drivel about frivol

Cindy from Prime Beauty is head-over-stilettos with a fabulous new foundation. SENNA's Lasting Illusion Foundation has a satin finish perfect for the over 40 woman.

15 Minute Beauty shares her favorite products to help glitter makeup work for you.

Mostly Sunny thought she'd just check a couple of new pieces out at the Burberry counter, but she ended up going home with Midnight Brown Sheer Eye Shadow . Did they live happily ever after?

You've gotta have some big balls to name your polish AMAZEBALLZ. polish insomniac puts this polish to the test to find out if its really AMAZING!

Carrie from eyeliner on a cat has chosen her favorite perfumes of 2013... you know you want to see what's on her list!

There is no question that Helen from Lola's Secret Beauty Blog hasn't the ability to resist exquisite luxury face oils, but sometimes one comes along that is so extraordinary that she has to shout about it from the rooftop! Such is the case with Aftelier Perfumes glorious new Ylang Face Elixir!

When a company's name is Your Best Face aka YBF you know that they have a great line of skincare. Beauty Info Zone wants you to know about two of their newest and greatest products plus they have an an international giveaway for you to enter and a coupon code to share.

drivel about frivol shares her PPPP (pale, picky person problems) with a swatchfest of her foundation matches and mixers throughout the year.

A Nude gone too far? Visionary Beauty finds out just how wearable the Trench Kiss Lip Mist from the Burberry Holiday collection is.

Do you love metallic polishes? Pammy Blogs Beauty scopes out SinfulColor's new Mirror Metallics collection!

Christa shares with us the Top 13 Posts of 2013 on Perilously Pale.

My favourite eyeshadow palette of 2013 is without question THREE Star Guitar. It's become such a key part of my makeup wardrobe -- I wear it as a palette at least once a week, and integrate its four separate pans into other looks often (e.g. see the plum in action here) -- that I only realised I never actually blogged about it as I was putting together a 'best of 2013' round-up. D:

So starting 2014 as I mean to go on, here's a disorganised spam post full of ooooold pics in dodgy lighting from last autumn, all totally failing to do a product I love any justice at all. Woot :D

Firstly, a little packaging detail: THREE's sleek grey cases are uniform, but the lettering on each quad is in a different colour to help differentiate each one without opening -- Star Guitar's 'THREE' comes in a cool matte silver.

Inside? Ohhhhhh lawdy. *fans self* A few closeups, all taken in natural light.

Even in the pan, I think the textural variety is clear:
The plum is a dense dry cream, packed with warmer ruby and gold glitter, and sparse cool cornflower sparkle, as well as tonal microshimmer.
The taupewter topcoat contains several sizes, shapes, and tones of sparkle, the largest flecks icy blue-white, and includes some black glitter for surprising depth. It's loosely packed disparate glitter but not gritty in feel -- actually there's almost a gel-suspension glide to its taupe base -- and on my dry lids it is prone to fallout without some kind of product underneath (either cream or powder). This shade shifts quite a bit from warm mid-toned taupe when sheered out (so that the base reads most strongly) to a much lighter almost silvery pewter when packed on with a dense brush so that the sparkle predominates.
The two powders are slightly trickier to differentiate, but I think you can just tell that the brown is, while still complex in its balance of warm and cool, more tightly packed and an understated satin-matte in finish (it's the workhorse transition/shader/deepener of this lineup), while the pink combines a warmer mauve-rose base with a dense, cool silvery-white sheen. The pink also feels creamier and changes finish significantly when layered over another shade (powders as well as creams): its rosy base seems to integrate into and subtly warm up that product, letting its shimmer function function more as a scattered-sparkler topcoat.

Swatches

(from here, where you can also see my other THREE 4D Eye Palettes)

Comparisons

I have most comparables for the plum, and good thing too, for you can see I've already hit pan on that shade, and on the purple cream from Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux (my 'Star Guitar' of 2012 -- looks here and here) too. The other products are Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac Colour Chameleon pencil (review) and my first acquisition of 2014, Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Diapason (review/swoonage forthcoming).

Note the pattern here? I am a sucker for warmer-toned purple creams filled with blue shimmer. The THREE plum sits in the middle -- with a reddened base in common with Amethyst Aphrodisiac/Diapason, a similar combination and dispersion of multitonal sparkle as the Prestigious Bordeaux purple, and texturally it is slightly creamier than the Shu or CT, but slightly less so than the Chanel.

The rose satin, which swatches (and functions) as a definite pink note alongside the other pans in Star Guitar as a whole, looks like a non-colour next to the mauve from Shu Uemura Prestigious Bordeaux (yep, that palette again :P), which shares its muted mauve base-with-silver shimmer, and even the warm pink 'shader' from Suqqu 08 Mizuaoi.

I keep saying that Star Guitar's brown is perfectly balanced between warm and cool but I think that's just relative to my wardrobe -- in the grand scheme of eyeshadows it's decidedly cool. Here it is in between two of my beloved RBR neutral mattes -- Blackpepper Jay and Sweet Dust Seriema, and texturally too, the Star Guitar shade is closer to the demi-matte BPJ than the creamy matte SDS.

As for the taupewter topcoat, that really is so unusually warm-cool of a shade that I have no real analogues, just some randoms in a seriously dodgy pic: Rouge Bunny Rouge Wishing for Wings pigment (a much cooler lavender taupe with a smooth shimmery finish), THREE Shimmering Colour Veil (loose glitter pigment) 20 Ziggy (warmer toned, with larger glitter particles less tightly packed) and Fyrinnae Newcastle (much darker and more 'solid' in feel).

Finally a lookdump! I chose some FOTD pictures I'd taken over the past season to try and showcase this quad's versatility, despite its neutrality.

1 ALL TEH PANS

Star Guitar's plum as a base all over lid and smudged under the eye, the brown to add depth at outer and inner 'v', rose to blend and extended outwards at the outer corner, taupewter glitter blended up from inner corner to brow. Lip and cheek: Etude House Rosy Tint Lips 8 After Blossom.

2. Plum + Brown

A soft, warm eye: a rounded wash of the brown on lid and under the eye with plum as smudgy liner. Paired with translucent peachy pinks on lips (Coffret D'Or Bright Up Rouge Creamy Liquid PK270) and cheeks (Chicca Flush Blush 09 Feels Love).

3. Pink + Brown + Taupeweter

The brown works sheered out as a lid wash in the last look, but pushed into the lashline with a dense push-brush, it has enough heft to define a look, even without the plum cream. The rose as a wash on the upper lid, and the taupewter glitter layered over the brown on the inner half of the lower lashline. Lip: Diego Dalla Palma 104 Cyalamen. Cheek: Addiction Rose Bar cheekstick.

4. Brown + Plum + Taupewter (+ COBALT)

The cobalt is By Terry Royal Navy from whose review post this looks comes -- it blocks off the THREE brown on the lid, with a dab of pewter in the centre, from the plum, taken under the eye.

5. Rose + plum

As the rose's silver shimmer works well to add dimension even in a simple one-shade wash, why complicate matters further? Er, unless you feel like adding a baby split wing with the plum. Lip is complimentary warm rose Guerlain Chamade Rouge Auto, cheek Canmake Clear CL04 Clear Pink Joy.

6. Plum + Taupewter

This one is look no. 1 redux. As you can probably guess from my product pics, I wear the plum from this quad most often as a one-shade already-complex haze. Accented with the taupewter glitter at the centre of lid and lower lashline, it makes for a deceptively intricate dark-and-bright look that takes all of a minute to slap on. Lip: Etude House Rosy Tint Lip 3 Rose Petal (mixed with balm). Cheek: Diego Dalla Palma Creamy Blush 60 Glow Baby Pink.

Phew, well that's a weight off my chest :D I hope to do a big corral-y post on my other THREE quads throughout the year, so stay tuned :D Any votes on which one you'd like to see next?

