Madd Style Cosmetics NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH!

We are really excited about this launch, for obvious reasons. Mo from Madd Style already rocked out lip bombs and other goodies and when I reviewed them, I loved them, and had a lot of faith in Mo, and her company. So when I learned that Mo was going to expand her line, and make a full like of cosmetics, I thought there would be no better plan, then to help her launch her newest line!

Well folks, today is the day! Tonight, Madd Style Cosmetics pigments will be available in the Etsy shop! Mo sent me some samples of the pigments in advance, so I could do a review on them for you all. You all know that I love mineral makeup, and since I have tried so many in the past, I figured it would be just another "eh" and tell you all that it is just about the same as all of the others that I have tried, and said they were amazing! (because in general, mineral makeup IS amazing! LOL!) This is not the case at all, I can happily report! Not only are these pigments amazing, and highly pigmented, but after completing 3 looks, I can for the first time say........ these pigments are VERSATILE! Yep, there I said it. Not only are the colors wild enough to be used for some tricked-out wild color on your face, but pretty much any of them can be softened for a daytime of office look. Not many companies can pull that off. You either get a very matte, light colored pigment for a soft, more neutral look, or a high pigment color that is almost impossible to tone down! Which is fine if you know what you are looking for, and have a lot of practice in the makeup applying front! But most girls out there need to switch it up, and a lot do not have the means to own two complete sets of makeup. Here is your solution.

All of the pigments I received are highly pigments, and have a huge WOW factor. The color is amazing, and really pops. Blending was amazingly easy (sometimes with other products, I get sticky drag with my brush, which drives me BATTY!) and the color lasted on my eyes all day.

Mo also is offering collections, like a Halloween collection, which marries a pigment with some of her amazing lip products, and a Jem collection where every color is chalk FULL of holographic glitter! Her pigments range in colors, from bright teal, to deep blue, purple/brown, to chalk-full-o-glitter highlighters!

Now, here is a Two Girls FIRST! Not only did I review the amazing pigments for you all, but I also got a chance to interview Ms. Mo Love, the creator and owner! She is not only an amazing business owner with some of the best customer service that I have come upon, but she ALSO is an amazing makeup artist, and has her own You Tube Channel full of makeup tutorials showing how she gets HER flawless application! So without further adieu......

1) Who are you, and tell us what you do.
I am Mo... and I am basically awesome. Lol. Let's see...well, when Im not working full time at the "day job", I am running Madd Style... bustin out kick ass vegan cosmetics for your face.

2) What inspired you to create a complete cosmetics line?
It's funny, I originally started an Etsy shop (sewing) to help fund my absurd makeup addiciton... and also to help pay for my wedding. I've always been a "do-it-yourself-er" and after spending months trying to find the perfect vegan lip balms, to no avail, I decided to make my own! Needless to say, they were an instant hit and from there the business grew rapidly! Ive always wanted my own makeup line ever since I was a kid, so, it only seemed logical to head in that direction. So, basically, my inspiration for a complete cosmetics line is... brains. It's just made sense for me to do it... oh, and then there's that "passion" thing. lol

3) Why is it so important to you to keep your products vegan?
I myself am a pescatarian, however I definitely took the cruelty free pledge well over a decade ago and will never go back on that. I strive to ensure my products are vegan because of my morals. I didn't get into this business to make money, I got into it to provide safe, cruelty free products at a very reasonable price to help give people like myself more options. Veg Head's need love too.

4) What is your favorite product in the current line? What color would you say is a "must have"? It all started with lip bombs... that will forever be my first love of my brand. lol. Right now I am rockin these pigments... hard. I love them all. My favs tight now are Glitter and Doom and Aja from my new Jem and the Holograms collection. A "must have" is definitely XRay Spex... no matter how subtle or bold you like your look, this will be perfect for everyone. I am anticipating it to be one of my best sellers. As well as Mr. Roboto... but daaaaamn, he's like BANG! on your face!

5) Where do you hope to see your company in 5 years?

