My Precious Esprique

In the past, I’ve never really looked at Kosé’s cosmetics although I have picked up some of their skincare before. However, a few months ago when they had a promotion at MidValley’s Centre Court, I came across their new Esprique Blend Dimensional Eyes and was blown away by the colours and textures.

At the time of the promotion, only the Blend Dimensional Eyes (Shiny) were available of which there are 5 palettes. Later on, Blend Dimensional Eyes (Deep) became available. What’s the difference? Well, I had to figure that out for myself so I got a palette each (Shiny & Deep).

The Shiny palettes have a pale highlight shade on the left next to 3 gradational colours on the right whereas the Deep palettes have the 3 gradational shades on the left of the palette next to a dark shade on the right to be used as an eyeliner. Shiny palettes are A-1 to A-5 while Deep palettes are B1-B5. There is no difference in terms of texture which is superb, in my opinion.

These are the Shiny palettes:-

Shiny palette A-4 and its swatches:-

The eyeshadows are very fine and buttery soft without being powdery or causing fall-outs. The neutral shades range from champagne to mahogany browns. As with most Japanese eyeshadows, they go on rather sheer and I don’t think they are that buildable because I applied a few layers and it still looks pretty much the same. Some shades can look rather washed out on darker skins. The Deep neutral palette I got doesn’t even show up that much on my skin but I like it as it has a lovely blue eyeliner shade.

While there are 4 shades in each palette, you can actually get 5 shades, the 5th shade being a combination of the 3 shades from top to bottom. There isn’t much muddiness of the shades when I do that so it’s one of those palettes where you can get an extra shade by combining the 3 primary shades.

The 1st of my 2 palettes is A-5 Shiny:-

Another green gradational palette for me, how predictable that I’d choose this one but I was impressed with the quality of the shadows. Although they have plenty of shine, they aren’t over-the-top and there is a certain subtleness and softness to the colours.

The lightest or base colour in this palette can be used all over the eyelids. The colours are long-lasting and blend easily. They give eyelids an elegant luminescence, the quality of the shadows is on par with more expensive brands.

This is the B-5 Deep palette which I picked up on a whim but it must be one of their best-selling palettes if the beauty advisor is to be believed as she informed me that it was the last B-5 palette at her counter.

I do like the black casing as they aren’t fingerprint magnets and they have enough sponge applicators in the palettes for application and blending. A brush would have been nice as I felt there was one sponge applicator too many. I used the most narrow tip applicator to apply the dark blue eyeliner in this palette.

According to Kosé’s website, the Deep palette is RM88 while the Shiny palette is RM95 but I paid RM95 per palette. I presume the price on the website hasn’t been updated otherwise can I have a refund of RM7?

Overall, I consider these 2 palettes to be excellent quality at reasonable prices for a counter brand and considering also that Kanebo eyeshadow palettes cost RM185. I will be keeping a look-out for new cosmetics products from Kosé from now on.