Spring 2009: Aube Couture Designing Eyes 505

I have to admit that Aube's eyeshadows left me quite unimpressed. The shadows were dull and hard to blend and I just didn't really find their compacts that attractive. All in all very mediocre (their lippies were always really nice though!).

However Aube was revamped and renamed "Aube Couture" and I have to say the compacts are VERY pretty now and the shadow quad I got is really worth its money!


The new compact is a matte muted pink metallic color with a pretty silver adornment in the middle.
The case is quite sturdy and feminine without being girlish at all.

The arrangement of the shadows is very interesting as it shows where to place which of the shadows on your lids. That makes it sort of fool-proof to use (and doesn't stop me from using it another way hehe).
Only the liner color is placed on the right side (I actually didn't notice that there is a liner included, I first thought the Designing Eyes are trios, not quads!)


The Designing Eyes contain 4 colors (all powders, thankfully no cream!)..2 of the colors are for your lid, 1 to highlight and 1 to line.
I have to say I LOVE the texture of these shadows. It's a soft and fine powder with a delicate finely milled shimmer and very luminous finish.
The shadows aren't super pigmented but that doesn't matter at all to me this time as they give the most wonderful soft shading and definition to my eyes.


I think the fact that I love this palette so much is the color combination which is uber-flattering if you are cool-toned like me.
Color #505 contains very pretty muted purples with a very strong gray undertone. My camera wasn't able to capture the colors correctly (looks more taupe/gray on the pic...you can guess the colors better on my EOTD pic though they look more dull on the pic than IRL!).

All colors work together perfectly unlike many other purple palettes I own. I really dislike to have purple palettes that mix blue and red-toned purples as they rarely look flattering on me in combination.


The palette is definitely subtle but the colors are perfection. I just get a polished defined eye look I really love!
Staying power is very good, too! I wore the shadows most of the day and there is no sign of creasing at all (weather here is freezing and I used Lunasol lid base though)

All in all this palette is so worth it! I am sure I will reach for this quite often as it just looks so pretty on!

This retails for 3885 Yen (about US$43!!!!!! right now! Wow, the Yen is soooooo strong!). However my dear Iris picked it up in Japan for me and got it for 2719 Yen (about US$30) as Aube Couture is discounted in most drugstores in Japan!
Iris was also so kind to score the pretty GWP bag and mirror for me (plus a brush set and a lipstick sampler! Isn't she fantastic?). I also asked her for 2 of the new blushes which I will be reviewing soon (they're great, too, btw.....)


I don't know what exactly Aube did to improve their eyeshadows so much (in my opinion at least) but they really did a good job.

Check this post in Rouge Deluxe for more info on the concept behind Aube Couture. Quite interesting!