The past makeup year was marked more by endings than beginnings -- my favourite lipstick formula (Suqqu Creamy Glow) was discontinued, and I came to the end of some favourite products from my first forays into Japanese makeup several years ago (most notably some staple palettes from KATE, and Suqqu, and a handful of lipsticks), and also finished various Rouge Bunny Rouge products of a similar vintage. (Basically, extrapolate from this post.) New discoveries and purchases have been motivated more by "need" (to replace those discontinued staples, and to find colours I rely on in formulas that work on my increasingly dry, thin skin) than by "whee," but on the plus side, that made playing favourites with my pretties an easy task, for once :P

BASICS

Inspired by the attention to detail and the revelation (er, reminder, really) of the significant difference tiny tweaks can make in the Maquia 45º makeup tutorial, I made a mid-October's resolution to focus more on the basics, not necessarily taking more time but taking much more care over base, brow and lash products, rather than slapping them on in a haphazard rush to get to the sparkly colourful unicornpee makeups.
Three new discoveries this year have become absolute necessities in this push to polish:
Suqqu brow pen (02 Brown pictured, more details) for undetectable filling-in of entirely hairless areas, including extending my brow tails.
Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara (original review) which plays the fluttery sister to my more va-va-voom L'Oréal False Lash Telescopic WP option (my favourite mascara of 2012) -- see both featured in this recent post on lashes.
Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation 001 (swatched alongside my other matches) is a miraculous matches-me-out-of-the-tube(-for-nine-months-of-the-year), alcohol- and fragrance-free kind-to-dry-skin Japanese cream formula with very good coverage and an elegant satin finish. It is my favourite foundation discovery not only in the past year, but possibly of my entire makeup-wearing life.

COLOUR

Both the By Terry Crayon Khol Terrybly (Royal Navy, reviewed here) and Face Stockholm Crème Blush (this obnoxious red is Milan; New York and Rhinebeck are reviewed here) were discoveries made during the course of converting all my blushes and liners to creams and pencils. Projects I'm now slightly second-guessing, but worth it for leading me to these two utterly faultless products alone.

The lipstick is, of course, a Guerlain Rouge G (this is the leprous-er-limited-edition packaging of the strawberry jelly shade Madame Flirte, reviewed here) -- my favourite lip formula of the year. While not strictly new to me, this year's changes in my lips (think sere dessication and linèdness etc.) meant that Rouge G's finally became unarguably 'worth it' to me (well, at the discounted escentual.com rate, anyway) and, unlike the also-excellent Japanese formulas (many here) I've discovered this year, its shade range includes more than one wearable option for me. Expect a roundup of my burgeoning Rouge G wardrobe soon.

If you've been visiting regularly, you'll know that this year was also the year I really fell entirely for the eyeshadows (rather than the creamilicious liners) from THREE, which has supplanted Suqqu as my 'core' shadow brand (swatches of my five quads here, and posts on my three duos here and here). Choosing just one as a favourite was totes soul-searing and stuff, but based on frequency of use alone, it had to be the 09 Star Guitar quad (more), which has has become my pinkyneutral tardis palette, supplanting:

TOOLS

It's been a quiet year for brushes, as I've mostly been acquiring backups/duplicates of those I use most frequently, but these two Sephorabrushes (#56 Pro Flawless Airbrush and #28 Pro Cream Shadow) have slotted into my daily brush caddy. Both dense but soft and fluffy synthetic blenders, with a lozenge-shaped cross-section, I adore the #56 for streak-free diffusing of cream blushes and the #28 for cream shadows -- the latter is the functional replacement for the MAC 217 I'd been hunting for over a year.

ONE YEAR ON...

Just for fun, I thought I'd revisit last year's favourites. While I still own and use all the products featured, there's nothing like packing for a three-month Asian stint for narrowing down which ones I really wouldn't be without.

Differences of packaging (note Shu and D&G depots) and shade (in THREE liners and Kiko eyeshadow sticks) aside, there are only two products absolutely absent from the original pic! Which I feel proves my constancy or summat. The Shu pink/purple mousse I find too drying in winter months, and, since discovering Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture foundation (mixed with a tiny dot of an RBR illuminator for the very coldest days), I can rarely be bothered to work a sizeable amount of the Suki CC cream into my Vapour stick foundation to make it a reasonable match for my skin in winter.

Spring collections are already peppering counters here in Hong Kong like a flock of predictably pastel butterflies, but personally I'm not over ye burgundy-bruised opium-eater eyes of winter yet. What?That's my seasonal colour story and I'm a-stickin' to it.

So it's a good thing that among the bright lipsticks and blushes (and even a PAHNK liner, you go ~~Glen~~ Coco!) on Chanel's Notes des Printemps display, there was lurking a somewhat murkier jar...

indirect natural light

Namely 92 Diapason, a new Illusion D'Ombre to join both Chanel's and my collection, it being a burgundyplum filled with multitonal, predominantly blue, sparkle. i.e. classic Kate-bait. Because LOOKIT the sparkles, twinkling, agitating, whispering sweet nothings:

natural light, weak sun

The blue sparkle absolutely saturates Diapason's rich red-plum base, giving a strong duochrome effect, which becomes obvious once you 'break' its pristine surface -- Diapason on the left, with (the sad dry remains of my) Illusoire on the right, a much more muted, taupe-greyed purple:

Swatches in the same order, made with the included synthetic brushes

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Diapason vs Illusoire comparison swatch

natural light

Diapason, like the discontinued Asia-exclusive shade Rivière, has a denser, smoother, more creamy texture than the core Illusions D'Ombre (including Illusoire) or last season's Initiation, with finer, more tightly packed shimmer which looks like a delicate sheen in dimmer light, rather than Illusoire's heavier metallic sparkle.

full sun

Among the ultrafine cool blue shimmer, Diapason also contains larger flecks of turquoise, pink, and white-gold sparkle -- all cool tones which 'pop' against its warm red-plum base. Illusoire's sparkle is more balanced in tone, with warm pink and red alongside cooler lime and palest icy lilac.

full sun with extra fuzz

Although I love Illusoire (enough to use it down to the last crumbs), the higher-contrast Diapason is even more to my taste. *cough* No, seriously:

comparison swatches: Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac, THREE Star Guitar, Shu Uemura Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux, Chanel Diapason

Charlotte Tilbury Amethyst Aphrodisiac Colour Chameleon pencil and the plum from THREE 09 Star Guitar quad both share Diapason's warm reddened base, but the icy coolness and concentration of Diapason's blue microshimmer is unique in this batch. Unlike the purple pan from the Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux palette, Diapason stays very much poised as a blue-overlaid-red rather than combining fully into a royal purple.

With all this inbuilt complexity, no point in gilding the lily further. A simple wash of Diapason, laid down all over my lid up to the socket and taken all the way under the eye, edges blended gently with a Sephora Pro #28 brush, looks like this:

The sheerer, blended-out edges let the warmer base peek through, while the untampered areas on my lid flashes more strongly blue. But differently blue (and red) depending on the specific contours of the eye *_*

Lips: Etude House Rosy Tint Lips 3 Rose Petal (alsomixed with foundation and worn very lightly as blush) Base/Basics: Suqqu Makeup Base Creamy, Mehron Celebre HD Foundation LT-1, Burberry Sheer Concealer 01, Shu Uemura H9 Eyebrow Pencil Stone Grey, Fasio Full Dynamic Volume mascara

PS I have a feeling my Diapason may not be quite au diapason with the Diapason other bloggers have reviewed -- whether it's a batch issue ~~or concession to Asian makeup's infatuation with great sparkle~~* my pot seems to have much more and stronger blue shimmer. (The way the undertones of the base pull more purple, red or brown can be explained by differences in skintone, I think.) Fortunately, this one is easily accessible, so I recommend swatching before buying :)

*EDIT: thanks to my pals at Wondegondigo and Musing On Beauty, I can confirm that the ingredients lists for the Diapason sold in the US, Europe and Asia are identical; all are made in France. So I'm chalking this one up to possible batch variation / skintone / lighting -- I think the four bloggers I linked to above all have posh studio lighting setups, while I have... an open window.

