** I've decided to bring this blog back from the dead. **
Over the past year, I’ve gradually switched over to using just about entirely indie cosmetics. Before last May I had no idea indie brands even existed – no kidding. I’m not a makeup snob, but I own a fair amount of stuff (mostly eye shadow, I almost never wear lip stuff aside from balm) from the big “mid range” brands, i.e. Urban Decay, Hard Candy (when it was part of Urban Decay and not the Walmart stuff), Ulta, and Sephora’s own line, to name a few. I didn’t even know LOOSE eye shadow existed until I finally wandered over to the Bare Minerals display in Sephora one day. To be fair, I purchased a lot of my cosmetics off eBay and never spent a lot of time at makeup counters.
The accidental discovery:
I was browsing Etsy one day (I’ve had a shop since June 2009) using the keyword “pokemon,” because I’m secretly still an eight year old, and I came across a blue eye shadow called ‘Squirtle.’ Whaaaaat? After I browsed around the shop (if you haven’t figured it out yet I’m talking about Shiro Cosmetics) and had a minor geek out over the pokemon themed eye shadow, I placed my very first order with an indie company. Lucky for me it was a company that has consistently had good quality products and good customer service.
Expansion Pack:
I’m not sure I would have EVER found other indie brands if I hadn’t looked at the blog run by Shiro’s owner. She had reviewed Concrete Minerals and Fyrinnae, I read the reviews, and then a whole new world appeared in front of me. I had additional orders coming in from Shiro, HiFi, Concrete, and Fyrinnae within a couple of weeks. I was amazed at how cheap everything was (I mean compared to what, $16 for an Urban Decay shadow?) and shipping was totally affordable for these beautiful complex colors.
I really liked the personal touch that many indie companies give to their customers. Most of the owners have blogs and an online presence, and for the most part whenever I’ve had questions I get a response back really quickly. And more importantly the quality of products is generally better than anything I’ve bought from the store. After doing my own research on cosmetics ingredients I realized how it did not make me happy that my store bought stuff was packed with stuff like talc to stretch the coloring ingredients as far as possible. Talc is laaame (and I am allowed to say this because I have a degree in Geology) and if I’m paying top dollar for a little pot of eye shadow it better be top notch ingredients.
For the most part I’ve been extremely pleased with all of the indie cosmetics I’ve purchased. I quickly expanded from just eye shadow to lip balms (I am a lip balm whore apparently), body scrubs, soap, and more recently shampoo and foundation. I’m still testing out one shampoo and conditioner combo, and I’m comparing an indie primer to UDPP (the only one that’s ever consistently worked for me, sad face, it’s too expensive). Next up on my list is the foundation (Geek Chic’s Codex). I’m very pale with a definite pink tint – almost all store bought foundations are too yellow for me, and I was just intimidated by the number of color choices on Meow Cosmetic’s site (although in the future I hope to purchase foundation from them). Unfortunately I still suffer from bouts of acne at age 22 and haven’t had a consistently clear week where I felt OK with not wearing liquid foundation, so I haven’t worn much of Codex yet.
Why indie?
I like small businesses. I think large corporations will be the undoing of humanity, but that’s just me. Also indie cosmetics are for the most part better quality and more affordable… so why not buy indie? A lot of indie companies also offer vegan products. I’m not vegan (I’m not even vegetarian… tried it for 5 months but couldn’t stick with it), but I see the “vegan-ness” of products as a nice bonus. I actually don’t like carmine at all and if products are labeled as “vegan” I know I don’t have to worry about it. It’s in your strawberry yogurt, you know. Crushed up cochineal bugs. Mmmmm. So many bugs have to die for like an ounce of the colorant.
Here is a list of indie companies I have purchased from and enjoyed, because I like lists.
Aromaleigh (placed my first order only a few weeks before the announcement of the site closing, boo)
Concrete Minerals (I really liked the samples I bought last summer, jury’s still out on the primer.) [concreteminerals.com]
Detrivoire (I only bought one eyeshadow, a matte called Glacier, but it’s really nice.)
Ethically Engineered* (I haven’t used their products yet, waiting to move into new apartment, but they use solar power, therefore they have already attained a level of awesome) [etsy.com/shop/Ethically Engineered]
Fyrinnae (probably the pinnacle of indie cosmetics – super affordable and WOW colors) [fyrinnae.com]
Geek Chic (haven’t used eye shadows yet, foundation seems nice) [geekchiccosmetics.com]
HiFi Cosmetics (The owner even took the time to answer my question about shade recommendations!) [find on ArtFire or Etsy]
Linnaeus Cosmetics (colors look great, haven’t used yet, owner is very friendly!) [Linnaeuscosmetics.com]
Shiro Cosmetics (very helpful owner, great color selection and nice eyeshadow formula) [shirocosmetics.com]
^This is not inclusive, I’ve definitely forgotten some.
