Beauty From The Earth - Swatchfest!

Aloha!

Today I'll be swatching and reviewing some pretty shadows from Beauty From The Earth or BFTE. If you haven't heard of them they are a US based company that sell hundreds of shades of gorgeous loose eye shadows, blushes, foundation and other goodies. They have around 400 (forgive me if I'm wrong) shades in total in an array of different finishes from super sparkly to matte. And the magpie in me obviously opted for the latter.

I placed my order back on the US holiday Good Friday as they offered a generous 40% off everything sale. The reason this post is so late is because i did have a bit of an issue receiving my order. I hummed and hawed over whether to write about it and came to the decision that i wouldn't be an honest blogger without mentioning the odd negatives in a post or two. 

I placed two orders on that day (my lash obsession kicked in for the second) and the second i received in little over a week with no problems. The first order got a little bit muddled up to say the least. I received someone elses order a few days after the first package, so i emailed and they responded quickly and sent out another package. But that one got lost... It took quite a few emails to eventually get my order. Then when i received my order a few items were missing, but again they kindly sent a replacement. Turns out the missing package was missing my post code, simply human error, which sometimes can't be helped. But in the end i ended up with both packages so some doubles of things which they were nice enough to let me keep. So keep your eye out for my next giveaway! What i will say is that i think this is an isolated case, their Facebook page is full of glowing reviews, so although i felt i had to share my experience please don't be put off by this.

Onto the swatches!

Journey,  Deep thoughts, Pegasus, Hocus Pocus.
My camera REALLY didn't pick up how gorgeously shimmery any of these are. Bring on summer so i can swatch things in sunlight!

Mania, Illusion, Spruce, Ocean Mist.
Ocean Mist is one of my favourite shades. But apparently i was having an epic camera fail this day and yet again my photo fails to pick up the beauty of this. Ocean Mist is a gorgeous blue/green with a ton of gold shimmer/glitter, it really reminds me of mermaids.

Lava Moma, Karma, Oxford, Sugar Plum, Livid.

Big Ego, Panurple, Metro, Hopeless Romantic, Bliss.

Cocoa, Moonwalk, Copper Cauldron, Wizards Wand, Baked.

Gable, Autumn, Afterthought, Pebble.

Spring Fever, Satin sheets, Guipure, Bubbly.

Butt Naked, Naked Truth,  Kiss and Tell.

If you're a fan of loose shadows you'll LOVE these. They are highly pigmented, blend beautifully and can be applied wet to increase intensity. I love using the glittery shades over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy to give it a bit of extra stick. Price wise they are pretty reasonable, at $6.50 each for the most part. They do sell samples and although they are on the smaller side come in jars and have enough product for a good few uses. Shipping to the UK is pretty damn cheap too, at only $6 for an order under $50 and $2 for anything over.

Overall although my experience has made me hesitate about ordering again, i really do love the products and will probably order again in the future. I just hope next time it won't take a couple of months to arrive. Mainly because i REALLY want full sizes of Sugar Plum and Satin Sheets. :P

You can check these out on the BFTE Cosmetics website here.

Do you have any favourite BFTE shades?

xox

My First BFTE Sets - Lights

 Ello lovelies! I'm delighted I've had the chance to do this post today as yesterday was my birthday AND my first day of uni (SCARY!). I thought i wouldn't get much time to blog this week and I'm pleased as punch that i actually do! This is the second part of my BFTE haul. 

Around a month ago i caved to my craving and ordered two sets from BFTE. I've got to admit that the lights is my least favourite of the two but it does have some stunning, more wearable and every day colours. So if brights aren't for you maybe these are!

  

The same as the Brights this sets comes with eight .5 gram sample sized jars. Which gives you enough to have a good play around and wear these a few times before taking the plunge and buying a full sized jar. These also make adorable gifts!

 Aqua - Riddle - Mint - Cornflower - Princess - Peony - Beautiful - Bliss

 Aqua - Riddle - Mint - Cornflower - Princess - Peony - Beautiful - Bliss

Taken in direct sunshine to show off the stunning shimmer!

Overall again i think this is a fantastic little set. I've written all about Beauty From The Earth in my last post so if you want to know any more about the brand or see their gorgeous Brights collection click here.

You can also visit the Beauty From The Earth website here.

A short and sweet post from me today. But I've got some exciting birthday pressies to blog about over the next couple of days (when they eventually arrive!).

Let me know what your favourite BFTE shade is!

