Hello Waffle Cosmetics : Greek Gods and Goddesses Collection

Hey there geekonistas!

Today I am coming at ya with a collection from the super adorable Canadian indie cosmetics company, Hello Waffle! This is the Greek Gods and Goddesses collection and oh boy does this ever feed my inner mythology geek.

All the colors in this collection are loose pigments and swatched over Geek Chic Cosmetics' Power Up Primer. I also tried something new, taking photos - on some of the sparkly shadows I intentionally unfocused the camera, which seems to capture the sparkles better. Let me know what you think?

Look at this packaging. LOOK AT IT. You all know I'm a sucker for packaging but this... this is art. 

First up we have "Bringer of Storms", a nod to the lightning bolt wielding power of the king of the gods, Zeus! As befitting his status, this color is a royal purple with an electric blue sheen. This color has such an amazing depth to it.

Photo blurred to show sparklies

Next is "Goddess of Love" named for the most beautiful of the goddesses, Aphrodite. This is a super pale, dusty pink. It looks a little more vibrant in person, but unfortunately it tends to disappear against my pasty white skin.

The next color is named for my personal favorite goddess, Artemis, and it's called "Of the Wildland". Fitting, since Artemis is goddess of the Moon and all wild things. This is a glowing lilac shade with a touch of a blue shift and just a little bit of sparkle.

Next up is "The Renowned Artificer" based off of poor Hephaestus. It can't be easy, being married to the Goddess of Love, especially when it certainly wasn't her idea. This is sort of a pale copper color, with a gold shift. Surprisingly pretty.

The next color is named for Ares, God of War. This one is called "Of the Glinting Helmet" and its an olive green with a red shift. At first I was confused with the choice to make green the base color, since red is traditionally associated with Ares, but once I swatched it, I understood. To wax maybe weirdly poetic here, it looks like firelight glinting off a helmet.

On a lighter note.. get it? Lighter? Ahahahah. Anyway, the next color is "Light of the Sun" named for the Sun God and healer, Apollo. This is a glitterbomb! I mean, this eye shadow can seriously be seen from space. Its a deep gold with just.. sparkly, sparkly goodness.

Next up we have another God traditionally associated with healing, Hermes. Also known as the Messenger God, Hermes was kind of a jack-of-all-trades sort of god. His color, "Guide to the Underworld" is a true orange with an orange sheen that almost makes it look metallic.

The next color is called "The Unseen", for the God of Death and the Underworld, Hades. This color is kind of hard to describe. It has a very earthy brown base, but with a purple shift that pulls more strongly in pictures than it does in person. It's... a lot of colors and dimensions packed into a seemingly innocuous base.

And finally, last but far, far far from least, we have "The Savior of Sailors", Poseidon. God of the Sea, Poseidon probably sank as many ships as he saved, but that's the privilege of being a fickle god, I suppose. This is my favorite color in the collection. It's a deep navy blue with a lighter blue shift. It has such rich pigmentation and a smooth appearance. Love.

I'll be in my bunk.

Final Thoughts: This collection is really, really good. This is my first order from Hello Waffle, but it won't be my last. This pigments are really high quality, with great pigmentation (even the ones that don't work on my particular skin tone) and great dimension and complexity. Each of the shades is very different from the others, giving a really good range of colors as well. If you have any interesting in trying out Hello Waffle Cosmetics, I highly recommend checking out their facebook page, where you can find out about deals, specials, and upcoming collections!


What do you think? Are you going to pick up any of this collection? Have you tried any other Hello Waffle Cosmetics? Is her cat not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Makeup Q&A Indie Madness

Hey there geekonistas!

So today I wanted to continue my Makeup Q&A series by talking about the pros and cons of buying makeup and other beauty products from independent companies. I thought this would be a timely post since, as you may already be aware if you are a part of the indie community, there was a large scandal recently involving an indie nail polish company. While scandals like this can be frightening to consumers, and certainly teach caution, its important to remember that it is an isolated incident, and try not to let it color your perception of all indie companies.

So let's start with the plus side of buying indie: the pros!

1. You're supporting a small business. Most indie companies are run by just a few people, so instead of putting money into the pockets of mega-corporations, you're putting it in the pockets of your friends and neighbors.

2. Indie products are generally cruelty free. I've actually yet to see an indie company that isn't. Not only would they lack the resources for animal testing altogether, they are also generally run by people who either are compassionate themselves or know that their fan base are, so having products that are animal tested would definitely alienate many of their customers.

3. The indie community. While no community is perfect, I personally have found the indie community to be one that is welcoming to all kinds of people, no matter your makeup skill level or makeup collection size. The indie community is a great place to observe some really talented makeup artists and get inspiration for your own looks! You can find indie makeup communities on facebook, reddit, and individual dedicated forums like All the Sparkles.

4. Owner involvement. Many indie companies run facebook groups where you can directly interact with them. This means you can offer feedback, suggestions, ask for help, even get to have input on upcoming collections and things you'd like to see! Can you imagine the president of L'oreal doing that? Chaos.

