Corvus Cosmetics released the Westerburg collection, consisting of ten eyeshadow shades, in collaboration with Cara of Ten Three Labs, who released several scents, about a month ago. It is inspired by the cult classic Heathers. Corvus also features two other eyeshadow collections: the Kinder-und Hausmarchen collection, based on Grimm's fairytales (one of which is Rapunzel and we all know how I feel bout dat) and the Mouseia collection, inspired by the nine muses of Greek mythology. The Mouseia collection also features compact mirrors with beautiful artwork of the muses done by Krysteene Hoerner.
I picked up some sample baggies from all three collections, as well as a full size of Berenice, a COTM who finds it origins in Edgar Allan Poe's short story with the same name. I would love to ride ol' Eddie's mustachio into the sunset so I definitely had to pick up this COTM. I also purchased a full size of Euterpe, as I wanted a cream matte shade for my collection.
Date order was placed: April 23
Date order was shipped: May 15
Date received: May 20
I had no issues with email updates or tracking. I did contact Noel to change the samples that I had requested (about a half million times... sorry) and she was more than kind and willing to oblige me. I have no qualms about the customer service and the transaction was completed smoothly.
My items arrived beautifully packaged in this purple (hnnggg) and baroque print (hnnggg) tissue paper, along with the Corvus Cosmetics card wrapped in black string.
Noel included a couple Jolly Ranchers and Smarties packages (fun fact: Smarties are different in the US and Canada - where I'm originally from. In Canada, they are candy coated milk chocolate and in the US they are actually what we would call Rockets in Canada, more like poverty Sweet Tarts) along with the rest of my colorful menagerie.
The samples were quite generously sized (the amount of product received in sample baggies is one instance in which, in fact, size actually does matter). Here they are all swatched on my NC30 skin with strong yellow undertones (slightly bronze and olive). I swatched them over both Too Faced Shadow Insurance and half Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, again, in mostly patting motions with ELF's eyeshadow brush. Lucky for me, this time, I parked on the street and my boyfriend was at work, so I had my big ol' parking spot to myself to take photos!
From left to right, we have: Euterpe, Let Down Your Hair, Thalia, The Thirteenth Gift, Gingerbread Haus, a swatch you shouldn't look at because I totally botched it, Barely a Bite, Berenice, Moby Dick, Urania, and He Was No Frog. The half on top is over PE and the bottom half is over Shadow Insurance. For the matte shades, I did not use PE at all, so the whole swatch is over Shadow Insurance.
All color descriptions in bold below are directly from Corvus's website.
1) Euterpe - A creamy white highlight shade with a near-matte finish, from the Mouseia collection. I definitely overestimated the amount of eyeshadow I had to put on my brush to achieve my desired opacity. In my previous post where I swatched Aromaleigh's Galactic Mission One, I needed a lot of product on my brush to get the swatches shown. Here, a little product goes a long way. This was the cream color I was looking for, and I can't wait to use it under and with other shadows to truly make them glow.
Here is a photo of the illustration that was on the FS jar!
2) Let Down Your Hair - A soft nude pink with lots of shimmer, from the Kinder-und Hausmarchen collection. This is my jam. This is my Punzie. Hai. *waving Asian lady emoji here*. If I have the time (aka. an extra 5-7 minutes to spare and pray that PE doesn't totally f up my whole shadow steeze), this is one that I would use a sticky base for. It truly glows over the PE, and I wish the shadow was slightly less sheer without it, but it is oh so gorgeous. Sadly, this is not one that serves particularly well with my skin tone, and I will probably not be getting a full size, but I just had to try it because 'Punzel.
3) Thalia - A pastel lavender shade with a slight shimmer, from the Mouseia collection. I totally did not need the PE for this eyeshadow. It really performs well without the sticky base and using a sticky base did not change its performance. Thalia is the muse of comedy, but ain't nobody laughing here because this shadow is the bee's knees. I WILL NEVER BE SICK OF MY HUMOR. NEVAR.
4) The Thirteenth Gift - A coral pink with a gold shift, from the Kinder-und Hausmarchen collection. Ok, disclaimer, by this point I completely admit to Ctrl+C Ctrl+V with this collection name. But I digress. This is my favorite shade out of all the eyeshadows that I purchased. It reminds me a little of Fyrinnae's Rapunzel Had Extensions, but features a deeper, more vibrant pink and less gold, which makes the contrast between the pink and the gold more noticeable than Fyrinnae RHE. I actually wore this shadow in a look today with a matte cranberry in my crease and it was stunning. It does benefit from PE, but it definitely worked today without it as well. I would suggest a sticky base if you really want to emphasize the gold. If not, the gold does pop without it, so no need to fret if you don't have the 5-7 minutes to f around with a sticky base. Full size, yes please!
5) Gingerbread Haus - A matte tan with a complex indigo-purple-red shift, from the Kinder-und Hausmarchen collection. Apologies, my computer seems to have eaten my other photo of Gingerbread that really shows the purple shift, but it is pretty apparent over PE. Doesn't that base just look like a cookie, warm and chewy, smelling like ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a slightly too sweet vanilla frosting? I have a baked goods fetish, particularly those that involve cinnamon, so please don't mind me if I break out into blog song-and-dance over eyeshadows (and/or perfume... oh god) that remind me of them. I do think that PE darkens the base considerably here, which may or may not be a desired effect, depending on your preference, but the purple glitter pops with or without it. I don't get much of the red in the description.
6) Barely a Bite - An apple red with a poisonous green shift, from the Kinder-und Hausmarchen collection. Ooh, this one is just the right amount of eery and pretty. The base is more of a brown-red, instead of a bright apple red, but it works well with my skin tone. I don't think the performance was a ton better over PE and would do well with just regular primer.