Does Marcia from Beauty Info Zone hold anything back in her 20 questions session? You'll have to read to find out the truth and nothing but the truth.

Welcome to another edition of Magazine Monday! This time, my favourite: the Biteki new collections booklet! :D I know with the internet dese days (tsk tsk) and ever-earlier release dates, much of the shine has gone from this kind of preview booklet (many of the collections had landed on counters before this issue made it onto the bookshelves), but for me the excellent true-to-colour and -to-finish quality of Biteki's pictures and swatches are still an invaluable help when buying Japan-exclusive pretties.

Collections booklet, Left, and main mag, Right: next Monday I'll share some of the looks and tutes from the main mag, which introduces a few eye makeup tweaks and combining shots of colour into office-safe makeup.

The collections booklet is coded with several diamond-shaped 'stickers': blue diamonds indicate the products featured in the official promo/ads, and violet diamonds limited edition status. The purple circles indicate Biteki's own showcasing of this product in the main magazine, and on which page. The black square lists the Japanese release date (month, then day).

Let's crack the booklet!

SUQQU's three new permanent quads seem to reprise various recent limited edition palettes: 16's blurple-with-neutrals recalls EX-11 Sumiredama; the pink-green-brown combination of 15 repeats EX-08 Hanamari and EX-12 Hisuidama; and 15 is a warm brown-gold quad reminiscent of various holiday palettes e.g. EX-09 Momoawayuki. On the other hand, we have another pinky-red limited-edition Creamy Glow Moist lipstick (EX-03), which Suqqu seems to bring out every collection. When will they make one a permanent part of the range, already?! Can you tell I'm bitter that I'll have to wait until April to play with these IRL? :P

THREE also focuses on expanding their core collection with a release of mostly permanent items. Four new eyeshadow duos in more muted shades than the original release last spring, and a new 'Velvet Last Lipstick' formula with a reasonable range of shades. Worrying testament to my susceptability to J brands, the two items I'm particularly eyeing are both marked with blue diamonds: the lipstick in 02 and eyeshadow duo in 09.

Make that susceptibility to all things Japanese pop-cultural. TRIFORCE BLUSHES, YO. RMK has my number and I will definitely be acquiring one of those and repurposing as eyeshadow if it turns out to be too sparkly for my cheeks. Those trio eyeshadows (seven on the right) also look interesting -- I'm still loving 'blush' colours on eyes, and will be eager to check out the minute differences between the two 'sandwiching' shades on either side. Interesting finishing powders, candied shades of nail polish and pop-bright lip crayon&gloss duos (those flower&heart swatches) complete what promises to be a very fun, girly collection.

Bright lips are quite a feature this spring (...for Japanese brands. They're ALWAYS a feature for me :P), and I am very excited to see more vibrant offerings from brands whose faultless formulas usually come in a slew of soft rosy/brown neutrals. Shiseido's Benefique Theoty is a brand I'm hoping to try this year -- their cream lipsticks have garnered rave reviews in Japan and this spring brings ten new, mostly reddish, shades:

Jill Stuart also has a new 'Lip Blossom' lipstick formula, from which 08 and 09 look obnoxious enough even for me, and its key colour, 02, seems such a 'Korean' milky orange shade -- more evidence for the growing popularity/influence of Korean beauty trends in Japan, perhaps?

Élégance is one domestic Japanese line that's always had interesting colour options, with a red mascara, red-and-blue-slashed lipsticks, and a pink-and-green lacy blush among its core offerings. Maybe one of their spring cream blushes(!) or bright lipsticks will be my first foray into this luxury brand. I like all three of the greyed-neutrals-with-pops-of-colour quads too.

Chicca also has new (sheer, glossy) lipsticks in a range of classic spring pinks, though no new shades of Flush Blush (sulk).

I've taken a break from Sonia Rykiel for the past few seasons, but simultaneous releases of bright liquid lipsticks and sparkly liquid eyeshadows means it's time to get reacquainted! Purchases and reviews most likely forthcoming later this year :P

Liquid lipsticks in general are all over the place, with new formulas and shades from several brands. Kao's Aube Couture expands the shade range of its 'Essence Premium Rouge' line (IIRC the 'winner' in the battle of the liquid lipsticks last year). Their new eyeshadow palettes, with their clever self-explanatory layout, offer a totally brainless way to the 'inner socket accent' placement I've been so enjoying (e.g. looks 2 and 3 here).

Shiseido's Maquillage offers a new formula: Essence Glamorous Rouge NEO, in, sadly, all shimmery options >:C

...while its big sister brand Shiseido The Makeup expands its Lacquer Rouge range (droplets on the right) and releases a new Lacquer Gloss line (hearts on the left) with even more egregious glitterbombs. I'd love to see one of you compare VI207 with Surratt Amethyste, however! The new cream shadow shades seem to develop the acid-brights colour story of last holiday's Eye Colour Bar, which was a failure on me; perhaps these will play nicer on my skin?

Thankfully, there are three shimmer-free as well as three shimmery shades of Kanebo Coffret D'Or new Elegance Jelly Rouge liquid lipstick, while their Rouge Essence range also sees six new permanent and two new limited edition shades: the 'Excellent Colour' (i.e. especially pigmented) pink and red ones at the top.

Another brand known for its liquid lipstick line, Kosé's Esprique introduces four new Rouge Stay Magic shades, all with varying degrees of shimmer. And another variation on their hybrid eye&cheek palettes: Blend Creation Eye and Cheek Bitter Line. Why bitter? I dunno, their palettes have looked the same to me for a good few years now :P

Another cheek thingy that caught my eye: Ipsa's new range of twelve -- count 'em -- highlight-blush-contour--and-finishing-powder compacts. I never did get to check out Visée's version released last autumn but if my new back-to-basics virtuous streak continues, one of these might tempt me to try some daily face sculpting.... Visée's release this time is small, as expected, since the entire line was revamped just a season ago -- its main standout the limited edition bright pink lipstick PK804.

At opposite ends of the market, Ladurée (luxury) and Lavshuca (drugstore) also put face colours at the heart of their collections. Blushes in palettes, miniature boxed petals, cream cheek pots, and floral embossed compacts, o my.

One of the few eye-focused collections this season comes from Lunasol, with four quads and five eyeshadow duos, all in dusty, washed-out wheaty and pastel shades. Quad 04 looks like a potential warm grey quad to replace the staples I finished last year! ...Let's not examine the leprous blushes too closely, eh?

Addiction also showcases a similarly sandy neutral colour story, although punctuated by some eccentric lip colours. Which, in principle, cool, but srsly, what is up with the complex-glitter-packed-purple lip colours this season?! My wish was for (even) more EYE colours, universe! Oy...

A balanced collection (i.e. it's that point in a long blogpost where I run out of organising principles) come from Cosme Decorte AQ MW -- always famed for their powders, this season sees five new tinted shades, but they seem to be releasing bits and bobs in all makeup categories.

Another generous collection comes from Paul&Joe -- more properly a confection, it being such shamelessly girly whimsical fun. With balls.

I should end all posts with BALLS. Balls balls balls.
Ahem, not that I'm posting while drunk-shopping. Not me. Any of these pretties catch your eye? Aside from Chanel's Diapason, I'm not really feeling any Western brand release this season. Then again, I'm sinking slowly yet surely into a Korean makeup rabbit hole.... I'm clearly under some enduring exchange-monies-for-makeups curse. Balls.

