Femme Fatale Cosmetics eyeshadow swatches and review

I've been all over the indie polishes, but I'm still pretty new to the world of indie make up. Femme Fatale Cosmetics is pretty famous for being Australia's indie distributor of choice and for its own indie polish line, but what always grabs me are their powder cosmetics. The little round images make me drool so hard! Best of all, you can purchase 1/8 teaspoon size samples in little plastic baggies with free worldwide shipping, so you can try them out before you commit - there are plenty to choose from, with almost 90 eyeshadows, 17 blushes and 8 illuminators in their current range.

Here are some eyeshadows I've been testing out - I've swatched them (from left to right) alone, over primer (my favourite Etude House Proof 10 primer) and with DIY foiling medium (see recipe and tutorial here).

Planeshift is a dusty teal with gold shimmer - it's my favourite out of the ones I've tried, and comes from the Mistress of Dreams collection, which is full of vivid greens and purples. When wet ,the gold shimmer is very bold, but over primer the pretty green is more visible.

Pumpkin Shrine is a lime green with contrasting orange shimmer, from the Halloween Handful of Treats collection. I really like the interesting mix of colours in this, especially when wet.

Moonglow is a pretty pale blue with gold shimmer and subtle pink glow - it reminds me of the Models Own polish, Indian Ocean. It's one of Femme Fatale's best selling shades, and in my opinion deservedly so.

Moonstone is a sheer white shade with blue shimmer - I think this works best as an inner corner highlighting shade, or to add interesting shimmer over black.

Shooting Stars is another bold shade - it's a pinkish purple I wouldn't normally go for, but the striking blue shimmer makes it very unique.

Divinity is a subtle soft pink with warm gold shimmer - the shimmer really pops when it's applied wet. I think this will be a gorgeous Spring eye colour.

Ancient Traitor is a cooler pale pink with subtle blue shimmer. I'd probably wear this as a highlight with a blue-themed eye.


While I can't imagine myself using some of these shades on my lids (I'm still slowly exploring the full spectrum), the best thing about these powders is how versatile they are - many of them are lip safe, and are suitable for nail art as well (see Nail Gun XS's pigment nails tutorial here for an example of how you can use them). I've got my eye on a lot of shades now, particularly the intense greens and purples. Femme Fatale's eyeshadow listings also include handy suggestions for how to experiment with their shades (which colours they match well with and where on the lid to put them).

What other Australian indie makeup brands have you tried and loved? Enable away!


These products were either provided for review or gifts with purchases, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Read More

OPI San Francisco swatches and comparisons, Pt 2: Liquid Sands

Last week I swatched the cremes in the collection - this week, I've been wearing the three Liquid Sands. OPI's San Francisco collection includes three texture polishes - they feel like a coarse grit nail file, and are really nice to scratch yourself with. 

My favourite out of the three, and possibly the most interesting polish in the whole collection, is Alcatraz...Rocks, a blue-toned purple shimmer with iridescent green sparkle. The colour scheme is reminiscent of China Glaze's incredible Marry a Millionaire, still the only bar glitter-rich polish I actually love. Alcatraz...Rocks is a difficult polish to capture in still photos - in person the shimmer shifts and almost twinkles like gently lapping ocean.

Read More

Artsy Wednesday: Inspired by a Brand

Today's Artsy Wednesday is the very open-ended "inspired by a brand". I had to think for a while to come up with an idea - eventually, I decided to make a tribute to Android, my smartphone operating system of choice, using a new nail art technique I just discovered.

Inspired by Tammy (@ohmygoshpolish on Instagram) and her DIY decals made with hole punches, I made full-nail decals using clear polish featuring the Android robot. After letting it dry overnight, I cut out the decals, painted my nails white and let it dry a little, then pressed each one onto the nail. I cut the edges close to the nail using nail scissors, then cleaned up using acetone, which blended the edges into the nail. It didn't even need top coat, and was bump-proof within minutes.

And the best part? One hand took me only 30 minutes total! 

I love this technique so much, I may make a tutorial soon :)

More nail art goodness:

Unnaked Nails - Maria's Nail Polish Blog - Nail & Polish - Beauty Gnome - An Accent Nail - Valiantly Varnished - M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E

Read More

What's In-die Box? June - swatches and review

What's In-die Box? is Australia's first and only monthly indie polish box. Organised by Rachel of Glam Polish, these boxes contain five exclusive indies from some of Australia's best indie polish brands. Most of these exclusive, limited edition polishes won't be released anywhere else.

June's box is themed around Toy Story, and it includes polishes from Glam Polish, Alanna Renee, Peita's Polish, Lilypad Lacquer and Love Thy Polish.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Some boxes are still in the mail... don't go past the cut if you don't want to see the polishes!
Here are the five polishes in the June box:

Alanna Renee Lenny is a milky white jelly-based glitter with red and blue matte hexes, and huge black dots. It's named after the binoculars, and the dots look like its big cute eyes. I love dot glitter, and this doesn't disappoint! It's quite different from the other Alanna Renee polishes I've tried in the past. This is one dabbed coat over ulta3 Lily White. As expected, the dots needed fishing out with a toothpick.

Love Thy Polish How Do You Spell FBI? is named after the adorably dim Rex, and contains a few different types and sizes of green glitter, including squares (hurray!). It's sheerer than it appears in the bottle, and I don't think it's possible to build up to full opacity. I used one dabbed coat over China Glaze Glittering Garland - this made it look exactly like it does in the bottle, and it dried surprisingly smooth. It's my first Love Thy Polish, and I'm just about to pick up a couple more!

The next three polishes are only available in this box - in future boxes, this might be the case for all the polishes.

Peita's Polish Hello! I'm Trixie is blue and purple of the triceratops in the movie - as well as purple glitter in the creamy blue base, there's a subtle purple shimmer to it. Two coats was enough for coverage. The colour combination is really dreamy!

Glam Polish Ahhhh... Aliens!!! features neon glitter, which I've been lusting after! The colours are perfect for the aliens in Toy Story. I wore this over Sinful Colors Savage. I love how unique this polish is.

Finally, Lilypad Lacquer Stretch for the Stars is a cornflower blurple linear holo - the holo effect is spectacular in the sun! Unfortunately I swatched this on an overcast day so getting these shots involved me running into the driveway in my fluffy robe. Worth it! Three coats on its own were needed for full opacity.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the polishes in this box - most of them were not polishes I'd normally pick, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them all, which is no mean feat since I'm very fussy about glitter. I really enjoyed being able to try brands I haven't purchased before, and the surprise factor was very exciting. If you're an indie fanatic who feels like they're stuck in a rut, or if you can't resist limited edition exclusives, you really need to subscribe to What's In-die Box?!

If you want to get in on this awesome idea, registration for July's box starts today! The box will contain full size polishes from Glam Polish, Lilypad Lacquer, Peita's Polish, Shades of Phoenix and Mckfresh Nail Attire. The theme will be the Little Miss series, and it'll cost $47.99 plus shipping. You can also purchase polish from Glam Polish to be shipped at the same time for no additional charge. Check out this link for more info.

What do you think of this idea?

This product was provided for review, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.

Read More