Storing eyeshadows aka cheap shit from eBay

Every now and then I like to trawl eBay and find some random cheap thing (less than $5) and buy it to see how it is. If it turns out to be useless garbage (hello, Strawberry hair curlers), I don't care because I only spent a few dollars on it. If it turns out to be something useful, then I feel absurdly pleased with myself.

One of my recent purchases was a set of plastic jars intended for holding beads. I thought I'd see whether they were any good for holding eyeshadow samples, as I have quite a lot and I don't like the little ziplock bags (does anyone?). This little set cost me $3.67 AU (free postage), and I got mine from this seller, but they're everywhere on eBay. It took maybe 2 weeks to arrive.

A few weeks ago on a whim I bought the sample set of Friday the 13th eyeshadows from Meow Cosmetics. There are 14 - one is an extra for luck or some such - but I only had 12 jars in my little bead wotsit so I left out the two colours I was least likely to ever use. I'll just give those away to someone at some point. I transferred the rest of them into the bead jars. They are quite small so they wouldn't hold a full size loose eyeshadow, but they're perfect for samples and great for keeping a collection in one place.

Et voilà!

I'm pretty happy with this storage - it was super cheap and it's small so I am definitely going to get some more to put all the other samples I've got floating around in. I doubt it would be travel friendly though - the jar lids are the kinds that never seem quite tight enough, and I imagine they would loosen more rattling around in a suitcase. 

 P.S. I will get around to swatching this collection, by the way.

Fyrinnae Haul - Swatches and Review

For years I've been hearing about the miracle of Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, but every time I thought to go to their site and buy some it was closed. They are closed A LOT. To an annoying degree, actually. I mean, I get that in a small operation it's better to close down and catch up than to get overwhelmed with orders and then do the infamous indie meltdown, but when it seems like you're closed more often than you're open, maybe you need to hire some staff or something.

Anyway, because of that I gave up on them in a huff. Screw you, Fyrinnae - if you don't want my money I'm sure I can find something else to do with it! The only thing that sent me back there was seeing a post on Reddit where someone had tested out how Pixie Epoxy performed with pressed shadows (she used Wet'n'Wild palettes) and the results were pretty impressive. And amazingly, they were open! In hindsight I wish I'd snatched up several bottles of Pixie Epoxy, but I hear it lasts a long time so it's probably not a big deal.

They also have pressed shadows now so I thought I'd try one of those out. The range wasn't great - they were sold out of most of the ones I'd have been interested in, but I thought Serendipity looked like my speed.

Clockwise from left: Pressed Eyeshadow in Serendipity, loose shadows in Monster Movie, Agenda, Tyr, and Winter, Again (free sample)

So the first thing I noticed is that they are a bit lumpy. They break up when I press down on them but still, not a good look when you have a reputation as sacred as Fyrinnae in the indie world. I bought some Fyrinnae shadows a few years ago and don't remember this happening, so it might have been an anomoly from change of climate or something. I don't know.

Monster Movie: Soft, nearly matte light sage green with a subtle touch of copper shimmer. 
Agenda: Multi-facted neutral deep grey with a fine highlight of pink throughout. Not quite taupe, and low enough shimmer that it verges on a satin finish.
Tyr: Difficult to describe, this is a muted chartreuse-on-black. It has a distinct opaque black base, especially when applied wet, with a highlight of yellow green.
Winter, Again: Semi-sheer white with soft blue and turquoise shimmer.

Edit: Apparently the lumpy appearance is due to a reformulation and there is a note about it on their site. 

*** In January 2013, Fyrinnae's loose eye shadows were reformulated (orders shipped in the last eight days of January onward will have the new version). This will not affect color or decrease opacity, but will most likely reduce fallout (during application and wearing) and may increase wear time. Product will appear clumpy in the jar. 

From left: Tyr, Agenda, Monster Movie, Winter, Again. Taken in natural (overcast) daylight. Top row on bare skin, bottom row swatched over Pixie Epoxy. 

As you can see, the Pixie Epoxy doesn't have much of an effect on Monster Movie or Agenda - both fairly low shimmer. It isn't meant for matte/near matte eyeshadows though. It does do a pretty good job bringing out more colour in Tyr and Winter, Again. It also made them all last much longer, the bare skin swatches on my arm wore off pretty quickly, but the Pixie Epoxy ones are still there even after typing and whatnot.

 

Serendipity Pressed Eyeshadow: left swatched on bare skin, right swatched on Pixie Epoxy. Taken in natural (overcast) daylight. Bottom picture is taken in sunlight.

