Imperial Topaz

Wayne Goss Imperial Topaz The Luxury Eye Palette ($55.00 for 0.57 oz.) includes six shades housed in a glossy, black palette with a mirror. There are three shimmery shades, one sparkly shade, and two matte shades. It's a warmer-toned neutral palette with a cooler-toned black. I've always maintained that you never know when someone is in the market for the perfect [insert color story here] palette so what's boring to one is exciting to another... and as long as it's high quality, I'm happy to have more variety. The palette was decent, but it wasn't as blendable or as foolproof to work with as marketed, and as there are a ton of warm neutral palettes available, there are so many others I'd reach for over this.

I'm a fan of the brand's brushes, and I think the brand did a great job of bringing Japanese brushes into the more mainstream with a more streamlined range of accessible shapes/sizes at a decent price point, so I definitely wasn't expecting to be left disappointed with this release. I was expecting really soft, smooth, and blendable eyeshadows with more ethereal shimmers--seamless, almost melted for a luminous sheen--and foolproof, ultra-blendable matte shades--and those were my takeaways from the description at the point of sale as well as the announcement video.

The first two shimmers felt almost spongy--soft--but they were more frosted than seamless as anticipated based on the brand's marketing. The matte shades could have been more blendable, while the sparkly shade had a fair amount of fallout (even when used with a fingertip). One of the shimmers was a bit thinner and sheerer, so it was harder to build up. They lasted decently on my eye (about eight hours). The shades, except the black shade, coordinated well together, but the first and sixth shade are very similar in color (different in finish), and the palette would be more versatile if they overlapped less.

The palette contains larger-than-average quantities of each shade (almost 0.10 oz. whereas most eyeshadows are 0.05 oz. when sold individually or 0.03 to 0.04 oz. in a larger palette). The reasoning given for this was because smaller eyeshadows are harder to get one's brush in, but I've not had that issue with most eyeshadow pans in the 0.03 oz. (Urban Decay Naked palette pans for reference) to 0.05 oz. size (that's a MAC or Urban Decay single eyeshadow for reference). I think when you get to more dime-sized shades it can be a problem if they're placed close together.

The second reasoning was this way you won't see an "ugly well" or see the pan that emerges from repeated use of the product, which was a head-scratcher. Most of us are purchasing makeup to actually use it, and makeup is a consumable item--there is a shelf life!--and the industry has made some movements into going mini and travel-sized to drop prices. Nevertheless, if you do use these eyeshadows daily, why would you... not get a dip or a well or eventually see pan? It does not go on forever!

Per the brand, every palette in the future will contain the same black eyeshadow. I think this made for an interesting discussion (we had one on the Temptalia Discord when it was announced earlier, and I've seen it discussed by readers here as well as on my social media platforms). A great matte, black eyeshadow is a great tool to have in the arsenal, but I don't know if you've ever tried to finish a single eyeshadow... but it takes some dedication. It still took me over a year to get through a single eyeshadow that was only 0.05 oz. that I used to fill in my brows almost daily.

If the format had more shades, I could see the inclusion of a standard black eyeshadow making more sense, but I think in a palette of six, the black eyeshadow adds a lot of contrast in undertone and depth that actually makes it harder to incorporate it and keep the look warmer and browner as the other five shades suggest. It would have made a lot more sense to include a deeper shade in each color story but to coordinate it with the other shades; in this palette, a really deep red-brown or almost burgundy could have gone a long way.

Alternatively, the black eyeshadow could be the seventh shade arranged in a long, narrow pan that went along the right edge (spanning two shades), which would lend itself to lining (which is one technique advocated) as well as building up or darkening shades (where you'd likely use smaller, more precise brushes). Guerlain did something like this previously.

I'll also say that it's just a so-so black eyeshadow for something that is mega-sized and intended to be included in every palette. I liked that it wasn't powdery--it was firmer and thinner compared to the other matte shades in the palette--so there wasn't fallout to worry about, and it was easier to pick up less to build up. The issue was that it wasn't very blendable, and the shade skipped when applied. It was a lot easier to layer the matte brown eyeshadow over the black to get a softer, more diffused edge.

Also, I noted that the brand stated these should not be used wet--you don't normally see that warning/recommendation, so I thought I'd pass that along!

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