Review: tokidoki's Robbery Palette

I'm sure most people are aware of tokidoki in some way but for those of you who aren't, here's a little info on the brand I've summed up.

tokidoki was founded in 2005 by Italian artist Simone Legno in Los Angeles, California as a Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand. The brand itself has expanded to a wide range of apparel, accessories and has collaborated with several other major names and brands such as Hello Kitty, Smashbox Cosmetics, Marvel Entertainment, Skull Candy, Karl Lagerfeld, etc. In 2010, tokidoki partnered with Sephora to launch tokidoki for Sephora which brought the brand's cult-favorite artwork and designs onto new makeup and accessory line made to represent a "cuter" and "edgier" side to everyday beauty.

The palette I have for you today is tokidoki's Robbery Palette which is actually three separate palettes inside of a collectors tin. I'm very new to the brand and while I made sure to swatch most of the regular products at the tokidoki vendor inside Sephora, I was genuinely impressed. I felt that the quality of the makeup compensated for the brand's image so it felt very balanced. The products are fairly youthful but it brought me delight to witness elderly women checking out the brand as well. I was conscious of major reviews of the makeup brand and while several of the products were met with mixed reviews, I felt they're very much worth checking out considering my swatches were still very present after hours of shopping and running around.

Synopsis: The Robbery Palette is an excellent addition to any collection and features both everyday work-safe colors as well as bold colors to boot. The artwork is stunning and the entire package is extremely sturdy and well-made. My only problem with this is that the blush/bronzer that is featured in all three palettes lack payoff and also contain chunkier glitter. Its also important to note that there is only one shadow that is nearly matte and while I love the majority of the shadows, I feel this package would have been better if each palette revolved around select finishes (i.e one palette containing all matte, another containing all shimmer, etc.)

Product - 8/10
Use - 4/5
Packaging - 4/5
Value - 5/5*

*This product was purchased for $40 whereas the original retail value was $50.

Overall - A

EOTD: Dark Fantasy

Another quickie for ya'll today, haven't been in the mood to put on a full face, sorry!

Fyrinnae's Dark Fantasy was one of the first I ever received and while it is incredibly beautiful and unique, I couldn't make it work for me. This is the case with most black eyeshadows or ones with black bases, there's just something difficult about them for me to manage. For this I basically blended Sugarpill's Afterparty eyeshadow into the crease and diffused it all over my eye to really have something to blend into when I applied Dark Fantasy. It only took two layers of shadow and Pixie Epoxy but I got my desire amount of shadow and then I softly blended the edges of Dark Fantasy into Afterparty to get rid of the harsh line. It doesn't look particularly vivid in my normal pictures but after the jump you'll see just how reflective this shadow really is. I also got to play with another new Fyrinnae shadow called Jade Ghost which is a pale green shadow with an iridescent green glow, which looks fantastic over a dark or black base.

EOTD: Acid

Honestly, who doesn't enjoy looking at neon colors? They're bright, they're vivid, they burn your eyes in more ways than one...

Teasing a bit above, mind you. Last night I was near exhaustion so I decided I would slap shadow on a single eye to show to you. This is much easier, makes my life simpler and doesn't cause me to waste much makeup considering I take every ounce of it off after I'm done photographing it. I won't get into the habit of only posting eye pictures but it adds a bit of variety.

So, about them neons; they suck at blending. While they are vivid pigments (yes, I refuse to call them 'eyeshadow' because no matter what you use them for, they are not eye-safe) they are pretty chalky so it takes a bit of patience to blend and apply them. Neons are the epitome of the adjectives bright and vivid but you don't see them around much because as I said, they are not deemed eye-safe due to FDA regulations and can do some pretty nasty damage to your corneas should you get it in there. Its still available for purchase outside of the UK though so no one would have any trouble while purchasing through the Sleek website. Of course this doesn't mean that there aren't careless makeup companies in the United States or nearby who sell neons as eyeshadow without a health warning to make a quick buck but I'm sure there are several of you who are smart enough to use with caution. But in reality, they're a nice spin to makeup that despite the controversy, can be very fun in use in moderation if you're careful. Slamming this right into the tear-duct is a good example of how things can get bad.

