Sassy Minerals: review

This company doesn't get enough attention, I'll say that right out! Firstly, samples. In jars. For $0.75 US. Seventy-five cents US, which some days is actually less than $1AU. And you actually get a bit more (to my eye, I haven't weighed them or anything) than other companies who do $1 samples in bags.

S

Schmooze.
For bagged samples, there are loads of wholesale companies and even ebay sellers you can get jars from if, like me, you're not keen on bags. Jars take up more space, it's true, but I find them so much easier to work with.

Sassy's eyeshadows are divided up into 4 categories. The main ones are Shimmer (so everything sparkly goes here), Liner (deeper/darker shades) and Silk Luster, which are Sassy's very unique mattes. I'm not a matte girl, I'll say that right out. I did order a couple of these Lusters just to try, and they're so smooth and not chalky at all and I actually really like them. The last category, Deja Vu, are colours that are dupes of different brands. If you're looking for specific dupes or replacements, go here. The Deja Vu shadows are viewable in the other categories.

To date I have placed three Sassy orders, and I've gotten 2-3 free, full-sized samples with each order. I don't have all of the shadows that I bought because I gave some to a friend, but I have swatched all of the ones I still have, plus 3 blushes. All shadows are swatched over Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, and I dabbed a bit of PE on top of that for the shimmers. Everything's listed in order from left to right.

Silk Lusters: 
Refresh (faded-denim blue)
Mojito (pale minty green) - this colour did strike me as being similar to Concrete Mineral's Detox, but as you can see, Detox [swatched underneath] is a bit lighter, brighter and of course it has a light dusting of silver sparkles.
Mystify (lilac) - can look a bit pinkish in some lights. Very pretty, delicate shade.
Pucker Up (yellow) - almost the pastel version of Aromaleigh's HiFi Matte in Atomic [swatched underneath].

Shimmers:
Starstruck (dark blue-grey with silvery glitter)
Cocktail Party (metallic greyish lavender)

Neverending (deep, shimmery blue-purple-grey)

Ruby Slippers (metallic red with a hint of gold shimmer) [there's a bit of False Pretences that wandered up and tried to say hi to Ruby, sorry!]

 

Always a Bridesmaid (lilac with gold shimmer)
Jinx (heather grey with a strong aqua shimmer )
Fake It (rosy peach with gold sparkle)

Fake It (again)
False Pretenses (vivid, shimmery spearmint green)
Radiate (pastel-yellow shimmer)

Atomic (orange shimmer, looks  really gold here but it's actually orange)
Schmooze (light pink with an unexpected blue gleam )
Crown Jewels (smoky grey with flashes of green and gold)
Apparition (soft grey with mauve shimmer highlight)

Liners:
My Mantra (shimmery chocolate brown)
Shatter (dark grey with glitter)
Shocking (shimmery electric blue-violet)

Thunderstruck (soft matte grey)

Secretive (deep matte navy, almost black)

Foundation and blush samples:
Cool, Neutral, Warm and Olive Tan. I still haven't found my match, I think I might need to order a few of their Medium shades.

Silk Luster blushes:
Curiosity, Sweet Memories and Charming. Now, I did swatch these blushes, but I could not get them to turn out accurately no matter what lighting, angles and settings I used! Basically, all I achieved from swatching them was to note that I should give Charming a go soon, and that Sweet Memories would probably blend right into my skin colour because it's such a peachy pink. The colour descriptions are pretty accurate on the Sassy website, both Curiosity and Charming are a close match to my natural cheek flush colour.

Their shipping is cheap, and boy is it FAST! My second order took nine days from payment to arrival. That's international. It usually takes at least a fortnight for me to get anything from the U.S.


Silk Lusters
As aforementioned, I'm not super into mattes. Sassy's version of them are smooth, vibrant and silky. If you're a matte-lover, or were previously on the fence like me, I'd give theirs a go. Thunderstruck makes an amazing liner on days where you don't feel like full-on black. Pucker Up was quite pale, and didn't show up well on me. I think the only Silk Luster I'd want a full-size of would be Thunderstruck, but again, that's just because I wouldn't wear mattes.

Shimmers
Sassy's shimmers are unique, complex, layered and sparkly without being 'glitterbombs'! Yes, there is a bit of  fallout upon application, but really, what loose and glittery eyeshadow have you come accross that doens't get a bit messy? (No really, is there one, 'cause that'd be cool). They're pretty long-lasting, and can be built up from a gentle wash (light swipe with a dry brush) to brighter/deeper intensity (Pixie Epoxy is the best way to showcase these shadows). Some of them are really complex, almost duochrome, having a grey or muted base colour with coloured shimmer: Jinx, Apparition, and False Pretenses are a good example. Some have coloured glitter - Crown Jewels (one of my faves), Starstruck and Ruby Slippers.



Eyeliners
Sassy's liner shades can of course be used as shadows. This category contains particularly dark and intense shades. Secretive, My Mantra and Shocking are very deep and pigmented shades.

Foundation
I have no idea what 'undertones' I have, so I tried to cover all my bases with my sampling. It was really thoughtful of the gals at Sassy to include the one Tan sample shade I was missing! I'm still trying to figure out my match, so I can't say too much about the foundation at this point. It feels quite smooth and soft, has pretty good coverage, and is not too cakey or chalky though. Again, these samples are $0.75 so it really won't hurt too much to see for yourself!

Blush
Apart from a free Lushblush sample from Meow, I'd never ventured into blush before. My cheeks are naturally quite pink and I don't like to highlight that too much. However, since venturing into heavier-coverage face products, a little bit of colour helps keep you fresh-looking. I picked the three very 'natural' pinks which seemed like they'd be closest to my natural colour, and in Silk Luster finish (I liked the colour of the Meow blush I got but found the shimmer really off-putting). I just blend a miniscule amount in, because these blushes are just as pigmented as the eyeshadows. Sassy offer bronzers too, but I haven't tried any.

CONCLUSION!
I'll make no bones about it - I think Sassy is awesome. They have fast delivery, cheap shipping, cheap SAMPLES IN JARS, and amazing colours in a variety of finishes, varying complexity, and so many colours. Ruby Slippers is a really beautiful, metallic, wearable red. I love Jinx, Apparition and False Pretenses - they can go on as a wash of sheer, shining colour or can be PE'd for a glimmery, intense look. The descriptions and pictures on their website are pretty darn accurate as well.

I've seen many swatches of the infamous Archetype eyeshadows, the complexity and the glitter, and read the mournful tales of three, four, five, six months and beyond that people waited for them. To those poor souls, I say this: go to Sassy, spend an extra 50c US per product and consider that a small token for their seamless customer service and a far more user-friendly website. I give Sassy:

Hehehe!

You can find the Sassy Minerals website here. They also have a blog and Facebook fan page.