So in early May I stumbled across the subreddit /r/indiemakeup and it has changed my life in just a few weeks.

So much cheap and high quality makeup I can’t handle myself!

I proceeded to order about 10 different sample hauls from many of the brands, but I am studying abroad in Germany and only two shipments came in before I left. So I brought both with me, and I swatched them using my not so good iPad camera. I have a dslr and the quality of the following pictures are so not how I want my first swatch and haul post to go. But I’m itching to start up this blog, and I’ve gotta make do with what I have until I get home to my new 20 packages waiting for me.

So I without further adieu:

Siren Cosmetics Eyeshadow

I chose Siren because they had cheap samples, some of which we’re 50% off! I had no idea what to expect, and overall I’m really happy with what I ended up with. I’ll definitely be making a full-size order next.

Celebrity Skin, Billionaire, Dirty Secret, Hollywood, Vermillion, Bullet, Burning Desire, Static

I tend to order a lot of golds and browns. It’s simple and easy and I know how they work. However, now that I’ve found this new world of beautiful indie makeup I will be stretching my boundaries in future orders!

In this order, my two samples were Vermillion and Static. Both are matte colors, and I probably wouldn’t have ordered either of them. However, they’re quite pretty and I’ve already used them in several looks. This goes to show that I shouldn’t trust my instincts!

So here are the swatches:

Celebrity Skin, Billionaire, Dirty Secret, Hollywood, Vermillion, Bullet, Burning Desire, Static

I’m on a glorified backpacking trip for the next month and a half so I didn’t bring any extra makeup than bare miminums. Unfortunately this means that my swatches continue to not be as good as I’d hoped. I don’t have a primer or a glitter glue with me, so they’re swatched bare and foiled with water.

Celebrity Skin a pretty sort of mauve with a little sparkle. It’s pretty subtle and doesn’t foil well at all.

Billionaire a sheer peachy nude color that also doesn’t foil. I’m excited to try this and Celebrity Skin with a nice primer when I get back because I can tell that the shades will be great once they have that assistance.

Dirty Secret is so beautiful! It’s a bright orange metallic copper. Orange is my favorite color and I love how beautifully this foils! I think I’m going to manage to use this every day somehow.

Hollywood is true to its name as a glitzy gold metallic. It foils really beautifully. The metallic colors are what first drew me into indie makeup and I was not disappointed!

Vermillion was one of the samples included in my order. It’s a bright reddish pink. It’s a matte, which I don’t have many of because I’m always drawn to sparkles. I didn’t think I’d ever use something this shade on my eyes, but I found that it actually really fun to use.

Bullet a copper metallic that doesn’t have the opacity of a dirty Secret or Hollywood. It’s a pretty color though, and I’ll have to try it over other products later since foiling isn’t quite working.

Burning Desire is pure copper glitter. It doesn’t stay at all without something to cling to, but it foiled really beautifully. I can’t wait to try it with glitter glue! I found its really fun as an eyeliner when foiled.

Static is a matte white. This is really useful as a subtle inner eye highlight when you don’t want shimmer, and wet application makes it really bold.

In all, I enjoyed my first indie eyeshadow experience! I don’t have much experience yet, but Siren Cosmetics seemed to have a great quality to their shadows, and I think all of these shades are extremely wearable. I’m definitely going to purchase Dirty Secret in the full size, and maybe some of the others once I have more money.

Fyrinnae

I ordered four of their lip lustres, and also got an eyeshadow as a sample.

Queer Theory, 1952, Saloon Girl, Isis, Bawdy Librarian

So I’m a hugeeee lip color fan. I try to wear some form of color every day, and I particularly enjoy the more obnoxious ones. I’d heard mixed reviews on this product, so I wanted to try out my first indie lippie.

Bawdy Librarian, Queer Theory, 1952, Saloon Girl, Isis

Bare Lips for Reference

Forgive the state of my face. I’m working on a vineyard and I didn’t feel like putting a full face on just to go work on the fields.

Queer Theory

I like this color so much! It’s a hot pink that is almost red, and I think it’s really flattering.

1952

In this lighting it’s hard to see much difference between 1952 and Queer Theory, but this one is definitely a red color rather than a pink. It’s bold and I enjoy the shade lots.

Saloon Girl

Ugh. So this is the one I was most excited about. I love darks, and I other peoples swatches it looked like a beautiful dark plumb. This looks very brown on me, and I don’t see a purple much at all. Also it wasn’t very opaque. It took much more product to get coverage than the first two, but I can’t imagine that it’s supposed to be a sheer, given its shade. I was disappointed, but my mom said she loved the color on me, so maybe it is that bad. It just wasn’t the color I expected.

Isis

I want shiny gold metallic lips. And I ordered that color from a few brands to see whose I liked best. Unfortunately, this probably won’t be my dream gold lip. It’s more of a greenish gold, and I prefer a more orange tone. Also this color wasn’t opaque and I had difficulty building it. It would probably look great on top of other colors, but it doesn’t work as a standalone.

Bonus: Bawdy Librarian

I already mentioned that I use a lot of browns and this is my new go-to everyday face crease color. It’s subtle but still has glitz, and can be really helpful in shading.

To summarize my feelings on the lip lustres: I really really want to like the,. There are so many amazing and unique shades available, but I’m not sure it’s going to work for me. Some of the colors have great quality (Queer a Theory and 1952) but the others took a lot of product and didn’t apply evenly. They aren’t drying but they do feel quite dry. They don’t really shine, unless the pigment has it’s own lustre. Also they wore off pretty quickly, within an hour, leaving a bit of stain behind which was nice at least. I love the color variety and would probably be obsessed with them if they were smoother or glossier. You can’t really rub your lips together and have them glide, if that explains it better.

So that’s my first post in general, and also first haul and swatch! I’m excited to continue exploring indie makeup when I get home to my many purchases ( and lovely dslr and laptop ). I’ll be posting fashion and makeup as I continue to travel through Germany before then though, so stay tuned!