Shiro Face Product Party!

By AG

Purchased, Free Sample

Hi everyone! Today I'm very excited to show you some fantastic face products from Shiro Cosmetics. I'll be swatching and reviewing all of the brand's blushes, both the bronzers, and the highlighter.

You're Making Me <blush>  loose blush sparkling in the sunlight!

First, I want to let you know that I purchased all of these products myself except for the Shine Sprite bronzer. Since I wasn't sure how it would work on my pale skin (and since samples weren't yet available), I requested Shine Sprite as one of my free samples in an order, and Caitlin kindly obliged. 

Next, let me tell you a little about the products in general. They all come in giant jars that, as I've been describing in makeup forums, will last you approximately until the sun explodes. Full sizes come in a 20 gram jar for $8, and 1/4 teaspoon samples are available for $1.50. With the exception of the Special Edition 10K blush, all of the products are safe for cheeks, lips, and eyes, which means you can use them as eyeshadows or order them as a custom lipgloss. The Special Edition 10K blush is not FDA approved for eyes or lips, so it is not available as a custom gloss. You can find the blushes in the Blush section, and you can find the highlighter and bronzers in the Highlighters and Bronzers section, naturally. 

Let's talk about the individual shades! This will be a photo-heavy post, so follow the jump if you want to read more...

Gelato Beach Blush

Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light.

Shiro says:

The most sun-kissed shore on Isle Delphino. Kick back, relax, water a few Dune Buds - just look out for the Cataquacks!

Color: Bright, punchy coral with light shimmer.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

I can't help but talk about Gelato Beach first, since this is the shade that made me fall in love with Shiro's blushes in the first place. I ordered this on a whim when it was released in the summer of 2013 - the bright color seemed absolutely perfect for summer, and $8 is within my "what the hell, I'll try it" limit for products. When it arrived in my mailbox, I excitedly opened it, admired the gorgeous coral shade, swatched it on my arm, and... made a horrified face at the giant glitterbomb I had just applied. I was just dipping my toe into the world of non-nude blush at the time, and the idea of having anything other than a matte finish on my cheeks appalled me, much less piles upon piles of glitter. I packed away the blush and washed my arm with a heavy heart.

A couple of weeks later, I was feeling adventurous one night and pulled it out. I tapped a bit into the lid of the jar, swirled a fluffy blush brush into the product, and applied it to my cheekbones. To my immense surprise and delight, all the glitter fell away, leaving a gorgeous coral that melded with my skin and seemed to glow ever so softly from within. I instantly forgave Gelato Beach for its glittery sins, and it's been in my list of top indie picks ever since.

I believe Gelato Beach is the most pigmented of Shiro's blush offerings, so tread carefully!

Potion Blush

Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light.

Shiro says:

A quick, inexpensive, possibly-delicious blast of health! Compatible with pretty much everything from every game ever made, almost.

Color: Shimmery muted berry.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

As you can tell from the swatch, this berry-toned pink is one of the least pigmented of Shiro's blushes. Potion and 1-Up would be my two top recommendations for newbies to loose blush or extremely pale people. It can be sheered out to suit my fellow pale folks, and it can be built up for anyone who wants a bolder cheek color.

1-Up Blush

Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light.

Shiro says:

Perfect for anyone prone to:

-falling into bottomless pits

-running into deadly, sentient mushrooms

-mis-timing jumps and landing in lava

-other assorted deadly activities

Color: Shimmery gold-toned medium pink.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

1-Up is a lovely, subtle peach, and another of the least pigmented of Shiro's blushes. As I said, 1-Up and Potion would be my top two recommendations for newbies or very pale people.

You're Making Me [blush] - Special Edition 10K Blush

Note: this photo was edited for color accuracy. Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light.

Shiro says:

This is a color created in celebration of 10,000 Facebook likes! Thank you to everyone who's helped us get there. <3

Slightly muted fuchsia-rose with subtle blue shift. FDA approved for facial use, but not eyes or lips.

Ingredients: mica, kaolin clay, titanium dioxide, tin oxide, red #33, red #27, ferric ferrocyanide.

[Daily readers have seen this review before - I'm including it here for a comprehensive post!]

First things first - congratulations Caitlin and the Shiro team for your exciting milestone! It should come as a surprise to no one that this glitter-happy crew has brought us a glitterbomb blush to celebrate their 10,000 glitter lovers on Facebook (I tease because I love). The subtle blue shift in Shiro's description looks like a metric ton of very light blue sparkles to me, but hey, that just adds to the fun.

You're Making Me [blush] has a touch more purple than you see here, making it a little more fuchsia than I was able to capture in the photo. I color corrected the photo to bring it as true to life as I could.

