Indie Weekends: Geek Chic Cosmetics This is My Design Collection Review and Swatches

Happy Indie Weekends! I have some more Geek Chic Cosmetics swatches, and here is the This Is My Design Collection inspired by the show Hannibal!

If you haven't heard of Geek Chic Cosmetics, they sell geeky themed cosmetic collections, eyeshadows, lipsticks, blush, foundation, nail polish, and perfume. They are based in Oregon, and eyeshadows can be purchased in sample clamshells, or in full size jars.

Here are all the sample clamshells from the This Is My Design Collection, before some shadows were discontinued.

This was everything I ordered. For my other Geek Chic Cosmetics reviews from this same purchase, click here.

I have done some photo comparison collages of the clamshell packaging and label, the shadow as it looked in the packaging, a swatch done by me over primer, and the Geek Chic Cosmetics website swatch for comparison. I want to mention my swatches are all done in a homemade lightbox with daylight bulbs. I lighten them to get whites as white as possible (which I think could be corrected with another lamp, but for now this will do), without blowing out highlights. I never color correct though. 

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Blind Eye

Blind Eye - "A shimmery, metallic, silver periwinkle shadow with silver white and blue/purple duchorome shimmers."

To me, this color just looks like silver. I didn't really see the duo chrome when I swatched. It was also a very chunky style glitter that could easily cause some fallout when applying. I feel as though if the website swatch wasn't so busy trying to show the duo chrome, it would have looked just like my swatch, just a basic silver.

Unique?: No, to me this just looked like a silver eyeshadow. You can get something similar from pretty much any Indie company.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Eat The Rude

Eat The Rude - "A glistening midtoned salmon shadow with golden shimmer. Pairs nicely with oranges, pink, and reds."

I don't see salmon as much as orange. I can see the golden shimmer, but this looks too much like a light orange to be called salmon.

I noticed some issues with some of my clamshells being filled with much less product than others. This one in particular you can see there is very little product compared to some of the others. There was enough variance to notice. I had some other issues along with this one and I emailed to ask about their measurements and I was told that she uses "a 1/8 tsp measuring spoon but sometimes I do heaping spoonfuls.  But it always should be at least 1/8 a teaspoon." I personally feel as it should be the same exact measurement for every shadow, every time, not sometimes more and sometimes only the correct amount. But maybe that's just me. It doesn't make it look as though I got extra in most of my clamshells, it makes it look as though a few were skimped on. 

Unique?: No I've seen a few other companies with really similar colors.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Field Kabuki

Field Kabuki (discontinued) - "A satiny khaki with a golden sheen and copper shimmer. Like, a field."

This shadow just looks like a yellow gold to me and I would say the website swatch is pretty accurate if you account for the coloring their swatches tend to have. 

Unique?: Not at all, it's a gold shadow. Every other company has one or many gold shadows.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Gotcha!

Gotcha! (discontinued) - "A creamy pearl white that works well with any color and can even be used as a staple."

This is one shadow that I think looks just like the website swatch, and I actually really like this color. I don't really have a pure white color in my collection, so this will be great as a brow or inner corner highlight color. I have another highlight I was using, but it had some glitter in it and didn't show up well. This will be much better for that.

Unique?: No, but because I needed a color like this, I'm glad I got this one.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - He's Eating Them

He's Eating Them - "A rusty metallic chestnut red, would work fantastic wet as a liner!"

If you notice, my clamshell is wrongly labelled, and I have emailed them about a few issues, this being one of them. They are going to send me a replacement He's Eating Them. That's not really my big issue with this shadow, my problem is that it looks nothing like the website swatch. I saw the shadow was brownish, and I was hoping once swatched it would look more brick red, but it still looks brown. Pretty disappointed by this color, it was not at all what expected it to be.

Unique?: No, the color I received is basically just an ordinary light warm brown with some sheen.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Professional Curiosity

Professional Curiosity - "A plum-toned taupe pearl based shadow with aqua and cobalt shimmer and a subtle turquoise shift. A soft neutral with a twist."

With my swatch, I tried to show the shift, as well as the base color. This shadow was not very pigmented at all, I was expecting more of the purple to come through. 

Unique?: No, I've seen other companies with a similar purple shadow with a turquoise shift/duochrome, and I'd rather get those, as this one wasn't very pigmented, and would probably take several layers to show up well on the eyes.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Ravenstag

Ravenstag - "A blackened starry blue with a hint of red shimmer."

This shadow stains! I didn't really see the red shimmer in this shadow, and I think the lighting used for the website swatch makes it look a little different from what I got. But the color is very lovely, I've been wanting a starry blue in my collection. And the faint lighter blue shift it can take on in some lights, makes me think this will be very lovely for a blue smoky eye.

Unique?: Nope, other companies have a similar shade. It may have been more unique if I could see the red shimmer more.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - Tattle Crime

Tattle Crime (discontinued) - "A bold copper based red shadow with oodles of copper and red sparkle. Pairs perfectly with Eat The Rude."

To me, this doesn't look like copper, it looks like orange. The sheen looks a little coppery, and I think my swatch matches the website. But I think their descriptions are more based on what goes into making them, than what the color resulting actually looks like. It rubs me the wrong way that there are basically two orange shadows in this collection.

Unique?: No, there are plenty of other orange shadows similar to this.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - The Lure

The Lure - "A bold peacock blue with green/gold shift with spring green sparkle. Can be used wet for a lush blue/green eyeliner."

My swatch doesn't look like their swatch, but I do like the color that it shows up as in my swatch. It more reminds me of a mermaid blue/green color, and it did have some chunky glitter in it.

Unique?: Nope, it reminds me of a few shades other companies have.

Geek Chic Cosmetics - This Is My Design Collection

Overall, there were a few winners in this collection, and a few losers. The shades I liked the most were Gotcha!, Ravenstag, and The Lure. It was a little upsetting to see that He's Eating Them was not a brick red like I had hoped. It also bothers me that shade was mislabeled and Eat The Rude had the least product in it of any the other clamshells I received. I'm hoping my replacements will be better, but I am very detail oriented. I like to think I would notice if an order had two shadows labelled the same but were not the same. I didn't feel a single of these shades were unique either, so if you're looking for similar shades, there are plenty of Indie companies to choose from.

And two oranges and two blues? I think some of the Geek Chic Cosmetics collections have too many similar colors. I don't mind if they are meant to complement each other, but having two sets of the same shade in one collection is a bit much.

My other problem with this collection as a whole is the lack of a certain iconic Hannibal color, blood red. Or even a red wine color. These shadows don't scream Hannibal to me. It needed something red, because without it, this collection isn't cohesive, and is just another collection trying to coattail on the success of the show. Even for die-hard fans of the show, there are other This Is My Design collections to get that I think are much better than the Geek Chic one (only from photos, I don't actually own the other shadows). The one that comes to mind is the Aromaleigh This Is My Design collection, so check that out if you love Hannibal.

I will be continuing my Geek Chic Cosmetics review in one last post, stay tuned for that!

What do you think of Geek Chic Cosmetics and the This Is My Design Collection? Let me know in the comments!

For all other Geek Chic Cosmetics reviews, click here.