After showing you the sad remains of my Chanel Illusoire Illusion D'Ombre, I realised that, true to my blogging fail ways, I'd never actually posted a look with this obviously much-loved staple. XD So here's one, along with another soon-to-be-finished product, Canmake Clear Pink Joy CL04 cream blush (reviewed).Along with two shiny new additions to the stash: Coffret D'Or Elegance Jelly Rouge RD-206 (one of the liquid lipsticks just released for spring, as previewed) and Addiction Eye Lacquer WP in Mermaid Splash. The no-longer-new-yet-not-quite-a-staple-yet product is Clinique Quickliner Intense Intense Amethyst.

The look itself pulls two recently trendy techniques from J-mags: the thin inner-corner liner (tutorial in the third look here) and the 'teardrop' lower-lashline highlight (which I'll scan next Monday). Liner is Clinique Intense Amethyst, teardrops are Addiction Mermaid Splash; Chanel Illusoire is the murky purple-taupe swept all over lid and under the eye. Mascara is Fasio Full Dynamic LONG, rather than my usual Volume -- another new item being auditioned :)

cheek: Canmake CL04, lip: Coffret D'Or RD-206 (two good coats)

base/basics: Shu Uemura UV Underbase Cream Pink, Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation 001, Burberry Sheer 01 concealer, Za Ever Brows 03

And now for the to-repurchase-or-not-to-repurchase dance. (Maracas are involved.) Right now I'm leaning towards 'no repurchase,' as products that go bad / dry out / otherwise become compromised before I can make my way through them always make me feel so wasteful -- while my Illusoire is fairly old (purchased on release in June 2011), the Sonia Rykiel Mousse Eyeshadow in 05 I bought only a few months later (swatched here) stayed perfectly creamy and unified to the last smear (finished in December). Perhaps I'll try my luck with Sonia Rykiel's new grurple liquid eyeshadow, instead...
Good call?

Helen from Lola's Secret Beauty Blog never thought she would find a primer she loved more than Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer until she tried Hourglass No. 28 Primer Serum! What a total revelation for face primers!

The Pink Sith has a easy and natural fix for your winter dry skin woes with her DIY Avocado and honey facial mask.

Jessika from polish insomniac is a nail blogger who is afraid of nail art. Find out how Gwen Stefani helped her over the edge!

Carrie from eyeliner on a cat has declared her Best of Beauty 2013 winners! Included is a UK skin care brand new to the US that fixed what she thought was a lost cause-- a real life-changer!

Here is a tip for the gents: do not ignore your girl when there is football on TV. Mostly Sunny got bored and decided to buy some new brushes from Wayne Goss, and she is very much in love with Brush 1 !

There's a new cosmetic range in town, but can the Japonesque cosmetic range meet the same standards as their brush line? Lets have a look with Visionary Beauty.

Lisa from Beauty Info Zone can't get enough Lipstick Queen lippies. This week she's sharing The Metals. You'll want them once you see them.

Cindy from Prime Beauty is slightly smitten with her moniker theBalm Cindy-Lou Manizer!

Do you have Winter-dry skin? Pammy Blogs Beauty shares some tips and products for dry skin relief!

Perilously Pale is dreaming of sugared almonds mmmmmm thanks to her review of the Dior Spring 2014 Trianon Collection Dior Vernis nail lacquers.

It’s all an Illusion … D’Ombre over at drivel about frivol. Or drivel about purple as Kate weighs new love Diapason against old reliable Illusoire.

15 Minute Beauty chose her Top 10 Favorite Mascaras. Read about hers and then go on to read the rest of the groups' favorites.

My latest obsession: Korean drama Miss Korea, both gloriously camp and surprisingly thoughtful, currently halfway through its twenty episode run. So to while away those agonising hours until Wednesday/Thursday nights *withdrawal twitches* I thought I'd share some screencaps from and drivel about the show, in hopes that you'll all begin to watch it* with me and squee along :D

*dramafever broadcasts English-subtitled versions in HD a day after the Korean airing for those in the US, and for those outside the US, google will lead you to streams.

Miss Korea is set in 1997, and most of its flashbacks a decade earlier, and the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis backdrop is actually thoughtfully deployed to provide a genuine sense of peril and high stakes (as opposed to the usual petty/straight-up idiotic romcom motivations) for all of the characters, goodies and baddies and inbetweenies alike (and almost all the characters are really inbetweenies). The IMF bailout is also hi-lariously deployed in a few set-pieces I'm loathe to spoil, but trust me, they're literal comedy gold.

...okay, one example:

And the setting even mitigates some of the usual k-drama annoyances -- since mobile phones aren't ubiquitous by this point, at least it kind of makes sense to run around moodily-shot city streets set to a soundtrack of melancholy indie guitars when someone goes missing, instead of just CALLING THEM FFS. And Miss Korea similarly problematises a lot of things that are usually swept under the carpet of k-dramas, especially about the rather poisonous nexus of beauty-worth-money-power-fame-vulnerability for women, which is very much its foregrounded subject as well as its unspoken setting. Ahem. Also, hello '90s pageant makeup and hair :D

Though the campiest period-appropriate costuming tends to be reserved for the comic relief characters, while the main characters strut about in cute AW-2013/4-'90s-revival gear instead. Which I'm not going to nitpick, because cute.

Like the garçonne duds on the female boffin played by Song Seon-Mi:

And this oversized cobalt coat / collared teal shirt combo on our main gal here:

(Yes, girl in red is checking out her own boobs, Typically for this drama, this is both played for laughs and a sensibly handled plot point later.)

Anyway,

Our protagonist, my dears, is one Oh Ji-Young (played by Lee Yeon-Hee), and this is the introduction that endeared her to me immediately. Upon waking up hungover with last night's makeup smeared all over her face, the first thing she does is to call up the cosmetics company to complain... with slightly unexpected (or do I mean 'very expected') results.

She's ONE OF US, know what I'm sayin'?

Remarkably for a K-drama, these characters are both cartoonishly entertaining and psychologically persuasive! Oh Ji-Young is a great example: realistically self-aware, and aware that she's pretty to boot (zomg, no 10-episode arc with multiple 'makeovers' persuading the beautiful lead she's not hideous!) but with a reasonable share of human blindspots and insecurities and emotional scars. Which, again realistically, sometimes leads to slap-worthy self-sabotaging behaviours (which she usually recognises and berates herself for, to be fair) and sometimes leads to fun badassery:

Anyway, so clearly she starts the drama as an elevator girl. And the male lead is the eminently squishable Lee Sun-Kyun, who rocks every assholish, self-aware-about-being-kinda-assholish and surprisingly loyal-and-awesome-despite it moment in this (and if you've seen him in Coffee Prince, you'll know how well he delivers an unconventional second-chance love story). But I get extremely bored writing recaps and intros so advise you to hop over to dramabeans for the meat about the actual plot and characters and stuff. And then come back for the frivolity frosting...

...like Oh Ji-Young's killer lip colours, which are playing havoc with my shopping list. I don't think I have quite this pink-red in among my dozen other pink-reds...

Apparently, this is two coats of YSL Rouge Pur Couture #57 Luminous Pink lipstick

Or this reddened pink, among my dozen reddened pinks...

Haz already established my YSL Pêche Cerra-Cola isn't quite right for this, either:

....Oh shut up, OJY, and tell me where you got your peachy glossy magic! *weeps*

Again, her makeup isn't particularly '1997' and seems to me to have a lot in common with currently trendy 도 화 (do hwa) placements... but my, it's pretty!

The two fabulous queen-makers also rock plot-appropriately similar-but-different liner wings:

Lee Mi-Sook as Ma Ae-Ri

Hong Ji-Min as Yang Choon-Ja

And not only is this a drama with awesome makeup, it's also a drama ABOUT makeup. Our loveable supporting cast form an underdog cosmetics company, who happen to invent this newfangled thing called a 'BB cream'...

right on, boys and girl!

...which, it being 1997, no-one's heard of or particularly wants to invest in...

