A lot of people I followed/respected were into some of the indie brands, and of course, their products wered often tempting to begin with, but it was really the strength of recommendations that did it.
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Temptalia reviews!
<3
Same as you. I read reviews and tried Sydney Grace. I love them and use only their eyeshadows.
Some of the other indie brands like Dandy Lion has such terrible fall out its not worth buying in my opinion when so many other indie brands don’t do that. If Sydney Grace can get there eyeshadow formula right why can’t they.
Some indie brands over the years were used more heavily in certain social media circles, like drag queens as an example. So I started hearing about some like OCC or Sugarpill before they started getting more popular or in the case of OCC ended up in Sephora. Later pretty quickly after finding Mel Thompson because she reviewed a Charlotte Tilbury product I was interested in I was introduced to Give Me Glow and in searching for Give Me Glow reviews I found several people on youtube who reviewed exclusively or predominantly Indie brands and these people were just really passionate about the quality of the Indie brands they reviewed and the looks they did were so much more colorful and interesting than majority of what the rest of youtube were doing. I had to try them.
It was all you, girl!! Those swatches 😍
Second this! It’s all about the swatches and expert info.
Many mainstream products didn’t work with my super oily skin when I was young, and primers weren’t yet a thing, so I took a chance. Loose powder products ended up working so much better for me. Plus, the color selection was so much better.
It was the Temptalia/Sydney Grace palettes that finally sent me down the (very shallow) rabbit hole! I’d have ordered a single or two but was surprised (not in a good way) about how just one additional shadow (I think – maybe 2) suddenly spiked the shipping charges and kind of confirmed that for the most part, ordering from indie brands just isn’t my thing, especially since I actually ENJOY going out and buying what I want and having it in my hand then and there…
Seeing indie products being used in action or reading reviews with accurate swatches has been one of the main motivators. This site has helped with some indie brand reviews, for sure. Also, word of mouth from friends in the beauty space concerning specific indie brands. So far, I’ve been gifted or have purchased from: Sugarpill, Devinah, Sydney Grace, Coloured Raine, Menagerie and Devinah. Not sure if Dose of Colors is “indie”, but I have also tried them, too.
Mel Thompson introduced me to Sydney Grace, Give Me Glow Cosmetics and lastly Odens Eye. Still miss her.
The only indie brand that I’ve purchased is Clionadh and it was your reviews that drew me in. I wish I were 40 years younger just starting out my makeup journey because the things that are coming out now would definitely have been in my possession.
What made me try indie brands was your splendid reviews Christine. Over here in Aus we really never hear of any indie brands like SG, JD Glow, Terra Moons etc. So it’s only through your blog, and fellow readers, that I know about these brands and how good they really are.
A little over a decade ago I was searching for swatches of something you hadn’t reviewed, found Phyrra’s blog, and ended up buying some eye shadows from Sugarpill based on her swatches/reviews.
I now almost exclusively buy indie for color cosmetics lol.
The Temptalia community and product reviews inspire me to try indie brands.
I stumbled upon indie perfumes in 2003/2004 and indie cosmetics were a natural step after that. Fyrinnae might also be my first? Makeup, that is. My collection of perfume and cosmetics alike is littered with failed businesses. Some of them were quite good! Like Geek Chic. I loved them. And Meow’s powder foundation before my skin became too dry to use it anymore.
I think it was a now defunct makeup group on FB where I was first introduced to indie brands; my first were Geek Chic and Darling Girl. Once I got to know the owners of those brands it really inspired me to start supporting small business owners. And their colors were so new and different for the times that they sucked me right in.
Their colors and unique textures, and of course, the multichromes!!!