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Givenchy Le Rouge 302 Hibiscus Exclusif and 303 Corail Décolleté

August 9, 2013, 9:53 am
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In this episode of Pattern Recognition, Consumerist Drone Mark III No.38759870 (I've had an upgrade) displays two new shades of Givenchy Le Rouge... or are they? *shrieky violins*

Left: 302 Hibiscus Exclusif | Right: 303 Corail Décolleté


One swipe swatches straight from the bullet, because these are lovely pigmented knobs encased in leather... that sentence did not end where I'd expected it to. For more drivel about the (excellent) formula, see my original review of 201 Rose Taffetas.

Unlike 201 Rose Taffetas, these two shades aren't available everywhere -- 302 Hibiscus Exclusif I bought in Germany, 303 Corail Décolleté in the UK, so some international heisty shenanigans may be in order if you mean to acquire either.

302 Hibiscus Exclusif is a cool Barbie pink, my latest stab at conquering an irrational fear -- I mean, my bare lips are already corpsically blue enough, tyvm. To compound matters, this shade has a bit of that naturally-artificially-acid brightness of real pink hibiscus flowers, which in more prosaic terms means a white base -- something which can scupper even a bright shade for me (with clear brights, my clear, neutral skin lets me go as clownish as I please with pretty much any tone). [I'm talking opaque lip colours only here; eyeshadows are a whole 'nother kettle of fish I feel.]
eyes: Kiko 33 Smoky Grey eyeshadow stick, Paul&Joe eye gloss duo Nice, RBR Bohemian Waxwing
cheeks: Canmake clear cream cheek CL04
So while not the worst kind of white-bright on me (er, that would be Shiseido Fuchsia *gags for lyfe*) I still felt extremely peculiar in Hibiscus Exflusif -- see how it 'sits on top of' my skin compared to my comfort-zone bright pinks? Lipstick Queen Bright Rose Sinner, By Terry Hot Cranberry, Guerlain Girly, Chanel Genial (dc).
Genial, which is the shade I was trying to replace when I bought this Givenchy number [I love it so much I've almost finished my second tube], is not only warmer and therefore more modern, but has that extra scintilla of brightness which makes it more of an all-out neon on me [look 2 here], which in turns renders the whole question of flattery a bit redundant.
So, as with every other cool pink lipstick ever, Hibiscus Exclusif is heading back out again. And the next time my brain thinks it wants to retry this experiment, I'm slapping it with a wet codfish.


303 Corail Décolleté, on the other hand, is right up my street.
eyes: Addiction Soda Lunch
cheeks: Chicca09 Feels Love, very lightly
Seriously, Right. Up. My. Street.
Revlon Fire&Ice and Strawberry Suede (dc); Lancome Corset, Addiction Revenge cheekstick, Chanel Genial (dc) again, Guerlain Colére.
To my shame, FOUR of them share a modern matte finish with Corail Décolleté: Strawberry Suede, Corset, Revenge and Colére and three are very similarly scented (Givenchy, Guerlain, Lancôme). In my defence, they do all look more different on my lips than on my arm (Colére is notably deeper and more red, Revengesofter and less pink, Corset rosier, Strawberry Suede more orange; the latter two formulas also suffer in comparison) but still. Clearly a genre I'm a wee bit obsessed with. I thought I was being so clever banning myself from all the reds in the Le Rouge line....oy.
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Magazine Monday: Trend Round-Up

August 12, 2013, 3:39 pm
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How's everyone doing this Monday? Yeah... who's up for some more Asian pics as distraction?

I spent some time during my rare weekend of leisure sorting through the pile of magazines cluttering up the living room (followed by a thrilling jaunt to the recycling bin because my life is so fabulous like that) and here be the fruits. For pinsterity.

Firstly, some looks from the Spring/Summer 2013 edition of Marie Claire Beauty Bible (blogged about previously), always a good source of more catwalk-inspired makeup:

Seriously elongated eyes, white wash, bold lips = duh, I love this.

(One of my favourite ads this season also does something similar, but...with more balls.)

Here's a very pretty, uptown take on tropical shades. And the peek of colour at the outer corner thing is something else I've been wearing a lot recently (e.g. look 2 here).

Blue/Orange combos are another summer classic (navy/peach for the 'neutral', aseasonal version) and even this graphic placement could be made very wearable in softer shades and finishes.

The '60s style socket outline is something I've been loving all summer, complementing my pixie perfectly, and, balanced by something on the lower lashline, works even on my small, hooded eyes. The precise feathering just at the outer edge in this look makes it a very elegant, modern rendition (in pictures from the era, most of the eye makeup was incredibly messy); the fineness of the line also makes the most of limited lid space. Also, PAHRPAL.

Call me tacky, I care not -- always have love for looks like this. I do appreciate the subversive mitigating factors here: choppy hair, natch, but also the the bruisey plum-brown shading under her lower lashline, the imprecise lip and undone brows, and the fact that the powder blue looks so texturally as well as tonally powdery -- all edging this look into a deliberate parody of itself.

More girly exaggeration -- the sheer excess made me stop at this page rather than flipping right past yet another pink-styled-with-cupcakes-and-macarons ed.; in makeup terms, the fact that the pastels are all frosted metallics makes the standard robotic fashion posing seem kind of...intentional, for once.



One reason I so love So-En (previously professed) is that it eschews most of these more obviously yawnsome magazine conventions. The beauty section is small, but always throws up something fun.
So-En June 2013
So-En May 2012

The more populist/everygirl mags I rarely buy anymore, since funnelling money into sewing magazines instead since Growing The Hell Up, but one factor will almost always make me succumb. And that is seeing my girl Elli-Rose on the cover. I just caint quit her. :(
Even though it turns out that her special cover-worthy spread is (as I totally knew it would be) all of 2 pages long, and features 'beauty secrets' of such vapidity (I have small lips so I wear lipliner!!) that I think I can still feel brain dribbling down the back of my neck....
BEAUTY (美人記) June 2013
Ah well, at least that edition focused on lower lashline makeup -- something I like so much I have a whole pinboard dedicated to it.
A very natural take on outer-lower-corner definition, mostly to balance all the gold-toned highlighting going on:

A more fun, trendy version (which nonetheless also involves careful shading):

And, er, 'mixed race' eyes. I presume because of the fashionability of this kind of look on the mixed-race models popular in Japanese magazines but who the hell knows, because this magazine in particular included a whole lot of bizarre racially inflected terms, and handy 'advice' on how to make one's skin look less 'South-East Asian'. JFC. My own fault for forgetting rule no.1: never learnt to read, it gives you wrinkles?

Right, makeup.
Um. Here's another lower lashline look I liked from Majesty May 2013:

Majesty is a newish Japanese magazine which I sampled, because the first couple of issues were on sale (not a promising sign) and because Elli-Rose. DAMMIT. The magazine is meh -- basically a less quirky Vivi featuring the usual suspects and with a more Nylon-y layout -- but Elli-Rose! All debauched-like in winged-out eyeshadow.

The unbalanced-extended-upper-lashline look (better names welcome) is another trend I've been noticing, which makes for a nice complement to the lower-lashline one; both trends focus attention at the outer corner.
Here is a Resexxy (...I know. She's bringing armpit back.) ad:

And two more looks from Majesty:
red/pink eye makeup is another resurgent trend this autumn/winter
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Jelly Season: Lips

August 16, 2013, 2:57 pm
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Anticlockwise from left:
Addiction Lip Gloss Miss You More and Psychadelic
Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss Fatale 
*Coffret D'Or Rouge Essence RD198
*Maquillage True Rouge RD382
Guerlain Rouge Automatique Liu
Sonia Rykiel Sublime Lipstick 24
*Lunasol Full Glamour Lips 02
*Coffret D'Or Bright Up Rouge (Creamy Liquid) PK270
Chicca Enticing Lip Stain 02

i.e. what I wore this summer, because cronedom approacheth the combination of Asian working hours and hopping from the alternately baking/humid outdoors to the ubiquitous arctic air conditioning revealed flaws in formulas I'd previously been happy with.

...such as the new Lipstick Queen Sinner formula. Imagine my dismay when the brand new Bright Rose Sinner I'd just bought in London sank into, deepened, and generally fomented discord within every single lip line, even applied over a generous helping of lipbalm:


Fortunately some of the things I'd packed did work in even these inclement conditions, and are shown above [unpictured, Guerlain Rouge G, Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment, and Suqqu Creamy Glow formulas also made the cut], but once I'd twigged that a jelly finish was the common denominator, I purchased the *asterixed items to round out my selection of shades. Also, For Science.

