Down the Indie Rabbit Hole

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Yay!  Let's start with naming the indie brands that we know of and/or have tried!

Mine are:

Have Tried:

Glamour Doll Eyes

Notoriously Morbid

Darling Girl Cosmetics

Want to try:

Shiro Cosmetics

 
I think GDE might actually be the only one I've tried so far! :blink:

Would love to try:

Hello Waffle

Scaredy Cat

Geek Chic

Notoriously Morbid

Darling Girl

Shiro

Chinovi 

 
My first indie love: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. I thought I couldn't wear fragrance until I found them. It turned out that I just can't wear synthetic alcohol-based stuff.

Others I have tried:

Glamour Doll Eyes

Geek Chic Cosmetics

Espionage Cosmetics

Rainbow Honey

Shiro Cosmetics

Daily Lovelies

innocent+twisted alchemy

Madd Style (well... I have a few of their shadows, but I'm not sure I've actually used any of them)

There are a few more I've received in gift exchanges and as samples in subs, but I can't recall brands at the moment.

Want to try:

Notoriously Morbid

Hello Waffles

Pretty much everything else!

 
I've only tried GDE but I need to know about more! Sparklies!! I'm really interested in trying GCC and Aromaleigh but I need to check out the rest you guys are mentioning and see what those are about :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
15% off Hello Waffles orders $10+ today through 7/6 with code EH! :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Spend $25+ & get one of the GWP shadows below or spend $50+ to get both:

10434174_1431386467140867_6115576712390019418_n.jpg


 
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Have Tried:

Shiro

Hello Waffle

My Beauty Addiction

Geek Chic Cosmetics

Rainbow Honey

Waiting for:

Victorian Disco

Femme Fatale

Want to Try:

Aromaleigh

Meow Cosmetics (there's a 4th of July sale right now)

Scaredy Cat Cosmetics

My Pretty Zombie (there's currently a sale - 33% off with pretty14)

Darling Girl

innocent+twisted alchemy (there's a 25% off sale from July 1-July 8; no code needed?)

Dreamworld Hermetica

Lucy Minerals

EVERYTHING

 
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Have Tried: None, yet! I have my last GDE OTM that I just haven't played with yet, and a Rainbow Honey pigment I haven't used yet either. And my innocent twisted alchemy from the last OTM. One day I need to just spend an afternoon playing with them.

Want To Try:

Daily Lovelies (love that IT Crowd collection! If I get a delayed check tomorrow I will probably take advantage of the sale right now, but I really don't know why my check is still not in my bank account!)

Shiro Cosmetics

Hello Waffle

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (@@meaganola you've convinced me I want to try these, I just wish they had photos of the actual product on the site)

Not really an Indie, but Makeupgeek

My Pretty Zombie

Geek Chic

And pretty much anything else that is geeky/nerdy, I love those kinds of collections, always so pretty and creative!

 
I want to try them all! I'd really love to try Shiro Cosmetics, Rainbow Honey, and Hello Waffle, though.

 
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (@meaganola you've convinced me I want to try these, I just wish they had photos of the actual product on the site)
The problem with photographing them all is that the bottles are exactly the same:  5ml amber bottles.  The only difference is the label, and those *are* on the site now (they weren't on the old site).  Looking at photos of the general catalog bottles is *boring* because it's just endless little brown bottles with little brown labels!  There are a few of the bottles (mostly discontinued limited edition) up on etsy if you want to see them, but, seriously, aside from a few very specific oils (Snake Oil, TKO, Jack), they all look more or less alike except for the LE, and those differ only in the label art:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/alchemylab

And if you see something in their etsy shop and want to also get something from the regular BPAL site, they can combine the orders and refund shipping if you email and request it!  But BPAL and Black Phoenix *Trading Post* (scent lockets, hair gloss, nail polish, bath oil, many more magical things) operate out of separate facilities, and those orders *cannot* be combined (although BPTP etsy orders can be combined with regular Post orders).

 
@@meaganola Oh thanks, I just wanted to see the size of the bottles. I don't really care for their photography style on the Etsy page, so I guess it's good that they aren't on the main website.

 
@@Kelly Silva  Ah, got it.  They're 5ml (that seems to be the standard for indie perfume oils), which is about the size of a nail polish mini, which sounds like a teeny tiny amount since it's something like a teaspoon, but you barely need any oil.  One bottle of the right oil can last years, even with daily use (a lot of people cut it with jojoba oil to help with potential overdosing on scent, and that will help stretch it out even longer).  I had an imp (a sample that's equivalent to about one-sixth of a bottle) that I used every workday for a month or two, and I *still* have quite a bit of it left (I've since bought a bottle and am using that.  I'm keeping the rest of the imp for work scent emergencies).  

This stuff is uncut with perfumers' alcohol like most mainstream fragrances are, which is why they can be POTENT LIKE WHOA.  And these are all-natural scents, so they can smell radically different once they hit your skin than they do in the bottle or on other people, and drydown can be a fairly legendary journey with some of these scents.  And the same oil can smell different from batch to batch.  Fun with all-natural indies!
 

