Today I have nine eyeshadows from Baroque Cosmetics for you. I received my order yesterday and couldn’t wait to swatch them for you guys. This was my first order from Baroque, and spoiler alert, I’m very happy.

About the company – Baroque Cosmetics is an indie company based in Richmond, VA, offering vegan, cruelty free makeup. Andi started the shop in June of 2014 and in just seven short months, has put out five full shadow collections with inspirations like the French Revolution, Skyrim, Kingdom Hearts, and Miyazaki films, an Art Nouveau blush collection, a color of the month-esque collection called House Baroque, and a custom pressed palette service where you can pick any four of her shades (except National Razor) and she will press them and put them in a palette for you.

Sizes and prices – She offers her shadows in sample (1/8 tsp in baggie for $1.50) and full (unspecified product amount in 5g jar with sifter for $6.00) sizes. Houe Baroque colors are only available in full size. Blushes come in sample (1/4 tsp in baggie for $1.50) and full (unspecified product amount in 20g jar with sifter for $8.00). Pressed palettes are $30.00.

My order details – I ordered during her 20% off sale on January 5th, when her TAT was stated at 10-14 days. Andi posted an update on the Facebook page that she had a death in the family and the TAT may be extended. My order shipped on January 26th, which was just outside of the TAT, but I am not concerned at all because of the things Andi had to deal with outside of Baroque. I received it on January 29th.

I ordered a total of eight sample sized eyeshadows, three from the Friends in My Heart (Kingdom Hearts inspired) collection, four from the Sovngarde (Skyrim) collection, and one from the Viva la Revolution (French Revolution) collection. My free sample was from the A Heart’s A Heavy Burden (Howl’s Moving Castle) collection.

About my swatches – The top swatch is over NYX HD primer, and the bottom is over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, both in indirect natural light. I wear UD Naked Skin foundation in 3.5, which is about NC15 in MAC terms. Site descriptions are in italics, my thoughts follow.

Friends in My Heart

Sea – “A deep burgundy with blue glitter.”

Brick/fuchsia hybrid with a soft shimmer and lavender and blue sparkles. I usually don’t go for shades like this, but I knew I wanted Land and Sky from this collection and couldn’t pass up owning all three, and I’m so glad I picked this one up. It’s a color I normally wouldn’t really know how to wear, but I did a look with Sea, Sky, and Land (which I’ll put at the end of this post) and I actually really like it.

Land – “A bright silver with green glitter.”

A nice shimmery silver with light green sparkles. I found this shade to be a tad on the sheer side while swatching, but when I used it in a look, it was fine. I’m a sucker for neutrals with a twist, and I love this. The green sparkles make it gorgeously interesting and I don’t have anything else quite like it in my collection.

Sky – “A mid tone brown with aqua glitter.”

Warm shimmery midtone brown with light blue sparkles. Again, with the neutrals with a twist. Andi has stolen my heart. The aqua blue sparkles show up best over Pixie Epoxy, but I got flashes of them when applied to the lid, when I tend to only use primer for looks. I couldn’t tell you why Andi named the brown Sky and the silver Land, but it confuses me and I have to keep telling myself that it’s the opposite of what I think it should be. Not that I’m angry about it or anything, it’s just confusing and it might be a Kingdom Hearts reference I don’t get.

Sovngarde

Dragon Bones – “A satin cream with soft sparkles.”

Cream with soft champagne sparkles and a very slight pink-tan shift. When I saw the swatch on the site, I was hesitant because it’s so close to Andi’s skin tone that I couldn’t really tell how pigmented it was. I bought it anyway, hoping my skin tone was different enough from Andi’s that it would show up better on me, but as you can see, that’s not really the case. I do still really like the shade and can assure you that it’s pigmented, it just looks like my skin. I can see it being a good lazy-yet-I still-want-to-wear-shadow day color, just giving a bit of sparkle without a ton of color.

Ex-Adventurer – “A cool midtone taupe.”

Shimmery gunmetal with a very subtle purple undertone. This was one of the very few shades I kind of disagreed with the site description on. I can kind of see where “cool midtone taupe” comes from, but I think it’s a little too dark to be midtone and a little to gray to be taupe. But that’s just me of course. It’s still a very nice shade.

The Brotherhood – “A rusty brownish red.”

Warm shimmery midtone red-copper. I’m not usually drawn to rusty colors, but something about this one convinced me and I really like it.

The Guild – “A darkened leather brown.”

Deep chocolate brown with a few scattered gold sparkles. It’s a bit more red-toned in real life than what showed up in the pictures. It’d make a very nice color for deepening the crease or foiling as a liner.

Viva la Revolution

Death of Marat – “A creamy oatmeal with a very soft blue flash.”

Tan with strong pinkish tan shimmer. I think “oatmeal” is a good descriptor for this shade. I don’t think the site swatch is particularly accurate, but I’d seen multiple swatches of Death of Marat on IMAM and everyone raved about it so I had to get it. It is a very nice neutral shadow that I expect I’ll use a lot.

A Heart’s a Heavy Burden

Walking on Air – “A coraly pink with a hint of orange.”

Pinky sherbet orange with satin finish. One of my favorite things about buying indies is the tendency to get free samples. I rarely request specific colors for my free samples because I like to see what the owners pick out. I wouldn’t normally pick out this color on my own, but I do really like it. It’ll be gorgeous for Spring, and I might even see if it will work as a blush. **Free Sample**

Overall, I am very impressed with the quality of the shadows I ordered. Baroque offers a really nice variety of shades, so pretty much anyone will find something they like. The shadows are pigmented and blend nicely.

The Look

Sea in the crease, Sky on outer lid and lower lash line, Land on inner lid. These are three colors that I wouldn’t necessarily put together normally (I mean, silver, brown, and dark pink?), but I really like how they work. I think it’s the cool toned sparkles in each color that make them work so well.

What are your favorite Baroque products?

Avery