Hey everyone! If you're reading this blog, there's a good chance you've heard of indie heavyweight Shiro Cosmetics, a vegan and cruelty free company based out of Portland, Oregon, USA. The brand has a pretty extensive collection and I've been a huge fan for years, so buckle up for a long post!
Shiro blushes! Top row and lower left are in older jar style, bottom right is new jar style (review here)
I want to share a bit about the company in general. Brand owner Caitlin started Shiro Cosmetics in 2010. User LOLPAL on Reddit put together a great overview of the company, and her interview with Caitlin tells the very cool origin story. In brief, Caitlin wound up with some spare money and spare time all at once. She started researching ingredients and formulating eyeshadows, and Shiro Cosmetics launched on Etsy with a Pokemon-themed collection. A year or two later, Caitlin brought on Lauren to help fill orders, and the two women have been working together ever since. The brand has expanded substantially since its launch - it now carries many eyeshadow collections, blushes, bronzers, a highlighter, finishing powders, lip glosses, tinted balms, a couple pieces of jewelry, and a whole 'nother brand. I'll talk more about all these products in the Selection category below!
Packaging:
The brand's packaging is pretty standard for the industry, complete with exceptionally nerdy decorations. Eyeshadows are available in 2 gram full size jars with sifters, 1 gram mini jars with no sifters, or little resealable sample baggies folded over with the name and ingredients label on the front.
Example of a Shiro eyeshadow sample bag - this is Triforce from the Legends Collection (review here)
Full sized blushes, bronzers, and highlighters come in 20 gram jars with sifters, and sample baggies are available for all of them as well. If memory serves, all powder products in sifter jars come with a sticker over the sifter to prevent spilling during shipping. In my many (many) orders from the brand, I've never had an issue with shadows leaking during shipping that I can recall.
Shiro blush in You're Making Me [blush], full size (review here)
Shiro gloss sample in a clamshell - this is Red in My Ledger from the Earth's Mightiest Heroes Collection (review here)
Selection:
Let's start with the eyeshadows, which I believe are what made Shiro Cosmetics famous. In my opinion the brand specializes in glitterbombs, but they carry a number of other finishes as well, from duochrome to satin and more. I'm quite partial to their metallic finish myself. I do feel the brand was lacking in matte shadows until fairly recently, but ever since the launch of the There and Back Again collection I've been noticing more and more mattes in each release.
The shades' performance over bare skin varies by color, but I recommend using a sticky base with the non-matte shadows to keep the abundance of glitter in place and fully bring out the base color. As Caitlin mentioned in LOLPAL's interview (linked above), she's gotten a lot of praise for making eyeshadow collections that are very true to their source or inspiration material. From what I've read, fans tend to be very happy with how Caitlin interprets the books, movies, shows, and internet memes from which she draws inspiration.
A selection of shadows from the There and Back Again collection, swatched over sticky base (review pending!)
Kristin adds: I have several of Shiro's older eyeshadows (from back before the renaming of the Super Effective eyeshadows) and I've noticed that Shiro's eyeshadow formula has definitely gotten smoother as the years have gone by. The older eyeshadows are "chunkier" in the glitter department and although the finishes are still lovely, I half suspect more glitter than base. I don't have any such thoughts with her newer eyeshadows and I find that they apply smoother. If you've tried Shiro's eyeshadows in the past and found them unsatisfying, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it another shot! Back to you AG!
Let's talk Shiro's face products! As of writing this post, Shiro stocks five blushes, two bronzers, a highlighter, and two finishing powders. You can find them in the Face category on the website. I raved about Shiro's blushes, bronzers, and highlighter in our Shiro Face Product Party post, and we reviewed the green-tinted finishing powder in our Earth's Mightiest Heroes Collection post. I haven't had the opportunity to review the translucent finishing powder yet, though I consistently hear excellent things about it. It includes kaolin clay, which makes me suspect it's best suited to oily skin. If you've tried this product, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it!
