More and more indie makeup brands are springing up left and right in North America and Europe! I decided to expand my makeup collection and placed several orders with one brand, Medusa's Makeup, and even tested out their subscription service. The brand claims to be cruelty-free and vegan. I am a supporter of cruelty-free beauty, so decided to give Medusa's Makeup a go.
The first order I placed was a spur of the moment decision. There was a sale so I decided to order just three Totally Baked eye shadows in the colors Radical, a bright purple, Whatever, a deep gray, and Fer Sure, a bright red. The finish on all the baked eye shadows is a smooth shimmer finish.
The package arrived in a bubble mailer (bubble-wrap lined packet) with pink flamingos, which I thought was cute. They also included a logo sticker.
The brochure inside had a lips design on the back and showed their other products on the front.
I emailed customer service, but was told to contact the paper manufacturers myself, which made no sense. I received this paper from Medusa's Makeup, so they should be the ones to check with the manufacturers to make sure this doesn't happen to other customers.
I did NOT ask for a refund, compensation, new table, or anything at all from them. I asked for tips on removing the stain. Yet, I was met with radio silence. I asked to email another customer service rep and was contacted by a higher-up who said they would email the factory and if there was no response, then this case was closed. Not exactly the tidiest way to end things, is it?
Sadly, the stain remains to this day and customer service has been very quiet and continues to use this paper. I know this because I placed another order with Medusa's Makeup a while later for the Electro Eye Shadow Collection during a sale, and still received this paper (though I was very careful to recycle it straight away.
Again, everything arrived in a bubble packet and nothing was damaged. I'm very pleased with this collection and have used it several times. The packaging is a sturdy plastic (inside the cardboard box) with the logo printed on the top of each. I really appreciate the clear tops so it's easy to see which color is which.
I swatched all the shadows and compared them to the Totally Baked shadows I mentioned earlier, as well as three shades from indie brand Sugarpill eye shadows my friend had sent me.
The overall quality seems really nice and the color shows up well on the eyelids. They have a bit of powdery kick-up if you dip too hard into them, but the only one that seems super sensitive is the Electro Yellow. No matter how gently I roll a brush across, it will be powdery. The rest seem to do all right and the color payoff is wonderful.
I did also order a lipgloss in this same order because it ended up getting me free shipping and being cheaper than only buying the eye shadows. I chose the shade Sparkle Mania (no longer available) which was absolute rubbish. The stopper was too narrow for the doe-foot applicator so very little gloss could be applied with each dip. To make it worse, there was hardly any sparkle in it! I've since taken the stopper out and tried to cut a larger opening but it still is not a good gloss. I figure that is why it's been discontinued x_x
Next I opted to sign up for the subscription box as I've never tried one from any brand before and enjoy watching the unboxings online.
In the September box, which cost me about US$20 due to being international, contained a Totally Baked eyeshadow, a Lip Paint, a Glitter, and their cream highlight.
They do NOT give you a makeup bag of any sort, unlike every other beauty subscription box I've seen online. From this box, I tried to make one look, using the eye shadow as a blusher as well (and finding out just how pigmented it is...)
The products were mostly very lovely, except for the cream highlighter, which is greasy and doesn't absorb or dry down. It basically made me feel like I'd applied oil to my face. The formula hasn't improved over time, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it -_-;;
After I received my October Beauty Box, I decided to cancel the subscription simply because I don't need more makeup and the randomness I feared would get me some repeat items since I'd placed separate orders before.
Again, there was a glitter, this time in Ziggy, as well as their new Metal AF Lip Gloss in Kiss me Deadly (spooky~~), their Witch Lash mascara, and a limited edition Eye Dust in Night Owl. The card included this time had a Halloween-appropriate back so I framed it ^u^v Spooky skull art!
I've never used a metallic lipgloss before, but this one turned out to be very nice! Certainly loads better than the Sparkle Mania lipgloss!
Overall, the brand seems to be in the middle of changing some products and improving. I was pleased with most of the items I purchased, with only the highlighter and Sparkle Mania lip gloss being absolutely useless.
I would recommend this brand's eye products to others, as well as the Metal AF lip glosses. Everything else is a bit of a hit-or-miss in my experience.
Customer service is rather lacking in the logistics, common sense, and problem-solving departments so don't expect too much if anything goes wrong.
The first order I placed was a spur of the moment decision. There was a sale so I decided to order just three Totally Baked eye shadows in the colors Radical, a bright purple, Whatever, a deep gray, and Fer Sure, a bright red. The finish on all the baked eye shadows is a smooth shimmer finish.
The package arrived in a bubble mailer (bubble-wrap lined packet) with pink flamingos, which I thought was cute. They also included a logo sticker.
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| One-swipe Swatches |
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| Simple but stunning design |
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| More Medusa's Makeup goodies |
The receipt was printed on BRIGHT neon pink paper, which was really fun, but it left a stain on my table when some water was spilled on it.
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| Too much pink! |
I did NOT ask for a refund, compensation, new table, or anything at all from them. I asked for tips on removing the stain. Yet, I was met with radio silence. I asked to email another customer service rep and was contacted by a higher-up who said they would email the factory and if there was no response, then this case was closed. Not exactly the tidiest way to end things, is it?
Sadly, the stain remains to this day and customer service has been very quiet and continues to use this paper. I know this because I placed another order with Medusa's Makeup a while later for the Electro Eye Shadow Collection during a sale, and still received this paper (though I was very careful to recycle it straight away.
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| ALL the colors!! |
I swatched all the shadows and compared them to the Totally Baked shadows I mentioned earlier, as well as three shades from indie brand Sugarpill eye shadows my friend had sent me.
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| Comparisons |
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| Electro Eye Shadows in action |
Next I opted to sign up for the subscription box as I've never tried one from any brand before and enjoy watching the unboxings online.
In the September box, which cost me about US$20 due to being international, contained a Totally Baked eyeshadow, a Lip Paint, a Glitter, and their cream highlight.
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| September Beauty Box Subscription |
The products were mostly very lovely, except for the cream highlighter, which is greasy and doesn't absorb or dry down. It basically made me feel like I'd applied oil to my face. The formula hasn't improved over time, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it -_-;;
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| September Beauty Box |
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| Halloween Beauty Box |
I've never used a metallic lipgloss before, but this one turned out to be very nice! Certainly loads better than the Sparkle Mania lipgloss!
Overall, the brand seems to be in the middle of changing some products and improving. I was pleased with most of the items I purchased, with only the highlighter and Sparkle Mania lip gloss being absolutely useless.
I would recommend this brand's eye products to others, as well as the Metal AF lip glosses. Everything else is a bit of a hit-or-miss in my experience.
Customer service is rather lacking in the logistics, common sense, and problem-solving departments so don't expect too much if anything goes wrong.
Products: 
Packaging:
Customer Service:
Recommend? Yes, but only for the eye products
I hope some of you found this helpful. If you have any more questions or would like to see other colors in action, let me know and I'll write a follow-up post!
P.S. What should I do with the two useless items I got? Non-sparkly or glossy Sparkle Mania lipgloss, and greasy, heavy cream highlighter.
Maybe I can try the highlighter under powder foundation to see if that tackles the sticky and sliding feeling? I really don't know much about cosmetics beyond making bright eye looks!
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