I don't really "need" anything from Lauress, but I might not be able to resist placing a small order. From the News and Offers page:
This Fourth of July, LaurEss is celebrating with a huge sale so explosive, it is guaranteed to make those fireworks seem as exciting as lighting a candle! To celebrate Independence Day, LaurEss is offering 30% off all single full sizes and samples, 15% off brushes and kits, and the big surprise, 40% off our enormously popular Cashmere Kabuki brush! This is one of the few times we have offered this brush for sale and this is by far the biggest discount. So if you have been eyeing this gorgeous, dense, ultra soft kabuki, now is your chance to get it at an amazingly low price!
This exceptional sale won't last long. It starts July 3rd and continues through the end of Wednesday July 9th! As with our previous sales, NO CODE is necessary! All the prices are marked down already so you don't have to worry about forgetting a code!
I had almost completed this gigantic post in Vox when I accidentally hit a link and WIPED IT OUT. ARRRGH!!!! I'm going to compose my drafts in Gmail from now on like lilita does.
Anyways, I've been delinquent in posting about some of my hauls and decided to blog about all of them in one fell swoop... partly to try to convince myself not to overspend during the 4th of July sales!
1. A bigger storage space for my MMU collection
A small Plano tackle box worked fine for housing my MMU collection until I stumbled across Vox. Then my collection grew exponentially and needed more room :)
After seeing some photos on Mineral Makeup Mania, I purchased the Plano 4-BY Rack System, which contains a latched top compartment and four 3650 Size storage boxes that slot in like drawers.
The top compartment contains Everyday Minerals blushes, Lauress full-sized foundations and blushes, a few MAC items and sample baggies from various companies:
The remaining Lauress MMU in my collection fits into a storage
box. This is mostly foundation, blush and eyeshadow samples and six
full-sized eyeshadows:
Nearly all of my Alima MMU goes into a second storage box:
MMU from other companies, including The She Space/Twisted Fayte, Everyday Minerals, Silk Naturals and Barefaced Minerals, go into a third storage box:
I put MMU that I want to sell, swap or give away in a storage box
that's kept separate from the big Plano box so that I don't mix them up:
I ordered pigments from the regular collection and from the Custom Pigment Bar during Heather's Tax Day Sale. I was quite disappointed in the customized pigments: it seemed as if the shimmer fell away almost instantly and left only a sheer wash of the base colour. Around the Town with gold iridescent pearl was the worst offender in this regard. But I love the regular collection pigments that I bought (Distant Rumor, Broken Rules and Crushed Metal), so the order wasn't a complete wash.
3. Shu Uemura
Thanks to titty's post, I got a full-sized and mini Shu Uemura eyelash curlers for $10 each! The sad part is that I don't wear mascara everyday so I have no idea when I'll break these out of the packaging, LOL.
Surprise, surprise, I bought even more oils and ingredients for MIY! The HA serum sampler pack came out about this time, so I threw one into my shopping cart and selected Honey, White Peony and Goji Berry. Whoever packed my order threw in Blue Mallow too! How awesome is that? I think that I have enough HA serum to last me until the end of 2009!
This is the second part of the order that I couldn't fit in the
first photo. Besides the Blue Mallow HA, I also received a sample of
Flirty Body Butter with Brandy and Mango flavouring. Although I
appreciated the sample, I really disliked the product - it was draggy,
left a sticky and tacky film, took a long time to sink in, and was way
overscented. I got a little nauseous when I gave it the all day test
because it was so sweet smelling. But apparently Markey has gotten a
lot of great feedback about this sample, so take my opinion with a
grain of salt :)
I recently received a small (really!) GoW order for lip balm
ingredients. I've discovered that I really like babassu oil as my
solid oil in lip balm (more on that in a future post). Baobab oil is
supposed to be very moisturizing and healing, so of course I have to
try it in lip balm. And once I come up with the perfect vegan lip
balm, I'm creating the ultimate meat eaters' lip balm, which will
contain emu oil and lanolin.
As
soon as Jen announced the re-opening of her store, I immediately
ordered samples of her famous primers. Unfortunately, my skin was
freaking out when I received my order so I didn't add them to my
routine for fear of aggravating my skin further. But the weather has
turned HOT in the Pacific Northwest and my skin has calmed down, so
I'll be trying them soon.
