Company Overview: Pumpkin and Poppy Cosmetics!

By Unknown

My first Pumpkin and Poppy order

Purchased

Pumpkin and Poppy is a vegan cosmetics brand I heard about through various word-of-mouth raves, and I'd had a couple of their products on my wishlist for ages--when I saw they were having a 10% off sale on their Artfire site, I decided to go ahead and place an order to see what all the fuss was about. Based in Cedar Rapids, IA, it seems to be an offshoot of owner Kristy Cutsforth's vegan lifestyle blog, Veggie Beauty, which has been around since 2010; Pumpkin and Poppy has been a full-time endeavor for Kristy since 2012.

The shop sells through two storefronts: an Artfire storefront is their primary shop, but they also have an Etsy store.

I ordered full sizes of the Aphrodite Inner Glow powder, said to be a duplicate for Hourglass Diffused Light Ambient Lighting Powder, and the Oak Bark contouring powder, a cool-toned contouring powder. I reviewed the Inner Glow powder recently and you can find my review here.

Packaging: 

If you love indie products for the thrill of the personalized, beautifully packaged care package that comes in the mail with all sorts of little extras and feels like a gift from a friend... Pumpkin and Poppy isn't the shop for you. My package was very no-frills, in a plastic Ziploc bag in a bubble envelope without any fancy tissue paper or extra goodies like candy or free samples. However, it all arrived safely, and the packaging itself feels very nice, with clean, pretty label art. The two products I ordered were packaged in large sifter jars with a rotating sifter.

I had some issues figuring out the rotating sifter mechanism, as it took some effort to open and I thought it was going to snap! I finally managed to open it all the way, but be forewarned that you have to apply quite a lot of pressure to rotate the sifter, and there's a worrisome "click" when it goes between closed, half-open, and fully open.

Aphrodite Inner Glow powder shaken into a lid

Selection: 
Pumpkin and Poppy have a very wide variety of products--the aforementioned face powders; eyeshadows, blushes, highlighters, bronzers, and contours in either cream or powder form; lip glosses; lipsticks in neat bullets; eyeliner pencils; and even a new palette of cream products (highlighter, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and lip butter) called the Snow Queen Palette. Most indie cosmetics companies seem to stick to powder products and lip products in doefoot or chapstick-style tubes, so I always like finding one that does cream products and products in pencil or lipstick bullet form.

Samples: 
No samples, sadly--at least not that I could find. It sounds like they may be available sometimes, but I couldn't find any when I was sifting through the two web stores for this overview. The store policies state, "I strive to charge fair prices on my cosmetics and offering samples would increase my already low prices. Drugstores do not offer samples and they have a larger budget than I do as a one woman operation. I'm sorry I'm not able to offer samples on all of my items, but I do my best to provide accurate photos and swatches in natural daylight on fair skin. Computer monitor colors may vary, but I try my best to accurately represent my items." I did not receive any free samples with my order.

The labels on both jars look the same on top

Quality: 
I'm very impressed with both the Inner Glow powder and the contour powder. The Inner Glow powder gives a fine, luminous, champagne-colored glow to the skin without any sparkle or glitter. The Oak Bark contour powder is sheer but visible, very blendable, and very natural-looking, much like a natural shadow--even though it's a loose product, it seems easier to use than NYX Taupe, the other cool-toned contour powder I own.

Cost: 
I think the prices are reasonable, but the lack of samples makes the store feel expensive to me--I'm used to being able to spend $1-3 for a sample of a product to decide if I like it, rather than having to drop $8-12 on a full-sized product.

The Etsy store is slightly more expensive than the Artfire store, probably since Etsy charges more fees than Artfire. To compare the two products I purchased, the contouring powder is $8.75 on Etsy and $8.50 on Artfire, and the Inner Glow powder is $11.25 on Etsy and $11 on Artfire. These are 20 gram jars--see picture for scale.

Aphrodite inner glow powder jar showing sifter

Customer Service: 
I did not have to contact customer service for any questions.

TAT: 
The turnaround time on my one order was great. My order was shipped one day after purchase, and showed up on my doorstep two days after that. The turnaround time officially listed on the website is 7-10 business days.

Shipping: 
Pumpkin and Poppy offers both international and domestic shipping, all done through the US Postal Service.

The international rates listed on Artfire all seem to be $7 for the first item and $1.75 for each additional item. US shipping is $2.25 on Artfire, with 75 cents added for each additional item.

The Etsy shop uses a shipping calculator, but when I tested it with the two items I had purchased and US shipping, it started at $2.50 and went up to $3.50 when I added the second item.

Artfire is more affordable all round, so it seems like the only reason to use Etsy is if you have a gift card or other Etsy-specific requirement--I don't know the intricacies of which site accepts which payment methods, and it's possible that Etsy accepts payment methods that Artfire does not, particularly where it comes to international customers. Or it's possible that the shipping comes out more favorable on Etsy after you purchase a certain amount of items.

Personal Thoughts: 
I raved about the Aphrodite finishing powder in my review and I still love it a few weeks later. It's glowy but not shiny or glittery in any way.

Aphrodite Inner Glow powder, heavy and sheered out

I was afraid the Oak Bark contouring powder might be too pale or too ashy for my skin tone (hovering somewhere between NC25 and NC30 at the moment, I believe) but it makes a very believable shadow on my skin. I haven't been able to capture a great photo of it, but it's my favorite contouring product at the moment--I do like the Life's Entropy cream contour stick I have, but it's hard to strike the right balance with that product. I find the application of this one easier.

Oak Bark contouring powder, heavy and sheered out

I'd definitely order from Pumpkin and Poppy again if something caught my eye, but the lack of samples means I'm not likely to order commonly dupeable products like powder eyeshadow from them, and I'm going to be wary of other products due to the cost of trying out new things. Having tried a ton of cosmetics by now, I've gotten to be kind of a formula snob, so in particular, cream eyeshadows and lipsticks make me hesitant unless I see a lot of great reviews--eyeshadows too often crease on me, and lipsticks are often either too streaky/slippery or too drying for my taste.

Jars with ingredients

However, when I inevitably finish up my jar of Aphrodite finishing powder, I'm sure I'll throw in a new product or two with the replacement powder order! Have you tried Pumpkin and Poppy Cosmetics? What would you recommend that I try?

Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, follow us on Pinterest, and/or follow us on BlogLovin to get all of our updates!