Dark Matter Makeup - First Impressions and Swatches

I know it seems like I'm trying to rush these posts out, but I swear I'm not!  I just can't wait any longer to share swatches of a company I recently discovered.  This company is called Dark Matter Makeup, and for now, their only storefront is Etsy.  They introduced themselves in another indie makeup subreddit I frequent called /r/IndieIslandofMisfits.  They only sell eyeshadow right now, but everything is astronomy themed which I absolutely love.  There are no swatches of the products yet, so I bought the whole catalog to swatch for you guys!

Initially, there were two separate listings for every product, which made it extremely confusing for me to see how many individual eyeshadows they had.  I messaged the owner, Dom, and asked how many eyeshadows there were and how much it would be to buy one of each sample.  She responded very quickly and said there were 18 so far, and she can put up a special listing just for me.  The price she gave was $17 for 18 eyeshadow samples and $2 for shipping.  After I paid, she gave it to the mailman that afternoon and it was on the way over!  For some reason, shipping took awhile, I'm not sure if it was some odd route they take or if it was because of Blizzard Juno, but it took a lot longer to get to me.  Tracking was stalled for a few days, so I was left waiting in anticipation.

I finally received it a couple of days ago and got to swatching.  The eyeshadow samples come in cute little test tubes that are about half the length of my pointer finger.  The cap is extremely secure and there's no risk of making a mess because it's half full.  Dom had listed the shadows in grams, and when converted to teaspoons, she said it should be 1/2 tsp.  However, other reviewers compared it with Shiro's samples which are 1/8 tsp (albeit super generous), and said Dark Matter's samples had less.  

Anyway, my samples came in a cute moon and stars bag that's fitting with the shop's theme.  Dom included a business card and thank you card in a small wax envelope.  There's an ingredient listing on the back of the business card as well.  

I've bored you guys enough with my ramblings.  Onto the swatches!  Just a fair warning though - I did buy the whole catalog, so this post is very picture heavy!  You have been warned.

Pictures taken in daylight and swatched over ELF Glitter Primer (top half) and ELF Essential Primer (bottom half) - click to enlarge

TMTYL

TMTYL:  satin chartreuse.  This shade is a bit sheer and took a bit of layering to reach full opacity.

Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor:  beautiful shimmery rose gold

Galileo

Galileo:  gray base with pink sheen

Why So Sirius?

Why So Sirius?:  shimmery gunmetal with gold sparkles.  Heehee, I can now say I actually own two eyeshadows called Why So Sirius.  The other one is a shimmery brownish shade from Scaredy Cat Cosmetics spelled Y So Sirius.  I might try to do a look with both of them for the giggles.

Cor Serpentis

Cor Serpentis:  beautiful shimmery blue base with strong gold sheen.  I know the lighting is low here, but I had to keep it low to show off the strong gold sheen.  If I had made it any brighter, it'd be too overexposed and you wouldn't be able to see any color at all.  I found this color stunning and it definitely reminded me of Dawn Eyes Cosmetics' discontinued favorite Gold Gilded Blue.  If I were to choose, I would choose Cor Serpentis for the name alone (because I love snakes).

Daylight:  TMTYL, Ursa Minor, Galileo, Why So Sirius?, Cor Serpentis

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia:  pink with strong blue sheen.  I found this to be slightly patchy over glitter glue, but the effect is definitely gorgeous.

Monoceros

Monoceros:  satin lavender

Ixion

Ixion:  satin purple

Acrux

Acrux:  cornflower blue with green sheen.  I thought this shade was absolutely beautiful and you can see the green shimmers in person so much more!  It reminded me of Hello Waffle's The Great Catsby; I'll have to swatch them side by side to compare later on.  

Proxima

Proxima:  pigmented aegean blue with gold sparkles.  Ugh, I love how this one looks.

Daylight:  Cassiopeia, Monoceros, Ixion, Acrux, Proxima

Polaris

Polaris:  bright blurple with red shimmers

Pavonis

Pavonis:  dark denim with violet shimmers

Neptune

Neptune:  beautiful shimmery ocean blue

Ariel

Ariel:  dark peacock blue with tons of gold sparkles

Triton

Triton:  gorgeous shimmery mermaid blue.  At first, I thought it seemed quite similar to Neptune, but looking at the group swatches shows that Triton is a touch darker.

Daylight:  Polaris, Pavonis, Neptune, Ariel, Triton

Ursa Major

Ursa Major:  shimmery rose bronze

Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse:  shimmery plum base with gold sheen.  This is a fan favorite because of the strong gold duochrome.  I like it especially because of the name :3

Andromeda

Andromeda:  matte marsala.  Pantone's color of the year!  I think this is darker and closer to marsala wine.  As you can tell, this needs a sticky base to reach maximum opacity.

 Bonus!

Scorpio

Scorpio:  shimmery plum base with blue sheen.  This is actually not listed on the site yet as it's a sneak peek for DMM's upcoming Zodiac collection!  If all the other Zodiac colors are like this, then I'm even more excited!

Daylight:  Ursa Major, Betelgeuse, Andromeda, Scorpio

First off, I have to apologize for the lighting.  I didn't realize how low the lighting was until I started editing :/  Hopefully, it doesn't really detract from the beauty of these eyeshadows.  Now onto the pros and cons - 

Pros: 

• The eyeshadows are beautiful, shimmery ones are the most pigmented and buttery in texture
• There are quite a bit of duochrome shadows and they are quite obvious, none of that subtle shift
• The colors of the eyeshadows correlate to the branding (lots of blues and purples for stars and galaxies)
• The packaging is very unique and adorable
• TAT is super quick and often gets shipped out the day you make your order
• Dom is very quick and polite in her responses if you ever have questions or concerns

Cons:

• While the packaging is unique and cute, it's also very small and I'm not sure how I'll get color onto my brush without tapping out product.  It's similar to Scaredy Cat's Trial Vials except I bypassed that obstacle by using product on the rubber stopper.  I don't want to depot any of these shadows because I love the test tubes, but I'll have to figure out a way to put them on my brushes.
• There are no swatches on the site yet, so you'll have to rely on Google images or other bloggers (such as myself!).  

Overall, for such a new company (I believe they launched in the beginning of December 2014), I think they have a wonderful selection with a strong branding.  I'm so excited to see more collections, especially the upcoming Zodiac one.  Here's to hoping my star sign, Virgo, will be a beautiful shade!

- Jolie ♥