EDIT #2: OH MY GOD MY BLOGGER IS BROKEN!!!!! WHERE ARE ALL MY PICTURES??? Even my header picture is gone!!!!! *cries* I don't even know what to do anymore, I'm going to bed. I will leave this post up..and fix the pictures later hopefully :(Nevermind, fixed!!! ^_^
♥EDIT: Apparently through all of my back and forth editing/formatting, I've broken many of the links to my pictures. You won't be able to click to enlarge all of them, but if you right click and copy the image url and open it in another window you should still be able to see the enlarged photo. Sorry! :( I'll try to fix this later if I have time..but going in and editing the HTML right now is going to make me pull my hair out!
Ok, as a follow up to the
sneak peak from last week, FINALLY here is the full -
IN DEPTH (I'm serious) -review for my Beauty From the Earth (BFTE) Cosmetics products! This was kind of a big project for me (I think I spent way too much time on) because I wanted to try and do a proper review. Even though I've had this blog for about a year now, I'm still relatively new to doing "makeup" posts and not nail polish posts, so I wanted to get it right from the beginning. If you guys have any feedback or criticism I would welcome it. I already know a really bad habit of mine is to ramble on..and on...and on....so this will probably be a long one! It will be everything that I want to know about a product when researching them online :)
To recap, I will be reviewing the following products from BFTE:
♥ Mineral Foundation -
Warm Honey
♥ Mineral Veil -
Tawny
♥ Mineral Blush -
Georgia Peach
♥ Multi-Use Minerals -
Addicted,
Hangover,
Tangerine,
Lemon,
Envy,
Grassy,
Blueberry,
Grape,
Big Ego,
Lace,
Whisper,
Very Vanilla, and
Black.
The foundation, mineral veil, and blush (bottom row) were all full sized. The top 12 jars are all multi-use minerals and are in small, sample jars. I will post a few packaging photos at the end, for kicks.
First, some group pictures taken outside on a beautiful, sunny day:
(Unless otherwise noted, all swatches were dry and over an eyeshadow base. I used LA Splash - Splash Proof Sealer. To see what the pigments look like swatched dry and directly on skin, check out my previous post here. BTW I ♥LOVE♥ the LA Splash eyeshadow sealer/base, it works wonders and is SOOOO cheap at only $6.99!!! When I have time I plan to do a review on it because it is awesome! ).
Top Row: Lace, Whisper, Very Vanilla
Second Row: Blueberry, Grape, Big Ego
Third Row: Lemon, Envy, Grassy
Fourth Row: Addicted, Tangerine, Hangover
Left: Black, Right: Whisper (over dark base)
Top: Georgia Peach
Bottom: Warm Honey, Tawny
Now for the color by color review and lots of pictures!
Italicized descriptions are quoted from BFTE's website. My comments were made independently of their description so I may be repeating or conflicting with BFTE's descriptions :)
♥ Addicted ♥
"Warm red base with cool red shimmer, making this the perfectly balanced ruby red. Looks metallic applied wet, and this is fabulous for the lips" - BFTE
Addicted is a metallic, darker red with an almost bronze/brick cast to it. It is fairly well pigmented, but I would use this wet or over a base. I've heard of people using this on lips (mix it with a gloss, etc.). Definitely not as bright as the picture on their website, though.
(Also, unrelated but I thought it was interesting how in the jar the pigment just sticks to itself and not to the plastic.)
♥ Tangerine ♥
"Brilliant juicy medium orange with golden shimmer" - BFTE
Tangerine is a shimmery orange with very fine sparkles. In the swatch it looks a bit bronzy, but it's just orange (more on the yellow side). It's not a super bright orange. I wouldn't say that it is sheer, because it's well pigmented, but just not very brightly if that makes sense. Almost has a frosty/metallic quality to it, but not quite.
♥ Hangover♥
"Smooth Matte Orange yellow" - BFTE
Hangover is a matte, bright orange. I expected this color to look terrible on me but after applying some on my eyes it looked surprisingly pretty! On my computer it's showing up a bit more brown and muted than in person, which is much brighter and with a yellower/oranger tone. Super pigmented, applies very smoothly. I seriously ♥ this color!
♥ Lemon ♥
"Bright Clean Shimmery Yellow; Not too cool, not too warm Perfectly balanced yellow. Almost metallic applied wet" - BFTE
Lemon is a shimmery, true yellow. Has a metallic quality similar to Addicted and maybe Tangerine. I think this color can be quite versatile, and with the shimmer you can probably also use it as a gold. I really liked this color, but I wish that BFTE also had a true yellow color similar to this that was less shimmery or even matte. All of their matte yellows are more in the "mustard" or "pale yellow" family.
♥ Envy ♥
"Yellow green with gold reflects." - BFTE
Envy is a light yellow-green. It is very shimmery with a noticeable sparkle. This was the "chunkiest" looking shadow I had in the sense that it had that flecky/sparkly look (but the texture is still smooth, not gritty).
