Just in case you're not already dog tired of the indie brands on my blog these days, keep in mind that I have two more indie hauls on their way after this one. Its a newfound obsession of mine really, as I find that many indie brands have a lot more unique shades, formulas and textures to offer than your average corporately established beauty brand.

Smash Cosmetics is a small indie makeup brand that I found through another blog - Beauty Redefined by Pang, who recently posted a haul from them. The brand does offer very unique shades in terms of eyeshadows, but what really struck me is their extensive collection of lip products. I purchased the blogger review kit, so I was sent samples of 5 eyeshadows, 5 lipsticks and two glosses of my choice. Since I purchased something that was discounted for review purposes, I'm not sure if samples are included in regular orders.

I did not encounter any customer service issues with the brand - and since my order took a bit longer than is the standard for the brand, I received a discount off of my next purchase. The only thing strange about the order was  the shipping. I received an e-mail from the brand through Etsy saying that my order had shipped on August 20th and I received it today. I didn't contact the brand, as I knew that there would be a delay in shipping, but I don't know if the message was sent terribly early from Etsy or what. Regardless, I received my package in a timely manner in terms of what I'm used to across the board in the indie world.  Either way, the customer service was good regardless of the shipping oddity, and I'll most likely buy again.

Onto the swatches!

The pots with the circular white sticker on the top are eyeshadows, whole the ones with the heart are lip products - of course the full sized lip products aren't housed in these jars.

 Eyeshadows -

Left to right, these are; Grape, Sleeping Beauty, Muse, Deathstar and Medusa. I tried to get a unique mix of colors and I think I succeeded. I'm really loving Muse and Deathstar so far.

Glosses - 

These are SUPER pigmented. I was really surprised! On the left is Wine and Dine and on the right is Fetish. Very "me" shades, so I'm super excited.

Lipsticks - 

Since they were samples, I wanted to get some fun shades! From left to right, I have; Pale Mauve, Tainted, Hazen, Aurora and Dahlia. Pale Mauve and Aurora are super wearable on my skin, and I could probably pull off tainted as the weather cools down. I think Dahlia is going to be so fun though! The photo does not do it justice, but it does have purple shimmer to it!

I don't even know where to start. I'm really excited about the lip products, as I've only tried lip products from one other indie brand. I'm glad I chose such wearable shadow shades to, as I can see myself getting a good amount of use out of all of them. 

In the near future I have a BFTE haul as well as a Shiro Cosmetics haul, so if you're loving the whole indie cosmetics theme, keep your eyes peeled. BFTE should be here before we know it!

The Chequered Lily Apothecary Sample Haul!

I'm literally addicted to independent cosmetics brands. Its official. I've been able to find some of the most unique colors at incredible prices by going the indie route. It started with Darling Girl and now I just can't stop.

I was able to find this shop - The Chequered Lily Apothecary on Etsy - through a blog that I read, Portrait of Mai. She actually has a whole tab dedicated to Indie Cosmetics swatches! Check it out!

I actually had a hard time narrowing down my choices as to what I wanted to order from CLA - there were so many shades I wanted to try! Not to mention, the customer service was PHENOMENAL. Very quick shipping for an indie brand, hand written thank you on my receipt and great communication! I'm telling you - there's a reason that I keep buying indie; I'd much rather spend my hard earned money somewhere where I not only know its appreciated - but I'm shown  that its appreciated!

So for the main event, this is what my little haul consisted of!

There's something quite satisfying about a pile of sample baggies! I chose the blogger kit, which allowed me to choose 7 shades to try out, as well as an extra shade thrown in as a free sample by the seller. I also picked up a trio of shades that benefits victims of domestic violence - and I HAD to be part of that!

These are the 8 samples that I chose! I tend to hoard me some neutrals, but I found that a lot of these more "non neutral" shades were really wearable!

Some preliminary swatches - dry swatches with no base or primer! From left to right, the top row is; Invocation, Snow Glass Apples, A Dustland Fairytale, Stormbreak and Charlotte - and the bottom row is; Captain Jack, Haute Cocoa and The Penny Arcade. Nothing truly neutral and I just can't wait to start playing with them!!

These three shades are part of a set that donates $1 of the very palatable purchase price to victims of domestic violence. I'm not entirely sure what specific charity that it is, but I'll definitely let you all know when the seller's store is back up, as they're on vacation until tentatively the end of September. I'm assuming that it is a charity based out of the shop's hometown of San Diego, CA.

The three shades in this set, from left to right are; Brand New Day, New Beginnings and Moving On. I didn't notice it when I bought it, but these three could totally be used for a full look. Coincidence? Probably not, I'm just probably not all to observant. Again, these had no help or primer in the swatches!

At my own first impression, these seem like they're going to be pretty great to work with - they don't need to seem to need a lot of help to get color payoff, which is sometimes difficult to do with loose pigments. The colors are great and the customer service rocked - so I cannot wait to start testing and reviewing these!