The Conservatorie moisturizer and two phased makeup remover

Both of them have a sophisticated, barely-there scent - these products have an expensive feel to them.

These two arrived during my trip and I have been trying them out ever since. I like them both though it took me some time to get used to the makeup remover - usually I just use moist microfiber cloth for removing my makeup. I even got myself an ordinary liquid foundation, so I could test it under different circumstances as well - other stuff is much more clingy.

pic taken end of October amongst the moss in mum's garden

I found the moisturizer very light, easily absorbable and moisturizing. Works well with my mineral foundations and leaves no icky film on the skin. It has a very discreet, almost unnoticeable pleasant scent. Even my mother commented on the "lack of smell" as she put it :). It's  as light and pleasant as my Dr.Scheller creams and it definitely has one advantage - when I rub my Dr.Scheller moisturizer a tad too much, it starts to roll on my skin - this one does not.


This is not a winter cream - it's too light but it's perfect for the rest of the year (I need to ask The Conservatorie whether it also has SPF or not... would be nice for summer). I have been using the cream all this time and am almost out of it by now. It's good, main ingredients are glycerin and coconut oil.  You can see the ingredients list when you click on the above picture - it'll become larger. The cream jar is made of glass and looks and feels elegant, has one of those protective caps too - comes in handy when traveling.

The makeup remover is a two phased one - this explains the different colored liquids in the picture above - it needs to be shaken before use. Basically it's a cleaning substance and an oily substance - oil loosens the dirt from the skin and hydrates it a bit while the cleaning substance makes sure all the dirt gets off the face.

According to The Conservatorie this product is also suitable for eye makeup removal but I am a bit skeptical about that: when removing mascara traces under my eyes I felt tingling in the eyes and therefore decided not to use it for eyes. rest of my face had no objections :).

Makeup remover smells pleasant - a bit like strawberries actually - and leaves the skin nicely hydrated. I do not feel the need to grab for my moisturizer/jojoba oil like I usually do after the microfiber/water cleansing. The bottle is quite big and although I sometimes forget to use it, I have only managed to use up 1/3 of the bottle so far. Since I usually do not use makeup removers I cannot compare this to other brands.

PS! The cream is sold at the Private Label website only and is currently priced at $9,50. Makeup remover is $9,95 on the original website. Prices are the same as in drugstores for the usual generic moisturizers and makeup removers but I think it's a good price for a quality product. Should the moisturizer have a nice SPF as well, I just might consider getting a new one for spring - it feels very nice on the skin.

Tegemist siis kahe tootega, mis mulle arvamuse avaldamiseks saadeti. Kreem oli tõesti hea (viimased kribalad purki alles jäänud) aga meigieemaldajat tegelikult ei oskagi kommenteerida - ma ise olen tavaliselt lapi ja sooja veega hakkama saanud. Lisaks ka veel see, et meigieemaldaja näol ei ole tegemist loodustootega, saaks ka lihtsama retseptiga samasugust asja luua :).

The Conservatorie pressed mineral foundations in action

Before (this is how my skin looks without makeup):

After:

Fairly Light

After:

Fair

After:

Ivory

After:

Porcelain

Nude - cant remember which pics are of Nude (the darkest one that has a difficult consistence - too well pressed), I'll do them later. But I remember that Nude was the one with the best staying power. I think it's hard structure (less oil) helps it to stay put on my face. But it will definitely be too dark for winter because even now it has a pretty strong contrast with my face.
And here's Nude:

skin's gone quite bad recently...

Üldiselt vihkan ma tervet nägu näitavate piltide  postitamist aga eesmärk pühendab abinõu - kellelgil võib neid nahaswatche endale puudrit valides vägagi vaja minna. Rohkem on need pildid siiski mu enda jaoks.  Hetkel on Porcelain liiga hele - Fairly Light ja Nude meeldivad mulle enim - samas on talvel Porcelain just see, mida vaja - kaelaga pole erilist toonivahet juba praegu näha. Fair on kindlalt liiga roosa ning Ivory tundub kollasemat sorti olevat.

The Conservatorie shimmer eyeshadow trio in Mocha Splash

Am using The Conservatorie's pic as well because mine does not look so good (one small edge remained intact). I specifically asked The Conservatorie not to send a flawless product because I do not need the packaging to be flawless in order to review the content. I quite liked the shade I got when all 3 were mixed together.

