Shu Uemura The Art of Travel Make-Up Palette

If you see this post on another site than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I only allow reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!
Here I am reviewing one of my favorite acquisitions from my Hong Kong trip! Actually this Shu Uemura The Art of Travel Make-Up Palette was the last product I purchased on my trip, a few minutes before midnight when the Duty Free Shop in Hong Kong airport was just about to close.

The Art of Travel Make-Up Palette is a heavy and chunky black and clear plexiglass palette, like the previous Xmas and spring palettes.
The palette contains 4 powder shadows, 2 cream eyeliners and a blusher shade, all in neutral tones for a perfectly polished office/business/day makeup look.

The eyeshadows are very soft and super pigmented (except for the lightest shade) with a gorgeous metallic appearance. The shadows blend like a dream and look very brilliant when applied however like most metallic Shu Uemura shadows they tend to crease a little on me after some hours of wear and creasing is not a problem I usually face with other brands, even metallic and pigmented ones.
The colors are a creamy off-white, muted dusty pink, pink-toned taupe and deep black with some sparkles.


The cream liner/eyeshadows are fine, I definitely like the golden white one for its glistening finish and as it´s a great highlighter for the inner corners of my eyes however the deep brown liner is a bit sticky and doesn´t apply smoothly so it can look uneven and can fade after some time.

The Glow On blush is very pretty as it´s a versatile matte peachy pink. It´s a little sheer though so might not show up so well on everyone.


The includes applicators are of good quality and can work in a rush however for me they can´t replace proper tools.
Overall even though this palette has its small flaws I really like it and the overall look I can achieve with it.

I don´t remember the price, around US$50 or so maybe?
This palette is made in Korea.

Rating 4/5

Shu Uemura Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation in 584

If you see this post on another site than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I only allow reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!

I stumbled across a Shu Uemura store in Langham Place Mall in Hong Kong so I thought to take chance of this and check out if there would be a proper foundation for me as the color codes puzzle me too much to be able to order one online =)

I swatched quite a few foundations with the help of a friendly SA and finally purchased the Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation in the color 584. I believe that 5 = neutral, 8 = very pale and no idea what´s the 4 =P

The foundation comes in a frosted heavy glass bottle and contains 27ml. It´s a cream which spreads like silk without any pilling or blotchiness and offers medium coverage. It feels smooth and dries down to a rather matte finish without any greasy feeling however it doesn´t feel like it´s drying out my skin.
Staying power is good however after about 5 hours or so I need to reapply some concealer around my nose and chin and this bugs me a little.

The foundation is slightly scented but it´s quite subtle and not bothersome.
I didn´t experience any skin irritations at all since wearing this (and I started using it over a month ago).

Color 584 is a pretty perfect match for me as it´s neither too yellow nor too pink/orange and is really a fair tone.

Overall I am really happy with this product as the color match and overall even and smooth result is really great.

I am not sure regarding the retail price but it wasn´t more than around US30 in Hong Kong however I know HK is the cheapest place to get Shu!

Rating 4.5/5

Fall 2010: Shu Uemura Graceful Bloom Palette

Shu Uemura released 2 gorgeous palettes for fall plus some other goodies that didn´t catch my attention really.
I ordered the Graceful Bloom palette which I scored on eBay for a few bucks below retail (not really saving a lot but still a bit) because it was the one item that really looked attractive to me.

The Graceful Bloom palette comes in a sturdy and very pretty chunky square palette along with 2 applicators and a mirror of course.

The palette features 4 powder shadows, 2 cream eyeliners and a cream blush. The powders come in duos with a fitting eyeliner for each color combo. 
Graceful Bloom contains a light and medium purple with a purple eyeliner and a pale lemon green, medium forest green and a black eyeliner. The blush is a silky shimmery pink and blends really easily even on top of powder.

As I expected the quality is really top-notch with a silky texture and a pretty pearl shimmer. However the colors themselves are more suitable for spring in my opinion as they are all leaning towards pastel. The gel liners are fine, they last really well and stay put once applied however they are not as smooth as other gel liners so they tug on my delicate lids more than I like.
The lasting power is good for all items but I experience a little creasing with the shadows after several hours of wear. 

Overall I´d say this is a gorgeous palette but a bit too pricey in my opinion. The colors are more suitable for spring and summer and the cream eyeliners are just average.

I believe it retails for somewhere around US$65 or so... I paid about 60 or so?
I am honestly more thrilled with the collections from Kate and Integrate but still trying them out =P

Shu Uemura brush roll & samples

I scored a nice GWP from Shu Uemura recently...no, I didn´t have the chance to go to a counter to actually qualify for any kind of GWP but instead I purchased it on eBay.
I honestly don´t mind paying for a nice GWP as long as the price still makes it a good deal. I like travel sizes and when there are smaller sizes of makeup instead of only skincare it usually works out to be a good deal when I pay a few $ for them (especially for a high-end brand like Shu Uemura!).


