EMDEVE

I'm back with swatches of Femme Fatale's recently released Faraway collection! It consist of twenty (loose) eye shadows and was inspired by The Faraway Tree, a series of children's novels by Enid Blyton. I'd never actually heard of them before, but judging by the bright colours they must be a lot of fun. This collection definitely isn't for the faint of heart: some of these shades are INTENSE. They're all amazingly pigmented and apply really well, proving once again that Femme Fatale has one of my absolute favourite formula's.

Prices: Mini's (3g jars with sifter) are 4.50 AUD and full sizes (5g jars with sifter) are 7.50 AUD. 

TAT: Their current TAT is 5-15 business days, starting the following business day from order placement. Femme Fatale orders usually take exactly one week to get to me in the Netherlands after they've been shipped.

These swatches were done over Femme Fatale's Shadow Magic on the left and both Shadow Magic and Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy on the right. This is the first time I swatched over both primer and PE and I quite like the result! They are loose powders and need a good primer or a sticky base to work properly.



Femme Fatale's description: "A pale maize yellow (almost with a hint of lime) and turquoise sheen."

My verdict: Be still, my yellow loving heart! While others might despise them, I'm loving all the yellows and goldenrods in this collection so much. Silky is super bright, with a strong shift that doesn't need PE. I love using this as an inner corner highlight or on my lower lashline, it makes my looks so fun and playful.


Femme Fatale's description: "A mellow bright green matte with violet shimmer."

My verdict: Another one that almost disappears on my skin (the joys of pale olive skin) and another one of my favourites. Yellows and mustards definitely are my thing, but this won't be for everyone. The shift is pretty strong but subtle enough to still make this work safe.


Femme Fatale's description: "A mustard-golderod yellow (leans slightly brown) with reddish shimmer."

My verdict: I love this one! It's such a beautiful and subtle colour that is also super work safe. The mustard-y base is quite similar to my skin colour (I'm not quite as translucent as my inner arms make me out to be, I promise) so using this over PE gives my eyelids a stunning, soft glow. This is lovely with a matte terracotta in the crease and Silky as an inner corner highlight.


Femme Fatale's description: "A soft amber-orange with lime-green glow."

My verdict: This is BRIGHT! My swatches don't quite capture the glow of this shade, especially in the sun. It is quite similar to both Afraid of Bees and Flowers from Flames, albeit a little more yellow / peachy. Super summery and fun, and a dream to apply. As you can see, there is barely any difference between primer + PE or just primer.


Femme Fatale's description: "A bold ruddy-auburn-brown with blue glow."

My verdict: On my skin, this is more of a reddish purple than an auburn brown. The shift is super strong, to the point of overpowering the base and making it hard for me to wear, but it sure is pretty to look at. It applies wonderfully, and on my warm skin I actually prefer it over just primer. This makes for a super pretty and subtle eye liner too!
 






Femme Fatale's description: "A pale, soft creamy-apricot with copper shimmer and sparks."

My verdict: Might not have been the smartest idee to swatch the lightest shade of the collection over my very obvious veins, but what's done is done. I've actually almost used up my sample baggie of Dreamland because it's just stunning, both as an eye shadow and as a highlighter. It's super pigmented and applies like a dream even over just primer. The sparks aren't really noticable.


Femme Fatale's description: "A bright apricot with golden shine."

My verdict: This is quite similar to Dreamland, just slightly peachier and warmer. They blend out to a very similar colour too, so you really only need one of them. That said, this is just as lovely as Dreamland and doubles as a gorgeous highlighter too.


Femme Fatale's description: "A soft ruddy pinkish-beige with blue glow."

My verdict: This is another surprise favourite. The base is more orange than pink on me, which I love. The shift is super strong over glitter glue, but it's a muted enough blue that it's still work safe. This is amazing for soft and subtle one-shadow looks.


Femme Fatale's description: "A warm puce pink with bold golden overlay."

My verdict: Okay, I'll admit it: I'm a little done with the whole pink-with-gold-shift thing. Never mind that most of them look shit on me, but they just feel a little uninspired to me. Then again, I know people love them, so of course this collection had to have a couple of them. Clockwork Train is quite soft and muted, with a strong golden shift. It's beautiful, but it doesn't do much for me.


