Sunday, May 28, 2017

SHIRO Cosmetics swatches and review





Shiro Cosmetics recently celebrated their 7TH Year Anniversary, offering discounts up to 20% site wide(pretty much). I took advantage of this rare moment to pick up lots of eye shadows I had my eye on for awhile! BUT FIRST lets talk about the brand real quick.
Shiro cosmetics is a US based indie makeup brand that sells fandom themed eyeshadow, face and lip products. They also distribute nerdy nail varnishes, soaps and makeup from other indie brands through their site. All products are affordable and most are available in sample sizes. Their site is really easy to navigate and the best feature i found, personally, is being able to find products based off color, finish, etc. I prefer matte eyeshadows and this made finding the ones I wanted much more easier.

SO what did I get you ask?? I'll show ya! 


[P.S. they really do add candy to every order!😂 😍 and also 2 free samples! ]

Some may think the candy(or sweets) is a bit silly but actually i loved having it added! Was a little bit of home/childhood memories sent to me in the UK 💙I did finger swatches of each shadow . *Dont think I got enough product on my finger for the 'something sweet as pain' swatch. I get really nervous messing with looser powder. just. no. These probably aren't the best swatches as I went ahead and pressed all the shadow samples into pans. I was trying very hard not to spill product or use too much of it beforehand! Have I mentioned I dislike loose eyeshadows? lol (I'll show a bit of the pressing process and swatches at the end of this review)
mock up order on left and actual order bottom right.

Shiro cosmetics does flat rate shipping for international buyers. I wanted to test it so did a mock up order, adding various products to my cart. Flat rate can be both a blessing and a curse. Definitely works out if your ordering alot (not to mention with a discount code!)
I placed my order on May 1st, 2017. On May 9th  I received shipping confirmation along with tracking info. My order arrived on May 16th. It did say, at the time, on the website that it would take approximately 2 weeks to ship out orders from the sale, so considering that, I got them fairly quick! Overall I am happy with my order. Was disappointed with the performance of a couple of shades, but will just have to try building them up i guess!

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this review. Make sure to follow my Instagram and/or Facebook page for product insights, discount codes and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
To see how i pressed these shadows, scroll on down.......
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*Pressing Loose eye shadows into pans*

Heres a list of basic supplies you will need to press loose shadows:
  • 70% (or higher if you can find it) Isopropyl alcohol/surgical spirits, also known as rubbing alcohol for my fellow American readers.
  • *optional* vegetable glycerin 
  • eye shadow pans or an empty palette if you have one
  •  toothpicks or something small enough to stir
  • napkins/paper towels
  • something that can fit into the pan to press such as a coin( a 10 pence coin fit mine perfectly)
  • eye dropper or medicine syringe


The next step is easy but messy and time consuming. * I prefer to use both the alcohol and glycerin since the glycerin makes for a good mixing medium with loose shadows. BUT you dont have to add it. the alcohol will do ok on its own.

 I add 1-3 drops of glycerin into the empty pans (depending on the amount of product i have). then i put a few drops of alcohol on top and add the loose shadow and start mixing with the toothpick. Add more alcohol if needed to create an even looking "paste". next I let the paste set for about an hour or so and would check if it was mostly solid. if not wait a bit longer. once its starting to not feel too gloopy, id take my napkin and coin and would press down into the pan to soak up excess liquid and compact the shadow. then leave it to dry over night. Most came out really good but i had a couple of hiccups along the way.... 


 The purple shade with blue swirls ABOVE is the 'metamorphmagus' shadow and ive never experienced "separation". I'm guessing it had to do with what was giving it the color shift in it. I just stirred it up the best i could and in the end it was ok but i think it wouldve been best if i hadnt pressed that one. The other incident I had (forgot to take a picture of the pan) was pressing 'on love: eros' shadow. I accidentally put too much glycerin in it, not realizing i didnt have that much of a sample and it would  not dry down at all, after 2 days leaving it be 😥 its more like a cream shadow now (look BELOW at the swatch of it). I had accidents adding glycerin with a couple of other ones too but there was an opposite effect where the shadow seemed to have dried hard? if that makes sense. ive never had a problem with my method before so I dont know if i was just having an off day or these shadows have certain ingredients in them that dont mix well with glycerin...I'll be keeping a close eye on it either way!

SWATCHES:
each color was swatched with a brush first, then a finger for comparison.

LEFT:
  1. Zoras Sapphire
  2. Goron ruby
  3. Ganondorf
  4. The tower
  5. Little brother
  6. Philosopher's stone
RIGHT:
  1. Metamorphmagus
  2. Something sweet as pain
  3. Dasvidaniya
  4. On love: Eros

The swatch variants are pretty consistant with each other which is nice, but whoosh what a hassle I tell ya! haha I think im going to try making a Youtube review for this soon, maybe the other ones too. Im not sure yet, im very shy but trying to get outa my koopa shell abit more. Stay tuned Folks! lol