January 12, 2012

Willow Tree Minerals Eyeshadow in Chizzle, Iced Latte, Soft Wildflower: swatches, pics, review

Hello, Beautiful!

Lately I've been on the search for new-to-me brands of mineral shadows. I like the formulation of loose pigment shadows over pressed powder and just felt I needed to try some new options. I came across the Willow Tree Minerals website and their shadows immediately caught my attention. I have three sample baggies of their shadows to share with you in this post. I swatched each sample dry and wet.

The shade Chizzle is my favorite, and I will likely buy a full sized version in the future. I will probably order some more samples first, to try out other shades (more info on how you can order samples later in this post).

Willow Tree Minerals Eyeshadow
Shade: Chizzle
Shade Description: A beautiful "elephant skin" gray when applied dry; more metallic gray when applied wet.


 




Willow Tree Minerals Eyeshadow
Shade: Iced Latte
Shade Description: A warm cocoa brown with shimmer with applied dry; turns slightly lighter and more metallic when applied wet.


 




Willow Tree Minerals Eyeshadow
Shade: Soft Wildflower
Shade Description: A soft dusty pink.


 


Willow Tree Minerals Eyeshadow PRO's & CON's:
PRO's: great color range, nice pigmentation, affordable to sample
CON's: none

Basic Stats for Willow Tree Minerals Eyeshadow:
Formula: loose powder
Wear: average to above average
Coverage: good pigmentation; buildable
Shade Info: currently available in 39 beautiful shades
Cost/Availability: $7.95 (5 g jar full size). Available on the Willow Tree Minerals Website. Sample baggies are available for $0.35 each on their website with free shipping on sample orders. Also available in stackable jars, saving you a little money.
Packaging: I only have sample baggies, so I can't comment on their full sized packaging
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Kisses


Formula:
These mineral eyeshadows feel velvety soft and go on smooth. You can apply these shadows wet or dry. They are crease resistant and will stay put all day, especially when applied wet or over a primer. 

Wear:
Average to above average wear depending on application method and if you're using a shadow primer. For me, I had no issues with wear.

Coverage:
Good pigmentation, which is of course buildable. Applying these shadows wet will give you the best pigment payoff. Out of the three shades I samples, Chizzle and Iced Latte had best pigmentation, while Soft Wildflower wasn't that great. I don't know how other shades may be, but I plan to sample more in the future.

Shade Info:
Currently available in 39 beautiful shades. From the three shades I sampled, Chizzle is my favorite. It may be one of my top three favorite gray shades, and that's saying a lot considering gray shadows are my favorite! I plan to sample more shades; I have my eye on: Reflection, Bright Blueberry, Plum Drop, Sea Glass, Waterfall, Granite, Lively Lemon, Apple Envy, Honey Drizzle, Sugared Almond, Glamor Grape, Forbidden Fruit, and Midnight Rain.

Cost/Availability:
$7.95 (5 g jar full size). Available on the Willow Tree Minerals Website. Sample baggies are available for $0.35 each on their website with free shipping on sample orders. That means you could sample all 39 shades for just $13.65!

You an also buy the full sized shadows in stackable jars, saving you a little money. You really don't save a lot, so I would only order the stackable jars if you prefer that type of storage for your loose shadows/pigments. Just so you're aware, you can purchase a 3-jar stack for $22.95 -- saving you $0.90, which is only a $0.30 savings per jar. Or you can purchase a 5-jar stack for $36.95 -- saving you $2.80, which is slightly better savings, but still only a $0.56 savings per jar.


Packaging:
I only have sample baggies so I can't comment on their full sized packaging. From what I see online, these shadows look to come in rounded jars; not sure if there is a sifter included or not.

My Rating:
I really like these shadows! They felt soft and went on nicely, lasting all day on their own. Chizzle is absolutely beautiful; probably my favorite from all the shades they make! Iced Latte is really pretty too. Then there is Soft Wildflower, which just isn't my cup of tea. They don't have amazing pigmentation when used dry, but it's still pretty good.

I think sampling these shadows is the way to go; it's affordable and will allow you to know exactly which shadows are right for you, and which you can skip. I would suggest applying these shadows both dry and wet to get their full effect before deciding which shades you love and don't love.

Overall, yes, I would recommend these shadows!

Now let me know what you think...
What do you think of these shadows? Which shade is your favorite? Discuss in the comments below.

4 comments:

  1. Maybe I'm just losing my mind, but I can't seem to find a link to their website. When I did a google search I was sent to an etsy store and didn't see an option for samples. Do they have a non-etsy website? Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know :S Nothing special.

    I'd love you to join my giveaway^^
    CharmFactory GIVEAWAY♥mfashionfreak

    ReplyDelete
  3. ´All three look very beautiful when swatched wet. thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Elizabeth: Sorry, for some reason the blog post published without including the links. I just went in and made sure they show up. They are now in the blog post. You can also copy/paste theses links:

    Their website: http://willowtreeminerals.com/index.html

    About their samples: http://willowtreeminerals.com/Web%20Pages/Samples/Samples.html

    ReplyDelete

All comments are set for me to approve them before they post. I do this so I can read each & every one, answering any questions that may be in a comment. Please share your thoughts and questions below :)