Hi everyone! Today I'd love to show you the absurd new gloss collection from Shiro Cosmetics. Though I have to admit the theme doesn't totally appeal to me, these glosses are absolutely fantastic across the board and I'm delighted to show them to you.
If you want to take a look at this collection with me, follow the jump!
I'm going to start with some editorializing. This collection, which is a celebration of American actor Nicolas Cage's 50th birthday, is... a bit of an oddball. I'm way more well-versed in memes than your average adult-sized human should be, and my Robe and Wizard Hat lipstick and I are usually completely on board with the internet humor that pervades pretty much every Shiro product. When Caitlin launched Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon, I laughed until I cried and then bought one. With Cages Through The Ages, though, Shiro has teamed up with artist SJ Costello to label the full-sized glosses with drawings of Mr. Cage in a string of increasingly questionable outfits (see them all together here). To me, this feels like beating a dead horse at best, and bordering on creepy at worst. However, the product inside is marvelous, and the collection art seems to be delighting my fellow Shiro fanatics, so I'd say Caitlin has herself another winner here.
But enough with my unsolicited opinions - let's take a look at the swatches!
First up, we have Nic Cage Churning Butter One Crisp Thanksgiving Morn:
From the website: April showers bring May flowers. Mayflowers bring Nic Cage?
A gorgeous nude color, slightly on the sheerer side of medium coverage. We like to think of it as "Nicolas Beige." Flavored like yummy honey! (vegan substitute, not the bees)
Samples are available in a clamshell; full sizes are in a tube with doefoot applicator.
Ingredients: hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, meadowfoam seed oil, cocoa butter, iron oxide, red 40, castor oil, vitamin E, flavor
Personal Comments: I cannot for the life of me believe I'm saying this, but this unassuming, medium opacity beige was my favorite gloss out of the bunch. I'm usually all about deep reds, ridiculous blues, and serious purples, but this pale-person-nude* quietly won my heart. I was able to both sheer this one out and build it up beautifully, and unlike a lot of light-colored glosses I've seen reviewed, it showed no hint of sinking into my lip lines unless I applied far too much of it. Bravo, Caitlin! The only thing I didn't enjoy was the scent, which came across as sweet, buttery plastic to me. As with all Shiro glosses, though, the scent fades quickly.
* For reference, I have pale, warm-toned skin - I match roughly an NC15 on the MAC scale, Lighter Than Light from theBalm, and Sleek Korat from Meow Cosmetics.
The swatches were done on bare skin. The photos were taken outside in direct sunlight.
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Next, Nic Cage Nibbling Petit Fours in a Posh Victorian Tearoom:
From the website: A Victorian tearoom is not to be confused with a Nictorian tearoom, which, rather than being an elegant tea-taking experience, is actually just a terrible pun for which I am very ashamed.
Moderately opaque dusty rose with a gentle pearl finish.
Flavored with fancy pink frosting!
Samples are available in a clamshell; full sizes are in a tube with doefoot applicator.
Ingredients: hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, meadowfoam seed oil, cocoa butter, mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, red 40, castor oil, vitamin E, methicone, flavor
Personal Comments: The official description calls this a dusty rose, but to my eyes it's a little browner than that. Regardless, this is one of the collection's great neutral colors, and it does indeed smell like frosting. I couldn't sheer it out quite as much as some of the others, so Shiro's description of it as "moderately opaque" is quite accurate.
The swatches were done on bare skin. The photos were taken outside in direct sunlight.
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Next up, Nic Cage Doing the Charleston in a Bustling Speakeasy:
From the website: Won't you Cageston with me?
And while the band is playing that
Nicolas Cage, around we will rage
Together we'll show them
How the Cageston is done
We'll surprise everyone!
Moderately opaque fuchsia-mulberry. Will leave behind a faint stain.
Flavored like bubbly champagne!
Samples are available in a clamshell; full sizes are in a tube with doefoot applicator.
Ingredients: hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, meadowfoam seed oil, cocoa butter, iron oxide, red 27, red 33, castor oil, vitamin E, flavor
Personal Comments: Shiro says this smells like bubbly champagne. I say it smells like fake grape. Close enough! The lip swatch makes it look a little fussy to wear, but in all fairness I didn't notice the line running across my lower lip until I was editing these photos later. I'm wearing this gloss again now, and though there's just the slightest bit of pigment buildup at the inner part of my lower lip, it's really not something I would have noticed were I not scrutinizing my face. As you can tell from the arm swatches, this is probably the most versatile of the glosses, in that you can sheer it out to a translucent pink or really build it up to a lovely, rich fuchsia. The lip swatch is about halfway between those two extremes.