7) Berenice - I unfortunately do not have the official website description, but if I remember correctly, it is meant to be a matte shade, like that of dried blood. The story Berenice (spoiler alert!) involves a box of bloody teeth which is extremely Poe, and this shade is inspired by that imagery. Apologies for the sparkles at 9:00 and 11:00 that migrated over from Gingerbread Haus. This shade, like Thalia, is another where a little really does go a long way. I achieved this opacity with a little more than one pat-down. I'm sure that when my first child (in the future) loses his or her first tooth, I will definitely be thinking of this eyeshadow and may even wear it to encourage the gums to loosen a little. I'm so glad these COTMs come in a full size because I am really digging the grungy matte look these days and this will definitely do the job for a darker red-based crease shade.
8) Moby Dick - A shimmery neutral gray, from the Westerburg collection. As an extremely warm-undertoned person, I really struggle finding gray eyeshadows. A lot of grays that I come across are extremely cool-toned, and thus they tend to make me look bruised, washed out, or drowsy, especially if I use it as an all-over-the-lid shade. I think this is warmer than your average gray, and hits a good neutral midpoint. I'm not sure if I will be getting a full size, but I could definitely make the rest of this sample work in some of my future looks. The PE did not particularly bring out the shimmer and I think it would be fine without a sticky base.
9) Urania - A near black navy base with a strong blue and turquoise shimmer, with gold and silver sparks, from the Mouseia collection. Phew, that description definitely promises a lot, but wow did it deliver! The PE really made the shimmer come alive and emphasized the gold glitter in it. I'm so super impressed with this shade. I actually used it in a look that I wore to the Tomorrowland showing on Friday night, but I sadly couldn't find a suitable orange in my collection to pair this blue with (in case you are not familiar with the movie, the Tomorrowland pin which makes all the magic happen is silver, orange, and blue). I went with Shiro's Cornucopia which is a golden yellow with Urania in the crease and it turned out beautifully. I will one day find a great orange to pair this with and post a full look! But really. I'm probably going to go for a full size of this. It's unlike any blue I've seen before and is truly magical.
Here is the Tomorrowland pin, just to see the colors I was going for!
10) He Was No Frog - A pastel blue-green with a gold shift, from the Kinder-und Hausmarchen collection. Unf. If you converse with me about makeup, you'll know that my absolute love (apart from lip products... don't even) is mint green/slightly aqua shadows. I am in love with Baroque Cosmetics's Dragon and Shiro's Maiden Queen and Farore's Wind. I will probably one day do a comparison swatch post with all these shades (and more - I have some Darling Girl coming in the mail eventually as well). He Was No Frog is stunning. I prefer it over Aromaleigh's Aquila because it is much more pigmented, less dull, and that gold shimmer is to die for. The base is extremely vibrant. As you can see in the photos, PE takes the shimmer and the shade to another whole level. I love this and will definitely be getting a full size.
We have reached a brief intermission for my short stature and tattooed forearms. If I had slightly longer limbs and did not have tattoos right under the crook of my elbow, I would have made it all the way to thirteen swatches without having to makeup wipe them off and start again. #firstworldproblems. Here are the last three shades, from top to bottom: What's Your Damage, Melpomene, and BS With a Body Count.
11) What's Your Damage? - A dark rusted red, from the Westerburg collection. This shade is Berenice's slightly less red, more orange/brown sister. It's the shade that I botched the swatch on in the first set (If you must know, I put down PE and it really f'ed up because I gave it a hearty swipe - a big no-no according to my own personal PE technique - and it was not acceptable). This is also one that a little goes a long way. I would dare to say that it is the most pigmented of the bunch. I really did not need very much product at all to achieve the opacity I did. I'm super impressed with the opacity of these shadows and this formula. I don't think I will be reaching for a full size of this (but it's a contender) just because I already have Berenice and it is quite similar.
12) Melpomene - A very dark brown-red with a slight red highlight, from the Mouseia collection. This shade actually pulled way more brown-purple than red on me. It was not particularly enhanced by PE, but was extremely pigmented, something that is a necessity for me with darker shadows. I would say that out of the bunch, this shade produced a result furthest away from my expectations. It is still beautiful and performed extremely well, just not what I was expecting based on the description.
13) BS With a Body Count - A grey-toned blue-purple with a strong green shift, from the Westerburg collection. Oh dayyyyuuummmnn girl. This is definitely one of my favorites that I purchased. The green shift and the shimmer is oh-so-subtle but becomes very apparent when applied over PE. It's very blue-grey. Think Hades's robe in the Disney version of Hercules, with less calamity but the same amount of pizazz. I love this shade a ton... on my arm. I'm not sure if I can incorporate it into a lot of looks that I normally go for, because I shy away from greys and silvers and prefer golds, and for that reason am not sure if I will be purchasing a full size but it is truly beautiful in terms of what it promises (and delivers) and its color payoff.
Overall, Corvus Cosmetics is definitely an indie company that I see picking up tons of steam in the near future, like my little Thomas the Tank engine when I used to run beside him (and drag him along - poor Sir Toppam Hat). The pigmentation and color payoff of these shadows is truly out of this world and trumps many other companies that I have tried. There are definitely going to be more products released soon, and I will be sure to place another order with them.
Here is the look that I did today with The Thirteenth Gift all over my lid and a matte cranberry shade in the crease. Hello Waffle's Jane Pawsten is on my lips, and a light dusting of Shiro's You Can McLean On Me (my HG blush!) is applied to my cheeks.
