Tuesday, 18 December 2007

Review: Awake Star Illusion Eyes EX1 & Aube Impression Eyes #52

I tried out Awake Star Illusion Eyes EX1 Moon Dust Blue and Aube Impression Eyes #52 (Green) over the past two days. Overall, I would give both 4 stars out of 5 but I wouldn't rate them as must-haves or the most brilliant purchase that I've made this year.

Awake Star Illusion Eyes EX1 Moon Dust Blue (right in the pics below) has a periwinkle shade that looks lovely in the pan but the blue tone hardly shows up when applied. In the end, the finished look was more of a silvery metallic grey rather than a play of blue and grey tones that I had expected. If you are looking for a true blue-themed quad, I would recommend Reflectance Eyes E3 Always Blue (left in the pics) instead which features a gorgeous selection of sky blue and lavender shades. Having said that, EX1 Moon Dust Blue is still lovely on its own, if less colourful than one would expect. The quality and texture of the eyeshadows is still top-notch, very silky with good colour payoff that can be layered for the desired intensity. The pearl shimmer is very fine without any chunky glitter.


Here's a pic of my whole Awake eyeshadow palette collection and a close-up of Reflectance Eyes E4 Mint Frost (limited edition) and E5 Mauve Mirage.


Aube Impression Eyes #52 (Green) is a good basic olive green palette. The cream base feels less emollient than the cream base in the Jewellery Shower Eyes quads but it is just as easy to apply. However, it is less sparkley than the base in the Jewellery Shower Eyes quads. The powder eyeshadows have the same soft texture as the Jewellery Shower Eyes. The color payoff is sheer at first but can be layered for greater intensity. The lightest green shade is very pretty and the spring green tone shows up beautifully when applied.

If you're looking for intense shimmer like wet crushed diamonds, I would recommend checking out Visee's Jewel Crush Eyes or Jill Stuart's Brilliance Eyes quads rather than the Impression Eyes which are more understated and subtle. I didn't find the colours in Impression Eyes #52 (Green) that unique or outstanding as they remind me of Testimo's Fresh Clear Eyes #3 Green and Aube's own Jewellery Shower Eyes EX01. The liner shade contains a "Black Pearl" powder that is supposed to help create a more dramatic, pigmented finish but when applied, I really couldn't tell any difference from the liner shades in the Jewellery Shower Eyes quads. Overall, I don't *love* it like I love the Awake Star Illusion Eyes EX3 Rosa Nova but I don't hate it either.

6 comments:

Kathi said...

Great and very helpful review! I can be sure now that I don't need the new Aube quad =D

Anonymous said...

hi, do you happen to noe of any links for the new aube palettes swatches?

Haru said...

I'm afraid I haven't seen any.

Melissa said...

Thanks for reviewing these, especially the Aube palette which has been on my lemmings list for a while now. Looking forward to trying it for myself now! :)

Anonymous said...

Hm posting this comment a bit late but do you know if Aube is available in Taiwan? Usually Japanese brands are first spread to Taiwan (I'll be headed there soon). Would be so helpful if you knew!

Haru said...

Sorry, I'm afraid I don't know if it's available in Taiwan.