High Voltage Blue and Green Lip Swatches

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.
When I found out that High Voltage were offering lip samples, I was pretty stoked as that meant I had an excuse to try some more unusual colours without forking out for tons of product that I know will never get used. I feel really bad making small sample orders from indie companies as I know samples are probably a bit of a pain in the arse to fill (sorry, Jasmine!) but hey – I wanted to try some blue and green lipsticks!

After Midnight Amp’d Up Gloss:

Metallic green-y goodness! My other half was unimpressed – I think this is lovely. I think I might swatch it over black. Bear in mind that these aren’t really traditional glosses – they’re creamy lipsticks in my opinion, but very nice they are, despite the misnomer.

Orestea Lip Candy:

Named for Lisa, I presume. Looks a teal-blue on the website, is a pretty minty green on my lips. While the colour wasn’t exactly what I was really expecting, I am actually in love with it - looks quite like Lime Crime’s Mint To Be which I love the look of. Gorgeous! Matching brows and smokey eye, anyone?

Beth Lip Candy:

A bright sky blue. I really want to rock this with pink eyeshadow for a cute candy coloured look – hopefully I’ll get a chance to go crazy with some make-up soon. This one might require a bit of attention - nothing wrong with the formula at all but I found it looked really odd if you could see any of the pink on my inner lip! If you were to wear it out watch out for the 'ring' you get after eating with lipstick on.

Monroe Lip Candy:

Dodgy swatch, sorry! In real life, I think this looks a touch deeper. I think it says something for my self-esteem that I think this colour is utterly perfect, but I know it won’t leave the house. *sadface*

What are your feelings on ‘odd’ colours? Are they are a ‘sometimes’ kind of thing – for photoshoots and the goth club – or a no-no? I shamefully tend to buy them, swatch them, and then leave them to collect dust. I wish I had more balls :(

Little High Voltage Haul

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.
When High Voltage brought out the Grab Bags for lip products, how could I say no? I was really pleased when I got my package to get some of the Amp'd Up Glosses, which people have asked me about but I haven't tried.

Check 'em out!

 

Amp'd Up Gloss in 'Aces Wild '

 Amp'd Up Gloss in 'Dance Floor'

 Amp'd Up Gloss in 'Juke Box'

 Amp'd Up Gloss in 'Love Crush'

Lip Candy in 'Vampirella'

I think Dance Floor is my favourite of the bunch, and I was super pleased to find Vampirella in my order because I've been lusting after it since I first saw it. When you buy so many lip products, I think grab bags are an awesome idea... I loved opening them all and seeing shiny new surprises!

My thoughts and love for the Lip Candy have been spread far and wide, but you can read more about them here. So what do I think of the Amp'd Up Gloss.... well, basically, I love them. They're not exactly a gloss, though... more like a creamier version of the Lip Candy? They're certainly not like a regular gloss, which I think the 'Amp'd Up' part should have given away. Anyway, I'm really glad I went for the grab bag option or I never would have tried them.


I also got a few samples with my order:

L-R, London Nights, Out Law, Miami Beat, Times Square Kiss.

Samples from High Voltage are now coming in much smaller baggies, which I'm sure a lot of people will be happy with. I also noted on the site that there are a lip samples now available for some products, so I bought a few blue ones! :D

Purple make me lose my mind

Up in here, up in here....Just a quick LOTD for you guys today. I think I actually wore this last Friday - I just found the photos on my computer and I used a couple of shadows that I adore, so I thought I'd show it.

Eyes:
Lid: Evil Shades Lazy Daze
Crease/lower lashline: Inglot AMC 379
Outer V: High Voltage Heavy Metal
Inner corner/ Highlight: Sugarpill Lumi

Cheeks:
Evil Shades  Pouty

Lips:
Unnamed Barry M Lip Gloss Wand (one that came with Impulse spray)

The first photo was taken as I was heading to the pub, when I added a lot of Lumi to the inner corner. I got a sample of it in a giveaway prize from Annamax and hadn't used it yet, and lord help me because now I have to buy it. Also want to give Evil Shades 'Lazy Daze'  from the LE Summer Nights collection a shout out - it's a gorgeous, slightly sheer pale lilac with a hint of green duo - YUM. I'm also loving Pouty blush - I've been looking for ages for a perfect blush to wear with purple looks that isn't too cool and I think I may have found it. And it's matte, hooray!

How do you pair your eyeshadows with blush and lip colours? Do you have 'set' combinations that you go back to, a works-for-everything product or do you just wing it?

Lip Maths: Pens at the ready...

