Japan Kanebo KATE Jewel Carat GD-1 Eye Shadow Sparkles Like Gold Diamonds!

Kanebo Kate names all its eyeshadows with gold in them ‘GD-1’. There’s GD-1 in Eye Shadow DB, Graphical Eyes A, and Eye Shadow JC.

BR-1 has it worse (depending on how you look at it), since brown is such a popular color, BR-1, BR-2 can be found in ALL its eye products range.

So confusing!

I’d been eyeing the JC (Jewel Carat) Eyeshadows for a while since I first laid eyes on them. There are altogether 8 colors shown on the KATE international website,

PU-1 (light purple)

BR-2 (light brown)

GD-1 (gold)

BR-1 (dark brown)

GY-1 (silver)

PK-1 (pink)

WT-1 (white)

GN-1 (green)

… of which I’m glad all 8 can be found in Singapore! YAYS for Asian makeup products and brands!

On the KATE Japan website, however, the colors are a little different. Instead of GD-1, they have GD-2 (lighter gold); instead of WT-1, they have SV-1 (champagne). The casing is of a different color too.

You know, I really went for the BHG sale with the intention to get some Bourjois goodies but I ended up with some from Revlon, L’Oreal, Pupa, and Kate too! Hoho!

Well, at least I told myself that I will only get ONE Kate JC and I was such a good girl to listen to my inner voice!

24K Carat Gold On Your Eyes

I really love buying gold eyeshadows even though I don’t reach for them the most. They just look so precious and stand out from the rest on the makeup counters and shelves! I even have a gold eyeliner from MAC (MAC Glitter Eye Liner in Glitterpuss), which was such a disappointment though.

I used to not like gold that much because, you know, in Chinese cultures, gold = old and traditional. So I mostly went for silver and colors that didn’t suit me as well as those with a tinge of warmth. I was just lost in a sea of colors. Had no idea at all, no idea. *shakes head

However gold appeals to me more now that I understand my skin undertone better and know what works or doesn’t for certain color combinations.

I’d say my skin undertone is Neutral-Warm, but slightly nearer to neutral since cool shades still look quite okie on me.

One day I will definitely get started on a post or series on How To Tell What Is Your Skin Undertone - FOR ASIANS.

GD-1 Is One Of The Most Pigmented Jewel Carat Eye Shadow

As I swatched through the eight shades, I found that they differ in pigmentation, with the warmer shades being more pigmented than the cooler ones.

BR-1, BR-2, GD-1 are the most pigmented.

Good news for me since I’d my heart set on GD-1!

Gel-Based Texture

The dazzling, jelly-like eyeshadows are not exactly smooth to the touch. When I rub it between my fingers, it feels a teeny weeny grainy but it definitely feels like nothing when applied on the eyes. You’ve got to really concentrate to tell that it’s got a little bit of a grainy texture to it.

The particles are slightly larger than most eye glitter we see in the market, but that's why these last longer as the adhesive have a larger surface to adhere to.

Every time I go to a Kate makeup counter I have to resist the crazy urge to plunge my entire finger into the samples. LOL. I don’t know why, they just look so much like bubblegum! High-class, glittery, colorful bubblegum!

Packaging

Encased in black plastic casings with see-through diamond-shaped covers, the JC Eyeshadows resemble little jewel boxes. It’d be pretty neat to own all of them, just because they look so pretty together, but it’s not really necessary. I’ll tell you why in a while.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the packaging definitely feels cheap. The cover sort of rattles~ Even when it is closed, I can hold on to the cover and it still rattles against the body. It just gives off the same vibe as the Canmake Cream Cheek Blush.

The KATE eyeshadow doesn’t look cheap, fortunately. In fact, I like that the packaging is minimalistic and the cover is see-through. The diamond shapes on the cover score high on the sophistication factor.

From the looks of it, it is highly possible to depot this eyeshadow since the metal pan is separate from the black body casing. I’m not 100% sure it will work though, having gone through the terrifying episode of damaging an eyeshadow during depotting.

You Probably Don’t Need The Full Range Of Kate JC Eyeshadows

Why I said that there is no need to possess ALL of the Kate JC Eyeshadows is because the difference between each shade is insignificant.

These Kate Eyeshadows function to jazz up your eyes with their wet-looking, long-lasting shimmer, and you can basically achieve any eye makeup look with shimmer by simply changing the color of your eyeshadow.

You just need the sparkles, not the colors!

In fact, there are both silver and gold shimmer particles in GD-1!

Alright, if you’re really particular, I’d recommend getting WT-1 or GY-1 for only the silver shimmer particles.

How To Use the Kanebo Kate JC Eyeshadows

You can use your finger of a synthetic eye shadow brush to apply the Kate JC Eyeshadow. From personal experience, the finger is the best. It applies the most smoothly and gets the most product out of the pan, not that I foresee myself hitting pan with this. It’s huge!

Unless I use it as an all-over-lid eyeshadow, I’ll probably never finish it before it expires, as with all of my eyeshadows. I don’t recall ever hitting pan with any of my eyeshadows, no matter how often I use it. :S

More often than not, I use my GD-1 as an icing, the last bit to spice up the look. I dab it on the centre of the lid, as exhibited in my review on the L’Oreal Color Infallible Emerald Green.

Recently, I took out the long-banished Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Liner in Chocolate Shimmer Ink (used in eye makeup look below) and I seem to dislike it less! That's why I don't throw out stuff immediately upon developing a dislike coz you never know when you might like it someday!