6. Lauress
I've tried the new Ethereal foundation a few times. It tends to make my face look a little flat because it's heavier coverage and doesn't seem to last as long as Minimalist or even Elemental on me. So I'm not sure if it's worth getting full sizes, especially since I have to mix three shades, but I'll try it again tomorrow because Lauren has hinted on the Lauress forum that there'll be a sale soon. As for the rest of the samples:
Preoccupied:
I got a sample of this because it looked so beautiful in Sally's
swatches. But I should know better, because I detest shimmer in my
blush. (Same goes for Fling.)
Ambitious:
A medium dark shimmer with multiple undertones; really makes my brown
eyes pop. I'm tempted to get a full-sized container of this.
Thunder: A medium grey with a lavender undertone. Lovely neutral.
Empress: I'm not sure why I got this. It's a warm, almost apricot gold shimmer and I don't really like orange-toned eyeshadows. Sigh.
Truth: A freebie! Similar to Radiant but darker.
7. Buff'd
When
Buff'd announced a sale on full sizes to celebrate the release of their
new foundation formulas, I figured that this would be a great time to
try their much raved-about foundation. Alas, the darker shades are too
peachy and not yellow enough, so I've already swapped away Mocassin and
Saffron (anybody want my Caramel samples?). But their blushes are
amazing - they're so pigmented that I have to use a fiber optic and
can't use a flat top, which is my preferred blush brush, to apply them
or else I'll look like a clown! Neapolitan was too light for me, but I've already ordered full sizes of Merlot, Crabapple and Crimson and samples of Chilled and Winterberry (which I meant to order the first time around). The top row of baggies are freebies that they threw into my order :)
8. Possets
I adored the Madame X-scented Whipped from Villainess so much that I finally ordered two perfume oil sample packs from Possets:
I haven't worked through all of my samples, but I can safely say
that if you like sweet, foody scents, Possets is right up your alley. For
example, I was worried that the "deeply buffed wood" note in Perpetual Motion
would be too strong on me, but it is barely perceptible and is almost overpowered by the vanilla note. This makes me scared to try the scents that are unbashedly
foody, like Glee, because overly sweet foody scents can make me want to throw up (see Flirty Body Butter above).
The other problem with Possets is that they don't seem to last all that long on me. Silver Violets and Gingerbread Crackhouse practically evaporated on me as soon as I put them on. I was especially bummed about Silver Violets because I love violet scents so much.
Strangely enough, Madame X the perfume oil doesn't work as well on me as Madame X the Whipped (oooh, kinky) - it has a weird sharp, almost green edge that isn't present when I use the Whipped. But it is such a stupendously gorgeous scent that I might be desperate enough to use a scent locket.
9. Lumiere
Jade and I combined
our order to get free domestic shipping. Jade got the foundation and
the samples in the bottom row. We split a small jar of Spiced Apple, and I also got the samples in the middle row. I'm disappointed that Hibiscus and Sierra have a sheen to them, despite Sierra being described as having low sheen. Indian Red
is more pigmented than Spiced Apple and shows up on me better, but I
think that I'll pass on getting a full size since Buff'd blushes are
way more pigmented.
Now, off to catalog my Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oils for lilita!
I was walking home from my hair stylist's salon this afternoon and stumbled across the studio/store for Queen Bee Creations. I've been wanting one of their bags for a while because my Timbuk2 Metro is getting frayed, can't always hold everything I need it to and is not very feminine looking (mine is navy and silver). I walked out of the store with a Kyoto Truckette:
Because the Truckette only has two smaller front pockets in addition to the large main compartment, I decided to also get a Just In Case to hold small items:
So why do I keep sampling foundations? I ordered samples of the new Lauress Ethereal foundation as soon as Lauren released it, even though my skin doesn't really like silica-containing foundations or finishing powders. This morning I found out on MMM that Buff'd released two new formulas and is having a sale on full sizes to celebrate, so I figured that this would be a good time to try their much raved-about foundation... because clearly I'm running low on foundation, LOL!
You can probably tell that there are fewer finished products and mostly raw ingredients in these orders. I'm delving into MIY because I got annoyed at the decrease in quality in a hair conditioner that I recently re-ordered. Jessicurl's Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment now has a noticeably whiter color and thinner texture, which suggests to me that the company is now skimping on the cocoa or shea butter.
