Indie Weekends: Hello Waffle Kitty Kingdom Collection Review

I may have gone a little crazy for the Hello Waffle Black Friday sale...you might remember Hello Waffle created an exclusive collection for that weekend, called the Kitty Kingdom Collection, and it was inspired by customers' pets! 20% of the proceeds were donated to the Etobicoke Humane Society. There were also some limited items that were the second part of the Catssic Literature Collection, that I previously reviewed here, including some cosmetics bags, button mirrors, and postcards.

Warning: Because of my dislike of breaking up a collection review into multiple parts and posts, this post is extremely photo heavy!

About - Hello Waffle is an indie cosmetics company specializing in beautiful eyeshadow collections, blushes, made by Christine, the owner. Hello Waffle is based in Canada, and currently has collections inspired by Fringe, famous musical composers, cats/literature, and a collection celebrating reaching 1000 Facebook likes. She also offers seasonal fairytale inspired collections that can be purchased in the season they are inspired by.

I ordered a lot...you may remember the issue I had with getting my November Visage. Well, Christine gave me a special discount code to use for Black Friday for the problems I was having. I made two orders to be combined, the first with almost all of the Kitty Kingdom lip products and Catssic Literature Catsplosion Pack, and the second with minis of all the blushes and eyeshadows from the collection. I received my order and gasped in surprise that Christine had upgraded my eyeshadows to full size! There was only one lip gloss from the collection that I didn't order.

Shipping - My two orders and December Visage shipped together 11 days after I ordered, and arrived via USPS in 6 days from Canada to California.

Product Size - This collection was offered in mini jar (halfling) or full size form. Because of time constraints, it was not offered in sample bag form. And all of the lip products were only available as full size.

Free Samples - Christine stated that since she was not going to have samples available for this collection, that she would probably not include free samples with orders for time purposes. I did not receive any free samples with this order.

All eyeshadow swatches are done over Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer. Blushes were done over bare skin and blended out.

Catssic Literature Catsplosion Pack:

The Catsplosion Pack contained:

• 4 eyeshadow minis (of your choice)
• 1 postcard set (10 postcards of all the Catssic Literature label art)
• 1 button mirror
• 1 cosmetic bag

The art on the cosmetic bag and the button mirror was dependent on the pack you chose. In the rush to get my order in, I told Christine to pick the eyeshadows for me. She happened to pick 4 that I didn't have already, which was awesome. I decided to go with Call Me Ishmeow for the design, because who doesn't love a disgruntled cat in a whale costume?

Call Me Ishmeow Button Mirror - 

The mirror is smaller than I imagined, but it's nice quality, and it comes in a maroon bag to prevent scratches. For some reason though, the coloring on mine seems to lean a little yellow though. I don't know if that's how all the mirrors came out, or just this design, or just my mirror in particular.

Call Me Ishmeow Cosmetic Bag - 

I was really surprised by the material that was used for these bags, it's like a satiny water resistant type of material, and seems high quality. There is even an inside zipper pocket, and if I had known about that, I probably would have bought another bag! I am such a sucker for inside zipper pockets. 

Catssic Literature Postcard Set - 

I wanted to get the Catsplosion pack so I could have the bag, mirror, and the postcard set. Now that I have it all, I am so glad I opted for the pack, because these postcards look awesome. I just love the art for this collection, and I plan to have these framed and put up in my pretend future makeup room. I just need to convince B to let me have my own makeup room in our future place...

Blushes:

Leah - "Shimmery salmon pink."

I don't really have any other indie blushes similar to this shade, I love the shade. Coral without being orange or too pink.

Midna - "Cream coloured shimmery gold."

I really liked the look of this highlight shade, and I used it for my New Years Eve makeup look. It only shows up in the light, but it gave a nice golden sheen to the tops of my cheeks.

Mm Treats! - "Red-toned burgundy with a gold duochrome."

I also wore this for New Years Eve and put almost a little too much on. But I was wearing primer and foundation underneath it, and the carmine didn't give me a reaction, so that was exciting to discover. It's a bright pink shade on the cheeks, and you only need the tiniest bit. I put too much on and had to put a finishing powder on over the top to keep it from being too bold.

