Saturday, January 29, 2011

Fyrinnae : Review & Swatches!

Alooooha! I just spent the last hour swatching my Fyrinnae Cosmetics collection. I am a huuuuuuuuge fan of this company & find their makeup to be truly unique. I found their website a little over 2 years ago & have been obsessed ever since. In my attempt to spread the word about this wonderful cosmetics company, I come bearing swatches :D With each photo, I will post a small review/description on each shadow to help you get a better understanding of the individual colours. After everything's posted, I will give my overall review on Fyrinnae!


All colours are packed over NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk. Some colours were smoothed out. Some colours pictured may no longer be available.

Banana Mochi is a beautiful, soft yellow. It's vibrant, but not "POW IN YO FACE"
Bifrost is a near electric yellow with an bright yet subtle silver-y reflect
Shrouded in Gold is an absolute must have. That's all I can say about it :P
Gilded Wings is a coppery, metallic gold
Genie Lamp is probably the only colour I don't like. It's a coppery gold with a light pink reflect. 
Titania. Beautiful. It's so soft, but incredibly gorgeous. It looks sheer, but can be built quite easily. This is one of my top 5 Fyrinnae shadows.
Rapunzel Had Extensions is a pretty mixture of pink & gold.
Atomic Afterglow is a unique, bright gray with an amazing goldish, silvery, almost pink glitter to it. It's very soft & is perfect for a subtle smokey eye.


 Marshmallow Puffs is a soft, almost completely matte white. I use this in almost every look I do, right under the brow. It is not chalky in the least & has a very light hint of shimmer.
Winter, Again is a fantastic colour for transition blending. It's a sheer white with a blue reflect. Perfect for blending & highlighting blue looks.
Sakura is MAC's Pink Opal pigment, but MUCH better. It is smooth, not chunky & is perfect for blending pink or red looks.
Cheeky is a soft, golden based nude. I haven't used it in a look yet, but I think this would make a great lid colour with some extra oomph.
Moon Child is another very unique colour. It's just beautiful to look at ;D It is packed with a noticeable but not overdone silver glitter. A definite favourite. Part of Fyrinnae's Professional Line.
Crimson Ghost is another fantastic colour for transitioning & blending. It is like Sakura, but much more red.
Jade Ghost has the identical effect of Crimson Ghost. A must have for green & teal looks.
French Vanilla Shake is a very blendable light tan with lots of silver glitter. I tried to use this for a highlight, but found it was just a tad too dark for my liking. But it's an awesome lid colour for everyday neutrals.
Chrome is part of the Professional Line. When used wet, it is a sheer, metallic silver with a kick of glitter.

Happy Fun Pink, oh how I wished this photographed better. It is exactly how it sounds, a happy & fun pink. It is packed with a white gold reflect that makes this pink very unique but also very wear-able.
Dryad is a silvery pink with more sheen than shimmer.
The Fancy Lad, also a silvery pink but this lots of silver glitter.
Kitten In Heels is another Fyrinnae must have. It is bright & bold but still something you could wear every day.
Party Crasher is a pinky-purple with silver glitter that's subtle.
Kamikaze is another one of my top 5 Fyrinnae shadows. It is awesome. A beautiful silvery-gold glitter is packed into this stunning orange-based red. *Might stain the skin*
Bite Me is a true red with very little to no shimmer or glitter. Part of the Professional Line.

Undress. is a golden based, deep wine colour. This photo does not capture the golden undertone.
Dark Magik is very much like Undress. except it is a deeper red.
Peaseblossom is a colour that I honestly didn't realize I owned. I'm not sure I've ever used it. It's a purpley-pink with a gentle silver sheen.
Bubble Tea is a light, silver based purple with lots of silver shimmer. A little difficult to apply.
Illicit Passion is part of the professional line. It is a purpley wine, with very little shimmer.
Forbidden Lover, another deep wine colour. This one is much more red-based.
Freya is a beautiful deep purple with a slight silver reflect. Works well for a smokey look that needs a bit of colour.

Meerkat is a fun, light purple with a TON of golden sparkle. Definitely needs to be applied wet.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat is a medium purple with very pretty silver glitter.
Sennyo is similar to TTLB, except it is a more true purple with about the same amount of glitter.
Arctic Fox is a silvery, almost dusty purple.
Android Angel is another dusty purple, with a very deep purple base & gentle silver reflect.