On a different note, I can't describe how much I appreciate the description mentioning that it stains, because it shows a great deal of honesty and a smart setting of consumer expectations on the brand's part. It does indeed leave a mild stain; given my already quite pigmented lips, I didn't notice the stain until I washed off my arm swatches.
The swatches were done on bare skin. The photos were taken outside in direct sunlight.
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Moving on, let's look at Nic Cage Posing for a Calendar with Shiny Bright Red Cars:
From the website: It's a little known fact that National Treasure's "Book of Secrets" actually referred to an extensive collection of Nic Cage's glamorous pin-up shoots. The film, alas, took many creative liberties and covered up the whole thing.
Moderately opaque bright sports-car red, with a subtle pearl finish.
Flavored like fresh cherry pie!
Samples are available in a clamshell; full sizes are in a tube with doefoot applicator.
Ingredients: hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, meadowfoam seed oil, cocoa butter, mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, red 40, red 6, castor oil, vitamin E, flavor.
Personal Comments: Just in time for Valentine's Day, this (stacked, hourglass-shaped) version of Nic Cage poses in lingerie. I am jealous of both his figure and his fancy undergarments, but fortunately this blog is about makeup and not bustiers so we won't dwell on that. I understand this is supposed to smell like cherry pie, but I'm just getting an unidentifiable sweet and waxy scent. This is the kind of bright red that yells "hot damn" when you put it on, and the pearl finish is a nice touch. Gloss lovers who found Red Wedding (reviewed here) a little too dark for their preferences may find this gloss meets their needs beautifully. Fans of classic red lips will also be delighted with this color. In fact, I believe it would even be good for anxious newcomers to the red lip - as with almost all the other glosses in this collection, it sheers out nicely and can be built up to match the wearer's boldness.
The swatches were done on bare skin. The photos were taken outside in direct sunlight.
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Finally, the collection ends with Nic Cage Getting Funky with that Saturday Night Fever:
From the website: The invention of the disco ball came about one night after Nic Cage, at the tender age of five, accidentally sat on a mirror. The shards stuck to his bum and reflected the lasers which happened to be around, throwing off glorious scatterings of multicolored light which made everyone want to dance. Unfortunately, the name "Nicso ball" did not stick.
Super sheer purple with bright orange sparkle.
Flavored like grape candy, Lip Smackers style!
Samples are available in a clamshell; full sizes are in a tube with doefoot applicator.
Ingredients: hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, meadowfoam seed oil, cocoa butter, mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, calcium aluminum borosilicate, silicon dioxide, vitamin E, flavor.
Personal comments: I'm happy to say Shiro's scent description and swatch are both extremely helpful here. My first thought was grape cough syrup, but grape candy is another good way to describe the scent of this gloss. I also really appreciate that Shiro's swatch shows that this product is not nearly as full-on purple as it appears in the tube, which is useful information for those both for and against wearing screaming purple lip colors. On my pigmented lips it gave a subtle tint and some sparkle. I'd imagine it would look lovely over a lipstick to deepen the color and add a sparkly finish. My lip swatch above shows this product built up as much as I could - I think I was wearing three layers at that point, and as much as I adore Shiro's gloss formula, that's about the point where even the best product starts feeling a little uncomfortable.
The swatches were done on bare skin. The photos were taken outside in direct sunlight.
Purchase Link
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I noticed several of these glosses looked similar to some of the other Shiro glosses I own, so I raided my stash to do comparison swatches:
From top to bottom: Nic Cage Posing..., Red Wedding, This Is Halloween, Nic Cage Nibbling..., Something In The Wind, Nic Cage Doing...
Overall, despite my hesitations about the theme and artwork, this is a marvelous collection. These thick, non-sticky glosses feel fantastic on, sheer out and build up easily, and last through at least one cup of tea and some snacks. I've raved about Shiro's gloss formula from the moment it launched in 2012, and this collection is no exception in a line of fantastic products.
So tell me, what do you think of the artwork? How about the colors? Will you be buying any of these glosses? As always, make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and/or follow us on BlogLovin to get all of our updates!
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