You might recall from previous posts that I was anxiously patiently awaiting the arrival of a Shiro order. In case you missed the whole saga, USPS doesn’t quite understand how tracking or expected delivery dates work. I mean, I get it, these things are confusing. So after my package bopped around Oregon for several days and then took a vacation to the backwoods of Florida, it finally arrived with me, totally intact and all was right with the world (it’s also worth noting that when I contacted Caitlin of Shiro to find out if she had access to additional tracking info, she was incredibly nice and helpful and really, I just can’t say enough nice things about her and how she handled me freaking out).
ANYWAY, it’s going to be a long post because I have about a million pictures and I just drank a half a pot of coffee so I’m feeling chatty. Aren’t you so glad? I knew you would be.
I ordered samples of the entire Hobbit Collection because, well, it’s a Hobbit Collection. That doesn’t really need further explanation does it? I also ordered a mini eyeshadow from a different collection and two lip glosses, one of which was custom. That’s right, a custom lipgloss. How cool is that?!
Banana Laffy Taffy is one of my favorite things, just in general. At some point, I grew up and as an adult I stopped buying Laffy Taffy but that’s just madness, we all need more Laffy Taffy in our lives! (unless of course you are diabetic. Then, not so much really)
I talked about both of these lip glosses in a recent Wear All The Lipstick post, but I purchased “The Blood of My Enemies” which is a gorgeous brick red and I purchased a custom gloss with “Din’s Fire” eyeshadow at moderate opacity with Cream Cheese Frosting scent. It’s basically the bomb.
On to the lovely sparkly Hobbitses!
From L to R: There and Back Again, The Wandering Wizard, An Unexpected Party, The Last Homely House, Not Drawing Room Fashion, Riddles in the Dark, Lingered in Twilight, Attercop Attercop, A Regular Bear’s Meeting, Farewell Wherever You Fare, Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees, When The Thrush Knocks, Chiefest of Calamities, King Under The Mountain, and A War of Five Armies.
Fun fact: I have freakishly long arms. So freakishly long that I actually managed to swatch the entire collection on one arm. Now you know. I also felt that was a little crowded so I split the shadows into two groups, re-swatched everything and added the samples.
All swatches are over LORAC Behind The Scenes Primer on the left, bare skin in the center and Darling Girl Glitter Glue on the right. (I would also like to apologize in advance, some of the eye look photos are serious potato quality)
Direct sunlightIndirect sunlightBlurry because glitter.
A Regular Bear’s Meeting
“‘I have been picking out bear-tracks,’ he said at last. ‘There must have been a regular bears’ meeting outside here last night. I soon saw that Beorn could not have made them all: there were far too many of them, and they were of various sizes too. I should say there were little bears, large bears, ordinary bears, and gigantic big bears, all dancing outside from dark to nearly dawn.’” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit. Rich reddened brown with honey shimmer”This is fairly accurate
War of Five Armies
““So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves… It was a terrible battle. The most dreadful of all Bilbo’s experiences, and the one which at the time he hated most – which is to say it was the one he was most proud of, and most fond of recalling long afterwards, although he was quite unimportant in it.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Near-matte, the darkened red-brown of blood spilled on earth” Accurate description. On the eye, this did appear basically matte.
Chiefest of Calamities
“‘No thank you, O Smaug the Tremendous!’ he replied. ‘I did not come for presents. I only wished to have a look at you and see if you were truly as great as tales say. I did not believe them.’ ‘Do you now?’ said the dragon somewhat flattered, even though he did not believe a word of it. ‘Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of the reality, O Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities,’ replied Bilbo.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Vivid orange-toned red with bright golden sparks” Again, an accurate description. This shade swatched poorly but applied beautifully. It’s very versatile in that as an accent it can be beautiful and soft and packed on it is bold bold bold.blending is hard
The Last Homely House
“‘Mind Bilbo doesn’t eat all the cakes!’ they called. ‘He is too fat to get through key-holes yet!’ ‘Hush, hush! Good People! and good night!’ said Gandalf, who came last. ‘Valleys have ears, and some elves have over merry tongues. Good night!’ And so at last they all came to the Last Homely House, and found its doors flung wide.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit A rustic cabin tucked deep in the woods: reddened brown with strong forest green shimmer.” This is such a magical color. Patted on you get that gorgeous green and the moment you blend it it goes into a red brown. I absolutely adore this shade and haven’t experienced a duo-chrome quite like it before.As will all of my pictures, this photo doesn’t really do this shade justice.
When The Thrush Knocks
“Then suddenly when their hope was lowest a red ray of the sun escaped like a finger through a rent in the cloud. A gleam of light came straight through the opening into the bay and fell on the smooth rock-face. The old thrush, who had been watching from a high perch with beady eyes and head cocked on one side, gave a sudden trill. There was a loud crack. A flake of rock split from the wall and fell.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Late afternoon sunlight: soft coppery yellow-gold with light shimmer. “ Now, I love my golds and I have quite a collection of them so I was surprised at how unique this particular shade is. It may very well be my favorite out of the whole collection. It has a depth to it that is just amazing. I am trying to resist purchasing a full size but I feel that may be a futile endeavor.