And now for some highly unscientific (by which I mean inadvertently pornographic as well as variable with the natural lighting XD) lipswatches! Going from most translucent to most opaque, up to the crelly (cream-jelly) end of the spectrum.

Control: Bare
My lips are a very cool mauve-tinged pink and unevenly pigmented -- rosier towards the centre of my mouth -- any formula which fails to camouflage this I consider too sheer. And of course, there are those vertical liplines, which become more visible with dehydration, though as they're are also structural (consequence of full lips on a small mouth) they never entirely vanish. 


SHEERS
Addiction Lip GlossMiss You More
A cool but clear (zero pastel milky barbie tones here) pink which thankfully reads slightly warmer once it 'sets' on my lips than in the tube. While a light shade, and a translucent jelly finish (it's definitely more 'squishy' than lacquered, shiny or wet-looking, as you might expect a gloss to be) it's pigmented enough to even out my lips' pigmentation. 
The formula is a weightless, utterly unsticky, scentless, cushiony and moisturising joy and is the best I've ever found for camouflaging vertical liplines and actively diminishing them over time by keeping my lips in top, soft condition. Wear-time is average (not a gloss expert), requiring a touch-up after a cup of coffee, and reapplication after a meal, but the formula's balminess (neither gloopy nor liquid) means I never have to worry about it migrating, feathering or fading patchily.
The doe-foot applicator is a typical example of Japanese attention to detail, slightly tapered and curved to hug the lips beautifully, and with the ideal amount of fuzz to pick up and dispense product evenly -- you may know of my addiction to lip brushes, even with balms, but I really am happy applying straight from the tube with these, even over another lipcolour.
Full-face pic here (the second look).


Addiction Lip Gloss Psychadelic
Another warmer-on-lips-than-in-tube shade (and as someone who pulls all lip colours cooler and pinker, man, is that weird but refreshing), though having bought this while looking for an editorial purple, it continues to puzzle me that this sets to a very wearable neutral rose. So wearable that I'm about halfway through my tube, while if it had been true-to-colour I would have worn it only three times a year, most likely....
just applied -- some plum tones visible
5 minutes after application -- warmer and rosier
Full face context here (fourth look).


Lunasol Full Glamour Lips 02 Cherry Red
As the flagship lip formula of a flagship brand, Lunasol's Full Glamour Lips lipsticks typify the recent Japanese beauty trends -- scent-free, sheerish jellies which feel like the best kind of lipbalm going on -- neither waxy nor too creamy/messy. As Lunasol is aimed at slightly older, working women, the result is plump, moisturised (through many hours) and dewy lips but not all-out attention-seekingly glossy ones. 02 Cherry Red is one of the brightest, clearest shades in the core line, and is so easy and flattering I'd recommend it to any red 'beginner'.
Wear-time is slightly above average for a sheer -- I only need to reapply after meals, as it leaves behind a soft pink-red stain after several drinks.
(Note that not all the shades in this line share this jelly finish -- some are more opaque, others sheerer frosts, and Lunasol's Limited Edition EX- releases are all over the map again.)


Coffret D'Or Rouge Essence RD198
Coffret D'Or is Lunasol's little sister in the Kanebo stable, and their Rouge Essence lipstick formula is also just a little bit less than Lunasol's Full Glamour Lips' -- a little less moisturising, a little less long-lasting, the finish a little less elegant (more conventionally glossy than dewy-squishy), the formula slightly more prone to slip and liquify upon application (think of Chanel Rouge Coco or other gloss-stick formulas), the bullet a little wider and less precise, and let's not compare CD'Or's sparkle-glued black to Lunasol's bronze discretion (which even clicks open and closed with a more luxurious sound). That said, this Coffret D'Or formula is still very, very good, and this shade (RD198) is the bright coral I couldn't find in Lunasol's lineup without shimmer.


MEDIUM
Coffret D'Or Bright Up Rouge (Creamy Liquid) PK270
Now this is a truly stellar formula. The Japanese market is full of competing liquid lipstick formulas and having done the rounds of Maquillage, Aube Couture, Lunasol, Shiseido etc. Coffret D'Or Bright Up Rouge emerged as the clear winner. With invisibly fine microshimmer to add dimension, a cushiony, comfortable formula (which hugs the lips slightly closer than the Addiction glosses) and a refined glowy finish, I only wish the shade range wasn't so bloody soft and pretty -- PK270, a new release, is by far the brightest, clearest shade in the line, and it's already as soft a warm rose as I go.
(Most of the other shades in this formula have slightly more micro-shimmer than this one.)


Maquillage True Rouge RD382
Whereas the Lunasol testified to the recent past, Maquillage's True Rouge formula is a great example of the current comeback of stronger lips in Japanese makeup -- more pigmented and, if still nowhere near matte, at least less juicily translucent. Slightly more glowy than the Coffret D'Or liquid lipstick, it's a difference of degrees rather than types of finish -- neither one could be accurately described as glossy, but both retain a certain lush 'squishiness' along with their creamy smoothness characteristic of crellies. RD382 is a new shade for autumn 2013 and on my pale cool lips wears as a saturated, neutral pink-coral.
Maquillage's bevelled bullet is a very clever touch -- you'll always be able to find a surface or edge to use which perfectly fits around the cupid's bow, reaches into corners, and covers the fullest part of the lip with one smooth stroke.
Full face pic here (second look).


Sonia Rykiel Sublime Lipstick 24
(The Sublime Lipstick line was reformulated and relaunched in 2012; mine is from 2011.)
Although as pigmented as the previous two items, this one is incontrovertibly a jelly, and while the colour gets bolder with each layer, the squishiness and translucency only increases. It's also the first scented product so far (fairly strong rose scent, faintly candied-floral taste), but like, the earlier 'purple' Addiction Psychadelic gloss, warms into a berried rose on my lips. (...Come to think of it, I experience much the same thing with Korres' 'purple' shades. Anyone else? Bueller?)
Scent aside, this is another excellent made-in-Japan product, and as kind to lips and easy to wear as any of the others I've shown you; the bullet also tapers at the top for neater application.

Original swatches of the line here and here; full face pic here (second look 'Smoke').


PIGMENTED
Chicca Enticing Lip Stain 02 Amaryllis
Full review, and full face pic both here. I'll just note that, while the driest in texture and least moisturising in practice of the formulas in this post, this Chicca stain, despite sitting closest of all to my lips, still diffuses my liplines very well. And it isn't actively drying either.


Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss Fatale
Chanel's Extrait de Gloss has been thoroughly reviewed in the English-speaking blogosphere since its release; there's a reason I've owned four of these while maintaining my not-a-gloss-girl status, and retained Fatale in particular as a permanent part of my lipstash.
Less shiny than most glosses, its cushiony-gel feel and delicate balance of translucency and saturation edge it out of conventional gloss territory into jellydom for me.
Full face pic here, look two.


Guerlain Rouge Automatique Liu
Another gorgeous Western formula, which I'm sure most of you are already familiar with. Of the shades I own (Chamade, Champs Élysées and Samsara being the others) Liu is actually the least jelly-like, but even worn at full whack (and it is well pigmented) it still gives my lips that squishable glowy halo that is the hallmark of a great jelly/crelly.

Full face pic in this post (second look), wher you can also see its jellier sister, Samsara, in action.
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Nice and its Ghost

August 21, 2013, 12:02 pm
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Midweek quickie, in answer to an unusual spate of emails/moomails that have landed in my inbox recently: the eye gloss part of Paul&Joe's limited edition summer gloss duo Nice (the place in France, not the adjective) compared with Shiseido'sGhost eyeshadow single (the entire line soon to be discontinued/reformulated).

In the tube/pan, it's already evident that Paul&Joe Nice is warmer both in its base and shimmer, making Ghost look a bit cooler than it is in truth (there is some opalescent warmth in its shimmer too).
Formulas differ too, obviously. Nice is an eye gloss -- a gel-cream formula, not too liquid (it's thicker and much more blendable than Ellis Faas pens, for example), which sets to a feel much like Chanel's Illusion D'Ombres (i.e. not fully to powder, but not particularly slick or creamy to the touch either, just enough to grip the glitter on the lids with zero fallout or creasing). Ghost is Shiseido's usual soft, silky shimmery-satin powder (note its tendency to kick up and shed gossamer fairydust everywhere).


I'd written about/swatched Ghost before, but these pictures are a much better representation of its complexity -- taken in high summer sunlight (well, for London) rather than cold morning winterlight (yes, winter extended to April....in London).

Indirect light
Nice's base is much lighter, and strongly a lilac-rosegold duochrome (notice the shift from edge to centre of swatch) vs. Ghost's dusty lavender grey.

