Taupes You Can't Have #2, Shu Uemura ME Silver 945

Joeybunny and I are evil. A few weeks ago you all were treated to the first monthly installment of:

TAUPES YOU CAN’T HAVE!

We like to torture everyone by featuring a discontinued (DCed) and or hard-to-find (HTF) taupe eyeshadow at the end of each month. Why are we doing this? Because we are Sadists and we can! Joey and I have a sizable collection of DCed and HTF taupe eye shadows that we felt both deserved love and publicity. Now last month a few people were shocked that #1 shadow we reviewed was MAC Innuendo and not Shu Uemura ME Silver 945. Well I'm here to set the record straight. #1 in this series does not signify the "best" or the "top". It just means the first one we reviewed. They are all "The Best" in our eyes....so do not feel that we are not paying proper homage to the taupe featured today when the #2 is next to it's name.

When talking about Taupe eyeshadow one would be remiss if they overlooked Shu Uemura ME Silver 945. Long since discontinued Shu ME Silver is the epitome of Taupe eyeshadow. The quintessential taupe shadow is not without controversy. Some warmer toned individuals claim that this shadow "sucks" and is "horrible" (their rudimentary words, not mine). They "claim" that the shadow pulls purple on them instead of taupe. And to that I answer. SO WHAT? What's wrong with purple taupe? (<---Rhetorical question) But I wanted to get the issues of naysayers out of the way before I extolled the virtues of what is the ultimate taupe shadow.


Shu Uemura uses a series of abbreviations and color groups and numbers to name thier line of color makeup. ME = Metallic, Silver = Silver family, and 945 is the unique number for the shadow. Now, the reason they discontinued this shade (I think around 2006) I believe was because Shu reformulated their eye shadow line and with the reformulation, out went several shadows. But how would Shu know what a cult status that ME Silver 945 had gained? They obviously didn't or else they never would have gotten rid of it.


A silvery brownish taupe with a high metallic sheen this taupe looks beautiful as a wash or in a crease or paired with a darker brown, black or plum shadow. The formula is silky and soft. The metallic sheen almost changes color depending on the light that it catches. The pigmentation is glorious and long lasting.

Many have tried to dupe this shade but no one has ever been exact...not even Shu Uemura. They released ME Brown 850 when they reformulated the eye shadows but this inferior doppelganger was no match for the magic of ME Silver 945. There are some that say the Kose Addiction line of shadows in Flashback is a very close dupe, but since I have yet to procure that $30+ shadow I cannot say for sure that it is or isn't. BUT. You can check out Amy's post about it HERE on cafemakeup.com and see comparison swatches. I was fortunate enough to swap for Shu Uemura ME Silver 945. Used once by another makeup addict that obviously valued a Guerlain loose powder kohl over this perfect taupe. Her loss became my FORTUNE.