Eyeshadow primer - to buy or not to buy? or rather: which one to buy...

Eyeshadow primer is something that tweaks the piggies into decent wearable eyeshadows - most of the piggies are supposed to be mixed with additives to add adherence and with that, staying power (the more glitter, the more urgent will be the need for primer...). Primer is a "get out of jail" free card for those who would like to skip the mixing-part. A primer makes anything stay put on your lids - be it straight mica or a bad eyeshadow.

So now I have to choose - primer or a lot of mixing?

Nah, isn't really even a choice, gotta hit the stores during the weekend and look at the available merchandise.

The cheapest option would be Manhattan's eye shadow primer (on sale atm) but I do not have the ingredients list. The TKB forum also mentioned water based lubricant as an alternative for those with sensitive eyes. :P Makes sense though - who would put anything toxic near an area as sensitive as THAT? The question remains - does it actually work...

Archetype Yellow Beige 1 as foundation
Manhattan Cosmetics eye shadow primer
Archetype Dirty Blonde under the brow
Conservatorie's Dark Bronze in the crease
Conservatorie's Chameleon Glitter all over lid

And a second try: covered the lids with primer and then applied the micas.

Xian Vistas All over lid
Salmon Interference as highlighter
foundation: Archetype's Yellow Beige 1
EDM's Pick Me Up Bisque as blush

Later addition:

Praised be the almighty Internet - contacted the wholesaler and they graciously provided me with an ingredients list:

INGREDIENTS:

C11-12 Isoparaffin – mingi mineraalõli derivaat
Talc - talk
Mica - vilk (silikaat e räni e kvarts)
Cera Microcristallina – järjekordne mineraalõli derivaat
Polyethylene – mürgine, sellest tehakse kilekotte (the only component which was unfavorably described)
VP/Hexadecene Copolymer - sünteetiline polümeer
Tocopheryl Acetate - sünteetiliselt valmistatud rasvlahustuv E vitamiin, võib olla allergeen
Bisabolol - valmistatakse kummelist või toodetakse sünteetiliselt, nahka rahustav aine
Propylparaben - säilitusaine, looduses võib käituda kunstliku östrogeenina, tundub, et ladestub vähesel määral inimese kudedes, mõju inimesele alles uurimisel, parabeene hakati laiemalt kasutama alles alates 1920ndatest kui naftakeemiatööstus kiiresti arenedes einevaid sünteetilisi molekule ehitama hakkas.

CI 77891 TiO2
CI 77492 Fe2O3 (Ferric Oxide, Hematite, red iron oxide, synthetic maghemite, colcothar, or simply - rust)
CI 77491 Fe3O4 (Triiron tetraoxide - seems to be virtually the same stuff as the next compound - probably some slight alteration in the molecular structure which determines the pigment's color or some other physical characteristics)
CI 77499 Fe3O4 (Ferrosoferric oxide aka magnetite)

IMHO: Manhattan Cosmetics Base Line Eyeshadow Base is relatively safe, contains just 1 preservative (although there are 4 other petrochemical substances in it too, mostly different variations of mineral oil) and the amount of ingredients is remarkably low.
Will go shopping.

Later addition:

All EOTDs will from now on be made using this:


The consistency is that of a thick creme and the color is light (pinkish-beige?) skin color with tiny sparkles. Price: approx 5.60 USD

Enamus mu värve on pigmentidena st et neisse pole sisse segatud aineid, mis aitaksid värvil lau külge kinnituda. Lahenduseks on kas segada vajalikud pulbrid ise sinna sisse või hankida silmameigi aluskreem. Kergem on poest silmameigi aluskreem hankida :D.
Häda vaid selles, et nood on väga imelike koostistega - mitut eri liiki säilitusainet jne... Manhattan tundus neist kõigist hinna ja ka koostisosade poolest parim olema. Töötab hästi - hommikul peale kantud pigmendid pole ka tööpäeva lõpuks veel lauvakku kokku jooksnud.

About jars and containers

These babies deserve a separate post...

I implore you - when looking for containers to store your piggies - visit your local medical supplies and lab equipment wholesaler and check out their merchandise: one of these babies cost me approximately 20 cents (8 USD for 40 jars which is an amazing deal).

I put one of my Conservatorie samples in the jar, looks like this:
(the sample filled up approx 1/6 of the jar)

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.


This is an airtight lid: it has a special thingy in the center of the lid that keeps the powder from getting into the "screws" (sorry, dunno the right word). As you screw the lid on you can tell that you are squeezing the jar into the lid.
Note how the powder is visible only in the center of the lid - I gave the jar quite a shake, mind you. The usual problem with the jars is that even if you have sifters, some of the powder gets between the lid and the jar and you might have a messy accident when opening the container.

