RMK Dusty Bright Colours 03 Grayish Brown

Occasionally a product or collection will come out that just seems made for me -- something that speaks directly to the colours, textures or 'feel' that I'm craving just at that moment. This autumn, I was arrested by the visuals for RMK -- greyed greens? 'Dusty Bright Colours'? Cream eyeshadows paired with glitters? Pretty and clever packaging? Model with wayward hair? SIGN ME UP.

I ran to my local counter on the day of release ...and came home with nothing. While impressed with the textures, shades and lasting power, I was shocked by the tiny size of the pot and the £35 pricetag. Falling in love with them again a few months later in Hong Kong, I succumbed to 03 Grayish Brown -- for once a company doesn't jump at the chance to use the word 'taupe'  -- at the slightly more reasonable price of HK$360 and $100 worth of restaurant vouchers (seriously, London shops, you need to get on that.)

For which you also get a clever-as retractable two-sided brush with the same size and quality brush-heads as the full sized RMK cream and powder eyeshadow brush (retailing at 2730yen/£23). The cream side is goat+synthetic, the powder side is pony hair. If you like RMK brushes, these eyeshadow duos are actually a great deal.

 

natural light

Cool gunmetal-navy cream shadow with silver shimmer paired with a warm bronze glitter. The cream is pigmented enough to use as a liner, and the glitter has enough heft and pigment to work as a shadow on its own without a base. The two layered together produce the shade I fell in love with.

Swatches: one solid swipe of the cream, cream blended out (bottom half layered with the glitter), two layers of the glitter on its own.

natural light

artificial light with flash

PRETTY cool-warm complex taupe, amirite? The cream packs serious pigment has enough siliconey slip to be blendable, but once it sets, it is seriously waterproof and smudgeproof. The glitter is my favourite kind -- finely milled and solidly packed to catch the light at many angles.

Applied: just a wash of the two shades layered all over the lid and lower lashline, and then more of the cream to line (yes, they work layered cream-over-powder too), MajoMajo mascara.

freshly applied, natural light

after 14 hours of wear, artificial light

Context, natural light

Other products:
Shu Uemura Face Architect Smooth Fit Foundation 784 (too yellow and drying for me D:)
Chantecaille Total concealer Alabaster
KATE eyebrow powder EX-5
Illamasqua Lover blush
Lancome Stylista matte lipstick

The fly in the ointment: I am extremely picky about my brushes and do not care for RMK ones in general (even though they are made by Chikuhodo who also make my favourite Suqqu brushes); neither shape of this cream/powder brush duo works for me and I do not like to use either goat or pony hair around my eyes (too coarse).
I prefer using a dense multipurpose tapered brush like Suqqu S or a synthetic eyeliner/lip brush (like Shu kolinsky 7HR) for the cream, and something like the Shu natural 10 (or Suqqu M) for the powder. If they sold the eyeshadow pots separately, I would definitely pick up 02 Greyish Green and 05 Deep Red (actually a pretty pink-based taupe) too. As it is, I will hope and pray for a sale at some point. All six shades are permanent.

Ingredients (translation currently in progress, as Chemistry is a highly foreign language to me):

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