An indie makeup company is short for being "independent." It is a rather generic term that comes loaded, at least is the beauty community, with associations that include the following:
- Recognizable or approachable brand owners
- "Interesting"/non-conventional colors and finishes
- Commitment to some sort of ethical position (vegan, cruelty free, etc.)
- Transparency with ingredient sources.
Now, these criteria certainly can apply to many non-indie brands, i.e., brands that are backed by a corporation. However, indie brands especially use these criteria to set them apart from bigger companies.
My favorite indie brands, at the moment, include:
1.) Fyrinnae
2.) Looxi
3.) Coloured Raine
4.) Colourpop (if it counts)
Let's take Fyrinnae, and examine the ingredients it reports to its consumers:
Now let's go to two indie brands, which I don't think actually are indie. I think they are more akin to Morphe, Coastal Scents, Pinky Rose, and others. I am talking about Blush Tribe and Certifeye.
Blush Tribes products, prices, and ingredients.
Let's look at their most recent fall release, for $32, the Fall Fusion palette:
These ingredients are Coastal Scents and Morphe. And similar to Morphe, check out how Blush Tribe started out:
"We started with providing synthetic makeup brushes, gradually introducing false vegan and cruelty free eyelashes followed by a wide range of cosmetics including stunning colour stories in the form of eyeshadow palettes. We anticipate this growth to continue over the coming years."
Let's move on to its (literal) sister brand (as in the co-owners are sisters): Certifeye. The products are a little more expensive, but with the same exact ingredients:
Check out this $12 Coastal Scents palette, with the same ingredients:
As well as this Morphe manual, that also reveals the same ingredients:
Alright so before I draw the ire of many people who have purchased from Certifeye and Blush Tribe, I understand starting a makeup business is tough. They have to make enough money and carve out a niche and brand identity, and for many brands that means private-labeling for a while to get started. And palettes are a hot commodity right now, so it's safe to get started that way.
But as a consumer, that does not draw me in. One, it makes me wary of the bloggers and influencers all hyping the product, especially the micro-ones. Micro-influencers are tricky because they appear to be a regular consumer, but have as much to gain as the bigger names.
Two, I don't think these ingredients are worth the money. If Coastal Scents is selling it for $12, and BH Cosmetics will sell excellent palettes for less than $20, with a better formula, why would I purchase from these brands?
Are the products any good, though? I don't see anything too concerning with swatches, though there are just not that many reviews that are not by people trying to get the attention of the brand. To me some swatches look pretty dry/dusty, but I have personally not tried the product.
So, my personal rules for buying indie:
1.) Does the brand sell unique singles? If a brand is private labelled, to me a clue is that they only sell palettes. If a brand sells unique singles, that tells me I can trust them.
2.) What story does the ingredients tell? If they tell me Coastal Scents and Morphe (which are not necessarily terrible brands, I have a couple of Coastal Scents shadows I love, but I paid $.99 for them), then I know to keep away. For now.
So to wrap up, these are my suspicions, so please take them with a grain of salt. I have been buying some indie makeup for about three years now, and while I'd like to believe that these brands are being transparent about their origins, I can't help but feeling that this is not the case, and so I probably don't need to spend my money on them.
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