Comparison Swatches - Grays, Silvers, and Blacks

I never realized how many beige/brown eyeshadows I have until I started doing these comparison swatches. Compared to the five pictures I took for the browns, there are only two pictures for the grays/blacks. Of course, I included the taupes with the browns so that made a difference, but even then, I still have twice as many brown shadows as blacks.

Here are the highlighting/base shades:


Most of the colors except for the L'Oreal HiP shade look very similar. In fact, most of them are the same except for the texture. Shiseido Whitelights and Coffret D'or's color D are more sparkly, MJ's color A is more shimmery, and Coffret D'or's color A and L'Oreal's color 1 are more pearl/satin. The only shade that has a slightly different color is Kate BR-1 color A, which is slightly more beige and pink. So even though this color looked white when swatched with the real beiges (see swatch post for beiges, golds, and browns), it still belongs to the beige family.

Here are the shading or liner colors:


I remarked in the review for L'Oreal Sterling color 2 that this color is slightly blue-toned, which is why it's hard for me to pull it off. Here, you can see how it looks bluish when compared to the other grays.

For reference, all pictures were taken under natural light. The Shiseido swatch is for a hydro-powder cream shadow shade. The Coffret D'or swatches are from a Trance Deep Eyes palette. The Kate swatches are all from Deep Trap Eyes quints, the Lavshuca swatch is from a Eye Color Select quad, and the MJ swatch is from a Trick On Majolook. The L'Oreal swatches are from a Wear Infinite Duo and the L'Oreal HiP swatches are from a Metallic Shadow Duo.

Comparison Swatches - Beiges, Golds, and Browns

To honor my collection of makeup, I decided to do some comparison swatches. However, since just swatching the brown-ish neutrals took some time, I also decided that I should stop for now and finish the rest some other time =P

Let's start with the bases and the highlighters:


You can see how the L'Oreal single eyeshadow becomes really dull when placed next to the shimmery Japanese eyeshadows =P Even though Kate BR-1's color E looks rather taupey in the photo, it actually pink-ish in real life when swatched next to these colors. If there is any confusion as to which product each label refers to, please read the paragraph at the end of the post for an explanation of the labels.

Here is the swatch of the taupey shades:


This is the swatch of the warmer brown shading colors:


And finally, the liner color swatch:


It's amazing what difference it makes to do a comparison swatch versus just one for each palette. I could've sworn when I swatched color D of Kate's BR-1 with the rest of BR-1's colors that it was straight up brown. But here, it almost looks like black with a hint of maroon. Also, although color C of MJ's BR742 looks almost gray-ish in the swatch, it is definitely just a very cool-toned brown. Color 2 of L'Oreal HiP's Gilded is the only color here that has a straight up black base. In addition, in terms of the texture of the shadows, Kate's liner color was the one that swatched the smoothest and appeared darkest upon first swipe, a nod to its very high pigmentation. L'Oreal HiP's Gilded refused to be cooperative here and was very gritty when swatched, which is why it looks so uneven.

For reference, all of the pictures were taken under natural light. All of the Kate swatches are from Deep Trap Eyes quints, all of the Lavshuca swatches are from Eye Color Select quads, and all of the MJ Majolook swatches are from Trick On Majolooks. Those MJ swatches labeled as "single" are from the Shadow Customize singles (Note: 16 is discontinued). The Shu Uemura swatches are from the LE Holiday 2008 Secret Luscious Rose palette (I wrote Mika Rose since it's the Rose palette from the Ninagawa Mika collection). The shades are numbered from the left (i.e., the first shade from the left is Color 1, and so on). The Dior swatch is from a 5-Couleur Iridescent quint. The Shiseido swatch is of one of the Hydro-Powder Eyeshadows, and it is also the ONLY cream eyeshadow in the swatches. The L'Oreal HiP swatches are of Metallic Shadow Duos, and I've named the lighter color as 1 and the darker color as 2.

