EMDEVE

Well, won't you look at that? I kept my promise to swatch my Femme Fatale swatches and it only took me a week! It was the first sunny day in ages, so even the weather gods were kind to me. The bright light made swatching all the glittery shades very interesting, to say the least. Glitter everywhere! I guess that's what you get for accidentally swatching with a fluffy crease brush.

Speaking of brushes, we celebrated Sinterklaas (the main Dutch gift giving holiday, pretty much what Santa is based on) yesterday. I'd asked for the Real Techniques eyes starter set, which my parents ordered off Amazon. It arrived just fine. Thrice. I'd hate to work at Amazon this time of year, with all the mistakes they're making because they're just so goddamn busy. I read somewhere that it's cheaper to just send multiples or drop stuff than it is to correct these mistakes. I'm not complaining, though. They also send us a damaged copy of Neil Gaiman's The Sleeper and the Spindle, so I had to get that one replaced. My mother's keeping the damaged copy since it's still such a gorgeous book, even with a tear in the dust jacket.

It's too dark to take proper photographs now, but I got the cutest acrylic storage unit for my indies. Too bad it's nearly full already, oops.

Okay, onto the swatches! I was going to wait until my other FF order had arrived, but it's been in transit for nearly six weeks now after getting returned to Australia. Damn thing's seen more of the world than I have. Good thing it's going to be more than worth it when it arrives somewhere next week.

Prices: I ordered nine mini's, which were about 3.30 AUD after the taxes had been taken off. The website shows a slightly higher price (3.63 AUD) but only Australians need to pay those taxes. Everything is in Australian dollars, meaning mini's cost about $2.75 / €2.25. Full sizes are 6.60 AUD for a 5g jar with sifter (mini's being 3g jars with sifter). They are sealed individually to avoid spillage. At 17 AUD (including insurance), international shipping is rather pricey, but it is definitely worth it.

TAT: Their current TAT is 10 business days, beginning the following business day from order placement. Since it is close to Christmas, shipping times might take up to two weeks extra. I placed this order October 22nd and it shipped October 28th. It arrived in the Netherlands on November 5th, so that is very decent considering Australia is literally on the other side of the world. My other order (partially for me, partially for a friend) was placed on October 23th, shipped October 31st and hasn't arrived yet due to Sophie forgetting to include my house number. It will probably arrive somewhere next week.

Customer service: Like I said, my other order was returned to Australia and Sophie was an absolute sweetheart about it, especially when she learned it had been her mistake. She shipped it back to me free of charge as soon as it arrived there and was very prompt in responding to my emails. It was an unfortunate mistake, but she apologised for it profusely. I had placed my order during a sale so she was probably really busy anyway. Mistakes happen and she handled it like a true professional.
These swatches were done over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy. They are loose powder and definitely need a sticky base or glitter glue for the duochrome and glitter to show up. Fallout is minimal, though, and over PE they are a complete dream to work with. I received two free samples, which I kinda forgot to swatch. I'll include them when my other order comes in!



Femme Fatale's description: "An eggplant purple base with intense golden green glimmers and sparkles."

My verdict: Okay, first of all: I screwed up. I completely forgot to take photo's with flash for these first five swatches. Sorry! I might redo them later, but for now it's all natural light. I love this colour so much! The eggplant base is a medium, slightly blue-leaning purple that is completely different from Impsy's base. The sparkles are bright green, but there's some pink-ish highlights too. It is a glitterbomb, but the colours are muted enough to use this shade during the day. It is magical to look at, both in the jar and on your skin.


Femme Fatale's description: "A rich mulberry purple with strong red tones and golden shimmer."

My verdict: Impsy is so gorgeous! I prefer purples that lean a little red, which this one definitely does. It shifts between pure purple and dark red, making it such a lovely, warm colour. The golden shimmer leans slightly green and is very apparent even in artificial light. I reach for it quite a lot when I want to truly spice up a look.


