Etsy Pick of the Week, Baltimore Edition, Volume 3

For this third volume of the Baltimore edition I am going to introduce you to Mineral Love.


Image: etsy.com

After years of thinking about curating her own cosmetics line, Trica found inspiration in an unlikey place. In 2009, she turned a devastating experience into a positive outlet for the grief she felt by paying attention to her desire to create beauty. Driven by her "love of makeup and passion for creating", she made Mineral Love a reality. Tricia makes vegan, mineral makeup in amazing colors. Gorgerous, glittery eyeshadows, perfect face powders, and luscious lip gloss are just a few of the offerings from Mineral Love.


"The Foxy Collection"
Image: etsy.com

Tricia sent me an eye shadow set called "The Foxy Collection" to take for a test drive. 

Everything I received. 

The following was taken from Mineral Love's Etsy page that features the Foxy Collection:

"You know you're a cute little heartbreaker". 
(Foxy)
"You know you're a sweet little lovemaker".
(Foxy)


The Foxy Collection was inspired by the intense, wailing groove of Jimi Hendrix's guitar. 
::swoon::


Do you love how I covered the words in a "Purple Haze"? Get it? Purple Haze? 

Super Sexy Jimi Hendrix
Image: amazon.com

I too swoon when I think of Jimi Hendrix and his guitar so I can totally respect the inspiration behind the collection. As you can see from the picture displaying my Mineral Love swag, I received a generous supply of stuff. Inside the sexy black lace bag was The Foxy Collection ($15.00) which consists of four pots of eye shadow and a bottle of Magic Mixing Medium ($5.00). I will explain what Magic Mixing Medium is used for shortly.
Tricia also stuck in a card with a picture of the completed look on an eye, (same picture of the eye that I featured above) and also gives step by step instructions on how to achieve the look using the shadows. I will not be sharing the steps with you. You will just have to buy the collection to get the tips. *Insert Evil Laugh Here* The last thing in the bag was Mineral Love's business card which had four sample packets of eye shadow attached to the back. I was really excited about that because samples rock. Duh.

The Foxy Collection Eye Shadows

Here are the eye shadows. The bottom three are sparkly while the top, dark color is matte.

Foxy Collection swatched dry.
(left to right)
Delicate, Glitz, Katelyn, Anne

Now here is where the Magic Mixing Medium comes in....

Magic Mixing Medium
Image: etsy.com

The Magic Mixing Medium transforms any of Mineral Love's eye shadows or blushes into rich, dense colors. Perfect for using as eyeliner or if you prefer cream blushes. The blendability (so not a word) of these shadows is so perfect and I would imagine that the same would be true of the blushes.
So what you do is you take some of the powder and tap it out into the cap. Then you squeeze a drop of Magic Mixing Medium on top of your powder mound in the cap.

A drop of Magic Mixing Medium in each cap.

Then simply swirl around to mix everything up and *BAM*, your makeup is transformed!

Swatched after adding Magic Mixing Medium.
(left to right)
Delicate, Glitz, Katelyn, Anne

You can see that the colors intensified after swirling with the Magic Mixing Medium. The texture obviously changes, becomes creamier, but still applies flawlessly. I am a huge fan of using eye shadow as eye liner as opposed to a pencil. It ends up looking less severe on my pale skin, and the color options are much more varied when selecting from my eye shadow collection instead of relying on my boring black/brown eye liner pencil. I absolutely adore using Anne as eye liner and have been doing so daily. It works well dry as a liner for day and at night I can add umph to my signature smoky eye by applying Anne wet as liner and then covering my lid with it dry. Perfection.
You may be asking yourself if I tried to create the "Foxy" look on myself. Where are the pictures?? Well I did try out the look. I succeeded in making my eyes look super Foxy but I refuse to take pictures of the result. 
Here's why....A.K.A. "my whiny excuses" 
March was the worst and presented me with a storm of catastrophes. (that I promise to address in a later post!) Therefore, my eyebrows have not seen a wax strip in at least four weeks. My overgrown eyebrows were ruining my Foxy pictures! I am seriously staring to look like Bert from Sesame Street. Or Martin Scorsce. For reals. So just use your imagination and visualize in your mind a picture of my eyes looking all sultry, smoky, and sparkly thanks to these eye shadows. Maybe it will erase the vision you have of me looking all like this:

Hello Unibrow!
Image: herr_hartman

Yes this is really Mr. Scorsese. I adore this rare, casual shot of him.
Image: Tyler Durdan_

Yup, this is a classic case of BEAUTY BLOGGER FAIL. I need to get it together, have a professional to maintenance my bushy brows, and take some pictures!
I'm getting off track here. Mineral Love!
The sample eye shadows that Tricia gave me were so pretty! Pastel and shimmery, they are so right for spring. 

(Clockwise from top left)
Elise, Emaline, Christina, Bombshell

The packets were harder to work with for obvious reasons. To use with the Magic Mixing Medium, I took a Q-Tip and fluffed a little of the eye shadow out onto a plate. Then I put a drop of the Magic Mixing Medium on top of the fluffed shadow. Below are the swatches....