Both are absolutely packed through with complex, multitonal sparkle (I spy lime, pink, gold, periwinkle and ruby atleast), which overlays an even stronger multichrome effect where each catches the light at the centre of the swatch -- shifting Nice more oysterishly pink and Ghost more lavender.

Full sun

Interestingly, and highly appropriately, Ghost looks subtler and more of an insubstantial grey satin in brighter light (it really comes to shimmering, complex life in low light, or layered over a dark shade as I did in my previous post). In full sun, Nice drops her already scanty beach coverup to reveal the blingtastic showgirl within -- at once delicate shimmer AND wetlook gloss AND insanely faceted discoball sparkle.

There's definitely room in my heart/stash for both. But duh, Nice is my favourite. Because lookit *_* It is the opal sparkle in the middle of my lids, the coppery rose closer to my lashline and that banked-coals ruby dot on the centre of my lower lashline. Now that's a chameleon.

A look at both eyes at once, for even moar angles -- see how Nice looks all white and new-snow-sparkly at my very inner corner and warmly rose-glittery by the middle of my lower lashline? 

Other eye makeup: Rouge Bunny Rouge Grey Go-Away Lourie smuged along lashlines, and Solstice Halcyon in the socket, Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara. (Full look here.)

The other side of Nice is a bland, shimmer-free warm pink lipgloss, with a faint candy scent. Not horribly sticky, nor remotely long-lasting, very sheer, it's...quite nice (the adjective, not the place in France) but I sincerely doubt anyone reading this lacks a basic sheer pinkish lip colour, so we'll nae mair o that.

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Jelly Season: Canmake Clear Cream Cheeks

August 27, 2013, 5:11 am
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I'm still milking -- er, wobbling? -- the jelly thang, as you see, and today will be all about the Canmake Clear Cream Cheek blushes. Which are, as So Lonely In Gorgeous explains, the perfect shimmer-free jelly blushes at an excellent drugstore price.

My three (all of which were personal gifts from darling Liz of So Lonely...) are CL01 Clear Red Heart, CL03 Clear Sunset and CL04 Clear Pink Joy -- lighter and cooler than CL02 Clear Love Song Pink, which she swatches here.

Don't they look eminently squishable even in the pan? :D
I'm afraid I'm boring you and repeating myself with all these trembling jellified superlatives, so in brief, these are: pigmented, scent/taste-free (= zero scent or taste, including any incidental waxy scent/taste of the product itself), gel-cream formula, ridiculously easily blendable with fingers or brushes over bare or cream-foundationed or powdered skin, a 'jelly' finish (i.e. with that subtle diffuse soft 'halo' in between glowy and glossy) that doesn't set to powder but resists transfer even so.

While these are softer and creamier to the touch  than the standard Canmake cream blushes [previous drivel], lasting power is impressive -- these wore perfectly all day in ~40ºC 95%+ humidity (and they have the reputation for excellent lasting power among the oilier skinned folk in the Asian reviewosphere too), and back in London's chilly teens they're sitting just as pretty on my dry cheeks.


Swatches
made with a weasel-hair lipbrush onto bare arm; natural light
CL01 Clear Red Heart is a dead-on neutral, clear strawberry red.
CL03 Clear Sunset is a warm watermelon coral.
CL04 Clear Pink Joy is a moderately cool-toned cherry-blossom pink.


Comparisons and Looks
CL01 Clear Red Heart with (left) Revlon Fire&Ice lipstick, Vapour Impulse stain, RMS Modest lip2cheek and (right) Addiction Revenge cheek stick, Dolce&Gabbana Soleand RBR Orpheline powder blushes.
Even with my red blush problem, I have to declare Clear Red Heart THE perfect neutral red blush. Ever.

Angled shot to get a better idea of the unique jelly finish of these, vs. the close-wearing creams (Revlon/Addiction), dewy creams (Vapour, RMS) and matte or satin powders (D&G, RBR). 


On the cheeks, with my Ode to Traffic Light face (eyes Addiction Soda Lunch yellow, Kiko Super Colour Eyeliner 105 Jade Green; lips Guerlain Colére):



CL03 Clear Sunset comparisons can be found in this Chicca review post -- the difference between the formulas would be that while Canmake feels and looks like a jelly in all stages and applies best with brushes in a blending motion, Chicca, while evincing a similarly squishy glow on the cheek, feels like like a dry balm/stain and applies best patted on with a sponge. (I personally can't apply makeup well with fingers, but if you can, more power to you.) My personal platonic ideal would be those unpindownably well-balanced Chicca colours with their magical lit-from-within glow, in Canmake's effortless texture and at Canmake prices. ;)

CL03 worn with Catrice Coolibri Virgin Forest Eyeshadow Pen (LE summer 2012), Shu M White 907 and Catrice Grey's Philosophy on eyes; RBR Lip Elixir balm mixed with Addiction Le Mepris lip crayon on lips.


CL04 Clear Pink Joy with Sleek Pink Spring trio Pink Ice, the darker side of Suqqu EX02 Mizumomo (LE autumn 2012), Addiction Damask Rose and Amazingcheek sticks, Chicca Flush Blush 10 Girly Flush, and Guerlain Champs Elysées Rouge Automatique.


CL04 the cheeks, with Paul&Joe Nice, RBR Grey Go-Away Lourie and Solstice Halcyon on eyes;
Paul and Joe Nice gloss on lips.


In short (ha!): recommended unreservedly.
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Wordless Wednesday: Canmake Clear vs Addiction Cheek Stick

August 28, 2013, 12:03 pm
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In response to yesterday's review post, Blair asked a great question about how Addiction Revenge compared to Canmake CL04. Making this the perfect time, on a sunny afternoon, to reswatch some old and enduring favourites (Addiction cheeksticks, also here and here) against this summer's best beloveds, the Canmake Clear cream cheeks.

Canmake CL01 Clear Red Heart
Addiction Revenge
Canmake CL03 Clear Sunset
Addiction Damask Rose
Canmake CL04 Clear Pink Joy
Addiction Amazing

Swatches are funny things -- depending on the other stripes in an armful, certain undertones can be magnified out of proportion. (This is also why I don't swatch foundations beyond, say, NC20 -- they look so deceptively dark and warm on my arm that even savvy makeupalleyers tend to eyeball them at NW35+ when extrapolating.)

Anyway, I hope this establishes that while Revenge may look inordinately pink set among more conventional reds, it most definitely looks like a red next to pinks proper. An offbeat red, sure, but that is a very good thing in my books and will probably constitute a future post...

Some pan/paper swatches -- I think the disgustingly mangled state of these products can testify to my filthy filthy lovin', right?
In full sun, to show textures

In shade, for a better representation of the colours

...though swatching on paper does weird things to the texture and opacity and how things reflect light -- Revenge is the most changeable again, but the paper swatches give a better indication of how Damask Rose and Amazing differ -- Amazing is cooler, lighter and more pastel; Damask Rose has a richer rose-red depth.
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Suqqu EX-17 Hatsuhimo (Autumn 2013)

August 31, 2013, 1:12 pm
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EX-17 Hatsuhimo (初霜, first frost) is one of three limited-edition quints released for Suqqu's autumn 2013 collection. It's the coolest and clearest of the three and the only one I purchased, exactly according to plan. (Although certain nefarious influences have me contemplating the unexpectedly lush EX-16, too.)

This is a first-impressions post, in which I'll try to restrain the squealing (only acquired a day ago, you know how that goes...); comparisons and other looks will follow in due course.

I make no promises re: selectiveness when it comes to picspam, especially as this quad is a chameleon full of surprising subtleties in different lights....

Indirect natural light (the most true to-colour on my screen):

Angled sunlight (gives better idea of the mix of textures):

Full sun + fuzz for each individual shade:
1. Top left: palest peach sparkle

2. Top right: dirty olive metallic with dense multitonal shimmer (primarily grass green, gold, pale pink)

3. Bottom right: warm pink satin with sparse white and silver microshimmer

4. Bottom left: darkest midnight blue matte base with very sparse plum, lime and lighter blue microshimmer; and bright pigmented violet glitter with silver, cyan and lilac sparkle.


Swatches
(as usual, made with included sponge applicators onto bare arm -- one swipe)
I swatched the split pan blue/violet shades both separately and layered together in the middle
natural light
flash
full afternoon sun
sun+deliberate fuzz
Main thing to note is the olive, which looks much greener in the pan because of the intensity of its green/gold shimmer, swatches as a complex greyed olive base on my skin as its pink notes combine with the greenness, though its individual components do flash through where the shimmer catches the light (see the middle of the swatches). I suspect this shade will look greener on more tanned skin, but we shall see as the swatches roll in :)
Both the pink satin and peach sparkle are actually peachy-pinks, one on the warmer pink side, one on the cooler white-peach side.
The violet and inky blue, especially together? GUH. NO WORDS.

