Surreal Makeup Swatches and Thoughts

Today an exciting order of sample products from the indie brand Surreal Makeup came in. About a week and a half ago I placed an order of a variety of samples, for $15.00- all duochrome and lovely.

I thought I would swatch the colors for you, as well as show you a look I did with one of them, and give my thoughts!

As usual, click on the pictures for full size!

Below is a pick of swatches, with no flash. From left to right (and top to bottom) we have:

Lava Dragon, Amethyst Wyrm, and Copper Dragon
Leviathan, Sea Wyvern Highlighter, and Frost Wyrm Highlighter

It was tricky getting a good picture of these shadows- they are much more intense and shiny in person. Though I am wearing Copper Dragon below on the lid, I am most excited to try Leviathan- a gold shimmer with a greeny blue shift.

The powders were easy to work with, but must be used with glitter glue. My favorite way of applying glittery shadows on top of glitter glue is not with a concealer brush, but rather a wide flat brush that has some give to the bristles. 

The rest of the shadows are from the Too Faced PB & J palette.

Overall, I am terribly impressed with these shades. I did try applying one of the highlighters and felt it went on smoothly on my skin. I will most likely purchase a full size of Copper Dragon in the future. It reminds me of Jaybird from the Laura Lee Nudes palette (which I did not buy for obvious reasons- Jaybird was literally the only thing of interest for me in that palette).

Anyway, I look forward to continuing to use these products!

Thanks for reading.

What kind of indie makeup do I buy?

This is not so much an expose, but rather a caution I am issuing to myself (and others, maybe). As micro-influences are increasing, and their networks are becoming more and more visible, certain brands are popping up that I do not necessarily think meet the qualifications for being an indie company.

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. 

Articles you might like:

• An Ipsy Conspiracy 
• Brands I Haven't Tried and Why

Z-Palette Updates and Progress!

Yay, another z-palette post! I haven't done one of them in a very long time, and I am so excited. I added a few things, took away a few things, resurrected some eyeshadows from makeup purgatory, you know, the usual! Today I thought I would talk about notable additions to my z-palette.

I don't particularly think this is the palette to end all palettes. But for what I have, I know I could just take this with me and I'd be set. In addition to this palette, I have 9 palettes total. All my eyeshadow is mostly drugstore/affordable/discounted, with some full price high-end thrown in.

Let's get to it! Let's first talk about brand new additions:

1. Angel Face by Coloured Raine. This is in the "fifth" column of my palette, the second one down. It is a reported dupe for MuG's "Peach Smoothie," and I think Orange Soda by ABH. I can see why shades such as this are excellent for helping to create blended-out, warm looks. I've really been enjoying this eyeshadow. 

2. Mac Chrome Yellow: This is the brightest yellow, farthest down in the "third" column. I've used this in my crease, but it is tricky to work with and I haven't yet used in a way that I especially like.

3. Tangy Dijon, Vanessa's Vanity. Just arrived in the mail today by total surprise. It swatches beautifully, and I am excited to use it, and perhaps even pair it with Chrome Yellow. 

And now, resurrections!

4. Urban Decay sample shadows in Lounge and Fireball. When I first got these, I didn't know what to do with them aside from swatch the,. But I've grown to really appreciate duochrome shadows, and have decided to give them a second chance.

5. The brown matte shade from the Nude Tude palette, depotted. I have it here to the left of Fudge from ABH. This shade has a really large dip in it from constant use from a while ago, and I want to pan it. It is my mission. And it still works really nicely. 

For reference, this is what my palette looked like five months ago:

Before we get to decluttered shades, let's talk about panning progress!

6. The Kat Von D large pan of a cream shadow: I definitely made progress on it. I don't know when I am actually going to use it all up, but I am getting there.

7. ABH in Amber. This one is not panned yet, but it is getting close. This is probably one of my favorite lid shades of all time, and I know it is very close to hitting pan. Amber is in the sixth row from the left, and the third one down. 

