Some important changes to the blog...

Dear readers,

I'm sorry about all the wordy posts/lack of swatches lately, and thanks in advance for reading this one anyway despite its conformity to that trend; I promise I'll get back to the kind of posts you know and love soon. :) For now, I have some news for you:

... I transferred authorship of this blog (and ownership of all its widgets and stuff like that) over from my personal Google account to my Sasquatch Swatch email account to minimize confusion and blog-related emails to my personal email address. Everything should look the same on the blog; as far as I can tell, the only difference that may affect you is that if you subscribe to the blog by email, those emails will now be coming from the email address sasquatchswatch (at) gmail (dot) com. (If you're not a subscriber but would like to be, you can subscribe by entering your email address in the FeedBurner box in the upper right-hand corner of this page. Your email address will not be shared with anyone or spammed, I promise!)

... I can't believe I'm writing this, but I signed up for Twitter (username SasquatchSwatch). If you'd like to, you can follow me there. I am still completely baffled by Twitter, so please bear with me as I figure it out!

... I'm going to remove the "Coming Soon!" section of the sidebar unless anyone has any serious objections because it takes up too much space and can be misleading (some of that stuff has been up there for months and I still haven't posted about it). Anyone who wants to know what's in store for the future or submit requests is still more than welcome to do so, of course; just email me.

... I'm also looking into adding a small amount of advertising content to the site because, quite frankly, I'm kind of broke and could use even a little bit of extra income if I want to be able to keep swatching/keep the blog going in the future. For this reason, you may notice a couple of new links or ad boxes on the blog over the next month or two. If you have any feedback or questions for me about the changes, please feel free to contact me. I assure you they will not be obtrusive or annoying; I'd rather stop blogging entirely than allow my site to become overrun with advertising!

... Lastly, it has recently come to my attention that the Federal Trade Commission has modified its laws and guidelines for bloggers who endorse/recommend products, and in a way that actually makes me very happy. If you'd like to read the press release yourself, click here. The important part is where it says "bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service." For the world of beauty blogging, this means that anyone who gets paid to review products or receives products for free is required to disclose that information when blogging about the relevant products. This is all part of an effort to cut down on deception and misleading advertising. I don't know about you, but I definitely take the reviews written by bloggers, vloggers, etc. with a grain of salt when I can tell they're receiving products for free, getting paid, and/or skirting questions about their relationships with cosmetic companies - so I'm thrilled by this call for transparency.

As of today, I have never received payment for reviewing a product, nor have I written any posts reviewing products I received for free. I have received products from exactly two companies with the implicit or explicit understanding that I would review them. For the first, Revlon, I just have not had a chance to write my review yet (and you bet I will let you know what was given to me when I make that post). The second is Paula's Choice, which sent some products at my request for me to use as giveaway prizes (specifically, of a product I've already repurchased several times myself, knew I loved, and asked them to contribute to a giveaway) that I've already mentioned in a previous post - and likewise, I will get that started soon, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Moral of the story: if companies want to send me products to review, great. If I like what I receive, I'll review it. If I don't, I'll either not post about it at all or I'll post and tell you exactly what I dislike about it (depending on the company and situation, obviously). And if I have any concerns about the safety of a product, I will post about it no matter what, like I did with the Jane AguaMousse eyeshadows. And I guess I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure I don't have to spend my own money on something to know whether or not I would do so. Figuring that out is really as simple as asking myself, "if I'd paid $10 cash for this, would I be returning it right now and getting my $10 back?" or "if I could sell this right now for $10 (or whatever its retail price is), would I do it?" ... that's all there is to it!

Stepping off my soapbox now. I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the above changes, so please feel free to leave comments.

Results of the Baroque Challenge

Dear readers,

I don't have much spare time to blog these days, but I've had several people email me to ask what ended up happening with my Baroque Challenge now that the deadline has passed, so I figured I should address the issue!

In short, the challenge was both a success and a failure. I did lose six pounds (yay!), but did not meet my goal of losing ten pounds (sigh). I'll keep trying to lose weight and I'm sure I will come up with other ideas for rewarding success in the future, but for now I'm not going to worry about coming up with another "challenge" because I can't currently maintain a commitment to make a new blog post weekly.

So, what did I get from MAC Baroque Boudoir? I said I would allow myself to purchase one item from the collection if I lost some weight (but less than ten pounds), and in the end, I did want to reward my success in losing the six pounds I did lose. Thankfully, it turned out that only one item tempted me anyway: D'Nouveau lip gloss.

I hope you like it as much as I do. :) Thanks to each of you for your continued support!

