Review: Ten Three Labs

Today I'll be sharing my thoughts on a relatively new company, Ten Three Labs. Spoiler: I love everything I got and I don't have anything negative to say about this company. Everything from the packaging to the products is spot-on. The time-of-turnaround was incredible--I placed my order October 19th around 8pm and received it October 24th at 10am, only five days later! That's insanely fast.

 Everything came inside this pretty paper sack, and all the products were in this cute drawstring bag. My order slip had a nice note from the owner Cara, and I also received Pearl as my free sample.

Here's everything I got! A full sized Hatshepsut, a Peppermint Punch salve stick, and a sample of Artificial Angels perfume. Cara also included a free sifter for the full sized eyeshadow. Isn't that awesome?!

I really like that my eyeshadow came shrink-wrapped! It's always nice to know your products were safe on their journey to you. The lip balm was also shrink-wrapped, which is a nice touch. I think the top label is simple but classy, and fits in with the brand aesthetic perfectly.

Whoa! Look at all that product! It's packed to the brim--I think I'm going to save the sifter for another shadow, because I don't think there's room in this one! Being the incredibly impatient person that I am, I immediately swatched the shadows, dabbed on some Artificial Angels, and slathered on the lip balm. My thoughts on the perfume and salve stick after the swatches...

 Hatshepsut: Described as an antique gold with gold sparkles, and I think that's pretty accurate. I LOVE this color and am so giddy that I grabbed a full size. It definitely has an antique tarnished-gold feeling, and the gold shimmer is beautiful. I also think it's freakin' bad-ass that this shadow is named after the first female pharaoh. I bet Hatshepsut would rock this color with some thick black wings (Warning: I have no idea what kind of makeup Egyptians wore.)

Next up is my free sample, Pearl!

 Pearl: Described as a deep muddy brown with gold sparkles, which is very accurate. This shadow has a lovely soft satin finish. I wonder if Cara included this because it will pair perfectly with Hatshepsut? ;) It's a nice rich brown that will look great in the outer corner and crease.

Both shades applied smoothly and were nicely pigmented. I really like the formula, and I would love to try more of Ten Three Lab's eyeshadow in the future.

Peppermint Salve Stick: This lip balm is the bomb. I've tried so many lip balms that seem to slide off my lips and do nothing to keep them soft once the balm wears off. The texture of the salve stick is just perfect, not too slippery and but not too thick. It's the Goldilocks of lip balms. It goes on creamy and soft, and the peppermint smells really yummy. My lips were cracked and chapped before I started wearing this today, but they feel noticeably softer and more hydrated even after the balm has worn off. I'll be ordering several more so I can hoard them this winter and take them with me everywhere. Basically, if you have lips, you will like this lip balm. A+ five stars, go buy this now.

Artificial Angels Perfume Oil: I suck at describing perfumes, but I'm gonna try my best for y'all. It starts off with a burst of sweet, yummy cherry that made me say "Mmmmmmm..." out loud. The cherry begins to fade after about an hour but there's a lingering fruity yumminess. A sweet, soft, creamy smell comes out after the cherry and lasts for several hours. I've had it on for about 4 hours now, and it's faded but I can still definitely still smell it on my arm. This perfume is super girly, happy, and comforting. I feel like I'm snuggling my nose into a fruity baby unicorn (what, you don't know what that smells like?!) I think this may be my favorite indie perfume I have ever tried. This is the scent I've been searching for but haven't found until now. I should mention that I really like the packaging and it was a cinch to apply--I can see myself blowing through this sample. I love, love, love this. Okay, I'll stop gushing now.

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As you can probably tell, my experience with Ten Three labs was awesome. I'll definitely be ordering again to grab more salve sticks and a full size of Artificial Angels. I'm also eying a sample of Fair Season and her smudge sticks. I highly recommend you give this shop a try, I doubt you will be disappointed.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Swatches

A few things have happened since I last updated this blog a year ago--the main thing being my complete obsession with indie makeup. Thankfully, it still fits perfectly with the fabulously cheap theme! I hope to bring you guys some more swatches and reviews in the near future (when I'm not freaking out about school.)

When Femme Fatale announced they would no longer be selling samples, I went a little crazy and bought a ton. I've been sitting on these for about a month now, and I finally got around to swatching. After placing my order, I received an email from the owner letting me know that they were waiting on a shipment of ingredients for Secret Shiny, and would I like to choose a replacement sample, or wait for the ingredients to come in? I happily replied that I would wait, since it was one of the shades I was looking forward to the most. Sophie generously gave me a bunch of extra samples to make up for the wait. A+ for customer service!

I really love most of the shades, but there were a few disappointments in the bunch. I'll go into more detail later. Everything is swatched over Darling Girl's Primped and Primed eye primer. Enough rambling, show me the duochrome!

Royal Tarts: Reddish mauve with gold sheen. Put a gold sheen on any shadow and I'll probably like it. The duochrome is subtle but it's definitely there. I can see myself getting a full size of this, it's so soft and girly.

 Divinity: Soft lilac with a pinky-golden sheen. This one is a stunner. I will be needing this in a full size. It's just DIVINE (hur hur hurrr!)

 

 Wildvine: Pretty light brown with a pale green shift.This color is beautiful, but I was expecting a stronger shift based on the website photo. I'm not sure if I need a full size just yet.

 Secret Shiny: Cool light purple with a bright yellow duochrome. Unnnfffff. Goddamn, I love this one. I want to bathe in this. This is easily the most unique eyeshadow I own.

 

Faerie Fire: Pinky-purple with light green shimmer. This color wasn't as awesome as I'd hoped it would be. It seems to have a matte base, and when you try to blend the shimmer overlay kind of disappears. It's still a very pretty shadow, just not my favorite. I won't be getting a full size.

 Candied Apple: Medium reddish brown with pale green sheen. This is probably one of Femme Fatale's most popular shades, and I can definitely see why. It's just beautiful! Look at that duochrome. I'll be grabbing a full size next time I order.

 

 Space Cow: Grayish-purple with a pink sheen. This one reminds me of Notoriously Morbid Forgotten Dreams, but I like Forgotten Dreams a lot more. This is a nice shadow that applied well, it just didn't wow me.

 Star's Sorrow: Vivid purple with blue sparkles.This was probably the most disappointing shade in the bunch. The formula is similar to Faerie Fire with the matte base, and I had the same problem with application. I tried to add extra layers on top but it kept getting patchy and weird.

 Frostfire: Navy blue with prominently red shimmer, but also rainbow sparkles. This is lovely and perfectly named. I might grab a full size, even though I don't use a lot of blue eyeshadow.

Jinx: Blurple with pinkish-red shimmer. Sorry this picture turned out so crappy :( This one did not want to be photographed, but there is a noticeable reddish duochrome in person. This shadow is more purple and shimmery than Frostfire, which is more of a straight-up sparklebomb. I like this color but I don't need a full size.

 Nightlash: Deep magenta with orange-gold sparkle. This is another favorite and it's so gorgeous in person! I definitely want a full size.

 Dispersion: Rich red-brown with blue duochrome and sparkles! This shadow is breathtaking. It's like Candied Apple's sexy older sister. Another full size contender.

 Phew! There you have it. There were a few misses, but for the most part I really enjoyed my order. I hope you enjoyed these swatches! Keep an eye out for part two, because there are still more samples I couldn't fit in this post. Thanks for looking!