Femme Fatale's description: "A buttery smooth mid range brown with warm tones and a satin finish. "

My verdict: I initially got Time Lost and Wizards Only, Fools after seeing another blogger pair them with Cake to create the perfect neutral smokey eye. Let me tell you: she wasn't wrong. Cake was part of the order that went astray, but Time Lost and Wizards Only, Fools really are the perfect combination. Time Lost is a lovely light brown that leans slightly orange on me and it is so versatile! I use it as my base colour, adding golds, yellows, browns and reds to create whatever look I'm going for. It is quite light, so it might not show up as well on darker skintones.


Femme Fatale's description: "A pale redwood pink with a green duochrome. Blends out to have an almost brown undertone to it."

My verdict: Candied Apple is magic in a jar. If you're only going to order one thing from Femme Fatale, this is the only right choice. It is such a unique shade, which works both on its own and combined with other colours. The base is a pinkish mauve on me, but I've seen it range from red to brown to bright pink. The shift is really strong, making it very wearable for redheads like me. I'm telling you, buy this shade. You need it.


Femme Fatale's description: "A translucent baby pink with strong aqua shift – will appear more striking over a dark base."

My verdict: I love Perspecto-Illusion - in the jar and as a swatch. The blue shift is very strong and makes the pinkish base disappear on me, turning the whole thing a little too blue for me to be able to use it. It is quite overpowering even when used over a dark base, but that might just be my disability to make blues work for me speaking. It is so pretty to look at, though.


Femme Fatale's description: "A sultry imperial purple with deep tones and an overlay of fiery red shimmer. This colour is delicate, and depending on how you apply or blend this shade will affect the soft shimmer. We recommend use over a primer, with patting the product on (minimal blending)."

My verdict: Quite similar to Fyrinnae's Mephisto, but without the royal blue base. There is something about the whole dark purple with copper shift that disagrees with PE, as this swatch turned out super patchy. Femme Fatale is right in warning about how to apply this, as overblending makes the red shift much more muted. It is more apparent in artificial or bright light. I like it a lot, as it isn't quite as bold as some of the other dark reds out there. Makes for a gorgeous liner, too!


Femme Fatale's description: "A gorgeous smooth bronze-brown with golden tones – almost leans olive or orange in some lights."

My verdict: Cosmic Owl is such a lovely, warm bronze/gold! I adore pretty much all golds, but this one is one of my favourites. It's warm without being too bright and overpowering, making it a very suitable all-over colour. I get the orange, but the olive not so much.


Femme Fatale's description: "A rich teal-blue base with strong, bright green shimmer."

My verdict: This shade would not photograph properly. When looking at it directly, it's a very bright and glittery green on a blue base, which doesn't really show until you twist your arm. Somehow I managed to catch an almost golden gleam, too, which isn't quite as apparent in real life. It is extremely glittery and bright - and absolutely gorgeous.


Femme Fatale's description: "A rich purple-brown base with warm-toned sparks and shimmer."

My verdict: Like I said, this shade is best when used in combination with Time Lost, but it is a lovely crease colour for pretty much every look. It is very dark, with bright copper and green shimmer. I love how warm it is, without being too bright or overpowering. Glittery neutrals are rare, but this is definitely one.


Added bonus: My first Hello Waffle shadow, which I got in a Christmas card from a lovely IMAM user! Hello Waffle's shop is currently closed so I can't give you their description, but I do know that it is from their Tangled collection. It's a lovely lavender with a gorgeous golden glimmer that is quite muted. It is so soft and feminine, I love it! It does need a sticky base, but I guess most glitter shadows do. This was definitely a great introduction to Hello Waffle!


Overall impression: These shadows are so worth the wait and the pricey shipping! I dare say these are some of the most unique shades on the market right now, especially when it comes to their duochromes. I can't wait for my other order to arrive!

You can buy Femme Fatale's shadows here. They're open right now, but will be closing for the holidays on December 18th. 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!

