Vanishing Cabinet from Notoriously Morbid October 2020

For those who are new here (Hello, welcome), Vanishing Cabinet is a monthly makeup subscription service from the indie brand, Notoriously Morbid. All of their products are cruelty free (a lot are vegan, but I can’t be sure all of them are). Each month, you get a package of 4-5 themed products (usually mini-sized) for $15. Check out their site for more information: NOTORIOUSLY MORBID

(I pay for this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones)

OCTOBER THEME: HOCUS POCUS

Not surprised that the theme for October is based on the movie, Hocus Pocus. I, personally, don’t think it’s all that. But then again, I’m a horror whore. I prefer more scary fare than cutesy (though I’m not opposed to it), or an excuse for Bette Midler to show off her incredible pipes.

I have to admit, though, when Sarah Sanderson gets punched in the stomach after repeating “Amok!” over and over, it fucking hilarious.

Anyway…

This month we’ve got three eyeshadows, one perfume oil, and a face brightening powder. Obviously, I can’t swatch the perfume (I Put A Spell On You). It smells wonderfully like fall - sweet and spicy, little smoky with a hint of bourbon. The face powder (Light A Candle) is a very light lavender, and doesn’t show up either. Just know that the brightening/lightening power of this stuff is pretty decent. Almost a little too brightening, even for someone as pale as me, but it doesn’t look dry on the skin at all.

That leaves the eyeshadows.

Double Damn: An emerald green shadow, with a slight blue and purple shift.

Satan Has Married Medusa: A matte, burnt pumpkin orange shade

I Am Beautiful: An orange shimmery shadow, with a blue to purple to pink sheen. Mostly the pink and slightly purple colors show up on me.

I’ve always wanted to try a lavender powder and now I have the chance! The perfume is fine, but I do have a few other brands with nearly the same scent profile. So we’ll see if I keep this one. The shadows are gorgeous, as usual, and fun to play with.

Here’s the hint for November’s theme (I assume it’s a Harry Potter thing? It sounds like a Harry Potter thing, but I’ve neither read any of the books nor seen any of the movies). What do you think it is?

Vanishing Cabinet from Notoriously Morbid September 2020

Seems I’m late for a September review but this subscription isn’t mailed out until the end of the month so…..

Anyhoo….for those who may not know, Vanishing Cabinet is a monthly makeup subscription service from the indie company, Notoriously Morbid. Each month, you get five items that are curated to a specific theme. If you’d like more info, head over to NOTORIOUSLY MORBID and check them out. Most of their products are vegan and/or cruelty free. HOORAY!

(I buy this service with my own money and all opinions are my honest ones)

September brought us a mash-up between The Craft and Clueless, two iconic mid-90s films. In the box, there are three loose shadows, one solid perfume, and one lip gloss. Let’s take a look.

Solid perfume stick in “Rolling with the Weirdos”: Obviously I can’t swatch a perfume, but I wish we had Smell-O-Vision already. Yummy fruity scent of strawberries and guava. If you’re a sweet, fruity kinda person (and honestly, those are the BEST kind of people), you will love this. I like solid perfumes, too, because they’re easy to transport without worrying if they’re going to spill everywhere. Just don’t leave them in a hot car…

Cosmic gloss in “Witching Hour & Makeovers”: A soft, iridescent pink/gold gloss that smells like chocolate. Not sure if it’s supposed to, but I like it. The gloss itself it pretty dang thick and gloppy, but if you’re conservative with the application, it’s totally fine. It also looks really cool if you put it over darker lip colors.

Whatever, It’s Only Magic: A gorgeous icy blue with blue to purple sparkles. This is NOT your mother’s 1970s powder blue eyeshadow. Stunning! I wore it with a little dark eyeliner one day, and it was beautiful.

That Was Way Harsh, Nancy: A perfect for fall, burnt orange shade. Actually, wear it any damn time you want. It’ll look great.

Plaid & Pentagrams: Look at that deep purple with gold shimmer and sparkles. Mother fucker, that’s gorgeous.

(I’m already picturing that purple and blue together for an icy wintery look…who the hell am I??)

October Theme Hint….Hocus Pocus reference? Some kind of witch thing!

So there you have it. Month two of my subscription, and it’s looking good. I would like to patronize a lot more indie brands when possible. Goodness knows, 2020 has sucker-punched a lot of small businesses right in the dick, so if I can help keep them afloat, I’ll do my best!

Anyone sign up for this? What do you think?

PDs, GFYs, and MEHs - May/June Edition(s)

Ah, that's such a better title than "Monthly Favorites", isn't it? Well, it's more ME anyway. As I'm so far behind in my reviews (damn you, sinus infection!) I thought I'd better combine May and June to get caught up a bit. So this might be a long list but I tried to include other stuff besides makeup! And I think I left out a few things because if I didn't, we'd be here all fucking week.

