells like - but oh the chemistry...

It's worth noting that although this fits my personal definition of warm masculine skin it has almost nothing in common with Darling Clandestine's traditional "skin"scent like in Inked and Love & Sharks.

Never having owned a car this is what I believe all mechanics look like

If the floral and sweet scents from my last post generally leaned more feminine these perfume tend to be more masculine, especially the heavier skin-like scents. Supernova Sway and Aequitas are my favourites as the other scents are just too heavy to personally wear, but Pistolas and Inked would be my favourite scents on a man.

As always, love,

Saskia X


Remember you can always email me at PrettyTrivialities@gmail.com and find my Instagram under @aiksasarual

Darling Clandestine Floral and Sweet Perfume reviews

Darling Clandestine's floral and sweet scents are as original and unexpected as the rest of their line (except perhaps Tilt-A-Whirl), so if you prefer smelling typically feminine these scents will add more intriguing note than your standard perfume.

Floral:

Pistolas
Gardenia, lavender, city sidewalks, tobacco leaf
Gardenia, not a sterile, sweet petals-only white floral, but the whole living plant. The etherial fragrance of the flower against the backdrop of leaves and life. Beautifully feminine, innocent but not naive, a fragrance for a unicorn or fairy.

Sadly my local florists didn't have any gardenias in stock so...
Source: northernstarkidd on Photobucket

Bete Noire
Peppers, florals
This is what I'd call a dark floral - definitely feminine but in an adult and mysterious way. It's inspired; the essence a James Bond villainess would leave clinging to the pillowcase. 

Black and white iPhone photo from the florist's - so artsy

Blue Valentine
Hyacinth, violet, poppy, fig, whiskey, bitters, musk and mint
Blue Valentine is another scent I just can't place - it's halfway between a floral and something savoury, it's dark, slightly moody but with a crisp clean edge, tangy and maybe ever so faintly minty? This scent is one that's really grown on me as although it's pretty sweet it's very interesting, to be honest it's probably the blue note that I'm loving. 

Friday Night on Bourbon Street, New Orleans

Mad As Birds
Pear, mint, amber and marigolds
Opens the tiniest bit tart/green and blue but quickly dissipates to a soft clean sweetness like honeyed florals, I love this scent which holds solid for about 15 minutes - the lightness keeps the sweetness from being sickly or the florals overwhelming; this is a very girly yet adult scent. Especially straight from the bottle every whiff of this scent brings out different yet harmonious notes, however the glorious juxtaposition of a multitude of light and sweet scents is lost after the 15 minute mark and all I'm left with a a flat vanilla-like bland sweetness. If only the the 'original' scent stuck around on my skin this would be the first and only sweet floral perfume I've ever loved.

I wanted a bright picture of a gorgeous summer picnic for this scent, but it's equally appropriate to wear for girly cocktails on a roof terrace. Which, when you think about it is like the adult version of an afternoon picnic...

Tapadero
Sage, roses, smoke, leather
I wasn't sure where to categorise this scent - it's sexiest thing I've ever smelt, feminine yet strong. It's warm, sharp, deep, fresh, clean and comforting - it's everything, utterly unique and devastatingly beautiful. Hardly a floral but since Evonne rarely lists floral notes in her scents this seemed the most appropriate place for it.

 I wish I knew what type of flower this is: I probably should've asked

Sweet:

Pyrotechnik
Spiced cantaloupe, bold black sky, sweet woods, earth
Opens initially with cantaloupe - so distinct huge orange melon slices were dancing before my eyes. However a myriad of spices break though within seconds giving the candy sweetness depth and distinction. It appears to be a contradiction: the almost sickly sweetness with the smoke and the spices. However it really works, and almost feels like an instant classic pairing - like oranges and cloves or lemon and honey. Against all odds I actually really like this perfume, despite the fact I don't particularly want to - it smells too delicious for my taste.

Source: legendproduce.com/fruit/cantaloupe/

Tilt-A-Whirl
Citrus, passionfruit, sage
Opens sweet but tart, fading after a few seconds to tart but sweet and finally settling to equal amounts of sweet and tart. Really, that's all this fragrance is - it has a distinct candy-and-candle thing going on, and is probably DC's least interesting and complex fragrance. This is definitely a little girl scent - sickly sweet with a bit of sass. It's really just nice - nothing more and nothing less.