So, reasons to swoon: this palette has excellent pigmentation, shades which all look distinct on my arm (though the palest peach reads more as delicate texture than colour on my skintone -- not a bad thing as I dislike extremely fr osty highlights), and five unique finishes for each of the colours (my complaint about spring's EX-11 Sumiredama, if you'll recall, was its textural monotony).


For this look, I applied the olive all over my lid, used the pink satin to shade the outer portion of my socket, and dabbed a dot of the peach over the olive in the very centre of the mobile lid. Blue-black to line, stopped before the very inner corner of the lower lid, with violet layered over its outer edge and extending beyond, especially on the lower lashline.
Also: GOSH white kohl on inner waterline, Suqqu brow pen 02 on brows,


To mimic the products used by the Suqqu international makeup artist at my makeover (Creamy Glow Moist Lipstick EX-13 Beniaka and the limited edition face palette EX-03), I used Rouge Bunny Rouge Orpheline blush (very lightly), Shiseido High Beam White highlighter and Lunasol Full Glamour Rouge 02 Cherry Red.

Base makeup: Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture foundation 001, Burberry Sheer Touch Concealer 01 under eyes, Shu Uemura Nobara 584 stick foundation as blemish concealer.

PS even the case is pretty enough to warrant a shot! Check out that iridescent frosting:

Ingredients:

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Fake-Up: Suqqu EX-16 Benichagasane

September 2, 2013, 3:26 am
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To be perfectly clear, I did not purchase EX-16 Benichagasane (紅茶重, red tea set) another limited edition Suqqu autumn quad, but inspired by a makeover look and swatches posted by nmezza on makeupalley, I decided to try and recreate it from products I already owned. (I also had the benefit of playing with the actual palette myself and seeing how the shades registered on my skintone.)

The colours in question:
Suqqu EX-16 Benichagasane 2013 Autumn Fall


My substitutions:

1. Fyrinnae Superstar (self-pressed)
2. dark brown from Visée Glam Glow Eyes BR-7 Bitter Brown (LE Holiday 2011)
3. Rouge Bunny Rouge Bohemian Waxwing
4a. Chanel Vision Illusion D'Ombre
4b. goldenrod from KATE Deep-Trap Eyes GR-1 (discontinued)
5. palest ivory satin from the same KATE quint

I mixed (4a) and (4b) to get an approximation of the rich Suqqu gold, and layered (2) over black liquid liner (KATE Super Sharp S) for a blackened, cooler brown.


The look
Ivory as base and subtle inner corner highlight; golds mixed all over the lid and in centre of the lower lashline; mauve-taupe through the outer v and socket; brown-over-black to line, extended straight out. Maybelline Rocket WP mascara.
As this collection, and this quad in particular, riffs on traditional geisha makeup and unexpectedly beautiful kimono colour combinations, I also opted for a not-too-literal and not-at-all-precise geisha-inflected rounded placement of the pink at the outer corners.
Suqqu EX-16 Benichagasane inspired EOTD look

(a slight modification, with more Bohemian Waxwing blended up and in to the inner brow)
Suqqu EX-16 Benichagasane inspired EOTD look


Still on that geisha riff thing: matte base with Shu Uemura Nobara stick 584, lacquered red lips by mixing Suqqu Creamy Rouge 18 Karakurenai with RBR's honey-toned Kiss Elixir balm. Light sweep of RBR Gracilis blush and Shiseido High Beam White highlighting centre of face.
Usual brows (Suqqu brow pen 02) and concealer (Burberry 01).
Suqqu EX-16 Benichagasane inspired EOTD look
Suqqu EX-16 Benichagasane inspired EOTD look

Anyone else go stash-diving to recreate your favourite looks or products this new season? I'd love to hear/see!
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Midweek Swatch: Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Full Range

September 4, 2013, 10:16 am
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I braved the heaving crowds / sweltering heat today to have a play with the new Charlotte Tilbury line, which launched on Monday at Selfridges in the UK. Two whole days after arrival = I haz no interest in this brand.

...Until my first touch of the Colour Chameleon eyeshadow pencils (£19, here) -- made-in-Germany chubby crayons with intense pigmentation and the divine liquid-buttery skates-across-the-skin blendable texture of my adored THREE Flash Performance liners, and what seems to be even more impressive lasting power. Vigorous scrubbing at my swatches after three minutes yielded an almost invisible transfer of fine sheen onto my finger, leaving the original swatch otherwise pristine; they wore perfectly all afternoon on my arm without glitter fallout, eventually requiring two very thorough rounds of oil cleansing to remove completely.


Swatches
 one scribble onto bare arm, pics taken in natural light
indirect natural light
full sun
Left to Right:
Amber Haze
Dark Pearl
Smoky Emerald
Golden Quartz
Amethyst Aphrodisiac
Bronzed Garnet
Black Diamonds
Champagne Diamonds


Closeups
Dark Pearl is a modern classic -- cool taupe with subdued shimmer (less sparkly than most By Terry Ombre Blackstars, less sparkly and slightly more pink/mauve than my Topshop Mystical crayon). Amber Haze is a rich autumnal mix of amber, russet, honey and flame.

Golden Quartz is cooler and more yellow-toned than Amber Haze, with olive and chartreuse along with old gold and amber flecks. Smoky Emerald packs any number of warmer green and gold tones over a blackened olive base.

Bronzed Garnet is...aptly named. Most of these are, actually. Rich bronze, cooler gold and warmer red and copper tones. Amethyst Aphrodisiac has a sumptuous red-purple base and a ridiculously complex sprinkling of cornflower, white gold and fuchsia sparkles.

Lastly the functional white-and-black of this line: Champagne Diamonds is a pale peach with cooler white-blue and green sparkles. Black Diamonds is a true coal sparkling with cool blue, pink and green lights.

Champagne Diamonds really is as complex and sparkly as Black Diamonds, as in this fuzzier pic:


I bought two shades (Champagne Diamonds and Amethyst Aphrodisiac) and will post a proper review once I've spent some time working with and wearing them. Initial feels: totally bewitched, bothered and bewildered.
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Makeup Roulette: Addiction, Suqqu, Sonia Rykiel

September 6, 2013, 6:06 am
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Taking a break from drivel about the shiny and new, today I wanted to share a random look featuring older items, from earlier this week. And by random I mean I started with an Addiction cheekstick and literally picked out a lipstick and eyeshadows with closed eyes. And later, I realised the cheekstick I used was actually Damask Rose, and not Revenge, for which I'd been searching for new pairings, hence this little experiment... so really, really random.

ADDICTION Damask Rose cheekstick
SUQQU 07 Komorebi palette (discontinued)
and SONIA RYKIEL Sublime lipstick 24 (discontinued)

Pretty clashy when you look at the products like that, right? I think things worked out rather better once applied, because I kept things sheer and soft with my fluffiest brushes and er... blottiest tissues? And that Sonia Rykiel jelly, like many other purples, inexplicably warms up into a rose once on the lips.


Other products:
SHU UEMURA UV Underbase mousse pink/purple
BURBERRY Sheer Concealer 01
SHISEIDO High Beam White
MAYBELLINE Rocket WP mascara
SUQQU Brow Pen 02
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Addiction Cheek Polish Fresh

September 8, 2013, 6:16 am
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More fresh blood! ...blood ORANGE, that is. Oh yes, this is me bein scintillatin on a Sunday morning....

Fresh is one of seven shades of Cheek Polish -- liquid blushes -- which Addiction launched this season. Retailing at ¥2940, they'll join the permanent range.

The frosted glass bottle does make this look exactly like nail polish, which is why those helpful folks slapped this allcapsy label on the cap: 

The liquid formula and brush applicator are also very nail polishy. There's even a little ball bearing inside to aid you in shaking it up. Yes, it's a CHEEK POLISH, we get it already!


Swatches
right: one big drop straight from the end of the brush
left: the same amount, patted out
Tonally, Fresh is a juicy neutral orange with a slight pastel coral base that combines brightness and wearability without muted brown or grey tones. Texturally, once shaken up, it emerges from the bottle as a slightly-more-viscous-than-water liquid, with a tendency to run only if you do plop a giant blob like this onto skin -- with a more moderate drop, or brushed on in broad strokes, it doesn't drip or bleed. It sets to a skin-perfecting, shimmer-free satin finish (see how nicely it sits even on my textured, dry skin?) which feels silicone-silky rather than powdery if you run a finger across it afterwards. After setting, it does wears like a stain.