Sitting on top of the world, hopefully. Im an "all-in" kind of gal and plan on doing this for the rest of my life... 5 years from now I hope to be a household name... at least in homes where awesome things take place.

6) What are some tips for ladies (or gentlemen) that are a bit apprehensive about makeup application? What helped you when you were first starting out?

YOUTUBE! YOUTUBE holds the key. Tutorials galore. It is a great place to start checking technique, application, products, brushes... you name it. If you don't have access to a computer (the how are you reading this?!) I would recommend going to you local makeup counter or beauty school and get a free overview (plus makeover!) with a worker/student. For me, my painting skills definitely kick in to high gear when Im doing my makeup. Also, I've always been bold and experimental so having the confidence to pull off certain looks is just ingrained in me. But I definitely think confidence is the key to making any makeup look go from "meh" to "wow"....

7) Any last words?

Whatever you are... be a good one.

We totally love Mo, and 110% stand behind Madd Style Cosmetics. Run over to her Etsy shop, and toss her a heart (and order some amazingness while you are there) then head on over to her Facebook page for all updates, sales, specials, giveaways, and an amazing group of fans that will make you feel right at home!

Review Zombify by Zoe Zombie!

Since the beginning of our friendship, both Pili and I have been fans of a little shop on Etsy called Gothcupcake Creations, run by the awesomely talented Marycakes (whom we both adore as a friend, as well!). She makes rad accessories, is vegan (and likes to share her awesome recipes with us!), and is our go-to girl when it comes to things gothic! So when we found out that Mary was going to be launching her mineral makeup line, we knew that we were just gonna have to let all our readers know what we thought of her pigments!

Mary's collection is small, but is in the process of growing. One of the major issues that I have with other makeup companies that are handmade, is the lack of quality control when it comes to recipes. The color that you fall in love with may never be able to be duplicated again, because a lot of creators do not write down exact recipes for the amount of each pigment base color they put in each finished product. I have been assured this is NOT the case here, as Mary is also irked by this, and has made it her goal to create the best pigments she can offer, while upholding the amazing customer service that all of her customers have been receiving for years on Etsy.

When I finally got a glimpse of The Zombify line, the first thing that came to mind was the old line of Coffin Colors. Coffin Colors was a highly successful gothic-based pigment line on Etsy a few years ago. The only downside to the colors that they carried, is that all of them were mattes, and none of them were very highly pigmented (which is rad if that is what you are into, but there was not a lot of variety). Zombify broke that barrier with the collection that she currently has. I purchased Wasabi and Carbonite as testers, so I could do this review.

First, and foremost, Mary's customer service was STELLAR. Her shipping was fast, accurate, and the pigments arrived well packaged. You have an option to get a sifter in your pots, or if you prefer, they can come without a sifter. I went without, because sifters sometimes drive me batty, but that is a personal preference, and I like that she has the option for her customers to choose! I immediately swatched the colors on my hand, and was actually surprised at the vibrant colors that they were, without being overpowering, which was a fresh change for me! You can go pretty neutral with either of these color, or by adding more pigment onto your brush, it can become more vibrant! Wasabi has actually become one of my staples, as I love the sick green color that it is. It is not quite lime, but not a dark green either. It is perfect with my skin tone, and I have seen a lot of other customers post pics with it on, and it looks AMAZING on all skin colors.

My sensitive eyes had no issues with the pigments, and they lasted all day, with no creasing when I wore it over a primer! Better yet, the consistancy of the actual pigments themselves was amazing. A lot of the time, pigments become clumpy, and have chunks in them. My Zombify pigments have no clumps or lumps in them. They blend amazingly well, and the pigmentation in the actual powder is really good.

The thing I love more then everything about the Zombify by Zoe Zombie line is that I think there is something for everyone. She has a bright fuchia called BRAINS!, a dark violet/blue called Concertina, and more neutral colors like Jareth (a smoky purple) and Pikachu, which is a soft yellow. She also rocks reds and oranges (Hellfire and o-Positive) like no one's business (which if you shop vegan, you know is VERY hard to do, as mostly all reds cannot be vegan, because of the presence of carmine).

