Fyrinnae is one of the OG indie makeup brands that I've heard about for years but hadn't tried until last month. I really should have hopped on this bandwagon sooner but there are a few reasons as to why it took me so long to place an order:
(1) I thought it would be difficult/messy to work with loose shadows.
After playing with these shadows, I can confidently say that it's actually not difficult at all to pick up these loose pigments with a brush. I just dip my brush into the shadow that's on the lid to pick up a bit of product. Fyrinnae offers pressed versions of most of their shadows but the popular shades seem to be frequently out of stock, which is why I went with the loose formulation.
For the more glittery shades, it's key to use Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy primer underneath. Pixie Epoxy is actually the reason I was interested in placing an order with Fyrinnae in the first place and I'm officially a convert. Pixie Epoxy helps the shadow stick to your skin so you get the full pigment effect while eliminating fall out. The non-glittery shades work fine over regular eyeshadow primer.
(2) I naturally gravitate to neutral shadows and thought Fyrinnae shades would be too dramatic for my taste.
Now that I have an arsenal of basic champagne, brown and taupe shadows, I'm on the hunt for neutrals with a twist. Fyrinnae absolutely serves up special shades that are simultaneously wearable but unique and special. Pat McGrath brought duochrome shades to the mainstream Sephora-shopping crowd (myself included) but indie brands like Fyrinnae have been developing these multidimensional shadows for years.
(3) The swatches on the Fyrinnae website are... not good. There is a lack of good swatches to reference so selecting shades can be an overwhelming experience.
If there's one piece of feedback I would give Fyrinnae it would be to have better swatch photos on their website. The photos they currently have are low quality and they don't do the shades justice at all. I kind of wish I picked up more shades to swatch and share with you all because they are really nice. The good news is that for every loose shadow there is an option to get a mini size jar which are only around $3-$4. In my photo above, only the middle jars are full size and the rest are mini - you can still get a lot of uses out of the mini size.
Now let's get on with the swatches and individual shade notes. All swatches below were done over Pixie Epoxy in outdoor sunlight. Some of the shades will appear very different depending on the lighting conditions.
I chose eight shades (2 full size, 6 minis) and Fyrinnae threw in one extra as a free sample. Above we have (from left to right) Princess for a Day, Beyond This World, Embers, and Serendipity. I got Princess for a Day and Beyond This World in the full size jars because I'm currently really into sparkly glittery shadows and these looked really special. Though, looking back I think it would have been wiser to get these two shadows in the mini version since they're not exactly everyday shades for me.
Princess for a Day is a cool toned lilac with bright sky blue glitter. This is one of the flakier shades but it gives a cool glimmering effect. This is a really unique shade - I can't think of any possible dupe for this.
Beyond This World is a burgundy with blue and berry pink glitter. Even though it's really glittery, the warm tones make it pretty wearable in my opinion. Even with Pixie Epoxy, this did apply a bit patchy to my eyelids but I still liked the look a lot. You can see how this looks applied to the center of my lid below.
Embers is a hard one to describe because it shifts between many colors. Fyrinnae describes it as a "dusky pink turns light coppery to golden then yellow-lime, with a shimmery finish". Embers is smooth and the shimmers are very fine. This would make an excellent one-and-done smokey eye.
Serendipity is like Embers' little sister and equally as difficult to describe. In the jar, it looks like a lavender gray with red shimmer but it doesn't look cool-toned at all once it's on my eyelids. It's a really pretty shade and one that I can see myself reaching for a lot so I regret not getting this in the full size. Below I have Serendipity applied all over my lid and inner corners with a slightly deeper shade on the outer corner. Trust me when I say it looks much more interesting in person.
Tango is a super smooth burgundy with a subtle sheen. There's no glitter in this shade so it's incredibly easy to work with. I like this shade much more than I thought I would. It's probably not the most unique of the bunch but I would still recommend it. I could also see this working as a nice liner shade.
Meerkat is a bright purple with lots of gold glitter. It was a little hard to swatch this shade evenly, perhaps because it was more of a loose powder and didn't have as much binding agent in the formula. It's a fun shade and unique to my collection. If you like purple shadows, I think you'll be drawn to this one.
Tea & Candy Canes is a metallic orange red with gold glitter. This was the free sample that Fyrinnae included in my order. I believe they include a free sample in every order because I didn't request this and was pleasantly surprised to receive it. It's not a shade I would have picked out on my own but I actually really love it. The shadow was impressively rich and smooth. The orange tones in the red make this shade really glow.
All in all I'm really pleased with my first Fyrinnae purchases and this won't be my last order with them. All of their products are vegan, cruelty-free, and produced in the USA. They also offer free shipping on U.S. orders over $40 which I think is really reasonable for a small business.
In terms of other indie makeup brands I'm trying out, I recently received my Looxi order of 22 shadows in the mail from their Black Friday sale. I haven't used those yet but swatches and reviews will be coming! I also placed an order with Clionadh during their December restock and sale which I'm extremely excited about. Those will hopefully ship in the coming days or weeks and I'll definitely dedicate a whole post to those because I know a lot of people are interested in those shadows. Let me know what other indie makeup brands you love and that I should check out!