Shop Review: Em and Sprout

Greetings Fanatics!

My holiday shopping has begun and today's review is on shop Em and Sprout. I've previously purchased from Em and Sprout; a few years ago I bought her now discontinued "Things in Space" t-shirt as a reward for doing well at a convention. It's taken me 2 years to revisit the shop, but when I saw this very cute Jack-o-Lantern necklace on the shop's Instagram, I fell in love.

My current necklace model.

Em and Sprout's style can be summed up in one word: cute. Large eyed animals stare sillily at you from shirts and bags and sweet looking ghosts dangle from necklaces and pins. Em and Sprout specializes in screen printing her designs on totes and hoodies and making dresses out of printed fabric featuring her art.

I'm finding myself drawn to Jack-o-Lanterns this season - the seemingly endless variation of expression on orange faces amuses me and I can count at least 5 Jack-o-Lantern items from around my room that were purchased within the last month. This necklace from Em and Sprout is fairly simple- made up of two laser cut pieces of acrylic and a black ball chain- but the simplicity is something that I like about it. It reminds me of vintage Halloween cards - the 2 tone design reminiscent of stamps from my childhood. Looking at this necklace makes me nostalgic and happy. I can wear this necklace around to add an obvious Halloween theme to my outfit or have it hanging on my wall as decoration.

If you love cute or kawaii themed art, give Em and Sprout a try.

Stay Fanatic,
Megh

I've been busy/ Short Shop Review: Sam Heimer

Greetings, Fanatics!

 This week has been a time of transition for our family. Our littlest creep has started his career in the public school system, a system that Aaron (home-schooled) and I (truant) are both bewildered by and are grateful for. I have a large commission order on my work table, due on the 1st, so I've been sewing away at that. That, plus the change in our sleep schedule (no more midnight movies) means that I haven't had as much time to devote to this blog as I'd like. BUT. As we get into the swing of things and with the approach of the Halloween season, I think you'll find that our blog is about to be more entertaining than it's ever been.

Shop reviews are usually on Wednesdays, but like I said, I've been crazy busy this past week. This week's shop review is on artist Sam Heimer. The school year has started and that's always been my cue to get antsy about Halloween. I've been a long time admirer of Sam Heimer's work and was finally able to put a few pieces from his Etsy shop into my review queue. Although I plan on buying whatever he's been hinting at on his Instagram, for now I settled for a pack of pinback buttons and a small art/comic/sketch book that I've been dying to get a look at.

Sam Heimer's work is dark; I'm not just talking about the subject matter, which features ghouls, Death, and Halloween. With muted tones and a heavy hand with ink, Sam Heimer's art is moody and dark, a number of his pieces remind me of woodcuts with traces of 20's Halloween advertisements.

The two buttons I purchased ( and indeed the only buttons in the shop) are going on my button board, although I'll probably take them off to wear around in October. One features a screeching Jack-o-Lantern and the other cheerily implores you to "Keep It Creepy!". Both are very simple and stylish.

I miss out on the pre-orders for Heimer's mini book, The Decoy and the Detective with a Melted Face", but a few weeks after the pre-orders closed I was happy to find out that there were a few extra copies left up in the store. The Decoy and the Detective with a Melted Face is series of sketches and story bits from a comic that Sam Heimer will never finish. It's a pity because the few pages that have story in it are intense and interesting. I'm glad that Heimer decided to share this small sketch book, even of the comic itself won't reach fruition, because the art inside is incredible.

I'll probably be revisiting Sam Heimer once his Halloween lineup is out for this year.

Stay Fanatic.
Megh

Shop Review: Pam Wishbow

Greetings Fanatics!

Sorry in advance for bad pictures, my phone is being terrible to me today. I recently made a purchase of a few spooky items from PamWishbow, an artist on Etsy. Besides her beautifully cartoony illustrations and use of color, the dark themes in Pam's shop speak to whatever is residing in my bones that compels me to accumulate interesting things. Whatever you can call Wishbow's style, you can be assured that it's got "It". Besides art prints and zines, she carries items you didn't even know you needed: a random pack of items for whatever adventure you might head off on, a personalized haunting for your home, hand sewn sigil banners to protect your home.