So head on over to Gothcupcake's shop, show her some love, and while you are at it, stop by her Facebook page for the latest updates, and to get the scoop on new color and collection releases!

Orglamix's Whole Grain Mineral Powder

It's been such a long time since either Brooke or myself have posted here!

*clears out cobwebs and dusts off a bit*


Both me & Brooke have a few entries on the works, but since life has a tendency to get in the way of blogging (even more in Brooke's cause, with the whole running a business, taking care of her kids and catching some sleep every now and then), I've decided that I'll start the ball rolling with a small blog entry about my latest love in the make up world!


I've already blogged about Orglamix's make up before, and you already know that her shipping and customer service are absolutely top notch! So this time I'm just gonna rave about the perfect find for a lazy make up lover like myself. I do like going out looking good, but half the time I can't be arsed to go through the whole routine of primer, foundation, veil, etc just for a run for coffee with friends or dinner with my bff on a Wednesday... So, I used to go out without any make up at all.


As of late, I dunno if it's the fact that I've been a little burnt out at work, haven't been sleeping too well, and have been feeling a bit more tired than usual, the bags under my eyes have become more noticeable, and if I go out for lunch after working night shift, I do have a bit of an undead sort of look, so what to do without going through the whole make up routine? Well, I saw this new product at Orglamix called Whole Grain Self-Adjusting Mineral Foundation and when I read that "The unique light-reflecting ingredients instantly brighten, creating a gorgeous, 'soft-focus' appearance that smooths fine lines, fine lines, shadows and imperfections, so skin glows with good health." I thought - why not give it a go?




Well, I got it, and gave it a try first time I went out during the week for a lil shopping and coffee with one of my friends. I just used some concealer for under my eyes and Whole Grain for the whole face, as I would with a regular veil, but unless a veil or rice powder that looks white till you blend it, it just blends with your skin tone instantly. So at first, you don't seem to notice much of a difference, and you don't look like you're wearing make up, but you sure look better, and in my case, no more undead look!






So now, my super quick routine for going out consists on just concealer and Whole Grain, I get to look good without looking like I have make up on me at all! And since it's fast and with no fuss, I have no reason to be awfully lazy about it, and go out looking like the undead! I'll reserve the whole routine to look all properly dolled up for going out at night!


Now, I just need Orglamix to offer the Whole Grain in their XL size!

Pink Quartz Minerals, an amazing Mineral Foundation!

I am here to admit it to the world: I am a makeup idiot. I totally do not wear makeup unless I can get someone to put it on for me because I will lose an eye if I do it myself  I have a hard time blending stuff, or if I am forced to do it for another occasion and my girlfriends are not around, I try, and mostly fail. So for me to try something like a powder foundation was a stretch. I kept seeing those late-night infomercials about Bare Minerals, and thought it looked really easy to try! Heck, even a monkey could do it, I bet! SO I went on line, and looked at pricing. Then I realized that I would just have to stick with the foundation that I have had for 10 years, that is oily, and smashes all over my clothing.

But, after Pili's review about Pink Quartz Minerals corrector, I decided that I needed to look more into this shop! Well, lo and behold, she makes foundation EXACTLY like Bare Minerals! Well, not exactly, dare I say BETTER!?!?!?!  Here is the deal, not only does Pink Quartz Minerals offer an amazing array of primers, foundations, veils, and other mineral makeup, but the way she offers her foundation is pretty amazing. Here is the run-down:

