Hey everyone! I'm so excited to bring you swatches and reviews of one of my absolute favorite collections from Shiro Cosmetics! This is the last year it's available - it's getting discontinued to make room for a Harry Potter collection next year - so I highly encourage you to pick up any products you like before they disappear at the end of the month.
This photo shamelessly inspired by Shiro's collection photo
This seasonal Halloween collection is based on Tim Burton's classic stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas. The labels feature beautiful art by Hailey, which itself is well worth the price of admission. The collection has grown every year since its 2012 release, and as it comes to a close, we've got a final tally of seven eyeshadows, two lip glosses, and three tinted lip balms. I've previously reviewed the 2012 and 2013 offerings (here and here) but since I have better equipment and lighting this year, I've reswatched everything for your viewing pleasure.
Let's get to it! This will be a giant post with a ton of photos, so I'm putting everything below the jump. I'll group by product type (starting with eyeshadows) and alphabetize from there for simplicity's sake.
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From the website: A mad but strangely successful scientist with a fondness for conversations *worth* having, and healthy doses of wormswort.
Pale, ghostly yellow-green highlight. Not lip-safe.
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, chromium oxide.
Personal Comments: Just as the site description says, Dr. Finkelstein's color is a surprisingly delicate yellow-green highlight color. Similar to the "transformation" colors that have become popular in recent mainstream shadow palettes, this shade changes depending what you put it over. Try applying it over a black base and watch the green highlight come to life!
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2012 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: Kidnap the Sandy Claws! Throw him in a box! Bury him for ninety years, then see if he talks!
Desaturated mauve toned purple with a green shift. Not lip-safe.
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, ferric ferrocyanide, chromium oxide, ultramarines.
Personal Comments: Lock, Shock, and Barrel are the movie's surprisingly sinister trick or treaters, so I think they'd be delighted that their shadow is to die for. The base color, a downright bruise-like purple, wouldn't go amiss among Detrivore's desaturated line. The best part, though, is the poison green shimmer running through the shadow. My camera struggled to pick up the full effect of the shimmer, so do note it is stronger and denser in person. I recommend enlarging the swatch collage above to get a better look.
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2014 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright.
Swampy beige green with a satin finish. Not lip-safe.
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, chromium oxide.
Personal Comments: The film's villain gets a fantastic satin shade. "Swampy" is the perfect way to describe this color. The color is more sedate than the neon green, dice-rolling, Santa-tormenting Boogie Man, so it's a great shade for anyone who's dying for a shadow from this collection but isn't comfortable venturing too far from neutrals. It's got bright green shimmer scattered through it to keep things interesting.
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2012 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: And I just can’t wait ’til next Halloween,
Cause I’ve got some new ideas that’ll really make them scream!
And by God, I’m really gonna give it all my might!
Blackened smokey bronze loaded with bright golden sparks. Lip-safe!
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, calcium aluminum borosilicate, silicon dioxide.
Personal Comments: If you forced me to choose, I would probably name Jack Skellington's shade my favorite shadow in the collection. To my eyes it's a very dark and smokey charcoal base with a brilliant coppery gold overlay. This color looks absolutely incredible in sunlight but holds its own in other lighting as well.
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2012 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: I’m restless! I can’t help it.
I don’t want to be patient.
Faded yellow-toned orange with blue and purple sparkle. Lip-safe!
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, copper powder, calcium aluminum borosilicate, silicon dioxide.
Personal Comments: Sally's shade is another of my favorites from this collection. It's a slightly rusty orange base (reminiscent of her hair) with blue and pink sparkles which call back to her hand-stitched dress. The sparkles stand out enough that the three colors can play off each other, and they work really well together. Like Pumpkin King, this shade stands out especially well in sunlight.
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2012 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: Please, I’m only an elected official here! I can’t make decisions by myself :c
Blackened brownish-purple with an orangey sheen. Lip-safe!
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide.
Personal Comments: The ever-fretting Mayor of Halloween Town has a great shadow! My eyes may be broken, but I see a pretty different shade from what the Shiro team describes. I see a deep charcoal gray with rainbow sparkles. Regardless of how you describe it, it's a beautiful color, and I like to think the explosion of sparkles represents the Mayor's frantic disposition.
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2013 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: Zero, with your nose so bright! Won’t you help me deliver terror tonight? :D
Subtle greyish white with a spectral red glow. Lip-safe!
Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, copper powder, silicon dioxide.
Personal Comments: To my eyes this shade is very close to the site description, except I think the glow leans more pink than red. Either way, it makes for a stunning effect. If you're a fan of duochromes, I recommend picking up this subtle but beautifully done color. And the tiny pumpkin at the end of Zero's nose gets me every time!