Contacting L'Oreal: Discontinued Shades of Extra-Intense Eyeliners

So, it turns out that L'Oreal Extra-Intense liquid pencil eyeliners in the shades Emerald, Plum, and Bronze were promotional/limited edition shades, available from May through August. (Figures that I swatched them in June and then didn't post about them until September.) Black, Brown, and Gray are permanent, but the other three colors have been withdrawn from the market. Here are my swatches, for reference:

I spoke with a L'Oreal representative and was told that requests to bring promotional or discontinued products back are forwarded to their marketing department and taken into consideration (and sometimes obliged, when they get lots of requests for the same thing). If, like me, you loved these shades, please contact L'Oreal by calling 1-800-322-2036 (9-5 EST, M-F) or through their website (Click "Contact" at the bottom, click "Other Questions of Concerns," type "email" into the question box, and then follow the link that appears in the results box) and request they bring them back.

Here's a message you can feel free to copy if you'd like:

Dear L'Oreal Marketing Team,

I loved the promotional shades of your Extra-Intense "Liquid Pencil" Eyeliner (Bronze, Emerald, and Plum) that were released last summer and would like to be able to purchase them in stores again. Please re-release these shades or make them part of the permanent line like you have with the Black, Brown, and Gray shades. Thank you!

Alternatively, you are welcome to use the following message:

Dear L'Oreal Marketing Team,

I recently saw pictures and read reviews online of the promotional shades of your Extra-Intense "Liquid Pencil" Eyeliner (Bronze, Emerald, and Plum) that were released last summer and would like to be able to purchase them in stores, but have found that they are no longer available. Please re-release these shades or make them part of the permanent line like you have with the Black, Brown, and Gray shades. Thank you!

On a separate but related note: dear readers, I apologize for mistakenly leading you to think these shades of the eyeliners were still available as of when I made my post on them!

Sort-of-Long Update (I'd say "Quick Update, but that would be a lie)

Hi friends!

I know this may be a disappointing post for some of you because I don't have any new swatches to show you right now, but I just wanted to check in with you about a few things:

1) I am not dead! I've just been way busier with schoolwork this semester than I'd originally anticipated. I'm graduating college this year and have been writing my thesis this semester, which is both a fun adventure and a challenge unlike any other I've encountered in my life thus far. So that's primarily what's been keeping me from blogging regularly. I do miss it, though! :)

2) I do have new swatches and can't wait to show them to you - I'm just afraid if I start going through my pictures now, I won't get anything done all night (it's a pretty time-consuming process to sort through the pics, choose the best ones, crop them, resize them, label them, etc. - and that's not including writing the reviews!). Hopefully one day soon I'll get a chance to take care of all that. I do feel like a total schmuck for promising new swatches and not delivering (like with the last two Fantasy Makers duos - oops, now it's halfway through November and the Halloween displays have turned into Christmas displays!), but I have to make school my first priority, so sometimes that's just the way it has to be.

3) On the topic of feeling like a schmuck, I realize I've totally failed to update you regularly on the progress of my "Baroque Challenge." In short, I'm not sure if I'll succeed or not. With 10 days left until November 25th, I have 4 pounds to go (I've lost six so far). Maybe doable, maybe not. The same thing that's been keeping me from blogging (yes, Thesis, I'm talking to you) has also been limiting my time to exercise and cook healthy meals, so losing weight has not been an easy feat. With that said - while I am a little discouraged at the thought of not meeting my goal by the release of MAC's Baroque Boudoir collection, I am nevertheless proud of what I've accomplished so far. Today I went to the Gap (30% off Friends & Family/Teach for America charity sale, woot!) for a new pair of jeans, picked out what I thought was a pair from this cool new style, tried them on, immediately decided to buy them (they look HOT!), then looked at the tag and realized they must have been shelved in the wrong place: they were exactly the pair I was already wearing, but one size smaller! That was exhilarating, let me tell you. :) So maybe I'll get there, maybe I won't - but I'm starting to realize that this challenge has certainly evolved for me - I want to lose weight now because I feel better about myself these days (a little more every day, in fact), not because I want new makeup. I'm sure I'll still want something from the Baroque collection, but I'm not lusting after it anymore... now I'm lusting after going home for Christmas and seeing my family and friends look surprised at my new figure! It's funny how sometimes you make a goal and eventually the means come to mean more to you than the end... life can be weird that way.

4) Once I'm able to dive back into blogging again, I have some more exciting things to share with you in addition to the new swatches! One of my goals for the near future is to do some posts on my favorite products (i.e., favorite skin care and hair care products, favorite drugstore makeup, favorite high-end makeup [that I think is worth the money], application techniques I like to use, etc.), as well as some more giveaways. Last week I contacted Paula's Choice, a company that makes a couple of my favorite skincare products (though I am by no means a disciple of the Gospel of Paula or any other specified regimen, so fear not, there will be no glassy-eyed rambling from me). I'd never done this before, but I told them my plans and idea, and asked whether they might be willing to contribute one or two of my favorite products for me to use as prizes in a giveaway. Well, apparently they like me, because they're sending a lot more than one or two items - so there will definitely be some fantastic 'Squatch giveaways coming soon!

