Mineral Makeup Haul

Okay so I know it's been a long time since I last blogged.... I just haven't really been feeling like it. Again, I don't have any pictures... Because I've been waiting to get my new camera! But ever since I decided what camera I wanted, all the stores have been sold out. Hopefully I get my hands on that camera soon.

Like I mentioned before, I have made a couple hauls from two different mineral makeup brands, and I've tested them all out thoroughly now (except for the samples), so I can finally write about them.

First off, is Everyday Minerals.

Things I got are:
I got every single one of their brushes
Natural Reflections Fair
Soft Bronzer
Kaolin Powder Fair
Champagne
Utopia Blooms
All Smiles (Sample)
Intensive Medium Concealer (Sample)
Multi-Intensive Concealer/Eye Primer (Sample)
Sunlight Color Corrector (Sample)
At the Zoo (Exclusive)

The brushes.... I absolutely LOVE them. And they're really, really soft, and best yet, they're synthetic, cruelty free brushes. I've had no problems with shedding even when I washed them, which is great.

The Natural Reflections Fair, is supposed to set your makeup and mattify your skin. I haven't really used it though to tell how well it works. I guess I lied earlier about having tested them all thoroughly. I just kind of forgot about this one for some reason.

I really love the soft bronzer. I use it mainly for contouring, and it is a really soft bronzer, just a few shades darker than my natural skin tone, so it looks very natural.

The Kaolin Powder is for those who have oily, shiny skin. It's supposed to mattify the skin, and absorb oil from the skin. I've been using this a lot ever since I got it. I don't have oily skin at all, but for some reason my nose is always shiny, even right after washing it. It immediately mattifies it, and stays a matte finish throughout the entire day. I'm not too sure how it really works for absorbing oil and for oily skin, but it's great for my skin.

Champagne is a really subtle highlighter. It's really shimmery and goes on really nicely. I haven't used it very much since I got it though, because I haven't been much into the dewey look this summer for some reason.

Utopia Blooms is an eyeshadow collection with 25 different eyeshadow colours, and an eye smudge brush. They all come in the sample sizes, though they're not too small of a size. The colours are all very pretty. I haven't tried every single one of them yet, but so far, I have mixed opinions about them. Some seem to be more pigmented than others. They are buildable though.

All the other samples that I got, I haven't really tried enough to say anything about them, since they're the same sizes as the eyeshadow samples... Imagine trying to dip a blush brush into that. The concealer and colour correctors don't seem to work very well, but I've only tried once.

The At the Zoo exclusive I got for free with my order by entering a promo code, which I forgot. Everything is in sample sizes, with three eyeshadows, a blush, and a powder, and a Jr. Eye Kabuki Brush.

Also a note worth mentioning are the containers the full sized products come in. They are flatter than the usual mineral makeups, such as Bare Minerals, but larger in diameter. This means a bigger lid to swirl your brushes in. Which means less mess. I really love how the lids are so much bigger. And there's also a thing on the sifter that turns and covers up the holes so there's no mess when travelling with them, which is one thing I absolutely hated about many other mineral makeup brands.

The next brand is Signature Minerals.

I've been eyeing their brushes for a very, very long time now, and finally got them, along with some of their mineral makeup to try.

I ordered all of their brushes, a foundation, a blush, a soft radiance veil, concealer and colour corrector, and 6 sample eyeshadows.

The brushes were kind of a disappointment to me. The face powder brushes weren't as big and dense as I expected. Actually, they turned out to be a lot smaller than I had expected. The hairs are really soft though, and they are synthetic, cruelty free. I don't think I'd really agree that they feel like "pure silk" like it says on their website though. They feel just about the same as the Everyday Minerals brushes. I just really liked the look of the brushes... with the white and bluish grey tips. Don't like the look of the handles though, and the writing on them. I haven't had any shedding at all with these.

The foundation turned out to be too dark for my skin (I got #4.0) Even now that I've tanned a few shades darker than I normally am, it is way too dark. It did look too dark on the website, but I was reading the descriptions and it said:
"Yellow to Olive undertones.
For very light complexions with yellow or olive undertones.
Many of our very light Asian clients enjoy this shade along with Angel Wings Veil."
So I decided it must work for my skin. Apparently not.

The blush that I got was Desiree Peach. It looks kind of orange. It is very pigmented though, and has to be applied with a very light hand and I love the colour of it on my skin. I'm not too sure about how long it lasts though because I've only worn it a couple times and didn't take notice.

I have nothing to say about the soft radiance veil since I haven't used it at all yet.

The concealer and colour corrector seem to work really well. Especially considering that they are mineral makeups. I never thought mineral concealer would really be able to cover up my under eye circles, but it does! As for the colour corrector that I got, it was way too much for me. Too yellow, too pigmented, did correct the colour, but concealer on top of it couldn't even make it look normal. I looked like a raccoon or something after. Sometimes when I want even more coverage for my under eye circles I'd use a normal cream concealer, and then top it off with this concealer which sets it as well.

I have yet to try the eyeshadows because they came in little baggies, and I don't know... I'm just scared to open them up because I just know it'll be a huge mess. The colours look amazing though.

I also have to mention the containers for these. Well, for the foundation and blushes. They are smaller in diameter. Even smaller than Bare Minerals actually. Which makes it so difficult for me to tap the product into the lid and swirl my brush in it without getting powder everywhere. It's so messy! And there is no cover for the sifters. One thing I found cool about the sifters though, was that the plastic isn't hard like all the other ones I've come across. It's flexible. Kind of rubbery. But I don't think that makes any difference whatsoever. I just had to mention it.

So overall, I really do like Everyday Minerals, and not so much Signature Minerals. I probably won't ever buy from Signature Minerals again. Everyday Minerals... Maybe.... But I probably won't, just because there's so many others out there I want to try.