IndieAna- In Search of the HolyGrail

When I first heard about Etsy seller Opulent Alchemy , I was a little meh about it all, thinking that I really wasn't interested in dupes of various store bought perfumes. I finally decided that for my blog, I'd buy them for reviewing purposes, any excuse is a good excuse, right?? ;) The hardest part of this purchase was trawling through the incredible list of perfume oil dupes listed in Opulent Alchemy's blog . My order arrived in a cute little box. The fragrances, including postage cost a total of $25, very reasonable for 7 perfume oils. The packaging includes roller-ball application. The labels are very cute. Perfumes ordered as follows: JLo- Love at first Glow: *The original version has bergamot, neroli, Georgia peach, pink jasmine, wild rose, osmanthus, freesia, sheer musk, blond woods and vanilla absolute. I've read some pretty scathing reviews about the original, I have no idea what it smells like, but I'm liking Opulent Alchemy's version. It st...

Not really needing more bath and beauty products, I still had to buy the Heartsy voucher for The Dapper Owl , $10 for a $32 voucher, sounded pretty good to me. The owner is Alexandra and she is a full time college student. In her words "I love making soaps and other bath products in my spare time. My favorite things to include in my shop are bright, fun colors for kids and old fashioned recipes that are good for everyone and vegan friendly!" My order was packaged well, and I appreciated the personal touch of a hand written card offering me a discount on my next order. I purchased the following; Tangerine soap: " This layered soap smells wonderful! Tangerine and orange come together to make a beautiful, citrus filled soap. I've added orange peel to the mixture to give it a little bit of extra scrubbing power. Orange peel is a natural exfoliant and is gentle, yet effective when used on the face." Solid perfume in Bee's Knees: "This...

I recently purchased some Indio products from sale site Brands Exclusive . I often quickly delete emails from the sale sites that I've signed up to, only because I get too tempted, but I thought I'd check it out for the skincare. I've never heard of Indio Skincare before, and a quick look at the site revealing that the company is Australian was a definite pro for me. I purchased Vitamin A serum, Vitamin C serum (musts for my anti-aging skincare routine) and Multi-V serum. These serums are 15ml in size. For this order I payed $68.95 for the Vitamin A serum with the Vitamin C serum free, and the Multi-V serum $54.95. Postage was $10.50, which is a bit steep for local shipping, but at a total of $134.40 for active products, I thought that I was getting them for a good price. Taken from the site: Vitamin C Serum is described as "A 12% Vitamin C featuring the potent Japanese Nikkol VCIP Vitamin C ester. It has outstanding transdermal absorption and anti-ox...

Yep, this purchase is Heartsy's fault, yet again ;) I've wanted to increase the amount of mattes in my mineral eye shadow collection, and noticed that Pure Fusion had quite a few mattes in their etsy store. So, with another Heartsy voucher bought, I ordered some eye shadows. Ingredients of products are listed on the site, the shadows were posted shrink-wrapped, which I like. Matte Chocolate is a versatile neutral colour. Matte French Cafe is a light neutral shade. I found it hard to capture it dry, so swatched it wet. Penelope is similar to matte chocolate, but has shimmer. Hestia is a very usable gold, leaning neutral. Matte Lilac is just that..applying wet makes it more vibrant. Matte Deep Moss is a dark olive green. I found that these shadows were easy to work with, and adhered well. I am considering ordering in future. I would like to purchase a collection (or 2), Pure Fusion showcases collections of various "looks...

Heartsy tempted me once again, with an offer from Brazen Cosmetics . I had not heard of this etsy seller before, but am so glad I discovered such wonderful products. For a mere $12, I was entitled to a $35 voucher. I normally don't go for mineral makeup vouchers, as I have more than enough eye shadows, however, after a little googling of reviews, this sale I could not miss. Service was great, I received a shipping notice quickly after placing my order. The shadow sample and glitter pot were freebies, always a nice touch :) Lipglaze in Breathless is a pale pink with shimmer. It has a subtle minty fragrance, and gives a slight tingle on the lips. Not heavy or tacky, in fact this gloss feels similar to a lip balm. Nice and subtle on its own, would also add shine and shimmer to lipstick. Very pretty. Contained in a tube, which I much prefer than a pot. Simple to apply with the doe-foot wand. Perfect colour to pair with a smokey eye, or a touch of pink to compliment a natural look. ...

After years of research and established since 2007, creator  Meredith Smith now boasts a huge range of scented goodies available from her website , etsy store and her recently opened bricks-and-mortar shop (wouldn't I love the opportunity to go there!!) More info on Meredith can be found here . I must credit my love of Sweet Anthem perfumes to Heartsy. I was so impressed with the perfume oils and perfume sprays which I'd ordered, that when there was a pre-order offered of her fall collection, I jumped at the chance to order the sample set of 7 perfumes at the price of US$28, including postage. The samples are not your typical vial samples, but little bottles with screw-on cap. I get quite a few uses out of each sample. I realise I am late in reviewing the fall set, however, I can largely thank customs for holding up my parcel of scented goods. I don't like to comment too much on actual postage time, as most of my parcels arrive from the US, I have to not only take ...

Etsy store, Latherati is closing down. Sadly, I've only just found this store, as I'm happy with the quality of the perfume oils that I have received.  All products sold, which include perfumes, soaps, lip balms and creams are book inspired. I'm not a huge reader of literary books, tho from reviews that I have read, this seller is pretty spot on with matching  scents with characters. What I've found with the perfumes that I currently have is that, on me, they soften quite quickly and seem to linger. Lovely soft fragrances...I am planning to purchase more, I'm a sucker for a sale!! The perfumes that I currently own, and are still listed in the store are: Sinister - Fall pumpkins, black licorice, carnival cotton candy and a hint of spearmint. All the notes are easily detected, nothing really stands out to me, the notes just blend together so well. Celebration- A party of sparkling champagne, creamy orange and a hint of juicy strawberries. This is such a...