Fyrinnae Wizardry vs Performance Colors Zombie Bride

I promised a comparison post between Fyrinnae Wizardry and PC Zombie Bride a while back, and today I delivered! We all have a little hole in our hearts where Performance Colors once sat, so I decided to see if the wound could be mended a little. See for yourself!

Both products purchased by me (Wizardry) and a friend (Zombie Bride). All opinions are my own, and all quoted descriptions are taken from the product's respective company. Lip swatches are taken over moisturized lips and a layer of clear lip liner.

Fyrinnae Liquid Matte Lipstick in Wizardry: "deep burgundy base with a highlight which changes from turquoise-blue to purple to pink"

This is a liquid lipstick that dries down to a semi-metallic finish. The base is a deep burgundy/purple with turquoise sparks and a magenta shift. This lipstick does not budge, so it stains a bit and can be hard to remove. It has a tendency to feather, and even over my clear lip liner, it began to feather as it dried down. Because of its thin consistency, application takes practice. I think the key to prevent feathering and ensure cleaner lines is to use several thin applications, and allowing the product to dry in between.

Performance Colors Restorative Lipstick in Zombie Bride: "frenzied bruised purple with a high blue sheen"

This is a solid lipstick in a balm tube, which makes it hard to apply in my little Cupid's Bow. For this reason, I applied with a lip brush for this post. It's a deep red-toned purple with turquoise sparks and a strong blue to magenta shift depending on the angle. The product is a little gritty, and it likes to highlight dry patches on your lips if you apply straight from the tube. It smudges easily and quickly fades down to a magenta base.

So here I swatched Fyrinnae Wizardry on top and PC Zombie Bride on the bottom. I applied Zombie Bride straight from the tube. Both formulas had some issues with patchiness and streakiness, which seems to be the price paid for darker indie lip products. Overall, it took more work to even out Zombie Bride, and even then I couldn't get it quite right. In the sun, Wizardry's sparks stand out more than the shift itself, and Zombie Bride is the opposite. I attribute this to the fact that Wizardry dries down more matte than Zombie Bride. The wetness of Zombie Bride allows for more sheen. I think all in all, these are good color dupes, but are (for obvious reasons), not formula dupes at all.

Here I swatched Fyrinnae Wizardry on the left and PC Zombie Bride on the right with the aid of a lip brush. When applied on my lips, they looked the same as my arm swatches, so I decided to wear these for an hour to see what happens. (I promise I know how to execute a proper shape with lip products, the thinness of Wizardry got away from me.) As you can see, Wizardry has held its ground, where Zombie Bride has already faded significantly. As Zombie Bride faded, I feel like it lost its strong shift. Overall, Wizardry performs how I wish Zombie Bride would.

So here are my final thoughts: Not only is Wizardy a great color dupe of Zombie Bride, it performs better due to its excellent formula. It applies with less streakiness and patchiness, and though the thin formula can be tricky to apply, once it dries it's going to stay put all day. Performance Colors had a wonderful run, but for anyone kicking themselves for not picking up Zombie Bride, give Wizardry a try!

Drooling a Bit Over Fyrinnae's Shadows and Blushes

Disclaimer: I am currently in the process of reswatching duochromes and photographing them differently to give my readers a more accurate depiction of the shifts. Please be patient while I go through the process of updating my past reviews. :)

Part two of many from my /r/CatsandCosmetics exchange extravaganza, this post centers around Fyrinnae. I received four shadows and three blushes, and I'm excited to share my thoughts with you guys! My camera was not having it with jar photos today, so some look better than others. I know my swatches are far more important, and those turned out fine. so I gave my camera a scolding and pressed on.

L-R, T-B: Rapunzel Had Extensions, Envy Me, Feisty Fennec Fox, Mephisto

Enchant, Greek Goddess, Charm

As usual, shadow swatches are taken over bare skin on the left and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the right. Blush swatches are blended out over bare skin. All quoted product descriptions are taken directly from Fyrinnae's website, which can be found here.