Puddin' Cup - "Neutral-toned contour shade."

This looks fairly warm toned to me blended out, but I'll have to try it on to see for sure how it compares to my current favorite contour shade.

Sweet Dreams - "Dark pinky mauve with a hint of copper shimmer."

I really like how pale this pink shade is, with the shimmer, I think it will look beautiful on my skin.

Here are the blushes, contour and highlight all together. Lots of variation, I like them all a lot. I'm glad I opted to get these.

Eyeshadows: 

007 -

This is a black base with a green shimmer. I don't tend to prefer black shadows because they are hard to wear without looking too dramatic, but this might work paired with any of the others just a tiny bit in the outer v.

Al'Thor -

This is a lime green with golden sheen and sparkles. For the most part this collection is pretty neutral and muted, but this is probably the craziest shade.

Box Cat -

I really love how bronzy this shade is, I don't think I have anything quite this metallic in my collection so this is a great shade to have. And I tried foiling it and it didn't look much different, so just over primer it's almost as foiled as it will look.

Chloe -

This is a warm reddish dark brown shade with gold and purple sparkles. I think this would work really blended out, it would be a nice crease color.

Double Trouble -

This is a light cream salmon color, and I think it would work well as a highlight. It looks similar to Little One.

Furry Tummies -

This is a yellowish cream almost matte shade with a slight golden sheen.

Golden Doodle -

I paired this with Box Cat also foiled on New Years Eve, but it ended up looking really similar. It's a muted gold shade with lots of gold sparkle.

Koraline -

This is a light baby pink with silver sheen and sparkles. But it looks really similar to Little One.

Lily -

This is a light gray shade, almost matte, but with some sparkle. I would probably use this as a highlight shade.

Little One -

I've been using this all week as my brow highlight shade and it works really well. It seems to blend well with my main shadow color to make it look like I've used a transition shade, when I haven't.

Mao -

This is a shimmery icy blue shadow, which I would probably pair with Mochi.

Mobius -

This shadow is unique, it's a black base, with a strong bronze shift with gold and purple sparkles. This could probably be used in the crease, or really lightly all over the lid.

Mochi -

This shadow I had the most trouble with out of all of the collection, it was patchy and not completely opaque. It is a dark blue, almost black, shadow with tons of blue sparkle.

Non-Negotiable Cuddles -

This is a pinky beige matte shade with a scattering of silver sparkle. It would probably work well as a transition shade for a very light neutral look.

Octavian -

This is a dark brown, almost black, shadow with a golden sheen and gold and bronze sparkle.

Penelope -

This is a silvery teal shade with a strong silver sheen and sparkles. 

Pepper! -

This is a green leaning cream matte shade with bright red/orange sparkles.

Sangha -

This is sort of the silvery blue sheen and sparkle version of Octavian. The base shadow color looks really similar.

Skittles -

This is a bronzy gold shade with gold sheen and sparkles. It's sort of a more yellow version of Golden Doodle.

Snickers -

This is a really pale shimmery pink shade with lots of sheen and sparkle. I would probably use this as a highlight shade.

Sweetie -

This is a warm toned white highlight shade with a strong shift.

Tweed -

This shade is interesting, it's almost a green toned black with purple and silver sparkles. There are quite a few almost black shades in this collection.

Walpus -

This is a tangerine orange shade with an orange shift and sparkles. Probably the second most daring shade after Al' Thor.

Wizard Lizard -

When I originally swatched these, this was one of my favorite shades, and then I wore it foiled and completely fell in love. It's a muted lavender/purple shade with strong silver shift and lots of sparkles. The base color is hard to describe, but it just looks stunning foiled. Because of the pink undertones to the shadow, when it's blended out, it sort of creates it's own transition shade.

Ziggy BunButts -

This is a black base shadow with tons of purple sparkle. There's so much sparkle, I would say even blended out you would still see some of the purple sparkles.

