When I moved to Australia I was eager to find local makeup brands since many foreign brands are more expensive here. I came across Femme Fatale Cosmetics and was drawn in by the amazing colours and swatches on the website. In addition to eyeshadows, there are blushes, illuminators and nail polishes.

1. Archangel - a soft pinkish ivory with a subtle violet duochrome. Great for highlighting.

2. Divinity - a light pink with a bit of a gold shift.

3. Elitist - a yellow gold with shimmer.

4. Exorcism - violet with a blue green duochrome.

5. Flare - a strong, orange-y red with a gold duochrome. I like to mix this with a clear lip balm to create a red tinted lip balm.

6. Frozen Flame - a light orange with a strong light blue duochrome.

7. Heroic - a light copper with gold shimmer. Great for an easy, neutral all-over shade.

8. Incantation - a reddish burgundy with pink shimmer.

9. Inscribe - a warm chocolately brown with a soft, pale green duochrome.

10. Misdirection - a forest green with light green shimmer.

11. Moonglow - a light silvery blue with yellowy gold and pink shimmer.

12. Moonstone - a sheer icy white with a light blue duochrome. Looks amazing over a dark base.

13. Mysticism - a reddish purple with a light blue duochrome.

14. Shadow Dance - a cool toned grey with pink and blue shimmer.

15. Smokebomb - very complex! It starts out dark brown but shifts to green, purple, and gold.

16. Spirit Bond - a strong indigo purple with a greenish gold duochrome.

17. Sunfire - a peachy pink with a gorgeous gold shimmer. Looks amazing on the eyes or the lips, my absolute favourite.

18. Unholy - a dark base that looks like a purple-y brown with a strong green duochrome.

My personal favourites are Archangel, Heroic, Smokebomb, Sunfire, and Unholy.

Overall, I really enjoy all of these eyshadows. They are all swatched dry and without any base or primer and I had no problems with application. If you like highly pigmented, complex colours I'd definitely recommend checking out Femme Fatale Cosmetics' website.

When I wear these on my eyes I do use an eyeshadow primer. Sometimes I also use a homemade mixing medium (two parts water to one part glycerin) and apply it wet for a foiled look. I also have a primer meant for loose powder eyeshadows that doesn't change the look, but helps them to adhere to the eyelids better. When I apply these, I get some product on my brush, tap off the excess and pat it onto my eyelids so there's no messy fallout.

Recently when I've traveled with makeup at least one of my pressed powder products has been broken/shattered; so, I like to bring the sample bags when I travel because an already loose eyeshadow can't be broken down any further!. The sample bags are also great for travel -- this allows me to bring lots of colours that I'm not likely to wear on an everyday basis, but won't take up a lot of space/weight.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics' eyeshadows are available in three sizes; a sample zip-lock bag which contains 1/8 of a teaspoon ($1.10AUD), a mini jar which contains 3g of product and an optional sifter ($3.00AUD without a sifter, $3.10AUD with a sifter) and a full sized jar which contains 5g of product and no sifter ($5.75AUD). There are also discounted sets available. Each eyeshadow is individually labeled and informs the user as to whether or not it is eye safe, lip safe, and vegan. The full sized 5g jars contain a lot of product, so I would recommend those for multi use colours (like peachy, coral-y oranges and pinks that can be used on the eyes, lips and face) or colours you would likely use everyday.

If anyone wants to try out Femme Fatale Cosmetics but is intimidated by the bold colours, I created an easy, neutral look using Heroic on the lids, Archangel as a browbone and inner corner highlight, Smokebomb (used with an eyeliner sealant) as an eyeliner, Forever Lovely Rose (discontinued, it was a limited edition item) on the cheeks and Flare mixed with a clear lip balm on the lips.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics is an Australian owned company that does not test on animals. Orders which contain samples only ship free, worldwide :)

Femme Fatale Cosmetics, a beauty company based in Queensland, is pretty young - we're talking eight-months-old. While they take their baby steps, they are in the process of reaching out to bloggers all over in order to experience their product. And experience I did*. Last week I was sent six samples to try - three vegan and three non vegan and to be honest I couldn't tell the difference. I did, however, have to research what it takes for something to be considered "vegan" - let's take a look at a few examples (list courtesy of One Green Planet):

beeswax (often found in lip products)
carmine (from cochineal or smashed bugs, usually added to red or pink blush-on or lip products)
pearl powder
allantoin (from the uric acid of cows/mammals, sometimes added to mineral makeup)
collagen (either from animals or human placenta)
silk powder
elastin (usually found in mascaras; derived from cows)

My husband would define me as an omnivore and a makeup lover; I could never go fully vegan, but I can certainly try to be more thoughtful when I purchase my wares for Bagful. I love animals, especially cats (bonafide CCL) and I would never want them to suffer for the beauty of others.

*steps down from soapbox*

Loose powders and potions frightened me in the past until I happened upon Benefit Show Offs about nine years ago. Heck, that was a long time ago! And then, Benefit took them off of their counters. Then, I gave Bare Escentuals loose mineral shadows a go, but couldn't shake the duochrome spell cast upon me all those years ago. With Femme Fatale, I think I have found what I've been longing for all these years. What's better than 39 shades of eye colour to choose from? Try price points which start at $1.10 AUS for a sample size or $5.00 AUS for a full size jar.

Clockwise from top left corner: Spark of Life, Endless Winter, Polymorph and Elitist

When I swatched the colours last week I used a dry q-tip for application purposes. In hindsight, I should have dampened the end or just used my trusty index finger. I apologise for the lack of vibrancy here. When working with loose powders, keep in mind they can be a bit unwieldy; especially when extracting product from miniature zip-lock baggies.

:Edit:

The swatches above are sad, at best. Today I re-swatched all of the colours in order for you to see how much these colours shine.

In the look seen below I used four out of the six colours. For my eyes I started with Inglot shade 397 (peachy cream) and applied it all over. Then I blended Spark of Life (light mint green) on my lower lid, dabbed a hint of Elitist (gold) on the inner half of my lower lid and added a bit of smokiness with the help of Polymorph (shimmery gray). But where was the fourth colour used? Ah, my lips! I layered Divinity (light pink) over Revlon's ColorBurst Lip Butter in Sweet Tart.

As for my final thoughts, for as messy as loose powders can get, the colour pay off is intense. Make sure you use a really good eye base and also do your eyes first. I stupidly blinked when I was putting on my mascara after just sweeping away the remnants of fall out from painting my eyes. Growls were uttered and I may've even dropped an "oh, shoot."

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Femme Fatale samples:

$1.10 AUS per bag

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

9 out of 10 bags – cheap, cheerful, awesome customer service and a pretty handsome selection

Likelihood to purchase again:

A doe of a company with so much potential. I can't wait to purchase the full size jars of shadow and the six blush shades they also have for sale at $8.00 a pop!

*Femme Fatale provided me with free samples in exchange for this review. Thoughts and ramblings written here are completely my own.