Pigmentation is good, but this shade has a great deal of translucency, which this means that individual skintones will strongly affect how it registers (vs. a more opaque shade of equal pigmentation) i.e. if your skintone happens to be quite close to Fresh (~MAC 15-20 depth), you may find it 'disappears' on you; if your cheeks are strongly red, this will look more coral. In general, I think this colour will be best/clearest on pale or medium-and-darker skintones; on fair/medium skintones it will be subtler, or even just plain invisible. See BirkinBeautyBag's review of another cheek polish shade, Tadzio, which looks to have a more solidly opaque base and should stay truer on a wider variety of skintones.

To further illustrate all this blather about opacity, finish, and tone, a comparison with Sleek Pan Tao powder blush, which Fresh replaces in my wardrobe:

While not earth-shatteringly different in colour once blended out, isn't there a huge difference in how un/pretty these two formulas make my skin look? Pan Tao was one of the sheerest Sleek blushes, so its powdery failings were more evident than with other Sleek shades (for which I would use much less product); I'd still kept it around as my only wearable orange blush option. In contrast to its opaque but unevenly-pigmented matte, I hope you can see what I mean by Fresh's glow-from-within pigmented translucency.


More comparisons, just to contextualise the orange:
CANMAKE Clear CL03 (see how pink it looks here, vs. how orange-red here?)
ILLAMASQUA Rude cream blush (likewise with the pinkification!)
SUQQU 07 Komorebi quad's orange-peach (most recently worn here)
YABY Kumquat
CATRICE Dalai Drama
SLEEK Pan Tao blush
ADDICTION Fresh cheek polish
ADDICTION Le Mépris lip crayon (worn in the last look here)


A look, pinspired by this:
source
Subtle burnished eyes with mixed metals Fyrinnae Nijiro, Shu Uemura ME 126, and Suqqu 06 Ginbudou gold. Maybelline Rocket WP mascara.
Cheeks: Addiction Fresh
Lips: also Addiction Fresh, which was a patchy, dry and tingly mistake (first pic) so I added RBR Kiss Elixir lipbalm before the second picture.
Base: Shu Uemura pink/purple underbase mousse, copious amounts of RBR Sea of Clouds, Burberry sheer concealer 01 under eyes, Shu Nobara 584 on blemishes, Suqqu brow pen 02.

Having now played with this for a week (seriously, major facespam to come, because whee finally I can haz orange blush with nice formula!), I've found the application method to be:
1. Shake shake shake the bottle.
2. Scrape one side of the brush on the edge of the bottle opening, to remove about half the amount of product.
3. Paint a few short swipes onto each cheek (do not also apply to lips as I did here...)

4. Go do something else for a few minutes (I applied eye makeup and knitted a row or two of interminable grey tunic in progress) -- a little 'resting time' makes the polish less runny and much easier to work with; its staining powers only kick in after around 5-10 minutes, by my estimate, so you have time to work with it.
5. PAT, don't swipe the colour evenly over the area you want to be cheek-polished. I use a fine, dense sponge (i.e. Beautyblender) or a small synthetic paddle brush (e.g. Shu Uemura synthetic 14), but I suspect most people will prefer fingers.
6. If you used fingers, wash them, because once this does stain, it stains like nobody's business!

PS ingredients list to come when I've finished translating. But it is alcohol-free, full of 'cones, and has a faint greeny botanical scent.
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Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Palette Swatches: Full Range

September 11, 2013, 2:08 pm
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Swinging by the Charlotte Tilbury counter, I noticed that a display been refreshed with a new set of testers for the eye palettes, so here are some ninja field swatches of all eight. Retailing at £38 each, you can find them at Selfridges or here.

Most of the quads combined one sheer glitter, two frosts of good pigmentation, and a darkest shade in either a satin or metallic shimmer finish. The most notable exception was TheSophisticate, which paired two demi-mattes with two satins, and had in my opinion the best overall textures in the line -- silky smooth. The most interesting colour stories to me were The Rebel, a new and unexpected balance of jewelled greens, and The Vintage Vamp, in sumptuous ruby and gold.

In general I found these nice but unremarkable. The gradational neutral combinations (across five whole palettes!) are nothing we haven't seen before many times, and the textures did not sit particularly well on my dry skin -- as I think you can tell from the already-sinking-into-fine-lines edges of the swatches. Frosts aren't the most forgiving of my hooded eyes anyway, knocking out around two shades per palette, and I was particular disappointed to find most of the glitters (my favourite finish) dry, very sheer and fallout-prone (the emerald in The Rebel and pewter in The Rock Chick were the two decent exceptions). My experience with previous sets of hardened, almost unworkably dry and gritty testers (after two days on display!) also suggests that these may not be shadows that will age well with use.

Enough drivel, on to the (bazillionty) pictures! All swatches are pressed on with sponge applicators onto bare skin, as usual. My inner arm is neutral and significantly paler than MAC NC15. As always, click to enlarge.

Abbreviations:
DV = The Dolce Vita
GG = The Golden Goddess
S = The Sophisticate
UG = The Uptown Girl
RC = The Rock Chick
GM = The Glamour Muse
VV = The Vintage Vamp
R = The Rebel

Natural Light (truer to colour)



Store Lighting (better indication of finish)


A look at all the quads, so you can see roughly how comparatively warm/cool the five neutrals are (though The Uptown Girl in particular shifts a great deal depending on whether it's in in/direct lighting with its cooler shimmer on warmer bases):
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Addiction Le Mépris Lip Crayon

September 13, 2013, 5:02 am
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Le Mépris is the brightest shade in Addiction's Lip Crayon formula, released in late 2012 and part of the permanent lineup, and its crayola brightness makes it the most perfect punchy orange even for those of us who struggle with that shade.

The Lip Crayons are all swatched by Rosy here and she also has such an excellent thorough review of Le Mépris in particular that leaves me nothing to add ;D I totally concur with her thoughts on the silicone-smooth, saturated, long-lasting-and-even-fading formula, and hereby testify that it hasn't dried out my dry, picky lips either.

Since pictures on different skintones are always helpful, here's Le Mépris on me anyway, in a second look with my newest Addiction orange, Fresh cheek polish, worn higher and tighter on the cheekbones this time:
Eyes: one-minute messy haze with the black and silver shades from Shu Uemura Smoky Velvet EU version, GOSH white kohl, Kiko Luxurious Lashes WP mascara
Base/basics: Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture foundation 001, Burberry Sheer Concealer 01 under eyes, Suqqu 01 brow pen

I applied Le Mépris over a thin coat of Kiss Me Moist Lip Natural SPF15 balm here (a basic, colourless, waxy lipbalm) here. To see it at full neon orange whack, go wince at the last looks here or here; for a modulated take (mixed with RBR Kiss Elixir lip balm), the second look here shows Le Mépris functioning as a soft coral tint.


While Rosy compared Le Mépris to the more orange Nars Red Square pencil, in my collection it skews much more uncompromisingly orange in relation to the warm red and coral shades with which I used dabble in this tricky colour.
YSL Glossy Stain 9 Rouge Lacque -- more red (worn here)
REVLON Strawberry Suede matte (dc) -- more coral-red
REVLON Super Lustrous Fire & Ice -- more red and pink
ADDICTION Le Mépris lipcrayon -- control orange
INNISFREE Creamy Lip Tint 4 Cocktail Orange [purchased after Le Mépris, so testament to my conversion :P] -- more coral-pink, whiter base
CHICCA Enticing Lip Stain 2 Amaryllis -- more red (here)

Anyone bothering to click through will have noticed that that the differences between these shades are much more visible on the lips than on one arm. So lipswatches will come pending an improvement in the weather :)
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Jill Stuart Jelly Eye Colour N 19 Passion Fruit

September 17, 2013, 2:08 pm
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This concludes my series of jelly posts, and sadly it's on a bit of a bum note, because despite all its excellent qualities (including but not limited to: squishy! coral! insanely blingtastical!) this Jill Stuart Eye Jelly N flared my eyelid eczema and headed straight back out again :(


Shade 19 Passion Fruit is a complex coral with a shimmery base shifting from warm pink (see pic above) to cooler peach (here), which is sprinkled through with even moar (and larger) sparkles in predominantly cool gold.