Rapunzel Had Extensions: "pale pink with a stunning brilliant light gold highlight"

Fyrinnae's all-time top selling shade, and for a reason. A pink-orange in the jar, this shadow applies a light gold over bare skin and Pixie Epoxy. The semi-loose formula of their shadow works so beautifully with their Pixie Epoxy; they really are a match made in heaven. This is just such a light and gorgeous shadow. I understand the hype now, and I'm kicking myself for not already having this shadow in my collection.

Envy Me: "soft tan-taupe with a green highlight"

I can absolutely vouch for the formula of this shadow, and the shadow description is spot on, but I'm not finding myself too in love with this color. I feel the green and taupe don't go well together, and it resulted in a shadow that looks a little muddy to me. If you like the color, absolutely snatch it up when you can.

Feisty Fennec Fox: "cool gray-taupe finished with a pale gold satiny highlight"

I've been on the prowl for a grey shadow that doesn't turn into a metallic silver over a primer, because I feel a lot of them do that. This is the shadow I've been looking for! The gold highlight was oh so subtle, and just enough to keep the shadow looking interesting. Without that highlight, this shadow probably would've fallen flat for me. Also, for some reason I found the way it looked in-jar absolutely adorable. Like little, cute makeup pebbles. Does anyone else think it's cute somehow? Am I crazy?

Mephisto: "a dark royal blue with a vibrant metallic red sheen"

This shadow is.. interesting. It applied very patchy, and I had to use quite a bit of product to fill in the spaces that looked sparse. I wasn't getting the right color out of it, and when I checked Fyrinnae's page, it suggested to add even more shadow to get that proper red sheen rather than the copper I was getting. That seemed a little high maintenance. By the time I went to add even more shadow, my Epoxy was dry and I decided to leave it be. Unless you're fine with packing on a lot of shadow (and possibly using two layers of primer) to get the color you see on Fyrinnae's page, this is what you get. I'll post a swatch of it after adding multiple layers if anyone's interested, but I felt it was important to show what one layer of the shadow looked like. It's a pretty shadow, but it's too high maintenance for me. This is my first time feeling frustrated with a shadow.

Enchant: "vibrant peach with a very slight touch of pink shimmer"

Fyrinnae's most popular blush since 2006, and I have to say, I'm surprised. This is a fabulous bright peach, but you would think their most popular blush would be a tad more wearable. With Enchant, and all the Fyrinnae blushes I'll be reviewing, I have to stress that these will look best on darker skin, unless you're a bit of a daredevil like me and are willing to brave the outside world with bright-ass cheeks. If you're wanting your cheeks to look less pigmented than my swatches, you need to start out with the teensiest amount imaginable. Use a stipple brush, or any brush with stiffer bristles, and pat the product on your cheeks with a light hand. Don't do anything except pat with that brush, and don't worry if it looks patchy or silly. Then take a blush brush and blend it like crazy. If it still looks a bit patchy, or if you'd like more pigmentation, repeat those steps over again. Also, for the love of Pete, do NOT dip your brush directly into the jar. That will result in pumpkin cheeks and perhaps an overturned piece of furniture. Tap some blush onto a flat surface, like the bottom of the lid, before you do anything. Don't expect to be an expert at applying these right off the bat, because you won't be. There's a learning curve for sure, but indie blushes are amazing and the struggle is worth it. #blushstruggles

Greek Goddess: "vibrant pink with a very slight pink shimmer"

Out of these three blushes, I would say this one is the tamest of them all. It still takes a light hand to apply, but it blends out to be a very pretty rosy pink rather than the pinkish coral you see in the jar. Fyrinnae states that it doesn't contain titanium dioxide or whiteners, so it's ideal for blending on darker skin. Really, I think this blush would look fabulous on a variety of skin tones.

Charm: "vibrant cool pink with the slightest touch of shimmer"

I'm not going to lie, this blush intimidated the crap out of me when I opened the jar. This is Barbie pink, and I never thought it could work. But Fyrinnae continues to surprise and impress, because this blends out to be a wearable cool pink. Honestly, I didn't think any of these three blushes could ever look okay on me. I'm excited to incorporate all three into my everyday looks!

That wraps up my post for today! I'm thinking about perhaps doing a tutorial for my next post. Some of the discussion today on IMAM has made me want to branch out and do more than just swatches and reviews, as helpful as they can be. If you have any ideas for future posts here, please let me know in the comments!