Femme Fatale's description: "A brilliant mid-tone pink that leans warm, and golden shimmer."

My verdict: This is bright. And pink. Very, very pink. It's super pigmented and applied wonderfully, with a strong shift that truly shines over glitter glue. I love looking at it, but there's just no way it's going anywhere near my eyes.






Femme Fatale's description: "A pale orchid purple with blue glow."

My verdict: As a warm olive skinned with a red to blond ombre, pale purples are my kryptonite. They look terrible on me, especially when they lean blue or pink / fuchsia. That said, this shade is a lovely, soft neutral with a blue shift that needs PE to truly shine. Pretty, just not on me.


Femme Fatale's description: "A grey-toned mauve purple with strong golden shine."

My verdict: If there's anything that Femme Fatale does well, it's greyish purples with a golden shift. Never mind the fact that they look pretty terrible on me (though this one has a strong enough shift that I can actually sort of pull this one off), they are just so pretty to look at. Regardless of whether they work for me or not, this is one of my favourites of the collection.


Femme Fatale's description: "A bold bright pink with turquoise shimmer."

My verdict: This shade is Cheap Tricks on steroids. The base is brighter, the shift is stronger and slightly greener. It's such a stand out shade, even if it might be slightly daunting to use as anything but a liner for me. The shift is actually pretty strong over just primer, but glitter glue just kicks it up a notch. Or ten.


Femme Fatale's description: "A gorgeous violet with copper shimmer."

My verdict: This collection is full of beautiful jewel tones with gorgeous shimmers. While this isn't a colour I'd use, it's super pretty and quite bright both over primer and glitter glue. Like the other jewel tones, it applies beautifully, though it might be a little sheer over just primer. I might have to suck it up and try this as an eye liner soon.


Femme Fatale's description: "A soft blue/purple with reddish shine and green sparkles."

My verdict: Fear not, this isn't a glitterbomb. The sparkles aren't very apparent, mostly because they are a little overshadowed by that gorgeous shine. It actually leans more greyish purple on me than blue, though that's actually a good thing for me. Between the shift and the glitter, this does need a glitter glue.






Femme Fatale's description: "A pale turquoise with a stunning bright pink shine."

My verdict: Light blues generally terrify me, but this is beautiful. It shouldn't work on me at all (pale! light blue! bright pink shine! yaiks!) but somehow it does. Okay, I'm not brave enough to use this as anything but eye liner - but it's stunning as a liner. It's probably the fact that this is a green-leaning turquoise instead of a true blue that makes it not nearly as horrible as it should be. This makes for a great inner corner highlight too (for people ballsier that me).


Femme Fatale's description: "A bright mid-tone blue with subtle violet sheen."

My verdict: Another bright blue, another potential disaster. This collection sure isn't for the faint of heart, that's for sure. Again, I've only ever used this as eye liner since blues don't work for me, but it's lovely and bright even over just regular primer. I also love the name, it's so cute.


Femme Fatale's description: "An emerald green (leans slightly teal) with copper shimmer."

My verdict: This might just be my favourite shade of the collection! It's really lovely and bright, with a strong shift that leans both copper, pink and gold depending on the angle. I've been using it as eye liner a lot and it's absolutely stunning in a gold-to-teal gradient. Word of warning: it stains a little!


Femme Fatale's description: "A brilliant shimmery russet-copper; at some angles you may see the purple-ish base colour."

My verdict: This is a true jewel tone, so shimmery and bright! This one does need PE to truly shine, as it's ever so slightly sheer over just primer. It needs that sticky base to glow - and by glow I truly mean GLOW.


Femme Fatale's description: "A shimmery moss-brown with green tones."

My verdict: GLITTERBOMB ALERT! This shade is a serious chameleon: it's green, it's brown, it's grey and it sparkles like crazy. It might just be one of the most versatile shades of the collection, as I've used and loved it as a crease shade, as an all over shade and as eye liner. I'm going to need a bucket of this as it's quickly become one of my favourite (sort of) neutral liners.