....and their rivals, investors, plots-within-plots and involvement in the Miss Korea storyline add further meta beauty geekery rainbow sprinkles to an already delicious cake of a show. Bless 'em, they do try.

well, he's nailed the pageant hair

Vivi cosmetics: slap your way to a dainty face!

Family moments can make for the cosiest or cringeiest bits of a K-drama, and I can report that this show excels, again. Here's Oh Ji-Young's family (grandpa, dad-she-calls-mum, uncle, brother), contemplating the ramifications of their democratic system:

Families of all kinds emerge throughout the show -- we're only halfway through, but incredibly enough there've been many of instances of strong and often unexpected sisterhood, as well as the catfights and bitching you'd expect (nay, demand!) of a show with a beauty pageant at its heart:

Team Cherry vs Team Queen: bathhouse deathmatch!

Cosmetic surgery is another topic tackled head-on in this show, both comically and realistically, no weaselling around it \o/

...So this is why I don't write recaps. I totally just squeed a cosmetic surgery theme. That's what this show does, people. It's incredibly fun and can be hysterically campy, but never vapid. The romance is sweet but never sickly. Every major character has understandable motivations, which sometimes self-contradict. The soundtrack is ace. The cinematography aint bad either. And there's so much beauty eyecandy. Why aren't you watching already?

Waikiki, folks!

This issue of Biteki was rather slim pickings for looks, the bulk of the magazine being taken up with a 'best of 2013' retrospective (which I shan't bother scanning, because it's basically advertorial fluff raving over every product launched in the past 12 month it seems...) and the Spring 2014 collections booklet (previously posted here).

But the looks that are shown form quite a nice selection of wearable-with-a-twist basics that are simple enough to be manageable even with a brain at lowest ebb (who wouldn't rather be hibernating through every January morning?) yet zingy enough to add some interest to drab wintry days.

First up, colours in winter -- i.e. what to do now that makeup collections get released at least a full season ahead of their nominal 'season'.

Cassis Purple wing and Foggy Pink lips

The key point is to keep both elements soft -- the wing is sketched-on powder eyeshadow and the lip a modern matte that harmonises with your natural skintone. This creates a 'bittersweet'tsundere rogue look, apparently o.O....let's just think of it as sassy-pretty, 'mmkay?

Closeup: the look uses the blurple from Suqqu's Blend Eyeshadow quad 16 [which photographs as blue here but more true-to-application purple in the collections booklet], winged up and out from the outer 1/3 of the lid, with the pale pink satin (bottom right pan) swept lightly over the inner 2/3 of the lid. The lip is a mix of the centre and centre-right shades from Givenchy's Le Prismissime lip&cheek palette, both from the spring 2014 collections. Soft pink blush is THREE Colour Veil 22.

Ink Blue liner and Sheer Orange lip

A classic summer colour combo given wintry twists makes for a playful 'casual-cute' look.

Closeup: Shiseido Shimmering Cream Shadow BL722 is the sole point of focus, in a slightly elongated wing; the rest of the eye is kept totally bare [er, I can see white on the waterline :P And note that the liner is also brought around the inner corner and slightly down onto the inner lower lashline -- this placement is everywhere at the moment.] RMK Crayon & Glossy Lips 05 on lips -- the crayon all over, gloss kept to the centre of the lips. Blush is Elégance OR202.

Warm Pink eyes, Innocent Pink lips

This may be my favourite look this issue, and not just because of my penchant for the peculiarly Japanese allocation of English adjectives to colours ^_^ It's such a good example of an approach that carefully balances both harmonies and tensions to create something seemingly artless and bloody pretty.

Closeup: the pink (bottom left) shade from Chanel Quadrille quad blended inwards and upwards from the inner corner until the centre of the lid (i.e. a softer, more spring-y variation on the 'triangle' placements and inner socket accents carried over from last autumn), with the brown (bottom right) framing the outer corner on both lid and lower lashline. Fasio Quick Dry Gel Liner BR300 to line. Dior Addict Lip Gloss 442 Petillante on lips, Suqqu Balancing Cheeks N 01 in a perky, apples-to-cheekbones placement for a fresh flush.

Copper Brown smokey eye and Eighties Pink lips

In contrast to the harmonious pink look, this is a definite isolated-pops-of-colour kind of thing, which is supposed to reclaim challenging colours to show your style cojones, or something. Especially if you pair it with neon yellow mohair. BECAUSE FASHUN.

Closeup: MAC Fluidline It's Physical taken all over lid and under the eye and smoked out with a fingertip to enhance its pearliness, lashline darkened with Lunasol Shiny Pencil Eyeliner 02 (a neutral deep brown metallic). Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 44 La Diva -- a blue-fuchsia matte -- also applied at full strength to entire lip, then has its edges softened with a fingertip, and is contrasted with warm tea-rose on cheeks (Nars Love).

Creamy Beige eye and Hot Orange lip

Pretty self explanatory: this combines on a soft low-contrast eye and precise, high-contrast lip for a modern 'glamorous' look.

Closeup: your basic neutral gradation with the bottom two (warmer) shades from Lunasol Sand Natural Eyes quad 01 Neutral Sand (darker brown also used to shade outer lower lashline for depth), and KATE Colour Contour Liner BR-1 to line. Addiction Eivissa Dream lipstick (a bright but balmy orange) paired with Nars Final Cut blush.

The other set of tutorials focus on eye makeup placements rather than colour pairings, rounding up four current trends:

Trend 1. Lower lashline shadow

A new, softer way of visually increasing the 'height' of the eye (i.e. creating a more rounded shape), this involves placing a dark red-toned brown shadow on the lower lashline in a gently rounded line, just below the iris. Gold shadow frames it on either side of the lower lashline, while the entire waterline is rimmed with a thin, neat line. This is an interesting reversal of the usual lighter-centre-highlight and I'd love to hear your thoughts if you try it out -- it's the same basic idea of contrast creating dimension, after all, and done subtly and joined up to the waterliner, I can see it being visually less jarring / subtler in creating the rounding effect.

Trend 2. The thin 'rocker' wing

...lol, could this model look any less rockstar? :P A thin wing, with mild extension beyond the tail of the eye, barely any lift/flick, and sliiiightly thickened at the outer edge, joined to an even thinner line along the lower lash/waterline edge, with slight emphasis on inner and outer corners.

The most interesting thing about this feature is that it includes panels with suggestions for tweaking these placements to suit (left box) hooded or inner-double lids and (right box) monolids. For the first look they suggest offsetting the lower lashline shadow for hooded eyes, and keeping the central placement but lengthening the line to just beyond the edges of the iris for monolids. Possible liner tweaks are thickening the line earlier (for monolids) and keeping it thinner and angled higher (for hooded lids), though as always you should check with your eyes open and see what effect you prefer on your own lids -- just because you have hooded eyes doesn't mean they always droop at the outer corner -- mine don't, so the 'conventional' liner placement works better for me, for example.

Trend 3: The double-half line

It's probably easier to think of this as an open, partial cat-eye -- I know lots of us sketch out our cat-eyes / big wings like this to check the shape before 'filling' the outlines in. This is a really pretty, delicate take on the more graphic partial placements seem in catwalk makeup over the past few seasons -- it gives the same lift as a traditional cat-eye/big wing, but with an airy lightness that feels very fresh for this winter-looking-to-spring season.

This look depends a lot on how your eye looks open vs closed and how the eyelid fold/lack of one plays with the curvature of your eyes, so take these suggestions with a grain of salt / feel free to experiment with these or other tweaks even if your lids aren't hooded/mono:

And again, let me know how you get on! I ADORE partial / sketched-out placements (because lazy) so am especially curious to hear about your experiences, if you care to try this one out :)

Trend 4. Teardrop liner

They call it 'spot lamé liner'...which is lame without the accent, IMO :P Patently, patently teardrops. Three of them, in sparkly silver, distinctly spaced out along the lower lashline in the area between the middle and the end of the eye. To make the boys come a-runnin'! (No, that's really what it says. Presumably for all those 'love scandals' that the similarly 'wet eyes' of do hwa makeup are supposed to presage...)

