In my last post on the Coffret D’or Party Palettes for Christmas, reader Cynthia asked in a comment:-
rm98 each is really a good price,
still deciding wanna buy this or the RMK holiday palette
what do u think?
Well, I withheld comment until I’d actually seen the RMK Christmas palette in person instead of online and yesterday evening, while I was at Isetan The Gardens, I popped by the RMK counter to check out the palette. The testers are hidden away so you have to ask. They don’t expect it to go on sale until next week when stocks come in.
Now, I’m a stranger to RMK products I’d freely admit. Not many things have attracted my attention much even if I know that the foundation gets raves all over the world and I should really be thankful that we have a counter here when other people elsewhere are dying to see the products in person before buying. Unfortunately however, nothing much grabs me and says “BUY ME!!”
Unfortunately, the RMK Christmas Palette falls into the same category.
The compact palette comes in a lovely gold zippered pouch and is really a double layered palette. The bottom layer holds the pressed powder, sponge and blush brush and slides underneath.
On the top are 4 eyeshadows (the colours in the picture look more vibrant than in real life where the colours are more muted) and a brown based blush. Also included is a tube of orangy gold gloss and a mini mascara with sponge tipped applicators.
At first sight, I was reminded of a YSL travel palette I own that has the same concept and pretty much the same products except that one also had lipsticks in the bottom drawer. The reason I’m not enamoured with this palette is not because of the colours which I found a little boring, but because of the funtionality.
Having had experience with a similar palette, I find that once the mascara dries up or is used up, that space would be left empty. Ditto with the lip gloss. What you are then left with is a bulky palette containing only your powder products which could honestly be fitted in a smaller, slimmer compact of half the size. So, for me, whilst the concept of an all-in-one is well and good, I personally would not get this for this simple reason of packaging. I’d prefer the mascara and lipgloss to be packed separately and the compact slimmed down.
I don’t think it helped the cause that I was not taken in by the look of the RMK models too.
The one on the left (Sophisticated) does come across that way, but the one on the right (Gorgeous Sexy) looks too orange to be attractive in my view and if this was a look created with the palette then I’m not sold. However, this is my view only. The sales assistant assured me that many people had placed a booking for the palette so I guess there are people who do like it.
The RMK palette is going for RM180 at Isetan with every RM200 RMK Product purchase so you get everything for RM380. I’m told this is a special price for Isetan card members. At Pavilion Parkson, I’m told the promotion there would be RM470 or thereabouts. I sort of stopped paying attention because I wasn’t keen on it.
So, my answer, Cynthia is that I would stick to the Coffret D’or palette for RM98 each simply because I prefer the way it is packed and the colours available and because I get things I’d actually use at half the price! 🙂
What I was really at Isetan for was to check out the Guerlain Midnight Butterfly collection but it isn’t out yet and is only expected to be available next week in Malaysia. Hurry up already! 😛
Connie says
November 18, 2008 at 5:16 pmRMK is alot about “cult followings”. Japanese women go CRAZY over RMK that it’s ridiculous! I’m not bought though :-/ at least not by their makeup. Their skin care isn’t too bad, thankfully.
geekchic says
November 18, 2008 at 5:42 pmThat’s a lot of money for a palette. Like you have to buy x amount and pay another y amount to get the palette. Too much $$$ in the end, honestly.
Would love to hear what you’ve got to say about Guerlain’s collection 😉
Cynthia says
November 18, 2008 at 6:11 pmthank u so much for the infos and ur recommendations
ya~ my friend also told me the colours looked dull and recommended me not to buy it too 😀
can’t wait for ur reviews for Guerlain Midnight Butterfly collection!
Stephanie says
November 18, 2008 at 6:58 pmNot that bought by RMK myself too to be honest- maybe it’s because I prefer powder foundation and RMK offers more liquid foundations.
Not really a fan of the models you posted as well 😡 The one on the right looked like blusher gone wrong or something.
ParisB says
November 18, 2008 at 7:37 pm@Connie : I honestly cannot see why. I like Japanese stuff, but RMK goes under the radar most times.
@geekchic: I can’t wait to see it! I’ll be sure to report back.
@Cynthia: I’ll make sure I report on the Guerlain and I honestly think you’d be happier with the RMK lol…
@Stephanie: Yeah I don’t know why they made them up that way. Waste of a pretty girl
Mag says
November 19, 2008 at 12:21 amThe colours are too warm for my liking and like you, I don’t like cream and powders together in a palette. Powder migration is not pretty! 😛 I don’t like the clunkiness either. I must admit that RMK does have some fine products. The liquid foundation is beautiful on camera for me and some of the e/s are excellent! 🙂
Great blog, btw. I’m linking you on makeupstash! 🙂
MisSmall says
November 19, 2008 at 3:10 amHaha. Gotta agree with you about the model. Surely they could’ve done better than that.
I’ve never been tempted to try out RMK too, but you got me at “I should really be thankful that we have a counter here when other people elsewhere are dying to see the products in person before buying.” Now I’ll make it a point to check out the counter next time I see one. 🙂
plue says
November 19, 2008 at 9:15 ami never like brushes that comes in the pack. way too small. way too rough. >_<
for the price, I might as well just go grab all Shu’s LE stuff. It’s much better!
Okay la, i admit, i am a shu fan now 😛
ParisB says
November 19, 2008 at 10:56 am@MisSmall : Sigh… I don’t know what they were thinking! I always look at the counter stuff but hardly ever stop coz it all looks so bland. Maybe I should next time 🙂
@plue: Its true about brushes in palettes which is why I never use them. But they do well in a pinch when you don’t really want to carry around your nice brushes (and I hardly ever do)
plue says
November 19, 2008 at 11:10 ami always lug around my brushes. can’t stand not using them. >_< which is why my MU bag is always heavy! my dad always groans whenever he carries my luggage 😛
Mag says
November 19, 2008 at 12:17 pmOh! I just realised that I mistook the blush duo for a cream…you were referring to the lipgloss in a tube, not a cream. I don’t know why I thought that – I must have been channelling an older MAC palette with cream + powder pans! 😛
That said, RMK does have some nice cream blushes; the latest Autumn collection has pretty pre-made duos. 🙂
Connie says
November 19, 2008 at 2:15 pmI know!If it didn’t come to Malaysia I wouldn’t have known such brand existed. :-/ But then there are Japanese customers who would be sooo excited over the LE items and they’d tell stories about how they have to TAKE A NUMBER to buy products in RMK Japan when there are special launches. madness right?
ParisB says
November 19, 2008 at 2:56 pm@plue : haha… I’m one for travelling light.
@Mag: Guess I should be checking them out then, thanks!
ParisB says
November 19, 2008 at 2:58 pm@Connie : Yep, I’m told this palette is more expensive in Japan. Well, I guess they are popular there so there’s demand!
fionx says
November 20, 2008 at 7:02 pmhey. Can you try the RMK creamy foundation ?
I wonder is it good or bad… haha
ParisB says
November 21, 2008 at 10:51 am@fionx : I’ll try to get a sample of this some day.
space says
November 25, 2008 at 12:07 amhi, I read the chinese page that you provided for the guerlain christmas collection, and I found the price is very high and you have to pay for the beautiful packaging, the meteorites actually cost RMB600, and the bottle that looks like perfume is actually shimmering powder!! and it costs RMB760, the butterfly can be use as brooch.