Earthen Glow Minerals – a review
11 Jan
>Perhaps my experience with Earthen Glow Minerals shouldn’t have come as a surprise. After all, they were recommended as similar to Archetype Cosmetics, although the person saying that was referring to the pigments and not the service.
I placed my first order with EGM on 12/13. The website itself is horrible. The navigation leaves a lot to be desired, as products are spread all over the place. While they have a category for eyeshadow, not all the shadows are listed there. I found many under “Platinum Collection” which I only clicked once I realized how badly organized the site is. The number of products is overwhelming. A click on “Most Popular Foundations” yields a staggering 168 shades- and there are more! The difficulty with so many products lies in the lack of helpful descriptions, leaving a customer to squint at a large number of similar shades which of course look different on a monitor than in person. There are short descriptions of each color, but I found them to be of little help in choosing a shade. I finally ordered a sample kit in “light”. (No match for me, btw, but I’ll get to that later.)
The most annoying thing I found was the slowness of browsing the site. To view descriptions (meager as they are), a popup appears after a product is clicked. If the blurb is longer than the popup allows, you have to then click on details which loads yet another page. EGM would do well to ditch the popups.
There are a large number of colors offered by EGM. I ordered a boatload of samples (all eyeshadows except aforementioned foundation kit) and two cream eyeliners, which I had hoped would be similar to gel liners.
But enough complaining about the site. You want to know about the products, right?
My ordered stayed in “Confirmed” until 12/22. I received shipping notification the next day, and on Christmas Eve, the package arrived. I was running out the door for work so I took the package with me and swatched them during slow periods, to the appreciation of my female co-workers. EGM threw in a sample of a blush and one eyeshadow, neither of which are shades that I can wear, but appreciated nonetheless. I was very impressed with the shadows from the Gem Eye and Gem II Eye collections. They are insanely sparkly and quite pretty, although I noticed right away that some of the colors were strikingly different from their photos. Bloodstone, for instance, looked purple on my monitor. What I received was not a purple- not even a blurple. It’s a yellow based blue. Bloodstone is not the only color that looks nothing like the picture counterpart, but it was the one that disappointed me the most, because damn it, I love purple and I wanted that color.
EGM’s eye colors are lovely. Several of the greens captivated me, which is unusual because while green is my favorite color, it’s not one I can easily wear makeup-wise. Green Quartz and Amozonite, both Gem II Eye colors, actually look somewhat flattering on me. I started planning an immediate purchase of full-sizes…
..and then realized that hey! my swatches are fading right before my eyes!
EGM’s eyeshadows have no staying power. None. Even over primers, I couldn’t get the color to stay for more than two hours. Without primer, it started wearing off in minutes. Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy is the only way I can wear the colors, which is disappointing because they are lovely and quite pigmented but I have no patience with things I can’t apply normally over a paint pot (except for Fyrinnae because they’re special <3). (I had my whole arm swatched with all different primers and EGM’s Paraiba eyeshadow when I discovered the missing memory card for the camera. Thus, this review has no pictures. I blame my husband. I’ll get photos up just as soon as we find it.)
Moving on to the cream eyeliners, I knew right away there was a problem. The product was waxy, hard, and not at all like the irresistible pictures on the website, which showed vivid colors (omg Paparrazi, how pretty you were) with a gorgeous sheen. Warming the product did nothing. It was like trying to work with a jarred candle. I finally used the pointy end of a hairstick to break up the product and softened it with a few drops of jojoba oil. It’s able to be applied now, but I don’t think that’s a good thing. Both colors look dull, although Tatra Mountains does have a bit of glimmer if you get very close and squint a little. Not exactly what I was going for.
I’ve heard raves about EGM’s foundations. Raves. People LOVE this stuff. I might have loved it too, had I found a match. Not only was there no match for me in the free “light” Cover Me kit, a few of my sample baggies were empty. I emailed EGM to ask about the missing samples, and to get an idea of which foundation shades I should be trying to get a match. That email was sent on 12/27. I received an automated newsletter on 12/30, which included a note saying they had a surge in emails due to a 30% off sale they were running, and they would reply with 48 hours. So I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, on 1/5, I resent my email, wondering if it had gotten lost in the sale rush. The sale was over by then (and I had wanted to order more products during that time, so I was a bit bummed) so I figured I’d receive a reply in good time. So again, I waited…
and still, as of today 1/11, have not received a reply.
