Review : Fyrinnae Eyeshadows in Lucky Charmed, Velveteen Werewolf, Pyromantic Erotica, and Steampunk

So after going through the indie makeup subreddit I've realized I want every cosmetic item of every indie makeup company. This may be a slight exaggeration, but really, I decided to take the plunge and buy some indie makeup products. Though there is quite a bit of drama floating around it, I decided to purchase from Fyrinnae as my indie first. This was partially because of the rave reviews but also because most people seemed to agree that most indie shadows needed some sort of glue base for the shadows to truly shine and the only other option (darling girl glitter glue?) was sold out at the time.

So, the shadows. I ordered minis of Velveteen Werewolf, Pyromantic Erotica, and Steampunk. I also received Lucky Charmed as a free sample. Below are some photos of them swatched because there needs to be more Fyrinnae swatches. They can be rather difficult to find. All of them are over Pixie Epoxy on top and over bare skin below that. As you can see they look great with the base but are really subpar over bare skin.

In their containers, kind of meh about the size inconsistency but WOW look at these beauties.

Swatches of (L to R) Lucky Charmed, Velveteen Werewolf, Pyromantic Erotica,  and Steampunk

Closer view of Lucky Charmed and Velveteen Werewolf

Straight on view of Pyromantic Erotica and Steampunk

Lucky Charmed, Velveteen Werewolf, Pyromantic Erotica,  and Steampunk in direct sunlight

Again, in direct sunlight. You can also kind of see the Pixie Epoxy in between swatches haha.

These shadows really need a sticky base to shine, and shine they do. It's a bit hard to capture on camera but holy cow are these reflective. I like using a bit as a sort of accent color but am not daring enough to use it on the entirety of my eyelid because they're pretty intense. Velveteen Werewolf, Pyromantic Erotica, and Steampunk are all part of their "Arcane Magic" collection meaning they are supposed to have shifts, and they do a bit, but it's nothing too dramatic. Really I was more taken by how shiny/sparkly these shadows were. If I purchased more shadows from them (which I really want to because they are just gorgeous) I think I'd go for their matte to moderate shimmers so they'd be a bit more wearable, but definitely go for some of the bright punchy colors *coughParentalAdvisorycough*.

Overall these shadows are gorgeous. They don't have much fallout at all when patted over Pixie Epoxy, and some of them are really fun/unique colors that are great to buy as minis, like I love orange eyeshadow but I really do not need an entire pan of it, so the mini is great. I think the full sizes are actually a good deal though, like 3g for $6.25 or the regular shadows or $6.80 for the Arcane Magic's. The minis were $2.25 each for 1/4 tsp of Arcane Magic eyeshadows and 1/3 tsp of the other eyeshadows, which may seem like a bit much but they are gorgeous and the containers are really handy. Something about the quality of the container seemed nicer than usual? Like they're not difficult to open/close, they seal up well so no loose shadow escapes when shaken, and they just feel really substantial. I ordered a mini from another company and the container didn't seem as nice, which is kind of a weird thing to be picky about but after using the ones provided by Fyrinnae there's a noticeable difference.

9/10 would buy again. The quality and price are great but I didn't get anything that I will use daily (though that's my fault, going in again sometime later for more wearable colors awww yeah) and the website was a little difficult to navigate. Also unlike other experiences with indie cosmetics the personal touch didn't seem to be there? Which is again nitpicky but when it comes to expanding my already too large collection of stuff I need to be nitpicky.

No Buy

Reddit and its makeupexchange subreddit have been the death of me. Today, after almost agreeing to a $60 transaction, I realized I've spent over $100 (and the new transaction would have pushed me over $200) on cosmetics in a month. One month!!! That is the most I have ever spent in such a short period of time, and truthfully I've barely even used the things I bought! So I'm banning myself from /r/makeupexchange and going on a no buy either until shiro has their sale (which is at the beginning of May I believe) OR I lose 10 lbs. Gotta get motivated right? I seriously can't believe my lapse in judgement though, also now I really want indie perfumes in addition to the indie cosmetics orders that I have coming in but I really must not. I think I might try making my own in this time though. I have jojoba oil that I mainly use for moisturizing my face (I'll probably do a post about that, it's lovely) and I think I can spare some drops for fragrance experimentation. Maybe then I won't feel the need to spend $40 or $80 on 18 mL of perfumed oil, even if they sound lovely and multidimensional uhu.

