The products: shu uemura Brave Beauty Pink, Green, and Orange Pressed Eyeshadow Palettes

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and what better a time than turkey day to talk about shades of orange? (And, you know, also green and purple.)

I may not be crazy about yellows and oranges on a day-to-day basis, but even I was pulled toward the Orange Brave Beauty palette, and that’s where we start off today. My favourite thing about the Brave Beauty collection is that the eye palettes are so perfectly composed; coherent, but not at all dupeable, and the Orange palette is no exception to this rule.

Fall colours, all grown up

shu uemura brave beauty – orange palette review

All of the eyeshadows in the Brave Beauty Eye Palette Orange ($90 CAD) are cohesively warm and a little bit red, but I found that the formulas were quite varied. While the matte orange is beautifully smooth, layerable, and intense, not all of the shimmery shades are formulated as well — and at $90, you really shouldn’t have any letdowns. (The darker beige is chunky and a little dry, and the salmon pink applies very sheerly).

The rest of the shimmery shades, however, have a smooth texture with intense colour payoff, and each has a slightly different frost finish — the light beige is particularly metallic. I found that the dark brown applies a shade more bronze than you’d expect, and the purple-red appears as a cranberry-red with almost no purple tones on the skin.

shu uemura brave beauty – orange palette swatches

Forest-free greens and golds

For those looking for a unique palette that isn’t quite so bold, Shu’s Brave Beauty Eye Palette Green ($90 CAD) is the one you want to be looking toward. Described as “a tribe of forest inspired hues,” this is anything but your typical forest palette.

For starters, there’s only one brown eyeshadow in here, and it’s more of a deep yellow gold, not a… tree-moss brown. But beyond that, there’s a pearly light gold with subtle green undertones, a glowing pale green, and an unexpected lime-chartreuse that’s so unique that even I can’t help but stare. The final dark green shadow in the palette looks like a less-glowy MAC Humid, but does its job of adding depth despite its more boring characteristics.

shu uemura brave beauty – green palette swatches

What really takes the Green palette to the next level, however, is that amazing matte green. I don’t even know how to describe it — it’s too saturated and bright to just be called “teal,” but it’s not really blue and not really green, either.

Check out the Brave Beauty Eye Palette Green in this { green-and-gold makeup look } !

I think a proper forest palette would look a little bit like… this. (This is not a real palette.)

shu uemura brave beauty – green palette. (This one is real.)

A hint of pink, paired with purple

Finally, the pink-purple Pink palette was… actually my least favourite of the bunch, which is strange because I [used to?] love purple like I might someday love my firstborn. The Brave Beauty Eye Palette Pink ($90 CAD) contains a slew of purples and pinky-puroples along with an intense, matte fuchsia, but the effect fell somewhat flat for me.

I think, if this had been named the Purple palette, I would have liked it more — because when I think pink, I now think of Shu’s beautiful Pink Hues Prêt-à-Palette, which this is decidedly not.

shu uemura brave beauty – pink palette review

Instead, this palette contains the aforementioned intense matte pink (pretty, but dupeable) along with a burgundy-red (lighter and redder than most burgundies), a mauve that actually reads as a dirty pink followed by a light lilac that actually reads as a pinky pearl, and two “proper purples”: a glowing pinky-purple and a deep, shimmering eggplant shade.

I feel like the subtle ombre in this palette lends it easily to a watercolour effect (to borrow a term from Syl), but I just… didn’t see anything special in them, you know? The other two palettes set the bar so high that this one looks like a pageant queen in comparison; beautiful and pleasing but a little shallow, and blushing red tones like you can’t imagine.

shu uemura brave beauty – pink palette swatches

The verdict?

I’m not crazy about the ever-increasing prices of Shu Uemura palettes, but I have to admit: these palettes are not only beautifully packaged, but their colour palettes are really, really well done. 

I think that the purple-pink pink palette is the least unique of this bunch, and at $90 CAD, I’d skip it — even though the shadows are good. The orange palette is probably the most unique, but has two sub-par shades, so I’d maybe buy it at $65 USD (the orange is really great), but not at $90 CAD.

Finally, I think the green palette is the best of this bunch, and definitely worth looking at if you love greens… or if you’re still learning to love them, like I am. The golden tones are a beautiful way to add balance, and the matte shade is freaking divine — I literally don’t own anything else that’s even remotely like it, and that alone helps to justify the price tag.

Availability: $65 USD/$90 CAD at shuuemura.ca and select Holt Renfrew & Sephora boutiques across Canada. Limited edition.

Brave Beauty eyeshadow palette packaging

shu uemura brave beauty – orange eyeshadow palette

shu uemura brave beauty – green eyeshadow palette

shu uemura brave beauty – pink eyeshadow palette

Why make an imaginary forest palette when you could be making an imaginary FOREST FAIRY PALETTE?