Swatches – Pixiemama

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit an Inglot standalone store. There are only a few in the US so I was very excited to check out the store. For some of you who are not familiar with Inglot they are an International cosmetic company that originated in Poland. In many cases they are compared to MAC in the makeup world, however, they are significantly cheaper than MAC. Ingot is more famously known for their customizable palettes called the Freedom System. They have several configurations of palettes to fit your needs. The palettes are magnetized and extremely durable. Check out the possibilities:

http://www.inglotusa.com/Freedom_System-Palettes.html

One notable thing about Inglot is that the eyeshadows are twice the size of MAC Shadows. A single MAC shadow is 1.5g ($11.50) where an Inglot square shadow is 2.7g ($5). You really do get more bang for your buck with Inglot. In addition, the pigmentation and color payoff is amazing. You barely have to rub your brush on the shadow to get intense color. The only downfall is that Inglot is not as easily accessible as MAC. They are starting to branch out and adding counters in select Macy’s locations, however, there are only 9 stores in the US. They do have a website that you can order from. I know how difficult it is to purchase makeup online, however, if you decide to it’s probably best you locate some swatches on blogs to have a better idea of what you will get. I definitely recommend giving Inglot a try. Here are some of the goodies I picked up. I am also attaching pictures of the palette I bought last November so that you can see the swatches.

I originally purchased the 4 pan blush palette as I was told that each of the blush pans can fit two shadows-they gave me the wrong palette in my bag 🙁

Eyeshadow swatches with the shadow names

Blush swatch – in the color 25

Trio eyeshadow palette with blush

Swatches – The rainbow shadows are $7, it’s like getting 3 shadows in one!

I’ve also purchased a nail polish last year and really like it. Has anyone else tried any Inglot products and what are your thoughts?http://www.inglotusa.com/Freedom_System-Palettes.html

I was absolutely THRILLED yesterday when my order of Tarte Cosmetics arrived from Sephora. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this delivery as I have been eager to try “natural” makeup. I have been migrating my life towards natural/organic products about 6 years ago when I was pregnant with my first daughter. We’ve transitioned our food consuption and household cleaning items to about about 70% organic/natural. I chose to do this mostly for my kids. Although I’ve given up soaps and lotions with parabens in it a while ago I didn’t think I would be able to give up some of the “harmful ingredients” when it came to cosmetics….until I found Tarte though a friend Jenn, take a look at her blog.

http://www.jennstaz.com/2011/09/parabens/

She’s in the process of eliminating toxic ingredients out of her cosmetic useage. And I’m all for it. Which is why I decided to put Tarte Cosmetics to the test.

This wonderful Tarte Starlet set has just about almost all eyeshadows you’ll ever need unless you want to get super colorful looks that something like a Coastal Scents 88 Matte would come handy. The packaging is sooooo irresistably cute. It comes in this miror-like acrylic case that resembles a fancy jewelry box that can actually be reused after you finish all of the shadows. You get so much bang for your buck with this set for $52 you get (24) shadows, (1) eyelash primer, (1) mascara, (2) blushes, (1) bronzer and (1) shimmering powder. That is such an unbelieveable deal it’s hard not to get excited about it.

One of my friends who’s an avid makeup junkie warned me that Tarte had quite a bit of fallout so I was very mindful of that this morning when I was using it. I made sure I “tapped” my brush several times after I swiped the shadows with my brush to minimize fallout. I honestly did not find the shadows to have extreme fallout. No more than my Smashbox shadows which I found to have more fallout than MAC. The Tarte shadows were powdery as you might be able to see from the swatch pictures. The pigmentation is good, I wouldn’t say extremely pigmented but I actually don’t mind my shadows being what I like to call medium pigmentation because it allows me to build on the look and color. I primed my eye with a MAC paint pot and I found that the shadow stayed on pretty well all day without any creasing. Unfortunately the pictures I took of the look I did, did not do the colors any justice. The colors were so much more vibrantly plummy than the pictures show. As well, I wore the pink blush and it stayed put all day. I have to say that I am extremely happy with this Tarte set so far! I will definitely be trying more Tarte products. And to make it better, it’s made with “good ingredients.” Tarte has earned another fan-Me!

Ok, so here is the method to the madness in the swatching, I swatched each row of shadows i.e. top left and top right were row one swatched. And I tried to include pictures with flash and without. Hope this is helpful!