The Conservatorie has other surprises for us who have not visited for a while: now they also have pressed eyeshadows and I picked Mocha Splash for reviewing. The trio has one light color and two darker brown ones,  to me the two browns seem quite similar: one has a stronger silvery sheen and the other's a bit darker. It looks a bit different on Conservatorie's homepage.  

sry, lousy swatches - blame the light

Ingredients are skin friendly, product is pressed using coconut oil:

Mica, Zinc Stearate, Boron Nitride, Hydrated Silica, Caprylic Capric Triglycerides, Allantoin. May Contain ( /-): Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines, Manganese Violet, Ferric Ferrocyanide, Carmine, Chromium Oxide Greens and Tin Oxide.

Colors are wearable and perfect for someone who likes sparkle and sheen but cannot leave the house all guns blazing: brown is a nice safe color. The middle one is a bit too pinkish yellow to be worn as a highlighter (better for someone with darker skin, I'd look weird) but it's very good when one's blending the crease color upwards. The staying power is excellent (keep in mind, this is a glittery product) and pigmentation leaves nothing to be wished for. The shadows are very soft and adhere well, one should be careful when dipping the brush into the pan - it's really very very soft.

 I believe the foundation used here is The Conservatorie's pressed mineral foundation in Porcelain.

Personally I'd recommend these but since the shimmer shadows seem a bit fragile, I'd also recommend to treat them with great care. Shimmery and glitter shadows are a pain to press - if anyone knows this it's me: put too much oil and you got oily gunk, put too little and the shadow will crumble at a fleajump.

I'd also like to recommend The Conservatorie's loose micas in the Mocha family - my personal favorite is Super Brilliant Mocha Mica. A sample for 1,35 $ you cannot go wrong. I have not had the time to go through my samples to see which micas the colors in these trios resemble the most but I'll add that information when I have a bit more time for dabbling. :)

If you have the cash and prefer your pigments pressed, get the pressed version - for more price-conscious people I'd warmly recommend the loose pigments. Trust me, they are nice. :)

The Conservatorie's pressed mineral foundations

I have been eyeing these for quite some time now - always wanted to swatch them and compare to the loose mineral powders The Conservatorie has in it's inventory.  But I'd never have the cash to buy them all at full price just for swatching. The problem with buying cosmetics online is the risk the color might not suite at all and at almost 10 USD a piece it would not be a cheap experiment. These five here were sent to me by The Conservatorie so I could swatch and play with them. They have quite a big range on their homepage, totaling 24 shades altogether. I carefully picked the 5 lightest, afraid they'd all be too dark for me as it has been the case with The Conservatorie's loose mineral powders. To my utter surprise all of them are wearable - Nude seems a bit dark but even that one looks ok on my summer skin. I am quite happy.

I have to compliment The Conservatorie on the ingredients list - not bad at all (as befitting a MMU wholesaler no synthetic dyes, fragrances, preservatives etc):

Mica, Zinc Stearate, Zinc Oxide, Squalane, Fractioned Coconut oil, Lauryl Lysine, Allantoin, DL-alpha -tocopherol acetate, Grapefruit (Citrus racemosa) Extract , Origanum vulgare leaf extract, thymus vulgaris (thyme) extract, cinnamomum zeylancum bark extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, lavandula angustifolia (lavender) flower extract, hydrastis canadensis (golden seal) root extract May Contain ( /-) Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Chromium Oxide Greens, Ultramarines.

The amount of all the extracts here explain why the powder has a noticeable herbal smell when the package is first opened. By now it has faded but I quite liked the original scent. I would recommend this to most people but would advise persons with allergy prone or extremely sensitive skin to be careful - there are many ingredients here and should there be a reaction, it will be quite difficult to pinpoint the culprit. I think for MMU-novices with sensitive skin the loose version would be the safer bet.

The colors chosen were Porcelain (neutral, lightest of them all), Fairly Light (slightly darker, tad orangey), Fair (pinkish fair tone), Ivory (seems quite strong yellow) and Nude (darkest of the five, neutral). In the lower left corner is another testeé - The Conservatorie eye primer but that one deserves a separate post. 