I had a pretty adorable duckling phase with shark teeth

Dewlap Valentine
Strawberry, banana, greens, reptile
After the initial gagging sweetness of artificial fruit it fades to an almost tolerable sweetness, overpowering something earthy, damp and ever so slightly green.  It's sickly sweet, cloying, and heavy with an air of decomposition. Although this is hands down my least favourite DC scent to date, I have to admire the fact that Evonne really has captured a little fruit and veg loving reptile's terrarium odour.

Source: flickr.com/photos/62438660@N03/5911538750/

Hellbender
Ginger, amber, vanilla
Initially Hellbender is all gorgeous warm ginger (not the nose-burning tingly kind) with beautiful deep sweetness conjuring a warm kitchen and baked goods. However the sweetness overpowers the ginger a few seconds out of the bottle and settles to a rather boring sweet scent. It's a lovely scent, but sadly not particularly exciting or interesting, and the final dry down smells almost identical to Mad As Birds' and Carny Wedding's without the smoke.

Source: hidethecheese.com/hide_the_cheese/2009/05/candied-ginger-scones.html

Carny Wedding
Butter, sugar, wood, smoke
What makes Carny Wedding interesting is the fact the creamy sweetness and the potent smoke intermingle with every sniff - it's not just sweet smoke or smokey sweetness, the two scent elements dance over and around each other with every inhalation like two separate scents carried on the same wind. However after a few seconds the opposing forces settle into something intriguing, unique, reminiscent perhaps of a 1930s circus, the air heavy with the push and pull of life. A strange scent, and not altogether appealing to me.

A fantastic book and entertaining movie
Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/12/preview-review-water-for-elephants-pattinson-witherspoon-trailer.html

These scents were particularly interesting to review as I don't have a particularly sweet tooth nor like gourmand perfumes, and find most generic and commercial floral scents distinctly boring  - thus it was more of a challenge. However I love all of Darling Clandestine's florals as they are infinitely more original and alive than the usual flat floral, and Tapadero is one of my all time favourite scents. Of the sweet scents Pyrotechnik is definitely my favourite, and Hellbender would be vying for that place if only the warm ginger scent lasted longer than a few minutes out of the bottle. I'm not sure if it's my skin chemistry that transforms a lot of Evonne's carefully blended intoxicating sweet scents to something akin to a flat vanilla after 15 minutes, but it definitely prevents me really falling in love with Mad As Birds.


Love,


Saskia X

Darling Clandestine Green and Blue Scent Reviews

Pacific Crest/John Muir Trail in Yosemite National Park, California

Patrick Suskind's novel 'Perfume' is one of my all time favourite books, however when reading it I can't help but lament the fact that I will never smell perfumes as complex and alive as the protagonist created, until now. Since my last post I've fallen head over heels in love with Darling Clandestine - trying to decipher their enigmatic scents is so entertaining and satisfying as, unlike other perfumes, it's incredibly difficult to pick out individual notes or even general ingredients. Moreover scent notes cannot even begin to describe DC's perfumes, and frequently do them a huge injustice as they're often irrelevant to the unique harmony they create - it's like trying to describe a work of art purely by the Pantone numbers used to paint it.

Instead of photographing almost identical looking samples and bitsy vials for each review, and to add a personal touch, I've tried to find photos I've taken that express the essence of each scent - I hope it's helpful or at least entertaining!

And finally, as always, I sniff and write my reviews before I look up the perfume descriptions and scent notes so they don't influence me too much, although of course I do remember vaguely what each should smell like from when I bought them. So without further adieu, here is Part 1 of my mega scent review series:

Green:

Gram Negative
Orchid, soil, moss, lichens, tea
This scent smells exactly like a greenhouse: musty earth, fresh soil and damp greenery. As a scent I love it, but as a perfume it's pretty weird so I mostly just sniff the jar and smile.

This gorgeous snake's colouring perfectly fits the mood of the perfume, just imagine he's basking on damp earth.
Anyway, terrariums are sort of like greenhouses right?

