Company
name: Silk Naturals
Web site : http://host.silknaturals.com/creb/
The Web Site Itself : 5 of 5 Stars
Web site : http://host.silknaturals.com/creb/
The Web Site Itself : 5 of 5 Stars
Silk Naturals (SN) has one of the best, most user-friendly,
meticulously organized indie cosmetic sites I have ever purchased from! The
storefront is a bit bland, but it more than makes up for that in specific bells
and whistles. First, aside from having the usual indie Web site
features, the SN site lets you search for eyeshadow colors by numerous
categories: all colors, color family, finish, and vegan. I can’t tell you how
incredibly helpful that feature has been for me. I mainly like very shimmery/metallic
products, and on this site I can search for them specifically instead of having
to search through 273 color descriptions (really!) to find what I want.
The color descriptions you get when you click
on a particular shade are very detailed with assessments of such qualities as main
description, color
family, finish, depth, shimmer scale, opacity, vegan, tone, and gluten free.
Almost every color description page
has three tabs: description, reviews, and related products (I would like to see this be consistent
throughout the site). You can click on the product photo to enlarge it, and
the photos often have several swatches of different but similarly colored
shadows so you can compare them. I didn’t see anywhere where it’s said what
base is used for swatching, and I think
that would be a helpful improvement. If you are searching by “see the
product comparison page” at the top left of the “all [colors]” page, you get a
really helpful list of colors with all of the pertinent information summarized.
Second, you can create an account and
save colors to a wish list, which is something I find sorely lacking on most
indie company Web sites. This feature saves me time and annoying Post-It notes
with lists of eyeshadow colors I want to try. It makes shopping much easier,
particularly if there is a sale.
Third, SN has a reward point program. For
every $1 you spend (not including tax or shipping), you receive 1 point. $100
product value = 100 points, with 100 points having a value of $5.00. The points
value is clearly stated on each product description page. So, you can earn free
products if you shop at SN a lot. This is a good marketing technique to promote
customer loyalty. SN has a referral program, too. For each friend you refer to
SN, you get 10 points. The referral code to give to your friends is the email
address that you used when you registered with SN. When your friends check out,
they need to enter that referral code, and your points account will be credited
with 10 points. This is also great for customer loyalty. Savvy businesswoman
that Karen is :-)
Fourth, SN makes some “clones” of
popular MAC, Bare Escentuals, and Urban Decay colors. I bought some of the UD Naked
clones though a blog sale and have been very happy with them.
Pricing:
5 of 5 Stars
As I’ve said many times before, I’m mainly an
eyeshadow user, so that’s what I’ll assess here. The price of SN’s eyeshadows
is only $4.00, which in my experience places them at the lower end of the
pricing spectrum for indie eyeshadow prices. The only thing I
couldn’t find on the product description page is the amount of product you get
for the price. However, from my decanting experience (I put all of my shadows
into sample baggies for easier storage), you get the usually amount of shadow,
approximately a half teaspoon. I do think
it would be an improvement to have the amount of product stated clearly on each
product page though.
It
should be noted that SN does not sell samples. However, they accept returns and
will credit you for a replacement purchase. I had to take advantage of this
feature once, and it worked exactly like the owner said it would work. I wasn’t
too keen on losing so much on shipping, but I’m assuming that not selling
samples and having a return program makes for running a “tight ship,” i.e., keeping prices low. My experiences
with SN, through on-site purchases, a blog sale purchase (with Cait of Swatch Storm), and a swap (Wendi of Makeup Zombie)—especially given the excellent search
and description features—have been positive enough that I trust I’ll get what I
wanted and will not have to return much, if anything, at all.
TAT and Shipping: 5 of 5 Stars
TAT and Shipping: 5 of 5 Stars
Because all of the colors I’m reviewing here
we obtained through a swap and/or a blog sale, I won’t be commenting on the TAT
and shipping details. However, regarding the one occasion on which I did order
from SN, the TAT was very reasonable, and that exchange I mentioned earlier was
handled flawlessly!
Colors Received: All swatches are shown in
the order below (from left to right, top to bottom) and were swatched over Fyrinnae
Pixie Epoxy. Also, the color descriptions on the SN site are extremely accurate
due to the details offered! (My favorites are bolded.)
I won’t comment
separately for these colors. Obviously I love them because they are in my final
collection of tested shades! SN is my “go-to” store for neutrals (and I have
more where these came from)! These colors were obtained through a swap as well
as a blog sale.
 |
| SN swatches under natural light no. 1 |
 |
| SN swatches under natural light no. 2 |
• Loaded: Warmish
tan shimmer with hints of pink (clone of Urban Decay Toasted)
• Range: Matte
black with gold, silver, and copper shimmer. Example of details mentioned
earlier: Color family: silvers and grays; finish: glimmer;
depth: 5 [1 = white, 6 = black]; shimmer scale: 5 [0 =
matte 6 = glitter]; opacity: 4 [0 = sheer 5 = opaque]; vegan: yes; tone: silver
with warm sparkles; original collection: Holiday
2010 Collection; gluten free: yes
• Dig It: Deep
brown shimmer with copper and silver sparkles
 | ||
| SN swatches under incandescent light no. 1 |
 |
| SN swatches under incandescent light no. 2 |
• Sorbet: Deep,
cool-toned raspberry red This color might
be a little too cool-toned for me, and I might Franken it with something else.
Otherwise, it’s lovely!
• Watermelon:
Bright coral pearl with hints of golden shimmer
• Wildcat: Deep charcoal brown satin
finish with lots of champagne colored sparkle Example of details mentioned
earlier: Color family:
browns; finish: shimmer; depth: 6 (1 = white,
6 = black), shimmer scale: 5 (0 = matte 6 = glitter), opacity:
4 (0 = sheer, 5 = opaque), vegan: yes; tone:
charcoal brown; original collection: Valentine's 2009
Collection; gluten free: yes)
 |
| Jelly-Or under natural light |
 |
| Jelly-Or under incandescent light no. 2 |
• Jelly-Or: My franken of SM Jellybean
(medium pink shade with a satiny suede finish and red highlights) and SM Meteor (warm golden brown
color with a fair amount of shimmer, more pearlescent than chunky), neither of which worked for me. I think my
Franken will work better, and I hope you enjoyed seeing it :-) And here's a final video swatch for you taken under incandescent light (the sunshine disappeared pretty quickly after I took these photos). Just look at how gleam-y these colors are!
Would I Buy Again?
Yes, yes, and . . . oh . . . YES (damn, that sounds orgasmic, heh-heh)! “Prowl” is currently on my SN wish list :-)
Overall Rating: 5 of 5 Stars!
