Chaos Cosmetics Hex

Chaos Cosmetics products are, in short, amazing. Hex is a beautiful brownish plum color. It also contains silver and a blue green color shift. Pam, owner of Chaos Cosmetics, creates products that are free Petro-chemicals, parabens, dyes, oils, bismuth, talc, sulfates or synthetic fragrances. 

Her products are completely homemade 100% natural. Hex is the first color I've reviewed and I have to say it's amazing. These eyeshadows can go on wet or dry and work well with a primer. 

This is Hex. I used it over MSB, Madison Street Beauty's primer. I'll be reviewing it in a later post. I got it today however, and I absolutely had to try it. This picture really shows the plum and brown and you can also see a bit of the silver and blue green right on the edge and inner corner. You just need a little bit on the edge of your brush. I used it dry right over  the primer. 

I wanted to add a soft eyeliner effect so I swiped the edge of my eye first along the edge and  outer side and then the upper crease before sweeping it into the middle and inside. 

Here is an eye open picture. it still shows some of the great brown, plum and blue green silvery shift. is was taken in indoor lighting. 

One of the things I love about mineral eyeshadows is that it takes only a little bit to get some serious color. This means a little goes a long way. It also goes on smoothly with solid color and it has the versatility. Most mineral eyeshadows can also be used to mix with clear nail polish to create custom pigmented polishes. This works great when you want to match eye and nail color for a special event. 

Chaos cosmetics mineral eyeshadows go for a little under $6.50 per 5g jar. It has a few benefits over traditional eyeshadow. It does not have chemicals found in normal eyeshadow. It won't go bad,  dry out or become hard. You do not have worry about throwing it away in 6 months because it has gotten too hard to use. This makes it a great buy allowing you to make full use of all the product. 

Overall, I rate this color and the product A+++ and would recommend it to anyone who wants beautiful color and a long lasting economical product. Look forward to further reviews and pictures of more colors from Chaos Cosmetics.  check out this and other colors at Chaos Cosmetics booth at Bonanza. 

http://www.bonanza.com/listings/-HEX-Mineral-Eyeshadow-Duo-Chrome-Plum-Green/85038531

Handcrafted Jewelry and other things

I haven't always been a jewelry fan. For the longest time I wouldn't wear any jewelry except for maybe a ring and then only one. I'd put in a pair of stud earrings and forget I was even wearing earrings. Sometimes, I'd take them out, forget to put them back in and not wear earrings for a year or more at a time.

It wasn't until recently that I decided to wear jewelry. Part of it was necessity, I started to have to wear the new fashion statement jewelry called medical ID. It got me thinking, I already wore skirts 90% of the time, blouses instead of tee-shirts and it made me realize that I was missing that little extra something ( like makeup) that could really just make me feel better about myself.

However, I couldn't find anything I wanted in store bought options. They were either not my style, too expensive, too fragile for long term wear, (I'm sure everyone has enjoyed those ultra thin chains that break the instant you catch them on anything and that delight in tangling and knotting no matter what you do). I actually got frustrated, here I was, finally reaching the place of wanting to wear jewelry all the time and I couldn't find anything I wanted.

The solution was relatively simple, make my own or start looking at hand crafted jewelry. Here was something I could work with, I could make pieces I knew I would want to wear, I could make them out of materials that were unique, green because I'd be recycling some of my materials, and that would suit whatever my style or mood was at the moment. ( these change regularly)

I decided I'd rather make my own than purchase from someone else. This isn't always the case, there are some artists I do buy from, but for the most part I enjoy making my own. There is something relaxing about sitting with the bead board, the boxes of beads, jump rings, crimp beads, focal pieces, in glass and semi precious stones and putting something beautiful or cute together.

The process itself is something I have found I enjoy as well. Nothing I make is random or just thrown together but most designers will tell you when they're designing the materials tell them where they want to be, how they want to go. You can have a rough idea or even a complex finished one in your head until you get down to the materials and then they'll tell you what they want to become. It's a satisfying experience to put everything together, work out a pattern and then create it.

It's a little like magic. I never buy store bought anymore. I prefer purchasing handcrafted, homemade, preferably made in America, and if I can find it ( I most often can't online), local products. I've found I enjoy talking with people who create homemade, hand crafted items. The jewelry has slowly taken over my jewelry box, the soaps and lotions have slowly taken over my bathroom, the hand dyed, hand woven yarns and flosses are slowly taking over my sewing basket and I, myself have slowly started creating more handcrafted items.