Anyway, for around US$13 plus a few bucks for shipping I got a seriously nice set on eBay containing:


-Brush roll (well, I have the cute ones from my darling Yumeko so I don´t really need this boring black pouch but I think it´s good for traveling as I don´t care if it gets dirty etc.)
-Deepsea Water Rose mist (13ml)
-High Performance Cleansing Oil Fresh (20ml)
-Gloss Unlimited WN283S (2.75ml)
-Nail Enamel Supplement Mineral Lilac (5ml)


The Deepsea Water Rose comes in a handy spray bottle and is a perfect treat for on the go. It smells like fresh roses and is nicely refreshing, especially now in this annoyingly hot weather (well, I am complaining about 28 degrees C, haha! I am made for cold weather, I don´t mind when it has below zero degrees but I can´t stand anything over 25! The summer in Egypt will be horror for me weather-wise hehe).


I haven´t tried the cleansing oil as I am going to use it when I travel but from the reviews I read it should be nice...we´ll see!


The 2 goodies that caught my eye were definitely the gloss and nail color.


To be honest I am not so much a fan of the Gloss Unlimited range as the colors tend to be so super sheer but WN283S looked very pretty and with more color so I was happy that this was included in the set.


The texture of this gloss is on the thinner and slick side so I don´t feel it´s sticky at all.


This gloss seems to be slightly fragranced but it´s easily tolerable for me
This specific color carries a good amount of fine shimmer and enough color to show up. It looks like a grayish muddy sort of purple in the tube but applies like a beautiful cool rose on my lips.
Overall I love this gloss as the color and texture are really nice to wear!


The Nail Enamel Supplement Mineral in Lilac is a very pretty pastel purple nail color with a very glossy but creamy finish (as in no glitter and only very fine miniscule shimmer).
This polish dries really fast and with about 3 coats I was able to achieve a very fresh even lilac color. This lasted without chipping for over 4 days and only lost a little of its glossy finish so I am really impressed as no nail color can last without chipping for more than 2 days on me usually (incl. OPI and other popular nail polish brands!). I am sure I will try to score more colors from this range as I love this formula!


I used a base and top coat btw (base from Maquillage and top from Coffret D´or)


Overall I am very happy with this purchase and love the handy travel sizes! I will take them all with me to Egypt =)

Xmas 2008: Shu Uemura x Mika Portable Brush Set

Lol, yea! I am indeed typing this post as of April 23rd 2010! And the item I am reviewing is an Xmas item from 1 1/2 years ago! =P


Recently I found several Shu Uemura x Mika items popping up on eBay. Probably there was some warehouse sale going on in Hong Kong or something lol.
The Shu x Mika collection was my favorite collection from Shu Uemura in the previous years.

I admit I also scored the Shu x Mika Gerbera lipgloss set as I just loved the cute pouch that came with the glosses and I won the auction for US$15 whereas the retail was more than double that. I was afraid the lippies might be off but they turned out to be perfectly fresh and fine. I might do a review later...let´s see =)


Anyways, makeup brushes stay fresh and I already fell in love with the Portable Brush Set when I saw pics 1 1/2 years ago but it was just too pricey for me (retail US$85 plus shipping) so I just admired it instead of splurging.

I scored this on eBay for US$38 (& shipping) so I am a seriously happy girl now! I saw a few more of these on eBay but not sure if there are right now.


The Portable Brush Set comes in a gorgeous bright cherry red pouch with the stunning rose print inside. I just love it!
The brushes have pretty red handles to match the set. They are all travel-sized and "remain uncut at the tip for the finest touch" and all are really soft brushes.
There are 4 short-handled brushes: face brush (27 brush - Goat), cheek brush (17 - Pony & Squirrel), eyeshadow brush (10 - Sable & Kolinsky) and lip/eyeliner brush (6M - Sable).

The face brush is honestly a bit too small to be useful for powder application but it makes an excellent blush brush. The bristles are extremely soft and give a pretty even lightweight look to the blush.

The cheek brush is a decent highlighter brush and feels a bit denser than the face brush. It´s somehow very tiny thus not really my first choice for blushes. This is my least fave brush out of the set.

The star of the set is the eyeshadow brush for me. When I saw it I thought it´d be only good for cream shadows or as a brush for applying a wash of shadow but it´s actually a perfect brush to pat on any color on my lids and blending it in the crease as the application is absolutely even, the brush packs on pigment really well and distributes any of my powder shadows perfectly. Right now this is my favorite eyeshadow for lid application and I am considering getting the full-sized one, too!

I first was a bit disappointed that there is a lip brush in the set but was happy to see they also recommend it for eye-lining. I always feel annoyed that nearly each brush set comes with a lip brush as I almost never use lip brushes at all.
This lip/eyeliner brush in the set is a perfect brush for deep crease and outer eye definition. It´s softer than the Sasa brush I´ve bee using for the past 4 years or so and gives a more even application. It´s also great as an eyeliner brush for applying either cream or powder liners.


All in all I think the set is very nice and useful, not just for traveling! It´s not a complete set of brushes but a good start. I personally need eyebrow brushes, a skunk brush, a fan brush (to remove eyeshadow crumbles and tone down blush) and couple of wider eyeshadow brushes for applying a wash or highlighter in addition (the best softest wide brush I have was a GWP from Inoui ID!).


