A few months ago I was contacted by a reader who had two brand new Sulwhasoo limited edition compacts available for purchase. The circumstances surrounding how she acquired the compacts were quite sad, but having no use for them and wanting nothing more than for these items to go to a good home, she contacted me to see if I could take them off her hands. I agreed to buy the 2014 holiday Shine Classic compact (at an extremely generous price, which was very kind of her!) to help build the Museum's collection of finely crafted compacts, as this Korean luxury brand is well-known for its quality.
According to the press release, Sulwhasoo collaborated with artist Hyun Kyung Lee to create the mother-of-pearl design. Attempts to find any of her other work proved fruitless for me, but the description of the compact is as follows: "Mother-of-Pearl signifies wealth and elegance…for the design on the case, Hyun Kyung Lee uses small rectangular fragments of the Mother-of-Pearl to envision a plum blossom design. The rectangular pieces which also represent elegant Korean women, to express a more natural and beautiful plum blossom than a plum blossom in curves. This is done deliberately to add a modern touch to the Shine Classic design. The translucent white plum blossom is placed on top of the background design to enhance the natural colors of the Mother-of-Pearl resulting in an exquisite contrast design.Pistils of plum blossoms are then placed at the center of the plum blossom to symbolize elegance and dignified beauty. Lacquer finish is then thinly applied to penetrate the background color to exude the natural bright luminescent colors of the pearl. The case design of this variant features a white plum blossom on top of a beige background to symbolize pure and clear skintone. White also represents pure plum blossoms of winter and its function to deliver clear and pure skin."
I loved the delicacy and iridescence of the tiles.
And the little pearl clasp:
Here's the powder itself, which repeats the pattern on the box.
Both this pattern and the one on the compact itself definitely resemble a white plum blossom, albeit an abstract version.
(image from absolutechinatours.com)
This was a wonderful find and I'm so glad I was able to give it a good home. I'm such a sucker for mother-of-pearl! I'm not sure whether I like this more than Armani's Madreperla and Ecailles palettes…they're all so gorgeous and subtly colorful.