Fyrinnae Fall 2010 Dia de Los Muertos

This guest post comes from the awesome and amazing Il Diavolo Bello (@diavolobello).


Fyrinnae’s upcoming fall collection is inspired by the colorful decorations of the Mexican holiday Dia de Los Muertos, or, Day of the Dead. The purpose of the holiday is to honor those who have passed on and celebrate their lives and the memories they have left behind. During the days leading up to the main day, on November 2nd, family graves are visited and home alters are decorated with the ofrenda (“offering”) which consists of gifts of food such as pan de muerto (lit. “bread of the dead”), drink, candy, toys, candles, and other things meant for the enjoyment of relatives who have passed away. Merchants line the city streets selling goods depicting calaveras (“skulls”), catrinas, and other cheerful depictions of death. It is not a time of mourning, but one of celebration and reverence.

 The shades in this collection mirror the uplifting tone of the celebration, eschewing somber blacks and greys in favor of vivid violets and warm pinks. I’ve also included a swatch of the lip lustre Candy Decadence, which is unrelated to the collection and was released a while ago. Sugar Skulls is also already available.

Descriptions after the photos (click to view full size). The first set is swatched dry, the second over Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy.

(Dry swatched on my housemate’s arm, he’s about a MAC NC35-NC37)
Sugar Skulls– The English translation of “calaveras de azucar”, which are colorful candy skulls both eaten and used in the ofrenda. Shimmering raspberry pink with golden orange duochrome. Sugar Skulls is warm and inviting, like watching the reflection of sunset over the ocean.  The sparkles are delicate, not gritty or piecey. If you’ve used Fyrinnae’s shimmer shades before, you know exactly what I mean when I say the powder is creamy: smooth, richly pigmented, and packs onto itself well. You can even use it with gloss or balm on your lips and on your cheeks as a shimmery blush.
Te Amo– Spanish for “I love you”. Brilliant golden pink shines over a base of mauve-taupe. Another creamy glimmer shade, I like how the base looks almost smoky in contrast. If MAC Trax and Star Violet had a child together, this is what the babymaking session would look like.
Sacred– There was a sad time in my life when I would say that taupes are boring, probably because of the dull, dusty versions put out by many of the major companies. Fyrinnae changed my perception of taupe forever with their shade Platinum, and I’ve loved it ever since. Sacred is no exception. It’s bright, metallic, gleaming, and rich in color. Too silver to be gold, too golden to be silver, it’s just right. I find taupes like this great if you love the look of silver but find many to be too cool-toned. Sacred is like a much improved version of Urban Decay’s Maui Wowie. The color is deeper and slightly more golden, the texture is shimmery rather than frosty, and it doesn’t have those awful glitter chunks that never stay put.
Danse Macabre– Er, yeah, those swatches are spelled wrong, even though I know better. French for “danza macabra”, which is Spanish for “dance of death”… no matter who we are in life, death is the one thing we all have in common. Verde limon con dorado (lime with gold). Yet another “cremoso” shadow, I love how well this one sheers out. Since Fyrinnae’s shadows are often complex and layered, their effects can sometimes be lost if blended out too much. Danse retains its brilliance even when blended out to just a hint of color, which gives a luminous frosted glass look when paired with a silver or a taupe like Sacred.
Eternal Innocence– Teal-leaning emerald green, this one also sheers out nicely without losing its effect. While Fyrinnae is great with contrasting shimmers and sparkles and other effects, but sometimes you just want a nice clean pop of color. I really like this one over black eyeliner or used wet as a liner itself. Que linda.
Calavera Cupcakes– Colorful depictions of calaveras decorate everything from jewelry to baked goods. Silvery lavender with violet-pink and silver sparkles. Many times light shades have the problem of being too sheer, but Calavera is opaque and almost metallic just lightly patted on dry. I like to use it in a smoky eye with Calavera on the inner 3rd and blended above the crease, with Catrina Cabaret on the rest of the lid and La Noche in the crease and to line the lower lashes. Finish with a shimmery white on the brow-bone and inner v, black eyeliner, and mascara.
Catrina Cabaret– Catrinas are depictions of elegant lady skeletons, commonly found as decorations during the holiday. This is teal with violet shimmer. I know, what? Teal? Yes, when the light hits it the two combine into a smoky indigo hue. I’ll be honest, when I first swatched it dry, I thought it was nice, but it wasn’t my favorite. I have fair skin, so it was maybe a little too dark and sheer for me, something best for those with deeper skintones. When I swatched it on a housemate’s hand, the color, especially the shimmering highlight, really popped against his medium-golden skin. Over Pixie Epoxy the color works great on both of us and totally changed my mind about it. The epoxy keeps all the layers together and really shows off the violet shimmer. This one was just made for smoky eyes. It also looks great used wet as eyeliner.
La Noche– “The night.” Like Eternal Innocence, this is another clear jewel tone, this time in the form of a deep, yet brilliant azul, el color del zafiro (blue, the color of sapphire). It’s shimmery without being sparkly, just enough luminescence to keep it from being too inky. It makes a great liner on its own or patted on top of black eyeliner. While I own several dark blue shades, none of them have the depth, pigmentation, and clarity of La Noche.
Madame&Eve’s– A play on their popular shade Adam& Steve. This is from their Arcane Magic line: a series of color changing shades that can reflect as many as 4 or 5 shades depending on how the night hits them. The base of this seems to go from blue violet to teal to silvery taupe to deep cranberry pink and it loaded with green sparkles. Un arco iris brillante. It’s hardly subtle, but not overwhelming. If you like the sparkle of the City Glams or shades like BoyToy, you’ll love it. Use it with Pixie Epoxy to keep the sparkles in place all day. It makes a surprisingly pretty eye-liner that even the most color-phobic can pull off, but I like bold looks so I wear it all over the lid and thickly on the bottom lashes to line. Since the color change depends on the lighting, you might see it as just green on your eyes, but others will see the color change as you move about.
Candy Decadence– Candied kiwi scented gel-like lip color. I want to make it clear that the Lustres are not lip glosses. They’re more buttery than a gel, and much more pigmented: just feather-light pure color. This is one of those colors that many people think it just too crazy only because they haven’t had the chance to play with it. The color is similar to Madame&Eve’s, a plum base that changes to cranberry pink and teal. You can wear it full force or blot it down to a plummy stain with a hint of green shimmer. If you’ve liked shades like MAC High Top and Date Night, you’ll love this one.
A few extra comparison swatches:

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