Moon Goddess. Work in progress. Prismacolor on Stonehenge Paper.

Ha, I suck at blogging. I have to shamefully admit that this order arrived on October 30th and that in the time it took me to finally get around to swatching them for this blog, I have already placed and received my second order. Yeah. Oops.

Upside to this is that I have had plenty of time to test and play with them, so I can now confidently share with the world how very much in love I am with these shades and with this company in general. They're probably my favourite so far, both in terms of quality and overall experience. I know some people are a little hesitant because of past drama, but it seems that they have upped their game immensely. Their new site is a massive step up from what it used to be, too, so if that was holding you back before, do yourself a favour and give them another chance.

Prices: Regular Fyrinnae's mini's are $2.25 and contain 1/3 tsp, while Arcane Magics are only 1/4 tsp. They are filled quite consistently and will probably last you ages, since a little shadow goes a long way. Full sizes cost $6.80 and from what I've seen, you'll need more than just one lifetime to finish them. Get mini's first and then return for full sizes of your absolute favourites (and an excuse to buy more pretties). Pixie Epoxy is $7 for a full size tube and $2 for the cutest, tiniest sample sizes. Seriously, they are adorable and I'm probably going to toss in a couple of them in all my future orders just so I can give them to my friends when I introduce them to indies.

TAT: Don't let the four to seven weeks turn around time on their website scare you: it's grossly exaggerated and only meant for extreme cases. This order was placed on October 19th, shipped on October 24th and arrived on the 30th, which is ridiculously fast for international shipping. Way to go, USPS. My second order was placed on November 16th, shipped on November 21st and arrived yesterday, on the 28th. Keep in mind that I am in the Netherlands, so this probably won't be representative for other countries. 

I ordered nine mini's, a full size Pixie Epoxy and received Shenanigans as my free sample. Speaking of Pixie Epoxy: you will need a sticky base for these shadows to show up properly. They can be used on normal primers of Nyx Milk, but they will still miss that oomph that makes them so amazing. My swatches were done over PE.


Look at that adorable packaging! My cat's absolutely fascinated with it. Unfortunately my camera is a little too old to be able to properly photograph the jars and I've used them to much already to reliably show how full they are anyway. Learning curve!


Fyrinnae's description: "This shade is a glowing iridescent copper highlight upon application, despite how photos make it appear. A sticky base makes more color come though, but it works well and "glows" over regular primers. Depth of hue may appear to vary slightly due to its translucent dark base."

My verdict: This might just be my absolute favourite eye shadow ever. It is very hard to describe and even harder to photograph true to life. It's grey, it's purple, it's copper, it's gold: it's a true chameleon that changes depending on what you pair it with. I have been wearing this pretty much everyday, as it makes for a gorgeous all-over-lid shade (especially paired with Rapunzel in the inner corners, so pretty!) and can be spiced up by adding golds, purples or browns. I am going to need a full size of this. Yes, I know what I said about never being able to finish Fyrinnae's full sizes, but I am still going to need a full size.


Fyrinnae's description: "Pale pink with a stunning brilliant light gold highlight."

My verdict: RHE has an extremely strong shift - which is pretty much impossible to photograph. It shifts from a light gold to a quite a bright yet soft pink. Fyrinnae lists it as their all-time top selling shade and it's easy to see why. It is my go-to highlight colour, but I've also worn it as an all-over-lid shade, which worked surprisingly well with my red hair.


Fyrinnae's description: "Shimmery, metallic coppery bronze with hints of red on a charcoal base to boost the colour. It is much better in person."

My verdict: Such a lovely, warm copper. It is quite brown and pairs well with golds, other browns and coppers and greens. I use it as a crease colour quite a lot, but it would probably work as an eye liner really well, too. It's less dark than it looks in the jar and not nearly as gold as Fyrinnae's swatch makes it out to be.
 