 I need your undivided attention today, class. The simplest theories are often the most important ones. Observe:

High Voltage Lip Candy in 'Vavavoom' + Hi Fi Spotlights Lip Glaze in 'Corrode' =

Hotness that is most certainly inappropriate for school.


Gloss addition has come up in every single exam paper for the past 10 bajillion years, and it's sure to come up again and again. When revising your stash, I strongly encourage you to practice the lipstick/gloss equation.


I'd be a crap teacher, wouldn't I?

High Voltage Lip Candy Swatches

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.

Soooo.... I pretty much cannot stop buying from High Voltage. Whenever Jasmine puts the 5 for $20 Lip Candy deal up, I physically cannot resist it. I just can't. Luckily for me, you can now get lip product grab bags! Sweeeet! And if you're reading this anywhen near time of posting, go and buy the very limited Heart of Glass now. Go on. *pokepoke*

Anyway, my last order was some of the 'tamer' colours that High Voltage carry. Let's have a butchers:

 'Bad Romance.'

 'Sunset Strip Strut.'

 'Va Va Voom'

'Kiss Of True Love.'

'Sweet and Deceitful.'

Sometimes I look at my lip swatches and think... I'd kiss the crap out of me if I wasn't me. Anyway... Not bad choices at all, if I do say so myself! Bad Romance might be a bit much on my skin, I'll just have to play and see what I can make it work with. I'm a massive fan of Sunset Strip Strut and Kiss of True Love already - just my kind of colours - and Va Va Voom will be featured in Lip Maths this week! I was hoping for a Lime Crime Cosmopop dupe in Sweet and Deceitful (which would be a fitting name for a LC dupe, actually, -_-) but it's more brown-leaning.  My word, does a peach lipstick do things to me! What shall I pair it with?

Bought anything pretty lately?

High Voltage Swatches: New Products!

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.

More High Voltage, folks. Not even sorry ;)

A couple of weeks ago High Voltage released a couple of new duochromes, and despite wanting every single one of their lip products, I restrained myself and ordered a few samples. But Jasmine, the owner of the company, was awesome and threw in two Whipped Shadows and a Lip Whip! Like, mega hooray!

Let's look at pretty things!

First up is Lip Whip in 100% proof. (EDIT: This shade isn't released yet.) I'm dead pleased I got this shade as it's one I certainly would have chosen myself. I've bought a few orange/coral lip products from High Voltage, and it's nice to think that maybe a company owner notices what you like! A lovely light creamy orange with orange-gold shimmer.


The squeezy tube is the old packaging. I wasn't sure if I'd like the new packaging as to me, the Lip Whips are very similar to OCC Lip Tars and I was worried it'd be messy to apply, or that you wouldn't be able to get enough out to mix them. The above swatch was done with the doefoot and I had no problems - and a little goes a long way, so I don't think mixing will be a big deal. And I love the new cute labels!

Mirror Image, Blue Suede Shoes.

Whipped Shadows are another fairly new addition to the HV Line. The consistency is creamy rather than moussey. Both shades are very pigmented with just a hint of shimmer. I'm quite keen to use these as a base - I'll review that later if people want.

 Tangerine Dream. Messiest swatch ever. *embarrassed*

Hot In The City. Green duo is much more apparent in real life.Site says a violet duo, but it looks green to me.

Malibu Beach. Pink with lilac shift.

I was really intruigued by the release of the Amplified Lip Powders. Basically, they're powder pigments for your lips - you can mix them with gloss or balm or other lipsticks, or whatever. (These are all swatched over a light layer of balm.) You might think, 'What's the point?,' but plenty of bloggers mix up their own glosses and lip colours and it's nice to be sure that there are colours that are lip safe! I think this is a fun product and I'm uber keen to try them as blushes, too!

Left to right: Lady Stardust (Futuristic Collection),  Addicted to Love (matte), Heavy Metal (matte), Rind (Norse Mythology collection), Good Girl Gone Bad.

Yea, I bought some purples. How gorgeous?! Everything was photographing a little blue, but take it from me that Heavy Metal shits all over every other purple I own. I can't wait to use it in a look! If you're a duochrome lover, I'd grab at least a sample of Good Girl Gone Bad - purple with orange duo? Yeeeea.

Left to right: Astral Romance, Rhythm and Blues, California Sunshine, Cherry Bomb, Mjoinir (Norse Mythology), Nocturnal Passion (matte.) Couldn't capture these with flash :(

Once again, I'm blown away by how pretty the Norse Mythology colours are! I'm glad I picked up Nocturnal Passion, as I'm really lacking in green mattes that aren't retina-searing. The duochrome in Cherry Bomb (Pinky red with a blue-green shift) and California Sunshine (er... burgundy pink with blue shift) are fab - I had a bugger of a time catching them on camera though.


