I ordered them on the global launch day, September 15th, and it arrived to me in Texas on September 29th. So far, I haven't had to pay any custom duty fees, but I'll let y'all know if I ever receive a bill in the mail.
HAIR CLIP: Free GWP upon purchasing 1 Sweetie Bear item. It's cute, but super heavy to the point that it's unusable, just like all of their other hair clips. It slides off of my hair right away. Flower Knows really needs to start making their hair clips lighter. I'm sure they already got a lot of feedback by now. It's nice as a free gift, but definitely don't purchase it for the insane retail price of $8. Pass.
BLUSH BRUSH: Free GWP upon purchasing 3 products from the Sweetie Bear line. I'm glad that they're doing rounded blush brushes again! They've been doing angled brushes for the past 3 collections, so I hope they continue to make rounded brushes. Compared to the Swan Ballet blush brushes, these ones are more domed-shaped, whereas the Swan Ballet brushes are somewhat more "flattened". I prefer the shape of the Swan Ballet brushes more, but I like the Sweetie Bear brush handle more. The bristles are super soft, unlike the Shell's Jewel brushes which were very stiff and pokey. But the bristles in this brush are very densely packed, so I prefer to use it with low-pigment blushes.
HAND MIRROR: Like always, Flower Knows' hand mirrors are always much smaller than I'd like, and the heads are so heavy while the handles are so light. But obviously their designs are cute. This one is larger than the Shell's Jewel hand mirrors, and about the same size are the Strawberry Cupid hand mirrors. It's a horizontal oval-shaped mirror, whereas the Strawberry Cupid ones are vertical. Usablilty-wise, I prefer Strawberry Cupid, but design-wise, I like Sweetie Bear a lot more.
POWDER BAG CHARM: I love how Flower Knows have been including makeup key chains to every collection since Strawberry Cupid. These ones have pressed face powder inside. It's extremely small and not so user-friendly, so I'll only be using it for touch-ups and not all over my face when I do my makeup in the mornings. But I think that's what it's intended for. The formula is nothing special; just super finely milled and the color is completely transparent, so if I swatch it, you'll see nothing at all.
EYESHADOW PALETTES: Initially, I only planned on buying 2 eyeshadow palettes and 1 concealer palette, but I just couldn't resist, so I ended up getting all 3 eyeshadow palettes, but gave up on buying a concealer palette. The formula is exactly the same as all of their other eyeshadows. Soft, blendable, buildable pigment, but quite a lot of kickback, so I always tap excess product off of my brushes before applying. And I always apply with shimmers with my finger.
01 BUTTERY CROISSANT PALETTE: An extremely warm-toned golden neutrals palette that's perfect for us warm autumns. For reference, I have light (not fair) yellow-toned skin. I'm currently wearing the Tarte Face Tape foundation in 20S Light Sand. This color story is very similar to that of the Urban Decay Naked Honey palette. I think it's perfect for doing a subtle/toned-down version of the 2016 makeup look. The pale gold shade on the top middle have very chunky glitters, while the darker gold below it have finer glitter particles. Compared to their Strawberry Cupid palette in Honey Canele, it is much more yellow and gold, darker, and even more warm-toned. I love it for my skin tone, but I wouldn't recommend this palette for cool-toned skin since it is very warm.
02 STRAWBERRY MILK PALETTE: A warmer toned version of their Swan Ballet palette in 03 Pink Swan. The pale pink shimmer shade on the top middle is completely metallic with no glitter at all. The darker pink shimmer shade below it is very warm-toned (almost red), and the formula is the same as the darker gold in the Buttery Croissant palette. The pastel yellow shade on the top left just shows up clear on me, so don't get it if you're hoping for an actual yellow eyeshadow. The peachy-pink shade on the top right is exactly the same as the middle top right shade in the Pink Swan palette. Since I am warm-toned, I prefer Strawberry Milk over Pink Swan by a lot, but if you're cool-toned, I'll stick with Pink Swan.