For my first (but certainly not last) purchase from Pam Wishbow, I bought a House Ghost, a Quest Pack for Aaron, Professor Pam's Semi-Famous Hex Breaker, and a mini love zine called The Carpenter to gift to Aaron. When I received my package, I was thrilled to see that it included a little print and a Fortune Telling Fish! My previous fortune fish went through the wash and I was excited to get another. Aaron's fortune read "Passionate" and mine was "False" (important for later!).

If you've been reading my reviews for any length of time, you'll know that I like to review each item separately first and then as a whole.

Wednesday Shop Review: Dripface

Greetings, Fanatics!

This week's episode will be on Dripface, a shop that sells strange stickers, pins, prints, and buttons - all things I compulsively buy and one of the reasons I keep making repeat purchases from them.

Dripface's Etsy store is stuffed full of weird little goodies - characters like wide eyed goats, horned monsters, and oozing lemon heads populate Dripface-opolis. Besides the doodle style of the art, I was drawn to the black and white color scheme that pervades many of the offerings in the store. Many of my personal items are adorned with Dripface stickers and my snake headed cat print sits neatly by my bedside. Oftentimes, my own shop's packages go out with a Dripface goat sealing it if I've run out of my own stickers. I like the small size of many of the stickers. It offers the chance to make anything it's put on a little creepier without overwhelming it.

If you love weird stickers, pins, magnets, and prints that look great stuck on anything, check out Dripface on Etsy or Instagram.

Wednesday Shop Review: Mother Mountain Herbs

Greetings, Fanatics!

It's no secret that I'm terribly into drinking tea. It's an aisle that I never pass up in stores, no matter how much tea we already have in our cabinets. I can always tell when my family is out of gift ideas for me when I get teas and still, I'm always excited by getting a new tin or box of it.
I came across Mother Mountain Herbs on Etsy when my favorite online blended tea shop closed and was instantly intrigued by the tea variety I found.

Mother Mountain Herbs is filled with organic herbal tea blends, sprays, and oils all handcrafted in Asheville, North Carolina. Each tea is filled with herbs that help promote health with the help of different plants - blends such as ElderMother, Mellow Belly, and Heart Path promise to give your immune system a little boost, help your digestion, and calm your nerves.

 For this review, I tried Psychic Eye.

Psychic Eye is a mix of blue cornflower, holy basil, mugwort, gotu kola, chamomile, and orange peel. The herbs in this blend help promote sleep and are supposed to relax and open your mind to allow better meditation, lucid dreaming, and (some believe) psychic energy. I have some of these ingredients at home; I sometimes use small amounts of mugwort and chamomile steeped in mint to help me sleep, but I am always interested in trying new blends made by others, especially when they come with claims like this. [Before I go any further, I'd really like to stress that besides doing your own research into whatever herbal blends you decide to consume, pregnant women especially should not consume mugwort. It causes uterine contractions and could harm your baby.]

When you steep Psychic Eye, it turns a beautiful gold. Remember to use hot, but not boiling, water for herbal tea! I used 1 1/2 tbsp in a tea bag for each cup. Its taste is mild, slightly grassy or green. I didn't use sweetener for this cup, but a little raw honey would be very good in it. It made me instantly sleepy(er), so I only had one cup, but Aaron had two. This proved to be a mistake. I fell asleep easily and had colorful, lucid dreams. Waking up was a little difficult, but I had to because Isaac was standing over me, singing. A little groggy, I got up for the day and had to let Aaron sleep for another 4 hours. He didn't remember any dreams.

Overall, I would recommend Mother Mountain Herbs if you like blended teas and natural ingredients - shipping is quick and the teas are thoughtfully packed to prevent crushed leaves. Each bag is $10 and comes with enough tea for about 27 serving meaning each cup costs about $0.37, less if you reuse tea bags for multiple cups in a row like I do. I wholly plan on ordering a few different tea blends soon.

Stay Fanatic,
Megh

(All reviews are done on products that I buy for myself, unless otherwise noted. Review requests can be submitted by following instructions at the link above.)