Jill Stuart calls the formula a jelly, and there's definitely a bit of a resistant 'boing' which differentiates it from other mousse shadow formulas (from the more gel-emulsion Sonia Rykiel/MAC Big Bounce, to the fine&airy RBR creams, to the drier&tighter Chanel Illusion D'Ombre/Dior Fusion Mono). Witness the peaks 'n' craters formed after you prod it with a brush (I used a flat MAC 242, btw):

In general, therefore, I found flat dense brushes best to use with this -- the fluffy blenders I generally favour with creams tended to pick up bits of eye jelly in uneven clumps. It's quite a quick-setting (not to mention indelible-setting) formula, so working one eye at a time, patting on colour and then blending the edges lightly was the most foolproof method -- layering over already-set areas could result in patchiness and clumping. Not that I found layering necessary, because this shade is adequately pigmented for my purposes -- its vibe isn't really suited to graphic shapes requiring a lot of back and forth tweaking anyway and it makes for an excellent, already-complex wash&go eye:
Other products: Sonia Rykiel Mousse 04 [previously swatched] to line, GOSH white kohl on inner rim, Kiko Long Lasting Eyeshadow Stick 01 Pearly White [my collection] in inner corner. Maybelline Rocket WP mascara.

Lip/cheek: in keeping with the pretty peachy thing, Coffret D'Or Bright Up Rouge Creamy Liquid PK270 [featured in my lip jellython] and Chicca Flush Blush 01 Baby Girl [review].
Base/basics: Shu Uemura pink/purple UV underbase mousse as base with Nobara 584 on blemishes, Burberry Concealer 01 under eyes, Shu Seal Brown brow pencil.

Such an easy, pretty coral, right? As spoiled above, I'm not sure whether it's the fast-and-bombproof setting or the fragrance (typical JS violently pink sugary floral) which makes this eye jelly so horribly irritating to my sensitive lids :( I also had this experience with Chanel's hit Stylo Eyeshadows earlier this summer, as with other popular formulas (e.g. MUFE Aqua Eyes, Maybelline Colour Tattoos, Essence Stay All Day) so if you do fancy a bouncy sparkly moussey thing (and if you don't, why are you reading this blog?), and don't have dry, picky lids, these Jill Stuarts are well worth a look.

To mourn Passion Fruit's passing (well actually, it's gone to the home of a fellow Japanese-glitter-lover, so hopefully will be taken out for walkies often and generally petted and called JellyBob), and console myself for its loss, I swatched it alongside every other shade I own from this genre -- one of my favourites. Menny, menny pictures ahead.

Left to Right:
VISÉE x Smacky Glam Glam Glow Eyes BR-7 Bitter Brown peach (LE)
SUQQU Blend Eyeshadow 08 Mizuaoi pink (DC)
ROUGE BUNNY ROUGE Fire-Tailed Sunbird
THREE 4D Eye Palette 06 Tranquil Oasis coral
*JILL STUART Jelly Eye Colour N 19 Passion Fruit
CHANEL Illusion D'Ombre Abstraction [I've nearly finished this and have tamped it down many times -- that's why it looks so solid in the product pic]
CHANEL Stylo Eyeshadow Pink Lagoon (LE)
PAUL & JOE Eye Gloss Duo 003 Depth peach (LE)
SHU UEMURA G Orange 251
SHU UEMURA G Pink 135

That's to give an idea of how they relate to each other in depth and tone. Now closeups in full camera-freaking sparkling complexity:

Phew :D

What's your favourite eyeshadow genre for an easy wash with impact?
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Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac and Champagne Diamonds: Looks and Comparisons

September 22, 2013, 12:28 pm
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Since falling for and swatching Charlotte Tilbury's range of eyeshadow pencils, Colour Chameleons, I've now had a few weeks to familiarise myself with the two shades I bought -- Amethyst Aphrodisiac and Champagne Diamonds -- and my first impressions are absolutely confirmed. These are stellar products: pigmented, buttery-smooth and blendeable, loaded with light-catching sparkle that adheres well to the lid, and in wonderful complex shades. In short, I want MOAR.

New aspects which I discovered after working with and wearing these (rather than just swatching):

  • Although tenacious [on my friend's very oily lids as well as my own super dry ones], even a heavy eye look does come off easily with my usual cleansing oil -- no scrubbing required as with my swatches earlier.
  • You get about 15-20s of working time before they set, which is sufficient for a reasonable variety of looks, though with this kind of finish my preference is for messy haze rather than graphic precision...
  • ...and in any case, these do layer well over already-set areas without becoming patchy or crumbly, so you can continue to tweak the shape.
  • Not exactly revelatory, but these are so lusciously soft that they do wear down quite quickly, and as they're proper crayons rather than twist-up ones, sharpening entails a bit of waste :( Standard chubby-pencil diameter, fitting into my ancient Tony&Tina wide sharpener, so you needn't buy the CT branded sharpener especially for these.
Let's take a closer look at my duo, firstly, with one-swipe swatchescribbles straight from the unsharpened tip, mainly to illustrate how smoothly and evenly the copious sparkles are distributed:
Amethyst Aphrodisiac, is a sultry plum with burgundy microshimmer throughout its base and larger copper, ruby, gold and cornflower sparkles, all of which is clearly visible even (as here) in low natural light. This isn't one of those darker shades that look disappointingly flat or black once on the skin, thank goodness, but still works as a goes-with-everything neutral, perfect for adding a bit of decadent twinkle to a miserable London autumn's day.

Champagne Diamonds is another neutral with a kick -- an ever-versatile gold with warmer peach microshimmer and larger, cooler glitter flecks in cooler shades of white, white-gold, palest pink and icy lilac. Dark enough against my skin to work as a lid shade as well sparkly enough to highlight, never frosty because of its textural complexity.


Comparisons with other things wot I own and love:
Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux plum, Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen Black Tulip, Sonia Rykiel Mousse Eyeshadow 04.
angled, fuzz
The Charlotte Tilbury is the warmest and its red tones really come out in comparison to my other red-purple complex sparkly creamy things. That said, there are definitely affinities between all of these (those sneaky blue and copper lights), and a look at the other three products will testify to my enduring love of this kind of thing, and specifically, pairing them with sparkly peachy-things, as in the looks below...

In the Champagne Diamonds genre: Rouge Bunny Rouge Angelic Cockatiels, CLIO Friday Glow Liquid Eyeshadow 2 Sheer Beige and Sonia Rykiel Mousse Eyeshadow 05.
angled, fuzz
Champagne Diamonds is tonally closest to the RBR, though with a touch more amber warmth, but as the fuzzy swatch picture shows, it shares a sparkly complex finish with the Sonia Rykiel and CLIO shades. Both of which I'm going to finish shortly, so this came along just in time :)


Three looks, with both pencils, and forced rhymes:

1. The Flick
Amethyst Aphrodisiasc on a Chikuhodo Artist 6-1 to line upper lashline, thickening up from the inner third out and flicked out slightly, with outer third of wing edged in Champagne Diamonds applied with Hakuhodo 5512. Another dab of CD at inner corner of lower lashline. Socket softly shaded with RBR Sweet Dust Seriema.

Cheeks: Kjaer Weis Lovely | Lips: Addiction Last Scene mixed with Malin&Goetz lipbalm | Face: Copious quantity of RBR Sea of Clouds highlighter to match the pretty, dewy lip.



2. My Current Kick
A simple smudgy shape, following the natural lines of my eye, without liner [example]. Because of the placement of the darker colour at the outer edges, this has the effect of widening my slightly close-set eyes, while taking essentially as much (i.e. little) time and effort as a one-colour wash. Both pencils applied directly to eye, blended out with the Suqqu M brush.

Lip: a stronger red with Guerlain Rouge G Gala, a cool-toned cherry red in a classic cream finish 
Cheeks: RBR Gracilis, a dustier pink-neutral blush 



3. Chaotic/Dramatic Gimmick?
I always feel like the emergency-day-to-evening thing is such a typical beauty blogger gimmick, and disliking to see a wagon go by without jumping aboard wanting to demonstrate the layerability of these products, here's the second look, over drawn with MOAR Amethyst Aphrodisiac smudged into socket and lower lashline, and Champagne Diamonds layered more heavily over itself, both applied straight from the pencil. (I wanted to keep things editorially bruisey, hence no extra blending -- it's not like pencils this blunt are going to produce harsh lines in any case.)
Lip: tonally richer but informally soft-edged red by scribbling THREE Lip Crayon Ruby over the worn-down stain of Gala. | Cheek: stronger but more neutral toned, with Delicata layered over Gracilis. | Face: minimal amount of RBR Sea of Clouds to contrast with the matte saturated lip.


