Rarely does a beauty collaboration come along that actually gets me excited. Sure, I love plenty of beauty blogger collaboration or musician collabs, but Shu Uemura just announced their 2017 limited edition holiday collection, which is a geek beauty collab that tops the list: Super Mario Brothers, and it’ll be available on October 1, 2017 on the brand’s website.
Some of you are probably staring at your phone thinking something like “…Super Mario Brothers?” Maybe you weren’t born in time to enjoy this game on its original Nintendo Entertainment System, or maybe you’re just not into video games, but a crapload of beauty enthusiasts are complete video game junkies on the side.
Mario, his brother Luigi, his dime piece, Peach, and the rest of the crew owe everything to Japanese game developers. Shu Uemura is a proud Japanese company, and so is Nintendo. Plus, Japan is solely responsible for the utterly bizarre Super Mario Bros. 2 game – you know, the one with the random turnip throwing? Yeah, that one’s on Japan.
Super Mario Bros. is also a slightly misleading collaboration name because this collab involves a ton of characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. Princess Peach also appears on a ton of packaging, and even has her own dedicated products!
One of Princess Peach’s namesake products is Peach’s Favorite Premium Brush Set for $69. Calling these travel makeup brushes irresistable would be an understatement, especially given the historical quality of Shu Uemura brushes. True to the Super Mario aesthetic, the branding is kept pretty minimal and focuses on the iconic symbols and shapes from the 1985 video game.
Princess Peach also gets the only palette in the makeup collection, Peach’s Eye and Cheek Palette, which is an incredibly steep $115. It includes six eyeshadows in purples and oranges, and two cheek colors with a dual-ended brush.
Judging from these pictures, even the packaging isn’t going to make this worth $115. Aside from the exterior and the imprints in the blush and bronzer, I can’t see anything Earth-shattering about this palette. If you’re jonesing for something from this collection, skip this, for sure.
Oh, and definitely skip the Dive into Adventure Makeup Box for $475 while you’re at it because, you know, that’s two car payments.
There are quite a few lip products in the line. Fortunately, they’re only $30 (“only”), so they’d make a great impulse buy if you’re dying to get your hands on a piece of this. (And I definitely am.)
Two Shu Uemura Tint In Balms in Underground and Fireball are the two tall lipsticks on the left. Four lipsticks in two finishes are the cute, pink packaged lipsticks on the right. The two darker shades, RD187 and PK375, are Shu Uemura Rouge Ultimate Supreme Matte. The lighter shades on the right, Stage Cleared and Saved Peach, are brand new in the Shu Uemura Rouge Ultimate Sheer Shine formula and are clear tributes to Mario & his quest to save Princess Peach.
Cosmetic stamps have been around for ages, but have only recently resurfaced in the beauty community. Many companies probably have Kat Von D’s stars and Marina & the Diamonds’ heart, but Shu Uemura has a superstar.
This is the Shu Uemura Dual-Sided Eyeliner Pen and it’s yours for $34. One side is an inky black liner and the other has a self-inking stamp, perfect for faces, nose tips, knuckles – whatever you’re into. And, uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears that you can buy this right now on the Shu Uemura website. It might be pre-order, but it wasn’t listed with the other pre-order stuff, soooo… just throwing that out there.
It wouldn’t be a proper Shu Uemura collection with their famous eyelash curlers. If you aren’t aware, Shu Uemura’s eyelash curlers have a cult-like following. Those in the cult who happent to love Nintendo games from the 1980s are going to really love this:
I mean, it’s pretty much a regular Shu Uemura eyelash curler except it’s a Shu Uemura Superstar Invincible Eyelash Curler for $21. It’s gold! And look at that star power keychain thingy! $21 for a vouched-for eyelash curler isn’t a bad way to get in on this collection for an affordable price.
An interesting twist in this collection: the haircare line. Included in the Super Mario Bros. collab are four haircare products.
Cleansing shampoo and conditioner, a protective oil, and styling wax are available with Mario-laden packaging. The oil bottles actually look really awesome with Mario and the underwater creatures swimming around them. Currently, this is (technically) the only portion of the Shu Uemura x Mario Bros. collection that is available for pre-order on Shu Uemura’s haircare website.
The Shu Uemura x Super Mario Bros. Collection launches on October 1st, 2017.
As I mentioned, you can keep checking on pre-order availability on Shu Uemura’s website, but expect some serious fanfare when the collection goes live on the 1st of October.