Crush Cosmetics Swatches + Review

The Shop: Crush Cosmetics (On Etsy)

What I Ordered: A sampler pack of 5 shadows in Honey, Vixen, XXX, Poison, and Crush and a Lip Tint in Blood Orange

Packaging: Crush Cosmetics is based out of Canada (not the open resale company based out of Australia,) so I expected some extra shipping time.  I placed my order on 10/26/11, and it arrived on 11/4/11.  It arrived in a plain orange mailer, with the samples together in a plastic baggie in their own individually labeled plastic baggies, and the lip tint in a separate organza bag with a piece of chocolate.  I also received a business card.

Today's Swatches:

Nekkid Lips

Lip Tint in Blood Orange

 Regular Indoor Lighting

HD Fluorescent Lighting

As usual, colors in the top row are swatched on bare skin with a foiled stripe down the center and colors in the bottom row are swatched over My Beauty Addiction's Shadow Poxy (click to see swatches.)  Top photos for each pairing were taken under normal indoor lighting, bottom photos were taken under HD fluorescent lighting.

Overall:  The shipping was timely, and I did get a convo from Kym letting me know when to expect my shadows.  I didn't get an invoice in my package, which for me isn't a deal-breaker, but I know some folks are real sticklers about that.   The samples had quite a bit of product in them, and I know this might be nit picky, but they didn't come in consistent baggies.  Two of them had holes at the top for hanging on a peg in a retail storefront, two of them had those red lines across the top above the seal, and one had no distinguishing characteristics.  One of the red line baggies had also been previously stapled, ripping the bag and making it harder to open.  To me, this seemed really unprofessional.  Another thing I noticed was that I got two bags labeled Vixen; I had to go back to the shop to figure out which ones were which to label my swatches.  The lip tint had a shrink seal on it, and the little organza bag and chocolate were nice touches.  The business card included with my order did not say Crush Cosmetics, it said Crush Jewels.  Now I don't keep business cards that often, but I know many people who keep a binder of business cards.   So it seems normal that if you got a business card from somebody, it should have something to do with why they gave you their card.  So to me, if you have two Etsy shops selling different things, you should probably have two sets of business cards and send each order with the appropriate card.  That way, if somebody was looking through their binder of business cards looking for indie cosmetic companies, they would be able to find your card for cosmetics instead of vintage and bohemian jewelry.  All that being said, the products are actually pretty nice.  With the exception of Vixen and Honey, both of which contained quite a bit of sparkle and had some fallout issues, the shadows adhered well to bare skin.  All of the shadows worked well when applied with a primer or foiled.  I will note that I do suspect that some of the colors may not be original, but I'd like to do a side-by-side analysis before saying for sure one way or another.  I expected the lip tint to be pretty solid, similar to a chapstick, but it seemed to melt, for lack of better description, when I put it up to my lips.  It surprised me, but once I got the hang of working with the "melting" effect, I ended up with even application and pigmentation.  The texture is super-creamy and slick, which I really like in a lip gloss, and the color is a sheer, sparkly coral.  It does eventually absorb a little bit and make your lips feel replenished, but it doesn't provide instant relief to dry lips.  One more thing I noticed is that I could not find any information about this company because everything I found when I googled Crush Cosmetics was for an open resale company based out of Australia.  I realize that Kym already has a jewelry business called Crush Jewels, so it only seems to make sense that when she branched out she kept her name, but it made it SO difficult to research the brand before ordering.

Would I recommend them?: No.

EDIT 12/20/11 12:04 a.m.:  I ordered some TKB samples and did some side-by-side comparisons in another post. View the comparisons here and draw your own conclusions.