Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet eye palette swatches & review

Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet eye palette

Oh hey, so you hear about this Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura dealio? Karl – who has been using Shu eyeshadows to sketch out his collections for years, calling them ‘better than pastels’ to draw with, and who hastens to point out that he’s purchased them all himself – has paired up with Shu Uemura to create a limited edition 16-piece collection just in time for the holidays. He’s even created a sweet little mascot called Mon Shu Girl (a play on mon cher, ‘my love‘) with Karl’s signature black tie and crisp white shirt.

I have a couple of pieces of the collection here to swatch and post about, but I’d thought I’d kick off with one of the premiere items: the Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet Eye Palette. Six eyeshadows inspired by luxury fabrics in three different eyeshadow finishes, all packaged up in a tidy little perspex palette decorated with Karl’s Mon Shu Girl on the front. Her silhouette is also found in the mirror on the inside of the compact, which is a lovely little touch of fun!

Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet eye palette

• Sparkling black
• Medium pearly grey
• Shimmering cool gold
• Shimmering olive
• Mint pastel with light sparkle
• Sheer red matte

The stand-out shadows for me in terms of pigmentation were the silver and the olive green. The shimmer black shadow is buttery soft and if you’ve had trouble working with black shadows before, this shadow is particularly learner friendly. The olive shadow is wonderful as well, and I can see this getting a lot of use in summer for someone with a deeper natural skintone – a sweep of olive across the lashline and swept out in a soft cats eye, finished off with a generous flick of mascara on curled lashes. Divine.

Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet eye palette swatches

The colour selection for the Smoky Velvet collection is… well, it’s a little disjointed. It’s feels like leftover shadows thrown together into a palette, not a unified colour concept. I think it’s the inclusion of the cold mint shade that’s upsetting any colour balance in the palette – it doesn’t work with its logical olive counterpart, and it doesn’t compliment any other of the other eyeshadows. The pale icy gold doesn’t have a balanced partner either, and given that there is a red and an olive shadow in the palette, a warm gold would’ve been a better option.

I do, however, applaud the inclusion of the sheer pinky red eyeshadow. It’s fun, it’s wearable, it’s bold but not overwhelming. Red and burgundy eye colour products are relatively unknown in the Australian marketplace, most likely due to the lack of products available for dark complexions, which is a real shame. Once you know how to wear a touch of red on your eyes – and it’s possible, trust me – you can really step up the intensity of your natural eye colour and your eyeshadow choices without much effort. If I get some time this week I’ll be sure to do a red-based eye of the day post!

I’m not saying this is a bad palette, don’t get me wrong. The colours are individually beautiful and at $14-something an eyeshadow, it’s not a bad buy if you don’t have an olive or a mint or whatever shadow in your make-up collection. It’s just that as an overall colour concept, it misses its mark.

That being said, the twin palette to this one – Prestigious Bordeaux, a mix of warm gold, bronze, and purples – works beautifully as a colour concept and as a collection of individual shadows. If the cash fairy smiles upon me soon, I’ll go out and buy it!

Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet eye palette

The entire Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura collection will be out tomorrow – Thursday November 25th – at Australian Shu Uemura counters.

Who: Shu Uemura
What: Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet eye palette
How Much: AU$88
When: available from November 25th, limited edition
Where: Shu Uemura counters at selected David Jones stores

This item was a kind gift from Shu Uemura.