October Hauls

I had been holding out as I anxiously await my order from Darling Girl Cosmetics to post some of the nifty new items I've purchased this month. I figured that there's no fun in waiting any longer since I've got some nifty new Halloween items to share. 

This year the Halloween pickings seem a bit slim though. While there's been lots of Halloween inspired eyeshadow collections that have come out, I have seen much else which is a bit sad. I did find a few new things to add though!

Sinful Colors: Faceted, Black Magic, & Glow in the Dark

Sinful Shine: Mirror Mirror, & Go Glossy

Sinful Colors: Irish Green

Sinful Colors Nail Art: Time Off, Sunset, & Bad Chick

Book of Shadows: The Dying Pilgrim & The Damned Souls

I've posted about Sinful Colors before so I won't get too much into that. The new additions that I am excited about is the two magnetic palettes from Book of Shadows. The two that I opted for are from the Silent Hill collection and they are quite sturdy. They don't strike me as being water resistant (not that I would test them for that), and don't seem like they would travel well unless they were in a train case. I do love them though and I think that they are a great addition to my collection in terms of organization. I do know that the UNII palette is a bit better for my travel needs but at least it will keep my train case in order. 

The eyeshadows pictured in the palette are from Shiro Cosmetics' Halloween 2012 collection. They come in loose form but I decided to press them in order to store it better. On the top is Pumpkin King, and from left to right on the bottom is Ragdoll, Oogie Boogie, and Finklestein. They are all available with this year's collection along with two new eyeshadows and a new lip gloss (Shiro Cosmetics, Halloween 2013).

Swatches: Shiro Cosmetics Eye Shadow Samples

Earlier this week I focused on the Halloween 2012 collection by Shiro Cosmetics. In the same package, I had ordered a bunch of samples as well but I haven't really had the chance to try any looks with them just yet so I shall present to you... swatches!

The samples I bought are as follows:

• Dwarf in a Flask (The Fullmetal Collection)
• Alkahestry (The Fullmetal Collection)
• Philosopher's Stone (The Fullmetal Collection)
• Hearts (The Legends Collection)
• Heart Attack (The Notebook Collection)
• Evolve (The Super Effective Collection)

I received two extra samples in the package (pictured on the left of the lip gloss) and they are Ganondorf (The Legends Collection) and Day of Reckoning (The Fullmetal Collection).

From left to right without primer: Day of Reckoning,
Heart Attack, Hearts, and Philosopher's Stone.

I split up the reds from... well the blues and here are the first set of swatches. All descriptions of the colours come directly from the Shiro Cosmetics website.

Day of Reckoning: Intense, metallic deep burgundy.

Heart Attack: Deep maroon with blue duochrome.

Hearts: Bright, true red with subtle shimmer.

Philosopher's Stone: Lightly shimmery blood red

From left to right with UDPP: Day of Reckoning,
Heart Attack, Hearts, and Philosopher's Stone.

When I swatched them, I wasn't that surprised about the colours and how they turned out. They came out a bit muted though Hearts came in quite a bit.

In the second image I tried the batch of reds over a primer. Huge difference for a lot of the colours. Day of Reckoning, Heart Attack, and Philosopher's Stone came in very vibrant. Not all of the colours quite match their description. Day of Reckoning seems more on the purple side, Heart Attack is a bit lighter than a maroon as it is a bit rosy, Hearts came out orange, and Philosopher's Stone... well, that was right on target. The colours are still very nice with hints of shimmer -- but Hearts is an interesting one based on how it changed with the primer.

From left to right without primer: Alkahestry, Evolve,
Ganondorf, and Dwarf in the Flask.

The final set is... everything else. :) As aforementioned, the descriptions are taken directly from the website.

Alkahestry: Sheer-ish pale violet with a brilliant blue-sparkle base.
Evolve: Vivid opaque blue over a shimmery white base.

From left to right with UDPP: Alkahestry, Evolve,
Ganondorf, and Dwarf in the Flask.

Ganondorf: Velvety black with strong dark red shimmer
Dwarf in the Flask: Velvety, intensely opaque matte black

Without the primer, Alkahestry was just a shimmery bomb on my hand. If you notice shimmer in Evolve (which you should), note that Evolve has no shimmer and that was all thanks to Alkahestry. The colours without a primer were all muted and while they did come up, it was not by much.

I had a hard time capturing a good shot of the eyeshadows over a primer since the sun goes down much faster but you can kind of make them out. Alkahestry was a bit easier to control and didn't end up everywhere. Evolve came in quite nice, as did Ganondorf, and Dwarf in a Flask. The image doesn't quite do them justice.

I rather like all of these and I'm excited to place another order with Shiro in the future given how nice they all are. I definitely have to test them out on my face and see if they actually show up as pigmented as they are on my wrists (and hands). But for now, I have high hopes for them.