I  asked The Conservatorie for product samples (just the pressed pans) because I do not need the cases - usually these powders come in quite solid looking black compacts.

Product is pressed in a standard 58mm pan and most of them seem to be tin (only Ivory was pressed into an aluminium pan) - which is wonderful news to all Z-palette owners out there. I think The Conservatorie would do well if they'd offer the pans as refills: many of us would prefer to buy the product cheaper (without the compact) and travel with one palette rather then several tiny containers. One StarsMakeupHaven large Z-palette can take 8 pressed powder pans - I imagine many a makeup artist's eyes would probably light up seeing this option.

Now to the product itself. Pressed mineral powders do not agree with me - I have very oily skin, personally I prefer the loose version because it handles the greasiness much better. When pressing mineral foundation a binder is needed - usually some kind of an oil - here it's squalane and fractioned coconut oil. Since the product contains oil and my face also produces a lot of oil it's no wonder my makeup will start to run by mid-day (it was the same with Everyday Minerals pressed foundations). But on the other hand it's godsend for people with dry skin, for whom the loose versions might be much too drying. Coverage is medium but can be upped with some primer.

With the exception of Nude (which does not want to rub off for some reason, I've actually scratched it to get the powder out of the pan) all the pressed powders are very creamy and one should use light hand when loading the brush.They are not completely matte nor are they shiny - they have a slight sheen but it's not exactly noticeable. They were a devil to swatch so I finally gave up and used them over primer:

Horizontal stripes above are the loose mineral foundations in Barely Beige, Barely Beige matte, Barely Golden and Barely Golden matte - the lightest loose mineral powders The Conservatorie offers. Barely Beige is a bit too pink for my liking but of the loose ones it's the only one I can get away with during winter. I'd very much like The Conservatorie to offer a loose mineral foundation in fair neutral olive tone as well (hint, hint). Porcelain seems actually pretty close to the desired shade but since it's pressed I'll have to wait a decade or two for my skin to stop producing so much oil.

Sain testimiseks The Conservatorie pressitud mineraalpuudreid - siin nende kohta ka arvustus. Sobivad kuivemapoolsele nahale ning lõpuks ometi on olemas ka heledaid toone! Hind on minu meelest ok, 10 USD pole paha ja lisaks leidub teisigi asju, mida ostukorvi panna, et tellimise miinimummaksumus kokku saada - nagu alati, oleks sealt tellides mõistlik koopereeruda ja pakk maksude vältimiseks nt hoopis Soome tellida.

Miscellaneous brush sets

The Makeup Brush Company

Let us start with the elite, pink set from The Makeup Brush Company. These are high quality natural hair brushes (except the foundation, concealer and lip brushes which are synthetic) and also quite expensive. These are the only high-end brushes I have. Blush brush (5th) is soft only when freshly washed - so I do not use it often. It's very fluffy and allows even the most pigmented blush to be applied without looking like a clown. Eyeliner brush (4th) has a very nice precise tip but I prefer e.l.f's studio angled liner for lining - easier. This one would be good for detailed work. 

The Makeup Brush Company: (top to bottom):  Large Concealer, 
Foundation, Retractable Lip-brush, Eye-Liner, Powder/Blusher,
Brow Comb/Lash Spoolie, Socket Shader,
Pencil Softener/Blender, Chisel/Shadow

Brushes I actually use every day are the last 3: I've never met a better shaped eyeshadow brush then the small tapered one, last on the pic. It grabs pigments so well and the size is just perfect! e.l.f.'s studio C-brush is almost three times it's width. Next to it lies "eye pencil softener/smudger" that I use for packing color on the lid. It's a tad narrower then e.l.f's studio C-brush. 3rd from the bottom is the "blender/socket shader" - it has long bristles and therefore I only use it if I want a very slight sweep of color on the brow-bone. Most of my blending is done with EDM's smudge brush.

Ecotools (ParisPresents/Looduskosmeetika)

Ecotools' set has fallen from grace, especially after the arrival of the e.l.f set. I still use the concealer brush for swatching pigments, the angled brush for eyebrows (when I actually remember to do my eyebrows) and the thick blush brush for blending out blush when applied too much. The only HG brush amongst these is the mineral series small blending brush, last one on the picture.

