drivel about frivol

Among my presents under the tree last Christmas was this selection of bits from Tom Ford, courtesy of a friend who'd noticed the absence of this brand in my stash the last time she'd come round to play Makeovers(!one!!eleventy!)

Tom Ford Cognac Sable quad, Narcissist blush and True Coral lipstick

And *spoiler alert* they pretty much confirmed my feelings of "meh" towards this line. Since my earlier forays into and farewells to Tom Ford makeup (three other quads, a blush and two lipsticks) predate this whole blogging thing, I thought I'd review these new "outs" as they go. First up: Lip Colour in True Coral.

bit washed out here -- it's really as bright as in the first picture, above

I wasn't a fan of the original Tom Ford lipstick formula, but the new line (of which this is a core shade) sacrificed a little pigment for a much smoother texture, which seemed promising. Sadly, the MAC-like vanilla scent remains. Pigmentation is still on the good side -- not quite full-coverage, but definitely above average -- and the finish is that kind of close-to-lips satin which means good wear-time and even fading.

Unfortunately, being freakishly dry-lipped, long-wearing formulas tend to sink into and highlight every single one of my vertical lip lines. And this is no exception. Freshly applied over lips in tip-top condition (no flakes or chapped areas, freshly exfoliated and prepped with lip balm), True Coral just about passes muster:

However, the desiccation process begins immediately and is visible a bare five minutes later, even at a more normal distance -- check out those crevasses:

Shiseido Jungle trio, Illamasqua Rude cream blush

Looks aside, this lipstick also makes my lipsfeel dry and after a day's wear, even with regular top-ups of lipbalm, leaves them in slightly worse condition. I seem to be alone (or in a tiny minority) in the blogosphere in experiencing this drying effect, but makeup can just be tricksy like that. Ingredients list for the curious:

The one aspect of True Coral I love unreservedly is, of course, the colour; my Santa knows me well. This also means that parting with it was not such sweet sorrow, as I had these to keep me company....

Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait Colère (review/swatch -- note how this matte is more flattering on my lip texture than Tom Ford's satin)
Revlon Strawberry Suede (discontinued)
Lancôme Colour Design Matte Corset
Tom Ford True Coral
Chanel Rouge Allure Génial (discontinued -- see how pink it looks against the others here)
Hourglass Femme Rouge Muse

Tom Ford Lipsticks retail for £36 each in the UK.

Following on from Part I, another beautiful shade from Tom Ford which failed to win my texturally persnickity heart: Narcissist blush.

sunlight

Narcissist is a highly pigmented cool-toned hot pink (oh, you know what I mean), with a tightly-packed texture and smooth frost finish. The softness and high fine shimmer content means that it's very easy to overload a brush -- even with the lightest tap of a fluffy brush, a lot of frantic dabbing into clean tissue might be needed before application to cheek -- and also that even the softest squirrel brushes tend to kick up quite a bit of powder...enough that I would end up with shimmery pink elbows after resting my arm on my vanity to finish an eyeliner flick.

Swatch, applied with Suqqu Cheek brush (left) and sponge applicator (right)

as always, bare arm / natural light

As mentioned in a previous review, my skin tends to show textures and colours true, and shimmer is usually highly unforgiving on the especially dry, thin skin on my cheeks. In the swatch above, you can see the dry 'skipping' at the edge of the heavy swatch and every pore highlighted in the sheer one, even on my relatively smooth inner arm.

As further illustration, here's Narcissist swatched between Sleek Pink Ice (left, from the Pink Sprint trio) and Suqqu EX-02Mizumomo (right, deeper pan only).

All three blushes were applied very lightly and blended out with an Illamasqua Highlighter Brush (ahem, holy grail cream blush brush, two backups are totally reasonable, shush). Sleek Pink Ice (£10 for trio) is a matte, and despite its unprepossessingly dry texture, it like all Sleek blushes is so pigmented that a tiny dab deposits even pigment without worsening the appearance of my skin, if not improving it. Suqqu Mizumomo (£38 for duo, LE), despite being a satin (with almost as much sheen in the pan as Narcissist) actively blurs and flatters any bumpy skin, even when swatched along the tricky veiny/bony bit of my wrist. Narcissist, much like the equally popular Chanel Notorious, makes visible a bazillionty bumps I didn't even know were there. Lurking.

On my cheeks, in real life....it aint pretty. Even my blush-eating camera can pick up on the bumpiness, translating it as blotchiness (and I swear I blended properly), which makes Narcissist exactly the kind of cool pink rash I get from a mild rosacea flare, for free.

Tom Ford Cognac Sable quad, Wet'n'Wild Cherry Bomb lipstick

Yeah, it's out.
But neatly, it's yet another colour family I'm fairly well equipped to comp-swatch ;)

Sleek Pink Ice (from Pink Sprint trio) -- the most pigmented, and coolest of the bunch
Suqqu EX-02 Mizumomo (right pan only) -- cooler than TF, without its warmer shimmer
Tom Ford Narcissist
Becca Lychee Beach Tint -- more candied, lighter
Addiction Amazing Cheek Stick -- tonally closest to Suqqu, but it's a totally different texture, yeah? And doubles as a matte lipstick *hoards*

Tom Ford blushes retail for £45 each.

As 'tis the holiday of formulaic declarations of affection... my favourite lip formulas, as requested by various folks over the past few weeks.

Lipsticks: Love At First Slick

I narrowed it down to eight (barely) all of which I can wear without balm underneath, and all of which make my very dry, lined, picky lips both look and feel smoother, plumper -- just prettier.

From sheerest to most opaque (scent/finish):

Sonia Rykiel Sublime Rouge -- rose-scented / jelly (discontinued) swatches here and here

Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge -- scent-free / cream-jelly (crelly) swatches

Guerlain Rouge Automatique -- candied violet / crelly

Suqqu Blend -- scent-free / glossy cream (discontinued)

Revlon Super Lustrous -- scent-free / cream

Burberry Lip Cover -- rose / cream

Suqqu Creamy Glow -- scent-free / cream swatches

By Terry Rouge Terrybly -- rose / satin

I love them all.

So I chose one particularly favoured shade from each formula. And did this. For reasons.

Lavshuca RD-1, Sonia Rykiel 24, Burberry Bright Plum
Suqqu Blend Maizakura and Creamy Glow Karakurenai
By Terry Hot Cranberry, Revlon Fire&Ice, Guerlain Liu

Common to my favourite formulas: a creamy or balmy feel with good slip, and moisturising properties. There are plenty of formulas out there which have good slip (e.g. Chanel Rouge Coco Shine, Dior Addict, MAC Cremesheen) but which make my lips crack and peel off in sheets and conversely, there are some mattes which are very comfortable for me to wear (e.g. Lancôme Colour Design Matte, Addiction, Guerlain L'Extrait), but my favourites combine both.

On the other hand, lasting power / wear time is something I barely even consider when it comes to lip products. From my favourites, By Terry Rouge Terrybly is an excellent longwearing formula, and Revlon Super Lustrous, Suqqu Creamy Glow, Burberry Lip Cover and Guerlain Rouge Automatique are also reasonably tenacious on me -- but this is really just a nice 'extra'; as an inveterate snacker and sipper, my expectations in this regard are pretty modest. As long as something fades evenly (no dreaded outer lip tidemark or inner sharpie-sucker mouth), I actually quite enjoy seeing/wearing the different colour nuances a single lip shade can display as you build it up and later, as it wears down. I would much rather reapply a nice balmy jelly lipstick every hour than have a film-forming, long-wearing formula whose colour stays bulletproof, albeit in a increasingly hideous (and balm-repelling!) texture as the day goes on.... (e.g. Rouge D'Armani, Lancôme Rouge In Love, almost every lip stain ever)

Opposites Attract

....so why do I love YSL Glossy Stains with a frankly idolatrous love? I am not a stain girl; I am not a gloss girl; I am definitely not an alcohol-in-my-products girl (down my gullet is another matter entirely). I just do. A LOT.
Idiotically, my "best of the year" round-up missed these out twice -- in 2011 because I had just tried my first one in December and was all honeymoony and didn't want to jump the gun and in 2012 because they were technically a 2011 discovery/release. Let the wardrobe testify to my love:

7 is not swatched because it was the 'out' replaced by 27 -- even so, I own more of these than of any other lip product

As well as requiring no touch-ups through a full day and many a drink, snack and hearty meal, I adore the shade range in this line and their glorious lacqueredfinishes. I am odd and also enjoy the boozy rose scent. They also mix beautifully to create new shades -- more of this in a future post. While they don't dry my lips out over the day (I think due to the no-reapplication-needed thing), a few consecutive days' wear will start to show on my lips with deepening liplines and dryness.