And here's a comparison photo of all the different sized jars I have come across.

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.


Laborilingos on sellise purgi nimeks katsuti.

(Peaks vist kõik 5ml asjad ka neisse ümber tõstma - 5ml tavatopsid on ikka uskumatud pudisejad - pigmendid lähevad kogu aeg kaante keerdude vahele.)

Making the Conservatorie Caramel Light Deluxe suitable for my skin

The 4 ounces I ordered from The Conservatorie are yellow. Yellow and too dark.
Mixed some Caramel Light Deluxe powder with Conservatorie's foundation base, boron glow and pearl powder - the mixture does not excel in coverage but it is indeed lighter then the pure version. Apparently I cannot tone down the yellowness until the TKB haul arrives - ordered some blue and purple pigments too - since purple is the opposite of yellow on the color wheel - that should take down the yellowness a bit.

I make a promise never to purchase any foundation mixtures without ultramarine blue ever again.

PS!

My skin has gotten terribly dry... I do not know if it's the Conservatorie's foundies or just winter. By midday I have to moisturize my face by adding a thin layer of moisturizer on top of my makeup, otherwise risking to look like a dried plum.

If it's indeed the foundi then what ingredient could possibly be to blame here?

(Contains: Sericite Mica - Magnesium Myristate, Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, Silk Powder, Allantoin, Iron Oxide.)

And the coverage - I am not happy with that either.

TKB Trading, LLC : planning another haul

Since I got so many pigments from The Conservatorie I started looking for containers - the plastic baggies are anything but comfortable. Seems TKB (MMU wholesaler) offers the cheapest solution: their 20 gr stackable jars.
Ordered 7 sets of 3 with plastic inserts (dunno exactly what those are, hope they are those little plastic covers between jars that keep the powder from spilling; IMHO the sifters alone are not as effective preventing that).
Also ordered an ounce of Silica microspheres (a great primer), a sample of Boron glow and 2 micas: Moon Stone and Ivory Lace (by description this one should be usable as finishing powder). TKB has minimum order of USD 19,50 (my order 19,86 sans shipping) and their international shipping is a little confusing, apparently I can cancel my order and expect a full refund if the shipping cost that is sent to me via e-mail is not to my liking...

HOT DAMN! the shipping for this small lot is 12 USD - now this does not sound good at all. If I do not find people who would join in on this order, the deal is off.

The following blogs have TKB mica swatches:
Mademoisellec
Nemux
Poudres-et-pinceaux
Le Blog du Maquillage Mineral
ShimmerKisser
MakeUpMyLack
Poudres et galipettes
msfrenchfries

A lot of swatches on YouTube, mostly reviewing the pop! collection. On those reviews the samples look really huge.

Lisandus:
tellimusega liitus veel inimesi - tellimuse saadan välja esmaspäeva õhtul, niikaua saab valida ja veel ka ümber mõelda.

PS! Deem, those "plastic inserts" in the stackable jars are not the plastic covers I thought them to be - instead they are little pans in which to put liquid stuff like lipglosses, pressed powders etc. Must change the order.

PPS! TKB informed me that the 20mg jars can only hold 1,5 teaspoons of pigment comfortably and that they are out of tall profile jars (those would be big enough to hold the entire sample)... Well - samples of the pigments are supposedly 1 tablespoon each - that's gonna be fun...

PPPS! Surfing the TKB micas made me wonder - is Simply Naturals packaging and reselling TKB micas? Because the names of the colors are too similar to be a coincidence...

PPPPS! Someone should put me out of my misery before I spend ALL my money on makeup.

PPPPPS! Now they inform me, that the containers will not fit into the envelope - if I want all the containers, I should pay like 40 $ shipping. Ouch.

PPPPPPS! No need to buy containers from TKB - I have the ugly alternative right here (Sarstedt 60.9922.113, one jar can hold 25 ml): will pick them up at the local medical supplies wholesaler's. The lids of those look eee... extremely functional. God knows what these jars are actually meant for :D.

Last addition:

Got the invoice on February 2nd, paid it and apparently the entire haul (I think out of 43 smth piggies 21 are mine :O) will be shipped out tomorrow. Shipping is 14 USD and they managed to squeese 7 TripleDips into the envelope (the first picture). Now suffering from a bad case of buyers remorse...
Do I really need ANY MORE eyeshadows???
Hmmm - actually, I think perhaps I do...

The Conservatorie haul has arrived

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.