Entries for Saturday January 24

The SheSpace’s Put It On Ice Collection

• Manufacturer: The SheSpace / About Face Cosmetics
• Availability: late December 2008, through the web store or at the Chicago boutique
• Contains: nineteen mineral eyeshadow pigments
• Cost/Amount: USD$4.50 per 3-gram sifterless jar; $.50 per sample baggie
• Would you purchase again: some colors, yes

This collection was originally to be released later — possibly in early 2009 — but the winter hit early, hard, and thorough…so Heather released this collection of icy sheers and satin pearl colors in late-late December 2009, after Christmas but before the closing of the year.

Entries for Thursday January 22

The SheSpace’s Astrology - Aquarius Collection

• Manufacturer: The She Space / About Face Cosmetics
• Availability: beginning January 22, 2009 through TSS' online storefront
• Contains: 12 mineral eyeshadow colors and four blushes
• Cost/Amount: entire eyecolor collection, fullsize jars: $52; entire eyecolor collection, samples: $6; individual samples $.50, individual colors $4.50 for a full 3-gram jar (no sifter)
• Would you purchase again: only the blushes

Even though these were all blues and blue-greens, they were closer to “ocean” blue - green-blue - than my personal favored true/navy/red-blue.

The SheSpace’s Ho Ho Holiday 2008 Collection

• Manufacturer: The SheSpace / About Face Cosmetics
• Availability: November/December 2008, through the web store or at the Chicago boutique
• Contains: nineteen mineral eyeshadow pigments
• Cost/Amount: USD$4.50 per 3-gram sifterless jar; $.50 per sample baggie
• Would you purchase again: some colors, yes

This collection came out after the Something Twinkling This Way Comes collection - hard on its heels, as a matter of fact. The colors were still multilayered, but a less bright palette than previous collections - not quite echoing the overall industry's trend towards neutral colors. Like all TSS collections, one could buy the entire collection in sample size ($9.50), full size ($82), or singly ($4.50 for a sifterless 3-gram jar). This collection was available beginning in late November, and lasting through the holiday season into the first days of January 2009.

Entries for Wednesday January 21

The SheSpace’s Something Twinkling This Way Comes Collection

• Manufacturer: The She Space / About Face Cosmetics
• Availability: October 2008 to early December 2008 through TSS' online web store or at the Chicago boutique
• Contains: 22 sparkling, shimmering colors
• Cost/Amount: samples $.50 each or $10.00 for all 22; full 3-gram jars $4.50 or $90.00 for all 22
• Would you purchase again: yes, some colors

By the time this collection had come out, the economy had had its first visible faltering. When it came time for me to make my purchase, I had just bought a house - so didn’t have lots of spare money. I ended up buying just over half of the colors in this collection. (I very much appreciate that Heather makes these collections available as-a-whole, or individually. This lets the customers be a bit choosier.)

Entries for Tuesday January 20

BareMinerals’ Glamourista kit

• Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
• Availability: beginning January 2008 through QVC (still available for purchase through QVC as of August 2010!)
• Contains: two eyecolors, one blush, one lip color, one skin primer, one face powder, two brushes, and one train case
• Cost/Amount: USD$120
• Would you purchase again: no

I tend to acquire the color pieces of the Grand kits off of Ebay - I don’t care for the train cases that others love; and I’m not that huge a brush collector. The buxom in this kit also did not appeal to me, as even sheer it would have showed up darker than I like my lips to be. The blush was a winner, and the eyecolors were as well. I initially didn’t think I’d be interested in them at all because they were not jeweltone greens! It took me a while to realize that khaki greens could actually look good on me, and even now it takes a bit of research and some deliberation whether or not I will try a particular mossy or deeper olive green.

Entries for Monday January 19

Aromaleigh v1’s Gothic Lolita eye collection

• Vendor: Aromaleigh v1
• Availability: from the company's webstore; released in April 2009
• Contains: 18 eye colors
• Cost/Amount: USD$8.00 for 1.2 grams. Sample baggies also available at $1.30 per baggie.
• Would you purchase again: yes

This collection includes:

• Angel Bouquet — deep peach buff shimmer
• Aqua Nightmare — bright aqua sheen
• Burnt Roses — redwine chocolate brown shimmer
• Divine Intervention — warm green pearl
• Elegant Reverie — smoked indigo with copper pearl
• Gilded Jealousy — medium-deep olive green pearl
• Little Craving — silvered medium pink pearl
• Lush Memoir — blue-purple pearl
• Morbid Curiosity — smoked berry plum shimmer
• Plush Romantic — greyed indigo shimmer
• Purple Princess — satiny rose purple shimmer
• Satin Laces — golden copper sheen
• Strawberry Despair — strawberry pearl
• Teddy Wisp — midtoned smoked cocoa shimmer
• Velvet Dream — deep garnet shimmer
• Verdant Wisp — rich jade green shimmer
• Violet Ruffle — silvered violet sparkle
• Wonderland — silvered taupe with pink sparkle

Entries for Wednesday January 14

The SheSpace’s Live Inspired Collection

• Manufacturer: The SheSpace / About Face Cosmetics
• Availability: September to October 2008, through the web store or at the Chicago boutique
• Contains: thirty eyeshadow colors
• Cost/Amount: .50 for one sample or $14.00 for all 30 samples; or $4.50 per 3-gram sifterless jar or $125.00 for all 30 fullsize colors
• Would you purchase again: most colors, no

Heather set out to create a collection of timeless, classic, go-with-anything colors. Most of this collection was neutrals of some sort…but not just mattes, and not just browns. The neutrals were multifaceted, and shifted well. The colors weren’t lifeless, though their base hues were more “classic”. The collection was built around Beyond Skin Deep and its close close cousin Define Beauty. (I personally cannot bear the thought of living without Define Beauty. I love this color. Lovelovelove. I only wish I’d bought more when I had the chance…!)

Entries for Friday January 09

Aromaleigh v1’s Le Mystere collection

• Vendor: Aromaleigh v1
• Availability: beginning April 2009
• Availability: from the company's webstore
• Contains: 7 eye colors
• Cost/Amount: USD$5.00 for 1.2 grams. Sample baggies also available at $1.00 per baggie.
• Would you purchase again: yes

In the late 1990s, you could walk into nearly any hardware store and buy "oops paint" - custom mixed paint that people had returned for one reason or other, that the store couldn't really sell to anyone else. These sections were a great place to find interior paint, if you were a little flexible with the exact color. Some time in the 2000s, hardware stores quietly stopped selling their "oops" paint - possibly because a lot of decorative painters and beginning faux finishers were coming in and buying those to speckle their walls, instead of buying the regular-priced products. Aromaleigh v1 also found a way to make their color experimentation work as a business-plus: first by sending samples of these colors with folks' orders, and then (when customer demand for these colors got really intense) by numbering the batches of happy accidents and selling them in sample and fullsize under the "Le Mystere" banner. The colors have numbers rather than names; but they can be nice additions, and cost less than most regular Aromaleigh v1 eye colors.

As of September 2009, this collection contained:

• 100 — warm medium-brown shimmer
• 101 — taupey forest green shimmer
• 102 — smoky sage shimmer
• 103 — muted violet shimmer
• 104 — slate blue-grey-teal shimmer
• 105 — plum mauve pearl
• 106 — soft, vibrant muted yellow-green sparkle
• 107 — deep mauve shimmer

Entries for Monday January 05

BareMinerals’ Jungle Fever kit

• Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
• Availability: unknown - but not available as of 2007
• Contains: three eyecolors
• Cost/Amount: unknown
• Would you purchase again: no

I'm going to assume that this kit was available through QVC. I'm unsure of the original release date - I don't have a premium Delphi membership and wasn't able to find the mention of the kit by manually trolling the forum archives at BEA. (If someone does know the original release date, can you let me know? Thanks.) These three colors are a mixture of cool and warm, but are all muted - not bright shades, not pastel, just always "dirty" or greyed. Gracious and Soiree are two of my least-favorite BE greens - both in terms of how they look in the pot, and how they look on me - though I can wear Joy with quite a few looks.

BareMinerals’ Romantic Comedy kit

• Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
• Availability: beginning January 2008 through QVC
• Contains: three eyecolors and a brush
• Cost/Amount: USD$36
• Would you purchase again: yes

An odd-appearing lineup, featuring two rare colors (Frolic and Venus) - one of which was an eye quickie. Good value, though, especially since this kit also included a brush. This kit caught my attention because it included a brush that I was interested in, but also because of Venus. I was in a phase where anything that was an interference color was being rabidly snapped up. (I hadn’t yet discovered the various mica wholesalers, who sell the mica that works excellently as an interference color.)

I think this was the first kit I purchased on QVC. I know that I purchased the Beauty Oasis and Perfect 10 kits, six months later.