The important stuff:

• Fyrinnae doesn't sell samples, but they do sell minis. Minis are 1/3 of a teaspoon for $2.25US, and for me that's more than enough. Full sizes are $6.25US.
• The pressed shadow was $9US, which I think is a bit pricy for an indie shadow, especially given that Makeup Geek's eyeshadows are cheaper than that and supposedly comparable to MAC. Having said that, it's a lovely eyeshadow and really good quality. (I've bought pressed mineral shadows from a shop on Etsy in the past and that was a bit of a disaster.) Annoyingly, they don't seem to have any pressed shadows listed on their site at the moment.
• Pixie Epoxy is $7US for a full size, and you can also get a trial size for $2US. Pretty good value for money. 
• Shipping was $7.50US to Australia, very cheap considering what international shipping is usually now. They are taking a hit there. It was also fairly fast - they have caveats on their site all the time warning about high TAT, but I ordered mine on September 10 and it was shipped on September 15. I received it mid- last week but I don't remember exactly what day.

Overall, I'm happy with what I got. I'm not a devotee of the cult of Fyrinnae but I get why some people are.

P.S. If you're interested, you can see swatches of my older Fyrinnae shadows here and here. 

Face of Australia Budge Proof Eyeshadow

I was in Priceline checking out a Covergirl sale the other day when I happened across these Face of Australia Budge Proof Eyeshadows. Now, I'm not regularly in Priceline, nor am a huge fan of Face of Australia generally (except for their primer, which is the bomb), so I have no idea how long these have been around. I haven't heard any of the seagulls pimping them though, so I'm going to assume they are pretty new. You can't tell from their website, because it doesn't seem to be all that up to date.

These are obviously FOA's crack at the Maybelline Color Tattoo popularity. I think there were 8 shades - the two I have, as well as a bronze, a teal, a darker blue, a dark purple, a gold and a light pink. I wanted to buy some just to check them out, but to be honest I struggled to find colours I really liked that much. The pink was nice enough, but too similar to Inked in Pink, a Color Tattoo I already have. Same with the bronze and the gold - too similar to Bad to the Bronze and Bold Gold. I wouldn't wear navy or teal eyeshadows so they were out. That left the green, the purple and the taupe. I wanted the purple at first, which was a lovely shade in the jar, but the swatch was pretty muddy - it looked kind of dirty brown rather than what the jar promised. I wasn't super impressed with the swatches of the green or the taupe either, but I had to buy SOMETHING, so I went with those. At $8.95 each, it was a risk I was okay with.

The colours I got were Poison Ivy and Tip Top Taupe. In the jar, Poison Ivy is a dark hunter green, but again it went muddy when applied. Tip Top Taupe was... eh. It's a taupe. Unlike Maybelline's Tough as Taupe, this one has some shimmer and sparkle in it. The consistency of these is very smooth - almost weirdly so. They apply sheerly, but they are buildable, and layering seems to make the colour come out better. The colour never does appear as you'd think from the jar though, which is disappointing. That muddiness never quite goes away.

These swatches are layered a couple of times, and you can see that even then they're not super opaque, or super clear colours.

Are they budge proof? Not really. They creased and faded a bit on me by the end of the day, and I wonder if that is also because of how many layers I had to apply to get the colours to show properly. I imagine these would be okay for people with dry eyelids - perhaps those who find the Color Tattoos too drying - but I have oilyish eyelids, and these didn't last the distance of the Color Tattoos or Benefit Creaseless Creams.

These are the hand swatches after about 6 hours, with several washing of hands and a lot of general cleaning and wiping going on, so I guess in that sense they are budge proof because although they fade, they do stain. I cleaned them off eventually with my L'Oreal Micellar Water and that removed them well enough, though I did find that when I used the green on my eyes I was still convinced I could see a greenish tinge on my crease even after I'd used makeup remover.

In summary, I found these to be pretty meh. I'd like them if the colours were clearer, brighter and more true, but for now I'd say if you have similar shades in Color Tattoos already, don't bother busting out to get these.

Eccentric Cosmetics

I happened across Eccentric Cosmetics on one of my Etsy trawls and as soon as I realised it was Australian I had to order something. Yet again, this is an Aussie indie company I've never heard of, but when I was searching for swatches and reviews it seemed that it had been around for quite a few years.

Indoors in natural light

Outdoors in natural overcast light

Top row: 

Higgs Bosun - acid yellow with a blue/green shimmer. This one was a freebie, and although I'd never wear yellow eyeshadow, I do really like the effect of it.

Acid Drops - a bright shimmery green, super pretty. This was another freebie, and it's not currently listed in the store, so I don't know whether it's new or sold out or what. I'd buy this in a full size though, I love it.