All three looks:
Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation 001, Burberry Sheer Concealer 01 under eyes, Shu Uemura Seal Brown H9 pencil and Suqqu 02 Brown pen through brows, L'Oreal False Lash Extension WP mascara.
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THREE Spring 2013 Eyeshadow Duos 03, 04, 05 Swatches

September 24, 2013, 3:30 pm
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If you feel the need to rub your eyes and double check the title, I completely understand :P Yes, finally, it is my much belated review of the three THREE eyeshadows acquired from this spring's "Love is the Answer" collection: Pressed Eye Colour Palette Duos 03 Love Revolution, 04 Love Satisfaction, 05 Love Evolution. All three duos join the permanent collection, along with 01 Love Fascination and 02 Love Connection; each retails for ¥3990.

Spoilers right now because this post will be highly picspammy: I utterly adore these products and this collection was hands down my favourite of the season, cementing THREE as my current favourite brand for eyeshadow.

All these duos pair a pigmented, complex, shimmery silky cream [like the ones in Shu Uemura's holiday 2012 Karl Lagerfeld palettes, or MUFE Aqua Creams, rather than a buttery/liquifying formula] with a delicately translucent satin-finish powder of medium pigmentation. They are designed to be layered powder-over-cream or indeed smudged each into t'edges of t'other, but may of course be worn separately -- the powders are translucently glowy, not sheer or unpigmented, and the creams sufficiently saturated to function as liners. Both set to a gloriously smooth pearlescent veil on the skin -- a cliché in beauty blogging, but they really do feel like silk.

Pictures in various stages of molestation because I'm disorganised totally lacking in self-control when faced with pretty things to poke this gives a better indication of the true colours and textures, of course! Pictures all in natural sunlight, swatches made as always onto bare skin without primer/base.


03 Love Revolution
Rich navy cream and an unusual milky tangerine powder (does that sound like a bubble tea ingredient or what?)

The cream has smooth, mostly tonal royal blue pearl, with rare flecks of pink, green and gold microshimmer.

The powder is a neutral apricot satin with a lighter, cooler, sandy gold flash and sparse white-gold microshimmer.


Swatches: cream // powder // powder over cream
Compared with the other two duos I own, 03 Love Revolution makes my favourite layered shade. The lustrous cream and delicate satin, neither particularly shimmery, somehow bring out the best in each other to form the kind of refined, texturally complex sparkle I most love. Tonally they mingle into an offbeat neutral which leaves every nuance of both shades visible, and multiplies their effect.


04 Love Satisfaction
Blue-toned gunmetal cream meets bright cherry-blossom pink powder.

The grey, while definitely blue-toned, isn't overly cool -- at some angles its base looks more teal -- and it's warmed further by pink and gold pearl, so fully integrated into the base that it throws off holographic pink rainbows at certain angles:

I've been alert to clear vs white bases in makeup ever since Grace London switched on that lightbulb over my head, but this pink has a white 'surface' instead, a softly frosted (not frosty!) sheen from its white (not silver) and palest blue microshimmer, which makes it look paler at certain angles when they catch the light:
Scroll back up to the first picture of this duo for its darker, clearer pink base; contrast this with the genuinely milky orange in 03 Love Revolution, whose white base is consistently visible at all angles.

Swatches: cream // powder // powder over cream
Owing to its more subdued finishes (the velvet-petal pink in particular is barely beyond a matte) 04 Love Satisfaction doesn't quite produce the magical sparkly unicorn of 03 Love Revolution when layered. Instead you get a satin that shifts from a mauve-flashing taupe (1st swatch pic) to a complex warm grey (2nd), an understated, goes-with-every-lip-shade one-colour wash.


05 Love Evolution
A complex neutral brown and an unconventional jonquil.

The brown has a dose of grey without veering into taupe: it's warmed up (and clearedup, rather than muddied) further by complex opalescent shimmer in goldenrod, rose and lilac, and small quantities of pale blues, greens and gold sparkle.

The yellow is a weird and frankly hideously appealing (er, to me, anyway) kind of shade -- at once organically ochre-dusty and acid-synthetically bright. It has more shimmer than the powder halves of 03 Love Revolution or 04 Love Satisfaction, most of which is tonal, some of which is surprisingly pink, and a sneakily tiny proportion of which is blue-white and lime. Examining this in bright sunlight will lead to o_O face.

Swatches: cream // powder // powder over cream
Unsurprisingly, layering these two glistening shades leads to an texturally complex, shimmery result -- but such is the fine milling and delicacy of these pigments that it's still a lustrous sheen rather than a solid frost or metallic chrome finish. Layering seems to bring out the cooler green and blue notes, making for a very rare clear yellow-based brown, which I find surprisingly very flattering when worn.


Whew! Thanks to everyone who's waited for these for months! :D Anyone else succumbed to these beauties? I admit to hankering after the two duos I don't currently possess....

Looks and comparisons will follow in separate posts, because I think this blogger thing has a character limit :P
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Suqqu EX-17 Hatsushimo Comparisons and Second Look

October 1, 2013, 10:22 am
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It's been a whole month since I acquired Suqqu EX-17 Hatsushimo, and I've worn it quite a few times but mostly with only minute variations on the look I already shared in the initial review -- so easy, so flattering, so autumnal-with-a-twist!

In fact, it could be said that I have a mild case of palette block with this -- as previously mentioned, for some reason my brain loves to work on quads, and wangling all five shades of a quint into a look is a bit much for it to deal with in its currently sleep-deprived state.

It's still odd, because Hatsushimo's colour combination isn't even particularly unique to my collection. Here it is with two well-loved quads, Sonia Rykiel 10 (swatch) and Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama (swatch; lookbook) from this spring:
EX-17 Hatsushimo is right in the middle in terms of contrast and brightness, and partially overlaps both quads tonally; perhaps that's why I struggle a little with it -- it's neither Sonia Rykiel 10, which lends itself to more graphic, jewelled placements, nor is it EX-12 Hisuidama, which I like best layered into a complex murk.

I think the issue is that the blue-violet and the green-brown duochrome olive are equally strong, and tend to fight each other. Whereas in Sonia Rykiel 10 the blackened green is the darkest shade by a good step, and in Suqqu EX-12 Hisuidama, the two darkest shades, as well as differing more in depth, also harmonise with shared undertones.

(In fact, the two darker shades of EX-12 Hisuidama mix almost perfectly into EX-17 Hatsushimo's olive...
...thus proving just how much more complex Hatsushimo's tonal mix is, and also what a good little mindless consumer drone I am :P)

Anyway, all this means that when I forced myself to do something different with Hatsushimo, I merely ended up with a reversal of the first look, again splitting the olive from the blue.
Peach all over the lid, pink to shade outer socket, blue on its own to line, slightly flicked out. Lower lashline lined with the olive, slightly extended to mirror upper line. In a reversal of my imprecise geisha red outer-corner placement with not-EX-15-Benichagasane, violet glitter in an smudgy 'C' shape at the inner corner. Maybelline Rocket WP mascara.
Paired with Suqqu Bright Up Lipstick 02 Hanabeni over Kiss Me SPF15 Moist Lip lipbalm and Kjaer Weis Lovely blush. Basics are Shu Uemura Nobara 584 [getting a bit too dark now as my summer 'tan' fades] and Seal Brown H9 brow pencil, with Burberry 01 concealer under eyes.

Perhaps my struggles with this palette are due to my obsession with that violet sparkle pan and making it Teh Entire Point Of All Makeups EVAR. Justification: I (admitted sparkle addict) own nothing like it and couldn't even franken it from what I do own:
Paul & Joe Nice eye gloss
THREE 4D Eye Palette 04 Art of Parties purple
Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux pink (middle left)
Suqqu EX-17 Hatsushimo violet glitter split-pan
Fyrinnae Meerkat and Sequinned Master

Even its partner blue provided surprisingly tricky to 'dupe' from my collection, with its unusual inky saturation. Here it is with several other Suqqu 'liner' shades, demonstrating their wily ways with the scattering of not-quite-look-a-likes through their palettes:

Layered, Hatsushimo's naviolet stands up to any of my favourites, while retaining a unique edge:
Addiction Soda Lunch blurple duochrome
Suqqu EX-17 Hatsushimo violet and blue layered
Sonia Rykiel Mousse Eyeshadow 04 (tonally way off, but its complex sparkle is the closest analogue to the layered Suqqu shade I could find)
Fyrinnae Mystical Hedgehog (a legit gorgeous glitter, it looks a little drab without a base unlike the Suqqu and Sonia Rykiel formulas)

Setting aside for a moment my embarrassing EX-12 combo exactly duping EX-17's olive *cough*, it's otherwise fairly unique to my stash, but with certain reassuring affinities to products I already own -- comparable depth to Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird, a refined gleam like Shu Uemura ME 471 (mine is the second generation, discontinued version, though the current Colour Atelier shade is similar), sitting on a taupe base like RBR Velvet Fritillary cream shadow and the olive satin from THREE 06 Tranquil Oasis.