 
@@Kelly Silva  Ah, got it.  They're 5ml (that seems to be the standard for indie perfume oils), which is about the size of a nail polish mini, which sounds like a teeny tiny amount since it's something like a teaspoon, but you barely need any oil.  One bottle of the right oil can last years, even with daily use (a lot of people cut it with jojoba oil to help with potential overdosing on scent, and that will help stretch it out even longer).  I had an imp (a sample that's equivalent to about one-sixth of a bottle) that I used every workday for a month or two, and I *still* have quite a bit of it left (I've since bought a bottle and am using that.  I'm keeping the rest of the imp for work scent emergencies).  

This stuff is uncut with perfumers' alcohol like most mainstream fragrances are, which is why they can be POTENT LIKE WHOA.  And these are all-natural scents, so they can smell radically different once they hit your skin than they do in the bottle or on other people, and drydown can be a fairly legendary journey with some of these scents.  And the same oil can smell different from batch to batch.  Fun with all-natural indies!
Yeah I'm definitely interested in getting into Indie perfume, I used to hate all and every perfume because it would give me a headache, but now I just realize it was just bad perfume that I didn't like the scent of. My recent favorite is the Harvey Prince Hello. I received a sample in a Birchbox pick two that spilled and I thought it smelled terrible, then I got a sample in last month's box, and tried it on and it smells really lovely. It's so cool how perfume can completely change once it's on your skin. I wouldn't say I have real knowledge of what kinds of scents I like, but usually I like most florals, sweet scents, food scents, I just usually don't care for really woody, or musky scents or anything that would be considered masculine. So if you have favorites you'd recommend, let me know!

 
I wouldn't say I have real knowledge of what kinds of scents I like, but usually I like most florals, sweet scents, food scents, I just usually don't care for really woody, or musky scents or anything that would be considered masculine. So if you have favorites you'd recommend, let me know!
Even though Dorian was created for a man (the creator's then-boyfriend/fiance, now-husband), it's very, *very* unisex and very sweet and creamy with a teensy bit of lemon.  I get compliments on it almost every single time I wear it, and I've actually been followed in stores by people who want to know what I'm wearing.  Dragon's Milk is fantastic, too.  I'll have to think about an imp pack to suggest based on your preferences when it's not melting-hundred degrees in here.  I'm not big on sweet/floral/foody scents, so it's going to take a little work remembering some since they're not right at the front of my mind, but all I can think about right now is drinking lots of cold water and going to bed (where my AC lives).

 
Do you know of indies that have monthly subscription boxes?
I'm signed up to glamour doll eyes and it seems I will not be able to sign up again, since it goes extremely fast the last 2 months.

I wanted to sign up for innocent+twisted alchemy but the subscriptions were gone before I knew it.
The only other I know is madd cat and I may subscribe to it soon.


Do you know any others that sent internationally I can try?

 
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Do you know of indies that have monthly subscription boxes?

I'm signed up to glamour doll eyes and it seems I will not be able to sign up again, since it goes extremely fast the last 2 months.

I wanted to sign up for innocent+twisted alchemy but the subscriptions were gone before I knew it.

The only other I know is madd cat and I may subscribe to it soon.

Do you know any others that sent internationally I can try?
Shadow only?  Those are the only three I know of.  Kiss My Sass used to have one, but it seems to have stopped.  And...  Crap, something about moons and rabbits?  I can't remember the name of that one.  They had a lunar program where (if I recall correctly) they sent out a package every full moon.  But I can't remember the name of it!  Ooh, I just guessed a string of words that seemed vaguely familiar.  Moon Rabbit it was!  The Lunar Bunny Club is the sub, and it's $13.50 for three full moons. 

http://www.storenvy.com/products/330196-lunar-bunny-club-3-moons

But it looks like it was shut down "for a few weeks" back in September and never reopened.

I'm going to have to take a trip through the i+ta owner's blog over the next few days or so and see if I can find any more indies that might have subs to take my money!

 
It doesn't have to be eye shadows, but I'm only interested in make up and not creams and such.
Such adorable names those companies have :)

 
In that case, Rainbow Honey has a nail polish sub!  The July bags should be going out this week, and we've got this thread where you can see discussion of previous bags:

https://www.makeuptalk.com/f/topic/131373-rainbow-honey-mystery-box/

I tried to get a thread for indie subs going in the sub section, but there was very little interest, so maybe this thread will get more traction and pull someone in who actually has better information on more subs than I do.  Fingers crossed!

 
And to contribute here: fyrinnae.
Not only they have gorgeous duo chrome shadows, they also have pixie epoxy which makes the eye shadows color stronger(for any eye shadow).

 
I've used Shiro Cosmetics before. The lipsticks are really cool, but the eye shadows are what's really up. I used to mix Golem from the Super Effective collection with a liner sealer and wear it everyday before I got into winged eyeliner. And the samples she sends last forever.

I need Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab in my life. I want the whole RPG series soooo bad. 

 

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