Tweaks: flatter, longer dashes (I think) for hooded eyelids so as not to emphasise any puffiness. No tweaks for monolids. So to fill the space pink-toned sparkle liners are recommended to give a gentle impression.

I chose seafoam-silver instead, in this look... for a muffledly delirious impression (cheers, random adverb adjective generator!)

Drunk on adjectives. Goodnight! Let me know if you fancy trying out any of these combos or placements!

(I should rechristen this series Magazine Mumbleday because seem utterly incapable of getting these posted on a Monday.)

I have quite the history with Paul and Joe and their balls. It consists of my missing out on them ALL THE TIME. Disney balls. Flowery balls. Bottled balls. (Okay those ones kind of freak me out.)

But this season I was forewarned and forearmed. And now, I have in my possession Paul&Joe's limited edition Face Powder S. Which shall for convenience be known henceforth as 'bird balls'. As in, 'and then, to complete my fairy princess look, I patted bird balls all over my face with a grey squirrel kitten paw brush'.

Look at it sitting pretty in a shaft of light!

Both square outer and round inner boxes are cardboard, which is disappointing-for-the-price on the one hand (also, no delivery by paired turtledoves, pout pout), but on the other hand its dainty allowance of 35g (which doesn't sound too bad mass-wise but volume-wise these seem to be about 1/2-2/3rds the quantity of balls in a jar of Meteorites) means that most people could finish these before the case crumbles into dust. On the third hand/first foot, I actually appreciate the softness of the textured paper case -- a posher metal one would jar with the vibe of these dainty little morsels.

Also, A PUFF! Wi' a widdle blue satin bow onnit! This is airy-soft and puffs up ridiculously into an actual sphere when washed -- even after air-drying it's still fairly plump (over 1" thick) and fluffy -- definitely not a miserly, thin, afterthought pad. I don't actually find this too handy in practice -- my Suqqu Cheek (aka grey squirrel kitten paw) brush seems to both pick up product and lay it down more effectively -- but I defy you not to go into a swoony trance while bouncing this over your face (and décolletage, natch, I mean it's practically obligatory innit). And it looks tres fancy perched in your hair.

Let's take a look at the balls themselves in a few different lighting conditions. Because we're here For Science, after all.

natural light, indirect

natural light, angled bright sun

natural light + direct strong flash

You will, my esteemed peers, have noted that:
1. There is absolutely no glitter / shimmer / sparkle. The white and blue balls are smoothly silky matte, while there's a very subtle pearlescent sheen on the yellow and pink ones.
2. These aren't actually perfectly round balls but rather gently ovoid eggs. *suppresses squeal* Er, anyone else suddenly craving sugared almonds / Cadbury's mini-eggs?
3. These are genuinely pale pastels. Many shades of Guerlain Meteorites read as blush or even muddy quasi-bronzers on my pasty skin [currently at my palest and wearing Graftobian Porcelain / Mehron LT-1], but these meld invisibly.

Therefore, I couldn't swatch these bird balls properly on my inner arm, and resorted to white paper instead, scribbling several times, fairly hard with each shade:

natural light

Same pic, with the contrast turned way up, to show that the scritches are there:

natural light, max contrast

Angled with flash, hoping to pick up some of the sheen in the yellow and pink scribbles:

As an indication of how pale the bird balls are, I added a swipe of Graftobian HD Glamour Cream Foundation in Silk Sprite, the palest shade they make (white with a hint of pink) which in MAC terms would be about an NW3?:

So what do these invisi-pale balls do, then? I hear you ask. (Those of you who didn't gallop off to your nearest P&J r/etailer after the first pic because PRETTEH BALLS.) Here's one pic I managed to snap, with scary macro lens and shooting in RAW (thanks, Selphia!):

left: bare skin | right: Paul&Joe Face Powder S applied with Suqqu Cheek Brush

I hope you can tell that my skin texture looks smoother with balls than without, because taking a billion pics of my wrist made me late today :P Again, there is absolutely NO shimmer, even on my extremely true-to-texture skin (see review of Chanel Notorious for example), but the effect isn't a flat matteness so much as, well, exactly the skinlike-but-refined veil P&J promise. Used alone, it's not a miracle worker that makes skin look sinisterly plastic-perfect (you can still see skin texture in the 'with balls' patch above, just less of it...), but I find a light dusting after my usual primer/foundation bumps up (or rather, de-bumps) my skin from 'nice-' to 'seriously pretty-' looking and also makes me want to surreptitiously stroke my own smooth silky face aaaaaall day.

PERVERSE CAVEATS:
My skin being so dry and pale, and my hating 99.9% of all powders out there, I'm really not a representative reviewer of them. The fact that I love this one means that:

It may not be effective at controlling oil or prolonging the wear-time of makeup -- never problems I experience.
While great at blurring the dry-skin bumpiness I struggle with, it may not work as magically on enlarged pores, wrinkles or other kinds of skin textural issues. Conversely, If you have no skin texture issues, I shouldn't think this'd have any effect at all and your £25 would probably be best spent elsewhere.
Because this is so invisible on my skin, it may read as ashy / chalky on darker skintones.
These balls are hard/tight (*pause for snickering*) -- it's pretty much impossible to pick up 'too much' product on a brush, and even shaking the tub violently won't create much 'ball dust' -- since I like to wear as little powder as possible, this is perfect for me, but be aware of that if you're the kind of person that likes to really veil yourself in a cloud of powder after picking up Meteorites dust.
IT STINKS! For me, that adds to the experience of all-round LA! I AM FANCY POODLEPANTS when using this, but I think its strong, old-fashioned powdery white-floral scent will revolt many. Those with sensitive noses should sniff before you buy.

Now please indulge me and help pretend there will definitely, positively, absolutely be NO part three, eh? >.<

To recap, I adore these unctuous, silky, pigmented, so-effortless-they-practically-blend-themselves, scent-free creams, and can wear them on both lips and cheeks. My first two shades, New York and Rhinebeck, so impressed me that I subsequently ordered all the other bright shades in the line, and having lived for a month with these new acquisitions, I can unequivocally state that Face Stockholm Crèmes are my absolute favourite blush formula.

I think my original review contained sufficient detail and squee, so let's crack on with specifics! Milan, Shanghai, Paris and London:

Face Stockholm Creme Blush Milan, Shanghai, Paris, London

natural light, sunny

My entire Face Stockholm wardrobe:

Face Stockholm Creme Blush swatches: New York, London, Paris, Shanghai, Milan, Rhinebeck

natural light, sunny

These are fresh and fairly heavy swatches, photographed in direct sunlight, but with a more moderate quantity blended out on my extremely dry skin, they all set to a satin, skin-like finish. If you have oilier skin (that's everyone else then....), scale up the dew factor accordingly. There is absolutely no shimmer in any of these shades.

There are however slight differences in texture/finish between them. New York is an unequivocal jelly and Rhinebeck a smooth cream; the other four are crellies falling somewhere in between those two poles, running Milan -----------> Paris --> Shanghai ----> London from jellier to creamier. Some pan close-ups, post molestation, as illustration:

Milan -- see how the edges of the swirls look kind of squishily translucent? Jelly.

Paris -- some squishability, but we're definitely in central crelly territory.

Shanghai -- definitely more cream than jelly, though still within crelly borders.

London -- I had to do some extreme angling to catch any crelliness, but it's just about there to the touch.