Dry Swatches
(Left to Right)
Bombshell, Christina, Emaline, Elise

After adding Magic Mixing Medium
(Left to Right)
Bombshell, Christina, Emaline, Elise

Really pretty right?! Just like with the dark and smoky Anne, I love using Bombshell as eye liner. I was really frustrated while taking these pictures because some of the lovely effects didn't show up well. Like Christina has a awesome lilac sheen to it dry and as a creamy shadow. All of the colors have a kiss of shimmer, even Bombshell. 
Using alone, you can create a simple but stunning look for the office or running around town. Or you can whip up a night time look using all of the colors. I promise you won't look like a unicorn. And really, if you ended up looking like a unicorn would it be so bad? No! It would be magical!!  
OMG. Will someone let me know when my "World's Favorite ADHD Blogger" award arrives? I will be in the kitchen dumping out the rest of my third cup of coffee. 
For the longest time I had trouble achieving a smoky eye look on myself. I am sure I have mentioned before how fair my skin is. More often than not, the colors that I selected to work with were too harsh for my porcelain complexion and I would end up looking like someone punched me in the eyes. A hot mess. So when I was just starting out with this look (not that I am an expert now) I used light colors. Once I "mastered" the technique, I was able to play around with darker, but still flattering colors. I would recommend this method of "Smoky Eye 101" to amateurs everywhere. The light, dreamy colors I received in the sample packets would be so perfect for this! Bombshell as liner, Elise on the lid, and Emaline either in the crease or in the upper corner of the lid. Then finish off using Christina as a highlighter, applying to the inner corner of your eye and the brow bone. Easy, enchanting eyes!
After browsing the Mineral Love's Etsy store, I came up with a short list of must have products. Short because I want one of everything from each category! So I just picked some favorites.

Ready Set Go Oil Absorbing Powder
Image: etsy.com

Ready Set Go Oil Absorbing Powder ($14.99) is a light and fluffy finishing powder that was designed to minimize shine and extend the life of your foundation. 
Images: etsy.com

Saturday Full Size Eye Shadow ($9.99) is a taupey, purply, gray that I am always looking for. Perfect for any day, all day. 

Images: etsy.com
Just look at it! Who doesn't need Pink Unicorn Lip Gloss ($6.00) in their life??!!
***********************************************************
I chatted with the beautiful Tricia from Mineral Love about starting her own makeup line, customer compliments, and of course....Baltimore.

Tricia being all gorgeous.
Image: esty.com

Why did you decide to create your own makeup line?    I feel like everything I've experienced in my life (both professionally and personally) has led me to my passion. The thought of starting my own line had crossed my mind numerous times, but not until my father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer did I take action. Watching his sickness and his inevitable degradation made me realize just how fragile and short life is, and I wanted more out of life than I had given myself up until that point. I immediately delved into research and development, which served two purposes: not only was I working towards creating a satisfying life for myself, but it also helped me do something positive with my grief instead of slipping into a chasm of sadness. In a way, my dad's passing actually helped me renew my own life, of which I am eternally grateful.   Which product are you most proud of and why?

Ooo, this is a tough one! I am extremely proud of every product I create, but if I had to choose just one, I would say my eye shadows. I never get tired of hearing my customers say "I love your shadows so much more than <insert big box cosmetic company's name here.> Yours are all I use!" I am still blown away and humbled by the tremendous outpouring of support from my fans and friends; it inspires me to create even more awesome shades! I also do custom requested colors, and there is no greater joy than seeing the look on their faces (or reading their elated emails) when I've made The. Perfect. Color.  What do you love most about living in Baltimore? There is so much that I love about Baltimore! I was born in another state, but was raised here (my mom is originally from here, and we moved back when I was just a baby.)  I love how connected everyone really is (they don't call it "Small-timore" for nothing!) and I love the indie brick-and-mortar shops in each of our different neighborhoods. I love the Visionary Art Museum. I have fond memories of cutting last period and heading to the Inner Harbor or Fells Point (I mean, uh... I'm a perfect angel... I never cut class...) Most of all, I love all of the amazing people I've met and how diverse our city is. Charm City is where my heart is. ♥ ***********************************************************

Mineral Love is so totally worth your time. If you love makeup as much as I do, you will "ooooo" and "ahhh" over the huge variety of products and spectrum of colors. The texture of the eye shadows is amazing and really one of the best I have ever tried. The best part of all? Every product is reasonably priced. Which means my must have list will absolutely get crossed off soon! 
I would like to give a shout out to Tricia. Thank you for your generosity, patience, and participation. I wish you so much success and luck in the future!
Visit the Mineral Love shop on Etsy, like Mineral Love on Facebook, and keep up to date on the latest news by following Mineral Love on Twitter.
SO....are you dying to get over to Mineral Love? What is your favorite product? Do you think I can take my little black lace bag that my products arrived in and turn it into a hot thong? Maybe sell it on Etsy? Repurposed thongs anyone? I will name my store "Kit's Knickers". YES!