Review: Society6 Mugs

So before I bought my mugs from Society6 I tried google searching for reviews and I could only find 2 and they were very old, so I thought I'd make a review for others who are on the fence about purchasing a mug from Society6. I'll be covering a few things I was iffy about purchasing which were

1. Size/Sturdiness of the mug
2. Quality of the print
3. Shipping (since most of the reviews regarding Society6 shipping were VERY negative)

So first, size/sturdiness of the mug. I bought one 11 oz mug and two 15 oz mugs in my first order. I'll admit I went a bit crazy because of their $5 off PLUS free shipping, though I actually ended up spending enough in both of my orders (yes I ended up loving them so much I went for round 2 I am weak) it was still a lovely deal for them. Personally I prefer the 15 oz mugs. I feel like 11 oz mugs or smaller mugs are more common, and I like having slightly larger mugs so I can get a decent amount of liquid in them AND have leftover room so I can walk safely/without fear of spilling things everywhere. The 11 oz mug felt adequate. Like there's nothing really bad about it but it doesn't feel remarkable either. The 15 oz mugs feel a bit sturdier to me. It's the slightly wider because the mug itself is slightly thicker and it's also a bit taller. The handle is also slightly larger, making it more comfortable to hold in hand. I don't use the dish washer so I don't know how they'd hold up there, but they take hand washing just fine. I also tried microwaving some water in one and nothing bad happened then either so another plus for the mugs!
I'd give the 11 oz: 7/10 and the 15 oz: 9/10.

Photo of the 15 oz mug on the left, 12 oz on the right.

Aerial view. The 15 oz (right) handle is a tad thicker. 

Second, quality of the print. For the mugs I would recommend NOT choosing one based on colors. The colors will NOT be the same as on the website, I read that it's a result of them printing using RGB colors instead of CMYK colors. So awesome designs that rely heavily on slight color variation probably won't look as awesome on the mug. I bought a Spock mug (which I think relies quite a bit on color) and frankly it's my least favorite of the ones I chose. I bought it to give as a gift and I'm feeling a bit iffy about giving it now. The Leaf On the Wind mug turned out rather nicely, seeing as it's basically just black print and one bright green object on both sides. The green on this mug was vibrant and lovely, but as you can tell from the photos the other mugs' colors were more dull. The images/words/shapes were all very crisp and clean though, which is a major plus. Even for the larger mugs, which I feared may become victims of bad sizing looked lovely.
I'd give the printing as a solid 6/10 for the color, 8/10 for crispness.

As you can see the colors look a bit darker, not just because of the lighting.

As you can see this looks lovely.

Third, the shipping/ordering process. I had read quite a few reviews saying their items were lost in the mail or never received but I actually got my items rather quickly. I put my first order in on Sunday and received my package at the end of the week. Placed my second order the following Sunday after receiving the first order and deeming it safe/worth it and again I received it at the end of the week. Pretty fast shipping, and these things were definitely protected in their packaging (look at the very end of the post for the box/wrapping the first order of three mugs came in because it is actually ridiculous). The only slightly annoying thing about their shipping was that the tracking was really strange. They use both a third party service and USPS and would say when the package apparently switched hands but when I checked the USPS tracking number provided it said that the package was being processed in Georgia, up until the day it was delivered. It was admittedly a cause for worry with my first order which I tracked daily, since I saw it go from center to center closer to my state and then it suddenly regressed? But the second time I didn't even worry about it and it arrived fine so don't stress.
 I'd give their shipping a 8/10 because it was fast and properly packaged but a bit wonky.

So much bubble wrap. Very protected.

Overall I thought these mugs were lovely. I have a major thing for mugs and seriously had to stop myself from buying like 15 of them. My shopping cart had literally 15 mugs and I had to eliminate 12. It was very tough and I ended up buying my runner up anyways in the second order. They feel very sturdy and the 15 oz ones feel fantastic to hold. If you want a fandom or arty or animal or unique print on a mug either for yourself or for a friend I would definitely recommend buying one. Just don't be surprised if the colors don't match the image online.
I'd give the experience a 8.5/10, with the extra .5 for being so fun to navigate and explore haha.

After examining the things in my room I realize I need to clean some stuff out. I've decided to document some of the things I've actually enjoyed and others that were probably bad purchases so next time I want to buy something I can take a step back and think about if I want it to be on the nay side of this blog. There will probably be lots of clothes, cosmetics, crafts, and books. I just killed the alliteration, sorry.