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Product: Shiro Cosmetics Eye Shadows
Price: Samples are $1 each, minis are $3.50, and a full size is $5. The price might vary depending on the eyeshadow.
Would Recommend? Yes, with caution.
Takeaway: Geeky eyeshadows, FTW. That aside, the colours may not always quite match the websites swatch but they are somewhat close. They are definitely pigmented but it remains to be seen how well they show up on a yellow undertone. The Halloween collection came out well on me so I'm not too worried about the performance of these -- still it's worth noting that it might vary.

Review: Shiro Cosmetics Halloween 2012 Collection

Back in October, I picked up some samples along with the miniature jars of the Halloween collection from Shiro. At first I was lured in by the lip gloss called "This is Halloween" and was described as having a flavour of chocolate pumpkin cheesecake. I decided to spring for a few other things because the colours looked quite pigmented and I finally had a good reason to purchase since The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favourite movies.

I got the package before Halloween but didn't get around to actually testing everything out. The packaging was quite lovely as it has an adorable Halloween theme -- the ribbon matched the candy that was sent in the package. (Also featured is one of the Halloween pails put out by McDonald's this year which I now use for nail polish).

The makeup itself was quite nice. (Sorry for the cluster image, but I couldn't help but take the photo on top of a Halloween themed game). I was a bit sad to not get the Halloween stickers that come with the full sized jars but they are aptly named after the characters they take after.

Let's focus on the Halloween 2012 collection, which are the four jars along the bottom and the tube of lip gloss. I will be following up shortly with the swatches from the samples that I ordered. Shiro offered four different options in order to get the series (ranging from full sized jars with a mini gloss to mini jars with a mini gloss). I opted for the large gloss with the mini jars since I'm a huge fan of glosses.

The eyeshadows in the collection are as follows (all description colours are listed s per the Shiro Cosmetics website):

• Ragdoll: Lightly faded rust matte base filled with lilac and blue sparkles.
• Oogie Boogie: Swampy green-beige with a muted velvety finish; the intensity of the green tones depends on the light.
• Pumpkin King: Very blackened copper packed with orange sparkles.
• Finkelstein: Somewhat sheer, ultra-pale ghoulish green-yellow-grey with blue shimmer.

From left to right without primer: Ragdoll, Oogie Boogie,
Pumpkin King, and Finkelstein. 

For the swatches of the eyeshadow I did a set without any primers and then another set with the Urban Decay Primer Potion. As you'll note from the image on the left, Ragdoll was barely visible (if at all) without a primer. The other colours surprised me by coming in a bit strong with just one application and no primer.

The second image was on top of the primer was interesting. Ragdoll came in and was lovely. Oogie Boogie and Finkelstein kind of seemed a bit worn down and didn't come in as striking as they did without the primer in the first place. That was an interesting difference.

From left to right with primer: Ragdoll, Oogie Boogie,
Pumpkin King, and Finkelstein. 

Pumpkin King came in nice and dark which I liked a lot. Overall I couldn't wait to see them all in one look. Sadly since my hair was terrible, I won't dare show you how that entire look came out. I ended up finding a decent picture which was strangely the same shot I sent one of my friends as I was testing it out. You'll see it below.

I can't attest to the lasting power of these eyeshadows just yet but below is a quick look I threw together.

Shiro Cosmetics Halloween 2012 with Sephora kohl &
Physicians Formula Organic Wear 100% Natural Origin
Jumbo Lash Mascara 

The four colours are quite complementary even if they all don't quite show up on me. The noticeable difference would be Pumpkin King that came in as more of a darkened copper rather than black (which to be fair, blackened copper is how it's advertised -- it was just a tiny bit disappointing that while it came up as black on my arms, it was dark brown on my face). Mix copper with shades of rust and two lighter colours that tread on being greenish (on a yellow undertone skin, no less)? I think the interesting thing is that they come off as being a bit nude on me which funny enough, a nude palette is unable to do.

This is Halloween Lip Gloss

Either way, I'm very content with the look since it seems simple and light. The final piece would be the lip gloss which does in fact smell like a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake. The lip gloss came out a bit brighter than I had anticipated but it provides great coverage and it pops. The lip gloss is a "medium shimmery red-orange" but on me it's a bit more orange which is absolutely okay for a Halloween lip gloss. There was a weird taste which I'm not sure was attributed to the lip gloss itself or my makeup remover so that might be something to keep in mind.

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Product: Shiro Cosmetics Halloween 2012 Collection (Mini Eyeshadows and Full Size Lip Gloss)
Price: $21.00 (price varies based on the option you choose)
Would Recommend? Yes!
Takeaway: The eyeshadows are lovely and demure; they are easy to blend with one another and are buildable. Even if you aren't convinced about the eyeshadows, the lip gloss is mostly definitely worth it as it's a unique scent and colour. Very reminiscent of Halloween.