Artist spotlight/Shop Review: L0ll3 Shop commission

Some people like to be spooked. Some people like only the sweetest things in life. I belong to that ever growing group of people that admits they like both - the creepy cute crowd. A mixture of kitsch and bubblegum and horror, creepy cute is a little hard to pin down. Is it black bats on pink sweaters? Is it vintage halloween cat cards in an ornate rococo frame? Whatever it is, Lolle of L0ll3 Shop has got it down.

I originally found L0ll3 Shop on Etsy while searching for plushies to collect. 

Shop Review: Formulary55

Greetings, Fanatics! 

This week's Shop Review is Formulary55, a Colorado based soap company. 

Formulary55's owner has been making soaps and building her brand for over 20 years and prides herself on her small batch bath and body products. Although their website says that about 70% of their business is wholesale and their products are available in shops such as Anthropologie, I went ahead and ordered my soaps directly from their Etsy store. 

I would like to say, first off, that the soaps are packaged beautifully.

The wrapping gives off the feeling of hand cut soap blocks being covered in pages torn straight out of an antique dictionary, while still portraying a modern, clean look. It's very easy to take lovely pictures of these soaps and they would look great in a gift basket. 

I bought 3 guest bars of soap, which are about 2"x2"x1", good for placing next to the sink. The scenting on these soaps are fantastic. Tea & Tobacco was bought for Aaron, and he loved the smoky fragrance although it wasn't as strong as other tobacco scented soaps we've bought. Song of the Siren was fresh and salty, but my favorite was Narcissus. It had a fresh, grassy smell that I've been looking for in a soap that I've yet to find elsewhere. Blending essential oil is an art that I've yet to master, I highly respect those that do it well.

The fattiness/moisturizing effect of the soaps were average, I'd say. Pleasant and certainly softening, but if your main concern for a soap is how moisturizing it is I would find a more economical brand ($5/guest bar $10/body bar). 

I'll probably revisit Formulary55 again; besides soaps, they sell soaks, candles, and lotions that I'd like to try. These soaps are best left (for me at least) to be an occasional luxury or a thoughtful gift, but for those who are looking for a lovely smelling soap and are drawn to gorgeous packaging, I highly recommend Formulary55's soaps.

Shop Review: Burke & Hare Co.

Scented candles! I'm a sucker for them. Especially when they have neat names and smell like the ocean or a haunted apple orchard. That's why this week's Shop Review is of Burke & Hare Co.

Burke & Hare Co's whimsical name comes from a series of murders in 19th century Scotland by William Burke and William Hare. And while these candles are not made from corpses, they do have interesting scent mixtures: heady florals mixing with dark teas, spicy peppers and fresh citrus. 

Since Aaron had to put a stop to my candle spending, I only got a pair of travel tins, a smaller size of their candles that they only offer on occassion. I chose Mint & Ivy, because I love fresh garden smells, and Burned at the Stake which smells like smoke, because I love the smell of burning things. Especially money.

I enjoyed both very much; they delivered on the scents they promised and were more interesting than any candle readily available in common stores. The packaging is beautiful and I imagine that the glass and decorated pillar candles are even more so. They're made of soy, so they're clean burning and don't leave that strange waxy smell that normal candles sometimes leave.

I had an issue or two. I do wish that they'd offer the travel sized tins more often; I'd love to get my hands on a few more scents without having to commit to the large glass contained candles. I also thought that the scent could have been stronger. Maybe the standard sized candles spread their scent more, but I had to sit right next to the lit candle to smell it.

Overall, I'd recommend Burke & Hare Co for people that love spooky, unique candle blends to decorate their living space. 

Wednesday Shop Review: Defective Pudding

This week's Shop Review is illustrator Defective Pudding!
I found Defective Pudding on my recommended posts on Instagram and fell in love with her pie-eye and slightly creepy illustrations. I've been on a zine kick for the past year, so I bought 3 of the zines available in her shop; I See You, Witch Hands, and Halloween Inks.

My order shipped quickly and arrived packed very well. That's always important, especially for collectible paper goods. All the zines I purchased were in black and white and made with good quality heavy paper.

