Kate Jewel Mode Eyes

Taiwanese drugstores got me again with these Kate Jewel Mode Eyes, in the same manner they did with Kate Wide Edge Eyes. There are 6 variations available: BR-1, BR-2, BU-1, GN-1, GY-1, and PK-1, and I went home with all 6 -.-' 

I like these palettes a lot, but by no means they're perfect. First off, the lightest shade is a sparkly top wash, which you can use as base and to highlight if you don't mind the sheerness and sparkliness. I just use a separate base/highlighting shade which I have a gazillion of so this lack of base/highlight color doesn't bother me. Secondly, despite appearing shimmery in the product photos below the liner shades are semi-matte base with sparse and scattered "floating" shimmers. The only exception is the liner shade in BU-1. Again, this doesn't bother me too much as they're liner shades, but if you plan to use them on the crease, they may give that charcoal pencil finish instead of a luminous one. Finally, while the medium shades are soft and smooth the sparkly top wash as well as the liner shades feel drier than most Japanese eyeshadows I own.

Left to right, top to bottom: BR-1, BR-2, BU-1, GN-1, GY-1, and PK-1. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

The goods outweigh the bads though! Save for the sparkly top wash, both the medium and the liner shades are pigmented. The medium shades are semi-metallics, and most are quite a bit darker than they appear in the pan, which makes them versatile and can be worn on the lids with a light hand or on the crease. For me, between trios with 2 solid darker colors (medium/crease + liner) versus quads/quints with may be 2 darker colors (lid + liner), trios win! Here are examples of "bad" quads and quints: Coffret D'Or Eye Appeal Shadow 02 Fairy Pink and Coffret D'Or Beauty Face Shadow limited edition 07 Orange Beige and 08 Pink Bordeaux. I think it's cheating for cosmetic makers to put out quads and quints, and charge accordingly, but each has only 2 actual colors! Yes, I love sparkly top washes, and base/highlighters are useful, but seriously how many of those do I need? Not 2 in a quad, and especially not 3 in quint, that's for sure! 

Scheme wise these colors are more "mineral" than "jewel" tones. The "jewel" makes me think of bright and vivid emeralds, garnets, sapphires, rubies, but as you can see these are rather neutral colors! Nonetheless, they are gorgeous and are super wearable! In the 6 palettes, only BR-1 is decidedly warm in the pan with PK-1 leaning warm. The rest are either neutral or leaning cool. 

BR-1: a warm peach bronze combo in the pan with the medium color applies a couple of shades darker than how it appears in the pan!
- Medium shade: medium intensity, semi-metallic, a burnish bronze.
- Top wash: very sheer, high shimmer, a gorgeous sparkling peach.
- Liner shade: high intensity, semi-matte base with floating shimmers, bitter chocolate with sparse and scattered silvery shimmers.

BR-2: a neutral taupe combo, again with the medium shade applying much darker than it appears in the pan.
- Medium shade: medium intensity, semi-metallic, a gorgeous taupe with silver specks.
- Top wash: very sheer, high shimmer, soft white.
- Liner shade: high intensity, semi-matte base with floating shimmers, deep taupey brown.

Top row BR-1, bottom row BR-2.

BU-1: another neutral taupe combo, this time leaning cool. The medium shade applies true to how it appears in the pan.

- Medium shade: medium intensity, semi-metallic, a taupey beige with pink undertone.

- Top wash: very sheer, high shimmer, sparkling iridescent blue.

- Liner shade: medium intensity, shimmers, a silvery deep taupe. This liner shade is the only one that's not semi-matte base with floating shimmers. That said, it's also slightly less pigmented than the other liners. I actually use this color as a crease shade and liner with a different darker color.

GN-1: not really green in my opinion. Actually, not green at all, but still pretty ^.^ The medium color also applies a couple of shades darker than how it appears in the pan.
- Medium shade: medium intensity, semi-metallic, tarnish silver, like a green tinted golden gray, if that makes any sense. The swatch failed to capture the complexity of this color, unfortunately, and it shows up a silvery taupe.
- Top wash: very sheer, high shimmer, sparkling champagne.
- Liner shade: high intensity, semi-matte base with floating shimmers, green tinted bitter chocolate.

Top row BU-1, bottom row GN-1.

GY-1: a gray and denim combo that remains cool despite the gold top wash. It's interesting that they call this palette "gray" because the denim liner sort of sets the blue tone for the whole palette. Medium color applies a couple of shades darker than how it appears in the pan.
- Medium shade: medium intensity, semi-metallic, smokey gray with slight blue undertone.
- Top wash: very sheer, high shimmer, sparkling gold.
- Liner shade: high intensity, semi-matte base with floating shimmers, deep denim blue with sparse and scattered silver shimmers.

PK-1: a neutral plum pink combo. Medium color applies much darker than how it appears in the pan.
- Medium shade: medium intensity, semi-metallic, a dusty mauve.
- Top wash: very sheer, high shimmer, sparkling pink.
- Liner shade: high intensity, semi-matte base with floating shimmers, plummy brown with sparse and scattered silver shimmers. This color turns a tad red on my lower lash line, but it's fine on the upper lash line.

Top row GY-1, bottom row PK-1.