The Conservatorie haul is here - in good time too. They shipped January 2 and on January 15th I had a notice in my mailbox.
Well, those guys sure love to send big parcels, I must say... A large envelope perhaps would have indeed been a little too small for the 4 ounce mineral foundation packet - it was bigger then I expected but I got a box half filled with polystyrene again.
It is a working day, lunchtime and I sit in the office, the door locked, swatching samples - I'm in deep.
Lets start with the cheap eye shadow brushes: they're too soft, lacking bounce. The lip brush is a lot better and seems to be perfect for micromanaging around the eye area: bristles are thin and soft but the shape of the brush does not disappear if pressure is applied.
Synthetic Oval Smudger Brush flimsy, soft, not enough bristles in it - lacks firmness, no good for foiling; how can it be called smudger with bristles so weak? I'd like to characterize this brush using the word that's opposite to the word "dense"; there are so few bristles that the ferrule scratches my eyelid! The size of the brush would have been perfect for I have small eyes. Would buy again:
no.
Synthetic Oval Shadow Brush flimsy, too soft, thin, not suitable for foiling, the bristles are a mess when the brush is used wet; bristles sticking out in all directions; Applies dry metallic powders well but I needed a brush for foiling. Would buy again:
no.
Synthetic Oval Taklon Lip Brush bristles are soft yet the shape of the brush can handle pressure; does not loose shape even if made wet. Downside: very small. Would buy again:
yes.
The 40 gr jars are big and pretty, with sifters. I would have preferred transparent lids but silver is ok too. Check out the first photo to get some idea how big these actually are.
The micas:
The Conservatorie mica sample is enough to fill up a small 5gr jar (a teaspoon of product).
18 K Gold Foil Mica light golden sheen, not much pigment, can be used as highlighter or as metallic sheen on some darker pigment; picture pale gold;
Antique Gold Mica similar to previous but more yellow pigment, can be easily worn alone;
Brown Coco Mica almost matte dark cool brown, good as liner or as dark base, I presume;
Chameleon Glitter Mica sparsely pigmented dark red with silver glitter/sparkle - I do not particularily like red on my eyes, takes some getting used too - reminds me of a hare; the glitter does not stick well;
Dark Bronze Mica (reddish?) brown with golden sheen, seems a little too orange-ish to my liking; strong metallic;
Gold Earth Mica amazing, beautiful golden sheen on pink-beige base, very heavy golden sheen;
Salmon Interference Mica like previous but less golden, more transparent; seems a perfect highlighter; the base is perfect nude beige-pink;
Shimmering Nude Mica shimmering pink, the pink sheen is actually quite aggressive when applied wet; perhaps I should try this on the cheeks as well...
Silver Black Mica dark grey with silver sheen, reminds me of the silvery color MAD Minerals has, it's just a little darker and more blue;
Super Brilliant Mocha Mica like Chameleon glitter but without the green sheen and more silver sparkle, or like Dark Bronze with silver sparkle; has less red in it too; love :)
Xian Vistas Mica yellow with green iridescence, amazing but is it wearable? we'll see...
Must make a new photo: it's 14.45, the Sun is setting and there is no light. The swatches on skin must wait until weekend.
Just for my information: MT wants Antique Gold, Xian Vistas and Dark Bronze.
Boron glow has indeed a slight sheen and I'll be adding it to my foundation mix along with the base powder. Silica microspheres will take some getting used to - it's an extremely finely milled powder that makes skin ever so smooth to the touch. Must test it for a little longer but I think it is drying my skin.
And the missing swatches: Antique Gold & Xian Vistas:
The foundations:
I think I know now why
Caramel Light is too dark for me... It was not so bad when I used the samples from the first patch - those were of Premium+ recipe... Since the Honey line seemed more suitable on the homepage, I ordered those in Deluxe instead and the Caramel series was tested in Premium+ formula. My 4 ounces of Caramel light from the second patch are in Deluxe recipe. Seems that by default the Deluxe's are darker and less luminous.
Mixed some of the boron glow, some pearl powder and the rest of the foundation base into 1 teaspoon of Caramel Light Deluxe and will be testing it tomorrow.
I got these containers for my soon to arrive TKB samples which are 1 tablespoon (1 tbsp) in size (not 1 teaspoon (1 tsp) like the Conservatorie's samples). I expect those samples to fill these jars up to 1/2 or even 2/3.
There are some downsides too: no sifters and the lid looks pretty ugly up close. I can forgive the ugliness - the lids are made so that they are easy to handle, not slippery in any way. It's also slightly vexing that the lids are not see-through - must storage the jars on their sides to see whats in them. They do not look pretty in my makeup box and are a bit difficult to stash, because the lid is, well, like a mushroom top - slightly wider then the jar itself.
