Etsy Shop Love Hues Eyeshadow Sample Swatches

Remember back when I said I was going to get better about doing my makeup this year? I wasn't kidding. To that end I ordered approximately a bazillion 16 samples from the beautiful Etsy shop Love Hues. 

I couldn't find many reviews online, and loves of the shadows seemed really similar but omgwhatifipickthewrongones so I just ordered samples of....all of them. All my favorites anyway. Let's dive in, shall we?

From left: Amazon's Bow, Mystery, Castle Secrets, and Pretty Little Secrets

(heavily swatched, over primer)

(blended a bit, with no primer)

As you can see from my shitty iPhone shots, they're incredibly similar once swatched, even if they look different in the package. Here's the breakdown:

• Amazon's Bow: the brownest and darkest of the four, this has a dark copper tint that the others lack. In certain lighting it has a slight gold/green tint. The photo on their site is pretty accurate.
• Mystery: the lightest of the four, and my favorite. It looks nearly identical to Castle Secrets except a shade or two lighter. It's brown with a subtle pearlescent pink shimmer. The online photo is accurate.
• Castle Secrets: Mystery's darker twin. It's sliiiightly more golden and less pink than Mystery. I think their photo online is a bit too light.
• Pretty Little Secrets: Darker than Mystery and Castle Secrets, it's essentially Amazon's Bow but with rose undertones instead of copper. Again, their photo is lighter than in actuality I think.
• Overall, Mystery is my favorite, although honestly if you just handed me an unmarked sample I probably couldn't tell you the difference between Mystery, Castle Secrets, and Pretty Little Secrets.

From left: Sandcastle, Lunar Muse, Chocolate Marshmallow, Duckling

The breakdown:

• Sandcastle: this color surprised me by being a rose gold, which it didn't look like in the package. I don't think the photo on their site captures this very well--it looks much more gold than in real life (although my pics don't capture it well either--it looks like the color of rose gold metal).
• Lunar Muse: this golden shadow is more on the orange spectrum than yellow-gold or pink-gold. It has a very slight green shimmer. Their online shot isn't as orangey-gold as it is in real life.
• Chocolate Marshmallow: a pretty chocolatey brown, this has a veerrrrrry subtle pink undertone, especially when you sheer it out. I think their pics look more pink than it does in real life.
• Duckling: I liked this a lot better online than in person. It's a cool-toned taupe but something about the undertones (green, maybe?) make it look a little sickly to me. The third photo they have is pretty accurate.

 From left: Teddy Bear, Spiced Cocoa, Antique Moon, Wonderstruck

The breakdown:

• Teddy Bear: a dark tan leaning brown, this has the slightest purple hint to it. The pics online are pretty accurate, although they show as a bit more pink/less purple than I think it is in real life
• Spiced Cocoa: the rosey pink version of Teddy Bear, this is a straightforward dusty pink with no obvious undertones. It looks in person like it does on their site.
• Antique Moon: A grey-toned dark taupe with a hint of pink, this color needs to be put over primer or it doesn't really show up. The online photos are pretty accurate, especially the ones that aren't so heavily swatched.
• Wonderstruck: this is a dusty pink in the bag in in shadowed lighting, I was surprised by how this turns bright gold in light and when sheered out. The online photos don't really capture that how gold it is in person.

 From left: Rose Tea, Lightening Storm, Stormy Taupe, The Girl Glows

The breakdown:

• Rose Tea: I was surprised by the name of this, as I had to look very hard to detect any hint of pink, and only in the shimmer in certain lights--I actually wonder if they put the wrong product in the bag. My sample was a yellow-toned brown and doesn't look like the photos online.
• Lightening Storm: a bright purple with gold and magenta shimmer, this is a fun and pretty color for those bold souls who like to expand beyond neutrals. The online photos portray it as a grape color, but it's really much more neon/bright than online.
• Stormy Taupe: this is a cool-toned silver taupe with a forest green sheen. It would make a pretty smokey eye. I don't think the online photos are very accurate, especially the third one. It has a definite green tinge to it.
• The Girl Glows: pink champagne, this would make a pretty highlighter or for the inner corner of the eye. The online photos capture the color to a certain degree, especially the last fourth one, but I think it's more pink than most of their photos show.

Impressions of the products:

• If you're looking for suede or matte finishes, this is not the right store for you. If you're looking for interesting, chameleon-like colors that shift in various lighting, this will be right up your alley! These are not glittery per se, but they definitely have shimmer to them.
• The shadows are really pretty swatched heavily or over primer, but they're equally pretty sheered out. Many of them seem like a different color entirely when worn without primer so they're versatile!
• I liked the texture of the shadows--very smooth, almost creamy, and very fine unlike some thicker/coarser natural shadows I've used
• These are all-natural shadows and still achieve really interesting colors
• I'm still not very good at doing my eye makeup so I'm probably not the best judge of this, but I wore two of these shadows over primer today and they were still on my eyes by the end of the day.
• I plan to purchase Mystery and Sandcastle and will definitely use up my samples and see if I fall in love with any others.

• The biggest downside of this shop was that the samples are really, really tiny (see above--the bags were not full either). I'm used to getting shadow samples in baggies about twice that size, so I thought the price was a bit steep for how little product you receive. However, the full-size products are all reasonably priced, so it may be just something you have to suck up to help narrow down your favorites from their impressive and beautiful selection.

Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase and with this shop. Initially when I was looking at their products they didn't have a sample option, but I knew that they used to from reviews I read, so I asked the shop owner about it. She quickly and graciously added the sample option to her shop and was easy to work with.

If you're in the market for some new, interesting, beautiful shadows, I'd recommend checking out Love Hues.