Shu Uemura Christmas: Bowwow Magic Queen Palette!

TAUPE ALERT! TAUPE ALERT! Now that I've sounded the alarm, you so know what this post is going to be about. This post was supposed to be about Shu Uemura's Christmas collection with Aya Tanako, but there was this pretty taupe shade in the collection that hijacked my attention. And you know I love taupes in all forms.

Shu Uemura, being one of those brands with an artistic leaning (you know, sticking stickers over your face, spray painting your lashes pink), tends to get the crazies every Christmas. I don't know about you, but the last time I took a look at their Christmas collection, it was a glittery letdown. This year's collection is similar in that it's glittery, but fortunately it's not made of sheer crap. And - and this is important to me - THERE'S A GORGEOUS TAUPE IN THERE!

So where's the taupe, you ask? It's hidden inconspicuously in one of their palettes, the very oddly-named Bowwow! Magic Queen Palette (and yes, the exclamation mark is part of the product name). The palette itself, as with previous Shu Uemura Christmas offerings, consists of 3 powder eyeshadows, 1 powder blusher, 1 cream eyeshadow/eyeliner, and 1 cream highlighter.



L-R: 3 Powder eyeshadows, 1 Powder blush, 1 Cream Eyeshadow/Eyeliner

The cream highlighter was swatched, but for some reason my camera cut it off in the photo. Oops. But it's okay right, because all we're looking at right now is that taupe.

The three powder eyeshadows consist of a mustardy yellow-gold, a gorgeous brownish-taupe (Taupe! Taupe! Taupe!), and a warm brown with a hint of bronze. All are shimmery, and the colours all lean warm - except that gorgeously neutral taupe. I really like the taupe in the palette. It's a brown-leaning taupe, so for warmer-toned and olive girls who find a lot of taupes tend to pull excessively grey or purple on them, this one is ideal. I guess it's what I would call a warm taupe - and warm taupes are quite unusual, because the bulk of them tend to lean more grey or purple. And it's very smooth and well-pigmented, too, as is the case with Shu Uemura's eyeshadows in general.

The powder blush is a neutral pink with sparkle. I don't know why Shu Uemura put this in a "warm" palette, because it seems to lean a little more cool to me.

The cream eyeshadow/eyeliner looks black in the pan, but if used sheerly actually applies as a forest green. You can build it up to produce the blackened-green colour seen in the pan, though. This one has no shimmer or glitter. I feel like it would be very interesting as a base under the eyeshadows.

The cream highlighter (which you can't see in the photo because that my camera cut it off) is a rather sheer gold highlighter with glitter. You'll need to build this one up for it to show up on your skin.

Although the Bowwow! Magic Queen Palette is billed as a "warm" palette (as opposed to the cooler-toned Reindeer Kiss XXXX Palette - seriously, what is it with Asian product names, LOL), it isn't that warm. The blush is quite universal, as is that taupe I've been gushing about. So it's warm-toned, but perhaps not excessively. I'm so tempted to find out if the taupe in the palette is a dupe for any other colour in their permanent range, because I really want it now!