Farewell Wherever You Fare
“‘Farewell!’ they cried, ‘wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at the journey’s end!’ That is the polite thing to say among eagles. ‘May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks,’ answered Gandalf, who knew the correct reply.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Cold, stoney greyed brown with light shimmer.” Accurate description
An Unexpected Party
“‘Thank you!’ said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to say, but they have begun to arrive had flustered him badly. He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred to ask them himself. He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he – as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful – he might have to go without.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Shimmery golden tan with bright green sparks.”
There And Back Again
“Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter sown, And through the merry flowers of June, Over grass and over stone, And under the mountains in the moon. Roads go ever ever on Under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen And horror in the halls of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit The bright emerald green of Bilbo’s front door!” This did NOT swatch well, but it applies beautifully
Fifteen Birds In Five Fir Trees
“Fifteen birds in five fir-trees their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze! But, funny little birds, they had no wings! O what shall we do with the funny little things? Roast ’em alive, or stew them in a pot; fry them, boil them and eat them hot?” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Deep earthy forest green filled with firey red sparks.” I think the sparkles are not straight up red, but rather a combo of pink and something silvery that my eye can’t quite catch. Maybe purple? I’m not quite sure.
Indirect sunlightDirect sunlight
Lingered in Twilight
“In the Wide World the Wood-elves lingered in the twilight of our Sun and Moon, but loved best the stars; and they wandered in the great forests that grew tall in lands that are now lost. They dwelt most often by the edges of the woods, from which they could escape at times to hunt, or to ride and run over the open lands by moonlight or starlight; and after the coming of Men they took ever more and more to the gloaming and the dusk. Still elves they were and remain, and that is Good People.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit A twilit forest: blackened blue and green tones with slightly metallic shimmer. ” This is such a perfect name for this shade. I’m always a little afraid of these more blackened shades (of which there are many in this collection) but this particular one is really lovely and can be made quite wearable. This is also the only shade that creased on me. I’ve only worn it the one time so of course it’s possible that I did something during application to cause creasing.
Riddles In The Dark
“He was anxious to appear friendly, at any rate for the moment, and until he found out more about the sword and the hobbit, whether he was quite alone really, whether he was good to eat, and whether Gollum was really hungry. Riddles were all he could think of. Asking them, and sometimes guessing them, had been the only game he had ever played with other funny creatures sitting in their holes in the long, long ago, before he lost all his friends and was driven away, alone, and crept down, down, into the dark under the mountains.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Dark shimmery green-tinted black, a cold underground pool with glitters of gold. ” Pretty accurate description
Attercop, Attercop
“This is what he sang: Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can’t see me! Attercop! Attercop! – Won’t you stop, Stop your spinning and look for me? Old Tomnoddy, all big body Old Tomnoddy can’t spy me! Attercop! Attercop! – Down you drop! You’ll never catch me up your tree! Not very good perhaps, but then you must remember that he had to make it up himself, on the spur of a very awkward moment.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Matte black base with the deep blue iridescence of an insect’s carapace.” Fairly accurate! I find that the overall effect is just navy, with less duo-chrome. At least in the two ways I’ve used this so far. I’ll have to try this packed on over glitter glue to see if I can bring out the duo goodness.
King Under The Mountain
“The King beneath the mountains, The King of carven stone, The lord of silver fountains Shall come into his own! His crown shall be upholden, His harp shall be restrung, His halls shall echo golden To songs of yore re-sung. The woods shall wave on mountains And grass beneath the sun; His wealth shall flow in fountains and the rivers golden run. The streams shall run in gladness The lakes shall shine and burn, All sorrow fail and sadness At the Mountain-king’s return!” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Rich earth and stone, filled with silver and sky-blue sparkles.”
Not Drawing Room Fashion
“But they were trolls. Obviously trolls. Even Bilbo, in spite of his sheltered life, could see that: from the great heavy faces of them, and their size, and the shape of their legs, not to mention their language, which was not drawing-room fashion at all, at all.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit The murky greyish-greenish shimmer of trollskin (but rather pretty, for all that).” I just love the description of this. So far I’ve only used this one time (in the look with An Unexpected Party) and it’s really lovely.
The Wandering Wizard
“Gandalf, Gandalf! Good gracious me! Not the wandering wizard that gave Old Took a pair of magic diamond studs that fastened themselves and never came undone till ordered? Not the fellow who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties, about dragons and goblins and giants and the rescue of princesses and the unexpected luck of widows’ sons? Not the man that used to make such particularly excellent fireworks! I remember those!” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Pale matte blue-toned grey.” I don’t think that I would classify this as a true matte shade, there’s a definite sheen present. A lovely shade though!This is actually the eye look I have in my new passport photos!
