Sparkled Beauty

Asian makeup has been creating quite an interest in North America, as I witness through beauty blogs. Can't say I have experienced it much, until KKcenterHK offered to send me this CUICU Soft & Shiny Eyeshadow to review.

The eyeshadow is coded as #C3108-06, formulated in Korea, retails for $6.30 (11.5gr). It comes in a black paper packaging with cutout window to show the colours inside through the clear plastic window on the palette. The plastic case is sturdy, doesn't make the palette look cheap, which is a plus. I actually really like the design of the lids. Most Asian makeup has fancier packaging than in North America, I think you figured that out already :)

Here is the palette opened. The lid includes a small mirror at the top and clear plastic to line up with the eyeshadow pans. This way, even when the lid is closed, you can still see the colours inside.

There are 2 sponge-tipped applicators included, which I don't use, but they are handy for touch-ups or while travelling.

Close up on the colours, under flash.

In the top right is a shimmery white, an awesome inner corner colour. It might look glittery with the flash, but it was just an overspray. The glitters didn't show up much on the lids overall.

On the right is a baby pink. Pigmentation was not very noticeable with this shade, as you will find in the swatches below.

At the bottom is a lilac, which at first glance looks quite close to the baby pink shade. It does have better colour payoff though.

The last 2 shades look quite different in the pans because of the overspray - gold for the one on the right and silver for the one in the middle.

When the overspray was swiped away, the base colours are very close to each other, a purple-ish charcoal, very pretty on the crease or near the lash lines.

All in all, don't let the glitters scare you away, as they aren't scattered in the eyeshadows. The bright shades might look frosty at times, so pairing or using them as base colours would be a good idea.

Here are the swatches with flash, with the colours in the same positions as they are in the palette.

As you can see, the baby pink shows up as a frosty pale pink, and one dark shade is just about half a shade darker than the other.

I do like this dark colour a lot, so I don't mind the two shades are close to each other. However, I still wish there were enough differences between them to get more use out of the palette. Maybe a navy blue or dark purple would be nice.

See, in natural light, you can hardly see any shimmer in the eyeshadows. The white looks almost matte even. Still can't deny the frost on the baby pink though.

These swatches were done on bare skin, no base, about 2 swipes each. Using a damp brush, I didn't experience any fallout with all colours. The baby pink shade is a bit more powdery than the rest.

Pigmentation wise, the dark colours certainly perform better than the light ones. Blending was easy for all shades.

My quick FOTD with this palette, using 4 out 5 shades, as a result of the similarity between the 2 darker shades. The white colour (after the overspray) is good for brow bones and inner corners, my next favorite after the dark ones. Pink and purple go well together, so it didn't take much planning for this look :)

Wear wise, at the end of the day, I saw some fading of the baby pink and lilac in the inner half of my lids where my lids fold. The dark shades stay in tact all along, no creasing.

Keep in mind that we haven't had many scorching summer days around here lately, so the wear test wasn't ideal as I wanted it to be.

Last shot on the eye makeup, if you want to see it closer.

All in all, I enjoy wearing the eyeshadows but wish there were more colour options within the palette so I can create more looks. And maybe a matte shade among the 5 would be fun to have too.