Why Fyrinnae doesn't offer eye shadow samples.

A few years ago, perhaps seven, we first started offering samples. They were about 1/8 of a teaspoon in *gasp* in little zip-close bags. Which I refuse to call "baggies", as that is the brand name of a sandwich-type bag that has no closure. Anyway, after a while, maybe in 2006, I changed to small clear polystyrene jars. The samples for most products were 1/4 teaspoon, which was, and still is, the average size allotted for samples with small independent cosmetic companies. Products like foundation and finishing powders got more per jar, since one uses more per application than an eye shadow or whatnot. These were first $1.25 to $1.50 then $1.50 to $1.75 when I had to increase product prices slightly once.

A couple years later, The perfectly-sized scoops we used were altered by the manufacturer, and ended up being slightly larger (of course we could have used others, but this ended up working out better). To compensate, I just increased the size allotted per product to 1/3 teaspoon - except for the Arcane line because of the ingredient and price difference, increased the price a little (to $2 for shadows), and stopped calling what was clearly a large amount of product a "sample" and changed it to "Mini". Face products are still samples, as you need more and won't get 15-20 uses out of a tiny jar, but by now you all know that a Mini jar of shadow is no sample, and it can last weeks, even months. A sample of product should allow the consumer to try the product at least once, ideally 2-4+ times, but isn't meant to be a substitute for the retail size(s). So, for the past few years, our 1/3tsp Mini size is the small eye shadow you can buy without risking a large purchase, and yet still have plenty to last for many uses. The blush is somewhat in between; there's about 1/3tsp in each sample jar, and that should last for a few applications, but depends on how much you use (and blush application isn't as precise as eye makeup). Most of the time, we err on the side of caution and give a little more than 1/3tsp of product. Primers and finishing powders come close to filling the jar.

Have I bored you all yet?

We're looking forward to bringing out a few new things next week, if all goes well. I'll see how things are after this weekend, but at least the pace has finally slowed down a tad.  All orders through the 22nd were sent off this morning, and just a few remain from 4/23.

Upcoming Changes & the history of Pixie Epoxy

Good day everyone!  The new site version is ready to go. R had been working on it a couple months ago, and Xin tweaked it up a little just this past week. Looks pretty good. When that is up, there will be new bright shadows, also.

While my chemist is away, I realized he had never posted this little story of how PE came about. It reads somewhat cocky, but that's just how he is. Sometimes I have to curtail his invention projects lest they take over the entire north side of the studio. He's good, he's really good, but has truly earned the Mad Scientist title. Here's the post (though on PE's description it did state it was made for an MUA, it was: she asked him for it after seeing the concept and results. At the time he had no intention of having this in the catalog).

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    Pixie Epoxy, my pride and joy. Not quite, but I readily admit it has been my favourite invention. Several years ago (2006 as I recall), I was still wearing makeup on occasion, usually overly-dramatic eye looks for fun or when friends dragged me to clubs. There were various little tips and tricks to make sparkle stay put and shadows look their best aside from using regular shadow primer, but none worked well enough for my liking. While it doesn't seem to be a huge issue for many women to have a little sparkle fall onto their face at night or when heavily made-up, it drove me completely mad (...a short drive that may have been). So I started spending late nights at my lab working on a solution. You likely know by now that prior to being at Fyrinnae, I worked at a lab which was under contract by a major cosmetic company, and I just didn't have the freedom to do anything outside the set structure (they don't really value creativity). Developing new products and completely changing "old" products quickly became a hobby of sorts, almost an obsession. This is why Lip Lustre is the way that it is: no guy, and few women, wants goopy, sticky lip gloss. 

    Pixie Epoxy literally took months of development and testing, and after a while I shelved the project because regular work at Fyrinnae was time-consuming enough without any such distractions. At some point in 2007 I went back to my myriad of notes and started it up again. Can't. Have. Sparkles. All. Over. Dammit. I think this was around when the City Glam cosmetic "glitter" was really popular, and people wanted a way to keep it on. I saw many were using lip balm, glycerin, or lash glue to keep the sparkle in place. That just wouldn't do. 



   Soon I had tested a final version, and tested again and again just to be sure. It held all in place without feeling like goo, nor causing irritation (I have very sensitive eyes, and damn-near everything irritates). So, my employer added it to the catalogue and Pixie Epoxy started selling. Then it quickly started selling very fast. Then very, very fast. By early 2009 it was the top-selling product of Fyrinnae's line, and still is. Prior to PE's development, there was no product like it available anywhere. Sure, there were a couple "glues" to hold glitter in place on face or body, and people would often use a mixing medium or make their own, but these didn't really suffice. Now a few years later and this product has been copied several times (about which I'm stuck between irritation and amusement). Though most people don't know its origin: just a guy who wanted his sparkly green eye shadow to stay put through the evening so he could be a proper Pixie, not look like he just shagged one (and now you also know the name origin).

Time frame notice: It NEVER ACTUALLY takes that long.

Thought it was about time I said this: The very lengthy time stated frames, which have always been padded, are never, ever accurate. I started doing this way back when we got a sudden, major jump in popularity several years ago, and at times, odd incidents excepted, the processing time due to order volume was often around 2-3 weeks back then. But in the past two years at least, I can't think of a single instance where an order actually was in the queue for more than fourteen business days, and those times were very rare. Our usual max time is 10-15 when it's extremely busy just after new releases. Average since 2010 has been 3-9 business days.


So, right now the current stated time frame is 20-28 business days. Business days exclude postal holidays, Sundays (and most Saturdays). We work all of those days, but the USPS doesn't. The actual time frame, meaning from the date your order is placed to the day it is shipped, right now is 2-5 business days. This morning the last few purchases from 2/14 were shipped, and only a handful from 2/15 & 2/16 remain. The actual queue time is never even close to the stated time.


"Why in the heck do you do this weird thing, man??"  Going back to paragraph 1, after seeing that people really liked getting their orders in less than the time they expected, I just kept doing it. Order volume steadily increased over the next few years, so of course we had much, much more to do. Sleep be damned, everyone here has been known to work nearly around the clock (slight exaggeration, but 12-16 hour days are common). Anyway, I just keep the time frame almost absurdly padded. Though one reason is in case anything "dire" happens such as an extended power outage, damaged containers, manufacturer component/ingredient delays, etc (once again, the store is never closed due to order volume). So if there is a delay by a couple days, the customer knows to expect it.  It says on the site, "Allow ___ business days queue and creation time before shipment", not "your order will be shipped after x amount of time". By the way, Monday is a USPS holiday, so next shipments will be on the 21st.

Thanks for reading my drivel, and we hope you're all having a pleasant weekend! The next time I post here it should include new shadow pictures at least.


P.S.
I actually fear that if I post a realistic time like 6-8 days, people will flock to the site with, "homgz they're shipping fast now!" and all purchase at once, thereby causing an unforeseen sudden delay (magic powers only extend so far). I did that once, about three years ago. It happened just like that, too. Kind of screwed myself over with this approach. :p