Swatch done over Urban Decay Primer Potion and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2013 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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Let's move on to the lip glosses! For those who haven't heard me rave about them before, let me briefly say that Shiro's gloss formula is excellent, non-sticky, and very comfortable to wear. I highly recommend these glosses, even for folks who don't generally like gloss.
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From the website: I sense there’s something in the wind
That feels like tragedy’s at hand.
And though I’d like to stand by him
Can’t shake this feeling that I have…
Deep red/brown plum. Moderate-to-opaque coverage. Flavored like dark, fruity sangria!
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, vitamin E, flavor.
Personal Comments: In my first review of this gloss (here), I expressed some disappointment with it because it sunk into lip lines when I tried to build it to full opacity, But honestly, it's grown on me a lot since then. As it turns out, one thick layer (two pulls from the tube for me) gives plenty of pigment with no lip lines in sight. I am very happy to overturn my previous review and call this a success.
I really like Shiro's description of this as a deep red/brown plum. It's got enough brown in it to make it a very autumnal shade, but it's dark enough and has enough red in it to keep it from looking like a 90's lipstick. The scent is slightly tangy and fruity, and it fades pretty quickly.
Arm swatch is one layer done over bare skin. Lip swatch is one thick layer (two pulls from the tube) over bare lips. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight.
Purchase Link
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From the website: Boys and girls of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
Warm, shimmery pumpkiny orange. Moderate-to-opaque coverage. Delicious chocolate pumpkin cheesecake flavor!
Ingredients: hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, meadowfoam seed oil, cocoa butter, mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, vitamin E, flavor.Boys and girls of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange?
Personal Comments: This is another perfect shade for fall. The arm swatch looks pretty color accurate to my eyes - it's a mix of orange and brown. My camera loves turning orange shades neon, so don't be scared off by my overly bright lip swatch! I think this shade would be just fine in a conservative office. The chocolate pumpkin cheesecake scent (which isn't that far off from what I smell, actually!) adds to the overall autumn feeling I get when I apply this. I love this color.
Swatches are one layer done over bare skin. Photos taken outside in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2012 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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And finally, let's check out the brand new tinted balms! Shiro introduced their new tinted balm formula earlier this year in the Miyazaki collection (reviewed here) as a replacement for their now-discontinued Intertubes. The formula is lovely - smooth, easy to apply, and comfortable to wear. I don't find it drying or hydrating, but I have quite dry lips, so others may find it lightly hydrating. All three of these tinted balms are new for 2014 and will only be available through the end of October.
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From the website: Nothing’s more suspicious than frog’s breath! >:(
Sheer pretty nude, the color of cream with a dollop of coffee. Flavored with a sweeter, milder take on bourbon.
Ingredients: coconut oil, candelilla wax, jojoba oil, carnauba wax, iron oxide, yellow #6, red #33, blue #1, castor oil, tocopherol, flavor.
Personal Comments: The arm swatches are there, I promise! The top arm swatch shows Frogsbreath built up, and just below it is a swatch with two layers (I was aiming for just one layer, but I applied a second over it because one was completely invisible) For reference, I am reasonably pale and warm-toned - roughly NC15 in MAC or Sleek Korat in Meow Cosmetics terms. This shade is clearly close enough to my arm color that it camouflages cryptically. A single light layer (as shown on my lips above) mutes but doesn't cancel out my naturally pigmented lips to give a very understated look. This is how I'll likely be wearing Frogsbreath most of the time.
When I add a second layer of this shade, though, I'm into concealer lips territory. The shade has a little more tan/brown in it than my skin tone, but it's close enough that my lips just look blanked out. I'd be curious to see what this looks like on folks who have lighter skin tones than I do, as it may stand out better with more contrast. I also want to mention that this particular shade, while still easy to apply and comfortable to wear, is somewhat waxier and less glossy than the rest of Shiro's tinted balms. The Shiro team says the scent is a sweet and mild take on bourbon, but honestly, to me this smells like a (very fake) chocolate flavored lip balm I had as a kid.
Frogsbreath made me think of OCC's Lip Tar in Sebastian, so I swatched the two together (disclosure note: Sebastian was a free sample from Sephora). Frogsbreath is on top, and the notably darker and grayer Sebastian is on the bottom:
Since Sebastian is a really interesting mixing shade (it's good for lightening and muting colors), I thought I'd try layering Sebastian over another shade to see what happened. Here's a swatch of Limnit's Abracadabra...
...and here's what it looked like when I used a lip brush to layer Frogsbreath over Abracadabra:
Just as you'd expect, the color became lighter and less saturated. This won't be my favorite way to use the balm because it's pretty time-consuming, not to mention the balmy formula will likely significantly reduce the wear time of anything under it, but it makes for a very fun experiment.