Shiro's Miyazaki lip tints, complete with labels by Caitlin herself! (review here)
Shiro also carries lip glosses. The Seven Kingdoms and Earth's Mightiest Heroes collections each contain a themed gloss, but I suspect Shiro is even better known for their standalone 5-piece gloss collection based on actor Nic Cage (we reviewed the collection here!).
If you don't spot an existing gloss color you want, you can request that any lip safe powder product be mixed in gloss to create your very own custom shade. Each powder product's listing notes whether it's lip safe, or you can browse the lip safe product tag for ideas. If you still can't find a shade you want, Caitlin is happy to custom match an inspiration photo or description you send her.
Shiro custom gloss made with the Wildflowers eyeshadow, from the Tributes Collection
Over in the Gifts section you can purchase a Shiro gift certificate, a Harry Potter - Deathly Hallows necklace, or a Legend of Zelda - Zora Sapphire necklace.
I also want to mention Shiro's Color of the Month feature, which is run through the brand's Facebook page. Each month, Caitlin collects suggestions for a shadow, blush, or lip gloss shade and name combination. The most "liked" suggestions go up for vote at the end of the month, and the winning shade gets made and sold on the site for the following month.
Additionally, Shiro Cosmetics recently became the exclusive distributor of Detrivore Cosmetics. You can read our announcement about this arrangement here, and you can purchase Detrivore products via the Detrivore tab on the Shiro website. Detrivore products will show up mixed with Shiro products in the Color, Finish, and Function filters on the left navigation bar, and they're all eligible for custom glosses. However, do note that Detrivore is not a strictly vegan brand (unlike Shiro, which is 100% vegan) so keep that in mind while browsing if you're only interested in vegan products. All the non-vegan Detrivore shades are very clearly marked as "[Shade name] *Non Vegan*" and are also denoted as non-vegan in the item's description.
Detrivore Cosmetics blush jars
Finally, I want to mention that a portion of Shiro's stock is available for purchase from one or two other brands, most notably Aussie duochrome extraordinaire Femme Fatale Cosmetics. Femme Fatale carries a modest collection of some of Shiro's most popular shadows, blushes, lip products, and finishing powders, but also carries an exclusive set consisting of two Monty Python themed eyeshadows and a lip gloss which you can only purchase through Femme Fatale.
Shiro gloss in Smelt of Elderberries, exclusive to Femme Fatale Cosmetics (review here)
Samples:
Samples are available for almost every product in the Shiro makeup line. I believe the Miyazaki tinted balms, special release shadows (such as the Colors of the Month), and custom glosses are the sole products that are only available in full sizes. I generally receive two eyeshadow samples with every order, and they're frequently from the most recently released collection.
Quality:
I find the quality of Shiro's products to be very consistently high. I can count the number of duds I've tried on one hand. A back-of-the-napkin calculation tells me I've tried well over 100 different Shiro products (!), so a >95% success rate is nothing to sneeze at!
The eyeshadows are fabulous, if often glitterbombs, though it's worth noting they generally apply best over a primer or sticky base. The blushes are so lovely that I'm happy to buy full sizes without sampling them first. The highlighter and finishing powders get consistent raves. The tinted balms are cute and very easy to wear. And the lip gloss is a downright glorious formula - plush, non-sticky, comfortable as can be, and buildable without ever going gloopy. I regularly hear about the gloss making converts out of people who previously refused to wear lip gloss. I've also heard other reviewers describe Caitlin as a wizard, perfectly matching their dream custom gloss to an inspiration photo.
Shiro gloss in Red Wedding from the Seven Kingdoms Collection (review here)
Though it's not the hands-down cheapest brand in the indie world, it ranges from "average price for the industry" to "screaming deal" depending on the product. Eyeshadows generally cost $1 for samples, $3.50 for mini jars, and $6 for full sizes. Color face products generally cost $1.50 for samples and $8 for full sizes (and did I mention the full sizes are about twice as big as almost any other blush on the indie market?). Finishing powders cost $1.50 for samples and $10 for full sizes. Tinted balms are $5 a piece. Non-custom glosses are $2 for samples and $8 for full sizes. Even the custom glosses are astonishingly cheap for what you get, considering you can have Caitlin create your very own shade exactly to order for a maximum of $13 if you choose all the bells and whistles.
