(Com)Pressing Fyrinnae Eyeshadows

Yet again, I've succumbed to the lure of Fyrinnae loose eyeshadow minis (remember that one order I already had planned back in March?); I looove the ultimate appeal of their sparkliciousness. I hate however how inefficient these little pots can be - so while I was a rather absent blogger for the first two weeks of April, I was a very dilligent (com)presser.

Pressing loose eyeshadows really is a rather satisfying experience. Look at all the space saved! All these empty pots consolidated into one perfectly slim palette! Oh, and the simplicity of just dipping your brush into the tiny pan, no spillage, no fall out! I will admit that I have become quite an ardent enthusiast of squeezing sparkly goo into tiny metal receptacles and I'm certainly enjoying the fruits of my (messy) labor.

In terms of the process itself, I largely followed Kate's instructions on pressing her Fyrinnae minis, with some minor adjustments. First off, I purchased my supplies at TKB Trading, including the 15mm tin pans (which, although prone to rusting if exposed to water, have the advantage of magnetizing to my Z palette, as opposed to the aluminium pans), as well as their little pressing kit, pressing ribbon and their own mixing medium, which I used instead of glycerin suggested by Kate. In terms of the process itself, I found that in order to get the just right consistency of the mixture, I had to add the mixing medium immediately followed by isopropyl alcohol; it simply refused to ball together otherwise. Lastly, I was not able to press right after filling up the tin pans because there was too much of the mixture oozing out the sides - so I waited a couple hours for the alcohol to evaporate before using the ribbon and my little stamp to press the eyeshadows down.

Here's a look at all of my pressed old & new Fyrinnae minis together in a Z Palette - oh, and an extra Barry M Dazzle Dust in Mushroom I couldn't stop myself from pressing too. Some of you are probably thinking a) at least half of these shades look exactly the same b) why even go to all this trouble? To that, I can only answer that I am slightly addicted to neutrals in general, taupes in particular, and that I really enjoy my Fyrinnae shadows. I find their shade selection interesting, the complexity of the shadows unique, and the price point more than tempting. So there. Oh, and their lab is within an hour drive from where I live - buy local!

 All of the shadows together, left to right, top to bottom: Electric Stardust Arcane Magic, Newcastle, Snow Leopard, Herbivore, London Mod, Nijiro, Witchy Woodland Creatures, Feisty Fennec Fox, Barry M Dazzle Dust in Mushroom, When I Grow Up, (shades I owned previously:) Moon Child, Kurisumasu!, Envy Me, Steampunk Arcane Magic, Madame & Eve's Arcane Magic, (new) Enchanting Otters, Crimson Ghost, Sacred, Damn Paladins (renamed Work Safe Blue), Evocation, Purgatory, (new) Dapper Mr Shark.

Swatches of the newly acquired shades after pressing, neutrals first, on bare arm (no primer): Nijiro, Witchy Woodland Creatures, Newcastle, Feisty Fennec Fox, Snow Leopard.

And the brights: Electric Stardust Arcane Magic, Herbivore, When I Grow Up, London Mod, Dapper Mr Shark, Enchanting Otters (look at the multicolor sparkle! look look!)

So far, my new favorites are definitely Witchy Woodland Creatures, Electric Stardust AM, When I Grow Up, Dapper Mr Shark and Enchanting Otters. I haven't experimented with all of these shades yet but I do have a couple looks already that I'm intending to post some time soon, so keep your peepers peeled. Also, I haven't noticed my pressed shadows performing any differently to their loose forms and the biggest upside to the whole endevour is that I now reach for my Fyrinnae pretties almost every day.

Have you ever tried pressing loose pigments or eyeshadows? What shadows have you (re)discovered recently?