Garden of Wisdom only sells the unrefined, non-deodorized cocoa butter in 15 oz batches, so I was wondering what I was going to do with the rest of it. Then I remembered that many pregnancy stretch mark creams are high in cocoa butter and my sister (who will give birth to my first nephew any minute now) and a friend (who is trying to get pregnant) might find one useful. So I added some other oils that reputed to be good for stretch marks (rose hip oil, wheat germ oil) to that order.
After that first ingredients order was placed, I did a lot of reading on the Soap Dish Forum to find recipes for whipped butters and found out that adding 2% beeswax to whipped butters helps to prevent them from melting into a pool of oil during the summer. But what to do with the rest of the beeswax? Well, the Soap Dish Forum had an answer for that too: lip balm! I'm addicted to lip balms and my favourite lip balm (Dr. Hauschka Lip Care Stick) is kind of expensive. So after checking out recipes on the Soap Dish Forum, I added some of the more popular ingredients for lip balms to my second ingredients order (babassu oil, palm kernel oil) along with the beeswax.
And finally Kristen told me here how easy it was to make my own cleansing oil. She uses PEG-7 olivate (which makes it easier to wash off the oils with water), while some recipes on the Soap Dish Forum call for Cromollient SCE for the same purpose. Of course, those (along with castor oil) went into the cart too. I also threw in some more humectants for my hair conditioner and some Polowax in case I ever decide to try making my own emulsified face and body creams (though I have so many from GoW, Villainess and propaganda that it's not likely).
My Cuisinart hand mixer arrived on Saturday and I was going to try my hand at making this stuff on Sunday but one of my cats was sick. He's much better today, so I might try making the whipped cocoa butter tomorrow night.
Light eyeshadows are difficult for me to swatch so I'm just going to show a photo of the eyeshadow pots. Overall, Lauress' matte eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and are not chalky.
Buttercup: This has enough yellow in it to blend with my skin tone and even out my eyelids. I purchased a full size of this.
Cheers: Lighter than Barely and more neutral, a little too pale for me to wear alone, though it would make a good base. Has a bit of sparkle but it's so subtle that for all intents and purposes it's a matte eyeshadow.
Gossip: Heavy on the peachy pinkness.
Hug: Very pretty, but too subtle to show up that well dry on me.
Love Letter: Too dark and pink for me to use as a base shade.
Notorious: Dark matte blackish brown. So pigmented that I can easily create a thick smoky line with it dry. It would probably also work as a brow powder for me.
Fervor: A nicely pigmented dark brown with gold shimmer, not as dark as Notorious.
Stunning: Very dark grey with multicolor shimmer; is more pigmented and has a better texture than Lauress' black liners. Swatched previously here.
Hematite: Not a true black.
Obsession: Supposed to be a silvery black. Less pigmented than Hematite. When I was lining my eyes with it dry, I needed to really pile it on in order to get a reasonably dark black and see the shimmer. It would probably work better foiled but why bother when Stunning looks awesome dry?
Earlier this year, I made the stupid mistake of selling a sample of Lauress Conflicted blush to Jade without trying it first. After Jade raved about Conflicted, I added a sample to my most recent Lauress order, which I swore would be my last one. Well, I wore Conflicted yesterday and today and I'm convinced that it's the reason I got a compliment on my FOTD today:
Foundation: Lauress Minimalist
Eyes: Lauress Barely all over, Notorious to line
Cheeks: Lauress Conflicted
Lips: Fresh Old Flame lipstick (shimmery reddish-brown, glossy finish)
(Good thing I received my sample of Conflicted yesterday so that I can order a full size while it's still on sale. Now I have to decide which eyeshadows should accompany Conflicted.)
Lolita's Lollipop: Sweet pale pink with a silvery mint green undertone; fully translucent with gold shimmer.
Spun Sugar: Soft pale pink with a major green iridescent flash and some pale gold shimmer.
Dirty Blonde: Soft off-ivory with hint of peach non-color; moderate gold shimmer.
Seelie Court: Sunlight sheer gold light, with the barest hint of peachy pink tone.
Child of Hounds: Apricot undertone with intense green/pink iridescent shimmer and light russet sparkle (freebie).
Frozen Charlotte: Sheer translucent bluish shimmer with just the barest hint of lavender undertones.