While this collection is definitely intense, I love it! I wouldn't really recommend buying the entire thing if you're just starting out your collection as it's quite hard to make subtle, cohesive looks out of these without other shadows, but it's a wonderful addition when you have plenty of neutrals for blending and toning it down. My favourites are Pop Biscuit, Wisha-Wisha, Mighty-One the Wizard and Dreamland, though I've been using pretty much all of them (except for the purples) regularly to  spice up my looks.

You can buy Femme Fatale's shadows here. Shiro Cosmetics also stocks Femme Fatale but keep in mind that they only stock full sizes! Stay tuned for more Femme Fatale swatches, as I'm planning on swatching my entire (and quite extensive) collection.

Waffle. Faber-Castell Polychromos on Stonehenge paper.

I'm alive! Unemployed, job hunting, and completely broke, but alive nonetheless. It's been a while since my last post and a lot has happened since then: I wrote a 15.000 word long dissertation, did an internship at the biggest literary agency in the country, finished my MA degree and spent three weeks in France with my parents. Needless to say that I was plenty busy, especially since I spent what little free time I had reading and drawing. Now that I've graduated and haven't found a job yet, I have ample time to bring back this blog. You might have noticed that I gave it a bit of a facelift, too!

My goal is to eventually swatch and blog about my entire collection, and so this post is mostly a round up of swatches I did months ago but never had the time to edit. Some of the Femme Fatale shadows have since been discontinued, but I'm including them anyway because they are pretty and glittery. My to-swatch list is humongous, but unfortunately the sun hasn't really shown itself in weeks. Expect swatches of Femme Fatale's new Halloween collection the second it stops being dreary and overcast!

Prices: Sophie recently had to increase her prices due to the low Australian Dollar. Mini's (3g jars with sifter) are now 4.50 AUD and full sizes (5g jars with sifter) are 7.50 AUD. At 17 AUD (including insurance), international shipping is rather pricey, but it is definitely worth it. 

TAT: Their current TAT is 5-15 business days, beginning the following business day from order placement. It's been ages since I ordered these, but Femme Fatale orders usually take about a week to get to me in the Netherlands after they've been shipped.

These swatches were done over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. They are loose powders and need a good primer or a sticky base to work properly.



Femme Fatale's description: "A mid-tone tangerine orange with soft rust-orange undertones, and has a bright green shimmer with soft aqua sparks."

My verdict: This is so bright and wonderful! I am Dutch so it's kind of obligatory for me to love the colour orange, but orange shadows are totally my jam. It's extremely vibrant, with a similarly vibrant green shift that makes this the perfect summer colour. I used it as eye liner a lot when I was in France. It doesn't really need PE for the shift to show up, a normal primer will do the trick.


Femme Fatale's description: "A super pale taupe with cool tones and prominent turquoise shimmer."

My verdict: Alpine Skies is one of those Femme Fatale shades that you just have to have simply because it is so extremely unique. I always pair it with a purple, brown or orange to warm it up as it's a little too cool for me, but it's so lovely and shimmery. It actually looks amazing with Femme Fatale Moodring. It applies wonderfully and has quite a strong shift even over normal primer.


Femme Fatale's description: "A light orchid purple with violet tones, and has a lovely soft green shimmer."

My verdict: This kind of pinkish purple really isn't my colour, but this is definitely one of my favourite shadows to pull out and look at. It's quite ethereal in its soft sparkliness, with a lovely green shift that shows up even over normal primer. It makes for a great highlight.


Femme Fatale's description: "A mauve-rose base with strong bronze-gold overlay."

My verdict: This might be my absolute favourite Femme Fatale shadow - and I'm not alone in this. Originally a COTM, this was made part of the general catalogue due to popular demand. Its golden overlay really comes out over PE, but I actually prefer this one over just primer. The mauve base with the soft golden shift is the perfect everyday colour, especially with a lighter golden highlight. I'm planning on reswatching this to show the difference between PE and normal primer. 


Femme Fatale's description: "A deep midnight blue with strong purple undertones and a shimmery golden finish."