Well, that's all from me kids. I've been a busy bee I promise I'll have some looks for you soon!

Lip Mathematics

Numbers, I cannot multiply them. I cannot add them, I cannot subtract them, I can't calculuslus them. Lip products, however.... I can addz them! Lip Mathematics will be a quickie weekly feature where I make a mix of some lip products in an effort to not buy any more!

High Voltage Lip Candy in 'Heart of Glass' and High Voltage Lip Candy in 'Just A Girl'

A pink and a purple makes a pinky-purple! Phew. Maths is hard.

Interview with Jasmine from High Voltage

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.
What a way to wrap up my High Voltage week! The super awesome omg-I-love-her Jasmine, the owner of High Voltage did an interview for me! Hell to the yeah!

(That's Jasmine, fyi! :P)

1) What led you to create High Voltage and how did you come up with the name?

I have a large background in theatre, and stage makeup.

I've always been exploring anything that was creative that I could get my hands on.

I first started with toying with the idea of creating cosmetics in early 2008, experimenting,researching, formulating.

I was working in the IT field and wasn't happy with my career and had felt I wasn't being creatively expressive enough.So when I wasn't working I was creating new things that I felt very confident about. The name would have to be from my love of rock and metal music.

I came up in my head with a lot of different names and when I chose High Voltage I really felt like it "stuck". I felt that it represented me and what my cosmetics were all about.

2) You often post really cute, bright looks on Twitter, etc. What say you to those who aren't

brave enough to rock bright colours everyday?

First of all THANK YOU! I love your looks too Robyn,you are truly an inspiration to me!

To those who aren't brave enough to wear bright colours, take little baby steps, maybe try wearing a little bit on the lower lash line, or incorporating colour into your look maybe by trying a colour lipgloss/lipstick you love around the house, before taking the full plunge.

3) Is it difficult to have to be both creative and business minded?

Let me tell you I keep a small notebook near me at all times, if I'm not working or I'm out running errands it seems that ideas pop into my head way too often,my brain never seems to let me rest! XD

It's very easy to be business minded,I always think of what my customers would like or dislike.

I often ask for feedback from them quite often, if something isn't of interest or in demand I take that into consideration.

I LOVE my customers very much,without them I wouldn't be nearly inspired enough to try new things:)

4) You're friends with other indie cosmetics company owners online - is it difficult not to

see them as competition?

I love every single one of the ladies I've met from other companies.

I truly find them to be a great source of inspiration and I feel my friendships with them have helped me grow as a human being. I love chatting with them about cosmetics,business,life and anything else really.

I never see anyone as competition,that's not how I view it,The commonality we business owners share are so much more than that. We are artists,we are people,we should embrace one another and learn from one another!

5) You have a Norse Mythology and Brothers Grimm collections - are you into mythology? What other 'geeky' stuff are you into?

I sure do! I grew up loving Vikings, anything to do with vikings and Norse mythology. I also really enjoy Egyptian Mythology as well.

I really love Dungeons & Dragons,I grew up around my cousin who used to play it all the time.

I enjoy painting miniatures that are used in D&D. I'm a total horror and b movie fanatic,I guess you could call me a fan girl:)

Awesome Norse Mythology swatches. More here.

6) What does your working day look like?

My work day starts at around 8 AM and doesn't end until I'm done working. My day could end anytime from 7 PM to 2 AM.

You are probably wondering when do I sleep?
Not often enough!:)

7) It seem like you're always working on something - what do you do to relax?

I am indeed ALWAYS working on something. I often start a lot of projects and work on them from a few weeks to months. I guess I love being creative whenever I can! I enjoy spending time with my children,watching a good movie,and listening to some music:)

8) Why did you decide to create Aces High, the new High Voltage membership club?

I decided to creative Aces High because a lot of my customers are frequent buyers,

I wanted them to feel appreciated by offering them special gifts when they ordered and thank them for their busines essentially.

9) You come up with new colours/products all the time. What's your favourite to make? Do you have a least favourite?

I sure do! My favourite product to make is probably the lip products. I love all the different finishes that lip products can have. I like making anything from bright to dark to sultry. There's nothing I dislike making:)

A couple of my favourite Lip Candies - Material Girl and Take The Stage

10) Your products are mostly named for rock and metal songs - Where does the inspiration for the colours themselves come from?

