Today I’m reviewing the Mouseia Collection from Corvus Cosmetics. Corvus is a newer company, but it’s been really well received in the online indie community. The Mouseia Collection is based on the nine muses in Greek Mythology. It’s an intersting collection, because the colors are pretty extreme. There are very pale pastels and rich deep colors without any middle of the road medium shades. It’s worth noting as well that Noel sells mirrors featuring the label art from this collection as well. As always, I swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion on the left/top and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the right/bottom. The top picture is taken in indoor natural light and the bottom in direct sun. The pastels: Euterpe, Terpsichore, Thalia, Polyhymnia The deep colors: Clio, Calliope, Urania, Melpomene, Erato Euterpe: “A creamy white highlight shade with a near-matte finish.” The muse of song. This is a soft, creamy eggshell color, with a hint of yellow. It has a bit of a sheen but no visible shimmer. Terpsichore: “A soft, pastel pink with a slight shimmer.” The muse of dance. The description of this is spot on. It’s a slightly shimmer pastel ballet pink, which makes it very appropriate for the muse of dance. Thalia: “A pastel lavender shade with a slight shimmer.” The muse of comedy. This is a very pale pastel purple with a little shimmer. Over a sticky base, the white undertones of the base come through strongly. Polyhymnia: “An icy silver-blue highlight shade with a slight blue shimmer.” The muse of sacred hymns. This color was previously released as a GWP called Ice Queen. This is a super pretty icy baby blue. In some lights the shimmer looks to me like it has a hint of pink. I definitely see why its previous incarnation was called Ice Queen. Clio: “A slightly blackened molten gold with a metallic finish.” The muse of history and lyre playing. Clio is a very rich, mustardy gold. It’s about as dark as gold can get while still being gold. It also makes a great liner, especially with blue eyes. Calliope: “A dark, velvety green with a light green shimmer and subtle sparkle.” The muse of epic poetry. This is a pretty, sparkly forrest green. It’s a bit sheerer over primer than over a sticky base, but not as sheer as it’s showing up in my pictures. (I’m pretty sure I didn’t apply my primer evenly for this or Urania. The far end of the swatch, that doesn’t fit into the picture was a little more opaque.) Urania: “A near-black navy base with a strong blue and turquoise shimmer, with gold and silver sparks.” The muse of astronomy. To my eye this is a bright, super sparkly navy. I definitely am not seeing a near-black base. A sticky base makes the sparkles in this come crazily alive. Over primer, it’s sheerer, but in person it doesn’t seem quite as sheer as it does in the picture. Melpomene: “A very dark brown-red with a slight red highlight.” The muse of tragedy. This color is gorgeous. It’s a dark reddish-brown purple. The pigmentation is good over primer, but a sticky base makes the red highlight really shine. This color makes a fantastic liner, right on the border between neutral and colorful. I love it. Erato: “A dark, shimmery, metallic burgundy with a soft coppery sheen.” The muse of lyric poetry. This is a really pretty burgundy, with amazing pigmentation over just primer. A Sticky base brings out more of the coppery-red overlay but doesn’t change the base color at all. If you’re in the market for a metallic dark red, this one is great.

Overall Thoughts: I really enjoyed this collection, but it isn’t designed to stand on its own, so I would recommend supplementing with some basic blending and midtone shades. That said, the extremes of the colors in this collection make it really distinctive. A lot of companies do collections with lots of medium shades, so this would be a good one to expand your repertoire if you’ve got lots of those hanging around. The pastels all apply really easily and look creamy, not chalky. The deep colors make a gorgeous rich, dark rainbow and work beautifully as liners. There isn’t a color in the bunch that’s difficult to work with. If the colors catch your fancy, I definitely recommend checking them out. Tomorrow I’ve got the looks to share with you. It was a bit of puzzle figuring out how to make the deep and the light colors work together, but I’m really happy with the looks I came up with!

You can check out the looks here.