Guys. Guys. This week seemed really long. Has anybody else noticed? But as long as it was, when I got home on Wednesday my CUSTOM SHIRO GLOSS WAS WAITING FOR ME. And that was a highlight.

Shiro lip glosses are officially the only lip glosses I can stand. Typically the slip and stickiness slowly drives me insane as it gets on my clothes and face and personal items, because I live every day life with the genteel poise of a crabby two-year-old… but the wizardry of Caitlin’s lip gloss prevents this from happening. It’s lip goop like all glosses are, but goop without the stick and somehow with shine and lasting power. I don’t know of another product I can easily compare it to? In some ways it’s a little similar to YSL glossy stains, I suppose, but they don’t seem to stain as much and YSL stains are a bit thicker/stickier.

I also received my Darling Girl order this week with the Super Star serum, so it was time to put that to work.

Shiro Custom Gloss

The process for ordering the Shiro Custom Gloss was really easy. I e-mailed Caitlin asking if there was a way to get something similar to Hello Waffle’s Ginger Kitties tinted lip balm, a color I love. This is a good opportunity to say how much I appreciate the integrity of the indie community. Caitlin was really up front in saying she didn’t feel comfortable trying to exactly dupe another indie owner’s color, but that if I could suggest a specific alteration to the color or a mainstream lip color to copy that she would be happy to help. I suggested a dupe of the NARS Dolce Vita lip pencil (which is in the same color family), and then asked for something similar to the following photo (a lip combo of my own creation) but more coral toned:

NARS Dolce Vita, and Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle+ MAC Mineralize Style Surge are in the same general family as Ginger Kitties but not exactly the same… and I do love me some corals, so I wanted something leaning more in that particular direction. Caitlin was so patient with the seeming millions of e-mails I sent with swatches… and personal photos… and extra thoughts… and I when finally tapered out and placed my order, she made it happen.

Meet Dolce Shiro:

It’s exactly what I pictured, honestly. It is those lip colors, but with the extra coral tones I wanted that punch the color up quite a bit. I selected full opacity, so applied thickly the color is quite vibrant, and blotted down a bit I think it is wearable at work and in every day life. Here it is applied thickly:

And blotted:

I also wondered what it looks like compared to my Plausible Walrus gloss, so here is a swatch comparison:

As you can see, Plausible Walrus is very PINK. Dolce Shiro is much more coral/red toned.

TAT

I contacted Caitlin about the custom gloss 0n June 15. I paid for it on June 19, and then found out sort of last minute that I had an important occasion that I really wanted to wear the gloss to. Caitlin really kindly put a rush on my order at no extra charge and I received my gloss on Wednesday the 25th, which is pretty seriously amazing as far as turn around time goes. I think these sort of special requests should be used sparingly, but I was really grateful to Caitlin for the courtesy and the excellent product. I also ordered a full size of her 1-Up blush, which I have been using basically daily, and another custom gloss in Cognitive Recalibration (I’ll do a post for this one on its own) and she very kindly threw in two blush samples.

Final Thoughts

Caitlin has a keen eye for color and really met my expectations with my custom gloss. She was so kind in her communication and I really felt listened to. Never once did her tone seem to imply that I was contacting her too much about it, and all of my requests were met very graciously. I hope to place another custom color gloss order in the future, and am really happy with my experiences with Shiro.

Darling Girl Super Star Serum

I received my Darling Girl order this past week as well, which included the Super Star serum and Whisper, which is a fantastic neutral lid color that I decided to use in this look. I’ll be up front in saying that I haven’t used many (well… ANY) other mixing serums like this one, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but I will say that I followed the instructions on the package exactly and found that the shadows were easier to apply as a liner than when I have tried applying them mixed with water in the past, and the colors were much more vibrant. I used Shiro’s Maiden Queen as a test, because it is so bright:

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could easy do a wing in the shadow color, and found the process to be easier than the gel liners that I usually use (which I find to be finnicky and a bit unforgiving at times… HEAR THAT GEL LINERS? I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU BECAUSE OF MY LACK OF EXPERTISE). It’s a bit of a small bottle, but you only use a tiny drop at a time to mix the shadows, so I can already tell that a little is going to go a long way. It’s exciting to have this product, because I feel empowered to finally try some of those crazy colorful and ombre liners that I see over at Hantastic Beauty all the time.

It should also be noted that I received and also used in this look Darling Girl’s Don’t Eat The Apple Inner Glow blush, which is a bright red blush with slight blue shift. I’ll do swatches when I have a little more time (hooray for going into work on your weekend days), but because I love my NARS Exhibit A but really have been enjoying loose powders, I knew I needed to give it a try. It is STUNNING. It gives a very natural pink flush when applied lightly, and I have no doubt that it could be built up to obscene vibrancy. For my purposes, however, it provides the natural looking blush I’ve been looking for, applies very smoothly, and blends out well.

TAT

I placed my order on June 16 and it was shipped June 25. Somehow it magically arrived in my mailbox on June 27 (USPS seems to really be getting their shit together), all well within the advertised turn around time and neatly packaged.

Final Thoughts

Again, I have nothing really to compare it to, but the Super Star serum definitely works better than mixing the shadows with water (as I have been doing) and I am excited to use it more in my looks. This was a great purchase!

The Look

Most of my photos were used above, but here is one more! I used Darling Girl Whisper over the lid, and Laura Mercier Fresco and Truffle in the crease/outer V. I used the DG Super Star serum with Shiro Maiden Queen for the winged liner. The blush is, as aforementioned, Darling Girl Don’t Eat The Apple inner glow blush, and of course the lips are Dolce Shiro.

Comprehensive product list:

MUFE HD Foundation in 110

NARS smudge-proof eye primer

Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 01 and Secret Brightening Powder

Darling Girl Whisper shadow

Laura Mercier Fresco and Truffle shadows

Shiro Maiden Queen shadow (as liner)

Darling Girl Super Star serum

Covergirl clumpcrushers mascara in black (upper lashes) and brown (lower lashes)

Pumpkin and Poppy Oak Bark contour powder

Darling Girl Don’t Eat The Apple inner glow blush

Anastasia dip brow in Auburn

Shiro custom color gloss in Dolce Shiro

Your Turn

If you were to order a custom color gloss from Shiro, what would you get?

It should be noted that I purchased these products completely on my own and am reviewing them independently, without affiliation to anything or anyone other than my mild (ahem) addiction to makeup.