So let's begin, shall we?

First let's look at the Panty Droppers.

Gerard Cosmetics Lip Gloss in Bahama. I put a picture on my Instagram a while back when I first tried on this gloss. Normally I wouldn't pay $19 for a lip gloss but I got a coupon code from MannyMUA on YouTube (btw, you should check out his channel - he's adorable and looks prettier in make-up than most women I know) to get two lip products for $20. And when the lipsticks go for $24 and the glosses $19, it's kind of a no brainer there. This gloss was more like a liquid lipstick. It is so pigmented and absolutely gorgeous. I never though I'd wear a color like this but I do now. It even stains my lips so when the gloss wears off, there's still a soft lavender color left behind. It's awesome.

I don't remember how I found ZOMG Smells but it's an indy perfume company run by two women. I know one of them has gone back to school recently so the ordering process is backed up about 3 months but they are SO worth the wait. I love sweet and food smelling perfumes and these gals knock it out of the park with almost everything I've ordered (they make all sorts of smells - not just food). Sugar Dragon is my favorite so far and it smells like cherries and vanilla. *dies* *is ded*  You can order several different sizes, from their sample squees (1 ml vial) to an 8 ml sized bottle. The Squee Party allows you to order 10 samples for about $30 and it's a fantastic way to try new scents. 

BH Cosmetics Contour Palette: I normally don't buy high end make up. But when something that's costs $20 goes on sale at Haute Look for half that price, and I've wanted to try it out, I'll go ahead and purchase it. That's what happened with this palette. I don't contour. I'm too fucking lazy for that shit. I wanted to try the powders and the blushes, though. The yellow and brown powders are dead to me but the peachy undertone one (lower left) is perfect to set under my eyes and helps cancel out the dark blue I have there. The blushes are so pigmented you have to be REALLY careful when applying. Both colors are gorgeous and not QUITE as bright - but swatches always show up a lot heavier. The white powder may not do much for super pale people but on me it does work as soft highlighter and under eye brightener. I included the picture with the pen so you could understand the size of this bitch. I thought it was much smaller but happily, it's not. You get a lot of product here! (the swatches are backwards - they both go from right to left, top row on top, bottom row on bottom - sorry about that!)

Deadworld Soda. Dear gods this stuff is awesome! It's a pop created by Caprice Brands based on the comic, Deadworld. I've only tried the Orange and Vanilla Rootbeer and it's probably a good thing I'm so lazy because I'd be running to the store every week to replenish my supply. My friends, Steven Bejma and Don England, created the artwork for the bottles you see above (Steve on the Orange and Don on the Root Beer. Another buddy and GLAHW member, Joshua Werner, also did artwork for the Orange soda but I don't have one of those...*sad trombone*). They are sold are various locations in Michigan so go find some! Now!

And now for the Go Fuck Yourselves

Remember last month when I bitched about the Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm or whatever the fuck it was? That I probably wouldn't buy another one? Well, I couldn't really judge the shittiness of the product based on one sampling of it so of course, I went out and bought another one. And immediately regretted it. The swatch on my hand looks really nice but again, it's patchy on the lips (not as bad as the pink one last time) and it wore off within 30 minutes. Complete waste of money. Don't bother purchasing this.

Luckily I just had the one really bad product. For the MEHs...

When I first started using the Rimmel Perfection Match 2-in-1 Concealer, I though it was perfect. It did a great job of canceling out my purple under eye and the creamy consistency was easy to blend. But it's not that great of a concealer on blemishes and when I use it on the redness around my nose, it sinks into my pores and accentuates them. Looks terrible. So it's okay for one use and not so okay for another. Hence the meh rating. I can keep working with it for now. I haven't tried it as a highlighter, like it says on the package, so maybe...?

I was going to put all of these in the GFY category but felt it wasn't fair. These products get rave reviews from a lot of other people out there so maybe it's just me. The Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eyeshadows do not like my oily lids. The colors are nice but don't have much staying power, even if you put powder over them. The Revlon Rose Glow highlighter was straight up glitter. I don't mind glitter at all but if that's all that shows up on my skin, with no color tone to back it up, it goes in the garbage. The Maybelline Master Highlight was glittery, too, but I thought it was going to have a mauve color (the color is called Mauve so go figure). It was more rose gold (like super yellow gold) that looked TERRIBLE on me. It was also very powdery and made a total mess. The Babyface Blusher was such a disappointment. It's a lovely lavender shade in the pan but it didn't even show up on my skin! So sad...I think you'd have to be super pale, maybe translucent, for this to be visible on the skin.

That should do for now. I think I'm going to cover a lot more non-make up stuff for next month. At least, I'm going to try! I hope you use the links provided to check out some of the great stuff I found this month (or last month or whatever). Let me know if you do and what you think!