The reason I do not use Ecotools eyeshadow brush is that the bristles are a bit too stiff and they do not grab dry pigment too well. I rarely use my pigments foiled. Recently I've heard and read a lot of good about the bronzer brush  (looks like a kabuki on a stick) and the big powder brush. Kabuki from Ecotool's mineral series is much too small and flimsy.

The Conservatorie

This is the Synthetic series, Coastal Scents carries them too. They look nice, although I'd prefer black ferrules - metallic ones get scratched too easily. These brushes have excellent bristle-material - soft and grabs loose pigments well.

Synthetic oval smudger brush, synthetic angled blush brush,
synthetic oval shadow brush (2 of them, first one is a bit mangled up),
synthetic crease brush,synthetic oval taklon lip brush

The first one on the pic was a disppointment - it's ferrule scratches the lid. Size-wise it would have been perfect. I do not use this at all, it's utter crap.
Blush brush is good: soft, does not shed and is light and fluffy - unfortunately I have the e.l.f. stippler now so this one just sits there. I use it occasionally for contouring. 

Next two are rather good eyeshadow brushes of the same design - bristles are softer and thinner then Ecotools eyeshadow brushes' bristles and grab powdered pigment better. It's rather amazing, but the defective brush is actually better for patting the eyeshadows on. 

Crease brush reminds me of EDM's smudger but the latter one is more stiff, allowing more precise application. I use it to blend when I have put too much color in the crease - it tends to remove some of it while blending.

Everyday Minerals brushes are coming up next. Got plenty of brushes from there and I must say - quality of bristles is a lot better then Ecotool's brushes and the design superior to the Synthetic series.

TKB vs Conservatorie: browns

Australian Amber - warm medium brown, strong sheen
Luster Brown (Conservatorie) - colder medium brown
Super Brilliant Mocha (Conservatorie) - bright reddish brown
Sparkle Mocha (Conservatorie) - less sparkly reddish brown
Brilliant Mocha (Conservatorie) -  light cool (cooler then others) brown, great sheen
Moonstone - almost purplish brown, low sheen
Cupreous Brown (Conservatorie) - looks dark in the bag but actually high sheen medium warm brown
Brown Coco (Conservatorie) - matte dark brown
Dark Bronze (Conservatorie) - orange based bronze, high sheen
Chameleon Glitter  (Conservatorie) - orange base, blue sheen, silvery sparkle
Chameleon Fine - dark orange base, silvery blue sheen
Chameleon (Conservatorie) - same, just more sheer (the dark red base is missing, it's lighter and more salmon)
Deep Russet - dark wine red
Antique Copper - warm sheen, orange based dark brown
Swiss Chocolate - warm dark brown, tiny orange sparklies

with the cheap camera

Now all the "brown" browns together (excluded the reddish ones)

Australian Amber - one of TKB's best selling browns
Luster Brown (Conservatorie) - simple medium brown
Brilliant Mocha (Conservatorie) - medium brown with strong bronze sheen
Cupreous Brown (Conservatorie) - where's the copper? looks more like golden sheen to me
Brown Coco (Conservatorie) - cool brown
Sandlewood (Simply Naturals) - dark cool brown, unfortunately a bit too dark for my eyebrows
Cafe Satin (Simply Naturals) - adore this silvery taupe! it's just perfect

with the good camera

TKB vs Conservatorie: bronzes

Virgo - beautiful silvery light bronze, high sheen
Forged Gold - dark gold
Bronze Mica - dark orange, bright
Chrome Bronze (Conservatorie) - toned down bronze, excellent sheen, almost same then Bronzed Gold though the latter is a tad darker
Bronze Fine - redder then Chrome Bronze
Oriental Beige - soft beige, beautiful bronzer for pale people
Bronzed Gold - bronze with strong sheen
Dragonfly - orange base and green sheen (discontinued)
Blush Beige - strong sheen pink beige, same texture then Bronze Fine, just more red in it.

taken with crappy camera

taken with good camera

Soon I'll get the browns sorted out too and that's it then :) - no more swatching until the tiny Coastal Scents haul arrives in a week or two. Yes, I know, I'm weak, ordered the duo-fibre eyeshadow brushes and 9 pigments yesterday, during the 20% off sales event.

