Hey everyone! I'm very excited to show you this new contouring collection from Shiro Cosmetics! The collection, called Cheekbones, is inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch's incredible bone structure in BBC's Sherlock tv show. Here's what the Shiro team has to say about the collection:
"A 5-piece set of light, smooth, exceptionally blendable contouring powders inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch’s impossible bone structure. Now we just have to figure out how to capture that voice…
Label art by the delightful Amy Zen!"
Amy Zen created the art for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes collection, and she's back with gorgeous label art for the Cheekbones collection. You can also see all the art Amy Zen has done for Shiro here on Amy's blog.
Many of these colors lean warm-toned. I'll admit my personal preference is for cool-toned contouring products, so I was excited to read in the comments on the Facebook announcement that the Shiro team is planning two or three cool-toned colors to expand this collection! So far we only know to expect the shades in winter, so I recommend watching the brand's Facebook page for future updates.
A quick disclosure note - Caitlin unexpectedly and very kindly upgraded my sample of Think. It's the New Sexy. to a full size. Also, the Shiro team kindly sent me a sample of the Shine Sprite bronzer (shown in comparison photos at the end) on request in a previous order.
Let's take a look at the products! For reference, I have pale, warm-toned skin - roughly MAC NC15 or Meow Sleek Korat.
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From the website: The tiniest, most tasteful, ever so subtle *sprinkling* of drama- yeah no he totally just turned up his collar to look cool again
Matte reddened nutmeg brown. Eye & Lip Safe!
Ingredients: magnesium myristrate, serecite mica, iron oxide.
Personal Comments: The Shiro team's description for A Touch of Drama is exactly how I see this color. It's quite similar to The Game is On, but when you get them next to each other you can see A Touch of Drama is clearly more red-toned.
I had a lot of trouble blending this shade, even over well powdered skin. I pulled out the stiffest brush I own (a flat-top buffing brush), and even then I found I could diffuse the edges but not do much to blend the initial line I'd drawn along my features. To be fair, a good contouring product needs to stay more or less in place to maintain definition, but I think A Touch of Drama veers a little too far in that direction. I would recommend contouring newcomers steer clear of this shade.
However, I think this color makes an incredible bronzer - that is, it will work beautifully to imitate a really natural tan on the high points of the face. When skin tans it reddens as well, so a reddened brown is a great choice to make it look like you've spent some time in the sun (but without sunscreen, for shame!). I was happy to find this shade blends out much more easily when I do a diffused application with a fluffy blush brush rather than using a stiffer brush to carve out cheekbones, so this is how I'll be using the rest of my sample.
Purchase Link
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From the website: Better wrap up warm.
Near-matte stormcloud grey with a bluish-greenish cast. Eye Safe, Not Lip Safe
Ingredients: magnesium myristrate, serecite mica, iron oxide, titanium dioxide, ultramarines.
Personal Comments: This is a mid-toned ashy gray shade, and the sheerest of the collection. The swatch on the left is the most I could build up the color. I agree that it's near-matte (and looks effectively matte on the skin) but I didn't see the bluish-greenish cast mentioned in the site description. It blends out beautifully regardless of how I apply it.
An East Wind Coming is probably going to be the most intimidating shade in this collection to some folks, but I honestly found it to be the most natural looking contour shade of the lot. I believe there's nothing like an ashy gray to perfectly imitate shadows. I put this under one cheekbone and down one side of my nose, and suddenly my face looked lopsided! Anyone who's followed mainstream makeup for a while may recall the limited edition Notorious blush from Chanel, which was a gray-taupe shade that flew off the shelves. My contour hero Xiao at Messy Wands modeled it here. Though An East Wind Coming is missing Notorious's taupe tones, it could be a great option for anyone who wants a permanent, cruelty free/vegan alternative to the discontinued Chanel shade. Folks with darker skin may find some of the other Cheekbones colors work better, but as a pale-skinned person looking for a forgiving contour shade, this is my top pick of the collection.