Revive Blush

Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light. 

Shiro says:

Thank goodness that gym leaders and the Elite Four only had potions/full restores and not these, right? Not that those full restores weren't bad enough.

Color: Shimmery peachy-apricot.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

Let me cut to the chase here - I'm convinced Revive will serve better as a highlighter than a blush on the majority of people. When I first applied it, I noticed the sheen of the finish seemed much closer to that of Curaga than any of Shiro's other blushes. Additionally, the pigmentation is lower than the other blushes. I swatched Curaga and Revive next to each other on my arm in order to compare them, and my suspicions were confirmed - to me, they look like the same product in different shades (think theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer and Cindy-Lou Manizer). Here's what they look like side by side, in the same lighting:

Shiro Curaga (left) and Revive (right) blended out lightly over bare skin. Photos taken inside under daylight bulbs.

As you can see, they seem to have near-identical finish and opacity. I'm looking forward to experimenting with Revive as a highlight, perhaps to complement a light pink blush.

That's not to say Revive serves poorly as a blush, by any means! On my pale skin (roughly NC15 in MAC, Sleek Korat in Meow), Revive makes for a really natural cheek color, and the lower pigmentation means it will be friendly to pale people and blush newbies. It has a bit more of a sheen than suits my personal preferences, but it certainly seems to be within the normal range of blush finishes. 

Curaga Highlight

Swatches done over bare skin. Packaging photos taken outside in natural light, swatch photo taken inside under daylight bulbs.

Shiro says:

Top up everyone's health bars and/or take out that Undead like a boss. White Mages FTW!

Color: Shimmery, lightly gold-toned cream.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

Shiro's highlight shade is a lovely cream, though I don't see the gold tones mentioned in the description. Finishes are so difficult to capture on camera, so let me show you a heavy swatch taken at an angle under daylight bulbs for another look:

Shiro Curaga, heavy swatch done over bare skin. Photo taken inside under daylight bulbs.

With a light hand and a light brush, Curaga can be sheered out for a pretty subtle effect. With a heavier touch, it can be built up to a frosty finish. I only have a couple of mainstream highlighters to compare it to (theBalm Mary Lou-Manizer and a limited edition one from Wet n Wild) but Curaga appears to be more dramatic than both of them. I think this product will be best suited for folks who like a bold highlight.

Coconut Mall Bronzer

Note: this photo was edited for color accuracy. Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light.

Shiro says:

With its host of cute little shops and cafes, the Coconut Mall is the place to be when you've tired of sunbathing - that is, if you don't mind dodging hurtling go-karts and avoiding banana peels. Good luck!

Color: Shimmery light tan-bronze.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

This bronzer was very difficult to photograph! I adjusted the swatch photo above to get it as close as possible to what I see in real life. To me, this is a gorgeous golden tan with a strong gold sheen that appears when the sun hits it. Call me crazy, but I think about sunbathing lions every time I look at this color. It looks darker in the jar than it does on the skin.

This shade is amazing swatched, but I'm still having trouble figuring out how to put it on my face. I use bronzer (in addition to blush) to add a bit of color back to my face after foundation. Coconut Mall is tricky because it comes across as downright metallic when I use it lightly on my face, and it's a little strange to have a metallic patch on the bridge of my nose and other areas where I would prefer it to blend in. My next experiment will be to try this as a combination highlight and bronzer, and use a less shimmery product for the other high points of my face. Fortunately, if I decide I simply can't work with it as a bronzer, it's safe to use on my eyes and lips as well!

Shine Sprite Bronzer

Note: this photo was edited for color accuracy. Swatches done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in natural light.

Shiro says:

Here comes the sun, dadadada

Here comes the sun, and I say

It's all right!

Color: Lightly metallic medium bronze.

Ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide. Lip- and eye-safe!

It's not readily apparent in the swatch (this was even harder to photograph accurately than Coconut Mall) but this is a lovely shade reminiscent of light milk chocolate, and a bit darker than you see here. It shares Coconut Mall's finish and stunning gold metallic overlay, so all my same compliments and hesitations apply here. As with Coconut Mall, this will take some experimentation. It is darker than the other bronzer, as you'll see in the next couple of photos.

As I said, showing the finish of a product is difficult, but I took some photos on an angle to try to show the gorgeous gold metallic overlay in both of the bronzers:

From lower left to upper right: Coconut Mall heavy, Coconut Mall blended out, Shine Sprite heavy, Shine Sprite blended out

From lower left to upper right: Coconut Mall heavy, Coconut Mall blended out, Shine Sprite heavy, Shine Sprite blended out

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's a wrap! So what do you think of these products? Do any of them spark your interest? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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!