EOTD - Kate Deep Trap Eyes BR-1

Kate Deep Trap Eyes BR-1

(A) White line
(B) Reddish brown line
(C) Brown line
(D) Black line
(E) Yellow line

1) Use D to line the upper lashline
2) Apply C in the bottom half of the crease, smudging out D a little
3) Apply B in the crease above C, overlapping slightly with C
4) Apply A on the top lid above the crease and on the browbone, overlapping slightly with B
5) Pat E gently on to the center of the top lid
6) Apply E in the inner corner of the lower lashline
7) Apply A slightly below E on the lower lashline, extending to cover the inner 1/3 of the lower lashline
8) Apply D to the outer corner of the lower lashline
9) Apply C slightly below D on the lower lashline, extending to cover the outer 2/3 of the lower lashline
10) Fill in the triangle at the outer corner of the lower lashline with B
11) Curl lashes

This is a very simple gradated neutral look. Very office appropriate, but this palette can also be easily upgraded to a smoky eye look for the night with some black liner and more shimmer. As usual, all pictures were taken under sunlight.

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Please read the review here.

Kate Deep Trap Eyes BR-1

Originally I was thinking of buying a Glam Trick quint for my second Kate purchase, but since the texture of the Glam Trick line is more glittery and party appropriate, it is not something that I need right now. I decided to buy another color of Kate's Deep Trap Eyes due to my great experience with GY-1 and the more understated satin texture of this line that is versatile and works well for the office. Because GY-1 is a cool-toned neutral palette, I decided to get a warm-toned palette for contrast. Here is my new Kate (right) with my old Kate...


The texture and lasting power of BR-1 is the same as GY-1, which I've already written a review on, so I won't discuss that here. Please refer back to my other review to read about those characteristics if interested (link at the end of the post).


The colors in this quint are an off-white (A), a warm medium brown (B), a neutral medium brown (C), a dark brown (D), and a silvery taupe (E). All of the colors are shimmery, the most shimmery being E, followed by A, then B and C, and finally D (basically in the order the colors were swatched). The finished look of this palette is very natural but pulled-together. If I have to describe my small collection of BR palettes with one word each, Kate would be natural, MJ BR751 would be lively, and MJ BR742 would be mischievous. So although this purchase brings my collection of Japanese BR palettes to three, the color combinations of these brown palettes are all different and there is little to no overlap in the individual colors, either.


All of the photos in this post were taken under natural light.

In short: A basic neutral quad with no surprises, pleasant or unpleasant.

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Please click here to read the review on Kate Deep Trap Eyes GY-1.

All That Shimmer

I had some time today so I took flash pictures of my palette collection to show you the shimmery-ness of these babies. As such, this will predominantly be a picture post with very little text. Please refer back to my reviews to read more about each of these palettes.

MJ Trick On Majolooks BR742 + BR751



Kate Deep Trap Eyes GY-1



Lavshuca Eye Color Select PK-1 + BU-1 + PU-2



Coffret D'or Trance Deep Eyes 04 Grey Variation



Shu Uemura Winter 2008 LE Palette (Ninagawa Mika Collection) Secret Luscious Rose

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As a preview, here are some flash pictures of my small birthday haul...

Kate Deep Trap Eyes BR-1



Maquillage Eyes Creator (3D) VI367



Can't wait to try these!

EOTDs - MJ Majolook BR751 & Kate Deep Trap Eyes GY-1

I did two eye looks today with the MJ Trick On BR Majolook on one eye and the Kate Deep Trap Eyes GY palette on the other eye. I've included schematics with the product pictures to help you visualize what I applied and where, but note that the sometimes the lines I drew aren't completely accurate. Please refer to the directions I wrote out to get the most accurate description of where each color was applied. For reference, all of the pictures were taken under natural light.