If you're interested in a full collection, be it samples, minis, or full sizes, you can purchase them all at once for a 10% discount. That discount gets bumped up to 20% with the Buy ALL The Eye Shadow option, but even with the discount that's still a bit of a splurge!
If these prices are still a little too high for you, you can watch for the brand's yearly anniversary sale in June or the Black Friday sale in November, which I believe is also an annual event.
Customer Service:
Shiro is one of so many indie brands to spoil their shoppers with fantastic customer service. Email queries are generally answered within hours, and problems are quickly resolved with troubleshooting suggestions or product replacements as appropriate. All my personal experiences with Caitlin have been very pleasant and professional. I wish I had a heartwarming story to tell you about the customer service, but since my myriad orders over the past 2.5 years have all arrived in perfect shape with nothing missing... well, that speaks for itself!
TAT:
Turnaround time is generally set at around two weeks, but often ships faster than that. TAT is always listed at the bottom of the checkout page, and on the rare occasion when she needs to increase it (that is, only once in recent memory), Caitlin posts a very apologetic update on Facebook. It's not the fastest TAT in the indie world, but it is consistent and reliable.
Jars for scale, from left to right: Shiro full size blush, Detrivore full size blush, Shiro full size eyeshadow
Shipping:
Items are tucked into a white envelope, which is folded over and sealed with a sticker bearing the brand's logo. The envelope is then shipped in a bubble mailer. In the US, shipping starts at $2.75 flat rate, and I believe you need to make a pretty sizeable order for that to go up. Domestic shipping is free for orders over $50. I can't speak to the international purchasing experience, but if you're outside the US and you've ordered from Shiro, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Jeannie adds (Nov 2014) - I placed an order after seeing AG's Halloween Collection Spotlight, and since I had ordered during their busy Halloween period, the TAT had increased to one month. My order shipped 11 business days after I had placed it, and I received it 6 business days later. I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly it got to Western Australia! International shipping has a flat rate of $7.50.
Personal Thoughts:
At this point, I think it's abundantly clear that I'm absolutely head over heels for this company. Since the quality, turnaround time, and customer service are all excellent and extremely consistent, this is one of the brands I strongly encourage indie newcomers to check out. I never feel the need to give disclaimers or caveats - if you order from Shiro, you're pretty much guaranteed to have an easy purchasing experience and receive excellent products in a timely manner. Hey, it worked on me! I believe Shiro was the third indie company I ordered from, but it's absolutely the one that made me fall in love with indie makeup.
A few swatches from the Tributes Collection (over sticky base), which I bought in my very first Shiro order!
I was going through some papers last weekend after a recent move, and I found the invoice that arrived in my first Shiro order. It had a thank you note in the corner and a list of the samples I'd painstakingly picked out at the bottom. And you guys, the paper sparkled. I grinned like an idiot and tucked it away in a keepsake box. I love this company.
We've swatched and reviewed a ton of Shiro products, which you can find by checking out the Shiro Cosmetics tag on our posts or our Shiro album on flickr. We're also slowly adding all our swatch collages to our Pinterest page, so you can repin our Shiro swatches there as well. Make sure to check back the first week of every month as well - I make it a point to purchase, swatch, and review the new releases ASAP when they're launched at the beginning of each month.
I'm sure my fabulous co-bloggers are regretting letting me take on this post, because I'm halfway to a novel at this point! If you have thoughts, questions, or experiences with Shiro Cosmetics that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them in the comments!
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O would love to see a swatch of you make me blush
ReplyDeleteSure thing, you can find it in this post! http://www.indieknow.net/2014/05/shiro-face-product-party.html
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