Blackbird Cosmetics

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

I've ordered from Blackbird Cosmetics a couple of times now. Maleah ships out very quickly. I ordered on October 14th and the order shipped on October 15th. I received the order on October 18th. The samples were tied together with a little ribbon. I initially tried out her shadows by her request and reviewed them on my blog-- they are of great quality, really good pigmentation and blend really well. They have a bit of an 'earthy' smell because of the oxides they are made out of, but this isn't off-putting. I haven't tried her shimmery shadows yet. I definitely recommend giving Blackbird a try if you are looking for matte indie shadows!

I love Blackbird Cosmetics. Her mattes are buttery soft and blend well, her shimmery shadows are very nice too. Maleah ships fast, I can't remember what her TAT is, but I've ordered from her 3 times and all 3 times she shipped within a week. She also either threw in a free sample or a coupon for 15% off your next order.

Great matte eyeshadows with excellent pigmentation and staying power.

I had great customer service, which is also a huge thing with indie companies especially. My order shipped quickly, but when I received it I was missing a product. I contacted her the next day via her shop and she responded immediately. She said that she would mail out the missing item and asked me to pick out some other items from her shop so she could send me extra samples. They came just as quickly as the first order.

I would highly recommend this company and would order from them again.

Great quality eyeshadows, owner is responsive and nice to work with, shipped promptly and safely, came with sample & coupon. Would buy from again.

Ordered both of the matte shadow sample sets. I received my order well within the TAT. Also, I received at coupon with my order, that I will definitely be using.

The shadows apply like a dream and the pigmentation is fantastic. I can't wait to order full sizes of my favorites!

I ordered the full range of matte samples in mid-November, hoping that I would get them in time to test them and order more during the Black(bird) Friday sale. My samples were shipped very quickly, but they got held up by USPS for reasons I don't entirely understand. I don't hold that against Blackbird, though. Ultimately, missing out on the BF sale allowed me more time to test out the products rather than making snap judgements. The mattes are nice and easy to work with, although I don't notice much difference between the old and new formulas (I had a mix of both). Almost all of the colors lean to the cool side, though (the exceptions being Ruca, and Fire Pledge). I wish there were a few options for slightly warmer (or neutral-warm) transition shades as well as a nice true ivory highlight shade since Half Full runs a little too yellow (and cool yellow, strangely enough) on me.

Full disclosure: Everything I've tried so far has either been gifts (via the gift exchange) or press samples from Blackbird owner Maleah.

Overall, I'm quite happy with my Blackbird products so far. I've got a full set of eyeshadow samples in the old formula (gift exchange) and a full set in the new formula (press samples) and I'm in the middle of testing the new stuff to see how it compares. I've also got one sample each of the Diminish and Decrease contour powders (press samples) from her Skulpting Powder line.

Eyeshadows: Maleah took a risk in launching her shop with a really unusual matte eyeshadow formula. I say it's a risk partially because mattes are notoriously hard to get right, and partially because the formula is based on talc. Talc is pretty controversial because it has a reputation as a cheap filler, so it's associated with lower quality drugstore products. I believe Maleah has said she uses talc as a way to intentionally decrease pigmentation, and since muted shadows really speak to me, I'm totally on board with that. Regardless of how you feel about talc, I think Blackbird's shadows are definitely worth a try. They're tied with Detrivore for my favorite mattes, though as with Detrivore, I think the quality varies a bit by shade. I'll have more to say about that after I finish testing each of the new formula shadows. In general though, they blend nicely, build up well, and look great over both bare skin and silicone primer. I think this is a really solid set of neutrals, and I keep finding myself starting pretty much any eye look with Smudge or Dog Days in the crease.

Skulpting Powders: I've only tried these on once so far so I definitely have more testing to do, but I'm pretty impressed so far. I applied with what was left over on my non-dense blush brush after doing arm swatches and when applied that way they blended out perfectly. I prefer Diminish to Decrease, but then I'm partial to cooler contour colors so that's no surprise (I have NC15 skin for reference).

Overall: Blackbird is definitely one of my favorite discoveries of 2014 and I'm really excited to see what Maleah comes up with next! She's been talking about perfecting a process for pressing her matte shadows so I'm really looking forward to seeing those go up for sale. I'm also seeing that a Blackbird blush went out in the latest Hello Waffle Visage box, and since I absolutely love matte blushes, I'm sort of losing my mind over the idea of picking up some of those when they get released.

