First Impressions, Reviews
Comments 12

First Shiro Cosmetics Purchase: The Tributes Collection & There and Back Again: A Hobbit Collection

Shiro - Pots and Samples

I first heard about Shiro Cosmetics from Jen of Barely Organized Chaos, when she posted her loose shadow inventory. And you know me—I’m a sucker for geeky things and aptly-named things. I literally buy shit (not literal shit) because of what they’re called.

Shiro Cosmetics released two collections that I fell for—hook, line, and sinker. The older collection is called “The Tributes,” and it’s based on Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, which I love. The newer/newest one is called “There & Back Again,” and it’s based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which I LOVE MORE.

So I pretty much was headed to Mount Doom at this point.

Still, I did manage to hold back, and didn’t purchase the entire collections. In hindsight, I kinda wish I did, but it’s always good to not be a total hoarder.

A little background: Shiro Cosmetics is owned by Caitlin, who loves makeup and geeky things. Their products are vegan and 100% cruelty-free. As you can see from the picture above, it’s basically mineral makeup, though they do have lip products, which they call Intertubes. I didn’t manage to get any of them in this order, though.

All products are handmade in small batches, and the colors are unique! You can read more about Shiro here.

From the Hunger Games collection, The Tributes, I purchased four colors in the mini pots. Here are the swatches:

Shiro - The Tributes Swatches

Swatches, L-R: Rebellion, Baker’s Boy, Remake, and Star-Crossed

These are very pigmented and easy to use, if you are pretty adept at mineral makeup. If you’re new to all of this, don’t be intimidated! It just takes a bit of practice. 🙂 I like using my RealTechniques domed shadow brush for application and I always use a tacky or wet base.

Rebellion is an utterly beautiful black shadow with dark blue shimmer and sparkles. Baker’s Boy is a very pale, warm light brown with light blue sparkles and I use it as a base. Remake is a golden bronze with fine lavender glitter. I feel like this needs to be layered on to get the full effect. Finally, Star-Crossed is a blackened coppery-brown. The shadows are utterly beautiful and my crappy swatches do not show them in the most flattering light.

You can view the full collection here. I wish I had also gotten Mockingjay, Unforgettable, and Wildflowers. I think Girl on Fire and Cornucopia are beautiful options for people who like bold, warm eyeshadows. 🙂 I personally couldn’t wear them at this point, but they are stunning.

From the Hobbit collection, There and Back Again, I got five shadows. Here are the swatches:

Shiro - The Hobbit - Swatches

Swatches, L-R: King Under Mountain, When the Thrush Knocks, Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees, Lingered in Twilight, War of Five Armies

This collection is so, so, so beautiful. If you look at the individual shades, Caitlin puts in a passage from the book that inspired the color and the shade name (which makes it harder for me to say no to them). This also applies to The Tributes collection, too, but I am more moved by this one, LOL.

King Under Mountain is a red-brown mixed with grey, and it has silver and sky-blue sparkles. This is very pretty, but the sparkles overpower the base a bit, in my opinion. When the Thrush Knocks is so beautiful and is described as “late afternoon sunlight”—a soft coppery yellow-gold with light shimmer. I think it would be a great lid color for summer. Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees is a deep earthy forest green with added complexity due to “fiery-red sparks.” It’s based on the passage where Bilbo and the others are stuck in trees, while a fire blazes underneath them. I think that’s super cool and super apt.

Lingered in Twilight is probably my favorite of the bunch. It is a blackened blue-green with a bit of a metallic shimmer, and it’s beautifuuuul. Seriously, how gorgeous is that? Last but not the least, is War of Five Armies, which is a very deep red-brown that is almost matte. I love this color, but my finger swatch didn’t transfer well.

Shiro - War of Five Armies The swatch on my finger is so pretty, though. I must find a way to work with this color because it is absolutely beautiful.

I personally want to buy another pot of Lingered in Twilight, because it’s so pretty. I don’t know why I didn’t get Attercop, Attercop, but I want it. I also want The Last Homely House, and I’m a bit undecided on Riddles in the Dark, but it’s very pretty either way.

Here are Jen’s swatches of her purchases!

There and Back Again is very earthy, compared to The Tributes, which has a few pops of color here and there. Overall, I think both collections represent their respective inspirations well and I love the thought behind these collections. You can see that they really tried to represent them, and to me, that’s a true sign of a geek! And that is a wonderful, wonderful thing. 🙂

Shiro - Pots

Aside from the two samples ($1 each) that I haven’t swatched, Everything is Bears and Badger, I bought the colors in mini pots of 1 gram, which cost $3.50 each. She has full-size pots available, which are 2 grams each and cost $6.00. International shipping is at a flat rate of $7.50, which I find pretty reasonable.

Shiro Cosmetics was a pleasure to deal with. Karen ordered some along with me, and Caitlin accommodated the additional items in our order. Everything was packed well, and we got two free samples 😀 I love this brand so much, I’ve placed a new order already and will continue to support this awesome company.

Shiro Cosmetics is cruelty-free and vegan.

12 Comments

  1. These are BEAUTIFUL! And I love the names. And very very reasonably priced. I love that she gives you quantity options per shade. It would have been fun to see some crazy colors in the Hunger Games collection as a nod to the style and fashion of the Capital (although Cornucopia and Ever in Your Favor are lovely in that regard), but it’s great that the collection is ultimately super wearable. And did I mention they were beautiful?

    • RIGHT? She has a collection for “derps,” aka color rejects. The names are herp, herp derp, and so on. She has a Pokemon collection, and if I wore yellow eyeshadow a lot, I’d totally get the Pikachu shade because omg, it is yellow with red glitter shot through it and not mixed in so it turns orange. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE.

      She has sample baggies, and I got two, but I feel like I’d rather get the minis so I have a pot instead of a bag. I do agree, though, like a bright blue or like a green one would be A+.

  2. Oh my god I’m a sucker for names, too! Wait, let me finish my post on Anatomicals and you’ll understand my obsession with names haha

  3. Loooove the names! I’m not very adept at mineral eyeshadows, but the themes are very tempting!

  4. Yay for Shiro! How are you liking them so far? I have to admit, I haven’t used them much yet, because I have such a vast collection… x_X

    Thanks for the mention!

    • They’re pretty nice, though I have to pat quite a bit on so that the beautiful nuances can be seen! I experienced quite a bit of fall-out with one of the Hobbit shadows, even though I patted the shadow.

      HAHA I have a vast collection, too, so I have to keep rotating ;_;

      • I’m still a newbie when it comes to loose shadows, so I think that’s even more of a reason that they go untouched… But I must practice if I’m to get any better!

  5. Pingback: Shiro Cosmetics Pre-Ban Haulage & Semi-Reviews | Softly Sometimes

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