As of late September 2011, I've made nearly a dozen purchases from Lost in Makeupland over the past - starting with a "sample pack", moving to some full-size eyeshadows, then eyeshadows, blushes, and some of her highlighters.

The Store / The Site

Lost in Makeupland started out on Etsy, began a move to Artfire, and then closed up shop on Artfire after their customer-data / security snafu in early September 2011. I made purchases from both shops, and both were fairly standard shopping experiences for the platforms. Lost in Makeupland's product photos are fairly good and fairly consistent in terms of sizing. There are product photos and at least one swatch photo for nearly every product in the shop. I wish that the swatch photos could be a little bit better lit, as they seem like they're just slightly in a shadow; but they do showcase the colors nicely, and for many of the blushes she has two swatches to compare super-sheer versus built-up application.

Since Lost in Makeupland makes loose-powder products, people would assume that all blushes and highlighters are lip-safe and eye-safe unless otherwise marked. Belen does very prominently and clearly mark those blushes which are not eye-safe, which is much appreciated. She also marks which of her items are vegan or not vegan, so that folks who want to buy and use only vegan products, can easily do so.

The Shopping Experience

It's a fairly straightforward Etsy shopping experience (or Artfire, when that shop was in operation), so I can't comment on it much other than to say that her products are well categorized and cross-categorized, allowing people (like me) to zero in on a specific collection, a certain type of item, or only full-size products. Once someone purchases a given item, it's back up in the shop catalog and available for someone else to purchase within 24 hours. Only once was I unable to find the full-size product I was looking for, and when I contacted Belen asking about it, I received an answer within about 8 hours - which is fairly good, considering I first contacted her in the middle of her "night" and (as far as I know) LiM is currently a one-person operation.

Shipping and Packaging

Because LiM is in Spain, I can't get tracking on my packages. (I suspect this is what everyone else in the world has to deal with whenever they order from a US-based indie company, though, so I really can't gripe too much.) Because LiM is on Etsy, I can't easily order multiples of a given product. All of my aggravations with shopping from LiM are minor, and are generated by circumstance: located in a different country, platform limitations, et cetera.

Turnaround time is listed at the top of her shop's front page. There have been previous longer turnaround times posted, but it seems to hover at 3-10 days for the most part. A few of my more recent orders have exceeded that turnaround time, however - orders placed on August 25th were marked as shipped on September 13th. That's a TAT of nineteen days. [[Note 9/25/2011: according to Belen, turnaround time counts business days only, not calendar days.]]

Orders are all in a bubble-wrap envelope with a handwritten address. Products are in organza bags: smaller for samples, slightly larger (and multiples) for full-size products. The samples come in baggies, the full-size products in either 5- or 10-gram jars. The 10-gram jars have rotating-closure sifters. The jars are always outer-sealed, regardless which size they are. The sifters used have a slightly annoying tendency to catch some of the product in between the rotating "plates", and when I go to repot my items, I have to go to an extreme amount of fiddling and twisting to get as much of the product, out of there and into my jar. The sifters also do allow for a little bit of leakage, as some product is on top of the "sifter" for just about every product I've ordered. There's never been enough leakage to escape out into the cellophane banding, though.

The Products

By this point I've ordered a wide variety of products from all along Lost in Makeupland's line, so I can give feedback about all of them.

Lost in Makeupland's eyeshadows range from blackened colors (Rock My Look) to rich and vibrant (Lifestyle) to bright and colorful (Alice in Chains). There are a few neutral eyeshadows in the shop, but not too many - but if bold colors or primaries aren't in the center of your personal comfort zone, even LiM's brighter colors can easily be used "softly" by using a soft-focus or fiber-optic brush to apply them. The coverage is good, pigmentation levels are quite nice, but the colors show up their best when used wet or over your favorite primer. (Though if you want a "watercolor / suggestion-of-shades" look, using them on bare skin is an option. Just be sure and use some kind of fixative over the top to prevent creasing.) The blackened shades, and some of the more vibrant reds and oranges, do take a little extra work to remove. I've never had any problems with outright skin staining, though. As of this writing, eyeshadows are $5.99 for a 5-gram jar with sifter or $1 for a sample baggie.

Lost in Makeupland's blushes are currently mostly light mid-range pinks and peaches, with a few exceptions (But I Like It is a gorgeous soft mauve-rose.) I'd like to see the line expand to hold a few more cool-toned blushes, but that's a personal preference. I don't know if the current lineup of blushes would work too well on deep skintones - even if the coverage is buildable. As of this writing, 10-gram jars are $7, 5-gram jars are $5, and sample baggies are $1.50.

Lost in Makeupland's highlighters are the area where I've sampled the fewest. I've only tried English Rose and Whipped. Those two are both fairly sheer, which works well for highlighters - just don't expect to use them as opaque shadows, and you're good. Her highlighters can presumably be used on cheeks or eyes, I have thus far only used them on my lids. She has some others that I've ordered but not yet received, Glow and Faerie, that have warmer base notes. Lost in Makeupland also recently released Whipped with included interference sheens - Reflects of gold, orange, blue, green, et cetera. I haven't tried any of these yet, but I'm guessing that they'd add just the slightest suggestion of an interference sheen to the brightening highlighter. 10-gram sifter jars are $8, 5-gram sifter jars are $5, and sample baggies are $1.50

Along with the above, Lost in Makeupland has finishing powders and 'illuminating glows' - which I haven't tried, so can't comment as to their quality or value. I will say that she recently added finishing powders specifically for oily skin, which is a nice option for those of us who have oily skin and have more problems than average with unwantedly glowing faces.

In addition to the product lines, she offers a customizable pressed palette: you choose which of her eyeshadows, blushes, and highlighters you'd like pressed, and she'll press you a palette (which is pretty neat, for those folks who really strongly prefer pressed over loose.) Sample packs are available for Rock My Look and the highlighters.

Summary

Lost in Makeupland provides a variety of products, colors, and finishes for reasonable prices. The product quality is quite good, ingredients and cautions are clearly marked, and pigmentation levels are above average for indie MMU vendors (in my opinion, of the indie vendors I have purchased from.) Order turnaround time seems to be a little bit slower than what's generally posted on the front of the site - my most recent orders took over half a month to process. Shipping transit time was relatively short, even from Spain - but the order TAT could become problematic if it isn't accurately reported and customers start asking, after a week: where's a shipping notice? What's going on? The order turnaround time is the biggest problem I've encountered with Lost in Makeupland, and it's long...but it's not over 45 days (so you'd still be able to file a Paypal dispute, if your order wasn't marked as shipped by day 44) and the orders do arrive with no problems.

I'd like to see the order turnaround time drop - or, at least, have the posted TAT match up with what will actually be happening. I'd like to see the line keep expanding - as it has just this summer, with the first of two Nostalgia collections and expanded finishing and glow powder options. I like the variety of products LiM has thus far, and I like the color range - though it would be nice to see more cooler blushes, and possibly some duochrome eyeshadows and / or eyeshadows with more interference effects.

All in all, Lost in Makeupland provides good products for the money, and their line keeps expanding. I'm looking forward to seeing the second Nostalgia collection, as well as the rumoured Rock My Look 2.0.

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