There’s a private/closed facebook group that I’ve been apart of for about 4-5 months now, and it’s been one of the best places I’ve ever ventured on the internet. It’s a community of makeup enthusiasts/artists/professionals/fragrance makers/artisans/all round excellent people, that have given me more than a glimpse into the world of indie cosmetic, fragrance and style products. They’ve immersed me into this gateway to eternal empty wallet-ness fabulous community and I learn so much from them on a weekly basis. To get on point, there is a list of companies which people highly recommend, and this is how I discovered The Checquered Lily. So I of course knew this was going to be a store I had to try!
Overview + Order
The Chequered Lily is located on Etsy and currently sells eyeshadows and cosmetic glitter blends (no eyeshadow, just straight glitter). The Chequered Lily provides a vast collection of colours, as well a various finishes, and set at very reasonable prices. All products are photographed in a variety of settings, and include a skin swatch as well. Most items will have a youtube link so you can see the shadows in action and listen to a verbal description from Kimberly. The Chequered Lily sells vegan and non vegan eyeshadows, and every listing on the site will list full ingredients as well as let you know if they are vegan safe. I decided to order the Blogger and Youtube sample pack. I asked for all my colours to be vegan friendly and asked for a random assortment, but I asked specifically for Sushi Ginger as part of my assortment 
You can request any colours you would like or go the random route like I did.
Swatcherooni – The Swatches
I AM A DUMMY. ANOTHER MISTAKE IN THE LABELLING PROCESS OF MY SWATCHES. GILDED SHOULD BE GILTY.
SORRY AGAIN -_-’
All swatched over De Leon Cosmetics Primer. Click to enlarge. (I really need to work out how to make it so they open in a new tab. I used to know the code, but can’t remember >.<)
Taken in natural light, outdoors, in the shade
Taken in direct sunlight
Product
Everything feels smooth and they adhere to the skin well. Nice variety of finishes with matte with tiny sparkle, shimmer, shimmer with glitter etc. So just not the same finish. I even found I didn’t have much problem with the blue glitter in Crackberry. Usually I would use Pixie Epoxy, but I’ve just used a regular eye primer and the glitter stayed and didn’t fly off. My favourite colours are Sushi Ginger (it really does look like the colour of pickled ginger 
), Kelpie and Caterpillar.
Packaging
All samples were sent in plastic zip lock bags, filled with 1/8 tsp of product and were labelled with a sticker. Some colours listed a full ingredients listing, some did not list any ingredients. However they were always labelled whether they were lip safe or not. This company is located in USA, and it is not a legal requirement for product samples for a full ingredients listing. I’m not sure of the legalities in Australia. However, I already knew the ingredients as they are listed on the etsy store in each shadow’s listing, so this is not an issue for me. Samples arrived in a larger plastic ziplock bag within a plain envelope, along with a business card and my receipt.
Pricing
The blogger and youtube sample pack that I ordered was $2 US and shipping $1.20 to get to Australia. This is a phenomenal discount, as I received 7 eyeshadow samples for $3.20?! There are many other sample packs available for sale as well for non bloggers, with exceptional pricing at 7 samples for $3 (plus shipping) and 10 samples for $5 (plus shipping). The Chequered Lily is very affordable, and for those of you who are on a budget or who buy lots of samples, these prices will indeed suit.
Customer Service
N/A .
My order was a smooth transaction and everything arrived in perfect condition and I did not have any complaints or questions, so I did not have to contact the seller
Will I return?
I sure will! The Chequered Lily sells many vegan friendly colours, which I find are hard for me to find elsewhere (mainly pinks) and there is a great variety of colours to tickle my fancy. Sample prices are unbeatable, and I was happy with my first order. My only recommendation for the company is to have more uniform labelling across the board. Some people are definitely more fussy than what I am, but it also looks better if all the labels look the same Overall I had a positive experience.
2 comments
kim says:
Dec 6, 2011
Hi Ellie,
I’m really happy that you had a good experience with my products and of course, if you ever have any questions, just let me know. ^_^ I just wanted to put down a quick note about the labeling inconsistencies, All of my samples labels currently have ingredient and usage information, but I had a lot of old label stock that was missing the ingredient info, and I hate to waste things, so I’m trying to burn through that old stock of labels. As I run out of the old ones, I’m printing the new ones with all the information, it’s just taking a little time to get all the colors up to current. I definitely want my customers to be safe and happy, which means giving them as much information as possible. Thanks again so much for the advice and the review, I’ll post the link to facebook tonight. ^_^
Thank you so much for the lovely review and the gorgeous swatches. I think I may have to try out DeLeon’s primer, it makes my shadows look so nice.
Diath says:
Feb 9, 2012
hi!!!