Lunasol Three-Dimensional Eyes

Believe it or not, these Lunasol Three-Dimensional Eyes are actually "detour" purchases - I was looking at Maquillage True Eyeshadows when I found these Lunasol ones for just several more dollars. $5, to be exact. They were on sale ^.^

I don't usually go for up-market/prestige brands, because in my limited experience, the difference in quality doesn't commensurate with the difference in price. Sure, quality may double, but the price then triples or quadruples, just for the brand prestige. That's what I'm *not* willing to pay for. I don't buy "prestige." There are plenty of quality eye shadows I love at the price I'm willing to pay that don't involve expendable prestige. But if these Lunasol palettes were only $5 dollars more than the Maquillage palettes I was looking at, why the hell not? So I picked up 03 Mysterious Beige and 05 Deep Beige to try.

***Screencap from Lunasol-net.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

The packaging is nice, very solid and substantial, and a little wasteful if I may add. These compacts are housed in a thin styrofoam cover inside their paper boxes, and the paper boxes are then sealed with the manufacturer's shrink wrap. Talk about triple packaging! Even the included dual-ended foam-brush applicators feel expensive, especially the foam end, super smooth and soft! Too bad I use my own brushes instead :P 

In the end though, what really attracted me to these Lunasol palettes is the variety. Each palette technically offers 8 shades, with its base/highlighter (top left) and liner (bottom right) each divided into 3 different textures and finishes - neato! This is unique to me and I haven't seen it very often, not even with other up-market/prestige brands, so the variety is definitely worth the extra $5! ^.^ Does this mean I'll be trading up from now on? Nope, unless they start doing this variety thing more often and even then, I won't take the bait unless the price is right. 

These Three-Dimensional Eyes were released in fall 2011 but are still available. Actually, I've noticed that Lunasol has discontinued few of the various eye palettes released over the years. There are a bunch of them, too many choices, and all are similar to one another, not easily distinguished. With the exception of these Three-Dimensional Eyes palettes, of course, thanks to the variety ^.^ My point is that if you're curious about Lunasol and would like to try something, invest in this one, just for the different textures and finishes!

Now the question is, do the Lunasol eyeshadows live up to their reputation? Absolutely! The eye shadows are buttery, blends like a dream, and super pigmented. I do not regret buying these at all! In fact, I'm definitely going back for more colors, because despite all 5 palettes centering around beige, which in my opinion is kind of, umm, boring, I just adore the different textures and finishes to death! So I'm eyeing 01 Neutral Beige and 04 Cool Beige also ^.^

- 03 Mysterious Beige: a golden beige, lilac, and deep taupe palette that's beautiful to look at but I really do wish both the medium crease shade (bottom left) and the liners (bottom right) are darker colors than they are. The liners in this palette are also not as pigmented as the ones in 05 Deep Beige.

1. Base/highlighters, top left:

- Left: high shimmers, low intensity. This is actually a sparkling top wash! It looks beige in the pan but goes on a soft white with pink and white shimmers.

- Center: semi metallic, medium intensity. A semi metallic soft white with a slight pink tint.

- Right: semi metallic pearl, medium intensity. A semi metallic soft white with a pearly pink sheen. 

2. Lid shade, top right: metallic, high intensity. A gorgeous metallic golden beige. This shade can carry on just by itself with eyeliners! Love! 

3. Liners, bottom right: In my opinion these liners are better for the lower lash line and not dark enough for the upper lash line. When I do use them to line the upper lids, I have to go over them with another darker color. Or I use the semi metallic center shade to layer over smudged pencils. The shimmery far right shade will bring any boring ol' matte pencil to life!

- Left: satin, medium intensity. A glistening satiny brownish taupe.

- Center: semi metallic, medium intensity. A deep taupe with a semi metallic silvery sheen.

- Right: shimmer, medium intensity. A deep taupe with lots of silver shimmers. These shimmers are slightly larger than those in the center column, and it lacks the semi metallic sheen. 

4. Medium crease shade, bottom left: semi metallic, high intensity. A beautiful semi metallic lilac that's just a tad too light to be a medium crease shade. It's more like a lid shade to me. Still lovely though, and great on its own as well!  

- 05 Deep Beige: a champagne, taupe, and gray palette and admittedly the more favored one of the two because of the colors. That said, in terms of finishes I think the liners in this palette aren't as interesting as those in 03 Mysterious Beige above. 

1. Base/highlighters, top left:

- Left: high shimmers, low intensity. A champagne sparkling top wash! Love!

- Center: semi metallic pearl, medium intensity. A semi metallic soft white with a pearly champagne sheen. 

- Right: semi metallic, medium intensity. A semi metallic soft white.  

2. Lid shade, top right: metallic, high intensity. A jaw-dropping champagne that's intensely metallic and superbly pigmented. Holy crap this shade is freakin' gorgeous! 

3. Liners, bottom right: not only these liners are dark colors, good god they're pigmented!

- Left: satin, high intensity. A satiny warm black.

- Center: shimmer, high intensity. An olived black with shimmers. 

- Right: shimmer, high intensity. A deep khaki charcoal with lots of silver shimmers. 

4. Medium crease shade, bottom left: metallic, high intensity. A metallic silvered gray taupe. Now this is what I call a medium crease shade! It's dark enough to create a smokey eye look!

More to come!