Tender Loving Care

I hope this post has established that people's preferences in formulas vary and very often make no sense, because skincare/makeup hybrids are particularly tricky, and this final section should be hedged by big flashing Your Mileage May Vary lights.

But for me, these are the tinted treatments I reach for when my lips are actually chapped, peeling, bleeding or otherwise leprous, but I feel the need for a bit of warpaint for psychological blanky reasons and not-scaring-the-small-children, if nothing else.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatments have been a standby for a decade now -- I've tried every other cheaper substitute on the market and always come crawling back. All three shades I own add a little warmth to correct my naturally corpse-mauve lip tone, and tint them: a clear reddish pink (Rosé), a deeper rose (Berry), and a peachy-pink nude (Honey). They taste like lemon sugar crêpes.
Bite Lush Lip Tints are a relatively new discovery, from a Canadian brand I've become very fond of. Somewhat less moisturising than the Fresh Sugar balms, they pack much more pigment -- more sheer lipstick than tinted balm -- and hug the lips more closely (with less slip). Lightly fruit scented, Cherry is a coral red and Raspberry a rose red, both clear and bright.
RMS Lip Shine in Sublime was the cool, clear shade I was waiting for to try this formula [thanks for the tip, Grace!] and it is a moisturising and subtly lip-plumping gloss without stickiness. The pink, while cool, is a pop-bright, spring-in-your-ponytail kind of cool, which in its own way achieves the enlivening / de-corpsifying thing I like. Smells/tastes of its ingredients, vaguely waxy.

Okay, not today but this is a high-low-mid-range look I put together a while ago, mainly to showcase Addiction Swimming Pool, upon a reader's request. (See, I do get round to them....eventually. Those of a patient disposition, feel free to email me :P) I'm posting it today because harddrive gremlins ate my Tom Ford Cognac Sable swatch pictures and also because this blog has become a bit too new!product review-dominated lately, and that's really not how I approach the question of what makeup to wear, most days.

Featuring:

1. Addiction Eye Lacquer WP in Swimming Pool [high end] which to my shame I've not written about since acquiring it last summer.
2. Kiko Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadow in 16 Purple [drugstore] because I really love this formula.
3. Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in Black Tulip [mid-range], another recent...ish discovery I am fond of and really ought to blog about soon....

Kiko Purple as a messy base, blended up to socket and joined to the lower lashline:

Addiction Swimming Pool dabbed over the top and blended in turn, stopping short of the edges of the purple:

Pixi Black Tulip to rim waterlines and smudged into lashline, two coats of Armani ETK Waterproof mascara [....man, this does not build well. Spindly spider legs ahoy.]

The full look with Rouge Bunny Rouge Delicata on cheeks and Addiction Day Trip on lips, which should be titled, "Step by step eye pictures leave no time for hair; must crop the madness, meep". I am only posting these because uncontextualised eye makeup pictures are a personal pet peeve, and because freakishly enough they seem to capture some of the textural complexity a bit better than the closeups.

So, a mixed bag all 'round, eh? :P
Despite all the whining, I really did love the combination of the Addiction lacquer with a Kiko base -- it's taken me some time to find the best textures to pair with that slightly tricky formula, but Kiko's ridiculously lightweight and blendable yet totally budge-proof formula makes for the perfect base.

It's been a while since my last skincare update, but the main shape of the routine has stayed consistent. However, this past winter in London has been so particularly bitter -- I think they officially dubbed it the coldest in a hundred years -- that I jumped at the chance to try some products by Decléor, mainly from their iris range, their richest, aimed at mature skin.

The set contains good sizes of a cleansing duo (75ml each) and a skincare trio, consisting of an oil serum (5ml), a rich day cream (15ml) and a night balm (5ml), enough even for a profligate slatherer like me to give them a good whirl over a month, used individually and together as an proper 'routine'.

Cleanse

okay...maybe I didn't think the skincare swatch concept though....

The cleansing milk is a light gel-cream, meant to be massaged onto your made-up or otherwise begrimed face, and then wiped off with damp cottons, before application of the toner (basically the texture of rosewater) to remove the last of the residue and prep the face. Both products are free of alcohol but strongly scented. The cleansing milk actually proved to be very efficient at removing makeup (including waterproof eyeliners and mascaras) -- the equal of Bioderma Crealine -- and more surprisingly still, did not irritate my eyes, even when rubbed (eek) into my lashline. The toner didn't do anything for me used as a separate step (I am a fan of Japanese 'lotions' and expect this step to pull its weight), but I used it (saturating Muji peelable cottons) to remove the cleanser, and it felt posher than tapwater :P

Ingredients

I wouldn't purchase either of these products in future, as my skin can't deal with as much regular physical agitation (wiping) as they require; back to my trusty rinse-off Fancl cleansing oil and pat-on-with-hands Hada Labo lotion.

Care

The Aromessence Iris oil functions as a serum -- a few drops massaged into skin at morning and night before either the Expérience De L'Âge Rich Cream for day or the Aroma Night Balm for, er, night. Together they promise to improve wrinkles, brightness and firmness.
All three items slotted perfectly into my routine, exactly replacing the REN Omega 3 Night Repair oil/serum, Boots Botanics Organic Super Balm, and Honey Girl Organics Sensitive face cream I'd just finished -- these form the base against which I am judging the performance of the Decléor trio.

The Decléor Iris oil felt much thicker and more viscous than the REN omega 3, so I needed far less -- three drops as opposed to two pumps -- and it also sank in more quickly, with zero tackiness or shine, perhaps because its hazelnut and sunflower base is lighter than REN's coconut derivatives and wheat germ. As well as keeping my skin moisturised, plump and soft, I noticed an additional visible tightening/firming effect with the Iris oil -- my pores looked smaller and my face contours (especially around the nasolabial and double chinny bits) generally neater, while even a sloppy application after a particularly booze- or crisp filled-night seemed to make my skin look a little less puffy in the morning. The Decléor scent, while stronger than REN's, is also infinitely preferable to my nose -- I get mainly lavender and neroli/jasmine.

Aromessence Iris Ingredients

I'm too young to really talk about the efficacy of Expérience de L'Âge Rich Cream as anti-wrinkle cream per se, but it's certainly moisturising enough to ward off the (cosmetic) fine lines that can develop on my extremely dry skin as the day goes on, especially in cold/windy weather. That itself is a tricky if not impossible feat but this Decléor really excels as a day cream-- outperforming the cheaper, more minimal products I'd been using previously (like the Honey Girl Organics cream, or Avène Trixera+) -- in its cosmetic elegance, its surprisingly light texture (for such an effective moisturiser) instantly setting to a polished satin-matte base with subtle skin-evening and texture-blurring effects to rival most makeup primers out there.

Expérience de L'Âge Rich Cream Ingredients

Cosmetic elegance isn't remotely a factor in night cream for me, and I actively enjoy applying a good glooping of goo (whether an East Asian 'gelly', a moisturising mask, or a rather more elegant balm, like this Aroma Night Iris balm) to seal in the strata of unguents beneath.... The Decléor is less sticky, feels smoother and more refined and melts into the skin with greater ease than my Boots Botanics Organic Face Balm -- it's a few steps closer to a cream than the traditional solid balms represented by Boots (can get grainy in the jar, requires a good bit of warming up between hands before application) -- but these are just peripheral considerations. Neither product is rich enough to keep my skin moisturised throughout the night; both work well in conjunction with other serums and moisturising creams to let me wake up with soft, plump skin.

The Iris balm looks prettier as a midday touchup on any nose-flakes etc. (i.e. more discrete, less like you've just basically run to the loo to oil your schnoz instead of powdering it in a moment of topsyturveydom) but I've rarely felt the need for boosters since using the Decléor rich day cream; overall, the price difference (£3.99 vs £34.50 for 15ml) makes the Decléor balm a definite luxury.

Aroma Night Iris Ingredients

The surprise winner for me was the day cream -- I've already purchased the full size and am happily (rather than just grudgingly) skipping foundation most days (good thing, too, as I'm far too pale for most of my usual bases right now). A purchase of the full-sized Iris Aromessence oil is also on the cards, since I don't seem to be getting such dramatic results from a diy mix of hazelnut and sunflower oils.

The products in this post were provided for review. My comments reflect my true feelings and have not been edited or pre-approved in any way; I am not compensated for any reviews/posts.

I'm just going to say it: Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pens (actually pencils) are the closest 'dupes' I've found to my beloved and eye-wateringly expensive THREE Flash Performance liners (drivel).

At £11 each, they still aren't cheap, but I am willing to pay a bit of a premium for such a divinetexture -- describing them as gel-liquids in pencil form feels slightly inadequate, because they rival the THREE liners in sheer unctuous glide *lapses into uncontrollable drooling*

They also equal THREE in pigmentation and lasting power both on lids and waterline; for me they only lose out in relative lack of complexity and unique shades.