Fyrinnae's description: "Molten bright copper? Metallic gold on red? You decide. It's metallic gold on red; a firey, warm blend of hues with a metallic finish, and will appear differently depending on how it's applied, much like Mephisto."

My verdict: Small disclaimer: I adore orange, especially when it's wearable. Fireside Interlude is out there yet extremely wearable: it's very warm and very bright without being too in-your-face. It's pretty much the perfect fall colour, but wearing it on your lower lashline will spice up your look year round. It might not be for everyone, but it's definitely for me.


Fyrinnae's description: "A rainbow of sparkle fills rich, metallic gold over a dark base. This shade works well over primer, but you may find it appears best without a sticky base. Shenanigans is a replacement for Medieval Haunting: They're nearly the same metallic finish and gold-on-black color, but this one has multi-color sparkle instead of just silver and gold. "

My verdict: Shenanigans was my free sample and it's almost as if it knew that I hadn't picked it out myself. I dropped it while swatching (managed to salvage most of it! thank you, glass table) and my pictures weren't sharp - which I noticed when I'd already removed the swatch. Oh, well. At least you see the gorgeous sparkle, which looks more pink and blue than rainbow. It's a lovely cool gold and with the sparkle, it reminds me of golden medals and the Olympic Games. I haven't tried it without a sticky base yet, since I don't own a proper primer and my skin is dryer than the sahara, meaning I can just wipe it off when I swatch on bare skin.


Fyrinnae's description: "Lush, metallic warm green with a touch of cooler green sparkle throughout."

My verdict: Look at how bright it is! It's not quite chartreuse, but it does lean quite golden. The sparkle is tiny and quite muted, which is right up my alley tbh. I received Tyr yesterday and oh boy, they are the perfect combination! Looking at my swatches, I really want to pair it with Mephisto, too.


Fyrinnae's description: "Mephisto is a dark royal blue with a vibrant metallic red sheen that's quite striking when the light hits it. Metallic finish, not sparkly. If the red goes somewhat coppery on application, add a little more."

My verdict: Mephisto is pure magic, but definitely a magic I haven't mastered yet. I believe Fyrinnae actually recommends not using PE for Mephisto, but since I lack a good primer, I had to. This shade is wonderfully complex: on bare skin it is a brilliant royal blue, but over PE it's a rich purple that turns coppery red when you swipe or blend. My swatch turned out patchy, but I chose to use it anyway because it shows all possible colours (and I just didn't want to redo it, sorry). It's a little unreliable, but so, so, so unique and gorgeous.


Fyrinnae's description: "A remake of our old Steampunk shade (but better!), this is an antiqued deep copper on black, with a touch of gold sparkle and hues of pink/plum. Move it toward light or change the angle, and it becomes gold to chartreuse, the black base setting off the vivid highlight while still retaining its Victorian-era depth."

My verdict: Steampunk is one of the Arcane Magic shadows and my swatch shows this really well. I really wanted to disregard my template and use four photo's to show all the shifts and colours. It ranges from a blackened purple to a lighter purple with golden sparkle to a bright golden green, all depending on the lighting. The Arcane Magic shadows are slightly more expensive, but so worth it.


Fyrinnae's description: "Deep black with varying hues of glowing copper shimmer."

My verdict: Not quite deep black, but definitely deep and warm. It ranges from orange to purple to brown to red, depending on the lighting. It has a very slight sparkle to it, but all in all, it's very neutral. I love using this one for a smokey eye or simply for adding some depth to my crease. Also makes for a killer eye liner.


Fyrinnae's description: "Metallic red shines over a deep black base, making this shade perfect for liner as well. Darker than it appears here."

My verdict: Very dark indeed! It applied a little patchy, showing the pure black base, but that might just have been me screwing up with the PE. It has a very faint golden shine, but it's not really a duochrome so much as a satin finish. I love the look of it, but I gotta admit I haven't used it much since it is such a daring shade. Perfect for Christmas, though!

