Focus On Indie: Black Rose Minerals

Tonight is the first post in a new series I'm starting called Focus on Indie. In this series, I will be doing overviews of my favorite independent makeup companies and posting swatches of the products I own from each company. In this post, I will be focusing on Black Rose Minerals.

Black Rose Minerals (http://www.blackroseminerals.com/), circa 2010, is owned by the very lovely and talented Rosa. She's an absolute sweetheart and is always super quick to reply whenever I have any questions or comments for her via twitter.

I was drawn to Black Rose Minerals at the beginning of the year after seeing swatches of the Halloween 2011 Luciferi collection (BTW, I'm a huge sucker for anything Halloween related, especially makeup and fragrance collections). When I lurked the site, I died a little of sheer excitement when I saw that some of the shadows were named after Manson songs. Yeah, I'm a huge dweeb of a Marilyn Manson fan. How dweeby, you ask? Oh, I'm dweeby enough to have not one, but two Manson related tattoos. But, I digress. Needless to say, my BRM online shopping cart received some items right after my lurking session. I ordered five full size eyeshadows, and three free sample baggies were included with the order.

Before the makeuppr0n begins, I just want to warn you guys that these are the first swatches I've actually photographed, so I am hoping they are not too terrible. At the very least, I hope these pictures can do the beautiful colors justice.

Bottom of the jars from L to R: Scabbed Wings, Tourniquet,

Coma Black, Scruffy, and Alice.

The bottom of the jars are adorned with the company's website and logo, the name of the color, the ingredients, the item's weight, whether or not the color is lip safe, and whether or not the color is vegan.

Open jars with their lids from L to R: Scabbed Wings, Tourniquet,

Coma Black, Scruffy, and Alice.

I love how the lids have themed pictures of the specific collection that particular color belongs to. For example, the first three colors are from the Luciferi collection, the fourth is from the New York New York collection, and the last (Alice) is from the general catalogue. Another wonderful thing about these (and all the colors offered) is that you are able to choose whether or not you want a sifter. As you can see, I opted for no sifter.

The following skin swatches were done over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy:

From L to R: Scabbed Wings, Tourniquet,

Coma Black, Scruffy, and Alice

I was immensely impressed with the quality, pigmentation, and complexity of these colors. They are all absolutely gorgeous and unique to my collection. As with all loose shadows, I really recommend using a sticky base before use. Using something like Darling Girl's Glitter Glue or Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy won't set you back more than $7 or $8 financially, and it will also give you a lot more bang for your buck when using pigments or loose shadows.

Shade Descriptions

Please Note: The descriptions following the bold print are from Black Rose Minerals. My take on the colors is in itallic.

Scabbed Wings: "Angels aren’t the only things that fly. This devilish little number starts with a black base, orange undertones show off a bronzy duotone. Finish that off with violet sparks for quite a shocking twist. We recommend a wet or sticky base for application."

My Input- Scabbed Wings is a beautiful black-based bronze with, yes, purple sparkles. It is quite beautiful, and is perfect for fall. I also think it would look great as a twist on the classic black and grey smokey eye.

Tourniquet: "A metallic gold in a black base and an ever so slight tint of a green highlight gives just a bit of a twist. True to color wet or dry."

My Input- Tourniquet is definitely my favorite out of the five colors I ordered. I already said this to Rosa, but this is a color that I feel comfortable wearing to work because it's not ZOMG IN YOUR FACE; but it is unique enough to put a twist on an everyday neutral look. I feel like I can express myself and simultaniously be work appropriate, and I love that. The green highlight in this color gives an olive effect on the gold, which is really lovely.

Coma Black: "This darkly deep violet shimmers ever so slightly but smolders all the way. Wear it dry for a shimmer glower and wear it wet to deepen the shade and compliment every scab of your broken heart."

My Input- Coma Black is a wonderful black-based purple with lighter purple sparkles. It's a pretty purple color that truly does justice to the song it was named after. I think Coma Black would look beautiful as a crease color with a lighter violet shade on the lid.

Scruffy: "Scruffy’s gonna die how Scruffy lived… This sparkly dark gray is a jazzy compliment to any janitor suit. We recommend a sticky base to capture all the shimmer and glitter in this one. Why is Scruffy sparkly? Well…. We don’t really know, but it worked. Mmmm-hmmm."

My Input- Not gonna lie, I was drawn to this shade because my childhood stuffed animal was named Scruffy. My mom got him for me when I was really sick in 3rd grade, and I had him until I was 20. He was unfortunately taken from me and never returned, so getting this color was like my tribute to Scruffy. It is a wonderful mid-toned gray with an array of silver sparkles within.

Alice: "High shine! High glitter! A mixed blue with massive amounts of aqua and teal glitter. A sheer duotone when worn dry with light and dark tones to highlight. When worn wet all colors are accentuated. Best used with a sticky base."

My Input- Oh, Alice. This color would make the character it's named after proud. It's a very beautiful bright blue that had a butt load of sparkles in it, but not an obnoxious amount. I think it's perfect for summer, or any time you're in a bright color kind of mood. For the less daring, I'd recommend pairing this with brown shadows.

The free samples I received were Bender, Luna, and Lunar Reflection.

L to R over Pixie Epoxy: Bender, Luna,

and Lunar Reflection

Bender: "Insert girder here… This silver shines with a touch of blue. It sheer when dry, but it can be built up. Worn wet the color deepens and has a slight metallic finish. Don’t like it? Well, you can bit our shiny metal… y’know."

Luna: "This is one of the shades created for Luna at toxid-lotus. A sheer ethereal light purple with lots of blue, red and purple shimmer. In certain angles it has a blue sheen. Wear it with a sticky base for the most opacity."

Lunar Reflection: "This is one of the shades created for Luna at toxid-lotus. A delicate sheer silver/gold with red, silver and gold shimmer. In certain angles it will look more silver and in other angles more gold. Sheer dry, more opaque with a primer and shines with a sticky base."

I felt like I hit the jackpot in the sample department, because http://www.toxid-lotus.net/ is one of my very favorite beauty blogs and Bender is my favorite Futurama character! The glitter in Luna and Lunar Reflection is absolutely breathtaking. I love shadows that contain multiple colors of glitter, especially when the glitter is unique to the base color. Both Luna and Lunar Reflection would look great as an inner corner highlight or dusted over the entire eye area for a pretty yet simple look. Bender is a really neat color as well. I can definitely see the blue sheen to it when foiled (used over a sticky base), and the blue compliments the silver shade very well. Bender would look really cool with Alice, and I really need to test that combo soon.

I am very pleased with my overall experience with Black Rose Minerals. It is very clear to me that Rosa truly cares about each and every one of her customers. I received the sweetest, longest thank you note I've ever gotten from any company with my order. The note was even on black rose stationary. When I sent her a message on twitter about how I loved my order, she wrote back immediately and graciously. She has really wonderful products and great customer service, and I fully recommend this company to everyone.

Thanks for reading, and please check out http://www.blackroseminerals.com/

DISCLAIMER: All products mentioned were purchased by me for my own personal usage. I am not affiliated with or compensated by this company whatsoever. All opinions are my own, and most certainly always will be.