Swatch Post! Shiro Battle of the Boy Bands Victory Eyeshadow!

By AG

Press Sample

Hey everyone! I recently posted about the special '90s boy band-themed collections from Shiro Cosmetics. *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys squared off in a battle for the most sales, and team noodly hair (er, *NSYNC) won with 53% of the vote. To the victor go the spoils, so the Shiro team has introduced a limited edition eyeshadow called Crazy For You to celebrate their success. This particular eyeshadow is only available in unlimited quantities until March 1, after which it will presumably only be sold until they run out of stock.

Let's take a look at this shadow!

Shiro Crazy For You applied over UDPP and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy. Jar photos taken in overcast natural light, swatch photos taken in indoor lighting.

From the website: Our Limited Edition color for the Battle of the Boy Bands victor *NSYNC! A color-shifting shadow which rubs down from vibrant red-pink to a deeper maroon with whispers of gold.

This color will be available in unlimited quantity only until March 1, 2015. Price is for one full 5-gram jar with sifter.

Ingredients: mica, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, red #40, ferric ferrocyanide. Not lip-safe!

Personal Comments: Alright, this one's a beauty but a bit of an oddball. It is indeed a bright pinky red (though in some lights it looks more like a brightened salmon pink!) and it has a lovely satiny sheen that comes across as a lighter pink to my eyes. I spent some time exploring what I've dubbed the "rub-down effect" and came to the conclusion that it does indeed rub down to a deeper maroon... sometimes. Let's investigate!

On my arm, it was really easy to make the color change just by rubbing the swatch with my finger. If you'll pardon the desaturated soft-focus effect (it was pretty overcast - no filters here), here's a photo of the shadow patted over bare skin and blended out with fingers on the right half:

Shiro Crazy For You applied over bare skin and rubbed down with fingers

When I applied it to my eyes with brushes, though, I didn't see much of a change at all. I applied some Urban Decay Primer Potion and did the following look with just Crazy For You. I spent a lot of time blending the outer edge and crease with a moderately stiff blending brush, but I didn't really see much difference in the color. Take a look:

Shiro Crazy For You single-shadow eye look, taken in overcast natural lighting

The good news here is that you don't have to be super careful when applying this shadow. I've read that some pressure-sensitive shadows can be tricky to apply when the color change is especially sensitive or unpredictable, and that's definitely not the case here.

Just for kicks I tried applying Crazy For You on my other eye over bare skin and gently rubbed at the outer half with a clean finger. I did see the shadow darken somewhat then, but not quite to the extent it did on my arm.

My bottom line? If your only draw for this eyeshadow is the idea that it will change color when you blend it out, I'd suggest that you skip it in favor of Shiro's stunningly beautiful Mother of Dragons. But if you want a gorgeous pinky-red eyeshadow with a lovely satin finish and Captain Noodly Hair's face on the lid, this one definitely gets my vote!

Purchase Link