The inspiration comes from the music it's self,different times periods,a lot of the names are either song refrences or refrences from lyrics themselves.

Music has always been a huge part of my life and always will,it's been a true inspiration for me.

11) Do you have a signature scent?

My signature scent would have to be Bath & Body Works Moonlight Path.

12) If, because of some improbable twist of awfulness, you could only keep one of your eye colours and one of your lip colours, which would you choose?

Oh no! I would never want that to happen,haha,but if it ever did, I'd probably keep Immortal Desire eye shadow (Duochrome goodness!)and the one lip product I'd keep is Pretty Woman Lip Candy.

Immortal Desire Eyeshadow. Picture property of High Voltage.

13) Do you have any pets?

I sure do! I have 2 pet rattie Boys that I love so much. I've always been a rodent person:) They are far too cuddly to not love!

14) And finally (because this is what's important to me!), what's your favourite candy?!

My favourite candy would have to be lemonheads!


Jasmine, thanks so much for being an inspiration to all us makeup geeks! You can follow Jasmine on Twitter @HighVoltageMU and you can look at High Voltage pretties here!

I love doing 'Love Weeks!' More suggestions, please - Darling Girl? Evil Shades?

High Voltage Love Week: Day 7

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.
Last but not least, my dears, I thought I had better do a look using High Voltage Secrets and Lies. If you're ordering from HV, pop a sample of this in your cart, it's so pretty!

Eyes:
Lid: High Voltage Big Break
Outer Crease: High Voltage Secrets and Lies
Inner Crease: Kiss of True Love
Lower Lashline: High Voltage Secrets and Lies
Liner: MUA Liner

Cheeks:
Sleek Pan Tao Blush

Lips:
Forgot when I took the picture, but GOSH Light N' Shine lip glaze in No 5.


Secrets and Lies is a beautiful royal purple... the lower lashline in the second picture is probably the most colour accurate, but not quite. I love the HV purples I have and I'm lusting after Smooth Operator, Hollywood Rose and Moshing Pit. Kiss Of True Love (I always hear Ursula from The Little Mermaid when I hear the those words!) is really much more in your face than in this look... my blending was a bit of the muddy side here!


So what have I learnt during HV week? I need to buy more! Hooray!

High Voltage Love Week: Day 6

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.
Hullo thar! Got caught in a horrrrrific downpour today, right after I'd dyed my hair. NICE. Anyway...

I wanted to do a look showing off 'Roadie' for today:








Lid: High Voltage Roadie
Crease: High Voltage Ragnarok (Norse Mythology)
Lower lashline: MUA Intense Glitter liner in Malted Chocolate, HV Ragnarok on top.
Liner: Gosh Art Liner in....er, brown?

Cheeks:
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Stereo Rose

Lips:
MUA lipstick Shade 11.

I LOVE ROADIE - what a wicked deep teal-green! I really don't think I can say anything else about this look, other than I should have done a white waterline and probably a less pink lipstick shade. Oh, one other thing - with High Voltage shadows, I prefer to use a creamy base, such as NYX pencils, rather than something sticky like Pixie Epoxy - I get a much nicer, more even payoff with them, and they're really pigmented anyway! Only one more HV day! Waaaaa :(

High Voltage Love Week: Day 5

Due to recent customer service complaints, long order waits, orders going missing and ingredient inconsitencies, I can no longer recommend High Voltage Cosmetics.
Happy Egg Weekend, everyone! The weather is beautiful, so I've made some Nutella cakes and we're off for a picnic!

High Voltage has some wonderful purples, so I thought I'd put together a sultry purple eye:





No full face 'cos I was Spot City at the time, but I wore Evil Shades blush in Ravishing and Gosh Light N Shine lip glaze in no 5.


Lid: High Voltage Born to Rock
Crease: High Voltage Strutter
Outer V: High Voltage Freyr (Norse Mythology)
Inner Corner: High Voltage Starbreaker
Liner: Collection 2000 Extreme Wear liner in Purple

How amazing is Born to Rock? Purple and green duochrome?! YEAH. I 'created' a purple and green duo shadow for one of my ideas for the High Voltage contest and then realised... Durrr, Jasmine already made one. Fail.

Eyeshadows named after Kiss songs rock my fucking socks off - Strutter is the most ridiculous song in the world and I love it. If I had had more time, I might've blended Starbreaker along the line of the top of Strutter in the crease, but I didn't. I'm getting up at 6.45 now if I want to wear nice make-up... we'll see how long that lasts!