Indie Friday: My most-used indie beauty products | Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog

26 September, 2014

Indie Friday: My most-used indie beauty products

Bought It

Indie beauty stuff, I have lots of it. I thought it might be interesting to look through my collection and share which products I've been using the most often lately. Sometimes I'll give products a good review but they don't necessarily achieve OMG MUST-HAVE status, so I thought it might be interesting to look at a few of the things that have ascended to that level. Some of these are perennial faves, some are seasonal faves, but what do they all have in common? I like them. I mean like-like them. Swoon.


1. DARLING CLANDESTINE "SERPENTINA" SOLID PERFUME (originally reviewed here)
Daring Clandestine scents tend to be sort of peculiar, but Serpentina is sort of an exception. It may be a bit tame in the "weirdness" department, but it certainly smells good: Mostly like green tea and smoke. I wasn't so into this scent over the summer, but it seems more appropriate now that the weather is cooling down. Sort of like pulling on a cozy sweater. FYI: Darling Clandestine is currently on vacation, but she'll be reopening her shop in October.


2. DARLING GIRL GLITTER GLUE (buy it here)
I've never reviewed Glitter Glue on its own, but I've mentioned it in many posts because it's my favorite sticky eyeshadow fixative to work with. What does this do, some of you may be wondering? It makes super-sparkly eyeshadows look extra-sparkly and vivid once they're on your actual eyes. A must-have in any indie makeup drawer, and a total steal at $6.75 for 10ml (in my opinion)!


3. NOTORIOUSLY MORBID "SHADOW OF THINGS" EYESHADOW (reviewed here)
This is part of the Christmas collection Notoriously Morbid put out last year. It looks kind of like a regular old sparkly grey shadow in the jar, but when you apply it it turns into a gorgeous metallic dark green. Great color for the season, in my opinion. Here, have an awkward eyeball close-up:


I'm still scraping the dregs out of my sample baggie, but I will definitely purchase a larger jar. (You can buy it here, by the way.)


4. NOTORIOUSLY MORBID COFFIN KISSERS LIP BALM (purchase here)
Another thing I've mentioned a bunch of times, because it's one of my favorite lip balms. The flavors I'm currently using the most are Dean's Seductive Strawberries (smells like chocolate with a hint of fruit) and Impala Peach (smells like peach with a hint of mango). Yum! And highly recommended because they're only $3 each.


5. "BUXOM", "SELENE", and "LILA" FROM WIGGLE PERFUMES (reviewed here)
I picked up a crapton of samples from Wiggle Perfume way back when, and these are three of the four I purchased in full size. (Sorry fourth one, but I just don't love you as much.) Wiggle does floral perfumes really well in my opinion, and I love a good floral which is probably why these get such heavy use in my rotation. "Buxom" (which is now discontinued, sobcrysob) is sort of a creamy vanilla floral, Lila is a musky/peppery lilac scent, and Selene is a musky, incensey white floral that almost smells like fancy soap to my nose. Check out my original review for more detailed scent descriptions.


6. SUDS N SASS "EMBERS" PERFUME OIL (purchase here)
I never used to like sweet/gourmand scents as perfume, but that changed this year. Who knows why. "Embers" is a toasted marshmallow scent with a hint of falling leaves in the background ... perfect for the current season, though truthfully I've been wearing it all summer long as well.


Have you tried any of the items on this list? What are your most-used indie beauty products?

25 comments:

  1. I love the coffin kissers! the only bad thing is they can get messy but it's just nitpicking.


    www.wingmeadream.com

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  2. Messy how, like the labels? I get annoyed when they start to peel ... usually I just pull them off but since I have more than one in rotation right now I left them on!

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  3. Not really, the labels I can handle. My lemon pie melted slightly and it did that thing balms sometimes do where they kind of sink into themselves? There's also the issue of the rolling applicator sometimes not working. Maybe I got a dud?

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  4. Hmm, I don't think I've had either of those issues so maybe the tube you have is messed up?