Thanks for reading!

xox

My First BFTE Set - Brights

A little while ago i placed my very first order with Beauty From The Earth Cosmetics and they did not disappoint. They have possibly the biggest shade selection i have ever seen, with over 350 shades of multipurpose minerals to choose from. I spent literally hours on the website desperately trying to decide which shades to pick and found myself well and truly stuck. After some debating with myself i opted for both their "My First BFTE Sets". These consist of eight of their popular Bright and Light shades. As per usual the packaging on these swayed me quite a bit. Super cute pink polka dot casing, whats not to love?! Today I'll be sharing the absolutely stunning Brights collection.

Each of the samples come packaged in jars with sifters and you get .5 grams of product. It is quite a small amount and priced at $14 each the set isn't the cheapest. But taking into consideration you're getting eight shades and super cute packaging i think it's definitely worth it. After buying TKB Trading pigments any other sample size is going to look small! 

 

Above is picturing the amount of product you'll get with these sets.

Now for the best bit, swatches!

Raspberry - Tangerine - Lemon - Green Apple - Blueberry - Grape - Whisper - Gem

  

This picture just shows exactly how vibrant these shades are! Raspberry has got to be my favourite and I've really enjoying wearing that as it goes (or clashes nicely) with my bright red hair. Whisper is a bit of an odd one out in this collection although it does work lovely blended with other shades or used as a highlight.

Raspberry - Tangerine - Lemon - Green Apple - Blueberry - Grape - Whisper - Gem

Both these pictures were taken without flash but the above one was taken in direct sunlight. This picture really does these shades justice. They are vibrant, gorgeous shimmery shades perfect for any bright lovers collection.

All in all i would wholeheartedly recommend BFTE. With such an extensive range of colours and excellent colour pay off i think they are well worth the money. When i get through these i will certainly be repurchasing full sizes of most of these shades. In fact I'm already plotting my next order I'm that impressed!

You can visit and buy Beauty From The Earth from their website here.

Which shades are your favourites?

And if you've got your own review on them please share it!

Thanks for reading guys.

xox

Losing my Fyrinnae virginity!

Since becoming obsessed with beauty products I've been learning more and more about indie brands. Fyrinnae is one that earns a lot of praise in the blogging community and i had to see if they lived up to the hype!

I had a little trouble actually trying to order these as the website goes down frequently but luckily my patience paid off and i managed to order a few goodies! I ordered five of their $2 samples and it was a real struggle to try and pick out which ones as so many are beautiful! I also picked up Pixie Epoxy their infamous eyeshadow base which as you'll be able to see i had a little trouble with initially. Onto the swatches!

Aztec Gold - Pumpkin Fire - Bite Me - Sake Sashimi - Boytoy - Fire Opal

This picture was taken without a base in natural light as i was trying to pick the gorgeous sparkle most of these have. Boytoy is probably my favorite at the bunch being Fyrinnae's sparkliest green it really makes the Magpie in me go crazy! And you can see even without a base you still get excellent and even colour pay off.

Aztec Gold - Pumpkin Fire - Bite Me - Sake Sashimi - Boytoy - Fire Opal

  

These were taken over Pixie Epoxy and I'll start by apologising for the sloppy swatches. Me and Pixie Epoxy need some work, i was finding it a bit difficult to work with but in time realised that all you really need is a small amount. This really brings out the colour in things making them more vibrant and really pop! I've been trying it with a lot of other shadows as well and it works wonders! It's a little harder to blend with in my opinion so keep that in mind.

For $2 you get quite a lot of product and they even included a freebie which I'm actually really enjoying! I will definitely be purchasing Boytoy in full size when I've finished the sample, i think I've discovered my all time favourite green.
 

Shipping is around $6 to the UK (I'd check but the website is down!) so it's nothing overly expensive and i received my package in around two weeks which isn't bad at all! In total i paid around $20 for the little lot i ordered which is excellent.

I would highly recommend Fyrinnae to anyone and everyone as i feel they have such a diverse colour range that there really is something for everyone. I'm also delighted to say they do live up to the hype online. 

These can only be purchased online from the Fyrinnae website here.
The sites currently unavailable but keep trying as they are well worth the wait!

If you have any Fyrinnae posts or favourite colours feel free to comment below or link me them as I'd love to discover some new beauties.

Thanks for reading!

Hauling - E.l.f, BFTE & Fyrinnae

Hey guys!

I've been a little bit naughty this week and splurged a little bit. I'd been eyeing up some companies i hadn't tried before and gave in to the urge to spend! I'm going to try to keep this post as short and sweet as possible as I'll be doing individual posts with swatches and reviews on BFTE and Fyrinnae when i get a chance to try out these goodies!