My verdict: When editing these photo's, I was surprised to find that Spirit Bond wasn't part of the discontinued shadows. It's not a bad shadow at all, but as you can see it was quite patchy over PE. It might just be the fact that it has such a dark base, since those are always a little tricky to use. I love using this as an eye liner, though, since the slight patchiness isn't a problem at all when you foil it or mix it with Darling Girl Superstar Serum.


Femme Fatale's description: "A light periwinkle blue highlighted by a pinkish red shimmer, with violet and red sparkles. The pinkish red shimmer and sparkles really pop out in direct sunlight. DISCONTINUED!"

My verdict: Another one I love to look at but barely ever use because it's simply not my colour. The periwinkle base is lovely yet slightly chalky-looking on me, but it needs some sunlight to truly shine. This was discontinued, but it might still be worth it to look for it in destashes because it looks great on people with cooler colourings.


Femme Fatale's description: "A blend of pale jungle green and teal with slight grey tones, and striking golden shimmer."

My verdict: This is the slightly greyer sister of Hello Waffle's Archean Earth. It's very smooth and pigmented, and has a wonderful golden shift that comes out over normal primer as well. It's such a mermaid-y colour that works really well with golds and browns, but also with blues such as The Girl Who Cried Monster.


Femme Fatale's description: "A rich mossy green with strong yellow tones and bold yellow/green shimmer. DISCONTINUED!"

My verdict: I was so sad to hear that Swamplord had been discontinued, because it is one of my favourite shadows to use as a liner. It's such a rich green and the golden shift is quite strong. It was obviously discontinued due to patchiness problems, but I really do hope that they'll really a version 2.0 soon. 


Femme Fatale's description: "A muddied teal with grey-blue tones and strong pink-red overlay."

My verdict: This was quite hard to photograph. The red shift is less apparent than it seems in these photo's as it pulls a lot more purple in real life. It's a little too cool for me, but it's a great colour for the outer V. Seeing it swatched next to Cake made me realise that I need to use those two shadows together in a look.



Femme Fatale's description: "A sparkly ivory with slight golden shimmer, delicate and pretty!"

My verdict: Cake is one of my favourite highlighters. It is soft, pigmented and blends like a dream. It's not very spectacular, but it's definitely a must-have when it comes to Femme Fatale. Looks wonderful with Time Lost and Wizards Only, Fools.



You can buy Femme Fatale's shadows here. Shiro Cosmetics also stocks Femme Fatale but keep in mind that they only stock full sizes! Stay tuned for more Femme Fatale swatches, as I'm planning on swatching my entire (and quite extensive) collection.

The impossible happened: it was sunny on a day I actually had time to swatch things. My Femme Fatale sampler pack arrived a couple of days ago and so I was dying to try them out and get the swatches up, even when I still had a whole bunch of photo's left to edit from a couple of weeks ago. I'll get those done soon, promise. Just like I've been promising myself to finally finish my cover letter and apply for that amazing internship, which I've been putting off because adult stuff is scary shit, yo. I really want to go abroad, though, to at least add some value to this MA degree.

I also added watermarks to my swatches, mainly because I've been included into the amazing IndieKnow swatch gallery. It's an absolute honour to be included! Their database is huge and really thorough, so make sure to check it out!

Okay, let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns)! I am in love with this collection, even if half of it is way too pink for me to be able to wear it. It's just so bright and happy! Brights are usually something I avoid, so these definitely filled some gaps in my collection. I also included a swatch of the newest COTM, which was included in the sampler pack.

Top row: Forgotten Love, Blinding Passion, Cheap Tricks. Bottom row: Mood Ring, Pretty Trinkets, Choose Wisely.

Prices: I ordered a sampler pack, which are only available for a couple of days when a new collection is launched. It was 7.70 AUD and 2.50 AUD insured letter mail shipping, but they refunded 1.10 AUD for the COTM, which had been intended as a free sample.

TAT: Their current TAT is 10 business days, beginning the following business day from order placement. I placed this order February 12th and it shipped February 17th. It arrived in the Netherlands on February 25th, which was pretty quick!