Overall impression: I adore Fyrinnae, simple as that. Their shadows are pure magic and they last all day for me, even without a proper primer underneath the PE. I haven't had any problems yet so I can't comment much on their customer service, but the owner is a complete sweetheart judging from his IMAM posts. International shipping is quick and very reasonably priced. Honestly, I could gush about them all day, but in case you want to try for yourself, you can buy these eye shadows here. You won't regret it, I promise you!

It happened! My first indie order arrived! I was a little worried that my Fyrinnae order would arrive first, but after eight days on the road, these beauties fell on my doormat yesterday. As I told Maleah when I placed the order, my name is the Dutch word for 'blackbird' so I found it very fitting to order from her first. And damn, was it a great first step into the wonderful world of indies!

The order arrived in an envelope with a lovely (and rather long) handwritten note from Maleah on the invoice. There's no special story behind my name as far as I'm aware. I guess my parents just wanted something Dutch, as it's an extremely common name here. It's also a name you probably won't be able to pronounce if you're not Dutch, which is always interesting whenever I'm abroad.


Okay, on to the shadows! I have to excuse myself for my poor swatching skills: there's definitely going to be a learning curve there. Photographing your own arm is surprisingly difficult, too, especially with an eight year old camera and little natural light. Today was exceptionally dark and misty, so my photo's were all taken outside to make the most of what little light there was. Despite the fact that I started swatching at 2pm, it looked like early evening. Better luck next time, I guess.

I ordered samples of both volume one and two, simply because they looked so promising and because they were so goddamn cheap. $10 for ten samples with free international shipping? You can't possibly go wrong with that - and I didn't!


As you can unfortunately see in this photo, these were swatched over Nyx Milk. These shadows probably don't need that white base, but since it was so dark, I wanted them to be as bright as possible. They are so impossibly pigmented and smooth!

Imogen: Medium muted mauvey pink.
My verdict: Quite bright, almost lavender. It's a lot more purple than I expected it to be, but it's very wearable.

Beau: Reddened dark brown.

My verdict: This is definitely one of my favourites, so warm and pigmented! This makes for a great eyebrow colour for me, together with Fire Pledge and Ruca.

Thirteen: Light to medium exactly neutral brown.

My verdict: It's a lighter, more brown/grey version of Gravity and it's seriously pretty. It does lean a little purple, but most of these shades do when swatched over Milk. I might just have to try this as a contour shade.

Immortals: Soft lightened pink.

My verdict: A very pretty, almost baby pink. It photographed a little brighter and pinker than it looked on my skin and it was definitely more wearable than it looks here. I have bright red hair, so I usually avoid shades like this, but combined with some of the other neutrals, I think I can totally get away with this colour.

Gravity: Dark muted complex plum.

My verdict: It's a darker, more purple version of Thirteen. I gotta admit that I'm a little wary of purples, but this is a great crease colour. It seems as if my skin makes all the purple tones more prominent, because it looked a lot browner in the baggie.

Fire Pledge: Vibrant orange, leaning a bit towards red.

My verdict: This shade is the perfect eyebrow shade for when I've dyed my hair with an orange-based red. It's a dark pumpkin orange and I love it. It'll probably work really as a liner, too.

Fiction: Dark perfect grey.

My verdict: Once again, it turned purple on my skin and I'm really glad it did. Cool greys look terrible on me, while this is definitely wearable.

Dog Days: Medium, mid toned exactly neutral brown.

My verdict: No purple! Whoo! It's a wonderful dark beige and I really like it. Very work-safe.

Dim Tradition: Light, whitened natural golden brown.

My verdict: Swatched on Milk, it turned a lot darker and more purple. On bare skin, it's a very pale light grey that doesn't quite show up on my skin. It's a lovely base colour, though.

Lucid: Black, but not quite opaque.

