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Urban Decay is No Longer Cruelty-Free or Vegan

UPDATE: Urban Decay listened to their current customers' outcries against selling in China while animal testing is required, and decided NOT to!  It was a great consumer victory, and my collection of 24/7 pencils was happily rescued from my garbage to be used (hopefully) evermore.

Original Post:
Yes, this sad news is resonating all over the beauty community - Urban Decay will sell in China, rendering their 16-year pledge against animal testing meaningless.  There are many places, including Urban Decay's facebook page and blog posts from far better blogs than mine, at which you can read their sorry statement, so I won't reproduce it here.  Instead, I hope it is okay if I redirect you to a very clearly-written post by Aly of Wonderland Beauty.  She isn't vegan like me but she sums up exactly why this is a betrayal of all Urban Decay fans, and not just the ones who abstain from eating meat!  We all should support companies that we can stand behind, but Urban Decay has made it opaque as to what they truly stand for.  Our guess is raking in big money, at this point.
Please sign the petition she links to for Urban Decay to reinstate its ethics!
<3 Sarah S.

Epic Swap with Pinkstrawberrielove

Hello gals! I am so very lucky to have been able to swap with the stunning and ultra-generous Chanriya from Pinkstrawberrielove <3 She lives out in California and has access to amazing Korean and Japanese cosmetics, and I am super-grateful that she's hooked me up <3 It feels like my birthday came early XD

First off she sent me loads of lashes and a cute Dollywink lash case - awesome because I will be able to rewear some lashes now I've got a chic little place to stow them.

She sent me several sheet masks, a couple of which I've tried before and enjoyed (the Earl Grey and Hello Kitty ones).  These are especially refreshing in the summer! If you can hunt some down I recommend giving them a try.

Next up is a fun-looking peel-off mask.  I've been lax on exfoliating lately and I found the Boscia black mask a bit too harsh/hard to peel off, so I hope this one comes off in larger pieces.

Pinky-peach and lilac nail polishes from The Face Shop:  The pinky-peach one looks a lot like the one she sent in our last swap, but I can't compare at the moment because it's in my personal box at the nail salon I go to.  I love a good lilac and the one currently in my collection (Orly Lollipop) pulls much pinker than this one. I'm glad to have a true lilac now ;)

Peripera My Color Gloss, Fruit Jelly Tube Gloss from The Face Shop, Skinfood Tomato Smoothie Tint

Skin Food Rose Cheek Choc#2 - this is so cute. I thought it was a lip balm until I read the lable.  I am excited to try out their cheek colors!

Three Peripera eye shadows in a cute floral drawstring bag - how adorable are these? <3  There's a chocolate shade, a buttery gold color, and a peachy orange.  So perfect for Summer.

Stila Eyeshadow Duo in Orchid: This combo should look great on my green eyes. I'm hoping to tuck them into my small Z-palette that currently has a lonely MAC Melba blush pan in it.

Visee Gold Loose shadow and Majolica Majorca pinky-red pressed shadow - Riya knows I love a red and gold sunset eye <3

NYX Ultra Pearl Mania loose shadows in Very Pink Pearl and True Purple Pearl - remind me so much of Sugarpill Birthday Girl and Paperdoll. I hope we've got some dupes here :-D

The Face Shop Soft Natural Powder Foundation - The compact is a cute teardrop shape and it's definitely the season I need to powder.  Most days, I'll try to get away with just some concealer and a powder like this on top, so I'm really looking forward to trying it.

Mini Pet Fruits Hand Cream - Oh my gosh, this is so adorable <3 <3 <3

Hadanomy Collagen Mist - The bottle is a heart, people.  A PINK HEART!  My Kawaii Receptors are tingling!  I love refreshing face mists and I don't actually own many (two: MAC Mineralize Charged Water, nearly gone; and Urban Decay De-Slick) so I am so thrilled to get this.  Riya read my mind!

Cute stationery - Thanks so much, Riya! I used to hoard stationery so I weened myself off of buying it and always ask friends and family for stationery as gifts but I still don't get enough ^.^

Loads of skincare samples - I love trying new skincare; it makes me feel so pampered.  Paying for full-size without testing samples first is not a good idea if you've got reactive skin like me, so I am always happy to get samples so I can make sure my skin loves it before investing.

Whew! I can't thank Riya enough for the amazing array of stuff.  She's such a doll - I definitely can't get most of this myself.  Thanks sooo much <3

Saturday Morning Cartoons

So guess what I wanted to do the moment I woke up?
If you guessed play with new Victorian Disco eyeshadows, dingdingding!
I messed around and didn't do a full look - rather, I did a very different look on each eye. No worries, though; of course I'm going to wash it off before I go out in public!
The reason I titled this post "Saturday Morning Cartoons" is because the colors reminded me of toons I watched on TV (not necessarily on Saturdays) as a kid... or yesterday.  I used only ELF Mineral Eye Shadow Primer as a base for both looks, and my mascara is Tarte Gifted Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara.
Here's my old 90's X-Men Cartoon Look:

Products used:
Victorian Disco Sapped (Yellow)
Sugarpill Afterparty (Blue)
Wet n Wild Color Icon Single in Sugar (Sheer, shimmery white)
NYX Single in Black (Duh... darkened crease and outer-v)
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Zero

And here's my Retro Colors out of Scooby-Doo Look:

Products used:
NYX Single in Vanilla Shimmer (Peachy inner corner and brow highlight)
Victorian Disco Hero Class (lid), The Earth Warder (crease), and Furry Fury (lower lashline)
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Lucky

By the way, I really should have wet/foiled Hero Class.  You can't see it in these pictures, but later on when I kept playing with the bit I'd dumped out from the pot I happened to wet it and this amazing, purpley-rosegold glow came off the color.  It translated to my eye, too.  Drool!