Now on to the things that aren’t actually part of the Hobbit Collection:
I Understood That Reference
“I gotta say, it’s an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping. I mean, I was… I was present while you were unconscious from the ice… Deep patriotic blue with red duochrome and subtle white sparkles.” This shade is too beautiful for words. I really love it. It is definitely bright though and as such, I’m still trying to figure out how to use it without overwhelming my face.This is a lesson in blending your glitter glue properly. I’m still inserting this photo though because it really illustrates how much of a difference glitter glue makes in bringing out the depth of an eyeshadow. You can also see here how without primer or sticky base, you get an entirely different look. This isn’t something that is as prominent with pressed shadows (I almost never use primer with pressed shadows) but it’s generally true of most of the loose shadows that I’ve tried.
The samples that were gifts with purchase:
Alkahestry
“The Xingese equivalent of alchemy, useful for healing and long-distance transmutations. Also great for annoying those pesky homunculi! Panda/cat not included. Sheer-ish pale violet with a brilliant blue-sparkle base.” This is such a pretty shade. It is sheer, as advertised (which is not a complaint by any means) but when applied over a white base it’s really glowy and bright!I’m kind of proud of this look. Hence so many pictures of it.
Master Sword
All your hearts are required to unlock the full potential of the Master Sword. This is the primary proof for the theorem “Less QQ more PewPew.” Sheer, extra-sparkly pale taupe.”This is a cool one! It’s lovely as a highlight, but as you can see in the “I Understood That Reference” photo, it builds up into a gorgeous golden/silver/taupe color.
Eyeshadow Performance Review: First, the texture of these shadows is amazing. They’re incredibly silky and smooth to the touch. They do need something sticky to grab onto or there really isn’t much pigmentation at all (with only a couple of exceptions). I found I didn’t actually need glitter glue in most cases as primer was more than sufficient to get incredible pigmentation. With regards to wear time, I didn’t notice any fading at all and I only had creasing with one shade (Lingered in Twilight).
Cohesion of the Collection: I thought it was a really good representation of the overall tone of the book. If you’ve watched the cartoon movie of The Hobbit, I think all of these colors would feel right at home there. As far as purchasing this whole collection and doing looks just from this one collection, I think you’d find some gaps. But probably most people don’t do that. Or do they? I don’t know.
TAT: I placed the order on June 24th and it shipped on July 3rd. That’s five business days so not too bad. I don’t remember now what the advertised TAT was but it was certainly more than that.
The entire Hobbit Collection in sample baggies was $13.50
A sample bag is $1.00 for 1/8 of a tsp.
A mini jar is $3.50 for 1 gram.
Full size jar is $6.00 for 2 grams.
The regular lip gloss is $8.00
I paid $10.00 for my custom gloss but the price varies by about a dollar if you go with a full opacity.
Shipping was very reasonable at $2.75
Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with the general quality and uniqueness of these eye shadows. I would absolutely purchase from Shiro again. Out of the Hobbit Collection, my personal favorite shades were “When The Thrush Knocks” and “The Last Homely House”.
Have you tried anything from Shiro? If so, I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Tidbits
I was actually in a production of The Hobbit my freshman year of high school. It may have been my first play ever but I’m not entirely sure. I was Bifur. I’m expecting The Academy to contact me any day now.
Someone, and I’m not completely sure who, brought a squirrel into the house yesterday while we were away. The poor poor thing 😦
Said squirrel had a bot fly larva in it. I like bugs but man, that shit freaks me out. If you don’t know what a bot fly is just revel in your ignorance and don’t google. Trust me, I’m from the government.
Oh my gosh, those last couple of eye looks especially are so gorgeous 😀 Just a thought, maybe instead of posting the makeup details on the picture itself, try putting them in the caption of the photo so it doesn’t clutter it up and we can properly appreciate the eyeball beauty? No offense meant madame, just a suggestion 🙂
Thank you so much! That means a great deal coming from you! 🙂
No offense taken at all, I appreciate the feedback!
I don’t love the text on picture but it works well to keep me from forgetting what products I use. Maybe I’ll try keeping track of everything in a notebook…I like notebooks…maybe I can buy new office supplies! 😀
Gym Bag Makeup 
So many great shades, and I love that they were inspired by the hobbit! Great post 🙂
Thank you! Isn’t this such a cleverly done collection? I just love it! 🙂
Oh my gosh, those last couple of eye looks especially are so gorgeous 😀 Just a thought, maybe instead of posting the makeup details on the picture itself, try putting them in the caption of the photo so it doesn’t clutter it up and we can properly appreciate the eyeball beauty? No offense meant madame, just a suggestion 🙂
Thank you so much! That means a great deal coming from you! 🙂
No offense taken at all, I appreciate the feedback!
I don’t love the text on picture but it works well to keep me from forgetting what products I use. Maybe I’ll try keeping track of everything in a notebook…I like notebooks…maybe I can buy new office supplies! 😀
Such a detailed post! Thank you for sharing 🙂
http://reasyume.wordpress.com
Thank you and you’re welcome! 🙂