I See You is a neat little zine with various bits from the artist's sketch book inspired by women and dark forces of the 1800's. Witch Hands is filled with mini comics about a young witch in training and is super cute. These two zines are good if you want a small, fun zine.

I was most impressed with Halloween Inks, which is 15 front to back pages from the 2015 Drawlloween/Inktober challenge where artists draw a themed sketch for each day of October. I love the cartoony ghosts and goblins that haunt the pages of this mini art book. I also opted for a personal sketch on the back of my Halloween Inks copy, which I was super excited to see.

I was really pleased with my zines from Defective Pudding. Along with other zines, you can find prints, stickers, coloring books and the occasional original art piece in it. The artist, Christa, is very nice and quick to respond to questions. I really recommend treating yourself to a creepy cute piece of art from here if you like the 1920's pie-eye style with a weird twist.

Stay Fanatic,
Megh

Ferox: a game of cannibals and invaders

So, this Valentine's day I surprised Aaron with two presents: an indie card game and the fact that I finally found a game that I would play with him.

Ferox is published by Craft Fair Games, based in Denton, TX. I love finding Texas based indie brands. It makes that gland that all Texans are born with swell with pride and bile.

Ferox is a two person, turn based card game where you play as either a stranded documentary crew or a group of native tribes banded together by a shared goal of expelling/eating the perceived intruders. The game is not over until you make it to the rescue 'chopper or all the crew members are dead.

It's based on early 80's cannibal "exploitation" films and is not for anyone who finds cannibalism, rude language, really terrific gore art, or drug use objectionable. I think it's a great game. Game play is really simple. It says on the box it takes 60-90 mins to play, but it took us about 3 hours to play the first time; it was my very first time playing any sort of social card/dice game. It's very easy to pick up on, speaking as a first time player.

*The game consists of a linear "board" made of six cards and a deck of action cards for each player. Each board card has several spaces that need to be filled with defeated cannibal pieces. When you fill a board card with dead cannibals, this marks the end of the encounter, and each player gets to draft another two cards into their deck from a card pool. Cards are paid for with "rage", a fairly unique mechanic that involves paying the other player "rage pieces" to use your cards, thus giving your opponent more rage to play their own cards. This makes the turns go past fairly quickly.*

*Aaron wrote this for me.

Aaron's only (slight) criticism is that turns can pass without anything happening - there will be turns where the players take turns drawing cards without any story propulsion and the sense of moving forward can be lost. I don't share the same sentiment - I view it as more of a choose your own adventure visual novel. Overall, I would say that he likes it both as a gift and a game and I do as well. If you're a fan of 80's cannibal movies, gory and explicit illustrations, or horror themed card games I highly recommend Ferox.

(As an added bonus for me, each box is screenprinted by hand and ships fairly quickly.)

The artist for Ferox is Ryan Sheffield and I'll be doing a short artist post on him as soon as my last order from him comes in.

Stay Fanatic,
Megh

Shop Review: Evil Supply Company

Greetings, Fanatics!

This latest Shop Review is for Evil Supply Company, a company that I stumbled upon while looking for stationery. This small business's slogan is "Better living through questionable morality" so naturally I had to check it out. I fell in love with it almost instantly and found it difficult to stick to my budget while looking through their shop.

 In addition to having Halloween themed shirts and art prints, Evil Supply Co. features a Notary Noir program, a neat little program where you can register yourself with them as a "Notary Noir" for free and order custom calling cards and seals with your name and title. They also have wonderful evil merit badges and pins that called out to me. Evil Supply Company, you're going to bankrupt me.

 I settled on getting July's special : "Mister Ghost’s Highly Enviable Monthly Parcel of Simple Yet Amazing Wonderments" that promised me "a curated collection of postcards, pins, greeting cards, postcards, small illustration prints & assorted artifacts". July's theme was "Dracula". I also ordered a 5 pack of  3"x3" stickers to seal packages with and, because I ordered on Friday the 13th, a special Friday the 13th print.

 The monthly parcel ships out at the end of every month and, due to my not wanting to spend extra on shipping to have my stickers and print shipped to me separately, I had to wait about a month and a half to get my package. It isn't that long, considering that Evil Supply Company designs each element of the collection during the month while the order list fills up, but I was very anxious to get it.

