Just a little bit of Shiseido love: Alchemy

Ignore the dust; I suggest looking instead at the multicolored  microshimmer.

It is no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Shiseido's aesthetic and many of their powder products. I love Dick Page's work and I think he has done a great job as artistic director. The eyeshadow color stories are to die for. The products themselves are super soft and they give this delicate watercolor effect on the lids. They have the complex shimmer of many higher-end Japanese brands without skimping on pigment.



While the colors are intriguingly complex and many are quite wearable, even surprisingly so, Shiseido doesn't offer many neutrals. One of the few browns in the line is this luscious single, RD 709 Alchemy.

I want to go to there.

Alchemy is a light ruddy brown. I spy with my naked eye glasslike hot pink, gold, green, and blue microshimmer. I find reddened browns quite challenging to wear but Alchemy is an exception. There's something just slightly greyed about it--not enough to make it a taupe, but enough to keep it from just being a basic, one-note color. It's a great lid color for an easy wash that's not boring.
  

I don't have anything like Alchemy in my stash, so here's swatches of Serendipity, a complex copper, Bronzed Taupe, and Nutty, which is by no means a dupe, though its base is warmer than the other two. You can see that Nutty almost looks orange and Alchemy has a purple cast. So weird.