Like the THREE liners, they are extremely soft, so extra care when un/re-capping and sharpening is needed to avoid smushing and waste.

Swatches on bare skin, pictures taken in natural sunlight.
I focussed on each row of swatches in turn, which are labelled.

Some of the shades are smooth, with an intensely glossy sheen: Black Noir, Black Blue, Black Cocoa, Oyster Glow.

Another step up the shimmer scale, with fine microshimmer scattered throughout the glossy base: Black Plum (browned purple base with coppery and plum shimmer), Black Tulip (blackened purple base with royal purple, gold and red sparkle), True Teal (tonal sparkle) and Copper Glow (rich burgundy base with copper and gold shimmer).

Sage Gold and Café Gold are filled with a higher concentration of larger gold glitter pieces.

(SOTM stands for Straight On Till Morning (sic :P), a separate range of (drier) glitter liners which had wandered onto the Endless Silky display -- this shade is 2nd Star Twinkle, with a more yellowed than Sage Gold, and with cooler green and gold glitter.

Here's a closer look at the finishes of the two shades I own, drawn on in one motion and unlayered -- check out the consistent intensity and smoothness.

Black Tulip

True Teal

A few looks with these two shades will follow in the next post, so you can see how they perform on the eye.

Those in the UK can buy Pixi from their own site, Boots or a variety of other places. In the US, the brand is sold at Target as well as from their US webstore.

As established, these Endless Silky Eye Pencils are yum.

Here are my two well-loved shades, 03 Black Tulip and 06 True Teal, in action. Usual variable lighting disclaimers apply -- the weather has been seriously mad here, and I avoid flash because it distorts things too badly.

1. True Teal Split Wing

Chanel Abstraction Illusion D'Ombre over the lid and lower lashline, Pixi True Teal to line upper lashline and Tarina Tarantino Amethyst Android Hyperliner to half-mirror it below.

Lips: Fresh Sugar Rosé

2. True(r) Teal Look With Black Tulip To Boot

True Teal blended over the centre of the lid, Black Tulip wing, and the turquoise from Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet (Euro/Asia version) as inner lid highlight.

Lips: Chanel Confidence Extrait de Gloss | Cheeks: Ladurée Cream Cheek Base 102
Base: Vapour stick 90 mixed with Suki lavender CC cream

3. Black Tulip Smudgy Half-Cut Crease

Pretty self explanatory: Black Tulip winged out then feathered back in, to another Chanel Abstraction Illusion D'Ombre base.

More eyespam, because I was going to capture the sparkles in Black Tulip that coordinated so nicely with the peachy coppery corally Abstraction:

okay, fine, flash pic. I hope you can see it now.

Lips: Korres Natural Purple cherry oil gloss, blotted down | Cheeks: Ladurée Cream Cheek Base 102

Constants: Shu Uemura H9 brow pencil Seal Brown, GOSH white eye kohl on lower waterline, Burberry Sheer Concealer 01 under eyes, Mehron LT-1 to spot conceal, Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Clouds as highlighter.

Actually, it took this post for me to realise that I've been on a bit of a wing kick of late. Oops. At least it shows how beautifully these Pixi pencils work for precision/boldness in addition to (as their creaminess suggests) smudgy cream-eyeshadow-ness or hazy kohliness. Maybe I'll post some more varied shapes using these babies in future. With less 'ness'.:P

Even on my extremely dry lids, I get about a half a minute to work with these before they set, which is enough for pretty much any shape or placement; once set, they stay pristine without fading, flaking/shedding shimmer, smudging, or losing precision through an entire day and evening beyond (the last look I wore from 8am to midnight). I can't recommend them highly enough.

As you may remember, By Terry's Rouge Terrybly ranks high among my favourite lipsticks. So I was very excited to try their new Hyaluronic Sheer Rouge line for spring -- sheer, moisturising tinted "hydra-balms" -- retailing at £24 for 3g.

Unfortunately, these proved to be a severe disappointment.
The copy promises:
A hyaluronic acid melt-in lipstick balm that moisturizes, fills in wrinkles and fine lines, boots volume, smoothes and protects the lips in a “plumping glossy” colored veil.

What I got (over three shades on three separate days of testing):
Absolutely no textural improvement in smoothing or plumping and a very minimal moisturising effect that wore off after an hour, leaving lips crying out for (a real) balm.
These are also the sheerest sheers I've ever tried -- we're talking less pigment than Fresh balms -- and requires layering to show up at all, let alone true to tube. Which becomes even more unfortunate when you factor in the very high-slip texture, which makes even a light layer prone to migrate, and which makes layering at all an unappealing proposition, as the shades get cloudier, patchier, and more gloopy-slippery with each additional coat.
Erm...I have no complaints about the packaging (slim silver twist-up tube) or the scent (very, very faint tearose)? I like the absence of shimmer?

Swatches

FIVE swipes each, with one swipe swatches of 1 and 10 at the end of the second row. My arm is about N5, for extrapolation purposes :P

the patchiness of pigment-distribution is especially clear in the bolder shades 5-10

1 Nudissimo

2 Mango Tango

3 Baby Bloom

4 Princess in Rose

5 Dragon Pink

6 Party Girl

7 Bang Bang

8 Hot Spot

9 Dare to Bare

10 Berry Boom

A closer look at one layer of 1 Nudissimo and 10 Berry Boom -- doing nada for the skin texture on my inner wrist, which is a lot less gnarly than that of my lips

As always, your mileage may vary, but these had been garnering such positive reviews online that I was extra surprised/disappointed upon testing them; definitely a Try Before You Buy. I'd also strongly advise those living in a warm climate to check your local testers carefully -- these seem prone to melting/liquefying messily in a bag/car.

For a dissenting rave review, check out Lola's Secret Beauty Blog, which also includes product pics and an ingredients list [which, btw, shows how low down hyaluronic acid sits :P In contrast to the standard waxes and cones, and the dessicant silica -- not uncommon for By Terry 'Hyaluronic' products in my expereience, especially their god-awful, extremely drying Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder.]

Cognac Sable is actually the fourth Tom Ford quad I've owned. The earlier three (Sahara Haze, Silvered Topaz and Titanium Smoke) were basically cool-toned versions, and based on counter visits, the majority of quads seem to be similar plays on the dry, tightly pressed, silkycombinations of shimmer/satin/glitter. The exceptions were two soft 'n' smooth frosts (Enchanted, Cobalt Rush) and the mostly-matte back-to-the-90s Cocoa Mirage.

Specifically, Cognac Sable consists of (colour / finish / pigmentation):
Top left: warm, sandy gold / satin with subtle shimmer / medium
Top right: warm copper / glitter topcoat / sheer
Bottom left: warm, medium chestnut brown / metallic shimmer / pigmented
Bottom right: cool, deep brown with multitonal shimmer / shimmer on a matte base / pigmented

natural light, sunny

Swatches are one-swipe with sponge applicators onto bare arm

natural light

natural light, sunny

artificial light + flash, deliberately fuzzy

I think the last picture best illustrates why it took me so much longer to bid Cognac Sable (vs. True Coralor Narcissist) farewell -- I love some multitonal microglitter, especially the hints of cornflower, copper and lime hiding in that darkest cool brown. In general, I found this quad shone most (pun intended) in low, artificial light; in daylight or brighter artificial light, the copper glitter (top right shade) has to pull more than its fair share of the weight in making for the kind of texturally complex neutral look I like.

Some looks as examples:

1. Copper-Heavy

Lightest sandy gold all over lid and lower lashline, medium chestnut brown in outer v, darkest cool brown to line, craploads of copper glitter over all.

Looks pretty in the closeup, and when I go to look at my pretty lids to cheer myself up midday, it's mighty sparkly. Yay. But this much orange on my eyes leads to the same problem I had with Shiseido Fire: what cheek/lip colours to pair with it that will either be interestingly/intentionally clashy or pleasingly harmonious without tipping into that large intermediate zone of vaguely jarring slightly-off ick?

With nothing tonally harmonious to hand, here are the best clashes I managed: a mild version with Tom Ford Narcissist blush and my naturally very cool pink lips (slick of balm):

And a stronger take, with Wet'n'Wild Megalast lipstick in Cherry Bomb:

Yeah.... not ideal, right?

2. Copper-Free

Without the copper glitter, Cognac Sable becomes a versatile backdrop to whatever bold, bright or even subtle lip I feel like, such as BITE High-Pigment Matte Pencil in Tart [some older shades swatched here]:

Darkest brown mixed with chestnut brown on lid and chestnut mixed with sandy gold on lower lashline, both darkened towards outer corner and angled out slightly, outer corner left 'open'.

Unfortunately, I am a demanding kind of wench and this kind of eye is just too much neutral, not enough kick.