My verdict: It's supposed to be black, but as you can see, it turns a very dark blue on my skin. I'm glad it does, as I've never liked pure black eye shadows. Too many failed smokey eyes when I was young.



Smudge: Medium to dark taupe, leaning a bit towards dark.

My verdict: It's supposed to be black, but as you can see, it turns a very dark blue on my skin. I'm glad it does, as I've never liked pure black eye shadows. Too many failed smokey eyes when I was young.

Ruca: Blackened red.

My verdict: Just like the other two red shades, this makes for a perfect eyebrow shade for me. I love how warm it is, without being brick red like you usually see in red eyeshadows.

Modesty: Light neutral golden brown, resembles khaki.

My verdict: A rather cool light brown with some yellow tones. I prefer warmer colours, but I'll have to try it in a look to see how it pairs up with other shades.

Juliet: Dark muted pink.

My verdict: This colour is so gorgeous! It's a lovely brown pink that works really well with my hair and skintone. I adore it.

Half Full: Light whitened gold. A perfect highlight for any skin tone.

My verdict: A very light yellow that doesn't really show up too well on my pale skin. It might work very well as a highlighter or an all-over lid colour.

Everest: Cool toned dark brown, leans a little towards green.

My verdict: I love green when it comes to eye shadow and so I love Everest. It might be a little too grey for my liking, but I have a gorgeous Sephora shade that will look great with this one as a crease colour.

Figment: Light muted plum.

My verdict: It's purple. Really, really purple. The walls of my childhood bedroom are this purple. It's a pretty colour, don't get me wrong, but it's not really for me.

Vintage: Muted, but somehow still vibrant mid-toned violet.

My verdict: Another favourite. Such a lovely, warm colour! I prefer purples that lean on red rather than grey or blue, so this is right up my alley. I need a full size of this one.

Whisper: Light perfect grey.

My verdict: Purple again, though this time you can blame my skin. It's grey in the bag, but I prefer this colour on my skin. I might not like purples like this too much, but I prefer them over greys. Sorry for the patchiness of this one, I don't really know what happened.

Atlas: Dark slightly blackened brown.

My verdict: This blends out to a beautiful dark orange-ish brown that matches my eyes really well. I love it!

Turn around time: I placed my order on the 17th, it got shipped on the 20th and it arrived on the 28th. This is extremely reasonable for free international shipping, so I'm happy. It would have gotten here even sooner if they delivered mail on Sundays or Mondays, but alas, they don't.

Overall impression: Wow. Just wow. These shades are so gorgeous and so pigmented! My skin is weird and turns most of them more purple than they're supposed to be, but I can't even complain about it because the colours are still wonderful. I didn't remove my last batch of swatches and they're still on my arm hours later. I gotta admit that I was a little surprised by how small the sample baggies were, but in retrospect, this is totally reasonable. You might not get a lot, but you get extremely high quality shadows that are also very, very water resistant. Sample sets are supposed to include a coupon for your next order, but I think Maleah forgot mine because I haven't been able to find it. Unfortunate, because there's definitely some shades I want to buy a full size of. All in all, I couldn't have picked a better company to order from for my first indie order!

Blackbird Cosmetics' store can be found here here and if you make an Etsy account using this link, Etsy should be giving you a €5 credit to use.

Once again, excuse my rather poor swatches and photo's. I hope it'll get better when I've had some practice and when the weather isn't so incredibly gloomy. I should be able to try again, since I just got a notification that my Fyrinnae order is currently going through customs clearance here in the Netherlands. Let's hope those shades will be as great as Blackbird Cosmetics' mattes!

EDIT: Maleah read my review and sent me a message with the forgotten coupon via Facebook (which I didn't see until days later, oops). Amazing customer service, thank you so much!

This one is extremely close to being done, actually, but I haven't been able to photograph it properly yet. There's so many mistakes in this, but it's a gift to a friend so I can't really scrap it. Oh well.

Android. Work in progress. Coloured pencils on Stonehenge paper.