High Voltage, Part Deux: The Swatches

I had so much fun playing with my eyeshadows from High Voltage Cosmetics yesterday that I had to go back for round two this morning. First thing I did after I got up (well, second thing … first thing was make coffee, without which no other things are possible) was to swatch all 8 colors I bought. So without further ado, I present: THE SWATCHES! Here they are in their full glory, swatched dry over UDPP, basking in the morning sun. Click to embiggen.

First up, let’s take another look at the purpley colors. I wasn’t that happy with the swatches I did yesterday, so I redid them, and I think these show the colors better. Crazy Crazy Nights on the left, Out in a Pout on the right.

Full sun:

Outside, indirect light, no flash:

Inside, with flash:

These swatches give a MUCH better look at the differences between these two colors than the ones I did yesterday. Also, CCN is definitely more shimmery than I’d thought. I maintain that OiaP isn’t all that shimmery or metallic; to me, it really seems more like a matte base with some sparkle. Not a bad thing at all, just not what I’d expected.

Row two! My beloved Backstage Pass on the left (if you’re looking for an opaque yet sparkly white, RUN, DON’T WALK), Big Break in the middle, Free Style on the right. Big Break is a pinky/peach color with gold sparkle–more pink than peach–and I couldn’t get it to photograph well. It’s not nearly as sheer as it appears here. Free Style is a stunning sort of olivey green with gold shimmer/sparkle. LOVE this one.

Again, direct sun, indirect outdoor light, indoors with flash:

Gorgeous, eh? Big Break and Free Style actually look really nice together … hmmmmmmmm …

On to row three, which I think are some of the most unique colors I got in this order. So unique, in fact, that I’m having a hard time describing them. So let’s see what the site says! On the left, we have Love Drunk, described as “shimmery grey blueish shade that is unlike any other!” I’ll buy that! In the middle is Solar Power, described as “blueish purple grey.” I’m sensing a pattern. And on the right is Mirror Mirror, described as a “mid-toned blue, multidimensional.” I think these descriptions are all fairly accurate. On to the pretties! Again … say it with me now … direct sun, indirect sun no flash, indoors with flash.

Now let’s look at them all together!

Indirect light, no flash:

Indirect light, with flash:

So there you have it! The standouts to me here are Backstage Pass and Love Drunk, mostly because I think they’re very unique and because this company clearly knows how to create a super-light eyeshadow that’s neither sheer nor chalky. Being a total sucker for super-light eyeshadows, I’m impressed. Love Drunk is amazing–it’s much more complex than these photos show. I also really like Solar Power, Big Break (wish I could have gotten a better photo of this one), and Free Style.

Oh, and I don’t know why it never occurs to me to look at anything other than eyeshadow when I am engaging in Internet commerce, but apparently High Voltage does lip stuff too! The lovely and talented Julissa wrote a post about this a while back, and man … I clearly missed the boat. If when I order from HV again, I might have to check some lip stuff out too.

So: What do you think? Which are your favorites? Any other High Voltage shades I need in my life?

Danger! Danger!

High voltage!

High Voltage Cosmetics, that is! After eyeballing their stuff online for some time, I placed my first order with HVC on 27 August. Actually, I placed it kind of late at night, as I recall, so for all intents and purposes, let’s call it 28 August. It shipped on the 29th and I got it on 1 September. FAST!

I ordered several different colors, but today, I want to focus on the purpley ones. The colors I used here are Crazy Crazy Nights (described on the site as “dusty rose,” but it seems more like a mid-tone violety purple with rose shimmer to me), Out in a Pout (described as “metallic maroon red wine,” but again seems more like a darker purple color with reddish/pink shimmer), and Backstage Pass (perfectly described as “bright ivory/cream white with a shimmery glow of gold sparks thrown in”). Neither of the purple colors seemed all that shimmery to me; they behaved more like matte colors in that they stayed where I put them and didn’t seem to want to sheer out as I blended them. No big deal, I just ended up using Crazy Crazy Nights to blend Out in a Pout, and using Backstage Pass to blend CCN.

On to the swatches! This one was taken in direct sunlight. From left to right, Backstage Pass, Crazy Crazy Nights, and Out in a Pout. As always, click to embiggen.

Crazy Crazy Nights is built up quite a bit in the middle, so it looks darker and more purple than it really is. In reality, it’s more like the color around the edges of the swatch in these photos. I swear that CCN and OiaP look different in real life–OiaP is significantly darker.

Inside, with flash:

Inside, with flash, at an angle–you can see how much darker OiaP is in this one:

I really liked all three of these colors. CCN and OiaP were nice, but didn’t seem that unique to me. The one that really blew me away was Backstage Pass. I’m a sucker for extremely light eyeshadows, and I have had a HELL of a time finding a white that’s not sheer. As you can see here … this bad boy AIN’T SHEER. It’s opaque and very sparkly, and it makes an incredible highlight color. Several of the highlight colors I’ve bought are so sheer as to be useless–what’s the point of using it if you can’t freaking SEE it?–but not this one. I love it.

And now to the look. Let me just preface this by saying that my office closed early today because of the long weekend and I had WAAAAY too much time on my hands. Also, my hair was sort of greasy and refused to cooperate, so I said “fuck it” and put more stuff in it and stuck it pretty much straight out, in keeping with the “High Voltage” theme.

In the stairwell (hey, it gets good light):

Out the back door:

OK, here’s what we have here:

• UDPP
• Wet ‘n’ Wild light pinky/violet eyeshadow (top left color in the Lust palette, I don’t think it has a name) in inner corners and inner third of lids
• High Voltage Crazy Crazy Nights in middle of lids and above Out in a Pout to blend
• High Voltage Out in a Pout on outer lids, in crease, and under lower lashes
• Backstage Pass to blend out CCN and as highlighter
• Sonia Kashuk eyeliner in Purple Passion on waterline
• Christian Dior DiorShow mascara over Urban Decay lash primer
• Urban Decay XXX Shine lip gloss in Love Junkie (I LOVE this color)

I tried to make crazy eyes in this next one, but I’m not sure it worked.

Generally speaking, I was very happy with this order–fast shipping, nice colors, very reasonably priced, good stuff all around. Would definitely order from High Voltage again. (ETA: And when I do, I think I need to look into their lip stuff too … Julissa’s post has convinced me!)