A new-to-me company, Ten Three Labs, recently began doing a limited-release box called Phantasmagoria, each “Projection” of which centers on a haunted town, and features a selection of eye shadows, lip products, and perfume. I was THRILLED when I found out that Ellicott City, MD would be Projection Two. Ellicott City is one of my favorite places on earth. It’s a special date night spot for my husband and I– if you’re relatively local, you should definitely stop at Pure Wine Cafe for their truffle fries and their chocolate pot de crème. And the Bean Hollow is hands-down my very favorite coffee shop in all the land. Plus, we are lovers of haunted history, and whoa can you feel it in Ellicott City! So when I snagged a spot on the Projection Two list, I did a happy dance.

My box arrived on Saturday. I picked up the mail on the way out of the door, and like the impatient lady I am, opened it in the car. And promptly lost my list of what was what. Oops. Well done, self. Luckily, Indiedulge posted shots of her box, including the list, so I’m gonna crib off of her for the descriptions!

Without further ado:

The shadows: the left swatch is over Too Faced Shadow Insurance, the right over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy.

7 Hills: Ellicott City sits in front of a series of hills. The legend goes that if you hit the seventh hill at exactly midnight, you’ll be chased by a demon car that mysteriously appears out of thin air. Pro-tip, don’t do this!

Deep Grey with red sparks. Lip safe!

7 Hills is a deep charcoal grey with lovely pinkish red micro-sparkles. This color isn’t particularly for me– greys tend to make me look bruised. But it is really pretty!

Hayden: Also known as Oak Lawn, Hayden House was built in the 19th century by the town’s first county clerk, Edwin Parson Hayden. After Hayden’s death in 1850, the home went through several different owners and usages, and racked up its fair share of ghost stories along the way. Among the more famous happenings around Hayden House are spooky footsteps, coffee being heated even when the pot is unplugged, a ghostly cook making the home smell like various breakfast foods, and a mysterious hazy white mist floating around.

Muted raspberry with lavender sparks. Lip safe!

I’d say this is a raspberry over a brick shade, with a purplish cast which gets stronger over a sticky base. It’s SUUUUPER pretty.

Forget-Me-Not Factory: A former opera house, the Forget-Me-Not factory is full of history, and is one of the known haunted places in Ellicott City. The fourth floor of the building, where access is prohibited, is thought to be haunted by John Wilkes Booth, who made his acting career debut in that very building. Though there are very few sightings today, many tell stories of hearing strange noises, seeing orbs captured on camera, and even seeing a piano playing by itself. In fact, the piano kept playing by itself so much that the owners ended up buying a coin-operated, self-playing piano to play homage to this ghost when they got rid of the original one.

Light purple with a beautiful turquoise shift. NOT lip safe!

Though my camera ENTIRELY refused to capture it, there is indeed a beautiful pale turquoise shift in this shadow. I look forward to seeing how it stands up to similar shades in my collection, Femme Fatale’s Faerie Fire and Notoriously Morbid’s Glorious Honor. All fairy themed, which is funny because the Forget-Me-Not factory is ALSO fairy themed! Well, at least the first two floors are. The third floor has this whackadoo Halloween / Christmas / Dress-up Closet mashup dealie going on. I both love this store AND am creeped out by it, especially when I stop in on quiet days. You just feel watched in there, I don’t know how else to explain it. If someone told me that there was a portal to some slightly-sinister magical land somewhere in that building, I would 100% believe it.

And yet, it’s NOT the store in Ellicott City where I actually saw a ghost.

Lip Products:

Saucebox Sheen- Heart Beat Bridge: Probably the creepiest ghost story in the town, the legend of Heart Beat Bridge say that the bridge is haunted by a woman who was brutally murdered by her lover. The man cut out her heart and threw it into the stream. If you listen carefully enough, you can hear her heart beating from beneath the bridge. Or so they say.

Bloody raspberry with blue sheen.

Swatched on a day where it TOTALLY didn’t match my eye makeup. Welp.

So, while I can totally see the sheen in the tube, it disappears on the lips. But still, this color is gorgeous! I wouldn’t call it raspberry– much like the Hayden shadow, it has sort of a brick-ish base with a berry tint. It’s very Autumnal, and I love it!

Salve Stick – Ghost Chef: Inspired by the mischievous ghosts within Hayden House.

Mocha latte.

This has a really nice chocolatey coffee smell. Very yummy. I’d say the texture is not super thick, but nicely moisturizing.

Perfume:

Lilburn: Built in 1957 by Henry Richard Hazelhurst, Lilburn Manor may well be one of the most haunted places in Ellicott City. The home has seen its fair share of tragedies, including a fire that destroyed the original home. After replacing the gothic spires on the home with stone, the weird happenings around the home increased. Reports of chandeliers swinging back and forth, phantom footsteps, overturned vases, a child crying, and cigar smoke are all part of Lilburn’s haunted history. At least two physical apparitions have also been seen in the home.

Notes: wafts of cigar smoke, smoldering rubble, petitgrain, bergamot, frankincense absolute.

Based on the notes, I expected to hate this. It is AWESOME, though. My husband even huffed my wrists. It smells like pipe smoke, not cigar smoke. Sweet– like cherry tobacco, but only a hint of cherry. I get a little bit of bergamot, but this is almost all cozy, Autumnal pipe smoke. And maybe a touch of coffee? It reminds me a little of BPAL’s long-gone LE, Herr Drosselmeyer, and has the same feel as Hoggle. Oh man, this is going to get so much use when the weather turns chilly!

Overall, the only product in this box I won’t use is 7 Hills, but even then I can say it’s a very pretty shade. For my intro to this brand, I’d say it’s a pretty big success! (And what does it say about Ellicott City that there are so many haunted spots that she didn’t even get to touch on The Patapsco Female Institute or Mount Ida?!)

Anyway, the IndieMakeupAndMore locals are hoping to have a meet-up in Ellicott City in early August and go on a walking ghost tour. If you might want to come, drop the organizer a line!