Glamour Doll Eyes - Swatches and Review

I'm baaaack!  That's right, my retail obsession has continued into my vacation and I received my Glamour Doll Eye (GDE) eyeshadow pigments!  I'm excited to share this company with you, because, as you know, I'm a huge supporter of independent and small businesses.

These shadows are actually fairly inexpensive, at $6.00 for a little jar.  You can get the jar without a sifter, and receive 2-2.5 grams of product, or you can have a sifter jar with 1.5-2 grams of product.  Grams, you say?  But that's tiny!  Absolutely... because for eyeshadow, you need only a teeny-tiny amount!  Wearing a color every day from a jar with 2-2.5 grams will give you SEVERAL months of use.  Also, if you're not sure if you want to invest in a full-size product, you can also buy a little sample baggie with .5 grams of product for $1.25, or a sample jar with 1 gram of product for $2.50.

The eyeshadow pigments are made from earth minerals, so no pesky chemicals!  All ingredients and pigments are FDA approved for use on the eyes, and some of the pigments can be used on the lips as well.  There is a blogger affiliate program, but for this review, I just decided to order some sample baggies and see how it went.  I'm happy to say that I'm now in love and plan to order many, many more.  So, without further ado (I know you're just here for the pretty pictures!), here are the swatches and my review!

First of all, here are the colors I picked:

Top Row L-R:  Fiji Mermaid, Celestial Crow, Sparkler, Graves in May
Middle Row, L-R:  Katie's Storm, Vulnerable, Obscure, Mushroom
Bottom Row, L-R:  Free Sample bag, Dirty Jeans, Juicy Mango

Wait... did you just read the words "Free Sample"?  You did indeed!  In addition to the 8 shades that I selected (top two rows) and paid $1.25 each for (total $10), GDE selected two additional shades and sent them to me as free samples!  Of course, it's hard to see the colors in the bag.  Let's see some swatches!

From left to right, the colors are:  Fiji Mermaid, Celestial Crow, Sparkler, and Graves in May

inside, no flash

inside, with flash

outside

First of all, can we just talk about how cool the color names are?  How much fun is it to tell someone your eyeshadow is "Fiji Mermaid" instead of "green"?  Fiji Mermaid is actually much more than green.  It's a deep peacock teal, with green and blue shimmers.  According to the GDE website, it resembles a mermaid's scales.  And it is by far my favorite so far!

Celestial Crow is a deep, shimmery navy.  It was originally released as a special shade in their OTM (of the month, more on that later!) Club, from June 2012, but was voted by customers to join the regular lineup.  It's described on the site as a "blackened blue with intense green shimmer".  It really comes alive in the swatches, and will be a perfect dark shimmery accent color for an evening look!

Next up is Sparkler, and boy does it! Sparkle, I mean!  It's a "rosy pink with silver sparkles", and it shines way beyond what I expected.  It is an amazing summer shade, just a quick swipe of this on the lids and a some waterproof mascara, and you will be beach-ready and rocking!  I can already tell that this will be part of my regular shadow lineup, and I will soon need a BIGGER JAR!

Last in this lineup is Graves in May.  I have to admit, I ordered it at least partially for the name!  It's a sparkly lavender-pink, with gray undertones, and actually looked a lot more neutral on the website than on me!  But I'm totally digging it (oops... unfortunate reference, I know), and it will be a great base color for a fun professional look.

Ok, so those were the fun colors I picked.  Next up are the neutrals.  From L-R:  Katie's Storm, Vulnerable, Obscure, and Mushroom.

inside, no flash

inside, with flash

outside

I bet you've never seen neutrals like this!  These would add an extra kick to any professional look.  They're smooth and pretty, and I WANT THEM ALL NOW.  *Ahem*  As I was saying...

Katie's Storm is a fantastic greige (gray-beige) with silver sparkles, and will be a great base color.  I will be trying a look soon with Katie's Storm on the lid, and Celestial Crow in the corner and blended into the crease!  Hmmm, let's see... with a navy blue button down shirt, khaki shorts... silvery jewelry. Fabulous, yes?  Stepford Wives, here I come!

Vulnerable is a fantastic highlight color.  It's supposed to be a "light beige with rose and green shimmers", but I see it as a light, warm gold.  It reminds me of my Mary Lou-Manizer from The Balm, just in a loose pigment form instead of a solid eyeshadow/highlighter.  `I love it, but I'm not sure if it can replace Mary-Lou.  Maybe I'll pit them against each other in a competition!  (Yes, that's right, I force my makeup into duels for a place in my makeup bag.  It's all part of my charm.)

Obscure... oh, Obscure.  My new favorite matte shade!  I have been trying to go for more matte shadows recently (and failing miserably, as you can see).  Shimmery shadow will eventually become age-inappropriate for me, and I'd just like to be prepared.  Of course, once I reach the age when NOTHING is inappropriate, I'll be rocking teal shimmers like nobody's business!  Still.  Mattes are more professional, and I'm happy to find such a beautiful matte neutral as Obscure.  In fact, I plan on introducing Obscure to Matt Batali from the Balm (a dark matte brown with purple undertones).  They won't have to compete, in fact, I look forward to them having a long and successful relationship as two essential parts of a professional smokey eye!

And last (never least, Mushroom!), is the deep and mysterious Mushroom.  It's a dark taupe that complements Katie's Storm.  They have the same silver duochrome, and will pair together to be the evil, skanky step-sister of the professional smokey Obscure/Matt Batali pair!  Not quite professional - but definitely dangerous!

Now, before I get to these last two colors, I need to make a confession - I would NEVER have chosen these for myself!  However, the second I swatched both of them, I'm in love, I'm using them every time I feel like being daring, and I can't wait to see more samples!  I may place orders just to have GDE push my boundaries with fun, fabulous colors that I just... can't... quite... buy on my own!

From L-R:  Dirty Jeans and Juicy Mango

inside, no flash

inside, flash (I'm SO SORRY it's blurry, but the colors came through well!)

outside

Oh my gosh, the beautiful, beautiful duochomes on both of these colors!  Dirty Jeans is a pretty medium blue, but the green and golden undertones make this color completely fab!  As you can tell from the outside pic, without light you can just see the blue, but with any spark of light, the green and gold just flash and sparkle!  I don't wear blue often (hazel eyed girl, here!), but when I do, it will be Dirty Jeans!

And Juicy Mango... so well named.  It's a juicy, multifaceted, gorgeous color!  You'd think it's just a light-hued orange, but check out my (blurry, sorry!) photo with the flash!  The pinky-peach shimmer is amazing.  In fact, I can't wait to blend some Juicy Peach with some Sparkler and see how much fun I can have!

And I did promise you information on the OTM (Of The Month) Club!  Every month, a limited-release color (and I mean LIMITED! Only 100 are made!) is sent out.  To be a part of it, you have to be focused and ready at noon PST (3 PM EST) on the 8th of each month to buy one of the open slots!  I have to admit, with school going on for my boys, 3 PM is right after I pick them up, and I have ALWAYS missed it!  Hopefully I can get in this month, please cross your fingers for me!

So, what do you think?  Do you love Glamour Doll Eyes as much as I do?  Will you be ordering some samples?  Which one of these was your fave?  Let me know!