Shu Uemura Fall 2008: Instinct Fall Mode Mesmerizer Duo Eye Shadow

I love Fall! The weather is already getting cooler, the leaves are turning to yellow and the air smells delicious and spicy.


And I love Fall collections for their deeper colors, smoky eyes and berry lips.
One of my favorite collections was the one released by Shu Uemura in Fall 2006 (Filigree Collection) featuring metallic dark greens (ME Veridian, ME Olive). Such gorgeous deep colors!
Anyway, when I spotted pics of this year's Fall colors I wasn't that thrilled but the Mesmerizer Duo looked like a must-have as it's a taupe/deep plum combination and I LOVE LOVE LOVE those kind of colors!


The Duo Eye Shadows (Limited Edition, 3 color combinations available) contain a cream and a powder shade in a pretty clear compact. I think Shu really enhanced their compacts in the previous years as the old ones used to be really flimsy (think those eyeshadow duo casings from Fall 2005...ugh!)
I am not a big fan of cream shadows as they tend to crease. I love cream-to-powders as those mostly dry down to a crease-proof finish (like PN Sparkling Eyes, Banila Co Cream Shadow etc.).

The cream shade in the Mesmerizer duo is a very hard solid cream that feels very dry and non-greasy to the touch. The bad thing is that the lovely deep plum turns a purple with red and brown tones which is a color I cannot pull off at all. On the other hand I wouldn't wear this on my lid alone as it creases a bit after short time of wearing so I tried it with a layer of the powder shade on top.

And this works fantastic! The powder shadow is a highly metallic light taupe-beige (it's not pure taupe on my skin) and changes to a stunning plummy taupe when layered on top of the cream shadow.
I really love this look and Shu has proven that they still can do really great metallic shadows since their reformulation of the eyeshadows (I am not a fan of the newer ME formula).
The powder shadow feels very silky and almost creamy.
I just use a brow-bone highlighter such as Shu ME Beige 800 and the finished look is quite pretty =D

I haven't noticed any creasing so far (about 3 hours now) so I think this is a stable combination to wear.
I think I will also try using the cream shadow as a liner as it's pigmented enough. Might give an interesting look, too.



Swatches: Left: Shu Mesmerizer cream side, middle: cream + powder on top, right: powder shade.


The duo costs U$36 which is quite hefty for an eyeshadow duo. I paid US$32.55 + shipping on eBay.