Maudlin & Bedlam
Honey, herbals, wood, green leaves
Gram Negative's fresher sister - the greenery is brighter, lighter with an edge that isn't sweet like florals but... alive maybe. There's definitely fresh soil but without the mustiness that indicates damp and warmth. If Gram Negative is the ground in autumn/winter Maudlin & Bedlam is the same ground filled with news plants in spring.

A swamp just outside New Orleans, Louisiana

Limerence
Lilies, succulents, herbs, mitti attar
The "floral for those who don't like florals" - this was the scent I've been most eager to try as I both love and hate florals. It smells like a florist's when you first step in - green, alive, and bright with the sharpness of freshly cut stems without the sweetness of flowers: a pervading sense of bright, clean, green, light, fresh.

Somewhere in the Sierra Nevada, California, about half way through the John Muir Trail

Serpentina
Green tea, opium
Sepentina is a darker, warm green - it doesn't smell like living plants and is a much more comforting scent. It has an incense like backdrop which adds both warmth and depth but smells nothing like actual incense or smoke, this is what Mother Nature would smell like.

Aerial shot of the Okavango Delta, Botswana, from a light aircraft

La La La All Right
Breeze, fields, river and road
Intense fresh cut greenery - the smell of fort building amongst the bushes of your garden during the summers of childhood. Initially very sharp like a shot of wheatgrass but mellows to something warmer before settling to a softly sharp green, warm air and sun baked... something. Evonne is a genius - it's a sumer road-trip in a convertible driving on sunbaked tarmac surrounded by fields and blue skies!

Yosemite National Park, California

Green-ish:

Cloudswing
Lemongrass, vanilla, wood, marigolds
Lemongrass is one of the most distinctive scents for me having practically bathed in it as a mosquito repellant, Cloudswing however adds a whole new dimension (lemongrass is aptly named - it's citrus-y sharp and green) bringing a golden warmth and depth with what feels like the muted fire of ginger and hay. Imagine you're in a barn warm in your sleeping bag and covered in bugspray - essentailly, Cloudswing = summer camp.

Everyone loves summer camp! Blue Ridge Mountains North Carolina

Step Right Up
Blue-green, spicy, oceanic
The sharp freshness of greens mixed with the moodiness of blues give you a living but not earthy outdoors scent. I can't smell any pine in here but it has the same feeling as pines - green, but cold and sharp too. To me this is a mountain lake surrounded by trees. Cold air and chopping wood in the winter, very sexy.

Kings Canyon National Park, California

Blue:

Monstre Delicat
Fig, rain, spiced wood, storms
I had no idea a scent could be moody until I smelt this perfume - at first it's aloof and cold, but with a strange underlying comfort that is not warm or sweet but... solid. Almost like despite its indifference to you this scent will always be there for you. Really though this scent is beautiful - it's a rainy day in a bottle, at first cold rain on the window leads to melancholy, but opens up to the possibility of a day spent with an old book and a blanket.

Denali State Park, Alaska

Mishigami
Lakes, sand
Watery, without a shadow of a doubt. For the first second it smells almost green but that disappears almost instantly giving way to the melancholy of Monstre Delicat, but without the solid base. This perfume is in every sense of the word all liquid. Every sniff brings to mind something to do with water - the air before a rain, a breeze across a lake, damp skin on the dock, rain on the road, rain on the grass, rain in your hair. I honestly have no idea how a scent can be 'watery' but this one is - not 'watered down' or damp or moist, but huge and wet and deep. (I'm not sure how to edit that sentence to make it less... anyway). This is one of DC's lightest and subtlest perfumes, I can't sense anything solid to it like earth, leather, smoke or skin, but it's deep. It's a deep lake of blue.

Chobe River, Botswana

Vortex
Cold, blue, white
Mountain air - empty mountain air - when you've climbed so high every breath is deep due to its thinness. It's snow, it's cold, it's the biting wind. Brutally beautiful. Cold, clean, expansive. White but not sterile, with the clear blue sky beating down on you. I honestly have no idea how Evonnne creates scents like these - I can't pick out a single note of anything, but can understand exactly what the scent is trying to convey. If Mishigami is the blue of water, this is the blue of the air.