Finally, it arrived! I also happened to get several other packages that day, but saved my Evil Supply Co. for last.

Shop Review: Black Quartz Alchemy

Greetings, Fanatics!

This week's Shop Review is on online shop BlackQuartz Alchemy. Black Quartz Alchemy specializes in unique, orgnaic loose tea blends with quirky titles such as Third Eye, Blue Baron, and Skooma. Being people who drink copious amounts of tea, Aaron and I immediately decided to order a few samples.

 BlackQuartz Alchemy offers a sample pack that starts at $1.00 for one 1.5 teaspoon sample and $0.50 for each extra sample. Each sample provides enough tea leaf for about 2 cups of brewed tea. We got 5 samples for $3.00 plus $3.50 for shipping. After we ordered it, it arrived to us within the week which was great. It came to us as a box within a box, a lovely thin cardboard container that held wax paper packets of our samples. A BlackQuartz Alchemy sticker and brewing instructions were also included. I really love the packaging from this shop.

Shop Review: Fat and the Moon

This week's Shop Review covers a couple of products from Etsy shop Fat and the Moon. Fat and the Moon focuses on organic, non chemical replacements for body care essentials. The store offers a range of products from natural antiseptic wound care to baby/mother care to beauty products.

  For this post, I decided to focus on the base of beauty that is often ignored or ill treated: the skin. So, I ordered a tin of Tooth Polish and a jar of Pimple Mud. Lately, I've noticed that my skin has been prone to breakouts, an upsetting development from after my pregnancy because as a teenager my skin was naturally clear. Due to my sensitive skin, washing it with even the most gentle over the counter cleansers dries it out. I also noticed that my teeth could use a pick me up (I drink tea pretty heavily), and having crooked teeth makes the standard whitening trays pretty much ineffective, not to mention all of the gum irritating chemicals are very annoying.

My package came within a week after it was shipped. The box was surprisingly heavy to me when I pulled it out of our mailbox and I was excited to see my products. When I first opened the box, a lemony, clean smell wafted out and filled the room. The box was compactly packed, it wasn't larger than it had to be, and any space not taken up by my jars was filled in with plain tissue paper. 

(The review for these products come from about 1 week of use)

Tooth Polish: The tooth polish came in a cute 2oz metal tin with a screw off lid. The front of the tin had Fat and the Moon's signature font labelling it as tooth polish and the back had the ingredients and instructions. The instructions warn you not to scrub your gums with it.

Unscrewing the lid allowed a slightly lemony baking soda smell to waft out. The tooth polish looks like fine, very light brown dust. I really love this stuff. It says to only use it once a week, but I scrub my teeth (gently!) with tooth polish every other day. My teeth feel very clean and have gotten noticeably whiter in just a few days. The taste is something to get used to.

Pimple Mud: The Pimple Mud comes in a small glass jar that can hold 2oz of it. It holds what looks like green mud: very thick and slightly grainy. It doesn't have a very strong smell, but there is a very weird subtle smell when you put the mud on your face. I first used it as a mask. It was a little tough to spread it over my face; the mud is very thick and I didn't thin it out with water. I let it sit for about 15 minutes before rinsing it off with warm water. I would recommend wiping it off with a warm, damp washcloth. My skin felt very smooth, clean, and tight after using it as a mask. My blemishes were significantly less red and seemed smaller. When I used it as a spot treatment, I got the same result.

(Bonus!) Shampoo Bar Sample: The shampoo bar sample that was included in my package was a very welcome surprise. I have been wanting to try a shampoo bar for a while, but didn't want to commit to getting a whole huge bar in case I didn't love it. The sample that I received was more than enough for a few washings. Although it can be a little tricky to use, (it doesn't lather up) it got my hair very clean and soft.

I'm very impressed with this shop. Although it's a little pricey, it's totally worth it. Fat and Moon's products last longer and work better than their cheaper supermarket counter parts and have less chemicals, to boot. My goal is to get through all of Fat and Moon's products. Next time, I will be trying their Anise Tooth Soap and Dream Weaver Spray.

Look forward to next week's Shop Review!

