Hey all! I am super excited to bring you my first make up review! I’ve heard nothing but lovely things about Shiro Cosmetics since I started getting into indie cosmetics. The /r/Indiemakeupandmore board on Reddit (hi everyone!) has had nothing but glowing reviews, so when the Shiro sale came around, I may have bought too much. I also may be super excited to bring this review to you.

Just a bit excited. Because I am adoring this Seven Kingdoms collection.

Everything arrived in a nice little package with candy and two freebies – Midnight and Day of Reckoning (from her Fullmetal Collection – another collection I want to get pretty much everything in). Those Shiro people are excellent folk!

Aren’t they so thoughtful? Onto the haul!

My haul, in all its glory. Some of the samples pictured I won’t be reviewing- I showed my mother the website and she wanted to tack a few things onto my order. I am so anxious to try everything, but my samples are many and I have many things to do. So part one is only going to cover The Seven Kingdoms Collection. As I am a huge ASOIAF nerd, my review of the shades will also cover how well I feel it fits each character.

Some housekeeping- the left side of the swatch will be primed with NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, the middle is no primer, and the right is Urban Decay’s Primer Potion in Eden. I wanted to show the shades with a white base, in their natural state, and with a colored base. My brush was cleaned after each swatch and the pictures taken in three light sources (yellow bathroom light, white light, natural light) so you can get a very good impression of the colors. Unfortunately, the shift on some of these is hard to capture- I’ll note that in the color description. Pictures were taken with an iPhone 4S. I’m going to make the assumption the wear will be similar in all Shiro eye shadows, so I will cover how well they wear in the next post.

Now that that’s out of the way, onto the swatches!

You Know Nothing (Jon Snow) – Very beautiful shade, white with this lovely blue shimmer. I love to use whites for highlighting and paired with the right shade, this would be an excellent highlight. I’m keen to try it with TARDIS when I bust that one out. The shade feels very icy and I think fits Jon, due to the Wall, the North, and Ghost. I hope she adds a Nights Watch color- the white makes sense, but my knee jerk is to also need a black color when it comes to Jon. EDIT – the lovely user silverarya on Reddit has alerted me there is a shadow called ‘You Snow Nothing‘ that was everything I was whining I was missing. I indeed know nothing! I stand corrected and need to order it ASAP because it looks fabulous!

No Men Like Me (Jamie Lannister) – I love this gold! There’s some lovely brown undertones here but the star is definitely the gold. I really enjoyed turning my arm over and watching the gold flicker, I can’t wait to wear it around! It feels very glamorous. It reminds me of Jamie’s golden hand, I adore it!

Hodor (Hodor) – Hodor. Hodor hodor hodor. Hodor? It came out darker than I expected but looks like it would work well as good neutral for those low key days. I love how it’s matte- Hodor’s a very humble person by nature, so matte fits him to a T. This is a shade that would work well in your collection, it’s very much an everyday color. Please ignore the shimmer, I cleaned my brushes poorly the first round. I double checked and it is matte.

Master of Whispers (Varys) – This one feels similar to You Know Nothing but warmer. Just like Varys, this shade is very versatile- you get multiple shades based on the primer. I love that! The light lilac on this is lovely. An understated yet flexible shade is absolutely perfect for Varys, so applause all around!

Little Bird (Sansa Stark) – Another one that came out darker than I expected (just like Sansa!). It feels very reminiscent of Sansa’s hair, more book Sansa than TV Sansa. I like it more over the Eden than the Milk, it comes out more demure that way, fitting Sansa’s persona.

From the first set, I was the most impressed with (and getting full sizes of) You Know Nothing, No Men Like Me, Hodor, and Master of Whispers. Moving on!

I Loved a Maid (Tyrion Lannister) – If you adore reds, just get all the Lannister colors.This is a lovely Lannister red with this fabulous gold that catches the light. In some lights, the gold almost looks green (just like one of his eyes in the books!). Tyrion was always the best candidate to carry on the Lannister name, so it makes sense the color that feels like concentrated Lannister is Tyrion’s.

Here I Stand (Jorah Mormont) – This fabulous deep color is a warm black/brown that comes out a bit purple in natural light. There’s a lovely low shimmer on Jorah’s shade, a little green. I rather like this for Jorah.

Gift of Mercy (The Hound / Sandor Clegane) – This feels similar to Here I Stand, but the plate mail version. It’s a sort of blue/purple with a light orange shimmer. While I like this shade and I understand the orange is to be reminiscent of fire, I feel like a Sandor shade should either be more matte in finish or bold with the fire.