Fuchsias for Simon: Sheered out fuchsia with an intense blue/green iridescence and green sparkle (freebie).
Back To The Sea: Light sea blue/green with strong gold iridescence and shimmer (freebie).
Salmagundi: Smokey violet with purple and turquoise shimmer.
Luna Sidhe: Subtle blue violet with a blue green iridescent flash; shimmery but not sparkly, rather opaque.
Antique Platinum: Pale neutral greyish/purple/taupe undertones and intense white silver shine and shimmer.
Veil of Shadows: Pearly dove grey with a subtle pale red iridescence; one of the few pearly Archetype shades.
Frozen Wasteland: Tarnished silver with pale blue sparkle, opaque and medium in tone (freebie).
Spike Heel: Mid-tone grey base with intense red/pink iridescent flash and same color sparkle (freebie).
Silk Stockings: Shimmery complex neutral, cool-toned. Hints of blue, violet, even taupe.
Beetlewing: Neutral grey/purple/taupe base with iridescent green highlight.
M/Alice: Deep raisiny taupe/purple with silvery shimmer and purple shimmer.
Fool In The Rain: Taupe with a hint of purple around the edges, laced with platinum and orchid shimmer.
Cydonia: Greyed out purple/brown base, fairly pale, with an intense green iridescence.
Mouse: Basic brownish grey with very muted shimmer.
Bitter/Sweet: Deep dark velvety black brown; a bit of gold shimmer (freebie).
archy: Warm chocolate brown with intense silver sparkle (freebie).
Poppy Tea: Blackened golden intense shimmer with a bare hint of pink/orange iridescence.
EDM has a massive selection of blushes, mostly on the light to medium side. I think that I've tried all darker ones in the current line-up, so I'm awaiting the real launch of the new site because there's a few new blushes that might work on me. I do like that the shimmer and matte shades are clearly denoted in the descriptions, and that the matte shades are actually matte. However, EDM blushes don't last as long on me as Alima or Lauress so they're not a fantastic value even though they're cheaper.
Some of the lighter blushes went very chalky on me. For better swatches of Summer Stroll and Walkee Talkee, check out titty's post here.
Weekend Getaway: Slightly chalky, too light. Have sample, will not order full size.
Summer Stroll: Chalky, really orange. Have sample, will not order full size.
Walkee Talkee: Super chalky and shimmery. Have sample, will definitely not order full size.
All Smiles: A lovely peach with a bit of pink in it. Have full size.
Once and Again: A bit cooler than Alima Soft Plum and less mauve than Lauress Delighted. Have full size.
Plum Dust: Not really plum to my eye, more of a deep cool pink. Have full size.
Not shown: Best Friends (lilac in the jar, went on vaguely pinky) and Apple (very similar to one of my Alima blushes, probably Honey Rose) because they have found a new home with Nikki :)
Meow Cosmetics
I posted about my initial reaction to my first order of Meow blush samples which was that they were a lot more coral/orange than I expected from the descriptions. I've since managed to sell off most of those blushes and sampled their Lush blushes. LadyTee has also swatched some of the Lush blushes here. The Lush blushes have a bit too much sheen for my tastes so I'll probably put my sample baggies up for sale soon.
Kitty-Licious: Supposedly a dupe of BE Glee, which I've never seen. I'd consider getting a full size except it's probably very similar to a blush I already have (perhaps EDM Plum Dust?). I've just been too lazy to check.
Felinus Interruptus: Weird lilac shimmer in the bag.
Kitty Love: Warm pink, a little light for my tastes.
A Lick & A Promise: Lighter, more neutral pink than Kitty Love, definitely too light for me.
Wanton: Lovely reddish shimmer, but not as pigmented as the other Lush blushes which is a shame because it was the one I was anticipating the most.
The She Space
One Hot Night: A warm medium pink.
Without Wonder: More coral than I expected.
High Velocity: Very bright hot pink in the baggie.
Sword Fight: Gorgeous medium-deep mauve blush.
She Tells Tales: Darker, more blue-based version of Sword Fight.
Lauress
Although Lauress is one of my favoured companies for MMU blush and so technically doesn't belong on this page, I received three more samples of Lauress blushes with my latest order and had to share :)
Sensational: A more purple version of Delighted and looks even more unnatural in the jar, but it is surprisingly flattering.
