The Conservatorie: Store Review

12/05/19: The Conservatorie is closed so those links have been removed.

When I was working on my pigment pricelist I stumbled across The Conservatorie, a company that appears to be one of the "big boys" like TKB Trading and Coastal Scents. I'd heard of them but dismissed them early on because I believed, based on the spelling of "Conservatorie", that they were a British company. I joke that the mail carrier services kick packages off the plane when they fly over the ocean which is why my overseas packages often get lost but the truth is, I live in the U.S. and think we should buy American whenever possible and screw Wal-Mart but I digress…

This is my impression and experience: there is some similarity between TKB Trading and The Conservatorie. The Conservatorie sells the micas bagged like TKB Trading and seems to have a good selection. They, like TKB Trading, have a minimum order of $20- which I couldn't find stated anywhere when I compiled the Pigment Suppliers but found out the other night when placing my Christmas order. They also accept payment via PayPal (so does Coastal Scents and TKB Trading) which I like because I'm turning my personal info over to as few places as possible. That’s where the similarity ends.

The Conservatorie's pigments come in 30 grams as opposed to 1 ounce (28.35 grams) and their prices are slightly lower than TKB Trading's on the average. But there are no customer reviews and some of the descriptions are rather vague or non-existent aside from ingredients (that is one of my pet peeves). Searching the internet (and other blogs) I found few Conservatorie swatches outside of I. R. Pale which made me wonder why not when there are plenty of TKB Trading swatches. Is everyone afraid of The Conservatorie? Well, I'm not and placed a decent size order.

I found their selection overwhelming, thought I'd place a huge order but in the end found it difficult to spend as much as I'd planned. Having found The Conservatorie a year after finding (and being an avid shopper of) TKB Trading and Coastal Scents, I didn't see the need to buy dupes or similar colors to what I already own. Not to mention that the one I'd really wanted, Magic Blue Mica, was out of stock but that will just give me reason to place another order later on.

Altogether I ended up spending $92.00 and shipping cost me $7.80 for UPS Ground which is reasonable. By comparison, I've ordered more 4oz. containers from SKS Bottle that were shipped with UPS Ground costing $12.98 while my Coastal Scents order was sent out FedEx Ground and cost $7.46. My only complaint about using FedEx and UPS is that my home must be at the end of their routes because I rarely get a package in the afternoon; it's usually closer to 6p and I hate waiting.

When I finalized my order, I didn't realize I managed to leave the city off my address so I contacted The Conservatorie via their Live Chat and left a message with the amended address. I received a response within 2 hours which was pretty fast considering I didn't finalize my order until nearly 4p. And it shipped by 12p the next day.

When it arrived it was late in the evening so I haven't done much more than give the pigments a quick look but they were packaged nicely, sealed silver zipper bag with a smaller clear one within. I'm not impressed with the colors but we'll see once I begin the endless process of transferring to containers.

(Continued) I have completed the task of putting them into containers and I am still not impressed. Many of these appear to be nearly identical to pigments I already own or just purchased and a few are simply boring; boring is another of my pet peeves.

I have since completed swatching and photographing the pigments but rather than including them with this entry, the photographs will be in the next post. -MK

The Conservatorie INCI Info, a pdf document, provides descriptions of all pigments they sell. Read for more info.

Related Entries:

Swatches: The Conservatorie Pigments