As you probably know E.l.f had yet another 50% sale and being the bargain hunter that i am i couldn't help myself. I only needed liquid eyeliner! But as per usual i managed to get myself up to the £30 required to get free shipping and my order was placed! There are some things missing from the list and picture because i picked up some extra goodies for a giveaway I'll hopefully hold soon! Not the most interesting of hauls but it was still very exciting opening the package!

What i bought:

Daily Brush Cleaner

Brightening eye colour - Glam & Silver Lining
Nail Polish - Clear - Moonlight - Pearl Pink - Pearl
Liquid Eyeliner - Black x4
Kabuki Face Brush x2

Dramatic Lash Kit x5

Eyeshadow Brush x2

Lipstick - Seductive
Blending Eye Brush x2

High Definition Powder

Eye Crease Brush

Onto Fyrinnae! I was very close to not ordering anything from this brand due to my frustration with their website. As far as I'm aware when Fyrinnae have too many orders they take the website completely down until they have completed them. This was extremely frustrating for me because for near on a week every time i checked the website was blank. Luckily i persevered and was delighted when i eventually found the website up and running. I'd heard lots about the magical Pixie Epoxy and had to snag one of those along with 5 other $2 samples of their eye shadows. Oh and i got a lovely little free sample, i adore getting samples because i find myself loving shades i would of never picked out myself! If like me you are getting the down page a lot, keep with it because it's definitely worth the wait! Again I'll be doing a full review and swatches on these pretties as soon as possible!

I'm a sucker for packaging, plain and simple. I'd again been lusting after some Beauty From The Earth stuff from quite some time and after spotting these "My First BFTE" cuties i had to have them. They offer 8 sample size pigments in either "Lights" or "Brights" in this ADORABLE packaging for only $14. So naturally i had to have both. Shipping from BFTE is only $6 internationally if i remember rightly so that's not bad either!

Lights

Brights

So that's the end of my beauty haul. If there's any E.l.f products you'd like to see swatches or anything for let me know because I'm happy to post them i just don't want to be repetitive when it comes to the brand.

Anyone else find they are a sucker for sales or packaging?!

Thanks for reading!

xox

TKB Trading Haul & Swatches

I've been on a little bit of an indie spree this month and this was the first package that arrived, eee exciting stuff! Before now I've stuck to mostly big named brands and until recently hadn't really heard much about indie cosmetics companies. So i did a little research and found a few that took my fancy! TKB Trading, Fyrinnae and Beauty From The Earth where the three that caught my attention.

TKB Trading is a wholesale company which a lot of mineral cosmetics company order their micas in bulk from and create their own shades. This was all news to me so i did a little search for reviews online. TKB Trading sell sample pigments for $1.50 and you get a tablespoons (yes, a TABLESPOONS!) worth of product, which is probably more than enough to keep you stocked for years if they are just for personal use. Some of the more expensive pigments like their "Travel To" range are a teaspoons worth for the same price but that's still a lot of product. They have a minimum order of about $15 which if you take into account that they are a wholesale business that is not a lot of money.

The pigment samples come in large baggies which could be a bit of a pain in the ass when it comes to applying them so i bought quite a few of their 5g jars to keep them in, and at $1.65 for 4 they don't break the bank. You could probably fill at least 8 jars per sample so i had a ton of product left over. They have a massive selection of micas, glitters, jars and other products for sale so trying to pick out the ones i wanted was a little tricky, i have no self control.

There is a slight downside with these is that they are not "ready to use" pigments as such, without a base these are not going to last. They do not have the additives that eye shadows and pigments have to make them hold, but using a good base underneath will solve this problem! I swatched these using a small layer of NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk to get an even colour.

 Grape Parfait - True Coral - Twilight Green - Pink Red Blue - Sapphire

 True Green - Rouge Flambe Red - Verdegris Gold - Emerald - Hilite Gold

Travel To Earth - Antique Silver - Brilliant Glitter Red - Mermaid's Gold - Cyrus Green

My camera really does not do most of these micas justice. TBK describes Travel To Earth as "an iridescent gold green which shifts to golden rose." and it has to be one of my favourites, i just wish my camera would pick up the beauty of it! I love golds and greens and these are definitely some of my new favourites!

Shipping to the UK is $14 and is shipped priority so i received my package in just 8 days which was brilliant! Although they do not "gift" items which means you may pay customs charges, although i was lucky enough to miss those somehow!

You can buy these and many more online here on the TKB Trading website!

I'm looking forward to getting the rest of my indie goodies through the post soon! And hopefully getting some FOTD's done with these beauties!

Thanks for reading guys.

<3