3. Balanced

It actually proved surprisingly tricky for me (aren't neutrals supposed to be no-brainers? jeez) to find just the right way to balance/place the shades in this quad so that I could wear it as a palette and not have it wear me (look 1) or (look 2) make me wonder why I'd bothered when a smudge of brown/gold crayon would've sufficed :P

This ended up my favourite combination, and is further proof that red lipstick (Dolec&Gabbana Attractive Monica) makes everything better. Blush is Dolce&Gabbana Nude.

Lightest sandy gold mixed with darkest cool brown over the and lower lashline, warm chestnut mixed with the sandy gold to softly shade edges into socket, copper glitter dabbed into the centre of the mobile lid and lower lashline.

This is my kind of neutrals with a kick look. It partners a strong lip rather than just milksoppily not-competing (gor forbid, she's wearing too much makeup, painted jezebel etc.) However, loving it also means I have no shortage of such variously kicky neutrals....

Comparison Swatches

Top left sandy gold with Rouge Bunny Rouge Sleeping Undeneath a Mandarin Tree pigment and Angelic Cockatiels eyeshadow; the orange (top right) from Suqqu Komorebi; the rosy brown (mid right) from Shu Uemura Prestigious Bordeaux.

Top right copper glitter with Shu Uemura G Orange 251 (god I love this, btw) and the gold glitter (bottom left) from Prestigious Bordeaux; RMK Ingenious Powder Eyes SH-01 Shiny Brown Gold; Chanel Vision Illusion D'Ombre.

Bottom left chestnut brown with Kiko eyeshadow sticks in 06 Golden Brown and 04 Golden Chocolate [these look so much cooler-toned next to Cognac Sable vs. earlier swatches here]; the bronze (top right) silk smooth pan from Shu Uemura Prestigious Bordeaux; the warm bronze (top right) from Suqqu 03 Matsukasa and cooler bronze (top right) from Suqqu 01 Kakitsubata.

Bottom right dark cool brown with Rouge Bunny Rouge Blackpepper Jay; the darkest (bottom left) matte brown from Suqqu 03 Matsukasa; the cool taupe (starred) from KATE Deep Trap Eyes GY-1; the medium neutral taupe from Maquillage Alexander Wang BR 365.

Even one by one, three of Cognac Sable's shades have a lot more (specifically orange) warmth than the rest of my stable of warmer neutrals. In combination, this pulls the palette far, far warmer than my other brown options, which is why I find it so tricky to pair with the lip/cheek options in my wardrobe.
With Visee Smacky Glam BR-7 Bitter Brown; Suqqu 03 Matsukasa; Maquillage Alexander Wang BR 365.

So this isn't really a truly negative review; while True Coral and Narcissist just didn't work on me, Cognac Sable kind of does, or at least can -- I just happen to own other products I prefer, both tonally and texturally. My personal rule is that I need to be able to pull at least three distinct looks from each palette worn as a palette, to go with lip/cheek shades I already own -- obviously individual shades can then be picked'n'mixed with anything else but them's the ground rules for anything that stays in. This one just requires too much work for too little reward -- it's out.

Tom Ford quads retail for £62 each in the UK.

Soondubu Jigae, or Korean spicy tofu stew, is a definite comfort food staple of mine. I've tried out and made tweaks to half a dozen recipes over this particularly miserable winter (still ongoing, by the way, despite it being March already -- come on, sun) and am ready to declare this version my personal favourite. Since working out the kinks, we now eat this so often I could actually justify buying the traditional black clay pots, but you really don't need to; it tastes just as good in a regular soup bowl :)

Soondubu Jigae recipe (serves 2). Adapted from JinJoo's at Kimchimari.

Ingredients

Okay, please don't close the tab in horror at this point :P I promise most of these aren't particularly esoteric -- I only bring 3 things with me (starred) when I plan to make this at friends' homes, as they usually have the other stuff or easy substitutes to hand (admittedly my friends all seem to be ~~pigs~~ foodies).

Sunflower oil
Mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine -- you can use a sweet sherry or sake + sugar)
Soy Sauce
Oyster Sauce
Fish Sauce (I just use the Thai stuff)
*Korean Soy Sauce for Soup (guk kanjang -- you can use regular soy sauce)
*Salted Preserved Shrimp (saeujeot -- try other Asian shrimp pastes)
Sesame oil
*Korean red chili flakes (gochugaru -- not the same as the 'normal' chili flakes found in supermarkets + in pizza restaurants etc. I really recommend you track this stuff or the powdered or paste versions down -- many Asian shops sell it, not just Korean ones.)
Demerara Sugar (I like the extra mellowness this gives vs. white; any mild brown sugar will do.)

Unlabelled because how patronising: salt & pepper, 1 pack extra soft tofu, spring onion, garlic.
Unpictured because my countertop is small: kombu seaweed, random veg (I usually use courgettes, okra, shiitake/oyster mushrooms -- chestnut in a pinch, maybe a tomato if it's looking dodgy), eggs. Fresh clams are also nice to include if you have any.
Serve with: cooked stickyish short grain rice, kimchi and other banchan if you can be arsed.

Process

For the soup base, mix together:

1 Tbsp Korean red chili powder (gochugaru) or powder/paste

1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 crushed garlic clove
1/4 tsp brown sugar
good pinches of salt pepper to taste

Heat a mix of sunflower oil and sesame oil (about 1 Tbsp total; I usually do half and half) in a small saucepan and add the sauce mix. Cook over gentle heat (just enough that it sizzles gently), stirring regularly, for about 3 minutes until amalgamated into a thickish sauce.

Set sauce aside to cool a bit, then add:
1/4 tsp preserved shrimp (saeujeot)
1/2 tsp Korean soy sauce for soup (guk kanjang)
1/2 tsp fish sauce
And mixagain.

Make the stock:
Pour about 500 ml cold water into your soup pot (earthenware or otherwise), add a piece of dried kombu seaweed (about the size of your palm) and 1/2 tsp salt. Throw in whatever veg you're using (chopped fairly small: mushrooms and okra finely sliced, courgettes diced into smaller than 1cm cubes etc.), bring everything to a gentle simmer for about 10-15 minutes until veg are pretty much cooked through.
Fish out the kombu piece and discard.

Stewing [sorry, no pics for this stage; my lens kept fogging over XD]
Add your sauce to the pot and stir to mix evenly into the stock and give it a quick taste, adjust seasoning if necessary -- it should be quite salty because you have yet to add:
The tofu: break it into a few large pieces by hand (I usually just halve it, quite honestly :P) and lower gently into pot (earthenware or otherwise). If there isn't enough liquid to cover the tofu, add a little more water.
Bring everything to the boil again, then turn the heat to low and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. [If you're using clams, they should probably go in during this period -- you want them to be just cooked by the end.]
Bring the stew back up to the boil and crack in two eggs -- let poach for a few minutes, to taste (I like my yolks very creamy). Chop up a spring onion into fine slivers and throw in at the last minute.

Dish up, trying not to break up your eggs/tofu too much if scooping from a separate pot. Serve while still bubbling in vaguely primordial fashion.

Up to you whether you prefer to dip spoonfuls of rice into the bubbling stew, likely sacrificing a few morsels to the ooze, or if like me, you prefer to use your spoon to fish out meltingly soft pieces of okra and cut into the wobbly tofu, transferring everything, along with boiling spicy gravy, back to the safety of your rice bowl, thence to pick up some grains :)

After two rants and a ramble (my entry for longest-winded meh review in the history of beauty blogging), an all-out rave!

I bought Tom Ford's #13 Eyeshadow Blend Brush (£42) during the Look Good Feel Better event at Harvey Nichols last November, and it's shown up in my end of the week "to be washed" brush pile every week since then. Because it is the perfect blender brush. End of.

Okay, not really....of course I'm going to drivel on a ~~bit~~ lot more.

Firstly, I bought this because I noticed a distinct gap in my brush collection -- a good selection of small blenders and a sufficiency of large ones (considering how small my eyes are), and one lonely Suqqu Eyeshadow M brush in between -- which is so dense it is really more of a laydown-brush-that-doesn't-leave-harsh-edges than a blender per se....

fun with font sizes

Small: NARS #12, Kevyn Aucoin Small Round-Tip Eyeshadow Brush, Suqqu Eyeshadow S, Chikuhodo Artist Red 10-1
Medium: Suqqu Eyeshadow M
Large: Suqqu Eyeshadow L, Stila #9 (old, blue squirrel version)

Besides, what to do when I want to blend out what I've laid down with another colour? Or if I need a totally clean brush to grade out a bold/bright shade or to pull out the pigment into a different shape?

Before acquiring the Tom Ford #13, I would reach for one of my selection of medium-sized brushes which are often marketed as 'blenders' but which I actually find better suited to other jobs:

Concealer: Illamasqua Blending Brush 1, MAC 286, Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush (from the Starter Set)
Cream/Liquid Eyeshadow: MAC 217
Laydown/Stronger Crease: Suqqu M
Outer V/Softer Crease: Hakuhodo G515
All of these work just about adequately for blending, but none of them particularly excels. (From MAC, the 224 is a better blending brush than the 217 in terms of density/shape, but it's far too scratchy for my tastes.)