So to recap:
1. Worst. Website. Ever.
2. I did not receive items I paid for, and they’ve made no attempt to rectify (or acknowledge) that, despite two emails.
3. Staying power of eyeshadow is non-existent. It laughs at primers.
4. I had to modify their cream eyeliner before I could even use it.
5. The photos on the worst. website. ever aren’t even close.
6. Their foundation did feel nice on my face even though I did not find a match.
7. Processing time is on the long side, although it might be because of the holidays. I’d give them a pass on this if it weren’t for points 2, 3, and 4.
Unless something changes, I can not recommend Earthen Glow Minerals, nor will I be ordering again.
>Thank you SO SO SO much for this review! I had a whole list of things I wanted and now I won't be wasting my money! I can't believe they haven't emailed you back yet. So. Unprofessional.
>I couldn't agree more with your comments on their website! I find it pretty annoying to keep clicking to get to the complete item description. And then the descriptions really don't help. The last email I sent them also remains unanswered.Thanks for your review, esp on the cream liners, was interested in them but won't be getting them! I do like their loose foundation as well as their luminess mousse foundation though :)
>Thanks for your review. this is the third time i ordered with this company. all my experiences have been good except this one. i placed an order on 12/30. and here it is today 1/28 and i have yet to recieve my order. I received there news letter that they sent out saying that all orders up to 1/11 have been processed and shipped. Maybe they forgot about me. I honestly just want a refund. I didnt need the products any way it was just an impulse buy but regardless, communication is key. i understant that they had a busy holiday season but the lack of communication on their part is crazy….grrrrr im angry
>I must say I don't know what to think about EGM. I agree their website is awful and photos inaccurate. They got lots of complaints on forums about their customer service and I was glad when it improved a lot. I was looking forward to ordering again when they shut the shop for May. I am angry, but will order again. I wouldn't order just for their eye shadows and blushes although I really like them (I had no problem with them and they have a huge selection of colours), but I don't think I'll find a better foundation.
>This company is terrible for customer service. I have not received my order from them (after 2 months) and they won't reply to my emails.Don't waste your money.
>I think there are a lot of us out there wondering what the heck is going on with this company – agree that their website sux, but they make a great product (mousse foundation is my HG). But they just don't know how to run a business…it's such a shame. I'd really like to order more mousse foundation but the site has been shut for almost 2 months now. Do any of us really believe they are having "technical difficulties" – more like fulfillment and customer service difficulties! They REALLY need to communicate with those who have orders waiting in limbo, because their problems will get a whole lot worse when everyone files consumer complaints against them.
>Yes, I agree the website was terrible. However, it wasn't even close to how terrible is their customer service. I'm still hopelessly waiting waiting for my two orders placed over 2 months ago. I wonder where I can place a consumer complaint against them?
>I am a lover of EGM's makeup and skincare bigtime! What I am not is in love with their website being down! They have the nerve to actually make superior mineral makeup foundation in several formulas, excellent lippies, blushes and eyeshadows. Then to make it worse their anti acne skin care line works! I hate their customer service and it's a shame cause it used to be great like their beauty products. I haven't found anybody who even comes close to their foundation, glow, blush and glosses and forget about their anti acne kit. I'm one angry woman:|
>Hope some of you aren't confusing this company with Earth-Glo Minerals as they have great customer service & products and have been in business longer than Earthen glow. Good luck to you all :)
>hi i absolutely love this company.. they have always been so helpful, always super prompt delivery and they even sent me a bunch of samples to try and review for them..but now the website is down… and im hoping to god that they are still in business.hands down they have the best mineral foundation i have EVER used.. my colour is Carrie and its perfect.. i always get people asking me what i use (normally i would use Revlon fresh beige or Chanel Cendre)… i can NOT fault their foundation.. its truely fantastic. a million times better than id bare essentials…and about a third of the price. so hopefully its just the website down at the moment…as i said ive NEVER had a problem with this company… in fact i always say to them thanks for their excellent customer service.. so im really shocked to read that you had a bad experience.ive written and waiting for a reply to what is going on… will let you know when i hear…
>as for the multitude of colours.. when i first started using this company – i found the choice to be almost overwhelming -but thats great to have choice right? so i wrote to them and told them what i used and also sent a pic of myself and they gave me a couple of options and that was how i made my colour choiceso please eg minerals.. bring your website back up.. i miss you!!!
>Sadly , the company seems to be out of nusiness and unreachable. I too found their foundations in cream, mousse, loose powder ( full cover and more sheer and glowy) to be the best match yet for me in either mineral or conventional makeup, and I believe their blushes, bronzers and finishing powders ( which I used as sheer highlighters) had the most beautiful and diverse color selection- especially for women of color. I hope they figure out their business angle and re-open. This yr also marked the folding of Aromaleigh and She Space, so very disappointing for those of us looking for good foundations and unique but affordable mineral colors..