All swatches done over bare skin. Top arm swatch shows the balm built up as much as possible, bottom arm swatch shows two layers. Lip swatch shows one layer of balm. Photos taken in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2014 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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Three times!
Deep blue in the tube, applies quite sheer (will tint naturally red lips purple, or less pigmented lips indigo). Flavored with sweet melons and red licorice. Completely non-deadly…
Ingredients: coconut oil, candelilla wax, jojoba oil, carnauba wax, blue #1, red #27, red #40, iron oxide, castor oil, tocopherol, flavor.
Personal Comments: Let me start off by admitting my reading comprehension fail - when I was doing these swatches, I totally missed the fact that Nightshade is intended to be sheer. Learn from my mistake, kids, and always read the product description so you set your expectations appropriately! I love rich navy blue lip colors, so I squealed with delight when I opened this and immediately piled it on. As you might expect from a sheer tinted balm, it was pretty slippery and only got patchier as I kept trying to build up the shade. The lip swatch above shows two layers of Nightshade with a layer of translucent powder between them, because I pulled out all the stops to get it as even and opaque as I could.
When I apply Nightshade in a single layer as the Shiro team actually intended, the effect is much more sheer, but still definitely blue. I have pretty pigmented lips, but I think a single light layer of this still dominates my natural lip color. I was also a little bummed to see that even a single layer of Nightshade is a less even and more lip line-y than I'd like. As gorgeous as the color is in the tube, I don't think I'll be wearing this one much by itself.
That said, Nightshade is totally redeemed by its awesome layering capabilities. As with Frogsbreath, I used a lip brush to apply Nightshade over Shiro's Who Swallowed A Star (reviewed here), another of Shiro's tinted balms and a moderately pigmented bright red. Here's what the two looked like together:
My camera (ever a harsh mistress) highlighted a couple bits of unblended blue, but rest assured I had no trouble blending the imposing Nightshade into the base color and everything looked even in person.
As it turns out, the fantastic Mollie from A Lion In The Corn had the same idea, and her combos blow mine out of the water. Check out her post and album here! If her lips look familiar, it's because she does the official lip product swatches for the Shiro site.
As a final note, this shade smells very mildly of melon to me but I don't get any licorice.
All swatches done over bare skin. Top arm swatch shows the balm built up as much as possible, bottom arm swatch shows a single layer. Lip swatch shows two layers of balm with a layer of translucent powder patted in between them. Photos taken in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2014 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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From the website: The most delicious, and least suspicious and/or deadly, of Sally’s kitchen ingredients!
Bright poppy orange, flavored with spiced pumpkin.
Ingredients: coconut oil, candelilla wax, jojoba oil, carnauba wax, orange #5, red #40, iron oxide, castor oil, tocopherol, flavor.
Personal Comments: Wormswort wraps up the collection with a quintessential fall orange. My camera inexplicably turned the tube and lip photos neon, but the arm swatches look color accurate to my eyes. It's a bright, moderately opaque, and beautifully glossy pumpkin color, and I think I'll be pairing it a lot with Detrivore's Beloved blush (reviewed here). I find it leaves a slight stain after I've worn it for a while.
My only criticism of Wormswort is the scent - I get a strong burst of nutmeg with just a bit of cinnamon. The scent takes a good five minutes to fade, and for a few minutes after I apply it, I find the scent is strong enough to trick me into thinking I'm tasting nutmeg. It's pretty disconcerting! That said, I like the color enough to tough it out for the first couple of minutes before the nutmeg fades. Just be wary of this shade if you have a strong aversion to scented lip products.
All swatches done over bare skin. Top arm swatch shows the balm built up as much as possible, bottom arm swatch shows one layer. Lip swatch shows one layer of balm. Photos taken in partial to full sunlight. This is the 2014 version of this product.
Purchase Link
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So there you have it - the whole Halloween collection from Shiro! As I said, this is one of my absolute favorite collections from Shiro, and I definitely recommend picking some of these products up before they disappear forever at the end of the month.
And now I need a nap...
Have you tried anything from this collection yet? What are your favorite Nightmare characters? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
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Ahhhh I put in an order a few days back to get a few of the pressed versions of these (I got Finkelstein, Oogie Boogie, and Two Faced. Missed out on Zero though, le sigh! I got the loose version instead) and now I'm regretting not getting Lock, Shock, and Barrel...and the glosses...and the rest of the collection haha...
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog a few days ago, and it will be the ruin of me! Your excellent swatches and reviews will only lead me to buy more indie cosmetics. Ah how my bank account weeps...keep up the good work ; )
Thanks so much!
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