5. Creativity and Versatility. A lot of indie companies can step up and do things and take chances that larger companies just can't. I have never seen a mainstream company come up with duochromes as amazing as Fyrinnae or My Pretty Zombie, or the nerdy themes that Geek Chic, Notoriously Morbid, Glamour Doll Eyes and many others come up with. (Excepting the Covergirl Star Wars collection, but even that doesn't have a whole lot to it.)


Seems like there's no reason to NOT buy indie, right? Well, unfortunately, nothing is perfect and there are a few downsides.

1. The dreaded TAT. TAT stands for turn around time, and is the measure of how long it's going to take before the company gets around to making your order. Again, small business, few people, sometimes it can literally be a month or more before you get your shinies, and waiting... waiting hurts.

2. Hygiene and safety. Again, this is something that only happens once in an extremely rare while, but it is something to be aware of. Sometimes people can have a bad reaction to a particular ingredient in a product, the product itself could be flawed or improperly packaged, or the people doing the packaging might not follow the correct hygienic procedures. Before ordering from an indie company I suggest doing a little bit of research on them to see what you can find. To me, the important thing is not whether a company has made a mistake before (everyone does, big company or small), but that the mistakes are do not keep happening, and that the company itself handles the issues publicly and properly.

3. Jealously. Everybody gonna be jelly when they see your awesome makeup. This is a real struggle and not at all something I made up inside my head.



Buying indie is obviously a very personal choice, but I hope I've managed to provide you with a least a basis for making an informed choice.

Noel says "I love indies!" (Actually he mostly says "whee!" and "poop!" but I attribute that to my poor parenting skills.)

What do you think? Do you buy indie? What's your favorite brand?

My Pretty Zombie Cosmetics

Hey there geekonistas!

I. Am. So. Excited! I got my very first order from My Pretty Zombie Cosmetics and I just had to share it with you!

My Pretty Zombie is a cruelty free, indie brand that makes loose eye shadow pigments, blushes, and powders. They have the best/worst names in the industry and I love them. You'll see what I mean when we get to the swatches.

I ordered the you pick 9 eye shadow set, which allows you to choose any nine eye shadows from the website at a cheaper price than buying each one individually. Good deal! They also included three sample baggies free of charge, and of course the My Pretty Zombie signature severed finger.

My order came really quickly, especially for an indie company. I placed the order July 29th, and it arrived in my mailbox on August 8th.

On to the swatches! As per usual with loose pigments, I swatched everything over a sticky base. In this case, I used Geek Chic Cosmetics "Power Up Primer".

First up we have mNg no.2. This is from a custom color that MPZ created for a customer, and it is Ah-Mazing. The color is a hot pink with a gold/green duochrome to it that is just fantastic.

Next we have "Avulsion" from the Injurious collection. Avulsion is an orange with a really strong pink shift. Do yourself a favor and do not google "Avulsion" unless you have a strong stomach.

The next color... I can't even do it justice. It's "Brisket" from the Butcher Shop collection and it was the color that made me place an order with MPZ in the first place. Brisket is a gorgeous bright copper color with one of the strongest gold shifts I've ever seen. It can literally look like two different eye shadows depending on lighting and angle.

"Tenderloin" is also from the Butcher Shop collection. It's a deep plummy purple with a blue duochrome.

Up next is the color "Bettie". Bettie is a gorgeous teal with a bright teal shimmer. 

This is "Infirmity" from the Blue Period collection. This one is a glitterbomb! It has a blue green base with golden green sparkles.

Also from the Blue Period collection is "Forsaken". This has more of a true blue base with sky blue sparkles. So many sparkles. Just a word of warning - between staining from the blue base and the amount of sparkles, you may never be able to fully remove this eye shadow. Totally worth it though.

The next color is one of MPZ's best sellers, and it's easy to see why. "Anthrax" is a pretty purple with a really strong gold/green shift. 

Finally we have the last of the full size shadows that I got: "Everything Looks Better on a Meat Hook". It is my fondest wish that someday I will wear this and someone will ask me what it is. Unfortunately, it seems to be very similar to Anthrax - just with a browner base and more of a green duochrome. 

The next color was one of the samples I received. It's also a new color for MPZ, called "Weird Dent."

This is a super metallic green-gold.

The other eye shadow sample I received is another new color, called "Baby May". I'll be honest here, I almost didn't swatch it for you.... it just looks too pretty to waste anywhere but on the eyes! This is a nice lavender with a pink sheen to it.

The final sample I received was a setting powder - Dr. Pickles' Miraculous Beauty Dust in violet. Violet is the recommended color for skin with yellow undertones. My undertones are neutral but I tried it out anyway and was quite pleased. I won't post any swatches since the point of it is to disappear into the skin.

 Final Thoughts: I really think My Pretty Zombie is an amazing company that deserves a lot more recognition. Their eye shadows are amazingly pigmented and smooth with some really unique colors. Their duochromes are really some of the best I've ever seen.