Customer service: Sophie is a complete doll. I didn't have to contact customer service about this order, but they did send everyone a message that they refunded the sample that was supposed to be free. It surprised me, to be honest, since I wouldn't have minded at all if they hadn't. 

These swatches were done over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. They are loose powders and need a sticky base to work properly.



Femme Fatale's description: "A vibrant pink-coral jewel tone with soft violet/pink sheen. Very subtle but feminine."

My verdict: Vibrant indeed! It's very orange in the baggie, but the purple sheen takes over almost completely over a glitter glue. I'm not quite sure how I am going to wear this yet, but that's mostly because the shift is a little too pink for my hair. It's quite similar to You Can't Scare Me from the 2014 Halloween collection so if you have that one already, you probably don't need this one.


Femme Fatale's description: "A gorgeous satin peach with gold highlight."

My verdict: Rose golds are my weakness and this one is pushing all the right buttons. It's a bit more orange than the average rose gold, but the base is quite obviously pink when you swatch it without glitter glue. It's bright yet muted, if that makes any sense. It's probably the most work-safe shade out of the collection, apart from Choose Wisely. I love the satin finish a lot, but then again, all Femme Fatale's satins are amazing. So smooth and pigmented!


Femme Fatale's description: "A vibrant mid-tone pink with shiny green-gold sheen. A smoother, slightly darker and less sparkly sister to Peebles."

My verdict: Holy shit, this is so bright! I don't own Peebles so I can't really compare it to that, but my original thought was that if Candied Apple had a baby with Barbie, it would be this colour. It's way, way, way too pink for my red hair, but I adore the colour of the sparkles. They're a really vivid limegreen and I want them to be added to each and every future Femme Fatale shade.


Femme Fatale's description: "A deep berry-pink with glorious soft green-to-blue-to-purple shift. A cross between Underlord and Obliterate."

My verdict: I could not quite capture the absolute beauty that is Mood Ring. The shift is gorgeous and really quite strong, but it refused to show up on camera. The berry base is one of the prettiest colours I've ever seen and the shift perfectly contrasts it. I need a bigger size of this one pronto. Honestly, you just need to see this in real life to fully appreciate it.


Femme Fatale's description: "A complicated shade, Pretty Trinkets has a subtle purple-brown base with strong bronze sheen and pink sparkles. The base shade is hidden on application, so you should see the bright bronze primarily."

My verdict: Pretty Trinkets has the honour of being my first Femme Fatale dud. I quite like the bright bronze base, but it's just a little too harsh and bright. The sparkles are huge and fuchsia (which I absolutely hate) and they clash big time with the bronze. I'd probably like it without the sparkles, but right now this is a no-no for me. It also stains quite badly, so use a good primer if you don't want your eyelids to turn bright pink.


Femme Fatale's description: "A slightly olive-champagne shimmery shade, this one is super sparkly and complex."

My verdict: My favourite, oh my. It's so impossibly pigmented, yet still very soft and feminine. While described as a olive-y champagne, it actually shifted from champagne to pink to oyster on me in certain angles. I'm definitely going to need a mini of this one. Choose wisely indeed and buy this one.


Femme Fatale's description: "A medium-dark blurple base with bright reddish/purple sheen. This shade may have slight blue staining."

My verdict: This is the February Colour of the Month. I had been expecting it to be slightly darker but I'm glad it's not. Purples with red shifts are my jam, so this is a lovely addition to my collection. I can't wait to use it with Hello Waffle Catticus Finch or Fyrinnae Serendipity. It is quite similar to Femme Fatale Watery Grave (part of my next post, just need to finish editing the photo's), just lighter and slightly more purple. It does stain pretty badly, though my stain was more green than blue.


Overall impression: This collection is gorgeous! So bright, so feminine, so interesting. I especially love Mood Ring, Blinding Passion and Choose Wisely, which I'll be buying as soon as the mini's return. Edge of the Archmage is a a beautiful purple, but it's pretty similar to some other shades I already own.

You can buy Femme Fatale's shadows here. They're currently out of mini jars, but those will return in a couple of weeks. Shiro Cosmetics has also started stocking Femme Fatale and they will restock somewhere in January. Keep in mind that they only stock full sizes, though!