Finally, taking both peach and pink shades together, I'm pleased to say neither has an exact twin among my plethora of pinkypeachy things (considering my addiction to these types of shades, that's quite something...)
Sonia Rykiel Mousse 05 (darker, warmer, a sparkle rather than delicate shimmer)
KATE Deep Trap Eyes PK-1 light peach (much pinker in comparison)
EX-17 Hatsushimo palest peach
Shu Uemura ME 126 (slightly darker than EX-17's peach, pinker, and less complex)
EX-17 Hatsushimo pink
Shiseido PK305 Peony (softer, warmer)
Kiko Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadow 15 (cooler, deeper)
KATE Deep Trap Eyes PK-1 pink (much darker, more reddened)
RBR Eaten All The Cherries pigment (warmer in base, with gold shimmer)


Usual apologies for delay etc. I hope these swatches help you decide whether this quint is worth tracking down, or to make your peace with letting it pass you by :) If you did purchase it, how are you wearing it? To break my 'palette block' I think I'll stop trying to force looks with all five shades for now.
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THREE 19 Love Kick Colour Veil For Cheeks

October 3, 2013, 1:18 pm
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Along with the eyeshadow duos I so adored, THREE's spring 2013 collection also included blushes, Colour Veil for Cheeks in their parlance, of which 19 Love Kick was the brightest and reddest, so obviously the purchased...est-by-me.
Actually, Colour Veil is a very apt name for these sheer, silky beauties -- shade 12 Wanderlust (a dusty cool mauve, since discontinued) proved too softly pretty for my blush-eating camera to register at all, even trowelled on for the sole purposes of blog photography (something I really try not to do with my makeup, sorry folks) not to speak of the ache it created in my clown-cheek-loving heart. 19 Love Kick's stronger / brighter tones means that despite its sheerness, it does still 'pop' more clearly on the cheeks, and being a bit of a red blush addict aficionado! it's quite nice to have a red in an utterly foolproof, no-brainer, blends-nicely-with-any-clean-brush-going formula for exceptionally lazy/clumsy mornings.

Or indeed, New Cobalt Liner Mornings, which leave correspondingly less time for blush:
THREE 19 Love Kick By Terry Crayon Kohl 9 Royal Navy Addiction Rich Girl lipgloss
Eyes: By Terry Crayon Kohl Terrybly 9 Royal Navy, RBR Sleeping Underneath a Mandarin Tree and Sweet Dust Seriema, Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara. 
Lips: Addiction Rich Girl lipgloss 
Basics: Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation 001, RBR Sea of Clouds highlighter, Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener Light Bisque, Shu Uemura Seal Brown H9 brow pencil.


In context with some of my closest pink-tinged reds, both warm and cool:
Addiction Revenge cheek stick [look]
Rouge Bunny Rouge Orpheline (one swipe, vs three swipes for Love Kick) [old swatch]
Chicca 10 Girly Flush flush blush [review]
Becca Dragonfruit beach tint [review]
swatch Addiction Revenge Cheek Stick THREE 19 Love Kick RBR Rouge Bunny Rouge Orpheline Chicca Girly Flush 09 Becca Dragonfruit Beach Tint
natural light, weak early morning sun
There is very delicate, sparse silvery microshimmer through Love Kick's silky matte base, just enough to kick (harhar) it into satin gear; it's as refined and even sparser than the warmer gold shimmer running through RBR Orpheline, as this fuzzy pic just about shows:
swatch Addiction Revenge Cheek Stick THREE 19 Love Kick RBR Rouge Bunny Rouge Orpheline Chicca Girly Flush 09 Becca Dragonfruit Beach Tint
full sun, deliberate fuzz
Tonally the first picture skews a little cool, and the second a little warm -- please forgive a poor Londoner's variable lighting and smush the two together with your eyeballs? In any case, Love Kick, with its silvery satin sheen, reads a slightly cooler, clearer version of Dragonfruit, and a softer and pinker version of Revenge, its closest analogues. Orpheline is significantly warmer, and Girly Flush significantly cooler.

However, as the first, less deliberately fuzzy picture reveals, even a powder this soft -- and these THREE blushes are the most finely-milled powders I've ever come across -- sits less prettily on my skin than those silicone-based creams from Addiction and Becca. So, falling between two stools (er, cones), and falling further victim to my ongoing project to convert to a no-powder blush wardrobe, Love Kick will be heading back out again.


For another take on this blush, and comparisons to Guerlain's latest cult brick blush, check out Belly's review.
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The Beauty Spotlight Team: Visionary Beauty's Top Picks For Frizzy Hair

October 5, 2013, 4:47 am
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No matter how perfect your makeup, there's nothing better to ruin it than a bad hair day. With winter around the corner, it's the time for unmanageable, frizzy hair. Visionary Beauty gives us her top picks to say goodbye to frizz and hello to shiny and smooth.
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Addiction Cheek Polish Suspicious

October 5, 2013, 1:23 pm
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After my success with Addiction Cheek Polish in Fresh, the orange blush I've been searching for all my makeup-loving life, I thought I'd push my luck with another shade, Suspicious.
Addiction cheek polish suspicious 07
The details of this quirky liquid formula, translated ingredients list, and application tips can all be found in my Fresh review; Suspicious is more pigmented than Fresh (not just darker) but also retains a degree of translucency and sets to a similar satin-glowy -- indeed, 'polished' -- finish.

(Other reviews of these cheeksticks seem to agree they all vary a bit in pigmentation: see Birkin Beauty Bag on Tadzio and Chic and Wondegondigo on Suspicious/Revenge/Tadzio; So Lonely In Gorgeous swatched all seven shades together.)

Let's skate straight on to the comparison swatches, shall we? Since I was hoping that Suspicious would enable me to ditch at least one of the powders here:
SLEEK Pinktini from the Pink Sprint trio and Pomegranate single
MAC Dirty Plum (from Give Me Liberty of London)
ILLAMASQUA Crush cream blush
BECCA Raspberry beach tint
Addiction cheek polish suspicious 07 swatch mac dirty plum sleek pomegranate pinktini illamasqua crush becca raspberry beach tint
natural light
Of course, sod's law dictated that Suspicious would instead fall awkwardly in between the two cream formulas, which I was not trying to replace :/ Note also the peculiarly hairy stripe of Suspicious (I swear I'm not rocking a new arm hair trend) which poses that great metaphysical question of our times: is it better to have a blush that emphasises dryness and fine lines, or one that brings out peach fuzz? To be fair, once blended on the cheeks, I haven't noticed this particular issue being issue-y, but it is a bit of a harbinger....

Anyway, blended swatches of the three non-powders:
which hopefully still show (blahblah apologies for terrible natural light aside) that Crush is more purple-red, Suspicious most plum-brown-red and Raspberry the coolest and clearest pink of the berries.

My face tends to magnify differences, so here's Suspicious on it, applied fairly enthusiastically and taken up to edge of temples:
two coats, natural light
(Other makeup: Suqqu 10 Sakuragi quad, Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara, Etude House Rosy Lip Tint 3 Rose Petal.)
Contrast with the cooler, clearer Becca Raspberry, worn here.

Aside from the brown/red undertone niggles, which make Suspicious less automatically flattering on my skin than Crush or Raspberry (not necessarily a dealbreaker) and harder to pair with shades in my makeup wardrobe (maybe a dealbreaker), I found its formula pretty tricky to work with (definite dealbreaker). More pigmented and fast to set than Fresh cheek polish, my sponge stamping method tended to leave purple tide marks, but brushes often blended the colour to nothing or left it patchy, entailing a lot of boring meticulous relayering, and a pretty raspberry flush is supposed to be easy in that "oh, la, I must have daintily rolled through a dew-bespeckled faery ring of blackberry bushes during the wild hunt" way, amirite? It should not be this much work.

It may well just be me, as Belly doesn't seem to have had any issues (also check out how light and pink it looks on a darker, warmer skintone than mine!) And the fact that I also struggled mightily with Suspicious in its cheek stick incarnation, despite numbering other shades in that formula among my all-time favourite blushes, suggests that we may just be cursed. Do you know of other plum non-powder blushes / a good exorcist? Leave me a comment!

....I know, 'tis the usual perils of buying delicious Japanese makeups blind, but right now I want to rename the blog In'N'Out Blusher :P
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