Shiro Cosmetics Seven Kingdoms Collection Swatches

Ever since someone tipped me off to the delightful randomness of Shiro Cosmetic's Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon eyeshadow, I've been something of a Shiro fangirl. Not only does the owner have a delightful sense of humour, their shadows are deliciously rich and pigmented. I've even started using them to colour resin for my jewellery, because a tiny tiny amount makes it just GLOW. Because I haven't shut up about this brand since I stumbled across them, and we all know how much I love Game of Thrones, my lovely Mr. Reluctant Femme got me a sample pack of the ENTIRE Shiro Cosmetics Seven Kingdom collection!

My face when I opened up the package

Now, I know a lot of you look at the bolder colours of eyeshadow that I tend to prefer and get all shy, so you lot in particular will be delighted with how overall worksafe this collection is. There's a lot of earthy, mellow browns, tans, and peaches, as well as some brighter shades, and I'd be pretty shocked if there wasn't at least something here for everyone.



First up, swatch pictures! There are quite a few in this collection that do not come out how you would expect from how they look in the sample baggy, so I tried to get pictures as accurate to life as possible. They're are all swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion, which tends to dull the shimmer a bit, so they will be a little bit more sparkly over different primers.

From left to right we have Mother of Dragons, Women's Weapons, Queensguard, Hodor, and No Men Like Me. Mother of Dragons looks like a very dark burgundy in the baggy, but in the swatch the cool silvered purple shimmer shows up much more strongly, and on the eye the burgundy base more or less disappears under the shimmer. No Men Like Me is also quite tricksy - in the baggy it looks like a dull, greyish cream, but on the skin the gold shimmer pops right out and more or less takes over. Women's Weapons goes on just how you expect it to, and it's WONDERFUL. Queensguard is a little too far on the orange side of orange-brown for my taste, especially when you blend it out, but I think on different skin tones this would look great.

From left to right, this is Master of Whispers, I Loved A Maid, Little Bird, and You Know Nothing. The top photo is under artificial light, and the bottom one is out in the sunshine to try and capture the sparkle.

I like Master of Whispers rather more than I thought I would, considering what I usually think of anything pink, but this one is such a lovely colour that it won me over. It's also a welcome addition to the (tiny) warm side of my collection, and goes very nicely with all my rich chocolatey browns. I Loved A Maid is, like Queensguard, simply too orange for my taste, but the green shift is unexpectedly delightful. While I probably won't wear it, this is still a lovely colour to look at. Little Bird is another one I didn't think I would like, but found myself enjoying. It's gorgeous soft peach tones mean it would probably work very well as a blush as well as an eyeshadow - I actually initially thought it WAS intended to be used as a blush. You Know Nothing is a lovely, shimmery white - nothing groundbreaking, but a good choice if you don't already have a shimmery white in your collection.

This armful is, from left to right; Gift of Mercy, Maiden Queen, Here I Stand, and Salt and Stone. The top picture is in sunlight, and the bottom is under artificial light. This lot are a little bit tricksome, so I wanted to show the full range of colours they show up.

Gift of Mercy is the darkest of dark, cool browns, with a very generous serving of reddish sparkles through it. It comes out VERY dark, because of the super pigmented Shiro formula, so you might want to go a little easier with it than with others. Maiden Queen is an absolutely gorgeous aqua teal, with a strong gold shimmer over it, and it's a delightful pop of colour in an otherwise very earthy collection. Here I Stand is a slightly lighter, slightly warmer toned cousin of Gift of Mercy, and is a little more wearable. Salt and Stone is...well, it's tricksome. In the baggy, it looks like a matte camo green, but on the skin it's totally different. So different I actually stopped and cleaned off my brush the first time I used it because I assumed I'd had some other colour still on the brush that was contaminating Salt and Stone. But it turned out that's just how this eyeshadow rolls. On the skin, there is a SLIGHT glimmer of the camo green that's so obvious in the bag, but it's mostly greyish brown.

Top half is the swatch, bottom half is a shot of the sample bag. Weird!

And finally, the last two stragglers, which also happen to be my two favourites - here we have Climbing Chaos and Valar Morghulis. I've nearly used up my samples of both of these already, so I'll have to be hitting up the Shiro site for replacements pretty shortly.

Climbing Chaos is a lot brighter on me than I was expecting, but that's definitely a good thing. It's coverage is amazing for something so shiny, and you only need the tiniest bit to lift a whole look. Valar Morghulis on the other hand is deliciously dark and pure black, and the tiniest bit adds a lovely sexy smokey feel to any look.

Speaking of looks, let's have a gander at how some these go together, shall we?

This is Here I Stand with Climbing Chaos on the inside corners, and this has pretty much been my go-to warm eye look for about a month now. It's just so wonderfully wearable, easy to do, and goes with just about anything.

This is Women's Weapons in the crease, with Mother of Dragons over the lid and Little Bird just under my brow. In hindsight, it could probably use a little more Little Bird and a little less Women's Weapons, but apart from my ineptitude, the colours go together beautifully.

This is just Maiden Queen blended all over the lid and into the crease, with a little liquid eyeliner. SUPER simple to do, but the colour alone is very attention grabbing, it doesn't really need a lot of fuss around it.

Phew! That was a LOT of pictures. Hope you enjoyed my dabblings! The Seven Kingdoms Collection is available from Shiro Cosmetics, and happily international shipping is both available and not outrageously expensive!