Brazen Lolita

FOTD: May 20, 2011

Today is one of the Fridays that I don't work late, so I had some "extra" (ha!) time this evening to play with some of my recent hauls from both Brazen Cosmetics and Mineral Maven--both indie makeup companies come highly recommended by several acquaintances of mine in the FB/blogosphere, so I decided to try a few products from each company.



Jessica at Mineral Maven (MM) has been celebrating spring with a plethora of sales and steals and after all the raves from Charlie, Stella, and Amber--among others--well, I just had to see what the commotion was about ;)

Two "pick 5" sample sets (packaged together, top), Vanish Green and two sale pigments (bottom left), and Limited Edition & Cause pigments (bottom right)

I didn't do swatch pics because Char does amazing sets of every pigment MM has put out, so instead I'll show you a look I put together with a couple of these shades:

Me with my glasses on--yeah they're the real deal and very strong!

My eyes were still a bit sensitive but the hay fever is finally dying down over here.  This means I have not been wearing my contacts, so for this look I actually put all my makeup on with no corrective lenses. Folks do you have any idea how much time that takes?  I think I must have been just over an hour with a compact magnifying mirror just to see where I was putting everything.  Small wonder I hardly bother with makeup when I'm not wearing my contacts!

Here's what I'm wearing:
Face:  Aveda tinted moisturizer with spf in Sweet Tea topped with Brazen Cosmetics (Brazen) Fierce & Flawless hi-def finishing powder
Eyes:
e.l.f. Mineral Eye Primer
MM Lolita on the lids and blended up into crease/brow bone
MM Golden Apple on the inner corners
Alexeter Mineral Makeup Archaeology in the crease/outer corners and dragged down onto lower lids
Alexeter Flora under brow to highlight
e.l.f. Mineral Eye Liner in Coffee on upper lash line, smudged with angled liner brush
white eyeliner on waterlines
MAC False Lashes mascara in black
Cheeks: Brazen Perfect 10 blush
Lips: Brazen Passion Pot lip gloss in Blaze topped with MAC Viva Glam Cyndi Lipglass

Eyes closed & no glasses to highlight the combo of Lolita & Green Apple--very nice together!

May is Sandi of Brazen Cosmetics' birthday; the company is also celebrating it's "etsyversary" (anniversary of its Etsy shop) and the grand opening of its stand-alone website (set to launch 6/1/11).  This month-long extravaganza has been characterized by many promos, specials, and deals running almost daily and I decided to pick up a couple each from the Etsy and Artfire shops.  Sandi was kind enough to combine shipping for orders from both sites (they were placed within 24 hours of each other) and refunded me the overage--mahalo, girl!!

Brazen haul--MILF Kit, Get Lippy set, and 2 grab bags

Love the packaging on the MILF Kit (L) and Get Lippy set (R); so cute!!

Between the two kits and the grab bag items, I had a veritable rainbow of Passion Pot lip glosses (Make Out, Au Naturel, Ice Queen, Conflict, Burlesque, Shimmy, Vanity, and limited editions Blaze and Hypnotic), a Gummy Glaze lip gloss (cherry), two small glitter gels (black and orange/gold) and one large (clear with multicolor glitter), a mineral highlighting powder, seven eyeshadows (including a lovely neutral--Innuendo--and Clarity from their spring collection), the new "balmstick" in Flawless (gorgeous peachy-pink with gold shimmer!), blush in Perfect 10 (nice natural flush), a concealer, and a mineral finishing powder, plus a couple of teeny brushes.

This is a lot of stuff to play with!  So far my favs are the lippys in Blaze and Hypnotic, Innuendo eyeshadow, the Flawless balmstick, Perfect 10 blush, and the concealer (cleverly named "Goodbye to You"), which did a very good job of blending in and staying put through a 1/2 hour hula performance.

Perfect 10 and Blaze are featured in the look above, but here's a variation with Innuendo layered over the MM shadows above and Hypnotic alone on the lips:

I love how Hypnotic turns a frosty blue-violet on my lips!  On the Brazen FB page I've seen a few ladies layering this over another lip color to tone the shade up/down, but honestly I like it just as is ;)

Any other experiences with Brazen and/or Mineral Maven out there?  Tell me your story, I'd love to hear from you!

MKA,

Lizzy

Disclaimer:  All content is my own opinion only and should in no way be construed as a paid endorsement or representation of any companies named.  I receive no compensation whatsoever from any makeup or other companies named/linked to in my posts for my looks or reviews.  All of the products used in this look I paid for with my own money (my hubby wouldn't have it any other way, lol!).  I just like to have fun with all the pretty pretty colors...