Goat Rocks Mountains, Washington

Overall, I adore every single one of these perfumes which is completely unsurprising as I love anything and everything outdoorsy, my favourites for myself to wear are Limerence and Serpentina, but I also particularly love the scents of Step Right Up, Monstre Delicat, Mishigami and Vortex. Moreover all of these scents are unisex as they contain no stereotypical gendered notes (like florals or 'Old Spice'-ness) and personally I'd be incredibly impressed to catch a whiff of a man smelling like mountain air instead of A&F's Fierce, unfortunately most of the time I'm in mountain air with men none of us have showered in at least a week...


On that delicious note, love,


Saskia X

Inglot matte eyeshadows swatches and review

Not going to lie - all the messages about how you miss my blog make me feel both equal parts loved and guilty! I've been travelling solidly for the past 6 weeks (spending no longer than 5 days in any one country) which was obviously not conducive to either makeup or blogging.

As an inadequate apology here are a few holiday snaps:

In one of these photos I've filled my eyebrows in so this collage is vaguely relevant to makeup!

Now, without further adu here're my swatches and review of Inglot's matte eyeshadows:

Inglot package each eyeshadow, blush and I assume concealer, lipstick etc pan individually as I've shown below. Although this large amount of packaging wastage makes my environmentally conscious cricket cringe I can't argue it's extremely effective, hygienic and aesthetically pleasing.

I purchased eleven Inglot eyeshadows - nine metallic and two matte - around Christmas last year and while I adore them all I found myself reaching for the two matte taupes for almost every look I created as they were the perfect crease colours, blended effortlessly and flawlessly, and wore impeccably through all of the sweaty club dancing I am so fond of.

I'd been looking for a matte cool-toned neutral palette for a couple of months now; the Tarte Be Mattenificent palette was a strong contender and although the purple agate packaging won my heart instantly the eyeshadow quality was pretty meh. The Saucebox Etude palette was another option I liked - but they're been out of stock for about six months now (which is frankly ridiculous), and have absolutely awful customer service so I'd rather not support them.

Photo credit:
http://www.temptalia.com/
http://sauceboxcosmetics.com/

Thus, with the help of the amazing Beautylish Inglot palette builder I began building my own neutral palette which was equal parts fun and frustrating. I obviously highly recommend actually swatching the shadows yourself at an Inglot store, but if that's not possible Temptalia and other google source's swatches are actually very accurate. I ordered my palette from the UK Inglot website (as Beautylish only accepts US credit cards and ships to US addresses) and although postage was £5 regardless of how much you spend (free shipping is a weakness of mine) my package arrived less than a week later all bubble wrapped and lovely.

Top row: 360 / 363 (not new)
Second row: 391 / 329 / 326 / 378 / 358
Blush: AMC 55
Third row: 344 / 390 / 353 / 375 / 325/ 338 / 317 / 385

Aside from their phenomenal product quality and unparalleled colour and texture range my favourite thing about Inglot is the ability to mix and match their palettes as the mood strikes you - all their pans are magnetic and they offer multiple sizes of empty palettes so you can arrange and re-arrange all your eyeshadows (and brow powders/concealers/lip sticks etc) endlessly.

Since I don't know how to overlay text on my photos (sorry) I'm going to list the shade colours and names here (obviously all of them are matte):

Top Row:

• Neutral Taupe - 360
• Cool Taupe - 363

Middle Row:

• Black - 391
• Neutral dark brown - 329
• Cool burgundy tinged dark brown - 326
• Cool dark brown taupe - 378
• Mid grey mauve taupe - 358

Blush:

• Mid plummy beige pink - AMC 55

Third row:

• Mid beige pink mauve - 344
• Light beige pink - 390
• Very light neutral cream - 353
• Mid purple - 375
• Dark purple - 325
• Mid bright blue teal - 338
• Mid bright green teal - 317
• Bright mid green - 385

Top row: 360 / 363 (not new)
Second row: 391 / 329 / 326 / 378 / 358
Blush: AMC 55
Third row: 344 / 390 / 353 / 375 / 325/ 338 / 317 / 385

I cannot reinforce how amazing the quality of these mattes are - most of these took literally one swipe (with a clean finger over bare skin) to show full opacity, and all of them were incredibly soft and oh so buttery. All photos were taken with a flash.

