Shu Uemura Fantasia Eye Palette

Earlier this year, I received a belated Xmas gift from a friend that is currently working over in Japan. She sent me the Fantasia eye palette from Shu Uemura's Spring Mode Collection, an item that was a top pick of mine from that collection and made one of my earlier Most Wanted Lists. Just imagine my happiness when I unwrapped the UPS packaging and found this little gem inside.

On the Shu Uemura website, I found two separate looks that showed how to use this palette. My favorite of the two looks is the "Fantasia by Justin Hoffman". Here is the description of how this works, "This look is inspired by luxury. The pink and lavender shadows are contrasted by deep liner and rich, velvety brown lip."

Here is how to get this look.

- Apply the lavender shade of the Fantasia kit in a half moon shape on the upper eyelid using brush 11.

- Use the grey in the corner to give depth (if desired).

- Apply the pink shade in the center of the lid. Use a Kolinsky Hair brush 12s so that it has enough pop in the center of the lid.

- Line the upper and lower lashlines with the ME blue drawing pencil.

- Connect them and extend out.

- Finish the eye with basic black mascara.

I do two things that differ from these instructions. First of all, I use two different NARS brushes to get the effect since I don't own any of the Shu Uemura eye shadow brushes. I my regular NARS shadow brush for the lavender and grey shades and then use the Smudge Brush to apply the pink. The Smudge brush's bristles are more compact and are stiff enough to make the needed "pop" of color for the pink shade. I don't use the blue eye liner in this look. I did it two different ways. One - I did the whole look without the liner for a softer look. Two - I used and slate grey shade and a wet liner brush to get the liner step right. Both looks are really pretty.

To finish this look off, I prefer to use a nude lip shade (currently Way to Love from MAC is the preferred shade) because it works better than the suggested brown shade for my skintone.

photo courtesy of Shu Uemura