Snow Bunny is a medium lilac colour with silver glitter.
Parental Advisory. Wow. One of my favourites. So intense, very vibrant & the payoff...amazing. A must have.
Predatory is a dark, nearly matte blue based purple.
Tempting Hansel is so full of glitter, it's insane. It's a silvery purple with a white gold sparkle. Should be applied wet.
Fyre & Ice. I so badly wished this had photographed more true to it's colour. It's a very, very deep blackened purple that is packed with what looks like a rainbow of glitter. When applied over a purple base, this colour is amazing & perfect for a purple smokey eye.


Anemone is one of my top 5 Fyrinnae colours. It's a beautiful, light aqua that is packed full of golden sparkle. A very fun colour to work with.
Shallow Sleep is a darker aqua with a subtle silver reflect.
Bali Mynah, another top 5 for me. So bright, so easy to blend.
Sea Otter is a more green-based aqua. Nearly matte, this eyeshadow has just a light sheen to it.
Adam & Steve's is a golden-based teal with silver sparkle.
Javan Rhino is very close to being my absolute favourite Fyrinnae colour. It's a beautiful, medium teal that is packed with a subtle pink reflect. For me, that sounded weird...pink mixed with teal? But it is stunning. A definite must have.
Looking Glass is a mixture between matte and sheer, resting in the middle between the two.

Faerie Glamour is part of Fyrinnae's Arcane Magic collection. I chose to photograph it with the greens/teals because it has this amazing teal undertone to it. Unfortunately, it did not photograph that way. In different lighting, it's as if it's a completely different colour. Also, click here to see FG over different coloured bases (Purple, Blue, Teal & White) These colours are very unique & a worth checking out.
Visage, very easily my favourite colour from Fyrinnae. & If you know me, you know why. Look at how vibrant this colour is...how often is dark green this stunning? This is a dream to apply & blend.
Bamboo Revolution is a nice, solid green with a hint of teal to it. Nearly matte, this shadow has little sparkle to it. Perfect for the crease!
Rebellion is another great crease colour. Very dark teal that isn't chalky or too much.
Curiouser and Curiouser! is very striking to me. I don't use blues a lot, but I knew I couldn't pass up this shadow. It's a bright, near electric blue that is soft & packed with silver sparkle.
1.22 Gigawatts is very similar to C&C, with the exception being that it's obviously darker.
Hypercool is a dark, blue-based teal. Pretty simple, huh? But still very stunning.

Velociraptor is a soft, golden based chartreuse that is still incredibly bright.
OMGWTF is very similar, with the exception of it being a darker colour. This is one of Fyrinnae's top selling shadows.
We're All Mad Here is a light, soft green with lots of silver sparkle.
Dragonskin looks just as it's sounds. A dark, shiny green.
Lucky Charmed is a metallic, gold based green. I found this colour to be very similar to MAC's Lucky Green eyeshadow, but better!
Nonsense! is a medium, almost dark matte green. Perfect for the crease & lining.
Boytoy does not get nearly enough love from me as is should. It is awesome. A dark, golden green with a ton of gold glitter. Must be applied wet.

Leif was very close to winning the title of my favourite Fyrinnae colour. It's a deep, teal based green that is, for me, a total must have. It's probably the colour I use most.
Dragon's Wing is a smooth, silvery green with a light silver sparkle.
Elven Dagger is very similar, but is a tad darker & has slightly less sparkle.
The Staggering Sailor, is, sadly, a least favourite. It's a dusty, nearly muted green that I have found to be difficult to work with.
One Knight in Belfast, is similar to TSS, but much, much more green. A great crease/liner colour.
Fyr is a gorgeous, dark green with a light golden undertone.
Dokkalfar is very unique. A deep, intense green with an explosion of white gold sparkle.

The first three colours pictured here are part of Fyrinnae's City Glam Glitter collection. They were a little difficult to apply & photograph well, but are definitely worth checking out.
Lights Of Quebec City is a very basic (but gorgeous nonetheless) silvery glitter.
Lights of Stockholm has a gentle light pink sparkle, perfect for adding to any pink look.
Lights of Tel Aviv is a near golden glitter that's very, very soft.

