Xarata's Swatches & EOTD

[Xarata]

One question - what about shelf life? How do you deal with it?

In theory, the powders dont have a shelf life- as karen said, nothing bad happens to silk as is breaks down so i don't worry about the powders and probably never will. I don't get them wet in the jar.

Lippies...If the oil seems "off" and it can be replaced, i toss it and replace it- though honestly some of my lippies are pretty old. The ones that are more for "collecting" purposes get kept though i do cut the tops off periodically. Honestly- i still use my platinum red and it's probably 3 years old and i haven't noticed anything off or expired about it. Does it mean i should? probably not, but i haven't seen any harm from it.

Skincare and any lipbalm that has gone off get tossed when they don't smell right or change color, i tossed quite a few solid perfumes at some point- i don't know that i have any lipbalms old enough to go off actually. i go through a tube each of burt's bees lipbalm, a flavored SN balm, and a peppermint black label every other month.

[Xarata]

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[Xarata]

This is the biggest envelope I've ever gotten from SN. I've been on vacation so i didn't get my hands on the goods until today. Soooooooooooo excited to play. On the post above I took a quick photo of all the valentine shadows and swatched all the lippies, but i haven't gotten into the hair stuff yet.

i bought the cologne too, but Bob already snatched it up and ran off with it.

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[Ladybug914]

Look at all those lovely colors!

I am only getting a few of them, but I am very eagerly awaiting my package, which I am hoping will arrive tomorrow.

[4wheel]

Wonderful order that is...

[meadowbird]

Xarata, I'm just wondering if you prime your lips with foundation or something before applying the glosses and lipsticks? All the colours look amazing on you! I have really pigmented lips and every colour I try either makes me look like I've seen a ghost ie: totally washed out! or they take on a dark plummy hue which really looks strange and vampy against my goldenish skin tone.

[Xarata]

No, i don't use a primer almost ever because they change the color of the lipcolor and often mix together making a new color. If I WANT to lighten a color, i'll use mirage or XXX underneath or block out my lips with foundation, but my swatches never have a primer under them.

The color of my lips for the icing(liquid rainbow shimmer) swatch in that set is about their normal color. Some days my lips are more pigmented than others.

I don't know what colors you've tried, but some are more opaque than others. Most of the buttercreams and vegan lipsticks have a closer-to-lipstick opacity and intensity and are more likely to mask your own lipcolor. Some of the newer liquid sticks are pretty opaque too- Shrieking Violet, St. Tropez, Zinnia, and Ambrosia should be good and while vintage and lola might not mask your color, they're dark enough to have an effect

I like peaches so i tend to mix mirage with things like peachy keen, mango, and similar dc'ed shades for a milkier peach- it should work with all the colors though.

[emmy2410]

Xarata, you are such a sweetie...thanks for the swatches...im eyeing some lip colours. Just wanted to ask you in your first post how do you get to arrange your pots on the white board...hope I make sense in what im asking..hee hee..
thanks dear.

[Xarata]

Xarata, you are such a sweetie...thanks for the swatches...im eyeing some lip colours. Just wanted to ask you in your first post how do you get to arrange your pots on the white board...hope I make sense in what im asking..hee hee..
thanks dear.

They're attached with magnets, but I think you're asking how do I arrange them/what order are they in?

Some of the pictures of my stash have them labeled like this one:

This is an older picture of my stash. I recently posted an updated picture with all of its new boards and stuff.

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I generally keep them sectioned off by color (greens, browns, pinks, etc.) but there are certain types of shadows i keep together (all my sheer highlighters are together, all the neon brights are together) and some collections (Stonewashed Nudes, Shimmering Nudes, Live Laugh Love Trio, Muted Metals) I keep together because they pair well together and tend to have the same finishes.

The bigger the stash grows, the newer ways i end up arranging them. The lippies are organized by type (all the black labels together, all the buttercreams together, etc.) and then alphabetical within type

[meadowbird]

No, i don't use a primer almost ever because they change the color of the lipcolor and often mix together making a new color. If I WANT to lighten a color, i'll use mirage or XXX underneath or block out my lips with foundation, but my swatches never have a primer under them.

The color of my lips for the icing(liquid rainbow shimmer) swatch in that set is about their normal color. Some days my lips are more pigmented than others.

I don't know what colors you've tried, but some are more opaque than others. Most of the buttercreams and vegan lipsticks have a closer-to-lipstick opacity and intensity and are more likely to mask your own lipcolor. Some of the newer liquid sticks are pretty opaque too- Shrieking Violet, St. Tropez, Zinnia, and Ambrosia should be good and while vintage and lola might not mask your color, they're dark enough to have an effect

I like peaches so i tend to mix mirage with things like peachy keen, mango, and similar dc'ed shades for a milkier peach- it should work with all the colors though.

Thanks so much for your help! I'm going to try using a nude to lighten first and then apply the colour, see if I can get a truer tone. I'm going on a bit of a lipgloss frenzy at the mo! My poor wallet! Ha! The great thing about all the LG's is that they all seem to act as an amazing lip treatment for my super dry lips. Actually, these, and the Burt's Bees balms, are the ONLY lip products I have EVER used that don't actually cause my lips to peel the top layer of skin. I'm not sure what universal ingredient is in general lippies but it's definitely not in SN's.
<3