After much pleasurable research, in search of the ideal combination of fluff and bounce in a tapered head and round ferrule, I asked some US friends to help me acquire the Paula Dorf Perfect Sheer Crease Brush (top, $30) and Trish McEvoy #29 Tapered Blending Brush (bottom, $32) against which to pit the Tom Ford #13 (middle).

This turned out to be a contest between the Paula Dorf and Tom Ford offerings, as I found the Trish McEvoy #29 hairs too coarse (patchy eyeshadow appearance sadface) and scratchy (actual physical pain rly dnw) to be usable -- my guess is that it is made horse hair, as the components of their brushes are apparently shrouded in mystery :P Tom Ford #13 and Paula Dorf Sheer Crease are both goat hair brushes.

Heads

These go neatly from the least tapered (Paula Dorf) to most (Trish McEvoy); notice also how 'neat' and tight the hairs on the Tom Ford brush look in comparison to those on the others, despite its longer head; all three brushes have round ferrules which are pretty similar in size, which also flags up this difference -- the Tom Ford brush has about twice the number of hairs as the Trish McEvoy one packed into the same space.

Tips

The greater density of the Tom Ford brush is even clearer at a head-on angle -- not only does it contain more hairs, but the hairs are more uniform in length -- most of the brush's core hairs are the full length, and there is gentle tapering only at the very outer ring. This also means that the Tom Ford brush keeps it shape better (the hairs 'support' each other) and offers better resistance.

This greater density and resistance adds up to more versatility, and that is why I prefer the Tom Ford over the Paula Dorf (though I'm also very glad to have the latter too). The Paula Dorf Sheer Crease, while equally soft, really only works to soften harsh edges and sheer out pigment -- those traditional 'blending' tasks. The Tom Ford Blend Brush can do these things too, but it also moves pigment around more efficiently (without creating uneven patches or 'skip' marks) -- literally making eyeshadow go further -- enabling me to make many more shapes. [For examples, compare the looks I've posted from November 2012 onwards with the earlier ones -- more variety in blended shapes, no?]

As always, your priorities may vary. I think many would prefer the Paula Dorf brush -- those with a tendency to heavy handedness or those who just prefer soft looks, those who often experience problems with overblending into invisibility or muddiness.... The Sheer Crease brush makes it a snap to create a very polished 'well-blended' look with a few traditional windshield wiper motions. The Tom Ford Blend Brush requires a lighter hand, and a bit more experimentation with which edge of the brush you use, and at what angle; it can be more versatile, but it also requires more work.

Pics to supplement the THOUSANDS OF WORDS, anyone? Adding the Suqqu Eyeshadow M brush and MAC 217 to the mix. Swatch subject is Fyrinnae Daemon's Tail pressed eyeshadow, which I chose precisely because it tends to go annoyingly patchy upon blending.

One dab with the tip, held at at 90º to skin:

Notice how even the Tom Ford circle's edges are -- almost rivalling Suqqu's, albeit softer and less dense. Paula Dorf's brush tip has a smaller circumference and softer edges still, while MAC's is similar, although in oval. Trish McEvoy's is the smallest, sheerest and least even circle.

Pigment packed onto brushes then swept on twice, back and forth:

Suqqu M's perfection as laydown brush should be clear from this -- intense pigmentation, evenly distributed, no harsh edges.
The Tom Ford almost rivals it [though comparing grey squirrel with goat is highly unscientific :P], showing a little patchiness in the middle of the swatch and looking a little wobbly on the edges; it is testament to this brush's impressive control and smooth distribution of pigment [even for a problematic formula], despite its longer hair length.
When I use the MAC 217 for creams I employ circular patting and buffing motions, rather than this kind of sweeping -- this lacklustre swatch shows why it fails for me as blender.
Paula Dorf Sheer Crease's softness and more diffuse hair makes it impractical as a laydown/wash brush, but the soft-yet-even edges of this stripe (sheerer but less wobbly than Tom Ford's) suggest how well it works as a pure blender.
Oy, Trish. I'll let the shameful swatch speak for itself.

So.... I don't seem to have kept my pledge to blog more books....

But my intentions, they were so very intent! I took pics and highlighted quotes in preparation and all. ....and shall continue to pretend that I will eventually work those up into future blogposts. So in the meantime, some short notes about shorts:

i.e. recent short story kick:

Richard Adams, The Iron Wolf-- retellings of various folk 'n' fairytales from various traditions, that really flag up the meta telling process bit. Which can be a bit jarring when the (usually fairly arch and consciously old-fashioned) narratorial tone clashes with the kind of story that needs more ingenuity to sell. I was doomed to disappointment anyway, having so much of Watership Down (especially the El-ahrairah myths) by heart.
Diana Athill, Midsummer Night in the Workhouse--my first fictional Athill and definitely not my last. Uneven like all short story collections, but her prose is gorgeously limpid and unpretentious and her insights no less pointed for being gentle.
Sarah Hall, The Beautiful Indifference -- pretty much maintained my 50:50 experience with SH. Half the stories left me cold (like The Electric Michaelangelo), the other half(including the title story) is still haunting me (like The Carhullan Army); she is never boring.
Stella Gibbons, Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm-- like pretty much every non-Cold Comfort Gibbons I've read, fun and readable enough but very forgettable. The title story is of course the highlight, and it's got a few genuinely LOL gems -- truer to the spirit than Conference at Cold Comfort Farm, at any rate [which I also quite enjoyed, unlike the majority of the fandom :P]
Edith Wharton, Roman Fever and Other Stories -- I love Wharton and shorts show off her strengths (stings) to best advantage.
Giles Gordon and David Hughes ed., The Minerva Book of Short Stories I and Angela Carter ed., Wayward Girls and Wicked Women both collect stories from women writers. I much preferred Angela Carter's collection, dancing around the ideas of feminine subversion from about a hundred years mid C19th-mid C20th. There are a range of styles and genres but my favourite stories were all on the witchier/fabulist side: AC's own 'The Loves of Lady Purple', Leonora Carrington's 'The Debutante', Suniti Najimoshi's 'Three Feminist Fables' and Djuna Barnes' 'The Earth'. [Also, go check out Barnes' Book of Repulsive Women if unfamiliar :D]

More shorts, a play and some poems

Robin Robertson, The Wrecking Light-- technically brilliant, and conceptually meaty but a bit relentlessly austere like so much good modern poetry. Any recommendations?
Richard Bean, England People Very Nice -- revisiting a play I saw a few years back. Turns out? Still dreck.
Good Evening Mrs Craven, The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter Downes -- I can't help liking MPD despite her oh so cushy middle class cosiness. These were nice; her journalism offers a bit more kick.
Katherine Mansfield, The Garden Party and Other Stories -- more kick still, and overall my favourite of all these collections. Read it online here.

Longer but still short stories

Muriel Spark, The Ballad of Peckham Rye -- predictably snide but surprisingly unmalicious for Spark. Also not terribly funny -- maybe her kind of wit needs that cruelty to work.
Julia Strachey, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding-- one of those slight but HIGHLY PORTENSHUS volumes that reinforce all my emperor's new clothes biases about literary fiction.

Random Recommendation

Firebrand, by Ankaret Wells is a frivolous romp of an adventure-romance (with airships!), set in the Brontë's deliciously lurid fantasyland of Angria. Like Wells' earlier science fantasies (Requite series), its clever, knowing games with gender and genre leave this geeky feminist at least with a helpless, utterly charmed grin on my face....

Buy it with 20% off from lulu with SPARK until March 8th or from amazon (.com or .co.uk)

For me, Blend Eyeshadow quad EX-12 Hisuidama (翡翠珠, jade pearl) is the standout product of Suqqu's tenth anniversary "Vintage Pearl" spring collection. As with all Suqqu products, the EX- prefix indicates 'limited edition'; like the core quads, this retails for £45 in the UK.

For this collection, Suqqu has changed to frosted iridescent white casing and debuted a new pearlescent eyeshadow formula and I am a huge fan of both, because no fingerprints woot! and the new formula feels incredible, respectively. It differs from the dry, tightly-packed silk of the core quads 01-06, from the gossamer sparkle of 07/08 and from the denser, molten-creamy feel of the later metallics in quads 09 onwards; instead it is silk so smoothed and lustrous it feels almost literally fluid -- weightlessly liquid, like a dry-oil.

angled to suggest the cases' iridescence

All three spring quads: EX-11 Sumiredama, EX-12 Hisuidama, EX-13 Ginsudama

While all three quads feature the same new eyeshadow texture/formula (feel) they differ in terms of finishandpigmentation (looks). Which is why it isn't EX-11 Sumiredama (which has been making the biggest waves online) but EX-12 Hisuidama which has my heart. [More specific drivel about Sumiredama will follow in its own review post. While also shown here, I did not acquire EX-13 Ginsudama for myself -- a friend let me photograph hers.] Admittedly, skintone is a factor -- Hisuidama is likelier to please the paler/cooler, just as Ginsudama the warmer/darker, while Sumiredama is balanced in between.

