Part 2 of my post-brand-relaunch Visée review series examines the four eyeshadow palettes I've acquired: the first (Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1) a thoughtful gift from Rosy very soon after the relaunch, whose textures so impressed me I then purchased the other three: Smoky Rich Eyes GY-7, Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5, and Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3.
I've decided to cram reviewlets of all four into one long post (srsly, epic scroll ahead) to minimise repetition, and also to shed some light on my personal selection/stash-building process; of these four, I've kept two Vis-yay's and ditched two Vis-eh's.
Currently, Visée makes three ranges of eyeshadow palettes, all in variations of lacy-detail-embossed-black plastic casing, which you can see on ichibankao (also the most convenient place to purchase this brand if you're outside Japan).
Smoky Rich Eyes quints feature (from left to right): a sheer, slightly-shimmery cream base (a thin, silicone-slippery formula); two mid-tone, medium-pigmented silky satins; and a split pan of two dark definer/liner shades, of marginally drier satin textures and slightly stronger pigmentation.
Nudy Rich Eyes also include (anticlockwise from top) a similar cream base and two mid-tone, medium-pigmented satins; its darkest shade is a slightly more pigmented satin (like the top of the split-pan in the Smoky Rich quints), and the final pan is a delicate glitter topcoat. These 'Nudy' quints are all built around subtle tonal gradations; BE- in Japanese makeup stands for 'beige', and these are all variously peachier-, browner- or rosier-tinged light neutrals.
Glossy Rich Eyes quads are the most high-impact palettes in the line, with the strongest pigmentation, boldest finishes and most contrasting colour-combinations; they map onto the Glam Glow Eyes range, my favourite from the previous Visée lineup. Top left is a glitter topcoat, creamier in texture and less scattered in finish than the glitter from Nudy Rich Eyes; top right a medium-pigmented mid-tone sparkling satin; bottom left a pigmented, unctuous metallic-with-sparkles shade; and bottom right a very pigmented, slightly drier, metallic-with-sparkles liner. Textures are overall denser, creamier and more velvety than the dry, silky ones in the Smoky/Nudy Rich palettes.
Nuances and preferences aside, the quality of these products is STELLAR. Smooth, effortlessly blendable, with enough light-scattering microshimmer of various degrees to 'lift' hooded lids, and pigmented [by which I don't mean opaque, but every shade is as pigmented as its purpose requires -- a glitter topcoat is by design translucent, a liner shade more solid -- and none require 'work' with packing/layering/separate bases to achieve visible effects].
So the TL;DR reason I kept the two I did (Nudy BE-5 and Glossy PK-3) is, simply, colour: both are rosier, and clearer, and thus more flattering on me than the two Smoky Rich quints (whose textures I actually think are marginally the 'best' from the brand). Swatches:
The Vis-yays: Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3 and Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5
While a collector/curator strives for variety in a well-rounded collection (and that's a temptingly rational set of criteria / motivation to shop), usability is a more important consideration for a....well, user, like me, shuttling between shoebox flats in London and Hong Kong. Spot the common colour story in my recent batch of pans?
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| Sonia Rykiel Mousse Eyeshadow 05 [swatched], Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Abstraction [featured] Shu Uemura Colour Atelier single ME126 [swatched], and topcoats G White Rainbow, IR115 and G251 [showcased] |
Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 vs. Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3
Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 promised to fit neatly into this peachypinky neutral niche, but swatched next to Glossy PK-3 it becomes clear how much warmer, heavier and more muted its tones are, an effect exacerbated by its smoother, less glittery (and so literally less 'light' in many senses) satin finishes:
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| left: Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3 | right: Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 |
In practice: Smoky Rich Eyes PK-1 creates a soft, pink-tinged brown gradient. Note how unified overall the textures and tones are, blending imperceptibly into each other, though I actually consciously tried not to blend this look much: peach on lid, pink to shade inner 'v', lighter brown on outer 'v', darker brown to line. Palest ivory cream dabbed onto second quarter of mobile lid. Lower lashline horizontal gradient from palest to darkest. It pretty much always produces a look like this, however I place the various colours in this palette.
Similar (FOR SCIENCE) placement and application-strength with Glossy Rich Eyes PK-3 (peach on lid and further to shade inner v, red-pink on outer, brown to line, glitter topcoat dabbed on second quarter of mobile lid) produces a much more vibrant, high-contrast look:
Full face pics:
Look 1. (Smoky Rich PK-1)
Look 3. Glossy Rich PK-3 lightly
These two looks are as similar as I could make them (i.e. identical to most eyes) but I hope you, dear readers, who come here for insanely pernickety wank about even the most boring neutral nothingy looks, can see why I prefer the second.
Though, really, Glossy PK-3 would win anyway for sheer versatility. When I'm not forcing a comparison with Smoky PK-1 I'd most often wear it at 'medium strength' (look 2 above) which looks like this, and is absolutely my favourite of this trio of looks. In another post (because zomg this one's long enough already) I'll show you this quad at full k-pop-inspired strength.
In all these looks I'm wearing Visée Blend Colour Cheeks in OR-6 and Lip Balm and Gloss in OR-20.
Smoky Rich Eyes GY-7 vs Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5
If the choice between GlossyPK-3 and Smoky PK-1 came down to the vagaries of variability and versatility, the one between Smoky GY-7 and Nudy BE-5 is more clearly a case of undertonal preference: yellow vs pink, though the Nudy quints also contain more textural variation.
I've posted these looks before in my Visée Creamy Lipstick review, but here are the closed-eye pictures:
Smoky Rich Eyes GY-7
Nudy Rich Eyes BE-5
Similar placements again, though I know the lip colours throw things off. Sorry! Hopefully this swatch set of NudyBE-5, SmokyGY-7 and some of my favourite, representative RBR neutrals (Sweet Dust Seriema, Blackpepper Jay and Grey Go-Away Lourie matte shadows, Night-Wind Sailing pigment.) will illustrate why BE-5 sits more harmoniously on my skin and with my personal RBR 'palette' than GY-7:
When I do wear yellow-based shades, they tend to be be more gilded and less dusty: here the four main shades of Smoky Rich GY-7 (Visée 1-4) swatched with comparable shades fro Suqqu 1 Kakitsubata, 6 Ginbudou, and EX-12 Hisuidama quads, and from THREE 05 Love Revolution duo and 08 Spirit Light quad.
I think it's the combination of grey WITH yellow which makes these Visée neutrals so tricky for me -- I like my yellows richer/warmer and my greys cooler, and both clearer and cleaner than the hybrid muted sepia GY-7 tends to.
....*crickets*
For anyone still reading: in conclusion, the new range of Visée eyeshadows are highly recommended for their refined textures and ease of use, but bear in mind that neutrals are the trickiest things to shop for, even with such a wide range of nuanced undertonal and textural variants available within the brand. If you've sampled any yourself, I'd love to hear your thoughts (especially in relation to your skintone / preferences) and whether you agree with my picks for myself.
Incidentally, these depot/repot very easily -- the shadows are baked into a plastic pan, which is fastened with the soft glue typical of Japanese brands into the bigger plastic palette, and may be levered up by wedging the handle of a pair of tweezers in between the two pans and jiggling:
So at least my makeup storage won't be as overstuffed as my blog posts. :D