• Pink Quartz Minerals offers foundation kits. Some of her kits include a kabuki brush, which is essential for the application of her foundation. The kabuki brushes are vegan, which is HUGE to me. I did a ton of researching, and I cannot verify if Bare Minerals brushes are vegan, but my guess would be no. Since they do not state other wise, I am sure they are not, as it would be a really big selling point.
• Pink Quartz Minerals has a really rad array of shades for their foundation. Bare Minerals only has 6 shades, but PQM has 21!!!  And if she does not have the shade you need, she will CUSTOM mix you a shade! How AMAZING is that?!?!?!
• On the topic of shades, here is the biggest, and most amazing selling point, and the main reason I went with PQM. She offers kits that offer samples first. What does this mean? Well, in the notes to seller, you let her know what general skin tone you have (olive, pale, sallow ect) and she will send you some samples (with your kabuki brush if you ordered one) so you can try them out, and pick the one that matches your skin! THEN, you just shoot her a convo on Etsy, and she will send you a full size foundation in the color that you ALREADY know matches you! THIS.IS.AMAZING.
• She offers a new refill in her shop, so when you are out of foundation, instead of re-ordering a whole listing, all you have to do is order a refill vial for $10.50 (You need two of these if you have a large jar) and dump it into your pot! SO MUCH better then re-purchasing a kit, or another jar, so much more cost-effective, and SO GREEN!

So, since her foundation is so amazing, you must think that maybe I am biased, because this is the only mineral foundation that I have tried? Well, let me tell you, I have gads of friends in the Etsy community that love her foundation, eyeshadow, correctors, and primers! Pili loves her, as well! The foundation does not settle in the creases of my face, and does not feel dry. It is weightless, and pretty amazing.

I hope you all get a chance to grab some of this amazing foundation. Like I said, I really am NOT a makeup expert, but Pink Quartz Minerals makes it pretty simple for me. The coverage is amazing, and it makes my mommy face look less zombie-like, and more rock-star! The price cannot be beat, and her customer service is pretty amazing, as well!

My favourite Mineral Make Up!

*Edit 16 January 2011: Due to recent and not so recent but ongoing events & information, we apologize to any of our readers that we might have turned into buying Glittersniffer Cosmetics and have had to deal with more than poor customer service and unsafe products. Here at Two Girls And A Bar of Soap no longer use or support any of her products, and urge you to read GlitterSniffer Complaints for more information*


Hey there! Happy New Year's Eve & Happy New Year!


It's been a while since I last updated this blog myself, but thankfully Brooke has been keeping it more up to date!


Since, I'm now on holidays, I do plan to update more often, and I have two more blog entries already planned, so stay tuned!


This blog entry is going to be about my discovering and love of mineral make up, more specifically about handmade mineral make up!


I started buying and completely made the switch to only mineral make up this year, and I wanted to share with you the three brands that I love and their products: GlitterSniffer, Pink Quartz Minerals & Orglamix.


The switch to mineral make up not only has resulted in a renewal for my love of make up, but I've also learnt a lot of new things about how to make sure you look your best and not like you're wearing a mask!


One of the things I've learnt is how important is to use a primer, for it prepares your skin for the application of the rest of the make up, helping it go on smoothly & helping it stay on for longer without fading.


I got my Porcelain Face Dust Primer from Glittersniffer cause I felt like experimenting a lil, and I completely fell in love! You just have to mix a few sprinkles of it with your usual moisturizer and apply it, and ready to start playing with the rest of your make up!




It's usually recommended that you use whatever correctors and/or concealers you want to apply. I usually just go with Pink Quartz Minerals Goldenrod corrector for under my eyes, since it's a corrector for dark spots, age spots, and any purple-ish you may have around your eyes. It's my best friend when I wear make up after working night shift.





Then goes the foundation. Mineral powders should be applied lightly and letting the first layer of it settle properly before applying a second layer, if you really think you need it. One more thing that makes a lot of sense but I never really thought about before is that you need two tones of foundation during the year, one for winter, when your skin is whiter, and one for summer, when it is more tan. I have Pink Quartz Minerals' Grace for the winter, and Orglamix's Bamboo for the summer.





After foundation you can (& should ) use a veil or rice powder, cause it'll help the foundation settle and will give you a smoother look, and will reflect the light away from the wrinkles or lines, giving you an effective "airbrushed" look as Lela from Glittersniffer calls it. I have Pink Quartz Minerals' Translucent Veil, Glittersniffer's Doll Face Rice Powder & Orglamix's Rice Sake Matte Powder, and love the three of them! This is one step I can't do without, and I sometimes just wear the veil on its own for an instant "good look" effect!










