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But I'm caught up now and I am enthralled. Darling Girl have released three collections based on the many, many characters in the Once Upon A Time universe now: Fairy Tale Romance, Wicked is Coming and now Operation Sparkle, which we'll be looking at today (but expect to see the other collections in time as well!). The collection name is a riff on the codenames Henry and Emma come up with for their adventures and missions and the shades here are all based on members of the Charming family.
Packaging & pricing:
Darling Girl's eyeshadows come in a few different sizing options: full sizes are packaged in 5g jars with approximately 3/4 tsp of product ($6USD). Petits are packaged in 3g jars with approximately 1/4 tsp of product ($2.50USD). You can also try a sample set, which includes 5 shades of your choosing in baggies, each containing 1/8th tsp for $4USD. I've gone down that route many times as you can get samples of any eyeshadows, Diamond Dusts, Spectral Shifts or loose blushes, excellent if you want a great cross section of colours and formulas to try!
The Darling Matte Balms come in a slimline tube with a variable weight of 2-2.5g (I assume the fluctuation depends on the pigments involved with each shade and room for human error as they are hand poured) and are $7USD. Mine is in a clamshell as it is a press sample.
Formula overview:
Darling Girl's eyeshadow formula is incredibly consistent. I've never come across a dud in the range (and I've accumulated an embarrassing amount); they are, on the whole, very pigmented and easy to work with. Some shades, especially the more glittery ones perform best over a sticky base but can certainly be used on their own.
The Darling Matte Balms are intended to provide the moisture of a balm with a velvety matte finish. They glide on beautifully and have full colour coverage. Depending on the intensity of the colour, they last between four to six hours.
Swatch notes:
All eyeshadow swatches in this post are done two ways: applied on bare skin on the left hand side and over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, a sticky eyeshadow base which maximises colour intensity and sparkle, on the right. This is so you can see how they perform both ways. Lipstick swatches are done on bare skin/lips. I take all of my photos with daylight bulbs for colour accuracy.
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Snow
Snow White may look beautiful and delicate, but don't be fooled - she's a total badass who will loyally defend her family and kingdom to the death.
Snow is a pale baby pink with gold iridescence, when applied over a sticky base it takes on a stronger pink tone. Darling Girl's highlights are always great and Snow is no exception: it's soft, pigmented and easy to blend out. The sparkle isn't too chunky, so it also makes a great cheekbone highlight.
Charming
Prince David is better known as Charming, the nickname given to him by Snow White on their first meeting. He does indeed exude charm, as you might expect of a handsome prince (however humble his beginnings).
Charming is my favourite eyeshadow from this collection, it's a light beige with heavy gold to green sparkle. I need to use it again, these pictures have me wondering why I haven't picked it up in a while! There is always some inevitable fall out with an eyeshadow as sparkly as this but it can be minimized by layering it over a sticky base like Darling Girl Glitter Glue. Lovers of sparkly neutrals definitely need this in their collection.
For this look I've used Charming all over the lid and layered over smoked out black liner on the lower lashline. Snow is on the inner corner, #breaktheinternet is on the crease and I've used the LORAC Pro palette to deepen the crease further, The lashes are Ardell Demi Wispies.
On my cheeks and lips I'm wearing Right Meow Baby Blush and Snuggle In Sweetie, It's Cold Out There Baby Blush as a highlight.
The Savior?
The daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, Emma Swan constantly struggles with her identity as The Savior, so the question mark at the end of this eyeshadow's name seems apt!
The Savior? is a dark reddened brown with red-violet sparks and a semi-matte base. It darkens up quite a lot over a sticky base and can be a little tricky to blend over one, so I'd recommend using it alone - I didn't heed my own advice and used a sticky base in the look below. Consequently I couldn't quite get the crease blended out smoothly. No fault of the eyeshadow, simple user error! It's such a lovely versatile chocolate-cherry shade, I need to try it on the lid for a dark brown smokey eye, or foiled as an eyeliner.
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Truest Believer
Henry, the biological son of Emma and the adopted son of Regina Mills, is the catalyst for bringing Emma back to Storybrooke and into her role as Savior. His faith in himself and others and power of imagination make his the heart of the Truest Believer.
Truest Believer is a warm pinky coral - I definitely need a full size tube of this, the matte finish and light pinky hue keep Truest Believer very wearable for any occasion. It applies smoothly, has excellent colour pay off and wears for four hours on me without being drying. The Darling Matte Balms smell lightly like tropical fruit to my nose.
What do you think of this collection? Are you a Once Upon A Time fan too?
Darling Girl products can be found on their website, don't forget that you can use my code LANILOVES to save 10% on your order. I highly recommend joining the Darling Girl Glitter Haven Facebook group for sneak peeks and all the latest news and updates.
Lani
Gifs via giphy.com
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