I then pulled out some other mattes in my collection to compare the colours and texture - needless to say Inglot made it into no competition, my previous favourite mattes (Suagarpill, Laura Mercier, Urban Decay) were left biting Inglot's dust.

Top row: 360 / 363 (LM Plum Smoke / UD Tease)
Second row: 391 / 329 / 326 / 378 / 358
Blush: AMC 55
Third row: 344 / 390 / 353 / 375 / 325/ 338 / 317 / 385
(Fourth row: LM Morning Dew / Sugarpill Poison Plum / Midori)

The third and fourth shadows on the top row are Laura Mercier's Plum Smoke and Urban Deacy's Tease (from the Naked2 palette). The three swatches added as a fourth row are Laura Mercier's Morning Dew, Sugarpill's Poison Plum and Midori.

Top row: 360 / 363 (LM Plum Smoke / UD Tease)
Second row: 391 / 329 / 326 / 378 / 358
Blush: AMC 55
Third row: 344 / 390 / 353 / 375 / 325/ 338 / 317 / 385
(Fourth row: LM Morning Dew / Sugarpill Poison Plum / Midori)

Here you can see Laura Merier's Morning Dew (light neutral) is significantly less pigmented than Inglot's 353, as is Sugarpill's Poison Plum (purple) and Midori (green). Honestly I wasn't too surprised Inglot's mattes were more pigmented than Laura Mercier's as LM's are so incredibly soft they're hard to pack pigment on, and while this does make them slightly quicker to blend it's at the cost of seriously sheering out the eyeshadow.

However, Inglot out performing Sugarpill's matte brights was definitely a shock to me - I used to swear that Sugarpill's were the most pigmented, soft and blend-able mattes out there, obviously I was wrong. In comparison to Inglot's shades Sugarpill's felt grainy and applied sheer! Also, Sugarpill's mattes are not 100% matte like Inglot's are.

Top row: 360 / 363 (LM Plum Smoke / UD Tease)
Second row: 391 / 329 / 326 / 378 / 358
Blush: AMC 55
Third row: 344 / 390 / 353 / 375 / 325/ 338 / 317 / 385
(Fourth row: LM Morning Dew / Sugarpill Poison Plum / Midori)

Here you can see Laura Mercier's Plum Smoke (third shade on the top row) is a close match to Inglot's 358, but as with Morning Dew Laura Mericer's shadows were soft to their own detriment and thus required much more building than Inglot's. The last shade on the top row is Urban Decay's Tease from their Naked2 palette, when I first swatched it I couldn't believe how hard and unpigmented it was!

The Naked2 was my first ever pressed eyeshadow and palette so maybe I still think of it the way I did when I bought it a year ago ("Look at all these colours! They're so pretty and pigmented! Think of all the makeup I can do with these! Oh I'm so overwhelmed and have no idea what I'm doing..."). Tease applied patchy and I couldn't even build the swatch to full opacity, honestly I was beyond underwhelmed. Urban Decay's shadows are being notorious for under performing without a primer and being pretty awesome with one though, so that could be the issue - but it doesn't detract from the fact Inglot whipped them in making a exponentially better matte. 

Metallic colours top row: 409 / 43 / 404 / 07
Metallic colours bottom row: 452 / 446 / 445 / 399 / 154
AMC gel eyeliner: 77 (black)

This is everything I own by Inglot (with the mattes laid out in the same shape as the swatches above) in a Muji clear acrylic drawer, as the astute reader may notice I am not a smart girl and forgot to pick up an empty 20 pan palette to store my new shadows in. I'll hopefully get around to reviewing my metallic Inglot shadows at some point but just in case I don't here are some spoilers: they are the same quality as the Inglot mattes and outstrip Laura Mercier, Sugarpill and Urban Decay metallic shadows in every category I'd care to name.

Inglot's blush is also very nice, incredibly soft (softer than the shadows), creamy, pigmented and blends better than any pressed blush I've ever tried. I haven't opened the eyeliner yet but based on the reviews (and previous personal experience with Inglot products) it'll leave my current gel eyeliner (MAC's Blacktrack) wallowing in an inky pool of self pity.