Closer Look

angled to capture the duochrome/reflects

*Top left: icy blue-white pearlescent duochrome with tonal sparkle, pigmented
*Top right: soft sage shimmer with rose-gold reflect, pigmented
*Bottom left: cool brown satin base with subtle green duochrome and blue, green and pink microshimmer, pigmented
Bottom right: cool cherry-blossom pink matte base with sparse silver sparkle, medium pigmentation

The three starred shades are duochromes, but in a subtle way, much less pronounced than the blue shift in the taupe and purple shades of EX-11 Sumiredama. But what what I find uniquely interesting is this quad is the shift in opacity which makes all four shades look alternately icy (transparent) and soft (milky) in different lighting or at different angles; just like jade, in fact. In my opinion it's not the green shade Hisuidama/Jade Pearl is named for, but this cloudy/jewelled aspect of all four colours.
I'll let the menny menny pictures which follow illustrate this -- if you have a neater way of explaining it, please leave me a comment!

Swatches

One swipe with the included sponge applicators onto bare arm, various spammy angles because I couldn't capture the flashes/textures of all four stripes at once :/

natural light, overcast

angled, sunny

even more angled, still sunny

dark + flash, deliberately fuzzy

I still wasn't happy with how the brown shade photographed -- its green duochrome flash is subtle, but definitely there, and distinct from the flashes from its pink, blue and green shimmer -- so took some more pics -- can you see the base flashing green at the very centre of the swatch?

Mixed Swatches

Suqqu textures have traditionally been a joy to layer and mix, and it's something I've really missed doing with the denser textures and more uniform finishes of the more recent palettes (09 onwards -- none of which I've liked enough to keep :P). So I'm thrilled that the lightweight dry-oil feel of these quads again make mixing an unadulterated pleasaure -- Hisuidama in particular, with its four distinct finishes (vs four pearlescents in Sumiredama), is a dream to layer.
I've only done basic two-shade mixes, but you can absolutely meld all four shades together with a visible increase in complexity each time and zero muddiness. As the individual swatches showed, each of these shades already contain microshimmer that echoes another shade or two in the quad, so in effect you're just amping up a particular flash whose potential was already there.

different angle to show the duochrome/flash effect of layering these

Palette Comparisons

Does it surprise anyone that I have a weakness for springy icecreamy combinations? The most comparable ready-made palettes in my stash are THREE 4D Eyeshadow Palette 06 Tranquil Oasis and Sonia Rykiel Quatre Eyeshadow 10 [also swatched here].

Drab lighting aside, Hisuidama is noticeably softer, both tonally and texturally. THREE Tranquil Oasis isn't really photographing as clearly as I'd like, but it mixes two glitter topcoats (top left and bottom right), a pigmented metallic cream (top right) and a sage green satin with pink glitter (bottom left) -- as if the top right sage green in Hisuidama with its warm pink flash had the contrast turned way up.

The Suqqu palettes I own which overlap with Hisuidama are 07 Komorebi (brown/green), 08 Mizuaoi (pink/blue), and 02 Koedama (sage green).

Skipping the bottom right primer shade in these, I swatched them next to Hisuidama on the gloomiest day ever (sorry.)

Individual Comparisons

Top left blue-white with the blue (top right) from Suqqu 08 Mizuaoi, Addiction Ice Storm, the blue (bottom right) from Sonia Rykiel 09, the blue glitter (bottom right) from THREE 06 Tranquil Oasis, Shu Uemura P 610 (first gen, disc.)

Top right sage green with Rouge Bunny Rouge Periwinkle Cardinal, the top two shades from Suqqu 02 Kokedama (individually and mixed together), the starred shades from KATE Deep Trap Eyes GR-1, Kiko Super Color Eyeliner 113 Olive Green and Addiction Eye Lacquer WP Swimming Pool.
Yes, I may have a bit of an addiction to sage green shadows.... but hey, no real dupes! The closest I can get is from mixing the top two shades of Kokedama, which is coincidentally the 'out' that allows Hisuidama in.

Bottom left cool brown with Suqqu single EX-22 Nibidama (disc.), Rouge Bunny Rouge Eclipse Eagle and Blackpepper Jay. Hisuidama's brown has a noticeably unique green flash in comparison to the more usual purple- or grey-tinged cool browns.

Bottom right pink with Shiseido PK305 Peony, Shu Uemura G135 and ME126 (both current Colour Atelier shades), the pink (top left) from Suqqu EX-05 Usumomokurumi (LE Christmas 2011), pink (bottom left) from EST Emotional Aura Eyes 03 (disc.), pink (bottom left) from Sonia Rykiel 10, and Rouge Bunny Rouge Capricious Nightingale.
Hisuidama's pink fills the satin-pastel niche in my pink collection, perfect for the 'modern '60s' trend bandwagon I'm currently hitching a ride on.

As mentioned in my review (er....somewhere in there), Hisuidama's jade-like shifts between cloudiness and clarity was an aspect that caught my imagination from the get-go. Echoed by the insane weather here: springy midteens one day, snowing subzero the next and consequently, the lighting -- it varies, I am sorry!

1. Clear

A similar kind of discrete placement to the third look in this Coup de Foudre diary post, but Hisuidama's inbuild-pastelliness makes the addition of white as a negative-space element unnecessary.

Pink all over the lid, brown to line and lifted in a soft/smudgy flick, blue-white as highlight on inner halves of socket and lower lashline, green on the outer halves.

Base: Vapour Atmosphere Luminous Foundation 090 mixed with Suki whitening CC cream
Lip and cheek: Givenchy Le Rouge Rose Taffetas
Prematurely celebrating spring with a bucolic blouse....

2. Cloudy

(technically gale-force-windy-and-snowy-wtf)

I wanted to show off this quad layered, so pink as a base all over lid into socket, brown blended up from lashline over it, blue-white dabbed into very centre above it all. On the bottom lashline, I layered the green over the brown, with a dot of the blue at the inner corner and lined my waterline with Suqqu Eyeliner Creamy 05 Green Blue.

artificial light, sorry

I left a little of the pink on its own peeking out at the edge of the brown -- hopefully you can see it better in this pic:

Trying to capture a little of the textural variation that made this look not-uglee IRL -____-

bright artificial light

Base: mix of RCMA foundation in Porcelain and Ivory [so, so dry!]
Cheeks: the pink shade from Hisuidama -- doesn't it make a pretty blush? :D
Lips: Chanel Fatale Extrait de Gloss

Constants: Suqqu Makeup Base Creamy, Burberry Sheer Concealer 01, Maybelline Rocket WP mascara, Shu Uemura H9 brow pencil in Seal Brown and Suqqu Brow Pen in 02 Brown.

Because I am all contrary-like, one of my first impulses on being presented with a soft, pastel, dusty quad is to try and go all graphic with it.
Blah blah poor lighting disclaimers.

Long

The blue-white, green and brown laid across the eye in long sideways 'v' shapes [articulate!], with minimal blending. Pink popped under the brow, in imitation of my favourite Suqqu ad from Spring 2009. I used just the one brush, wiping it off into a soft muslin cloth between colours: Shu Natural 10 brush.

Blush: the pink from Hisuidama, again
Lips: Fresh Sugar Rosé [I'd intended to go for a stronger pastel pink with Becca Lychee, but chapped lips prevented it]

NB: Maaaaajor mascara fail on left eye due to my ordering a brown one by mistake, failing to notice until I'd applied it, then attempting to layer a black over its apocalypse-proof Japanese stiffness. -____-

2. Short

This shape was meant to be round, but I think this combination of highlighter and crease placement just leaves my eyes looking....shorter rather than anything else.

Green over the lid and lower lashline, brown smudged above lashline, pink in the socket, blue-white at inner and outer corners -- this shade is seriously pigmented, so shapes more than it highlights when used on a small, dense brush (No7 Smokey Eyeliner).

Blush: a slightly stronger but still pastel pink with the two sides of Suqqu EX-02 Mizumomo, mixed (LE Autumn 2012)
Lips: sticking with Suqqu: Creamy Glow 1 Saebana

Both: Vapour Atmosphere Luminous foundation 090 mixed with Suki CC whitening cream as base, Burberry Sheer concealer 01 under eyes, Maybelline Rocket WP mascara, Shu Uemura H9 brow pencil Seal Brown and Suqqu brown pen 02 Brown.