Elegance: Slightly shimmery deep red, less burgundy than Flushed. Of all the shimmery red blushes that I've sampled so far (the others being Alima Garnet and Meow Wanton), this is my favourite for pigmentation and degree of shimmer. Still, I don't really need to wear a shimmery red blush all that often so it's unlikely that I'd get a full size.
There was a time when I was a particularly poor grad student and all I used on my skin was Dove soap for cleansing. Truthfully, that's all my skin needed at the time!
Of course, I've gone to the other extreme. I can remember three periods in my life when I was obsessed with skincare:
- when I had horrible acne as a teenager
- when I was taking Accutane (later on) and had to deal with the side effect of horrendously dry skin
- now
This latest obsessive phase was brought on by wanting to deal with the havoc that stress at work has been wreaking on my skin - outwardly, it appeared mostly blemish-free but felt bumpy to the touch, and I was constantly experiencing very mild but continual acne and the occasional huge lone eruption that refused to go away quickly. I kept reading about Garden of Wisdom on the Mineral Makeup Mania Delphiforum and after poring over the posts on the GoW Delphiforum, I placed a rather large first order and began transitioning my skincare over to mostly Garden of Wisdom, though I continue to use a few products from other companies.
- wash with Cleansing Oil or Jen's Green Tea/Shea cleanser
- spritz with rose geranium hydrosol (sometimes)
- apply either Peter Thomas Roth glycolic acid 10% moisturizer or philosophy hope in a bottle
- spritz again with rose geranium hydrosol
- apply mixture of one drop/pump each of Immortelle HA serum, Majik C serum and Rosacea serum; dab a bit of Rosacea serum onto zits
- spritz AGAIN with rose geranium hydrosol
- apply mixture of one drop of Camellia sinesis oil and 1/8 tsp Classic Azule Base Cream
Every once in a while (about once every 1-2 weeks), I use a clay mask from Villainess. Brooke makes several bath and body products that I enjoy so I'll devote a future post to her stuff.
The Fruity Exfo Cleanser and the Exfo Lotion 15% are for the keratosis pilaris-affected parts of my arms.
Here's a detailed breakdown on the GoW products that I love so far and would repurchase (or have purchased in larger sizes):
Cleansing Oil: Removes mineral makeup really well (although it's a bit drying) and would be even cheaper if I felt like making it up myself. I don't see any pore unclogging action but that's probably because I refuse to use a wash cloth and create more laundry for myself.
Jen's Green Tea/Shea cleanser: An unattractive brown gloopy gel, but it foams up nicely and removes mineral makeup without stripping. My favourite GoW cleanser so far.
Rose geranium hydrosol: Smells nice and is supposedly good for both dry and oily skin. Applying products to a damp face makes them easier to spread around and helps me use less product, so I use a ton of hydrosol (which is not as expensive as the other products).
Majik C serum: Has a yummy citrussy smell! This is my first experience with a Vitamin C serum and it'll probably be a while before I see an effect.
Rosacea serum: When spot applied onto zits, it really does seem to make them go away faster.
Immortelle HA serum: Didn't seem to really help when my cheeks and forehead went dry and flaky, but it helps me to use less of the more expensive water-based serums. The 2 oz bottle will last me a good 6 months or more.
Camellia sinesis oil: This oil made a huge difference in my skin, especially when there was a cold spell last month (and all the electric heaters went on). I may need to switch to a lighter oil once summer hits - I have chardonnay grapeseed oil in the fridge for just this purpose.
Classic Azule Base Cream: I ordered the Classic Base Cream without any azulene or German chamomile, but for some reason I got the blue stuff. Regardless, this cream has the most amazing velvety finish, much better than a Juice Beauty moisturizer that cost five times as much! I should have ordered this right away, but I was trying to use up the other moisturizer which I'll now have to find another use for or give away. I use such a tiny amount that my 2 oz jar is going to last me for at least a year!