I liked a lot of the eyeshadows, but I think there were too many, and some were too similar. I know Christine got more pet submissions than she anticipated, but I had hoped the eyeshadows would be in more varying colors.

Lip Glosses:

Audrey 2 the Venus Fly Trap - "Bright magenta with green sparkles."

You don't really see the green sparkles in this lip gloss, but it is a stunning shade. The lip gloss texture is kind of new to me, it's not really that glossy, and almost goes on like a wet paste. I don't really know how else to describe it, it's certainly not like most glosses I've tried, but it's also not like a lipstick either. Maybe something more akin to a liquid lipstick.

Fluffy Bad Cats - "Dark metallic red with white, gold, and green shimmer."

From the tube, I was hoping this shade would look more dramatic, but I actually ended up liking the look it gave. I think you could also build it up to be really pigmented as well. The white shimmer is really prominent. These lip glosses also have a wonderful flavor as well, I mostly pick up on vanilla.

Orange Fluff - "Clear with suspended light orange holographic sparkles."

This was one lip gloss I purchased because the cat on the label is my friend's Kelly's cat! I really liked the look of this gloss, even though it's a clear base, it gives an almost nude lip look to my lips. But it can also be used as a layering gloss over other shades.

There was only one lip gloss I didn't buy, just because it didn't give much effect to the lips from the swatches I saw. But the three I did get were very original colors to my collection, and I really like the texture and smell of the product itself.

Tinted Lip Balms:

Lady - "Peachy-salmony lip balm, satin finish."

This shade really reminds me of Life's Entropy Apoptosis, it's got a similar coral peach color. These lip balms are really matte, they are not glossy at all, and they don't seem to dry out your lips any more than they already are, but they will accentuate any dryness you already have. This is because the balms themselves are really not a balm, but more like a lipstick. They feel very dry and draggy over the lips, but it doesn't take much to get the color completely opaque.

*Sigh* - "Deep burgundy lip balm, satin-matte finish."

I wore this balm all day wine tasting in Napa, and it looked wonderful. It transferred a little at first, but it quickly became matte and didn't budge. It lasted the day, but was also easy to reapply if needed. I love the shade, it's a perfect fall/winter dark burgundy color.

I thought the tinted lip balms were more like lipsticks than balms, definitely not just tinted. They were full color, matte lipsticks. They do accentuate any dryness on your lips, so be sure to moisturize and scrub your lips well before using for the day.

Overall, I was really impressed by this collection, and I have no idea how Christine was able to do such a large collection for a single weekend of sales. I do think maybe she should have limited how many pet submissions she would take so the collection didn't get out of hand, because a 25 eyeshadow collection alone is expensive. And once you add on the lip products and blushes, it's a huge expense. But people, including me, were willing to pay for it. I think the artwork is cute for the full size products, but I don't think it was necessary to pay extra for. I certainly don't associate certain products with the pet on the label, and probably wouldn't unless it was my own cat. I loved the blushes, I've been using them and they are all very flattering on my skin. The eyeshadows were nice, but I thought there were too many, and so many of them were similar. The lip glosses are a really nice formula, I will definitely be buying more of them in the future. And I also loved the tinted lip balms, which were more like lipsticks. I'll be buying more of those in the future as well. My favorites were probably Little One, Wizard Lizard, Audrey 2 the Venus Fly Trap, and *Sigh*. I also loved the Catsplosion pack, I keep the bag and mirror in my purse now.

Customer Service - I did not have to contact Christine about any problems with the Black Friday order. But, I quickly emailed her to thank her for upgrading my eyeshadows to full size.

Availability - The entire Kitty Kingdom collection was supposed to be limited edition for Black Friday weekend only, but I think some of the lip products may be made permanent.

Overall Satisfaction - My favorite shadows were Little One and Wizard Lizard. My favorite lip gloss was Audrey 2 the Venus Fly Trap, and my favorite tinted lip balm was *Sigh*. I thought the collection was fun and definitely had some standout products, but overall it was really overwhelming.

What did you think of the Hello Waffle Kitty Kingdom Collection? Let me know in the comments!

For all other Hello Waffle reviews, click here