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MJ Trick On Majolook in BR751

(A) Gold line
(B) Gray line
(C) Brown line
(D) Pink line

1) Apply B in the crease
2) Use C to line the upper lashline, extending a little beyond the lashline and flicking up slightly
3) Use any remaining powder of C on the liner brush to line the outer 1/4 of the lower lashline
4) Apply D all over the inner 1/2 of the crease, and blending out slightly above the crease
5) Apply D to the inner 1/2 of the lower lashline
6) Apply B to the outer 1/2 of the lower lashline slightly below where the line was drawn with C and overlapping slightly with D
7) Apply A to the brow bone and the area above the crease
9) Curl lashes

The effect is an understated, warm neutral look. I only used the MJ palette and curled my lashes using the Shiseido eyelash curler in this look to give you an idea of the effect of the palette alone. Normally, I would line my eyes with Urban Decay 24/7 in Bourbon and pat D over the liner to bring out the color in D since it's not very pigmented.

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Kate Deep Trap Eyes in GY-1

(A) Gold line
(B) Brown line
(C) Gray line
(D) Black line
(E) Peach line

1) Draw a line above the top lashline with D
2) Apply C in the lower half of the crease, smudging the line drawn with D
3) Apply B in the top half of the crease, overlapping slightly with C
4) Apply A in the lid area above the crease including the brow bone, overlapping slightly with B
5) Pat E on lightly over the center of the eye in the crease
6) Use C to line the outer half of the lower lashline, starting from the outer corner of the eye
7) Use A to line the inner 2/3 of the lower lashline, overlapping slightly with C
8) Curl lashes

You can see that this look is more pigmented and dramatic than the MJ look, but still light enough for work or just going out during the day. As with the MJ look above, I only used the Kate palette and curled my lashes. Normally, though, I would tightline with my L'Oreal Lineur Intense brown eyeliner to complete the look.

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Please click here to read my review on this MJ quad.
Please click here to read my review on this Kate quad.

Kate: Rocking Attitude

Kanebo's Kate is kind of an oddball in Japanese makeup lines since it goes for a more bad girl look, as opposed to the usual elegant or girly image that most other Japanese lines endorse. As far as I know, there is only one other Japanese line that also goes for a similar look, which is Kose's Visee. In this entry, I am going to share with you the only Kate eyeshadow quint have I have, Deep Trap Eyes in GY-1 (the packaging on the front says Deep Eyes, but the name is actually Deep Trap Eyes).


Unlike Lavshuca's packaging, Kate's palette is simple and black. Though some say that it looks cheap, I actually think it's still well-designed despite the simplicity. All of the colors in this quint are shimmery, and both the powder and the shimmer of the shadows are very fine. The one downside of this palette is that it still creases on me at the end of the day even with the help of UDPP. The applicator included is double-ended, like the Lavshuca applicators, and have a wider end for shadow application and a thinner end for lining.


As this is a quint, this palette contains five eyeshadows. Although the name is GY-1 (for gray), the palette is an interesting mix of neutral browns and grays. As labeled in the swatch below, A is a pale champagne gold, B is a medium to light neutral brown, C is a dark pewter gray, D is a black, and E is a golden brown. As I've mentioned before, all of the colors are shimmery, but E is more shimmery than the others (but NOT sparkly, E is not like the sparkle shade in the Lavshuca quads). Sorry if the "numbering" seems a bit erratic, but I numbered them in the order of how you're supposed to apply the colors.


Using the four lighter colors of GY-1, I can create an office-appropriate day look, or with all five colors, I can create a more dramatic smoky eye. The name "Deep Trap Eyes" really does describe the effect of the quint, even if it is not completely grammatical. I've posted a diagram of the suggested way of applying the eyeshadows for reference.


Considering how much I like this palette, I am tempted to try some other Kate palettes to see if I like them as much. I'm not as interested in the other colors available for the Deep Trap line though, so I might get myself a Glam Trick Eyes quint...

All photos in this entry were taken in natural light.

In short: A very versatile palette for the office or a party. It's hard to go wrong with the colors, and the quint itself is very easy to use. The quality of the shadows are also excellent though you may have problems with creasing if you're a oily lid girl like me.

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Please click here to see this Kate quad used in an EOTD.