Munchies - a duller green than Acid Drops, with blue shimmer. It's actually brighter than it shows in the photo, and I like it a lot too.

Bottom row: 

Mischievous Punk - purple with a reddish-purple sparkle. Again, the pictures are not doing it justice. This one is gorgeous.

False Astronomy - a coppery purple red with orange shimmers that changes dramatically in various lights. This one is probably my favourite - it's like nothing I've ever had before.

Victorian Steampunk - a golden brown colour, nothing particularly unique, but still very pretty. I like this one a lot, and I'd probably get a lot of wear out of it.

Indoors in natural light

Outdoors in natural overcast light

Top row:

Wicked Mischief - shimmery gold with a pink tinge to it. More pink in real life than  it looks in the picture.

Progressive Adaptation - brown with blueish purple sparkles, another duochrome that changes in the light.  Lerve it!

Petal Poison - rose pink with gold sparkles. Very pretty, but this is a shade I'm particularly fond of and I have a few other similar ones already.

Bottom row: 

Vesuvius - a super shimmery taupe. I'd probably wear this a lot too, even though there's a lot of sparkle, it's not too glittery or chunky. 

Dragon Claw - green with silvery-blue shimmer. In real life this is way more green than it shows in the picture. This is another favourite of mine - I do loves me some green eyeshadows!

Pure Intoxication - a purplish taupe with blue shimmer. This one is also not currently listed.


OVERALL THOUGHTS

I like these a lot - they're all highly shimmery/sparkly, but they don't have giant chunks of glitter in them or anything, so they're still suitable for your everyday Jill or Joe Blow. There are a few in the ones I bought that were different from anything else I own, and that's a pretty rare thing these days.

I paid $12AUD for 10 samples, plus $2AUD shipping. I received 2 free samples in my order as well. All were generously sized - 1/4 teaspoon. I ordered on 10 December, received a shipping notice on 12 December, and received it on 14 December. Love buying things from my own country - no massive hold ups in customs!

There is also an option for bloggers and YouTubers to buy 5 samples at a reduced price. I did not use this because... well, you all know I'm not comfortable with that sort of thing. Besides, I thought $14 for 10 samples plus shipping was already pretty damn reasonable!

I will definitely be going back to this store in the early new year. 

Femme Fatale Cosmetics - Swatches

 
I really want to get back into swatching, but I'm going to have to buy a camera, I think. Now that Ben has loaned his to his mum (!), I have nothing but my iPhone, which is not great when you're already a half-arsed photographer like myself. Hmmm, maybe a Christmas present selfie.

Anyway, moving on. I had never heard of Femme Fatale Cosmetics before a few weeks ago when Jacquie gave me some samples she didn't want (being a pale ginger she can't wear purples without looking like she's been beaten up). I did some googling around to find out a bit more, and discovered that they are an Australian company. Now, I haven't paid a lot of attention to Australian companies selling mineral and loose makeup products in the past, because the ones I have seen have just been stupidly expensive, and they tend not to sell samples (looking right at you with the stinkeye, Inika - $25 for one eyeshadow, I don't think so). However, Femme Fatale has a full size eyeshadow for $5.75, a smaller size for $3ish, and they sell samples for $1.10. In addition to that, if you're just buying samples and you're in Oz, it's free shipping. First hurdle passed, Femme Fatale!

So, in addition to the 3 that Jac gave me, I decided to try some more. I also wanted to check out their illuminators and blushes (because I totes need new blushes, as you know). As it happens, only one of the blushes really interested me, but I did get 5 illuminator samples to check out. 

Eyeshadows

These were all taken swatched over Detrivore primer, in natural, slightly overcast light.  Descriptions are directly from the company website.

Top row: Starcaller, Wisp, Levitate, Shooting Stars

Bottom row: Shadow Dance, Jinx, Frostfire, The Dark One

Starcaller: A light periwinkle blue highlighted by a pinkish red shimmer, and violet and red sparkles.
Wisp: A soft slate grey eye shadow highlighted by a heavy blue duochrome.
Levitate: A soft amaranth pink with lavender tones, Levitate has a frosty violet shimmer with a scattering of blue, red and pink sparkles.
Shooting Stars: A soft wisteria violet eye shadow tinged with pink, Shooting Stars is highlighted by a heavy duochrome finish.
Shadow Dance: A cool grey with bluish undertones and a scattering of subtle blue and pink sparkles.
Jinx: A pigmented mid purple with blue undertones and a warm tone (copper/red) duochrome finish
Frostfire: A strong azure blue with teal undertones, Frostfire has a soft reddish shine and a scattering of pink and golden sparkles.
The Dark One: A smooth black based shade with a sultry violet shine, and lavender and purple sparkles.