I usually put on my eye-shadows after the veil, but you can apply the veil afterwards, on top of them, cause even if it looks white, it doesn't add any colour. Talking about eye-shadows, you can get AMAZING eye-shadows from any of these three sellers, I can asure you, you'll love them!


Before putting on eye-shadows I've discovered a specific primer from Orglamix that makes your eye-shadow POP and that also ensures that will last for a looong time! I don't put my eye-shadows on now before applying some Magnetism eye primer!





And lastly, for the superb glowing effect, you need to try the Highlighting & Perfecting Powder from Glittersniffer. For a glowing look you should apply it under your eyebrows, under your eyes and under your cheeks. This will give your make up the final touch and will help you shine!




After this post about make up, with recommendations to help you look your best on New Year's Eve, tomorrow I plan to write a new blog entry about facial masks!

Happy New Year!

Glittersniffer Cosmetics!

*Edit 16 January 2011: Due to recent and not so recent but ongoing events & information, we apologize to any of our readers that we might have turned into buying Glittersniffer Cosmetics and have had to deal with more than poor customer service and unsafe products. Here at Two Girls And A Bar of Soap no longer use or support any of her products, and urge you to read GlitterSniffer Complaints for more information*


Writing a joint blog usually means agreeing on who's gonna write which entry, even more when both me and Brooke have tried and loved the sellers. That's what happened with Bare Bumm, and that's what happens with Glittersniffer. Brooke won the right to write the review about Bare Bumm, and I won Glittersniffer's review! (Mainly cause I had a few pictures of myself wearing some of her amazing eye shadows).

I've always loved buying and wearing make up, not as an everyday event, cause I can be too lazy for that, but as a fun part to get all dolled up when going out.

When I was younger, I used to go out a lot more and that also meant I used to wear a lot of more make up, and I used to be pretty good at it, particularly eye make up. I was even pretty daring with the eye make up, with bold or dark colours, and mixing a bunch of colours.

This past few years, working in my current ward means having just one weekend off each month, it also means I'm not particularly keen on going out most of the time, I'd rather stay home, watching a movie, or going out just for dinner, and for that, I usually don't wear make up.

And somewhere in the past two years I decided to make the switch to mineral make up, and that makes a real change to the way you use the make up, completely different from the way you use the base or foundation, to the way you apply and combine mineral eye shadows.

Recently I came across a new shop for mineral eye shadows, through non other than my dear DIYscene forum: Glittersniffer Cosmetics, run by the lovely Lela. Since I've had good experiences with mineral make up on Etsy, I decided to check her shop, and asked her if she shipped to Spain, and not only she was awfully nice, but she also offers international flat shipping rates!

I decided to go for one of her samplers, 15 samples of her eye shadows for just $10 in resealable zipper bags, and let me tell, that's a very convenient way of getting samples, cause I could fit all her samples in my travel make up pouch!

The chance to try my hand at getting myself all ready for going out happened during my latest trip to India, when I attended a wedding with Gaurav's family. After all the shopping for nice Indian clothes for the wedding and the sangeet (the whole experience of an Indian wedding will probably be featured in a blog entry on my other blog), I decided I'll get my hair straightened for a different look, and Gaurav's sis suggested I got my make up done there too, but I decided I will try my hand at using mineral make up.

Since the suit I got was black with a golden-brown embroidery, I decided to go for Pam and Universe eye shadows, using Pam in all the eyelid, and Universe to give a slight smoked style look to the corner of both eyes, and I must say it looked pretty good, if I can say so myself!

Here you can see a pair of pictures Gaurav took, two close ups of the eye make up and one where you can see the whole ensemble, make up and clothing all together.

After falling in love with the eye shadows after using them, I decided to go back to her shop and grab a few full sizes of her eye shadows, and found a special offer for members of the DIYscene forum, where you could get 3 full sized eye shadows for $10! I decided to try three new colours, and went for Angry, Redrum and Kush, and I must say I love them! I can't wait to try them all!

If you want to try some of her amazing mineral eye shadows, from primers to eye shadows, she's now offering an amazing SALE in her shop, check it out!

All photographs courtesy of Gaurav S.