Contrast Rhinebeck, which is unquestionably a cream (its surface develops/retains dents and gouges in ways that even London is jelly enough not to), and New York, which looks like it'd wobble out of the pan as soon as you looked at it sideways:

All four new blushes, worn as before, on both lips and cheeks -- I think the relative differences in jellydom / creaminess are more evident on lips:

Face Stockholm Creme Blush FOTD Milan, Shanghai, Paris, London

all pictures taken in natural light -- which is so bloody variable *stabs self*

(In all of these I'm still wearing the KATE GY-1 quint from the last review. Becuz SCIENCE. Also, because it's one of those counterintuitive quantum thingamabobs that hitting pan isn't that hard but finishing something after you hit pan is well nigh impossible -- I swear those last specks of pigment breed like bunnies.)

Comparison swatches now, a.k.a. come point and laugh at my hilariously repetitive blush stash! Also, these show the four Face Stockholm shades swatched more realistically than above, i.e. semi-blended:

Starting with the most ~~embarrassing~~ plentiful: reds! Milan with Chicca 10 Girly Flush (previously), Susan Thompson Cherry Pie, Addiction Revenge cheekstick, Canmake CL01 Clear Red Heart (here):

Canmake CL01 is a neutral red while Addiction Revenge has coral notes making it look almost orange (contrast with how much pinker it looks here) next to the three pink-tinged reds from Face Stockholm (warmest), Susan Thompson (brightest) and Chicca (coolest).

Shanghai with other orange/coral/peachypinks, Canmake CL03 Clear Sunset (here), Chicca 09 Feels Love (here), Addiction Fresh cheek polish (here):

FS Shanghai is closest to Chicca, though slightly pinker -- the guava to Chicca's watermelon -- Canmake CL03 and Addiction Fresh are progressively more orange.

Paris with a smorgasbord of not quite-red/pink/both colours: Addiction Revenge cheekstick (again -- see what I mean about this being a chameleon?), Chicca 10 Girly Flush (here), Canmake 04 Clear Pink Joy (here):

Paris has warm reddened pink notes in common with Revenge (versus the neutral pink ones in Canmake CL04 and the decidedly cool ones in Chicca 10) but it's cooler and brighter.

London with Canmake CL04 Clear Pink Joy (again; here), Becca Lychee Beach Tint (here) and Addiction Amazing cheekstick (here).

Despite sharing a white base with Becca Lychee, FS London is softer and less aggressive a pastel once blended out (worn at full whack on lips the two look very similar, though the FS texture is far superior as previously established). Canmake CL04 is warmer and deeper; Addiction Amazing cooler and brighter.

Disclosure: I purchased every product featured in this post, except Face Stockholm Rhinebeck and the Canmake creams, which were all personal gifts from friends.

The Beauty Spotlight Group has decided to ask each of its members to reveal a little something about themselves through a series of 20 questions. It's Pink Sith's turn, and while she is not a fan of assignments or required writing, she is a fan of talking about HERSELF!! So here she is in all her glory, REVEALING ALL!!

These two recent looks jumble together an array of influences and tweaks from magazines posted previously, but are most immediately inspired by my attempt fake up and thus avoid purchasing the two eye colour trios that most tempted me from Paul&Joe's spring collection. And to show those P&J bird balls in action. Bouncing. And the like. Anyway...

1. The \Back Slash\ inspired by Paul&Joe 06 April in Paris

Paul and Joe Eye Colour Trio 03 Garden of Flowers

Products: Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird, the blue sparkle from THREE 06 Tranquil Oasis quad (swatch), Lunasol Sheer Glossy Eyes EX04 Peach Beige, Topshop Kohl Pencil Sable for eyes. Innisfree Colour Glow Lipstick and Glossy Lip Lacquer both in 10 Daisy Coral on lips. P&J bird balls on mah face.

Placement: This is a spin on the triangular placements Maquia pushed so hard last autumn, but by breaking up the THREE blue 'triangle' with a wash of Lunasol peach, I created more of a diagonal (\) running from inner socket to outer corner. To further emphasise the shape, I adapted a technique from a recent Biteki tute (scroll down to 'Trend 1. Lower lashline shadow'), rimming the waterline with Topshop Sable, thickening the line at very inner corner and over the outer half of my eyes, and using RBR Abyssinian Catbird as a tonal extension of that line from both upper and lower lashlines. (On the lower lashline this means AbCat again 'breaks' the THREE blue, which adds to the impression of outward movement I think.)

Full face involves Innisfree Glossy Lip Lacquer layered over their Colour Glow Lipstick. For base I'm wearing Burberry Sheer Touch Concealer 01 under eyes but otherwise onlyP&J Face Powder S over bare skin: it's texturally perfecting as noted in my review, and adds a diffused barely-discernable glow, but doesn't have any major colour-correcting / skintone-evening effects. You can still see patches of sallowness and translucent veininess around my nose and mouth and a bit of patchy pinkness on my cheeks despite my skipping blush -- places I would usually put foundation.

2. The /Foward Slash/ inspired by Paul & Joe 03 Garden of Flowers

Products -- eyes: Fyrinnae When I Grow Up for the purple, and a mix of Aye Captain and Electric Stardust for the green (I actually only meant to pick up AC but brush landed by mistake on ES in my self-pressed palette, so I just went with the mix), the rose from Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux (here, looks, more looks) and GOSH white kohl pencil. Two blushes: Etude House's Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcake All Over Colour for an extremely cool pale pink and Rouge Bunny Rouge Gracilis for a warmer darker shader. Lip: YSL Rouge Volupté Shine 5 Fuchsia in Excess[*]. Base: Suqqu Makeup Base Creamy and Paul&Joe Face Colour S.

Placement: I went for a more 'aggressive' pastel look this time if such a thing is possible (this is not the first time such profound metaphysical questions have been investigated chez drivel -- see 'can glitter be badass?'here) with three equally colourful shades (no obviously lighter highlighter or darker shader in this trio) placed somewhat in balance. The forward slash (/) is most obviously shaped by the green (though it's more of a parallelogram, technically speaking...) but the same upward-and-outward diagonal also informs the overall shape of the purple. I shaded the edges with the Shu rose, again bringing the colour up and out towards the end of the brow, and angled more of the rose out and down from the outer 1/2 of the lower lashline (reads more as a sheen on this angle, but....)

slight intentional fuzz to show textures

Full face: ...following on from where the pink eyeshadow led, I brought RBR Gracilis quite close to the eye on the cheekbones for a subtle blushadow effect, then swept it through cheekbones up to shade the sides of my forehead to boot. I then added a pop of the Etude House Blueberry Cheesecake as a colourful highlight (blushlight) on tops of cheekbones and temples. Because butterfly...wing... shape... thingy? And marshmallows. I don't even know at this point. I think I must have snorted some of that Fyrinnae fairy dust while applying.

Lip is a straightforward coat of YSL Fuchsia in Excess. Base this time involves an application of the Suqqu Makeup Base Creamy (colour-correction) under the Paul&Joe bird balls -- can you see the extra little bit of polish compared to the last look? And I can still claim to be foundation-free :P

PS Comparing these with a recent look wearing foundation, I think the P&J balls give just as texturally perfected a look (in photographs maybe even more of one, due to way it diffuses light), while offering less coverage/correction of uneven pigmentation, even with a tinted primer beneath.

In both looks the soft, minimal brows are due to a light sketching of Za Ever Brow 03, combed through. Mascara is Fasio Full Dynamic Long mascara, for an airier effect than I usually go for with Full Dynamic Volume.

Are you a pastel hater or lover or uncontrollable-applier-over-whole-facer like me? What do you think of my meta-tweaks? Or my attempts to dupe the P&J trios? Okay, I declare those a fail because I WANT A KITTY CASE, dammit.

left: kitty case! right: case what matches my bird balls! I'm, like, obligated to buy two of these, no?

As always, feel free to ask any questions or for more details, bearing in mind that I'm not remotely a pro and just messing around for funsies and usually while inadequately caffeinated. :E <----- this is the bucktoothed result of trying to type a :D with an inadequately caffeinated jabby finger.

DISCLOSURE: Products marked with a [*] were given to me free of charge. In addition, both Innisfree lip products and Suqqu primer were GWP / received free as a result of special offers.