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  5. Maybe. Means I'll have to buy more! ;)

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  6. The coffin kisser lip balms sound fabulous, the flavor list is making me hungry AND making me want to buy them all!

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  7. I still haven't tried either of those, so if you do let me know how they are! My favorite is Rotten Rainbow, but I'm always open to trying new things that smell delicious. :P

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  8. I'm looking forward to trying them! I just bought a lip balm last night (and last week too, but don't get me started on that one) so it will be a short while before I report back....

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  9. I'd love to try the coffin kissers. Bloody Red Velvet is my kind of flavour. I'm only just falling down the rabbit hole, but my current most used indies are Sarawen's Rose Knight and Tilt/Shift's Equinox, though I'll probably switch to Gravity now that it's getting cooler.

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  10. I tried a bunch of perfume samples from Sarawen but all of them soured on my skin. I think it must be something to do with whatever she uses as a carrier oil, but it made me sad because all of her descriptions sound so lovely. :(

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  11. That eyeshadow is very pretty and reminds me a little of the Nyx shadow in Rehab that I got in my Ipsy bag. The Buxom perfume sounds nice too!

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  12. I really want to try some of those Wiggle perfumes. I love the store's description of Selene, but I'm not really big on the fancy soap smells (especially on me), so I'm really glad you mentioned it!

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  13. That eyeshadow is gorgeous! The Notoriously Morbid lip balms sound amazing, too. And of course, the perfume that sounds the best to me would be discontinued!

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  14. Sarah @ bitsandboxes.comSeptember 27, 2014 at 2:17 PM

    I'm pretty sure I *need* those lip balms :D

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  15. It is very nice! I wish it wasn't discontinued, but pretty much every other perfume I've tried from Wiggle has been lovely so there are still lots of wonderful choices. "Lila" is a close second for me.

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  16. The soapiness might be a subjective thing. I've noticed that a lot of scents containing red musk smell that way to me, so it might just be my nose. I think the owner of Wiggle is currently in the process of overhauling her shop and getting rid of some stuff (not sure if Selene is on the nix list?) but before that she sold samples of her scents, so that would be a good way to go if you're not sure how it will smell on you. I don't see samples listed in the shop now but if you messaged it maybe she'd make a custom listing ... not sure if she'll say yes but it's worth an ask!

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  17. Haha yeah. Buxom seemed to be REALLY popular (at least around the indie makeup message board scene), but maybe the seller just wasn't feeling it anymore? Her others are really nice though, so I would definitely recommend Wiggle in general even if you can't get Buxom.

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  18. I'm pretty sure you do too! You should follow Notoriously Morbid on Facebook for shop announcements because sometimes they have sales or "Free Day Friday" (where you get a GWP or free shipping usually). Her stuff is pretty inexpensive anyway, so those deals are sweet! :)

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  19. Wiggle Perfume's Vanilla Cardamom is twice as much as her other naturals but after buying a small bottle I went back and got a 5ml rollerball because if you like labdanum, it is just. that. good.

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  20. If you love the way something smells, it's totally worth paying more! I never paid much attention to that one, but now that you mention it it does sound *really* good ...

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  21. Ah, this is true! Yeah, I guess it's always safe to ask for a samples listing. But I think I'll actually wait to see what her updated list of scents will be. :D

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  22. I really want to try some indie brand, and I've had my eye on Notoriously Morbid for several months. Indie perfumes sound like something I would like because I'm tired of the same old fragrances out there. It's time for something different!

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  23. I highly recommend Notoriously Morbid, in case you couldn't tell. :P One of the best thing about buying indie perfumes is that many sellers offer sample vials ... a great way to test stuff without being stuck with a huge bottle of something you hate. Aside from Wiggle, some other indie perfumers I like a lot in general are Solstice Scents, Haus of Gloi, Darling Clandestine and Sweet Anthem.

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  24. Thanks for the recommendations! I'll check them out!

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