Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Preview with Uchiide Kakuyasu

Shu Uemura Global Creative Director Uchiide Kakuyasu conducted a series of Learning Atelier sessions at Selfridges earlier today with an exclusive preview of the forthcoming Karl Lagerfeld collection. Uchiide has been with the brand for more than 20 years, working for many years alongside Shu Uemura himself.

Speaking in English, Uchiide explained that the collaboration with Lagerfeld was a long-time dream of his which finally came true a year ago, when he visited Paris to discuss the collection with the latter. Lagerfeld is a longtime customer of their Paris boutique as he uses Shu Uemura eyeshadows for his fashion illustrations. Describing the collection as "the master of fashion meets the master of beauty", Uchiide said that the inspiration for the shades came from Lagerfeld's archives and represented a mix of classical tones with modernity.

Uchiide demonstrated two looks using the Smoky Bordeaux palette. For the first look, he applied the purple Painting Liner with a 5F brush along the upper and lower lashlines, smudging it out with his fingertip. He highlighted that the 5F brush is good for definition while the 5R brush was good for blending and lining.

Next, he used brush #10 to apply the dark purple shade from the outer corner of the upper eyelid towards the inner corner, and then blended the brown shade on top with the #12 brush. He used brush #14 to gently sweep the light purple shade in a windshield wiper motion over the middle of the eyelid and in the crease and along the lower lashline, before finishing by applying the glittery brown shade along the lower lashline.

He explained that the two palettes are designed to be easy for anyone to use without the need for any complicated techniques. Although Shu Uemura is a makeup artist brand, their philosophy is "beautiful makeup starts with beautiful skin" and that makeup should be used to enhance one's individuality and beauty, instead of covering up flaws. Hence, the brand places great emphasis on taking good care of one's skin, with its signature products like their iconic cleansing oils and their new Tsuya Essence, which helps to boost the inner glow and elasticity of skin. With good skin, there is less need for foundation.

Here's a closer look at the Smoky Bordeaux palette, which consists of 5 powder eyeshadows and one powder blush. It is designed in Japan and made in Korea. I asked Uchiide about the reason for the shift from producing their eyeshadows in Japan to Korea. He replied that as a global company, they choose the production location based on the best quality and that this was not to save costs. In formulating their eyeshadows, they look for three elements: color definition, texture and the "fit"/adherence on skin to ensure that there is no fallout.

To be honest, I wasn't wowed by the collection initially after seeing pics of it online. However, this changed completely after swatching the two palettes. The eyeshadows have a incredibly refined silky texture and good payoff, without any powdery kickup or gritty glitter bits flying all over the place. The blush pan is a tad small but the true highlight of these palettes are the eyeshadows.

The dark purple shade with micro pink shimmer in particular is a beauty.

Here are some quick swatches without any primer.

Uchiide did a more subtle, gradational look on the model's left eye by applying the dark brown shade over the upper lid, blending the rosy brown shade on top and the glittery brown shade along the lower lashline.

On the lips, he used a red lipstick.

The collection includes four lipsticks, of which two are more dramatic shades and two are more natural.

He finished by applying the mini lashes.

There is also a set of Premium Eyelashes.

The iconic eyelash curler comes with a Mon Shu Girl charm. It also features a red rubber pad.

Smoky Velvet is the more "masculine" and cool-toned of the two palettes.

The goodie bag prepared for the participants was extraordinarily generous. It included a Depsea Hydrability Intense Moisture Filling Mask, Ultimate Natural Mascara, Stage Performer Signs-off Instant Replenishing Line Smoother, Cleansing Oil Premium A/O Advanced, and a sample of the new Tsuya Essence.

And to top it all off, our very own Mon Shu Girl pin! There was a £30 registration fee for the class, which was fully redeemable so I picked up one of the new Chocolate palettes for fall. We were also able to pre-order the Karl Lagerfeld collection, but the registration fee could not be used to pay for that.

Below are more photos from the event. The collection will be launched around mid-October in Selfridges, which will have it exclusively for two weeks ahead of the other counters in the UK.

Hope you've enjoyed this preview of the collection!