Geek Chic Strange Aeons Swatches (+ Mini Review)

Just a quick warning before I begin: This post will be very picture heavy! Apologies to those of you with temperamental or slow internet connections (like me).

 

This is the gorgeous, gorgeous Lovecraft inspired Strange Aeons collection from Geek Chic Cosmetics. There are 8 shades in total and I got samples of all of them. I do feel like a bit of a boob just ordering samples from Indie companies, but what with shipping costs to the UK and not knowing how well these will work or what they will look like with my skin personally, I felt it better to be safe. You can look at swatches and read reviews all week (I did lol) but you'll never know exactly what a shadow will do with your skin or the particular primer you use until you swatch it.

Quick word on Geek Chic and Indie companies in general before the picture spam starts!
I am so glad I discovered Indie cosmetics companies like Geek Chic, something I'd probably never have done before I really got into reading beauty blogs (until I got into the blogging community the only Indie companies I knew were Sugarpill and Lime Crime!). Indie cosmetics are a great way to support small businesses, plus as most of them offer sample or mini sizes they're a great way of experimenting with lots of different colours and finishes without committing to a massive pot of eyeshadow, blush or lipgloss. There are also loads of amazing new finishes and colours coming out through indie companies (the Fyrinnae Arcane Magic range springs to mind here) that I don't think I have ever seen from the bigger brands. And for the most part they're budget friendly, vegan/cruelty free (something I feel I should get behind more *shame*) and a lot are mineral based. The only downside being that most are based in the US, so if you live in the UK like me you have to keep an eye on the order total if you want to avoid being hit by customs charges (I believe Import VAT hits at around the £15 mark and the post office will often charge you more than you'd expect because they handled any extra fees incurred). It also means a longer wait time after dispatch (and bare in mind as these are small companies so turn around time is usually longer than the big companies, for good reason). Neither of these are the companies fault, just things to remember.

Geek Chic themselves are brilliant. My order was shipped within a week (well within their stated TAT) and arrived a week later, safely packaged in a jiffy bag with the order form, a business card and they include a free sample with all orders (mine was a second sample of Cyclopean, which isn't too bad as it's a gorgeous colour but I had hoped to try something new, ah well, worse things happen at sea). The samples come packaged in clamshells, which I've never used before and do seem to send a bit of shadow wooshing everywhere when I close them, but I think I'd prefer these over sample bags. Plus the spillage thing is likely just me not getting the hang of it yet. They describe their colours beautifully, in my experience, and all the shades I've tried have had excellent pigmentation and coverage and (aside from one) apply smoothly and blend well. Plus the clamshells are all labelled with the names, collection names and ingredients. Those which aren't lip safe, contain metal alloys or need to be used with caution in sensitive areas (such as heavily glittered shades like Non-Euclidean) are all marked clearly with this information in red. Very useful!

I've rambled on for ages now, I should probably post the swatches. Sorry for this massive post!
You can click the pictures to make them larger. All swatches were photographed over MUA Eye primer in natural light. Italics are Geek Chic's descriptions..

Antediluvian: "burnished, antique gold with bronze tones and multi-colored sparkle"

Yep, I'd agree with that. Very much an aged gold colour on me. 

Antequarian: "awesome glowing copper with gold iridescence and sparkle"

Gorgeous red-copper on me with a gold flash, love it

 Blasphemous: "metallic silver with gold iridescence and strong rainbow sparkle"

I don't get the gold, and the silver is a very dark almost iron-silver on me. Sparkle is there though. I've had a few application problems with this one on my eyes, which is a shame. I can't seem to blend it well (I lose all the depth of colour and some just vanishes completely) :(, hopefully this is just because I need to learn to use loose shadows like this properly.

 Cyclopean: "deep teal on a charcoal base with green iridescence and multi-colored sparkle"

Deep teal with a green shift, not seeing much sparkle in the swatch but that is likely my primer. Very pretty shade though, the teal is stunning.

 Daemoniac: "violet on a sheer charcoal base with multi-colored sparkle"

Yep. Gorgeous purple with a slightly blue-grey lean and sparkles!

Eldritch: "deep olive green on a charcoal base with golden iridescence and multi-colored sparkle"

Again I agree with Geek Chic's description there (they're damn good at describing their colours accurately as far as I'm concerned, another plus!)

 

Madness: "deep wine shade with multi-colored sparkle"

I originally said deep rusted red, mostly because I have no idea how to describe a wine shade (describing colours is not my forte sadly), but Phyrra, who is good with colours, agrees with the wine thing so I'll say another accurate description!

 Non-Euclidean:  "semi-sheer black with strong rainbow sparkle. Amazing sparkles in this"

Black/Dark charcoal with rainbow glitters! I am in love with this, so much.

They're so pretty!
I think next order I may pick up full sizes of Daemoniac, Madness and Non-Euclidean. Non-Euclidean is definitely my favourite from this collection, so pretty and sparkly!
Strange Aeons is available here from Geek Chic Cosmetics.
Full sizes are $5.99
Samples are $1.25
The collection can be purchased as a set for $38.99