The set was so worth its price and I am happy to be the proud owner of it now! Seems sometimes it´s worth waiting a little =)

Spring 2010: Shu Uemura Egerie Eye Shimmer Duo in Starry Violet

I didn´t pay much attention to the Shu Uemura Egerie spring collection 2010. No eye palettes = less interesting =P

However my good buddy Iris from Rouge Deluxe posted swatches of the new Eye Shimmer Duos so I instantly hunted down the duo in Starry Violet on Ebay =)


The Eye Shimmer Duos consist of a "Liquid Base" eyeshadow (10ml in squeeze tube) and a "Color Powder" shadow (1.2g with sponge-tip applicator) which is a loose eyeshadow.


The Liquid Base is definitely the star item in the duo. It´s such luscious pigmented metallic smooth cream with a high dose of pigment, wonderful staying power (didn´t budge, crease or fade on me at all) and a great blending quality.
And best of all: it´s a fantastic gorgeous taupe color, just my kind of color (though they call it gray, for me it´s a taupe). 10ml is a lot of product and I am sure I will have lots of fun using this often!
When you apply this it´s rather wet and you can blend it for about 2 minutes as then it will set and dry down to a powdery finish.


The Color Powder is a sheer pastel lilac shade with some fine glitter which really works very well with the taupe. According to Shu this should be layered on top of the taupe but I like using this as a highlighter below my eyebrows instead.
This is nothing terribly outstanding but it works nicely and the color is pretty.
As my friend Iris mentioned in her review there is some dust whenever you pull the wand out of the tube. A bit annoying but managable.


The price in my opinion is quite high though! Honestly comparing to Austrian prices US$42 for 2 eye makeup products (high-end!) is not that much but compared to other things it´s much. After all I can pick up a pretty Coffret D´or palette for US$34 on Adambeauty whereas this Shu Uemura duo retails for US$42.
I paid retail on eBay & shipping from Taiwan.


So all in all I really enjoy this and think it´s great quality stuff but it´s too expensive.

Xmas 2008: Shu Uemura Midnight Winter Sakura eyeshadow palette

I was very thrilled to see that Shu Uemura was coming out with 3 new eyeshadow palettes for Xmas 2008. The last 3 palettes they released for the Boutique Birthday (I reviewed Fleur de Source and Fleur de Rose) were really gorgeous and super pigmented/blendable so I indulged in 2 of them. Now surely I was very curious which color combinations they might have come up with for the holidays.


There are 3 palettes, each contains 7 powder shades and a cream liner. The new palettes have the most beautiful flower photos taken by Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa printed on.


I debated much with myself if I should order Secret Luscious Rose or Midnight Winter Sakura but finally settled on Midnight Winter Sakura as it contains gorgeous muted jewel shades and comes with a dark cream liner. Secret Luscious Rose is probably more safe and easier to wear for work as it contains the most muted/natural colors but I thought it looked similar to the Fleur de Rose palette from Summer and I just liked the colors in Midnight Winter Sakura better.


The case of the Midnight Winter Sakura palette is too pretty to describe. It shows pale pink Sakura blossoms on a black background.
The case is made of a heavy and sturdy metal and comes with a mirror and a dual-sided applicator (which is surprisingly bad for Shu Uemura in my opinion).
The eyeshadows however are so beautiful! I love how the guys at Shu are giving me 7 powder shades and a very usable cream liner so I can come up with endless color variations. I really love their new palettes compared to the older quads and trios they used to release.

Pic taken with flash:


The shadows pack A LOT of intense metallic pigment. Honestly these shadows are some of the best pigmented and most vibrant shades I have come across recently. The color you see in the pan is the color you'll see on your eyes. Each color has a certain glow to it that I just find makes them stand out from other shadows.
The staying power is good, however the shadows creased slightly on me after some hours. not a big problem though and it might be the shadow base I used yesterday.
You can see an EOTD pic in my MUA profile (used the teal, fig and cream liner.)

Pic taken without flash in bright sunlight:


What I prefer about the Sakura palette compared to the summer palettes is that each shadow has its own pan (half the size of regular Shu shadows of course), no split pans. And of course the print on the case is prettier =)

The cream shadow/liner is also great, it's pigmented and glides on smoothly. Please note this is a cream liner, not a gel liner, so it will not dry down. However it stayed on my eyes all day long and didn't smudge (I am very disciplined with not rubbing/touching my eyes though)

The colors are:


Yellow, neutral bronze brown, muted orange, olive, teal (one of the most gorgeous teals I own...I love this color!), royal blue, a pinkish fig color and a very deep purple cream liner (looks black in the pan but applies a deep shimmery plum on me).

The Adorned Marguerite palette has the cutest case in my opinion but the colors are too bright and candy-colored for my taste. Also the cream liner is white or clear which doesn't seem to be of use for me.


The Secret Luscious Rose palette contains browns, wines, blue, purple, green and a deep brown liner.


I paid US$63 for my palette & shipping from Taiwan (it came within 5 days after placing my order, that's what I call fast. Seller was randmideas on eBay).

The palette says it was designed in Japan but made in Korea =)