Shiro Cosmetics’ On Love: Eros

I have other similar shades, but this is the brightest of the metallic red shadows in my collection. Burnout is a bit more burgundy, and Royal is a bit deeper as well. The finish is a softened metallic, so there’s the smoother color without the occasional sharper, more reflective...

ColourPop’s Lippie Stix in Poppin’

This is one of the “Matte X” shades introduced in 2016. The improved finish means that it doesn’t emphasize any dryness like the previous matte formula (and so many other matte formulas) did.

Fyrinnae’s Monster Movie

Shiro Cosmetics’ Tarzan Swing with the Garden Hose

I thought this color might be a little darker…but this complements my eyes better and works better than a darker gilded-olive shade would.

CND’s Vinylux Mercurial (253)

Going just by the official artwork, this should be a little bit more gold-toned. I think that I see some gold flashes at certain angles, like a pale gold-ish duochrome. But…it’s not an all-over thing, and it isn’t very strong, so it could easily be my brain...

Shiro Cosmetics’ A Collection of Calamitous Cosmetics collection

This color palette didn’t really interest me too much when it originally came out, but good neutrals are great additions to any collection, and Shiro makes some of the best eyeshadows I’ve ever tried. So eventually, I bought myself a sample set and started swatching.

LaurEss’ Intuition

Solid coverage, touches of blue tones, and a softenee satin finish. (I wish I had bought more LaurEss! Actually, I wish they were still operating. Intuition was a shade that sat in my backlog for almost two years before I got around to swatching it.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics’ Tears of the Sun

A softer near-neutral that would make a great solid-coverage shade…if it did, in fact, have solid coverage. It’s buildable. And it’s not whisper-sheer. But I would have loved this to have better color payoff. (I thought this was part of one of Femme Fatale’s old collections…...

NYX Cosmetics’ Simply Nude lip cream in Exposed

This near-neutral shade pulls just a bit warm, so it isn’t one that I’ve ended up reaching for often. The coverage is good, it’s just not the best color on me. It’s similar to Tarte’s Lipsurgence in Exposed, but Tarte’s shade is a bit...

Fyrinnae’s Debonair

I’ve seen this described as a “warm lilac”, which is confusing to me…because I’m not seeing this as warm. (Then again, it’s not a strongly cool purple, either.) It’s almost Easter-candy bright without being too bright.