Top row: Planeshift, Eternal Trance, Dispersion, Illusions

Bottom row: Desecration, The Nightmare, Temporal Shift, Smokebomb

Planeshift: A blend of pale jungle green and teal with slight grey tones, and striking golden shimmer.
Eternal Trance: Eternal Trance is a dark pine green with strong teal green shimmer.
Dispersion: A deep mulberry with bold teal blue shimmer.
Illusions: A brown based shade with a hint of auburn undertones, and teal duochrome finish.
Desecration: A striking bright green shimmer over a base mixed of cool grey, subtle brown and pearly purple tones.
The Nightmare: An eggplant purple base with intense golden green glimmers and sparkles.
Temporal Shift: A black based shade with striking golden duochrome that almost looks green in some lights.
Smokebomb: A black based eye shadow with colour shifting shimmer and copper sparkles.

Illuminators and Blush
These are also swatched over the Detrivore primer, which of course you wouldn't do in real life, but there was no way I could get them to show up on my camera phone if they were just swatched bare (even though they do look lovely on the skin). I decided to do them with the primer just so you could see the difference in the tones of these. In the bottom right is a blush that you can barely, barely see. It is quite sheer and pale, but it's beautiful. I wish I could get a picture that does it justice. Definitely buying this in full size. 

Top row: Snow Lily, Heart Blossom, Golden Lotus

Bottom row: Desert Rose, Nether Bloom, Fortune Cookie (blush)

Snow Lily: A translucent ivory-taupe illuminator, with the teeniest hint of small shimmer particles to create a glow on your skin, while the satin finish brightens up the face by reflecting light.
Heart Blossom: A translucent rose pink with very subtle undertones of purple grey, and medium to low shimmer.
Golden Lotus: A soft vanilla-gold illuminator, and the teeniest hint of small shimmer particles to create a glow on your skin, while the satin finish brightens up the face by reflecting light.
Desert Rose: A salmon coral illuminator with tones of soft pink, and medium to low shimmer.
Nether Bloom: A translucent illuminator in a soft chamoisee brown with warm undertones, and the teeniest hint of small shimmer particles to create a glow on your skin, while the satin finish brightens up the face by reflecting light.
Fortune Cookie: A pale tea rose pink mostly-matte blush with soft undertones of coral.

 I am surprised - and frankly a little disappointed - that I have never heard of this company before now. When I was looking for reviews and swatches I found that most of them were from US bloggers, and the Australian ones were generally along the lines of "These were sent to me for free and they're super awesome fantastic and I love them so much" and then they were never mentioned again on those blogs - not all, but definitely most. Which leads me to an oft-repeated rant:

A lot of Australian beauty blogging has largely become a tedious circle jerk. So many freebies being thrown out there, so many rave reviews of products received gratis, but even if the blogger does genuinely love the product(s), how can we readers believe it when said products never get another mention? Not a follow up purchase mentioned in a haul (god forbid they spend money when there's more free stuff round the corner), not in a favourites post, not in an empties post, not in a face of the day post. Just... nothing. And they wonder why people like me roll their eyes at those disclaimers about how 100% honest they are.

Okay, that was unpleasant. Back to Femme Fatale. These eyeshadows are really beautiful, and I loved the blush. The illuminators are pretty, though to be truthful illuminating isn't a big thing with me. Having said that, I'd consider getting one or two of them in full sizes - they give a nice, subtle glow without being over the top disco ballish.

There are at least 6 eyeshadows that I will be getting in bigger sizes, and possibly more. The greens especially are just gorgeous. And I love that there's a reasonably priced Australian indie makeup company out there. Now I'm going to go and look for some more.

Oh, one last thing. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't manage to drop one of the eyeshadows while swatching. At this point it's starting to become a mystery game - which one will it be this time? 

Goodbye Frostfire! You were pretty while you lasted.

Inventory 2012: Pressed Single Eyeshadows

This may be my final inventory post. I do have some nail polishes but I got rid of most of them a while ago and they're not something I ever use all that much, so I don't know that I can be bothered photographing those.

Things I have learned from doing this:

1. I have WAY more blushes than I thought I did. 
2. I actually have fewer eyeshadows than I thought I did, though having said that, I have sold or given away a ton of them in the past year or so. 
3. I think I have a reasonable number of lipsticks, but I have a tendency to only wear the same half dozen or so over and over. I might need to do a lipstick challenge or something. 
4. Since taking my mascara pictures I have acquired two more, one from Beauty Heaven and one sent to me by L'Oreal.