Lunasol Vivid Clear Eyes Part II

Yes, I went back for more Lunasol Vivid Clear Eyes ^.^ This time, I picked up the EX02 Colorful Collection and the 03 Orange Collection from the permanent line. I figured since I like this range so much, I'd be kicking myself when it becomes unavailable (or pay a gigantic markup, but who wants that?). So it's better that I get them now before they're gone for good.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

- EX02 Colorful Collection: Packaging wise, EX02 has silver prints on the compact lid, versus the gold prints on EX01 Bronze Brown Collection. Right away I noticed the difference in pigmentation and texture. This palette is less pigmented, and two of the colors (bright denim blue and green) are gritty to the touch due to all the shimmers. This disappoints me because I know Lunasol can do shimmers well, like Geminate Eyes (will review 05RB Ruby next!) and the most recent Ahkah Collection Eyes and Shiny Eyes.

That said, despite the lack of metallics the colors are more wearable than expected, which sort of makes up for the textural shortcomings. This palette is colorful indeed, and somewhat different as far as Japanese eye palettes goes. In the sea of safe neutrals, this white on pink on blue on green sticks out like a whale. I think this was a deliberate attempt for a certain segment of the market: I've noticed on several occasions now that my friend H. wore bright green, turquoise, or blue on her lids, which goes perfectly with her dapper style (and makes me want to go dapper too...).

Anyway, EX02 is different not just in color scheme. It doesn't have a sparkling top wash like EX01 Bronze Brown (that strip of green-tinted lemony yellow). Also, the supposed base/highlighter (pink) is a lot more like a lid shade. I guess I really need to follow instructions to see what kind of effects the colors have on each other, but layering white on top of pink feels a tad counter-intuitive to me.

***Screencap from Lunasol JP.

Clockwise from top left:

- Base/highlighter: shimmery pearl, low intensity. A shell pink. My humble opinion is that this is really a lid shade, but what do I know...

- Lid: shimmery pearl, low intensity. White. 

- Accent: high shimmers, low intensity. A translucent bright denim leaning periwinkle. This color has larger silver shimmers, the very reason it feels drier to the touch and isn't as smooth as it should be. Interestingly enough, under certain indoor lighting this color appears almost completely transparent, which makes me think they meant for it to be a sparkling top wash but the color is too bright to pull off.

- Liner: satin based with floating shimmers, high intensity. An inky blue. My first reaction to this color was, "Dammit, it's matte!" That was, until I brought it out into the sun and it reflected a royal blue satiny sheen in between the larger white shimmers. Okay, I guess I can deal with that =.="

- Medium crease: high shimmer, medium intensity. A super sparkly green, which again explains its dry and gritty state. I'm not sure how to even approach this color...

- 03 Orange Collection: has the same metallic brown case as all other Lunasol palettes and about the same pigmentation level as the others in the permanent line. I'm really glad I picked up this one also because, well, I like it a lot! Honestly, when applied the base/highlighter and the lid shades won't be significantly different, or even distinguishable, from those in palettes 04 Khaki Beige and 05 Pink Beige, but I like it nonetheless, because I'm boring like that xD I mostly wear the same colors on my eyes and just rotate the palettes, that's all. I don't go for drastically different looks.

Clockwise from top left:

- Base/highlighter: shimmery pearl, low intensity. A champagne. 

- Lid: metallic, medium intensity. I know it doesn't look it at all in my swatch photo below but this is in fact a pale peach and it's perfect on its own, exactly how I like it ^.^ The above left photo is more accurate.

- Accent: shimmer, medium intensity. A bright orange, holy cow! It's not as pigmented as the accent shade in 04 Khaki Beige and 05 Pink Beige, but I think I'd prefer it *not* to be. The color's already challenging for me as it is. Eeps!

- Liner: shimmer, high intensity. A gorgeous taupe brown with pink, bronze, and gold shimmers. Makes a lovely liner!

- Medium crease: metallic, medium intensity. Awesome metallic beige. Can't complain even if I wanted to. Love this color!

See my previous Lunasol Vivid Clear Eyes post.