It was kind of amusing when I first realized it. Two centuries ago, purchasing a finished item at the store was something done rarely. More often than not, you purchased the materials and made the items yourself. It was done on an individual home basis or a community basis where everyone pitched in to make what was needed. Then we became industrialized, we shifted from handmade to storebought. Now people are beginning to treasure those things created by hand. The idea that someone took the time to make it, those little imperfections that make things homemade instead of machine made have become all the more precious. It is almost like the more advanced we become as a society the more we crave those simple things we left behind in the pursuit of progress.

Pixie Polish - SueFoo

From Pixie's Description - emi-sheer raspberry sherbert reddish purple-blue duochome jelly-like polish with green/glue/purple iridescent glitter

I'm a total fan of Pixie's polish. This is an amazing color. It's a bit transparent, which just increases it's versatility in my book. If you want to use it like a slightly colored top coat on plain nails it works. As you can see in the picture on the left, you can can faintly see my nails through the polish. It's a good color for more conservative situations. The glitter is understated when you use it this way. It works really well if you want a little color, a little glitter, a little shine.

I love the jelly aspect of it because it glides on really smoothly and leaves a very smooth finish.
If you want something more intense you can put a base coat on or you can layer this color. I recommend waiting for the layers to dry before putting on the next one. Not just tacky dry but completely dry. It's just personal preference on my part but I've found that the polish wears a bit longer and handles the end wear that constant typing like I do, better than if I paint consecutive coats with only to the touch drying in between.

The first picture was taken outdoors, single coat. This is a triple coat taken inside. However, you can see that with three coats you can't see my nail anymore underneath and its a darker raspberry color. Part of that is the lighting. I was hoping to get some good shots outside of the multiple layers but it's rained forever and been overcast. I also wanted to show the difference between indoor and outdoor lighting.

The great thing about Pixie's polish and this seems to be across the board is that they wear incredibly well. Several weeks usually a minimum of two weeks and for me, usually I only have end or tip wear when I finally take the nail polish off and switch colors. This would be great on top of a variety of different colored base coats reds, purples, blues and pinks would probably all go well with this color. I'll add picture posts if I decide to mix it up and add a base coat. A holo topcoat or heavy glitter will look good as well. You can layer it up or leave it as a single layer and get a variety of looks.

You can check out this color and more at http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMusesAlchemy

First Post

Nail polish is one of my little splurges. I love all kinds of colors and while I tend to be hyper conservative with my clothing I let my hair and nails show the wild, crazy chick lying under the skin. I'm always looking for something new and I used to spend hours in the Beauty section trying to find a color that jumped out and screamed "WEAR ME". After a while though there just wasn't anything that attracted my interest. I wanted things that just weren't available.

The same thing happened for my eyes. I wanted things I just couldn't find in the stores. When I did find them they wanted way more money than the products were worth. I'm disabled. Bright colors, sparkly shades and loads of glitter were things that brought and still do, a smile to my face. I got lucky. I have probably the greatest brother in the world. He decided to post a request from a friend of his on his Facebook page and a whole new world opened for me.

He introduced me to Pixie. Pixie has probably got to be one of the greatest people in the world and I'm not just saying that cause she makes amazing and cool things. She's a genuinely amazing person. At the time she was getting her company Pixie Polish started up. It was the answer to my prayers. She made nail polish. Not just any nail polish but the kind I was looking for, bright, bold, and most importantly SPARKLY.

I instantly decided to help her out. It didn't require any thought. I donated what I could and I've been lucky enough to get a bottle of a good portion of her stock. She keeps coming out with new things and I keep enjoying the trill of waiting for this new color or mix to come out so I can buy it and try it.

In turn through Pixie I found a great deal of inspiration. I'm a writer by trade. When I get stuck I look down, stare at whatever color happens to be on my hands, spend a few minutes letting the light catch the glitter and enjoying the sparkle and when I look up, whatever was causing my brain to stick on a particular thing has taken flight driven off by bright lights and colorful happiness.

I created this blog to post places I find like Pixie's that offer great homemade products, to review tons of stuff and let people know how it is and just for the heck of it. Look forward to my next post!

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