My current favourite Japanese mascara is Fasio's Ultra Curl Lock Volume formula [reviewed here], so of course I ordered their latest release as soon as it showed up on adambeauty. Er... and Hyper Stay Mascara Volume Plus to boot [review to follow] because if lighting's going to strike twice, it might strike thrice? Cosmic law of busses or something.

Ultra Curl Lock and Hyper-Stay Magne-Plus also come in lengthening formulas, but there's only one Full Dynamic Volume.

...as suggested by its distinctly stumpier packaging

Full Dynamic Volume comes with a traditional straight bristle-brush wand, while the other two are curved plastic combs (dual-sided for Ultra Curl Lock):

In the whirl of mascara purchase frenzy, I may have chosen the brown shade of Full Dynamic Volume mascara (BR300) by mistake XD But! This worked out quite nicely, as it's a very good dark and balanced cool brown without the strong red tones that can make my eyes look rabbitty/serial-killery/serial-rabitt-killery or any permutation thereof.

In fact, I've been actively enjoying pairing it with soft, springy shades for extra bambiliciousness.

Today's rediscoveries:

Lunasol Three Dimensional Eyes 03 Mysterious Beige (one of the very first things I drivelled about! Still v. fond; only Lunasol quad I've kept this long)
Burberry Bright Plum Lip Cover depot (one of my all-time favourite lip shades)
and Dainty Doll 001 Hippy Hippy Shake blush (repressed into an empty 26mm pan after the unfortunate accident mentioned in my review)

Before mascara

One coat of Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara BR300

...gives softly volumised, yet separated and fluttery lashes without obnoxious lengthening fibres, and is even usable on my lower lashes (where I absolutely loathe any extra length). The formula is a good balance of wet enough to be effortlessly clump-free in brushing through, and quick-drying enough to hold a curl for days. I do mean quick-drying -- if you want to layer/build substantially, work fast, and on one eye at a time, because this dries extremely dry -- classically crispy in fact -- and is highly unforgiving of a further layer once set (see my sad left eye in Look 1 here for proof).

This is the least lengthing Japanese formula I've ever tried, which perhaps exaggerates its just above-average volumising effect; it's a better fit for my preferences than most -- not quite as dramatic as Ultra Curl Lock Volume, but more girly-fluttery, and also much quicker/easier to slick on in the morning. Like Ultra Curl Lock Volume, it wears like iron and does require a separate mascara remover (my stand-by is still Heroine Make) in addition to cleansing oil to minimise friction/time-wastage/swearing.

Full-face context

EX-11 Sumiredama (菫珠, violet pearl) is the second quad I acquired from Suqqu's limited edition spring-2013-and-tenth-anniversary- collection. Unlike EX-12 Hisuidama, which stole my heart [and in whose review I blahblah about packaging and the new pearlescent texture], this was more of a mixed bag -- unlike the majority of the raving blogosphere, I only love one shade in this quad, like a second, find the third negligible and the fourth ultimately not worth the trouble. This is partly due to my unusually pale skintone -- the peach/pink shade widely described as a highlighter by more tanned bloggers is too dark to highlight on me, but lacks the heft to really work as anything else -- but my freakishly specific textural preferences also play a part.

Let's start with the positive: the colour combination

*Top left: warm peach-pink frost with soft gold reflect, sheer-medium
*Top right: neutral taupe shimmer with cooler aqua duochcome, pigmented
*Bottom left: warm red-purple shimmer with aqua duochrome, very pigmented
Bottom right: cool lemon frost, very sheer
The starred shades are duochromes: the effect strongest in the magenta, also strong in the taupe and very subtle in the peach -- as you can tell from the product pics, there isn't a single angle at which the purple doesn't flash aqua, while the peach just shifts from warmer to cooler versions of itself. In finish, all four shades are frosts, mainly differing in terms of opacity -- the sheerest lemon yellow appearing least solid/opaque only because its shimmer is less tightly packed, and vice versa for the purple.

For me, the textural variety in EX-12 Hisuidama is far preferable, but I think again Suqqu's clever naming intimates more than you might think -- the identical finishes in Violet Pearl, worn all together, do evoke something of dusty/velvety violet petals as well as the blandly smooth surfaces of pearls.

Swatches

ONE swipe with sponge applicators

natural light, shade

TWO swipes of the peach and yellow

natural light, sunny

THREE swipes of the peach and yellow

natural light, sunny

The first picture illustrates how sheer the lighter two shades are; the last picture, with both built up to stand alongside the darker two, shows how closely we're edging to wall-of-frost territory if all four colours are worn as colours -- terrible news for a frost-hater like me, who fell for the idea of this palette because of the combination of all four shades together. :(

Mixed Swatches

The monotextural meh is exacerbated by the fact that the the taupe sits on a yellow-brown base which blends out very similarly to the lemon yellow, while the purple shade blends out into a warm reddened plum which likes to eat up the warm pink-peach. Which combines to make this quad a further disappointment, once layered.

No real new shades or even particularly fresh nuances; certainly nothing as dramatic as the genuine duochrome flashes you can create by layering Hisuidama.

Palette Comparisons

Time for a wee compare'n'contrast with some other palettes I own. I already mentioned that I love the idea of Sumiredama's colour combination, right? Because it seems that I have some overlapping palettes already: THREE 04 Art of Parties (purples, yellow, yellow-brown), EST Emotional Aura Eyes 03 (dc) (yellow, pink, taupe, plum), and Hourglass Exhibition duo (taupe, plum).

The EST 03 quad illustrates the kind of balance between four shades (all well pigmented, though of different finishes) I'd been hoping for from Sumiredama. The Suqqu quad is overall warmest, and softest -- THREE Art of Parties the most varied. I kind of threw Hourglass Exhibition in the mix to suggest just how unusual Suqqu's 'taupe' and 'plum' are to the shades we tend to think of when those words are used -- definitely neutrals with a twist.

Despite ousting 04 Keshizumi [review] to make room for Sumiredama, I still have a goodly collection of Suqqu quads which overlap with it: 08 Mizuaoi (pink/purple), 06 Ginbudou (gold/purple), EX-05 Usumomokurumi (LE Christmas 2011) (pink, warm taupe) and 10 Sakuragi (dc) (yellow, warm taupe, plum).

While not technically the most 'neutral', Sumiredama is the most low-contrast of any of these quads. The closest analogue is Sakuragi, but while that quad (inspired by the tones of sakura tree bark) coalesces austere grey tones, Suremidama's shades are all lit by a warm yellow/peach glow -- two very different springtime moods.

Individual comparisons

Top left peach-pink with Rouge Bunny Rouge Sleeping Under a Mandarin Tree and Eaten All the Cherries pigments, and Angelic Cockatiels and Fire-Tailed Sunbird pressed shadows; the top right orange from Suqqu 07 Komorebi and the top right pink from Suqqu 08 Mizuaoi.

Sumiredama's peachy-pink is sheer, and most similar to Fire-Tailed Sunbird, albeit with a weaker duochrome, and lacking the RBR shade's clear vibrancy.

Top right taupe duochrome with:

Rouge Bunny Rouge Solstice Halcyon layered with Periwinkle Cardinal

Fyrinnae Damn Paladins (now known as Work Safe Blue)

the top right taupe from Suqqu EX-05 Usumomokurumi

all four shades of Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama layered

clearer angle for the flash

Fyrinnae Damn Paladins/Work Safe Blue has the most similar (yellowed-taupe) base, but its duochrome is paler and much stronger, almost obscuring the base altogether. RBR Periwinkle Cardinal has the right mix of blue/green to mimic Sumiredama's aqua flash, and its grey tones help pull the more mauve-based Solstice Halcyon into neutral territory. Contrast Sumiredama's taupe base with the definite mauve tones of Usumomokurumi's taupe, next to it. Hisuidama is.....my pretty, pretty princess. *sigh*

Bottom left plum duochrome with Catrice C'Mon Chameleon; Fyrinnae Conjuror; the darker shade of Hourglass Exhibition; the bottom left purple from Suqqu 08 Mizuaoi; the top left purple silk smooth from Shu Uemura Prestigious Bordeaux; Pixi Black Tulip pencil; THREE Eye Belong pencil.

Sumiredama's plum has a base whose mutedness and warmth only really comes through when contrasted against cooler, clearer purples from Mizuaoi, Pixi and THREE. This warmth is distinctly red-toned, rather than Prestigious Bordeaux's scattered pink-and-gold complexity, or Exhibition's brown notes. It is in fact, pretty much what you'd get by mixing Catrice's C'Mon Chameleon (the better version of MAC Club) with Fyrinnae Conjuror and subtracting a good dose of glitter.