Shop Review: For Strange Women

Good evening, Fanatics!

In my many hours of browsing Etsy, I happened upon a scent shop called For Strange Women. The exact circumstances of how I discovered it are lost in my memory, most likely because once I went through the different perfumes they offer, I was enchanted. I knew I had found something wonderful.

 You won't find the usual offering of scents at For Strange Women.

For Strange Women's owner, Jill, strives to make high quality, unique, natural perfumes using traditional techniques. All of her perfumes are 100% natural, vegan, and handmade in small batches. 

I ordered two sets of samples to try and find the scent that would work for me. The solid perfume sample (set of 3) comes with three ribbons, each packaged in its own wax envelope and imbued with one application of scent infused wax. I chose to go with a few uncomplicated perfumes: Frankincense & Cedar Single Note, Jasmine Single Note, and Tuberose Single Note.

Frankincense & Cedar:
 I don't believe I've actually ever had the chance to smell Frankincense before (although I do love Myrrh body butter) and living in Houston affords me few chances to be close to cedar, which is why I tried this one first. Houston winters fade quickly and I wanted to enjoy this fresh smelling perfume in the setting it deserved while I still had a chance. I took a moment to warm the sample ribbon in my hands before rubbing it on my pulse points because it was rather cold and overcast. This perfume is very subtle and stays close to the skin, rather than blooming outward. I can definitely smell the cedar, which is very fresh smelling and a sweet undertone that I am guessing is the frankincense. The For Strange Women website recommends this perfume be used with layers of other perfume, and I can see why. It is VERY subtle and soft on it's own and seems to make a good, light perfume to wear on days spent relaxing. My personal experience with this particular perfume, however, means that I unfortunately cannot order it again. Since all of the scents are natural and I'm assuming that this has real cedar essence, I've discovered that I have a slight skin allergy to cedar. It's important to know your body and how you might react to any extracts or ingredients before you buy any perfumes!

Jasmine: 
 Choosing Jasmine as a scent to sample was an easy choice. Jasmine is my favorite flower and I hoped that this perfume would bring back the memories of the garden at my childhood home. I was not disappointed. This solid perfume stuck close to my skin and really had the warm, honey-ish tones of fresh jasmine. I'll definitely be reordering this.

Tuberose: 
 With many other lovely scents available as my last sample, I decided to go with Victorian Tuberose. It comes highly recommended by the maker and is in fact, her signature scent. This one was the most subtle at the beginning of the application. It smelled faintly of honey and a fresh field with a suggestion of a rose.

The second set of samples I chose was a set of three Strange perfume oils. Each sample comes packed in a small plastic tube containing enough oil for five applications.I was eager to try these because they are a combination of smells that is meant to invoke a memory or transport you to an exotic place. I decided to go with Astral Projection, Moss & Ivy, and November in the Temperate Deciduous Forest as my samples, although I may have to order samples of Bollywood and Winter Kitty later on.

Astral Projection: 
 The description of all of For Strange Women's scents are vivid and wonderful, but Astral Projection lured me with promises of a combination of scents designed to help relax the mind. This smelled rather lemony to me, with a little bit of lavender. I couldn't apply this one to my skin, however, because it had cedar in it.

Moss & Ivy: 
The Moss & Ivy has a very clean scent. It is reminiscent of walking through a muddy, heavily wooded park after the rain. It's wonderful for anyone who wants a light, fresh aroma surrounding them.

November:
 November in the Temperate Deciduous Forest was the first oil that I tried and I have to say that I did not expect what happened. When I first applied the oil to my wrists, I was a bit overwhelmed with the smell. However, once it settled into my skin and warmed, it felt like a woodland scene was blooming before me. Pine trees and fallen leaves greet you as the perfume dries and warms on your skin and as you wear it throughout the day, it fades into an earthy and spicy musk. It brought to mind memories of walking in a wooded park in the autumn, with the smell of bonfires and crumbling leaves swirling though the air. The scent of (fresh) pine is very strong at the beginning of application and made my nose a little itchy, but fades into a very tolerable back note as you wear it.