Climbing Chaos (Littlefinger / Petyr Baelish) – A rich brown with gold that easily catches the light. How very Littlefinger, a more humble start and then BAM! Look at all that gold shine. I rather like it.

Queensguard (Ser Barristan Semly) – Ser Barristan the Bold is easily one of my favorite book characters who is not amazing enough in the TV show. This shade- a deep red orange with a light shimmer- is lovely and would be a great addition to anyone’s collection, but I’m not sure I’d associate this color with Ser Barristan. It’s his house colors, but the Kingsguard lose all claim to land, the right to wed, and the right to have sons. His white cloak defined him- not his house- until he became part of Daenerys’s Queensguard. White with a fiery red Targaryen shimmer or vice versa I feel would have fit him better.

From the second set, my favorites were I Loved a Maid, Gift of Mercy, and Climbing Chaos.

And the last of our eye shadows are-

Mother of Dragons (Daenerys Targaryen) – This shadow was surprisingly purple with a bit of brownish-red. While Daeny’s purple eyes are a bit of a trademark in the books, most people associate her with “fire and blood”, the red and black house colors of the Targareyens. I understand that the Lannisters in the collection put in a lot of reds, but a deep black with a strong red shift would have made more sense to me than going off of her purple eyes. Lovely shade? Yes. Is it Daenerys? Maybe not so much.

Women’s Weapons (Cersei Lannister) – A lovely burgundy with a nice gold shift. What can I say? The Shiro crew got all the Lannisters down pat. The red feels like a nice deep wine (a love Cersei and I have in common!) and there’s the Lannister gold right on top. I’ve heard people raving about getting this as a lip gloss, so you might need two versions of this amazing shade.

Valar Morghulis (Arya Stark) – The Stark men have been decidedly lacking from this collection. This shade, I feel, fits the entire Stark clan. As an Arya specific shade? Mmm, maybe. This is a beautiful dark blue with a silver shift. If “I Loved a Maid” is the Lannisters personified, this shade is pure Stark. While I adore this color, Arya’s character arc is falling away from her honorable Stark roots. Her only anchor to ‘Arya Stark’ is her sword. If this was for Ned or Robb, it would be perfect. While (I feel) a little mismatched on character, this shade is amazing. I’ll take this time to note there is no Ned shade. This is a perfect Ned shade. I vote this shade be renamed (“The Man Who Swings the Sword?”) and a more fitting shade given to Arya.

Salt and Stone (Stannis Baratheon) – This. This shade. This is my favorite, right here. I want to buy out all Shiro’s stock, horde it, and sit upon it like an angry dragon. The one true king, right here. This shade makes me want to pimp Stannis for king as hard as Davos. This shade is this beautiful deep green with this strong red shift. It’s absolutely perfect, both for Stannis and as a shade. Please don’t buy any, I need more for my collection. Angry dragon and all.

Maiden Queen (Margaery Tyrell) – This shade stands out of the collection more than any other, much like Margaery. It’s a lovely light green. Depending on the primer, it can be soft or bold, much like Margaery. It’s a little more muted on the Eden primer, and with my coloring, muting this shadow a bit is for the best. It’s really quite lovely. Much like Margaery.

My favorites from round 3 are Salt and Stone, Salt and Stone, SALT AND STONE! Did I mention I love Salt and Stone? Valar Morghulis and Women’s Weapons are going to be full sizes bought by me soon, but goddamn do I love Salt and Stone.

Last but not least, our lovely lip gloss to complete the collection!

This is Red Wedding. I do not have a picture of it on my lips, as I recently moved countries and have not bought a lip brush yet. I applied it (rather sloppy) with my fingers, but despite my messy application, it looked lovely. There’s a wonderful bit of orange in this red and it’s rather flattering. My fiance, who is normally not keen on dark reds, loved it (which means I’ll take five). I’ll see about getting a brush this weekend and taking a proper picture, but this lip gloss is worth the sample at least. I adored it and you will too!

That’s the end to part one! I had a wonderful time creating this and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Part two will be up within the week, and if I can figure out how to take better pictures of eye makeup, so will some looks with the posted shadows. I already have an amazing combination between my Naked 3 palette, Salt and Stone, and some sparkly red Sailor Moon eye liner. But I cannot seem to take a picture of it without it being potato quality.

As this is my first review, any and ALL critiques are welcome.

Hope everyone has a lovely day!