Same look, but with Hero Class and Furry Fury applied wet

I hope you liked these looks, and that you're having a fantastic (Memorial Day, in the States) weekend!

Swap with Aly from Wonderland Beauty

Happy Weekend, lovelies! Sorry I let another week go by without a post.  I really hope I have time this weekend to do a fun makeup look :)
In the meantime, I did a swap with Aly from Wonderland Beauty.  She's also reviewing the products I sent her, so go check her blog out!
Here's what she sent:

Top: Smashbox O-Glow self-adjusting lip gloss
Middle: Wet n Wild Glassy Gloss in Glass Confusion and Mow the Glass, CoverGirl Lip Perfection in Darling, Wet n Wild Silk Finish Lipstick in 528A, Jordana Easy Shine in Sweet Strawberry
Bottom: Josie Maran Lip Gloss in Precious, Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Color in Lolly Popstar, Wet n Wild Strawberry Lip Balm, Philosophy Peppermint Bark, Smashbox Reflection High Shine Lip Gloss

Loose blushes, cream highlighter palette, blush/bronzer/highlighing powder palette from ELF;
NYX Pearly White shadow base, Wet n Wild MegaGlow Powder, L.A. Colors Eyeshadow, L'oreal HIP Pigments in Rebel and eyeshadow duo in Ignited, Cargo duo shadow in Shanghai, Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Bamboo Brown, Almay eyeshadow

To be honest, she sent me a lot of shades I'd never buy - but I think that's a great thing! It means I'll get to try out lots of colors I don't have in my stash, and hopefully I'll find something quite flattering I wouldn't have found otherwise.  Thanks, Aly!

FOTD: Feeling More Like Myself

COLOR! Thank goodness it's Friday because that's casual day in these parts and I feel more comfortable trying to pull off a watercolor-rainbowie eye... and I realized that I also feel more like this is the REAL me, not just "professional, hard-working me" but the girl who is not trying to cover up flaws but have FUN with her makeup!

Products used:
Urban Decay De-Slick Setting Spray (before and after makeup application)
Origins VitaZing (makes me too shiny... overall good stuff but I'm looking forward to trying out different tinted moisturizers)
100% Pure Foundation in Peach Bisque
It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye Concealer in Natural Medium
Too Faced Amazing Face Powder Foundation in Warm Vanilla

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Palette:
Deep End on moving part of lid, Omen in the middle and outer crease, Junkshow on the inner crease, Vanilla on the inner corners and inner half of undereye, Evidence on the outer half of undereye.  Tainted blending all the outer edges with a fluffy shadow brush.
Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil Eye Liner in Junkie on upper lashline and waterline.

Mascara = Kat Von D
Blush = NYX Angel
Lipstick = MAC Hue
Nails = Orly Frolic, with Wet n Wild Stars & Stripes on accent nail

See the pretty slight holographic quality of the stars? They were really easy to pick up, too :)

What kind of look makes you feel the most like yourself?

10 pts. for Gryffindor if you can guess my desktop background :-P

Long-Overdue EOTD with Urban Decay

Hi guys! I hope you've all been well.  I just realized my last post was just a bit over two weeks ago - I'm so sorry!  I had to go out of town for a wedding amongst other life happenings and I really haven't had time or desire to blog.  This afternoon I miraculously had a few minutes to wipe off my daily swipe of MAC All That Glitters in favor of something Lisa Eldridge-inspired: A beautiful, Kate Winslet Red Carpet Contoured Eye using some favorite Urban Decay shadows! I also finally trimmed up and used those Korean lashes from one of the recent My Glam Bags (they're not bad - not going to dethrone my favorite Revlon Naturals, though).  Do you like?

Products used:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay Maui Wowie (lashline to brow)
Urban Decay Darkhorse (upper crease and lower lashline)
Urban Decay Blackout (outer v)
Maybelline Gel Liner (upper lashline)
Korean Lashes from My Glam Bag (you know your eyes are small when  you have to trim off over a 1/4 of an inch!)
e.l.f. Essential Lengthening and Defining Mascara (quite nice for a $1 vegan mascara!)

I filled my brows with the brown side of my NYX Highlight & Contour Palette (I wonder why more people don't do this... there's absolutely tons of product there and it is meant to go on somewhat sheerly - I thought it worked a treat!).

I missed you guys!