Shiseido Eye Colour Bar

Shiseido's Eye Colour Bar is a nine-pan limited edition palette released for Holiday. And ridiculous as it feels to me to be reviewing holiday collections already, I am as usual many steps behind those on my blogroll who've already posted about this baby:

• Swatcharama! swatched the Eyebar way back in August (part 1, part 2)
• Wondegondigo has a wonderful series of posts (here, here, here and here)
• The Non-Blonde has beautifully lit product shots and layered swatches here
• Selphia shared some of her always exquisite photos here

Which all makes things very easy indeed for me :) So I'll be progressing straight onto my issues and gripes and general moaning. Because even with all those excellent posts as context and preparation, I was still surprised to find upon playing that:

1. this really isn't a clear, jewelled palette at all. True to their liqueur names, even the brightest shades retain a powdery-white, artificial brightness: the glow of absinthe rather than emeralds, marachino red rather than ruby...
2. the shimmer (or hidden shimmer) in these shades tends to be simple and monotonal, also adding to this artificial-brightness aspect, perhaps because one is meant to layer and mix the two 'magic' shades, Champagne and Soda to create complexity -- on my dry skintype and clear, pale skintone, most shades apply as quite 'flat', without tweaking. Parfait Amour is the only shade with the kind of complex multitonal shimmer I love.
3. the textures are, to me, below Shiseido's usual excellent standard, and fall into several camps -- the best three, delicately shimmery and silkily blendable, Parfait Amour, Menthe and Noisette; two very soft and loosely-packed frosts Soda and Champagne; an almost foiled metallic, Curaçao; and three shades with very minimal shimmer and a drier texture: Cassis, Licorice and the almost-matte Café.

In a slightly out-of-focus shot, I think these textural nuances are visible even in the pans' surfaces -- note especially how Noisette, Menthe and Parfait Amour are the only ones 'twinkling' with complex lights?

Swatches to show how much less jewelled these colours turn once they hit skin -- even pale, clear, neutral skin like mine which rarely skews or mutes down colours. All swipes made by making two passes with a sponge applicator onto bare arm.
Despite the brightness, there's that certain flatness in most of these too, owing to a mixture of texture, finish and tone e.g. Curaçao, the kind of obnoxious colour and magpie-shiny finish you should rightly expect me to love, looks so 'solid' a bright (rather than a clear, complex one) that it makes the skin texture on my lids look at once robotic and crepey, so I can only wear it neat as liner.

Close-ups should illustrate what I mean by 'monotonal' shimmer in most of these, and also how the liqueurish 'flat' brightness extends even unto ye realms of macro. The edges of several shades also look quite dry and texture-enhancing on my dry skin -- the worst offenders being Café, Licorice and Cassis. 
None of the usual fuzzy shots, because only Parfait Amour has a variety of multitonal shimmer particles to show. See?

I apologise for the atrocious lighting!

And hey, isn't it Magazine Monday? I hear you cry. Quite right, my dears and your patience and scrolling shall be rewarded thus, with two looks using the Eye Colour Bar from Dick Page himself, from of SoEn Magazine's November issue:


You can find more of Dick Page's face charts on the Shiseido site with accompanying videos for Notorious and Sweet Dreams.

And finally, some pretty/wearable looks from the Umeda Hankyu department store booklet, courtesy of spookydeuce on makeupalley:


How about you? Have the palette or want it? Love it or loathe it or as dithery as I am? I'd love to hear about your combinations, experiments and experiences :)