I know I should have gotten over it, but until a year ago I was still mourning
T'estimo and didn't let either Maquillage or Coffret D'Or tempt me with their many palettes. That was, until Maquillage unleashed its ultimate test of my loyalty, the winter 2008's limited edition of Christopher Kane's
Maquillage Jeweling Palettes:
10 Noble Glamorous and
20 Princess Tiara. Yeah, let's just say I definitely failed that test because I bought both of these beauties :D
10 Noble Glamorous
20 Princess Tiara
Can you blame me? Just look at that absurdly gorgeous packaging! Normally, the pretty packaging trick doesn't even get anywhere near my consciousness (cute packaging, however, is a whole other story...). This time, however, it was a bull's eye on my wallet and I just had to have them both. Luckily for me, this was a first as neither Maquillage nor Coffret D'Or's other palettes and holiday offerings rarely register on my radar. Phew!
10 Noble Glamorous
20 Princess Tiara
Anyhoo, I must admit that although the compacts are beautiful and thin, they are quite long and wide. I think they are bigger than my hand! And yes, I didn't get around to using them until my trip to see my parents but, hey, what's the rush? If they wouldn't last a year then, well, I guess I'd be out of my money LOL!
Each of the compact contains 4 eye colors, a highlighter powder, a powder brush, and eye applicator. And yes, the compact does have a mirror that runs the span of the entire compact lid. A rather big mirror, I'd say :) Pretty nice!
10 Noble Glamorous
20 Princess Tiara
Oh, and I almost forget that these compacts were actually my first encounter with Maquillage's eye shadows!!! I collect the individual
Eye Colors but I haven't even touched any of them! I've read rave reviews of Maquillage eye shadows everywhere but I'd always get distracted from trying them. So yeah, these
Jeweling Palettes were my very first experience with Maquillage eye shadows.
10 Noble Glamorous
20 Princess Tiara
And let me tell you, WOW. Those rave reviews were right! I was shocked at how soft these shadows were! They were buttery, as in spreadable butter, and I seriously couldn't tell whether they were a cream or a powder (I still can't)! On top of that unbelievably fine and smooth texture, they were pigmented, super blendable, had excellent staying power, and never creased on me. My thoughts after trying these? I was so
glad I failed that loyalty test. I would have totally missed out if I passed these palettes by.
As for that highlighting powder, it was okay, which is really too bad because Maquillage clearly can do much much better as they had before with the
Precious Design Powder. The texture of this highlighter was not nearly as soft as the Precious Design Powder, but it wasn't as dry as the
Design Face Color either. It was somewhere in between, like Maquillage forgot that they had improved or something and took a step back in quality before the time of the Precious Design Powder. What a shame, as these
Jeweling Palettes could have been
unparalleled all-star knockouts, but instead they are just all-star knockouts. Don't get me wrong, I would recommend them wholeheartedly if you can find them still (Ebay?), but if you're listening, Maquillage, I want my palettes perfect, if that's not too much to ask.
May be that
is too much to ask -.-
10 Noble Glamorous: the warm palette with a pale marzipan yellow highlighter with fine shimmers. This highlighter worked better for me than the pale pink highlighter in the 02 Princess Tiara palette. Also, it didn't really highlight but instead brightened my face.
The 4 eye shadows include:
- Top left: ivory, shimmer, medium intensity. It didn't turn frosty on me, but it was pigmented enough that I had to be careful of putting on too much.
- Top right: true gold, metallic, high intensity. I have yet to come across a gold truer than this gold! It's a beautiful metallic 24k gold that reminds me of the gold temples in Thailand! Being so...golden (lack of better word here), color intimidated me at first, but once I tried it, I fell in love with it. I was always afraid of true golds because they tend to turn a bit red/orangey/coppery on me. This gold did not. In fact, it complemented my skin tone really well.
- Bottom left: golden olive, shimmer, may be even semi-metallic, medium intensity. This is actually my least favorite color in the compact, not because it's not pretty (it's gorgeous if you ask me!), but because it was difficult for me to use. It was too dark for me to use as a crease color, but at the same time, it was not dark enough for me to use as a liner either.
- Bottom right: warm wine, shimmer, high intensity. This color has shimmers that didn't really show up, probably because I mainly used it as a liner color. It's kind of similar to
T'estimo Color Eye WN-32, only the WN-32 is prettier (:P) being more vibrant with more violet, thus making this wine appears warmer and flat.
20 Princess Tiara: the cool palette with a pale powder pink highlighter that is a bit more shimmery than the pale marzipan highlighter in the 01 Noble Glamorous palette. I didn't like this highlighter as much because it can turn frosty on me if I accidentally apply too much.
The 4 eye shadows include:
- Top left: airy pink, shimmer, medium intensity. A very, very pale pink that's on the cooler side.
- Top right: cloud blue, shimmer, medium intensity. This color is actually quite pretty as it goes on me with some gray, though you can't see this gray at all in the picture due to the flash. Too bad I haven't figured out how to wear blues yet.
- Bottom left: taupe, metallic, high intensity. A beautiful taupe with hints of eggplant. Loved this color, even though it was another difficult color for me to use. Again, it was a tad too dark for me to use as a crease color, but at the same time way too light for a liner color. I tried using it as a crease color anyway (because I like it that much!), but as expected, it drowned out the liner color. May be I should try using a gel or a more dramatic liner.
- Bottom right: inky blue, shimmer, high intensity. Similar to the wine color in the 01 Noble Glamorous palette, the shimmers in this ink blue didn't really show, probably because I mainly used it as a liner color.