Bottom right lemon yellow with the leftmost gold in KATE Deep Trap Eyes GR-1 (dc); the top left shade from EST 03; the top left warm gold from Suqqu 06 Ginbudou; the bottom right glitter from THREE 04 Art of Parties; and Rouge Bunny Rouge Unforgettable Oriole.

Again, Sumiredama's gold likes to disappear, even in a heavy fingertip swatch. As you can see, I have no problem getting either paler (KATE/EST) shades or more delicately diffuse textures (Ginbudou, THREE) to show up on my skin. WHAT IS THIS CRUEL WITCHCRAFT.

(I will post a few looks with Sumiredama over the week, but may as well admit now that it's gone straight back 'out' again. Please don't burn the heretic.)

i.e. two filled muffin recipes for a midweek treat.
For inquiring minds, I like a balance of fluff and cakishness in mine and follow The Muffin Method. Feel free to adapt to your own preferences.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filled Cupcakes with Streusel Topping (adapted from lemonsugar)

makes 20 (overstuffed and portly) or 24 moderate cupcakes

Filling:
Beat together 200g full-fat cream cheese (i.e. a regular tub of Philly) with 140g of icing sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste (I like quite a hit of tartness, to cut through all the cream and spice) until smooth and fluffyish. Cover and refrigerate.

Streusel Topping:
Crumble together 80g plain flour; 70g demerara sugar; 70g unsalted butter chilled and diced; and 1 tsp each ground cinnamon and nutmeg. I do this in a food processor because I tend to laziness and it tends to clumpiness, but you can of course rub everything together by hand. Refrigerate if necessary.

Muffins:
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Beat together wet ingredients: 4 eggs, 400g caster sugar, 295ml vegetable oil and 1 can of pumpkin puree (425g) until smooth. Bring up to room temperature.
In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients together: 375g plain flour, 1tsp each ground cinnamon and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp baking powder.

Check to see if your oven's ready and get everything together:

Add wet ingredients to dry and fold in until just combined (as with all muffins, do not overmix or they'll turn out all rubbery and sad D: I stick to under a dozen stirs.)

Fill each muffin case 1/3 full of batter, add a teaspoon of cold filling, then pour over more batter to fill the cup about to about 3/4 full.

my rather overfilled muffins -- this is the 2nd tray, so I ended up with 20 vs 24.

Sprinkle a dessert-spoonfull (2tsp) of topping over each muffin. Bake for 20-25mins or until toothpick comes out crumbless.

Allow to cool before eating so that the filling can set and get all unctuously cheescakey, unless you like primordially oozy filling (hey, I'm not judging....)

Matcha Adzuki Muffins

makes 12

A basic fluffy muffin with interest from a classic combination of Japanese green tea (matcha) and sweetened adzuki paste.

You can be virtuous and make your own by soaking dried adzuki beans overnight and then boiling for a few hours until soft before adding sugar....or buy the perfectly nice canned stuff [check the ingredients list -- it should ideally just contain adzuki beans, sugar and maybe one preservative]. Mashing is optional and I play it by ear -- sometimes a silky sieved cream is just what I want, especially in a topping or for swirling, and sometimes I like the texture of the tinned version as is, half silky smooth, half the beans left whole.

Recipe:
Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Beat together wet ingredients until very smooth: 2 large eggs, 85g caster sugar, 100ml vegetable oil, 240ml milk. Bring to room temperature.

In separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: 300g plain flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1-3 Tbsp matcha powder (to taste), 1/2 tsp salt.

Dump wet ingredients into dry and mix roughly; a few lumps are fine.

Fill muffin cups to 1/3 with batter; add 1 tsp of sweetened adzuki bean paste (here it's straight out of the tin); add more batter to fill cups to 3/4.

Bake for 30 minutes until well risen and toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

sorry, all my pics came out fuzzy -- low blood sugar no doubt :P

This recipe doesn't use up a whole tin of adzuki bean paste, so just clingfilm over your leftovers and put it in the fridge where it should keep for a few days. I like spreading some on a warm brioche for breakfast, spooning over ice cream (especially matcha ice cream, or if wanting to go all trad, grilling up a Japanese rice cake or two to pair with it.

Since falling down the sparkly rabbithole in 2011, I've owned every single shade of eyeshadow made by Fyrinnae at some point (generous makeup buddies conspiring to spoil me with minis or samples during eyeshadow no-buys).

Since pressing my plethora of minis, I've been reaching for them much more frequently, especially since last year's Fyrinnae week (parts one, two, three, four) -- so frequently, that I've finished many a sample, and gained a clear idea of which shades I wanted to repurchase (in full sizes or further mini form) and which I really didn't use often enough to keep.

And now I present myfinal* forty Fyrinnae, pressed into Yaby 15mm pans, and housed in a neat Yaby 40-well palette (both from The Makeup Artist Boutique).

*subject to change at any time due to discontinuations, new releases or personal fickleness

Top Row Left to Right: AM Electric Stardust // Aye, Captain // OMGWTF // Bitey Tyrannosaur // Dragon's Wing // Ethereal Eire // Enchanting Otters // Mystic

Row 2: AM Futuristic Glamrock // Anemone // Dapper Mr Shark // Lorem Ipsum // AM Faerie Glamour // Jaguar // Boytoy // AM Madame&Eve's

Row 3: Herbivore // When I Grow Up // AM Sequinned Master // Meerkat // Cuddlefish // Parental Advisory // Mystical Hedgehog // Wicked

Row 4: Space Kitty // Cupcake Frosting // Superstar // Picture It: Sicily // Scarlet Macaw // AM Sultry Samhain // Bonfire Spirits // Ravishing Red Wolf

Bottom Row: Nijiro // Bifrost // Lucky Charmed // Dressed To Kill // Newcastle // Sake & Sashimi // Dinosaur Plushie // Immortality

Pictures get deliberately increasingly fuzzy, to try and capture some of the complexity.

Swatches will follow when the weather (*impotent fist-shake*) allows.

The final mascara of my Fasio trio [click through for reviews of Full Dynamic Volume and Ultra Curl Lock Volume] is Hyper-Stay Magne-Plus Curl Volume BK001, and it is indeed the ungainliest of them all.

A classic case of curiosity killed the no-buy. As the packaging suggests, the idea behind this mascara is similar to that behind Ultra Curl Lock, but this predates that excellent formula by two whole generations (eons in Japanese product terms).

Main thing to note: Hyper-Stay only has half the comb of Ultra Curl Lock! And, as I always find it easier to use the outward comb (same goes for cult fave Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus), it is for me exactly the wrong half. To add insult to injury, there's an awkward hump right at the base of the Hyper-Stay comb which likes to stamp a little indelible black rectangle riiiiiight at the corner of my eye* i.e. for maximum interference with ye painstakingly evened-out winged liner.
*and infuriatingly exactly beyond the edge of my mascara guard. I call shenanigans.

If the formula was awesome, I could forgive this: use another wand, spend another princely $1 on a bigger mascara guard.... but it's not. It's the kind of formula that 'volumises' by clumping several lashes together, which isn't the very worst kind on my personal scale (that'd be a curl-wilter, shortly followed by a splindly spiderer) but sits pretty far down...

Bare

One coat of Fasio Hyper-Stay Magne-Plus Curl Volume BK-001 on top lashes only

As with the other two Fasio mascaras, this sets quickly and to impressively apocalypse-proof standards. Which is awesome for curl-holding and synchronised swimming competitions, less so for combing-through or cleanup -- both of which this formula sorely needs.

This is so far beyond my clump-tolerance that I'm genuinely wondering if I should've gone with the lengthing version for once (Hyper-Stay Magne-Plus Curl Long BK001), with its daintier finer-toothed comb applicator.... if anyone can weigh in on that or any other mascara loves (Japanese or otherwise), I'd love to hear from you.

All three Fasio mascaras retail for ¥1260 and can also be found on adambeauty, ichibankao, and ebay.

Ford Farewell I: Tom Ford True Coral lipstick

Ford Farewell II: Tom Ford Narcissist Blush

Lip Love

Mix Of the Day

Skincare: Dabbling with Decléor

Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen Swatches

Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen Looks: Black Tulip and True Teal

Field Swatches and Reviewlet: By Terry Hyaluronic Sheer Rouge

Ford Farewell III: Tom Ford Cognac Sable Eyeshadow Quad

Winter Warmer: Soondubu Jigae

Ford Hello! Tom Ford 13 Eye Shadow Blend Brush Review and Comparison

World Book Day 2013

Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama Review, Swatch and Comparison

Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama Looks I: Clear and Cloudy

Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama Looks II: Long and Short

Mascara Review: Fasio Full Dynamic Volume BR300

Suqqu EX-11 Sumiredama Swatch, Review, Comparison

Midweek, Midmuffin

Stash Consolidation: Fyrinnae

Mascara Review: Fasio Hyper-Stay Magne-Plus Curl Volume BK001