Exfo Lotion 15%: Over the past few years I've noticed keratosis pilaris on my arms and legs. I tried the Paula's Choice AHA and BHA body moisturizers, but neither were very effective, even in combination, and they felt really waxy. I was excited when I came across the Exfo Lotion but was having so many problems with the shopping cart that I forgot to order it the first time around. Markey was kind enough to send me an sample separately and in the short time that I used the sample, I noticed an improvement in the condition of my arms. So now I have a nice big bottle to prepare my arms for summer weather :)
I plan on switching over to the 2% pH 1.9 Beta Exfo Tonic when I finish the philosophy product, and the 10% Mandelic Acid serum with alcohol when I'm done with the PTR moisturizer. Other products that I'll be incorporating into my routine include the Supercharged B5 gel, the Vita Resurface Cream (a retinol product), the Scar Cream for a rather tenacious acne scar, and the Moisturizing Gel or Lift Me Up Lotion in the morning, depending on the weather and my skin's needs.
There have been a few GoW products that I didn't particularly care for:
Majik Azulene Cleanser: It felt overly drying, especially when used more than once a day (this happens when I'm trying to tweak my foundation shade). I may return to this in the summer.
Orange blossom hydrosol: At the time that I ordered, my skin was oily-ish and this was one of the few hydrosols in stock recommended for oily skin. I dislike the smell, though, and won't repurchase.
Pineapple Hydrating Mist: Left a tacky feeling on my face that I don't get with either of the hydrosols that I've tried so far. Kind of a shame because I bought a 4 oz bottle, so I will probably try to use this up in the summer or maybe use to make up clay masks.
Renew Cream: Markey gave me a sample of this cream with my first order. I started using it because the skin on my cheeks and forehead became dry and flaky and none of my other moisturizers were helping me. The Renew Cream definitely helped to relieve the dryness and has a lovely finish (though in retrospect the Base Cream is more moisturizing and dries down to a more matte finish) . However, I've decided not to get a full size because I don't see the point of using a product that contains a proprietary ingredient (Renovage) that I can't research. Plus, it's perpetually out of stock because it's so hard to get lingonberry extract and oil, which in turn has skin-lightening properties that I don't want or need.
There's almost too much information on the GoW Delphiforum to process, but the people on the forum, especially the mods, are extremely helpful. I didn't really ask for help for myself, however, because I generally prefer to read all available information and make my own decisions when it comes to skincare... so some of the products that I chose for myself were different from the standard recommendations for my skin type. So far, so good, though!
Coy
Darker than it appears in the swatch. I have a sample of this and will not get a full size - it's just too brown on me.
More peach than it appears in the swatch. I bought a sample because I'm looking for a replacement for Stila Peony. This is pretty close but is a bit too peach. I bought a full size anyway because it looks great on me and I want to mix it with Blissful.
Blissful
Warmer than it appears in the swatch. Lauren recommended this to me as a pinker version of Attraction, so I went straight for a full size. Sadly, it's a bit too pink for what I want, but I think that if I mix it with Attraction I'll get closer to my goal of a Stila Peony dupe.
Affection
Blissful's darker sister. I have a sample and am contemplating getting a full size because it's a very flattering warm dark pink on me, somewhere between Alima's Honey Rose and Desert Rose.
Perky
I have a sample of this, which is about the same depth as Affection but more neutral. It is very similar to Alima Azalea so I won't be getting a full sized jar of it.
Swoon
A bit more mauve than it appears in the swatch. I bought a sample of this and ended up giving most of it to Jade, so this swatch is from what remains in the sample jar. It's a lighter version of Delighted that doesn't really show up that well on me.
Delighted
It looks like an unnatural mauve in the jar, but Delighted goes on a lovely blue-based, deep rose that is beautiful and natural-looking on me. This is the blush that started my love affair with Lauress blushes.
Exhilaration
A browned version of Delighted. I didn't open the sample jar for the longest time because it looks so brown in the jar and the corresponding lipgloss is just brown with no mauve tones to be seen. But after selling an unopened sample of Conflicted to Jade and finding out that it is a very pretty blush, I was determined not to make the same mistake with Exhilaration so it's up on the testing block for the upcoming week.
Flushed
A close cousin to Delighted, but redder in real life so the name is very appropriate. It's actually a blush in the Soft Lights category, but the shimmer is so subtle that it's practically matte on me. I have half a sample right now and will definitely get a full size with my next order.
Passion
Scary slightly brownish RED in the jar, but if applied lightly is actually quite pretty. Since it's so pigmented, I'm not sure that I need a full size of this. I also prefer blue-based reds like Flushed over brownish reds.
On the way: samples of Persuasion, Sensational and Elegance.