03 MINT CHOCOLATE PALETTE: I was excited for this palette the most, and I loved the look I created the first time I used this palette! I used the matte blue shade on the inner 2/3 of my eyelids, the medium brown shade on the outer 1/3 of my lids, the blue glitter in the middle, and the yellow glitter on my inner corners. That said, I wish that the "mint" color was actually mint green instead of turquoise. I also wished that the glitter on the top wasn't yellow, because I personally don't think it goes with this color story. BTW, both shimmers in this palette are very chunky glitters. And finally, maybe that's just a me problem, but I hate how Flower Knows almost always include a dark brown or black color in their eyeshadow palettes. I hate that deep drown shade on the bottom right and don't see myself using it at all. Nothing wrong with it's formula or anything, I just have enough dark brown eyeshadows from various Flower Knows palettes I own that I barely use.
SILK SATIN BLUSHES: NGL, when I first heard that they were doing silk satin blushes again, I was like "NOOOOOOO!", because I wasn't too impressed with their Shell's Jewel satin blushes. The formula just feels more hard-pressed than usual, and they aren't as pigmented and blendable as their regular matte powder blushes. But I still wanted them, because obviously I couldn't resist the cookie sandwich packaging. I don't usually do this, but I went for the 2 darkest shades in this collection, because I bought 2 of the lighter shades in their global release of their Shell's Jewel blushes (I have 03 Coral Seashell and 04 Beach Starfish) and didn't love them.
04 BERRY PARFAIT BLUSH: This blush has the perfect amount of pigmentation for my skin tone! Just one layer gave me the amount of pigment I prefer! I added another layer as an experiment, and it didn't look too crazy. It has a very slight sheen to it that is only noticable when you turn. However, this bright blue-toned pink color is obviously too cool-toned for my yellow skin, so I'd say that it's best for those with light-cool skin.
05 BEAR BISCUIT BLUSH: The pigmentation level of this blush is insane. The first time I used it, I applied two layers of it with the Sweetie Bear brush, and that was way too much blush that it ruined my whole makeup look. So the next time I used it, I applied just one very light-handed layer and even that was quite a lot (but much better than the first time). So I'd say that it's most suitable for light-medium skin tones. Oh yeah, and it is a pinky red bean color that is very similar to the Cute Rumor pocketwatch blush in "R04 Red Bean" (btw, does anyone know what's happening to Cute Rumor? The brand looks like it's being phased out).
COATING LIP JELLIES: I think I have found my new favorite lip formula. The best way I can describe the texture is that they feel like a glossy liquid lipstick. I know that makes no sense, keep reading. This product spreads super thinly and evenly with the included applicator. Btw, they lengthened the applicator wand, so if you hated the Strawberry Cupid lip cream applicator, you'll love this one. You don't have to smack your lips together after applying the lip jelly, due to how smoothly and evenly it applies. It feels super thin and not goopy or sticky at all on the lips. And since it is a gloss, it is obviously not drying at all. It claims to be transfer-proof, which is somewhat true, but I still had a bit of the color (not just the clear glossy surface) transfer when I drank water. And it definitely needs to be reapplied after eating. I choose the colors JE05 Tiered Dress and JE08 Croissant. JE05 Tiered Dress is a neutral-toned medium pink color that pairs very well with the Strawberry Milk palette. One problem I have with many pink lip glosses is that they're often too cool-toned for me. But this color was perfect for me. Not sure why JE08 Croissant is showing up brown on my arm swatches, but on my lips, it shows up as a reddish brown color that looks just like the Bear Biscuit blush. Weird, since the other 2 brown Flower Knows lip glosses I'm comparing it with look the same on my lips as they do in my swatches, but Croissant looks completely different. Not mad about that since I do love that reddish brown color.
TL;DR: Hair clip too heavy and unusable, blush brush domed-shaped and densely packed bristles, hand mirror cute but small and heavy with very light handle, waffle powder cute but too small, Buttery Croissant palette is warm golden neutrals, Strawberry Milk is warm-leaning neutral pinks, Mint Chocolate palette not really "mint", Berry Parfait and Bear Biscuit blushes pigmented, lip jellies so good.
by pepperxpeppermint