As for decluttered stuff that is moved to makeup purgatory:

8. One half of a Nars duo. This was when I was getting really into yellow-toned mustard shades. But this was not flattering on me. It just came off really muddy and I did not enjoy using this.

9. Japonesque pixellating shimmer powder thing: This came from an ipsy deal, and I was actually keeping this in my face products z-palette. I needed to make room in there for a powder from Vanessa's Vanity, and I chose this to go. Why? It's an okay powder and I would use it under my eyes, but I have not used it in a while. I don't think there was anything special about it, and I don't see myself using it in the future. 

Goals?
Aside from panning, I really want to push myself to use the KvD mattes, as I have not used them in a while. They are perfectly good, I've just been enjoying other things. I also want to try more of the colorful shimmers I have, in order to use my z-palette in a more balanced way.

Thanks for reading!

Unicorns and Makeup (essay) 🦄

I blame tumblr.

I have not used the blogging platform for about two years, for personal reasons. One, I was getting a job and did not want a digital footprint in that sand. Two, though I think tumblr during my college days was invaluable in learning about social justice, privilege, critical thinking, etc., I can't deny the fact that, as with every form of social media, one contributes to a discourse consciously, and is rewarded with reblogs and likes. 

And of course, "the aesthetic."  The opalescent pastel aesthetic of the cool kids that typified much of site.

The past two years it was mermaids. 

And now it's unicorns?

The mermaid trend was reflected in makeup, hair ornaments, makeup, music videos, and dress. I understood the mermaid trend, as mermaids are 1/2 human, and perhaps have a standardized iconography and style one can mimic.

The unicorn thing is sinister.

What is it? Rainbows? Holographics? But unicorns are horses with horns on their heads. A quick google search shows they are white horses, in fact, with pastel (mostly lavender) hair, and rainbow horns. They are associated with magic and sparkles.

If we were going to go far back in internetland, there was a coveted shade of Clarins nail polish with the nickname Unicorn Pee. It was not in reference to any color scheme, but rather a humorous comment on the elusive nature of this product.

So if we were to reduce, if we were to collect all the unicorn makeup in the world and set it on a pan to boil at high heat, what would be left? 

From my observations of all the recent releases, including Tarte and Wet n' Wild (with Colourpop coming in soon), in can be reduced to the following:

1. blues
2. pinks
3. purples
4. rainbows
5. pastels
6. sparkles
7. unicorn horns

Also illustrated in the following (sans horns):

Let me take a breath. Aside from the way "unicorn horns" have been integrated into lines- which is, to sell makeup brushes that look like horns, everything else has been done already. Those are not themes. Those are colors. 

So why is it sinister?

Because even when "mermaid" was a trend, not every single brand was playing along. Now they are. And it is a shame because these are repeated colors and aesthetics. And brands lose their identity. And the market will be bloated with unicorns until- and I suspect this will be soon- it will move onto the next "thing." 

When I think of unicorns, I don't think of makeup. Mermaids, on the other hands, were sirens. Were women. Unicorns are horses. They are associated with maidens, sort of, but the Ophelia-looking kind. Not a girl bedecked in glowsticks and glitter. I don't know. At the end of the day, all a company has to do is slap a buzzword onto a product to reel people in. I guess the whole unicorn thing is just so blatantly transparent. They're not even trying anymore.

Take Wet n' Wild. This is one of their upcoming "unicorn" products (referring to center compact) :

And this was one of their highlighters from last summer: 

To me, this illustrates the fact that these are not new products, not completely. None of these companies are doing anything really new. Even the make-believe in yourself palette from Tarte was not entirely convincing, though it was a step in a different direction. The quality was a bit dubious for me, especially for that crucial matte shade. 

To wrap up, I think companies are severely limiting themselves with following such particular trends, especially with something as inane as unicorns. It is almost like the phenomenon with the "Minions." There's really no basis for their popularity, but because they are ubiquitous as a result of keen marketing tactics, people accept them. 

And hey, maybe that means in the near future, we'll see Minions be the new unicorns. I do enjoy wearing yellow and spouting gibberish, after all.