391 / 329 / 326 / 378 / 358
363 / 360 / 344 / 390 / 353

Finally, here's my complete matte neutral palette - I played around with the order to find the most aesthetically pleasing and practical arrangement and honestly couldn't be happier with it! I'm somewhat skeptical about how the neural dark brown 329 will look when applied as even cool browns tend to look carroty on me, but if that's the case it couldn't be easier to swap it out for a pop of colour, or even a new matte neutral (I'm thinking slate grey).

One final word on Inglot - they're incredibly cheap! I'll do the calculations both in GB pounds and US dollars:

• A single Inglot eyeshadow is £4.50 for 2.7g = £1.67 per gram
• A single Laura Mercier eyeshadow is £19 for 2.6g = £7.31 per gram
• A single Sugarpill eyeshadow is £8.50 (prices vary) for 3.5g = £2.43 per gram
• A single Urban Decay eyeshadow is £14 for 1g = £14 per gram (or £9.33 per gram or £7.12 per gram depending on where you get your information)

I found a price discrepancy between Sugarpill eyeshadows being sold in the UK as they are being sold by licensed third party online retailers, however the fluctuation was only by about £1 per eyeshadow.

However, Urban Decay are only officially sold in the UK by Debenhams and House of Fraiser (department stores), on the Debenhams website they are priced £14 stating that it is £140.00 per 10g, whereas on the House of Fraiser website they're priced at £14 stating that it's £93.33 per 10g, and neither websites state how much eyeshadow a single pan contains. On the official Urban Decay US page the shadows are listed as $18 per 1.5g, so I guess I could go by that (£10.67 per 1.5g or £7.12 per gram by today's exchange rate) but I'm really not liking the lack of info for British UD stock lists.


And now in USD because google blogger tells me my main audience is stateside:

• A single Inglot eyeshadow is $7 for 2.7g = $2.59 per gram
• A single Laura Mercier eyeshadow is $23 for 2.6g = $8.85 per gram
• A single Sugarpill eyeshadow is $12 for 3.5g = $3.43 per gram
• A single Urban Decay eyeshadow is $18 for 1.5g = $10.67 per gram

Thus, irregardless of where you buy your makeup Inglot are by far the cheapest option, which is amazing considering they're also the best quality!

However it is worth mentioning that you need to buy a palette for your Inglot pans which will bump up your overall cost - the larger the palette the less this cost will be per pan or per gram. Alternatively you could just not buy a palette like I've accidentally done, or store your Inglot pans in a Z-palette type thing.

Needed to break up the block of text and calculations so here's a look I did with Inglot 363 and Sugarpill Bulletproof

Another caveat I'd like to add is Inglot eyeshadows are also cheaper than most indie eyeshadows:

• A single Inglot eyeshadow is $7 for 2.7g = $2.59 per gram
• Shiro's full size eyeshadow is $6 for 2g = $3 per gram
• Fyrinnae's full size eyeshadow is $7.50 for 2g = $3.75 per gram
• Notoriously Morbid's full size eyeshadow is $5.50 for "about 3g" = $1.83 per gram

All of these eyeshadows are loose except for Fyrinnae as they offer pan only pressed eyeshadows (which I thought would make a great comparison). I wanted to include more indies but a lot of them (Darling Girl, Femme Fatal etc) list their quantities by volume.

As always, love,

Saskia X

PS Don't expect another post for about a month as that's when I finish all my university exams! Sorry :(

Little Sparrow Cosmetics Mineral Blush Review

Little Sparrow Cosmetics is a new vegan focused indie brand on Etsy run by just one woman - Jessica! They're best know for their super moisturising Lip Jellies but last month came out with a new flower themed blush collection which you can view here. Although I would've loved to buy all seven of them because it's such a lovely and well rounded collection, I'm not made of money and would probably rarely wear the pink and orange ones anyway.

Quick disclaimer - I was given a blogger discount for this order which essentially just covered international shipping costs, I haven't been given free stuff, been paid to write this or even asked... although I think that's probably the point of a blogger discount!

Little Sparrow Cosmetics blushes in Lilac, Lavender and Bluebell

Little Sparrow Cosmetics' blushes are $8 each and contain 4-5g of product in a 20g jar with a sifter - the jars are study, don't leak, the shifter works very well to distribute useable amounts of product and, most importantly in my opinion, there is enough room in the pot and lid to swirl your brush so as to distribute product evenly amongst the bristles.

