Visee Glossy Rich Eyes in PU-4

I normally keep the (lengthy) palette reviews for the weekend but here is a mid-week special since it's the last day of the month...I have been going crazy with the palettes lately so I am trying to play them through (catching up the rate of buying).

 

Visee Glossy Rich Eyes (released in fall 2013) is probably the most popular Japanese drugstore eyeshadow releases of recent years, consider it's always out of stock in AdamBeauty (maybe Adam just never restocks). Anyway, when I saw the line popping up again, I went ahead and bought two Glossy Riche Eyes. 

The shadow comes with intricate lace details both on the compact and in the pans, since the powder has a somewhat creamy consistency, the pattern does wear off within a few uses. The burgundy-red Pk-3 is the best selling shade in the range, I skipped it because I don't normally wear deep and warm colors on the eyes. Instead, I picked PU-4, a shade that I liked right away (because purple and taupe!).

One swipe finger swatch of Pu4 and the color break down.

1. Pearly white base - this is a condensed creamy powder(or powdery cream) that goes on smoothly and almost leaves a bit of cooling sensation. The shimmer isn't obnoxious and it actually helps the powder to stay on.

2. Clear (but not sheer) light silvery taupe - This is clearly my favorite color in the palette. A great example of boring neutral with a twist. It's great lid shade with complex shimmers and it manages to both brighten and define.

3. Medium dark brown liner - It looks sparkly on the top most layer but it's more of a satin matte on the eyes. This shades leans cool (but not obviously taupe) and has the perfect intensity to define without turning smokey.

 
Look at the sparkly pans!

The star of the palette is the purple (swatched with Maybelline Color Tattoo and that same Prestige Eyeshadow again). This medium (in intensity) cool-leaning purple (that's neither a soft lavender or periwinkle) is not oftenly seen from Japanese brands, its potential for greatness got thwarted by the texture color.

 Complex shimmers (in the pan) and pretty arm swatch(on damp skin) aside, this is very sheer when I put it on with brush (and the random pieces of sparkle would just show up here and there). Opacity can be achieved when I pack on with the sponge(which is very coarse and a pain to use) but it just turns into a powdery matte purple that looks dated and muddy against the taupe background.

So far, I found that the only way to wear the purple is to use it as a accent, dusted lightly on the lid. That way I get a refreshing (and work friendly) light purple-dove neutral eyes.

It's not something I expeted but I do like the outcome. This is a pretty wearable palette for the price(14 bucks) and while I don't love it, I like the taupe/brown enough and will get some uses out of it thanks to them.

Verdict: A purple palette worth skipping (a taupe palette worth a look).