All in all, I really liked the perfumes I got. They were different than the perfumes I am used to and I like that they are more intimate than just putting on a body spray.For Strange Women is a great place to get perfume if you like earthy, savory fragrance or subdued floral scents.

Shop Review: Le Petite Zombie and High Heorot

Good evening, Fanatics! This week's Shop Review is on two shops that I have recently traded with on Etsy. Please excuse the change of the font into bold later on, as this was unintentional and I can't seem to change it.

We'll begin with Etsy shop Le Petite Zombie. Le Petite Zombie specializes in handmade Goth and pinup accessories, bags, and artwork. In a trade I did with her, I got a dainty scissors necklace. My package arrived swiftly from California and the owner of Le Petite Zombie is very quick to respond to any Etsy convos.

The mailing sack that my necklace came in was very cute; the purple envelope and handmade stickers adorning it really made it stand out when I opened my mailbox. None of the photos I took of the package would upload, unfortunately. :(

It only got better once I opened it. My necklace was wrapped in black tissue paper with green ribbon tied around it and, once I opened it, revealed to include a pack of handmade stickers along with my professionally packaged necklace. These stickers are awesome and will be included in giveaway packs along with Le Petite business cards.

Taken from Le Petite Zombie's Etsy shop. I got a few finger stickers, some eyeballs, and some brains. My photo of them didn't want to upload. :(

The necklace itself is very beautiful. the scissors charm is very dainty looking and the dark chain adds a lovely contrast to the scissors silver tone. The length is great and the scissors sit right on my chest without going into my shirt.

Meeeee

Taken from Le Petite Zombie's Etsy shop.

Here are a few of my favorite items from Le Petite Zombie.

 

Day of the Dead French Skeleton Toile Pinup Accessorry Bag Clutch

Hellsing 2 toned Black and Burgundy Rose

Pinup Mermaid Bow on a Stretch Headband

Shrunken Voodoo Head Acrylic Painting

Our second shop is HighHeorot on Etsy. The owner of the shop, Erica, contacted me about trading a piece from her shop for my hand decorated pirate chest. I chose her Steampunk Winged filigree wrapped Jewel necklace. I got the Sky Blue color scheme because she was out of the Amber, but it's just as beautiful. 

Taken from High Heorot's Etsy shop

Taken from High Heorot's Etsy shop

 

Me!

 The roses are made of what looks to be very sturdy cotton paper and sit right on the edge of my shoulders. This might be because of my weight and I think that the roses would be a little lower on someone slimmer. The winged jewel sat right between my collarbones, which was nice.

Communication with Erica was quick and friendly and all of my questions were answered. I highly recommend HighHeorot to anyone looking for Victorian inspired jewelry with a spooky edge. Here are a few of my favorites from the shop.

 

Key to my heart necklaces

Adjustable filigree Jeweled Scarab Ring

 Down the Rabbit Hole Adjustable Ring

If you are looking for a great gift for the dark hearted lady in your life, check out Le Petite Zombie or HighHeorot for cute accessories, great customer service, and fast shipping!

Shop Review: Pretty and Cute

This week's Shop Review is on Pretty and Cute, a website that aspires to make quality Korean and Japanese beauty products accessible to women all around the world. The company is based in Portland, Oregon and maintains a physical shop there as well. My search for a unique and subtle hair dye brought me there, and although they were out of the color I wanted (Raspberry Brown!), I decided to try out a few other products while I waited for it to be restocked.

My package got here insanely quickly; I ordered it Sunday evening and it was processed by Sunday night. It arrived by mid-day Wednesday, which is really great considering I only purchased Economy shipping. It even had tracking, so I could wait by my computer and refresh my email impatiently!

Beginning with the non-makeup items that I received: Pretty and Cute have very cute, inexpensive contact lens cases. I got this simple pink and clear contact case for only $0.75. Hopefully,

Shop Review: Howdy, Garters by Lori!

Good evening, Fanatics!


In the slow, drunken wake of my 21st birthday, I thought this week's Shop Review would cover a trade I recently did with Garters by Lori.

I stumbled upon GbL in the lineup of artists participating in my trade groups latest event. I fell in love with both the utility and simple, pleasing look of her flasks and garters. Originally,