Monday 10 March 2014

Little Sparrow Cosmetics Mineral Blush Review

Little Sparrow Cosmetics is a new vegan focused indie brand on Etsy run by just one woman - Jessica! They're best know for their super moisturising Lip Jellies but last month came out with a new flower themed blush collection which you can view here. Although I would've loved to buy all seven of them because it's such a lovely and well rounded collection, I'm not made of money and would probably rarely wear the pink and orange ones anyway.

Quick disclaimer - I was given a blogger discount for this order which essentially just covered international shipping costs, I haven't been given free stuff, been paid to write this or even asked... although I think that's probably the point of a blogger discount!

Little Sparrow Cosmetics blushes in Lilac, Lavender and Bluebell

Little Sparrow Cosmetics' blushes are $8 each and contain 4-5g of product in a 20g jar with a sifter - the jars are study, don't leak, the shifter works very well to distribute useable amounts of product and, most importantly in my opinion, there is enough room in the pot and lid to swirl your brush so as to distribute product evenly amongst the bristles.

All the blushes have a matte finish and are incredibly finely milled with perfectly even pigment distribution so they apply quickly and easily as a smooth uniform wash of colour that can be built up in intensity.

Swatches in indirect sunlight in the same order as above: Lilac, Lavender and Bluebell

The strangest thing about these blushes is that when swatched Lilac looks lavender and Lavender looks lilac! I've swatched these blushes three times over the past few days double and triple checking that I've got them the right way around - they genuinely look exactly like the these swatch photos when applied with my finger over bare skin.

However, even more strangely when applied to my face the colours look exactly like they should based on their names and how they appear in the pot!

Lilac, Lavender, Bluebell

Below are lots of face swatches, and as well as the blushes I'm also wearing:

  • NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia foundation
  • Illamasqua Motto Brow Cake
  • Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara

I cleaned my brush (Real Techniques Blush brush) before switching colours to prevent mixing or muddying the colours, and all photos were taken in indirect sunlight with a diffused flash.

Lilac lightly applied.

Lilac translated to a very wearable cool pink on my face, leaning more pink than purple - it's an undeniably beautiful colour and a great formula. I'd recommend this to anyone who just wants to dip their toe into purple blush!

Lilac (unlike Lavender and Bluebell) is also safe to use on your eyes and lips which is a bonus if you like matching your blush to your lip colour (just add vaseline/some sort of lip balm) or even either to your eyeshadow, plus who doesn't love a versatile product?


Lavender moderately applied

I applied Lavender a heavier than I normally would for natural daytime blush to emphasise its colour. I love this blush - it's definitely purple, but if applied slightly sheerer than I have here would be incredibly wearable. I would recommend this colour to anyone who wants a basic everyday purple blush!


Bluebell lightly applied over Lilac lightly applied

Since I highly doubt I'll be wearing a blue blush by itself regularly I decided to try layering Bluebell over other blushes. Here you can see Bluebell over Lilac from above - it's clearly significantly changed the blush's original cool pink to a really lovely purple lilac. I was incredibly impressed with how evenly these blushes layered - there was no patchiness or caking and it took no extra time, effort or blending to achieve this smooth finish.


Bluebell lightly applied over Lavender moderately applied

Obviously this is very purple and probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I really can't praise these blushes' formula enough!


Bluebell lightly applied
(My lips are stained from Shiro's Sad Keanu that I was photographing for my last post)

Here I applied Bluebell very lightly to see if it would pass for a purple blush by itself - it obviously doesn't here on me as I was wearing a medium coverage yellow based foundation so there was no pink/red on my skin for the blue to mix with. Again, A+ formula.


Bluebell moderately applied
(I was multitasking and photographing my Shiro custom blue gloss for my last post at the same time)

Moderate Bluebell blush - it's definitely very blue and not for the faint of heart! I was also multitasking and photographing Shiro's custom blue lipgloss aka The Saskia, so you can ignore/admire my blue lips too.


Bluebell very lightly applied as contour under very pale pink Shu Umera blush lightly applied
(Again, ignore the blue lipgloss)

This is my absolute favourite - it's Bluebell used very lightly as a contour over a very light pink blush (Shu Uemura's M Pink 33E). Instead of the usual 'three shades darker than my skin colour' type contour I - and everyone else - uses it's turned the very natural pink blush lightly purple under my cheek bones giving me both a sculpted and perfectly natural blush.

I adore the effect and the fact that I'm wearing blue contour and it looks both beautiful and natural.

I'd recommend Bluebell to anyone who already has a few pink/red/plum blushes and wants to experiment with purples - one blue blush and you can transform the rest of your blushes into various shades of purple! Also anyone who wants to take their contour game to the next level, or is fond of the haute Smurf look.



Overall I could not be more impressed with Little Sparrow Cosmetic's blushes - they fill a niche in the market (matte lavender and blue blushes), are reasonably priced, are excellently packaged and come with great customer service, but most importantly are exceptional quality! I'd recommend them to anyone and really wish now I'd bought Desert Rose as it looks like an amazing neutral colour.


Also smug moment: I am literally the first person to review and swatch these blushes - I feel like a pro blogger now!



Saskia X

PrettyTrivialities@gmail.com
@aiksasarual on Instagram



8 comments:

  1. I LOVE that blue contour on you. I shouldn't be surprised that it works so well since we have blue and red veins under the skin but I'm really amazed at how natural it looks!

    Have you tried any other matte indie blush formulas? I'm curious to how Little Sparrow's may differ.

    I know that AG (http://www.indieknow.net/2013/12/company-overview-little-sparrow.html) absolutely adores Little Sparrow. They're on my to shop list for sure.

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    1. Thank you! I haven't actually tried any other indie blushes - they're somewhat rare, everyone I've bought from has only sold satin-shimmer blushes.

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  2. these are soooo pretty! i love your swatches and reviews. i keep obsessively visiting your blog hoping for a new post, lol!

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    1. Aw thank you! I'm sorry I've been so disappointing with the lack of posts the past month or so - but if you check my most recent post on Inglot matte shadows I explain why :)

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  3. I adore your blog-- can't wait to see what you'll bring us in your next post! And thanks for sharing Little Sparrow Cosmetics with the world, I'm looking forward to getting my order from them and trying out bluebell for contouring and turning my other blushes purple. I also ordered the desert rose blush-- I'd be happy to swatch is for you if you haven't picked it up yet. Keep up the good work!

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    1. Thank you so much! I've got the new dark blue and purple Little Sparrow blushes on their way to me right now as well as desert rose and some lip jellies!

      I can't recommend Bluebell enough (or I suppose Wolfsbane if you're darker) - it's just so fun and surprisingly versatile!

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  4. The blue is such an interesting color but it looks great on you!

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  5. In 1981 I would have killed for such colors, as I was forced to use eye shadow creams to get the right colors for my personal punking out. Today we're so spoiled with choice!

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