Veracious Product Review: Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Prestigious Bourdeax Palette

Hi, everyone! This review focuses on one of the most lovely holiday makeup products out right now. This year Shu Uemura teamed up with the legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld to create an incredibly chic, festive, and whimsical holiday makeup collection. For my impressions of the collection and a synopsis of a recent beauty event I attended, check here!

The star product from the collection (in my humble opinion) is the playful and dazzling Prestigious Bordeaux Eye and Cheek Palette. To see a look I created using this little gem, see here! 

The palette is housed in a sleek black and white box with red accents:

Though the box is chic, the design on the palette itself is more up my alley. It features the adorable "Mon Shu Girl" that Lagerfeld created as the 'face' of this campaign. She represents fun, colour, and the cheeky aesthetic of Japanese pop and anime culture. As you can see, she's sporting Lagerfeld's classic getup: a crisp, white shirt and a thin black tie. She's also decorated with the colours that are integral to this palette- rich purple eyes and vibrant coral cheeks. 

Upon opening the palette, I noticed the cutest detail- the mirror is shaped as a silhouette of the Mon Shu Girl. Quite adorable and charming! As much as I'm a sucker for quirky and feminine packaging, it really was the shades in the palette that inspired me to bring it home. 

The palette features 5 eyeshadows and one blush shade. As described on the Shu Uemura website, the palette includes a "gorgeous array of coordinated colors that revolve around rich bordeaux.silky smooth eye shadow in glamorous glitter wine and deep brown; pressed eye shadows in pale purple, soft brown, and brick gold add sensual accents to your eyes; coral rose glow-on blush for a sparkling allure on cheeks" (from shuuemura-usa.com).

I would describe the purple shade as a deep, sparkly eggplant- very complex and unique! The brown shade is a warm, sparkly chocolate shade that can be used alone or in combination with the eggplant shade to create a glistening smokey eye. The third shade is a mid-tone lilac with subtle shimmer (not nearly as sparkly as the top two shades) and the fourth is a nearly-matte champagne-taupe that could be used to ground the look or blend out some of the darker shades. The fifth shade is an incredibly sparkly orange gold that is incredibly pigmented. A little goes a long way and it works great as an accent colour! The final shade is a warm-toned, slightly shimmery reddish-coral that should be worn sparingly- it is also quite pigmented and rich!

Here are swatches of the 5 shadows and the blush:

And here's a quick photo of the look I created using the palette. So festive and sparkly!

Overall, I've really been loving this palette, especially now that the holiday season is upon us and festive eye looks go with the territory! All of the shades are incredibly soft and pigmented and the detail and cuteness of the packaging can't be beat! Also, the applicators included with the palette (a double-ended sponge applicator and a double-ended brush) are actually quite functional. I used them to create the look I featured above! 

The only downsides are that, because half of the shades are quite sparkly, this is definitley not the most versatile of palettes out there. Also, I really wish the blush pan were bigger- it's quite hard to apply a light coating of the blush when a tiny brush has to be used. Any large blush brushes would pick up the eye shades in the process as well! I solved this by applying the blush with the small brush included and then blending like crazy with a larger brush. The result was still quite a bold cheek, but the smooth texture of the product at least allowed for an even application in the end. Phew!

I am heading home for the holidays tomorrow and will definitely be bringing this lovely palette with me. Though I'll probably be spending most of my time in my PJs eating Christmas cookies, this palette will be in my arsenal when a little festive glam is in order!

What are some of your favourite products from this year's holiday collections?