TKB vs Conservatorie: golds

Hilite Gold - cold gold sheen
Satin Orange Gold - pinkish soft gold sheen
18K Gold (Conservatorie) - light gold, pale yellow
Gold Metallic Satin (Conservatorie) - next three are almost identical, Gold Metallic Satin is strong yellow
Radiant Gold - is paler, cooler gold then Gold Metallic Satin
Elegant Gold (Conservatorie) - almost the same as Gold Metallic Satin, a bit more reddish though
Lemon Drop - bright yellow
Merlot Gold (Conservatorie) - orange gold, nice smooth texture
24K Gold - bright shimmery, pale yellow
Abtruse Gold (Conservatorie) - orange gold, darker then Merlot Gold, nice texture
Forged Gold - dark gold, bit more orange, has dark undertone, hard to swatch
Mermaid's Gold - green gold
Gold Leaf - dirty gold, it's one of the TKB 4-color sets they sell, can't remember the name at the moment.

Green-golds:

Xian Vistas  (Conservatorie) - pale green gold, wonderful sheen, a bit sheer
Mermaid's Gold - more covering then Xian Vistas and much more yellow
Antique Gold - reminds me of Forged Gold when in jar but irl is much more red
Forged Gold - seemed so close in tone to Antique Gold but actually much warmer

Mõlema hulgimüüja kuldsed võrdluses - mida siin ikka, kuld on kuld. Kui teist kõrval poleks, siis ajaks vähemalt 3 tk neist küll lootusetult sassi. Glitteri jätsin välja, see on hoopis teisest ooperist.

TKB vs Conservatorie: blues

I'm afraid of the blues, they add years to me and make me look like a cheap tart. That's also the reason I do not have many of them in my collection.

Totally Teal - light turquoise, flat color, low sheen
Torquoise (Conservatorie) - light blue, matte
Blueberry - high sheen pure medium blue
Sapphire Blue (Conservatorie) - high sheen, more purplish medium blue
Indian Blue -  high green-golden sheen, swatches beautifully
Grape Parfait - blueish purple, wonderful blue sheen
Periwinkle (Conservatorie) - light grayish blue with tons of sparkle

made with the good camera, daylight

Comparison of  TKB and Conservatorie  blue colors
pic made in daylight

pic taken in artificial light

TKB vs Conservatorie: pinks and beiges

Left to right: Gemini, Apple Blossom, Baby Pink Interference, Garnet, Foliage,
Bolero, Peach Fuzz, Shimmering Nude, Angel Wings

Gemini - warm pink with strong golden sparkle

Apple Blossom - light cool pink with slightly golden sheen and strong pink sheen
Baby Pink Interference (Conservatorie) - the question remains, where's the interference? all I see s lots of glitter (note to self - compare this to TKB's Pink Crystal)
Garnet - medium pinkish color, golden? and pink sheen
Foliage - beautiful neutral dark beige with blue? pink? sheen
Bolero (Conservatorie) - reddish orange, pink sheen
Peach Fuzz (Conservatorie) - here more gold then pink, reminds me of Gold Earth
Shimmering Nude (Conservatorie) - beautiful subtle skin colored soft pink
Angel Wings - whitish very light pink color with silvery and soft  purplish sheen, silvery sparkle

Conservatorie and TKB pinks, pic taken in daylight

and with the good camera

Similar colors:

Gold Earth (Conservatorie) - looks golden pink in the jar but it's actually a smooth muted gold
Peach Fuzz (Conservatorie) - pinkish beige, gold sheen
Apricot Mica - seems to be a dead ringer for Gold Earth with the exception of the latter being more on the yellow side, Apricot has a slightly more orange base


These colors look similarly toned in their containers but aren't similar at all:

daylight

Winter Rose - looks beige, turns out purply pink

Pink (green) Interference (Conservatorie) - smooth cool nude (love this color)

Artisan Coral - looks neutral but actually is more like a peach color, strong bronze sheen

Ivory Lace - medium sheen neutral ivory, small sparkles

Salmon Interference (Conservatorie) - high sheen neutral beige

Peach Fuzz (Conservatorie) - pinkish gold, beautiful sheen

Dusty Rose - strong bronze sheen, looks nothing like when in jar, darker  and slightly more reddish then Artisan Coral

artificial light

and with the good camera, in fading daylight

I have used some colors in different swatch "mugshots" and depending on their company, they always get a different description. Funny that.