Caitlin, the owner, bases her collections around various nerdy themes. There's a Zelda collection, a Minecraft collection, a Pokemon collection... She's mastered the art of creative names while still avoiding copyright infringement. While the eyeshadows are the star of her show, she also sells lip balms, face products, and glosses. Caitlin also recently acquired products from Detrivore, whose customer service issues threatened her business.
Shiro has multiple sizes of shadows: samples (1/8 tsp in plastic baggies for $1), minis (1g in jar for $3.50), full sizes (2g in jar for $6), and in some cases, collector's editions (2 grams in special jar for $8.50). Lip balms are $5 for .15 oz. Glosses have sample sizes starting at $2. The most expensive options are custom glosses, where you get to choose any lip-safe color or have Caitlin do a custom color just for you! They start at $9, but adding opacity or "flavoring" cost $1 a piece. Shiro also has face products, but I haven't used any, so I don't feel qualified to talk about them other than the fact that they exist and start at $1.50. Overall, I find that Shiro gives some of the best bang for your buck.
Onward! Recently, Shiro had an anniversary sale with 15% off. I took advantage and got a few eyeshadows as well as a custom gloss. Caitlin includes candy with each order (I ate the smarties before I could take a picture!) as well as a note. I placed my order on April 30th. At that point, Caitlin had upped the estimated turnaround time from two to four weeks. (She even apologized on Facebook to those whose order may not make it in the promised two weeks.) It was shipped out on May 11th, and I received it on May 14th. Here's my loot:
I bought five minis and a custom gloss. The sixth jar is The Fourth Be With You, a full-size gift for anyone who placed an order $15 or more. The two samples are extras Caitlin throws in with every order. I was thrilled to get Maiden Queen from the Seven Kingdoms collection (if you have to guess what this is based off of, you clearly don't know me) and a Detrivore sample.
All of the shadows come with a sifter, which some people like and some don't. I'm ambivalent. On to swatches:
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| All swatches are over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy |
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| Custom gloss in Steve |
I'm thrilled with all of my choices. Additionally, all of Shiro's swatches on the site seem to be pretty close to real life. I don't know if The Fourth Be With You will get any use, but hey, it was free. I'll probably see if anyone on the indie subreddit wants it. As for my custom gloss - it's incredible! Caitlin recently added the option to add flavoring and I'm glad she did; I have a gloss in Women's Weapons that smells like tires. I chose "champagne" as the flavor, and it smells sweet and inoffensive enough.
I feel I also have to mention Shiro's stunning customer service. I had initially ordered the Honey flavor and then read some things that changed my mind; Caitlin was happy to change it for me. Additionally, I want to place pictures on top of the jars to make them more uniform. It's easy to find individual designs for the Legends collection, but I needed the mockingjay pin/pokeball for those collections and couldn't find it. Caitlin sent me the image files from her website twenty minutes after I'd asked if there was any way I could get them. Seriously, she's amazing.
Look: there's a reason Shiro just celebrated its fourth anniversary. Their products are great, the price is right, and customer service is amazing. I would highly recommend Shiro for anyone's first foray into the world of indie cosmetics.
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