All the blushes have a matte finish and are incredibly finely milled with perfectly even pigment distribution so they apply quickly and easily as a smooth uniform wash of colour that can be built up in intensity.

Swatches in indirect sunlight in the same order as above: Lilac, Lavender and Bluebell

The strangest thing about these blushes is that when swatched Lilac looks lavender and Lavender looks lilac! I've swatched these blushes three times over the past few days double and triple checking that I've got them the right way around - they genuinely look exactly like the these swatch photos when applied with my finger over bare skin.

However, even more strangely when applied to my face the colours look exactly like they should based on their names and how they appear in the pot!

Lilac, Lavender, Bluebell

Below are lots of face swatches, and as well as the blushes I'm also wearing:

• NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia foundation
• Illamasqua Motto Brow Cake
• Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara

I cleaned my brush (Real Techniques Blush brush) before switching colours to prevent mixing or muddying the colours, and all photos were taken in indirect sunlight with a diffused flash.

Lilac lightly applied.

Lilac translated to a very wearable cool pink on my face, leaning more pink than purple - it's an undeniably beautiful colour and a great formula. I'd recommend this to anyone who just wants to dip their toe into purple blush!

Lilac (unlike Lavender and Bluebell) is also safe to use on your eyes and lips which is a bonus if you like matching your blush to your lip colour (just add vaseline/some sort of lip balm) or even either to your eyeshadow, plus who doesn't love a versatile product?

Lavender moderately applied

I applied Lavender a heavier than I normally would for natural daytime blush to emphasise its colour. I love this blush - it's definitely purple, but if applied slightly sheerer than I have here would be incredibly wearable. I would recommend this colour to anyone who wants a basic everyday purple blush!

Bluebell lightly applied over Lilac lightly applied

Since I highly doubt I'll be wearing a blue blush by itself regularly I decided to try layering Bluebell over other blushes. Here you can see Bluebell over Lilac from above - it's clearly significantly changed the blush's original cool pink to a really lovely purple lilac. I was incredibly impressed with how evenly these blushes layered - there was no patchiness or caking and it took no extra time, effort or blending to achieve this smooth finish.

Bluebell lightly applied over Lavender moderately applied

Obviously this is very purple and probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I really can't praise these blushes' formula enough!

Bluebell lightly applied
(My lips are stained from Shiro's Sad Keanu that I was photographing for my last post)

Here I applied Bluebell very lightly to see if it would pass for a purple blush by itself - it obviously doesn't here on me as I was wearing a medium coverage yellow based foundation so there was no pink/red on my skin for the blue to mix with. Again, A+ formula.

Bluebell moderately applied
(I was multitasking and photographing my Shiro custom blue gloss for my last post at the same time)

Moderate Bluebell blush - it's definitely very blue and not for the faint of heart! I was also multitasking and photographing Shiro's custom blue lipgloss aka The Saskia, so you can ignore/admire my blue lips too.

Bluebell very lightly applied as contour under very pale pink Shu Umera blush lightly applied
(Again, ignore the blue lipgloss)

This is my absolute favourite - it's Bluebell used very lightly as a contour over a very light pink blush (Shu Uemura's M Pink 33E). Instead of the usual 'three shades darker than my skin colour' type contour I - and everyone else - uses it's turned the very natural pink blush lightly purple under my cheek bones giving me both a sculpted and perfectly natural blush.

I adore the effect and the fact that I'm wearing blue contour and it looks both beautiful and natural.

I'd recommend Bluebell to anyone who already has a few pink/red/plum blushes and wants to experiment with purples - one blue blush and you can transform the rest of your blushes into various shades of purple! Also anyone who wants to take their contour game to the next level, or is fond of the haute Smurf look.

Overall I could not be more impressed with Little Sparrow Cosmetic's blushes - they fill a niche in the market (matte lavender and blue blushes), are reasonably priced, are excellently packaged and come with great customer service, but most importantly are exceptional quality! I'd recommend them to anyone and really wish now I'd bought Desert Rose as it looks like an amazing neutral colour.


Also smug moment: I am literally the first person to review and swatch these blushes - I feel like a pro blogger now!

Saskia X

PrettyTrivialities@gmail.com
@aiksasarual on Instagram