Quick FOTD: Love Potion

Apologies for not being around very much, Winter is really starting to get to me and I've felt under the weather as well as feeling less inclined towards putting makeup up at night to put together a look.

This look is primarily just me tossing around a few new shades I got from Fyrinnae and Ana from Lipstick & Lightsabers. Nothing was really planed except Love Potion by Fyrinnae, which is one of my new favorite shades. It one of the Arcane shadows and it applies from a light aqua shade and can be built up to a pretty pink.

Note: Yes, I am aware that I have a large popped blood vessel in my right eye. I've been sick and this can sometimes happen to people when you vomit or strain yourself. Also I am aware that it looks gross. There, I just saved you the trouble of making completely pointless remarks about it. I'm making note of this because some people lack common sense or decency to not draw more attention to something that is very evident and can hurt the person's feelings. I would not come onto your blog or view videos and make rude comments regarding your current condition so please show me the same courtesy.

New Video: Blurple

One month and several days later, I post a new video! Now I don't upload often but now that I see just how fast YouTube uploads and fully processes videos, I'm almost tempted to post more ever so often.

After the jump is a full list of products I used to make this look and maybe a picture or two. I'd have more but my camera isn't agreeing to take pictures of my makeup properly, sadly.

RE: body mods VS. The World

Hey guys, I just wanted to share something quick with you all that really touched and spoke to me. YouTube user albinwonderland made a video speaking out about the irrationally over-analyzed culture we live in. This is important to me because I've never been free to truly self-express myself the way I want to and this really hits me square in the chest. Its my hope that someone who is so filled with judgement can watch this and then stop to judge themselves instead and consider the fact that they are not the only ones who live on this planet; that some people are truly different beyond explanation and we should be free to be the people we want to be.

Why should 6 billion human beings inhabiting this planet all walk, talk, act and dress the same way? 'Normal' is just a state of mind; one single fish inhabiting a vast ocean with countless others who all act, think and speak different than the next. Sometimes we swim together and sometimes we like being separate from the rest.

My Winter Favorites

Greetings and salutations, how are you all holding up post-holiday season? I've been a little under the weather for over a week now due to sleeping problems but luckily I've felt better for two days in a row so I figured it was time to do a new post!

I know there are a lot of bloggers/vloggers who sometimes share the products that they are currently loving but that's something that I cannot personally do like say every month. There are plenty of products I get my hands on that I like or favor but it takes quite a bit to get me to truly love a product and use it on a daily basis. While this list that follows has a few products that I am currently favoring, the majority of them are products that I use on a daily basis or when I wear makeup. Keep in mind that I do not wear makeup that's even remotely colored in public and while most of these products are beauty related, these are based on a man's perspective. All of these products I favor so of course I'll have wonderful things to say about them and I would recommend all of these products to all.

Review: Sleek's True Colour Lipstick

It would be very hard to admit anything other than I absolutely love these lipsticks by Sleek. While I'm still working on my grading system, consider my rank dubbed 'Viking Approved' the same thing as a 4/5 or 8/10. Unfortunately, prior to my last Sleek review, I wasn't aware that shipping costs were so high which can easily be the most negative thing I have to say about Sleek. The shipping price varies depending upon location and how much you order and can easily costs more than any of the eyeshadow palettes that the brand offers. While this can be expected considering the brand is based in Europe, I'd have to say that its best to only order from Sleek if you intend on ordering quite a bit so you can get as much out of it as you can.

Synopsis: Sleek's True Colour Lipsticks are great lipsticks to have if you can get your hands on them. While Sleek's colour selection itself isn't wide or original, you are getting very pigmented and near-opaque lipsticks. Unfortunately, these just simply are not a great value when it comes to ordering internationally due to high shipping cost.

Packaging - 4/5

Product - 4/5

Value - 2/5 *

The 2/5 rating above does not reflect the actual product itself but the shipping cost and is completely my own opinion and is from my perspective in the world being that I am based from New York and the shipping fee can be rather expensive. The original rating would have been a perfect 5/5 otherwise. I consider 'Value' to involve anything having to do with money when paying for the product as well as the shipping.

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