5) Last issue, and this is actually a question for you, readers! This is a bit embarrassing, but: there are a few things that I swatched such a long time ago and still haven't gotten around to posting that they're not as new/exciting as they used to be, or in some cases aren't available in stores anymore like the Fantasy Makers duos. Assuming these items could still be obtained in some manner (on eBay, through me, through swapping, etc.), do you still want me to post the swatches? Or would it just make you sad/mad for me to show you products that could end up being a total pain in the butt for you to acquire?

Check me out being all high-tech - I even made a poll so those of you who can't or don't want to leave comments can share your opinions! (It's a Flash poll since Blogger doesn't allow Javascript, so if you can't see it below, you may need to update your browser's Flash plug-in or temporarily disable your Flash blocker.) Thanks in advance for your input, and for your patience with me as I try not to let my schoolwork eat me alive! :)

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliners for Winter/Spring 2009

So, Urban Decay made a completely obnoxious move with their holiday collection this year: they released six new shades of 24/7 eyeliners, but each of the shades can ONLY be purchased inside sets with a bunch of the previously-existing shades (which means that most makeup junkies will end up with lots of doubles if they want the new shades). Here's the breakdown regarding the new shades:

Mildew (deep shimmery green): exclusive to Hi-Fi set, $29, which also includes Zero, Flipside, 1999, and Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner (ugh) in Distortion. The four 24/7s are mini sizes; the glitter liner is full-size.

Crash (rich eggplant with silver glitter): exclusive to Stereophonic set, $29, which also includes Zero, Underground, Gunmetal, and Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy (double ugh). Again, the four 24/7s are minis, and the glitter liner is full-size.

Corrupt (neutral brown with light copper shimmer and silver glitter), Binge (shimmery indigo), Eldorado (shimmery yellow-gold), and Oil Slick (black with silver glitter): exclusive to the 24/7 Super Stash, $36, which also includes Zero, Graffiti, Ransom, Rockstar and Stash. These aren't just mini-sized, they're, like... bite-sized... at just under 2-3/4" from tip to tip, uncapped. Even with their caps on, they're still shorter than my middle finger (I bet you can imagine what I'd like to say to Urban Decay with that finger, too). For 9 liners, they're only $4 each, but I only really like a few of the shades anyway, which makes those few feel tiny liners pretty damn expensive.

I've swatched the new liners in comparison to a few similar-ish shades from the permanent line, just for kicks. I left out some of the ones that I knew I wouldn't want to keep (like Ransom, Graffiti, and Zero, to name a few examples) out so I'd have the option of selling them in new condition. You can find my swatches and review of Flipside, Graffiti, Ransom, and Underground here, and the lovely KarlaSugar's swatches of the complete 24/7 line (minus the holiday exclusive shades) here.

Here are the close-ups of my swatches:

I was ecstatically looking forward to Binge when I heard there was finally going to be a navy 24/7, but that was the biggest letdown of the entire holiday season (in makeup terms) for me - in my opinion, Binge isn't navy at all. It's a bright indigo, and not very pigmented, either. Lame.

I love Rockstar and Stash, and rather like Eldorado on my waterline, but other than that I don't think the Super Stash is super at all. I've been told that the set-exclusive shades will be released individually this spring, so I may return my Super Stash and just wait until I can buy Eldorado on its own (I already have full sizes of Rockstar and Stash).

It was also totally pointless to buy the Stereophonic set just for Crash; I'd probably return that set too if I hadn't already sold the glitter liner on eBay. Crash is just Rockstar with silver glitter, pretty much, and I don't like glitter! Gunmetal is growing on me and Underground has been one of my favorite eyeliners since it came out in January, though, so that set isn't a total loss.

I do like Mildew very much, so the Hi-Fi set wasn't such a bad choice. Mildew has the same pigmentation problem as Binge, but I love the color so much (Mildew eyeshadow has to be one of my favorite greens ever!) that I'm willing to ignore that in this case. And, as ever, I adore Flipside, and I'd been wanting 1999 for a while anyway - don't ask me why, I know it has glitter, but for some reason I do kind of like that one.

As I mentioned in my last post, Sephora is currently having a 20% off Friends & Family sale online (code: FF2009), but Urban Decay has also hinted that they will soon be having their own Friends & Family sale. In the past, Urban Decay's F&F sales have been for 30% off, so if you want any of these sets, it might be worth waiting for Urban Decay's sale unless you have a Sephora gift card to burn or something like that.

That's all, folks!

24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil: Corrupt, Underground, Baked, Eldorado, Oil Slick, Gunmetal, Mildew, Stash, Rockstar, Crash, 1999, Binge