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From the website: And the game is never over. But there may be some new players.
Slightly yellow-toned cinnamon brown with a matte finish. Eye & Lip Safe!
Ingredients: magnesium myristrate, serecite mica, iron oxide, silicon dioxide.
Personal Comments: Once again, I think the Shiro team nailed the description for The Game is On. This exactly matches my jar of cinnamon in my kitchen (though I don't have a swatch of that to share with you, for better or worse). I wasn't able to compare it to popular contouring recommendation Too Faced Chocolate Soleil, but based on online swatches, I'm guessing The Game is On is a little darker and warmer than the Too Faced shade. I had to work harder to blend this one out than the lighter shades in this collection, but it blended just fine so long as I used a stiffer, denser brush. The Game is On is a little too warm and brown for my personal contouring preferences, but it's definitely workable. The swatch collage above shows this product can build up quite well, so I recommend using a light hand to apply it. As with A Touch of Drama, I think I'll find more use for this in adding a bit of sun-free tan to the high points of my face.
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From the website: Stop boring me and think!
Pale creamy highlight, near-matte with the gentlest sheen. Eye Safe, Not Lip Safe
Ingredients: magnesium myristrate, serecite mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, ultramarines.
Personal Comments: Think. It's the New Sexy. is a great creamy highlight, perhaps bordering on beige. It is indeed nearly matte, and you can see the gentle sheen in the blended swatch above. I suspect this might be a little too dark for folks who are paler than I am, but for me, this makes for a really lovely, subtle highlight. It's a great option for folks who find Shiro's previous highlighter, Curaga, to have too dramatic a finish for their tastes. It might also work for a wider range of skin tones than Curaga, which can look nearly white on the skin.
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From the website: Bad news for brain work, good news for breathing.
Matte yellow-y medium tan. Eye & Lip Safe!
Ingredients: magnesium myristrate, serecite mica, iron oxide.
Personal Comments: To my eyes, Three Patch Problem is a light mustard color. It's fully matte and blends out nicely. I'll be honest - this shade had me a little stumped! It's definitely too dark to be a highlight on my skin tone, but I've never seen a contouring product in this sort of shade. It looks an awful lot like Darling Girl's bronzer in Barbados Beauty, but I believe Three Patch Problem is a little darker with slightly more golden or brown tones. Regardless, I dutifully tried it as a contour powder. I found it didn't really show up under my cheekbones, but it did do a passable job along the sides of my nose. I'll be very curious to see how folks with darker skin or yellower undertones than I have get along with this shade. As for me, I'm going to keep experimenting with different ways to use it.
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I was curious to see how the two brown-toned shades in this collection matched up to Shiro's existing bronzers, so I did some comparison swatches:
Left to right: A Touch of Drama, Shine Sprite bronzer, The Game is On, Coconut Mall bronzer
It's really important to note here that I took this photo in light that minimizes the bronzers' very strong finishes, in order to get a good look at the base colors. A Touch of Drama and Shine Sprite look like nearly identical colors, though A Touch of Drama is matte and Shine Sprite has a strong gold highlight and a metallic finish. The Game is On is a shade or two darker than Coconut Mall but they are both slightly warm mid-toned browns. As with the previous comparison, The Game is On is matte whereas Coconut Mall has the same strong gold highlight and metallic finish as Shine Sprite. This photo from our Shiro Face Product Party will give you a better look at the finish on the bronzers.
Let's compare this collection's lightest highlight shade to Shiro's highlighter:
Left to right: Think. It's the New Sexy., Curaga highlighter
Curaga is clearly much lighter and pinker than Think, and it has a very strong sheen as compared to Think's near-matte finish. As with the bronzers, you can get a better look at Curaga's finish by checking out this photo from our Shiro Face Product Party.
And that's the collection! What do you think about these shades? How would you like to see the range expanded? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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Thank you! This was post was helpful. I've been curious about Shiro Cosmetics lately.
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