Here's my original blog post with swatches of all 20 old formula eyeshadows: http://www.indieknow.net/2015/02/company-overview-quick-look-at.html

I'm also working on a blog post (per Maleah's request) comparing the old and new eyeshadow formulas, so I'll edit this post to include that link when it's finished.

Super fantastic matte shadows! My orders have always shipped within TAT, arrive quickly, and included a sweet hand-written note and usually a discount code for my next order.

My favorite shades from Blackbird are Thirteen, Dog Days, Beau, and Half Full.

Also, Maleah has recently moved from Etsy over to her own shop and is expanding her line to include more products, including blushes, which I'm super excited about.

Highly recommend Blackbird. Shipping is quick, packaging is adorable, and the matte formula will blow your socks off. I've also fallen hard for her green Super Trick powder, which I've had great success with. I've purchased from Blackbird several times with no hiccups. I also recently purchased many full sizes (and got THREE full size extras because Maleah is darling), and I feel compelled to buy full sizes rarely. Maleah has a really astute grasp of neutrals and I look forward to gobbling up new products as she expands her line, and there aren't many companies I feel that way about.

I bought these for someone in an exchange, so I cannot personally tell you about the shadows, but I know people rave about them. She's coming out with pressed shadows on March 13th. I've ordered from her once: she shipped out extremely quickly (on the samples shipping is free!) and the samples came tied with a lovely bow. They looked really lovely, and I was very impressed by her presentation.

I ordered my 2 sample packs and they got sent about two weeks later. TAT was a little slow considering other brands I've ordered from, but I wasn't waiting months or anything.

I'm very very impressed with the matte staying power and blendability/opacity. I will likely purchase in full sizes as soon as I decide what are needs and what are wants. It's especially nice that she has pressed shadows available; this makes me want to purchase more as I was looking into pressing my own eyeshadows to make transport easier.

http://www.indieknow.net/2015/02/company-overview-quick-look-at.html

My first order of Blackbird was 10 samples by lettermail.I felt dissapointed. It was the best option to try the brand because I'm an international customer. But when I saw them, they were so small. And found them sooo hard to switch the product to little jars. The inconsistency in the formula kept them stick to the wall of the bag, a lot of flakes and few powder in the bottom. Nothing compared with the samples of Hello Waffle or Shiro that are soo generous!

I ordered eye shadow samples and the Magic Trick powders. The package arrived promptly and far quicker than the stated TAT. Tracking was included. The packaging was nothing special, just baggies tossed into in a plain white envelope. That was a bit of a bummer, as I love nice packaging and the feeling that an owner cares about making a good first impression. My name was misspelled and that also left me with a negative impression. 2 free samples were generously included.

Just a heads up: the sample sizes are very small -- much smaller than other indie brands I have tried. I also noticed some unblended pigment in two of the eye shadows, which made them swatch poorly. I was a bit upset about this, as it added to the overall sloppy feeling I got from the package.

However, the products that were properly blended are beautiful. The eye shadows and powders have a better than average wear time. I used the eye shadows over Too Faced Primer and was impressed with the pigmentation and blendability. They are buttery and smooth. I did have some fading after a day of work, but I have oily lids and have this issue with every eye shadow I have tried. They still lasted better than almost any other brand I have tried. The powders are subtle but do make a difference. I was very pleased with the products.

I have mixed feelings about my order due to the careless way the samples were packaged (including my name being misspelled), the unblended and almost chunky pigment in 2 eye shadows and the tiny sample sizes. That said, the products that were properly blended were lovely and lived up to the hype. I will probably re-purchase again, although I hope improvements are made to ensure that product is properly blended and packaged in a thoughtful manner that's worth the $3.25 flat rate shipping.

I have ordered from Blackbird a few times and I love the product. I have samples of every eye shadow and the magic trick powder. Living in the UK shipping will affect my decisions with indie. Her shipping is very reasonable and TAT was quick too.

Stand out products for me are Lucid the Matte black shadow. I use it almost everyday. Perfect for smoking out shadows but also easy to blend and build up if you only need a little. I also like Modesty as a base shadow, Smudge as a crease colour and Vintage as well. I have also liked the Magic Trick Powder in Translucent. I didn't like the other colour correcting ones as much but might just be my skin tone. The Translucent is brilliant though. I think the formula builds wonderfully, but is also high pigmented if you want to lather yourself in it.