This color was not as bright as I was anticipating. I think I was expecting something more like
Lavish, but it is still very pretty. However, while doing the
Rainbow Eye look it was hard to get the green tone to show up and I had to pack it on a bit because it wasn't very bright.
♥ Grassy ♥
(No BFTE description)
Grassy is a beautiful matte, medium mossy green. It can be fairly bright depending on how you use it. Like Hangover, this applies smoothly and is very nicely pigmented even when used dry.
♥ Blueberry ♥
"A very vibrant blue with medium sheen." - BFTE
Bright, shimmery blue. I wouldn't call it an "electric blue", it's not that bright, but it is still a very bright, medium toned blue. Well pigmented.
♥ Grape ♥
"Shimmering medium purple with pink undertones." - BFTE
Grape is a bright, straightforward purple shimmer with a violet undertone. Applied dry, this was a little bit sheer and needed to be packed on a bit, but when applied over a base of any kind the color was true and vibrant.
♥ Big Ego ♥
(No BFTE description)
Big Ego is the sultry, darker sister of Grape. These pictures show the difference between the two purples pretty well, but under certain lightings the pigments sometimes looked very similar when in the jars. Once applied, however, the difference is pretty drastic especially if applied dry. I would say that Big Ego has a much darker, almost redder undertone. When applied wet or over a base, it actually becomes harder to tell the difference between the two because they both have a rich purple tone. Also, Big Ego leaves a dark "stain" after wiping away (not really a stain, but you can tell there were dark base pigments in it) while Grape wipes away pretty cleanly.
Here are some more pictures comparing Big Ego and Grape:
L: No Flash, R: Flash (swatched completely dry on skin)
♥ Whisper ♥
"Sheer creamy beige with a violet duo chrome Apply dry for a more subtle color or wet for a bolder look." - BFTE
Whisper...everyone talks about this color! There is so much hype surrounding Whisper that I had very high expectations and was actually less impressed as a result. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful color, but once applied it has a very strong blue/violet duochrome sheen that I find difficult to incorporate into a neutral, everyday look.
In the jar it looks like a harmless, shimmery beige. You can barely tell that there are violet particles in it, but when you put it on - man! the violet shimmer just pops out! (When applied strictly dry, the violet shimmer is much less noticeable.) I think this color changing ability is what gets everyone so excited.
Here is Whisper applied over a dark, charcoal cream-stick base to emphasize the duochrome effect:
♥ Lace ♥
"Golden ivory" - BFTE
The swatch shown here really does not do Lace justice at all. It is a pale, ivory color with a beautiful golden shimmer in it, but you can't really see the gold particles in this picture. Just trust me, it's very pretty. Can be used as a highlight, inner corner color, or accent color on the lids.
♥ Very Vanilla ♥
(No description)
Very Vanilla is a matte, vanilla/cream color as the name suggests. I know people use this as a highlight. It can also be used as a lid color if you're going for that awake, bright-eyed look. It's a bit too light for me personally to use strictly as a neutral eyeshadow. I don't have a whole lot to say about this color, but it's a good, neutral shadow that can be used in a lot of different ways. Well pigmented.
♥ Black ♥
"Matte Black, Soft in both texture and color. Applied wet it is a true deep black. Great for adding to other colors to make a colorful smoky eye."
Upon first glance, this looks just to be your standard matte, black pigment. If you look
very closely, however, you will see that there is actually a very subtle shimmer.
Black actually gave me a bit of trouble when applying. If you see my
"sneak peak" post from last week where I did dry swatches directly on the skin, you will notice that when applied dry
Black is actually very sheer and not well pigmented. Even when I tried to pack it on it was still very sheer...:/ I felt like it was not "grabbing" onto my skin (unlike
Hangover and
Grassy which grabbed on quite well). This is not what I would expect from a "black" pigment. Applied wet or over a base, however, it shows up pretty nicely. I wouldn't say this is the darkest black you can get, but it's black enough.
(This was a free sample baggie I received. It's my understanding that when BFTE packs your orders, they usually throw in a free sample baggie because they are such lovely people. Thanks, BFTE ladies! ♥♥♥ )
♥ Warm Honey ♥ (foundation)
"Warm Honey is great for medium complexions with very yellow undertones. It works very well on Latin, Indian, Southeast Asian, and similar skin tones."
Choosing foundation online is always problematic for me. I am Asian and have medium toned skin; there weren't too many color choices in this range so I picked Warm Honey. Based on the description, I actually expected it to be too dark for me, but when swatched on my arm it showed up a bit too light and yellow-toned for me. Applied on my face, it is still too yellow but also, strangely enough, a bit dark. After blending it in and applying the mineral veil, it looked ok. In terms of coverage, this foundation was pretty good but not *full* heavy coverage. Just your standard mineral foundation I guess.
