Kiss Kiss My Eyes Glamorize Shadow

Got snowed in today so that means some quality time via words with friends, net surfing, and blogging ^.^ Good thing I was all prepared with notes and pictures taken prior to the trip!

I really have no idea what came over me when I bought these Kiss My Eyes Glamorize Shadows which, by the way, are my very first eye shadows from Kiss! I have been collecting their Pure Bloom Cheeks (will hopefully get to these soon, because they're gorgeous!), but I have never tried any of the eye shadows from the brand. So when I was browsing around in Plaza one day, I spotted these and started playing with the testers. Their silky soft texture totally impressed me and given their price, only 1,260yen/each tax included, I picked up 3 palettes: 02 Chocolate Brown BR-1, 03 Pink Beige PK-1, and 04 Wine Brown WN-1.

02 Chocolate Brown BR-1 and 03 Pink Beige PK-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

04 Wine Brown WN-1

I was so excited to try these! Palette 01 Caramel Beige looked really warm (and I checked several times) so I skipped it. However, when I finally got around to taking their pictures and doing swatches, looking at them in natural light sorely disappointed me - they all looked so flat and boring! I started wondering if these were impulse buys after all. What happened to all those nice shimmers I saw when I was playing with the testers? They were so pretty under that light! Yeah, at that point I finally realized why each of the testers had a really bright light shining directly onto them... Sigh, I'm such a sucker... +.+

So yes, these are definitely OL (office lady) palettes with fine shimmers that impart a luminous rather than sparkling finish. The liner shade has shimmers so few and scattered it's pretty much matte. If you work in a conservative environment, or looking for a professional daytime makeup for the office, or you're just not a fan of the plenty-a-bling in the typical Japanese eye palette, these should make a good match for you! As for me, I'm a big fan of the sparklies so I was not happy that they aren't more shimmery. But then it is for these palettes that those super sheer sparkling top washes are made! And I have 3 megawatt sparkling top washes in the form of Makemania Sparkle Glitter Eye Shadow that I will review next, because I dug them out just to use with these Kiss palettes ^.^

02 Chocolate Brown BR-1 and 03 Pink Beige PK-1

04 Wine Brown WN-1

Getting on with the picture taking process, the silky soft texture of these palettes reminded me, at least partly, why I bought them. And as I swatched them in natural light, I discovered they are decently pigmented too! Sure, many of them are lighter colors, but they do show up well. Although I apply my eye makeup with a light hand anyway, I do appreciate their pigmentation level. These also wowed me big time with their excellent lasting power. The first time I wore these, I was shocked that they didn't crease by 7PM because I had applied them that morning at about 8:30AM! These are some of the longest lasting powder eye shadow I have ever worn! Perhaps I'm comparing apples to oranges, but these last so well on me I would put them along the same line as the budge-proof liquid/gel/cream eye shadows I have, such as Visee Aqua Shining Eyes, Laura Mercier Metallic Creme Eye Colour, and Lavshuca Eye Jelly. Crazy!!! 

So as disappointed as I was the first time I saw their lackluster selves in natural light, they completely turned my opinion around and won me over, first during the swatching with their pigmentation level, then after just the very first wear with their lasting power! In fact, I'm going to go back and get that brand new wine colored palette that just came out, 05 Bordeaux Beige! At the very least, they give me an excuse to use (...and buy) more sheer sparkly top washes ^.^

- 02 Chocolate Brown BR-1: a neutral beige palette that's has nothing to do with chocolate, in my opinion. This is probably the most perfect palette ever for the professional daytime office look. It's got such a go-getter vibe that I would totally wear it to a job interview.

- Left: crease color, luminous, low intensity. A translucent nude beige that matches my skin pretty well after blending. It also swatched true to how it appears in the pan.
- Middle: base and highlighter, shimmer, medium intensity. An ecru that also swatched true to how it appears in the pan.
- Right: medium crease color, luminous, medium intensity. Appears grayish taupe in the pan but swatched more of a brownish taupe.
- Bottom: liner shade, satin, medium intensity. This shade is totally deceiving as it appears a dark charcoal in the pan but swatched a cool earthy deep brown.

- 03 Pink Beige PK-1: in contrast with the go-getter palette 02 Chocolate Brown BR-1 above, this is the warmer, softer, and more feminine version with all 3 light colors on the top row along with a liner color that on the light side (hint: it didn't swatched as it appears in the pan). This is probably the most unoffensive palette ever and I don't mean this in a pejorative way at all! If you are going for that soft and approachable look, this is it! However, if you are looking for some color, this will not satisfy unless you want to use the liner color on the crease and line your eyes with a separate, and preferably darker, liner.

- Left: crease shade, luminous, low intensity. A translucent and very feminine peachy think that's a dead ringer for the old T'estimo PK-38, minus the golden orange iridescent shine. It swatched exactly as appeared in the pan.
- Middle: base and highlighter, shimmer, medium intensity. A nice ivory that also swatched true to how it appears in the pan.
- Right: crease shade, luminous, medium intensity. Appears a beige in pan but swatched with a lot more gold.
- Bottom: liner/crease shade, satin, low intensity. Probably the most deceiving one of all as it appears a smoky taupe in the pan but swatched a chocolate brown that's both lighter and sheerer than expected. This really shouldn't be a liner color at all because the color is not dark or pigmented enough to show as a thin line!

- 04 Wine Brown WN-1: again no brown or wine here either. This purplish taupe palette is my favorite out of all 3 and I reach for it most often. Not only it's the most pigmented palette, all the colors swatched true to how they appear in the pan. No funny eye tricking business with this one! Save for the middle base and highlighter shade that is a light color, the rest are medium-dark colors. If the 02 Chocolate Brown BR-1 is the go-getter palette and the 03 Pink Beige PK-1 is the girl next door palette, then this one has got to be the femme fatale palette ^.^ Check out that deep blackish purple liner color! Yowza. If I were limited to only one of these palette, I would pick this one in a heartbeat.

- Left: medium crease shade, shimmer, medium intensity. A translucent but pigmented beige with some pink in it.

- Middle: base and highlighter, shimmer, medium intensity. An straightforward ocre.

- Right: medium crease shade, luminous, high intensity. A gorgeous purplish taupe.

- Bottom: liner shade, satin, high intensity. A rather mysterious deep blackish purple that makes an awesome liner! Love it!