Sweet Libertine mineral cosmetics.

Joy and delight burst forth from my mailbox Monday afternoon -- in the form of three mineral eyeshadows from Sweet Libertine cosmetics. This company is a one-woman operation, and I was recently in touch with the one-woman, Sarah, to do a review, and she sent me some samples. I must say, I am impressed!

I picked three colours to try: Thai Silk, Copper Penny, and Statuesque. The small eyeshadow pots cost $5 each (very reasonable!).

I applied the big spots with my finger, and the textures of these dusts are nice and silky, with exceptional coverage. A light-pressure rub across the spots smudged them a little bit, but overall they have good staying power, and the wet-brush-applied smudges didn't move at all.

I love the colours, but I'm just blown away by Thai Silk. I don't usually wear a lot of oranges, but this is such a bright, rich curry-copper that I may not be able to resist. The description for Copper Penny says it has a "touch of shimmer", which actually came out as an orange glitter to my eye. I'll probably stick to using it as a liner. And my first thought about Statuesque was that it looked most similar to the Lime Crime Princess Caraboo, so I did a comparison. In fact, I swatched every green I have. I'm not sure why this picture came out so pale... but there you go.

Top to bottom, left to right: Avon mark Dragonfly and Vintage Khaki, MAC Sprout, Sumptuous Olive, Fiction, and Femme Noir, TKB Lotsa Lime, Sweet Libertine Statuesque, and Lime Crime Princess Caraboo. Do you think I like green eyeshadow or something??

Statuesque on the bottom there is a lighter pine-y green, with golden sparkles, while Princess Caraboo is a darker emerald colour that just has a bright shine.

I did this little number with Thai Silk and Copper Penny. Usually I wear purple when I want the green in my eyes to stand out, but Thai Silk did the trick today. Makeup mavens, forgive me -- I never put liner on my waterline, it bothers my eyes just too damn much. It wore very well today, despite a handful of times I forgot I was wearing it and started to rub my eyes, but you can see how it held up against smudging.

A little more on Sweet Libertine... I was sure to ask Sarah if she mixes her own colours. She says that when she first started the company, she did sell some unmixed pigments, but those are currently being phased out in favour of her own blends. I have no doubts that Sweet Libertine will be on the Mineral Makeup Mutiny's list of colour-creators soon -- and with high marks if the dusts I picked are any indication of Sarah's eye for colour. These dusts are also friendly to sensitive skin (my skin is somewhat picky, and I had no irritation issues with these at all), and many of them are also good for vegans -- presence of carmine is noted in the shadow descriptions.

Unrelated, a yarn-plus-eyeshadow combo is officially the most reliable product to offer if one wants to make serious cash off me. GENIUS. I am on pins and needles for the next set to come out.

Would I get Sweet Libertine shadows again? Absolutely. I predict that the eyeshadow colours will be like Pokemon -- gotta catch 'em all. The other colours all have this great vintage palette, deep blues and greens, rich reds and browns -- all very wearable while still making a statement. And there's glitters, blushes, foundations, and pressed shadows to be had, too. Check them out!