I realize that people all have different skin tones and types, so the foundation review is a bit more subjective.
♥ Tawny ♥ (mineral veil)
"Tawny Mineral Veil is used as a finishing powder over your foundation to add a slight touch of warmth to your complexion.For those who like a very sheer coverage it can also be worn instead of foundation.Our mineral veil aids in oil absorption and provide you with that smooth, matte, finished look."
(Sinced I swatched everything over an eyeshadow base, the foundation, mineral veil and blush all look a bit weird since you wouldn't normally use an eyeshadow base for face makeup. That's why this swatch looks so funny.)
This is a warm, beige color that blends in very well with my skin. It's quite sheer, but can be used alone for light coverage. You might not be able to tell, but there is a faint shimmery sheen in the powder, but it doesn't really show up once you apply it on your face. Since it is so sheer, I'm sure this will accommodate most skin tones in the lighter medium to darker medium range.
♥ Georgia Peach ♥ (blush)
"Peach Coral shimmer"
Normally, I've always been opposed to wearing blush thinking it made my face look too red, but man oh man Georgia Peach has sure changed my mind!! I've basically been wearing this blush every day since I got it, and I love the way it looks! It gives my face a very natural flush.
It's a pretty peachy-coral pink that I believe would flatter most skin tones. There is a faint golden(?) shimmer in it that isn't sparkly at all on the face. It is not super pigmented, but not sheer either. (In the swatch it looks a bit pinker than it actually is.)
♥ In Summary:
Overall, I was very impressed with the multi-use minerals by BFTE. (My previous experience with powder type eyeshadows are the Jesse's Girl eyedusts, and I used to be impressed by them but they have terrible staying power when used alone and it is absolutely necessary to use a base.) As a whole, the BFTE minerals are all well pigmented and do not necessarily need a base. There were only a couple of exceptions, namely
Black. The other pigment that was a bit more sheer was
Grape, but even that was sufficiently well pigmented.
This picture shows the range in coverage of the BFTE minerals when applied dry, directly on the skin (no base):
Grape, Big Ego, Black, Hangover, Grassy
As you can see and as I mentioned earlier,
Black is very sheer when used alone.
Big Ego is much better pigmented, and I thought
Hangover and
Grassy were simply amazing. I don't personally own many matte eyeshadows and was eager to try these, and they are now very precious to me!
Another thing that really impressed with was the HUUUUUGGGE range of colors that BFTE offers in their multi-use minerals. The website boasts over 250 shades, and they are constantly adding more! This makes it
very difficult for me when I am trying to choose just 1 or 2 colors!
You will also notice that I say quite often that a color is "not bright enough". Please understand that my expectations in my mind are basically neon colors ;)
As for the facial makeup, other than the color issues with
Warm Honey I don't really have anything bad to say. The foundation had sufficient coverage, the mineral veil was very nice (blends in perfectly), and I love love LOVE
Georgia Peach blush. It's converted me from a non-blush user to a blush-wearer :)
♥ Packaging:
(I used a U.S. quarter in some of the pictures to give you an idea of how big the jars are).
Full sized Foundation and Mineral Veil jars both come in the same package - 30 gram sifter jars with 10 grams of product. (Product shown is Warm Honey if you are curious)
Full sized blushes come in a 10 gram sifter jar with 2 grams of product. (Product shown is Georgia Peach)
Multi-use Mineral samples come in a 3 gram jar and contain 0.5 grams of sample. (Product shown is Big Ego).
Interestingly, most of the pigment samples came in small, clear plastic jars, but Lace and Hangover came in a different jar with black lids:
(Products shown are Hangover and Addicted)
For more information, I strongly suggest visiting
BFTE's website. Also, I've won many products from BFTE through their Twitter giveaways, so you should definitely follow them on
Twitter or
Facebook to stay updated if you want to win some products to try out!
I've only known about BFTE for a few months, but during that time period I've definitely grown to really like this company. The owner, Crystal, is also a very sweet lady and is pretty active on Twitter. As I've said in previous posts, they have great customer service and my orders have always arrived very quickly (usually around 3 days).
I'll try to use BFTE products to do another look sometime as well. I'm just so busy with school, work, and preparing for my MCAT's right now that finding time to do all of this is really difficult. This post was seriously strenuous to work on and drained a lot of my time that I should have definitely spent studying! It has turned into a monster of a post and I'm not sure that most readers will even look through the whole thing. :(
It was probably not necessarily for me to make this so terribly long, but I wanted to make this as helpful as possible for people that want to buy BFTE products! Plus, once you get me started it's hard for me to stop. Like I said...I like to ramble a lot...
OK OMG I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS POST!!! I seriously need to go on a blogging-hiatus now, but knowing me I'll probably be unable to control myself and come back to post more :/ Blogger is a time vampire!
Until next time :) Thank you for reading!