The two colours to the right are part of the Hot-Tempered Colourants line. It is advised that these not be used near the eyes or the lips. Please refer to the Fyrinnae website for further explination.
B*tchslap, super, super hot pink. Very, very chalky!
Corrosive, acid yellowy green. Also very chalky.
[After checking the website, I have been unable to locate both of these product lines]




Fyrinnae Cosmetics has an incredible selection of product. You can find just about any colour you could think of within their large range of selection. Nearly all the colours, with the exception of a few mattes or super glittery shades, apply very, very nicely. I would definitely suggest a primer as well as a coloured base to make these shadows even better. I would also suggest using the majority of these colours wet to help achieve maximum vibrancy & payoff.

The products they sell are NOT pigments, repackaged mica, etc. that you can buy from TKB and mix. They explain very thoroughly exactly what their product is & it's quite fascinating to read.

Another awesome thing about Fyrinnae is that it is very inexpensive, but not cheap. You can get 1/4-1/3 tsp samples, which are usually very generous, for $2 a pop. Not bad, considering MAC pigment samples can be double, if not more than that. If you opt for the full jar (between $5.90 &$6ish) you will receive a 5g jar packed full of colour. It is a great deal no matter what size you buy. Shipping is also relatively inexpensive, though I have always qualified for free shipping depending on what I've spent.


So, with all this amazingness packed into one company, I do feel I must touch on the one downside.

Shipping times.

If you take a look at their website, you will always see their estimated shipping times. Because of the way Fyrinnae produces their product, shipping can take at LEAST two week. While I like the idea of receiving made-to-order, fresh makeup, it absolutely kills me to wait so long when I am so excited to receive new stuff. 

Another thing I dislike is the overall layout to the website. No search feature & in general, is a little messy. Your shopping cart is always displayed to your left & if you sign up, you are able to create a wishlist. The website also goes down quite often when the company is backed up. Sometimes it's a few hours, others, it could be a few days. When this happens, all you see is a white page & a sentence stating when they expect to be back. You are not able to log on (at least from my experiences) and this can seem very frustrating.

I see this company having huge amounts of success. While I've never had to deal with customer service, I do appreciate that the estimated shipping time is the first thing you see when you visit the site. I'm sure so many people complain about this, but at least it's put out there for everyone to see.

Overall, I highly recommend Fyrinnae to any makeup junkie, makeup noob, etc. I don't think you will be disappointed in the least!

I hope this post was helpful! If you'd like to see anything compared to other products, let me know. I will happily reswatch :)

*All products listed in this blog were purchased by me with the exception of several small samples which Fyrinnae includes with every order*

6 comments:

femputer said...

Ooh, lovely swatches! I love Fyrinnae! <3

Shanna said...

I just saw another blog post about Fyrinnae recently (though I can't for the life of me remember where) and about how awesome they were. I've been seeing their name pop up for ages, and I've browsed the site one or two times, but never made an order. I really have no idea why. I really think I ought to - I hear such amazing things about them, and I'm in love with nearly every swatch you posted.

Reen said...

i think their product is just amazing. out of everything i own, there are maybe two colours i don't like, one of which was sent as a free sample.

when i first discovered them, it took me a few months to place an order. i'll admit, it was the shipping time frame that kinda threw me off because who would ever want to wait for pretty new makeup? but i figured "meh, two weeks" and just ordered a bunch of random colours. $2 a sample can't be beat, especially with the amazing quality & payoff their colours have.

i see they took quite a bit off their shop. i have several of their lip glosses & glitters that are no longer there :(

slave2beauty said...

Do you have any recent or old eotd using B*tchslap - i know its really chalky but the color is very exciting, I have the mufe hot pink shadow i wonder if there the same, oh and moonchild i really liked it.

Reen said...

oh my gosh, i am so dumb hahah. i thought you meant b*tchslap cosmetics :S

okay, to answer your question correctly;

no, i've never used it. it's not eye safe & any time i swatch it, it just seems to be too chalky & difficult to work with.

Sanuki Ayaka said...

Looved reading this thanks