Makeup Monsters
Lipstick, eyeshadows, & hair dye? O' My! That's right Makeup Monsters, known for their remarkable matte liquid lipsticks also does Monster Hair Dye™, enchanting Moonlit Metals™ Lip Toppers, highlighters and recently launched their first eyeshadow palette: Dragon Child.
Makeup Monsters Cosmetics is local to my state, but on the other side, hailing from Easter border of Washington. Founded in 2015 by Samantha who wanted to share her love of bright, creepy and cute things. Vegan and Cruelty free, "a small business with a big heart", encouraging individuality, confidence and community. These are all things I appreciate so I am very excited to try them out. Let's get started by taking a look at the Dragon Palette.
"Here be dragons"
The Dragon Palette, Makeup Monsters' first eyeshadow palette, is full of richly pigmented silky powders (some of the colors a bit on the chalky silky side, just noticed a few have a slight difference in texture). Use a light hand with this one till you get a feel for how the shadows work for you. They work well, but because they are so pigmented, they are rather opaque and that will affect how they go on. Great for layering though. Mostly matte, with some sparkle, this palette is great to use with a your favorite neutrals or black to pop it up a notch or can be used alone. The pans are decent sized, which was great for doing a full face, and using some of these for contouring and details.
Of for the love of lippies!
Now for the lippies! Brilliant opaque hues that last. These are the first I've had trouble removing, that is a pro and a con depending how you are wearing your lipstick but these buggers stay put! Took an oil-based removed to break it's hold on my lips. Was able to scrub off with a wipe, but that was too harsh, so I definitely recommend having an oil based remover when using these. When I went to remove, I do warn you don't be as sloppy as me, I did smear around some with my cotton ball, and a bit of my face and my fingers were dyed for a bit. All these colors go on beautifully and I did not feel I needed a liner, but a primer or chapstick under is a good idea. There are also not too drying which is awesome. I've been wearing Grim often, it's one of my new go-to daily favorites, but these other colors are close behind when I want a bit more color. Seriously these colors are gorgeous, and if you're feeling sparkly, there's magical Lip Toppers, keep reading to check out Chakra and Dragon's Gold with these lippies.
O the glorious, sparkly for days Moonlit Metals™ Lip Toppers! I just grabbed two to try, but I already have my eye on more. These sparklers go on thicker than I expected, so depending how much glitz you want on your lip you can try applying by dabbing, brushing, or going full on with the lid lip applicator. MM recommends using a gloss on top, but I have not found these too drying yet, and love the matte and sparkle combo. Adding a lip topper is a great way to transform your collection of lipstick, instantly doubling your looks. To apply I found what worked best for me was using the applicator to squeegee out a small amount the side of my left hand and using my right index finger to dab on the glitz. This also worked well for adding some around my face where I wanted a bit more sparkle.
I also tried Deadly Darling Pressed Powder Illusive Lights Highlighter, but silly me forgot to do a swatch. It is a sparkly highlighter with fine sparkle, on the cool tone of pink side. Great hue to add to my highlight collection, which was missing a cool toned pink and I use a lot of cool tones with my skin tone but love pink!
Now for the hair dye! Monster Hair Dye™, it's vegan, cruelty free, gluten free, ammonia free and paraben free. Yep, that's right, and it comes in a giant 10.5 oz wide mouth jar which is great for dipping a tint brush and applying directly to your hair.
Now they advertise it as more for your money compared to Manic Panic, which is true, however, shipping is more, and often these are not included in "free ship" deals so when I factored that in, there wasn't really a cost difference. So on to how did the dye actual work?
The colored I tried is Unforgettable, their bright pink. Since I have color remaining from past dyes, my roots were rather long so that is where you can see how this dye worked over virgin hair. I do pre-lighten my hair with a 20 developer and bleach. Below you can see my before and after. Since I have allergies I brushed on a nice heart on my leg of dye, to let it sit for a while to see if I had any skin reaction. When I went to wipe off, my skin was barely pigmented, which is good to note if you tend to get your hair dye on your skin. They and I still suggest using a resist agent on your skin though.
Other colors I used for this dye job were Manic Panic's: Fuschia Shock for a darker pink, my lil' Bride of Frankenstein stripes by my temples are Electric Lizard, and mix of Vampire Red and touch of Midnight Blue for the underneath. Below you can click to see my Before and After fully.
Now what happens when we pull all of these together?
(Plus a lil crystal crown I made)
Check out those colors! Makeup Monsters definitely get points for rich, vibrant colors for the whole face, and hair which is rare. I used Dragon Palette for contour, eyeshadow and the dahlia flower inspired chin and forehead, using my Stila white liner again for a little defining. Check out the glow from that Deadly Darling highlighter. I did line my eyes with my go to Smashbox liner and mascara. Just check out that Myth or Legend, and Dragon Child I used for contouring, Wyrm on my lids and Sleeping Dragon on my eyes too, plus Smoke 'em Out for lines, a few of my new favorites. For powders, and lips, these colors are meant to last. Below you can click to view my mini gallery to see this look with the different lippies, and each lippie with one of lip toppers to see how it changes just on your lip. I love the magic of a good lip.
Thought on hair dye, as of now:
I've now washed my hair a few times, and the color has faded a little, but not any more or less than any other that I can tell yet. Arctic Fox stayed well and then all the sudden started fading really fast, so only time will tell, I'll update if it starts to crazy fade. The color is beautiful, and I do like the large easy to use jar, however I'm not ready to trade in my Dye Hard Manic Panic status yet. I do think think these dyes from Makeup Monsters are great to use in addition to Manic Panic, or any other cruelty free hair dye brand. It's a beautiful colorful world and the best part is, you can have both! I am loving this Unforgettable pink from MM but I am also loving Fuschia Shock from MP, and they go so well together! I do look forward to trying MM's Monster, bright green, dye vs. Electric Lizard since it did absorb some of the Unforgettable color. I know Electric Lizard tends to absorb dye around it, which is why I usually use it with a blue or teal, and then it stays vibrant green forever, and UV is still uncomparable, so it will be fun to try another green to see how it works.
Thank you for playing makeup with me! I hope you enjoyed your visit makeup land, please remember your shoes and jacket before leaving.
Love you Beauty Bat,
K. Just a reminder: I purchased these products with my own funds, no affiliation, this post is purely of my own opinion and experience.