Remember my 2013 favourites? They included two Sephora Pro brushes (#28 and #56), and I've received quite a few questions about them and how they compare to earlier favourites/staples in the *cough* month since that post. Belatedly, some snaps:

Sephora Pro #28 Cream Shadow brush vs. MAC 217 (old version) vs. Hakuhodo J5523

I mentioned that the Sephora #28 was the functional replacement of my heading-for-its-teens MAC 217 and I hope these pictures will ~~make me look less crazy~~ show you why. My MAC 217 is the older, smaller, denser (see how 'tight' its shape remains even after a decade of regular use?) version (click through for its differences from the newer version) and I mainly use it for cream shadows -- both laydown and blending. The Hakuhodo J5523, which I'd often heard touted as a 'dupe' for the 217, isn't, for my needs; it's more similar in size/shape to the new MAC 217 (though softer and less prone to splaying) and too loosely packed to play well with creams.

Sephora Pro #28 Cream Shadow brush vs. MAC 217 (old version) vs. Hakuhodo J5523 closeup

The cross-section really illustrates that the Sephora #28 and old MAC 217 are similar in size and share a tapered lozenge shape; in contrast the J5523 has a far more diffuse and rounded 'bullet' head. The #28 is slightly denser and offers a tad more control (and resistance) than the 217 owing to its shorter hairs, and it's synthetic which means easy cleaning and fast drying.

Sephora Pro #28 Cream Shadow brush vs. MAC 217 (old version) vs. Hakuhodo J5523 head cross-section

If the 217 you love and get use out of is the larger, looser kind, or if you prefer to use it as a blender for powder shadows, I don't think you'll find the Sephora #28 a 'dupe'; for me it's a perfect functional replacement that offers a slight improvement over its predecessor.

Sephora Pro Flawless Airbrush #56 vs. Illamasqua Highlighter vs. Real Techniques Expert Face
As most of my blushes are creams, and I like to switch between (usually obnoxiously bright) colours daily, the Illamasqua Highlighter brushes are some of the most heavily used and frequently washed ones in my stash. I rotate between three but even so, all three are looking a bit ratty / patchy and holding onto product in small but decided clumps now; I estimate about 1.5 years of daily use per brush before compromised performance. This might be good in the grand scheme of fluffy things, but as the MAC, Shu and Stila brushes I bought as a teen are still going strong, any brush with a lifespan of under a decade is a disappointment. :P
I bought the Sephora #56 on the advice of MUAer and blog-commentator Julia (<3 hi, J!) and so far am thrilled with its dense fluffiness and the ease with which it evenly blends and builds formulas as different as Face Stockholm jellies and crellies, Chicca'balm stain' Flush Blushes and liquid Addiction Cheek Polishes, without leaving streaks, dragging on my skin, or disturbing any base products underneath. In overall size, the #56 is fairly similar to the Illa Highlighter, but in shape, softness, and feel it has more in common with the larger Real Techniques Expert Face Brush.

Sephora Pro Flawless Airbrush #56 vs. Illamasqua Highlighter vs. Real Techniques Expert Face

Sephora Pro Flawless Airbrush #56 vs. Illamasqua Highlighter vs. Real Techniques Expert Face closeup

The Sephora #56 has about the same volume as the Illa Highlighter in cross-section -- it's what you'd get if you 'squished' the round Illamasqua down into an oblong -- but it contains more (and finer) synthetic hairs, so is both denser, softer and more 'contained'. The Real Techniques EFB hairs, although very similar in feel to the Sephora ones, are a little thicker and more loosely packed.

Sephora Pro Flawless Airbrush #56 vs. Illamasqua Highlighter vs. Real Techniques Expert Face cross-section heads

Tom Ford #13 Eyeshadow Blend Brush vs. Hakuhodo J5522

As a postscript, here's the Tom Ford #13 Eyeshadow Blend Brush, my favourite of 2012, with its rumoured Hakuhodo 'dupe', the J5522. Although both are tapered soft goat hair brushes (and Hakuhodo manufactures TF brushes) with round ferrules, I find them quite different in practice.

After washing the J5522 loosens and fluffs up a great deal, to double the size of the Tom Ford #13. Its head also comes to a sharper point than TF's rounded profile.

The J5522 is less densely packed -- while its ferule has a circumference only slightly wider than the TF #13's, its cross section is twice the size. This brush flares out a great deal before tapering back into a sharper point, so in practice when placed on the skin you're working with fewer hairs, of more drastically different lengths, at every point; the Tom Ford 13 in contrast offers far more control, with more hairs of a similar length packed into each area.

This is my first Spring Festival (otherwise known as Chinese New Year) in Hong Kong, and so royally (i.e. rottenly) have I been spoiled -- with red envelopes (containing giftcards to various girly shops as well as cold, hard cash; why I love to take my cash cold and hard, how did you know?), food (mostly of the sweet and sticky variety \o/) and drink (mostly of the 80+ proof variety *staggers*), and general high jinks -- that it most definitely won't be my last.

What better way to celebrate than with my very first blog giveaway? :D Consisting of the highly limited edition Chinese New Year special release Beauty Blossom Collector Palette; two fresh pink-tinged reds from the spring collection: La Laque Couture #49 Rouge Pablo and Rouge Volupté #34 Rose Asarine; and one of my personal favourites, Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils Cream Eyeliner in 5 Cherry Black.

I tried to make a heart out of YSL red envelopes. Tried. The sun it is bright and the alcohol it is 80 proof.

Let's take a closer look at each item!

The Beauty Blossom Collector Palette features an abstract red-and-gold rendition of the peach blossoms used to mark the holiday on its case. Head over to Makeup Stash! for swatches of the rosy contents.

La Laque Couture #49 Rouge Pablois an optimistic red, somehow both soft and bright, slightly lightened from a true red by blossom-pink notes. In YSL's spectacular shiny, streak-free, one-coat-wonder polish formula, one of my very favourites (Bleu Majorelle is in my personal top dozen polishes). See it in action on Sara of Color Me Loud; beautiful pictures can also be found on The Beauty Look Book.

Rouge Volupté #34 Rose Asarine is another incredibly well balanced pink-tinged red. Historically I've not been a fan of the RV formula, but it seems to me that this shade packs more pigment, much improved wear (in terms of lasting power alone -- this shade wears for hours longer than older RV's --but also as in, 'doesn't transfer/migrate all over my face') and less thin slip than the older (#30 and below) shades, which means that it no longer sinks into my liplines or dry my lips out; in fact its texture sits a bit closer to the newer Rouge Volupté Shines in balminess. Excellent swatches on arm and lips over at Eat Love Makeup.

Incidentally, if you share my aversion* to YSL's mango scent (found in the Volupté ranges: Rouge Volupté, RV Shine, Gloss Volupté, etc.), leaving one of these uncapped in an airtight container with some charcoal deodoriser efficiently reduces Rose Asarine's scent to a very faint, unspecific sweetness. My thanks to a dear and most cunning friend for this tip.

Finally, Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils Cream Eyeliner in 5 Cherry Black, a blackened cool plum with ultra fine copper and ruby microshimmer, which just add a barely-there warmth and dimension to the shade. As Gaia explains and demonstrates in her review, this shade is subtle enough to be daywear/office appropriate for even the most tasteful of folk -- and yet it has enough of a complex kick for clownish me to love.

See the microshimmer when the sun hits the pan juuuust right? I really and truly adore it. :D No, seriously, stay tuned for an 'enduring loves' post showcasing all four of my YSL cream liners soon -- they're tied with the Glossy Stains as my favourite YSL products.

Also coming up next week, a look with some of these giveaway items :D

To enter, all you have to do is to be a bloglovin follower or email subscriber and leave a comment on this post about your favourite spring look. This giveaway is open to readers of any country and, unlike red envelopes, regardless of marital status ;) I will draw the winner next Thursday (6th Feb) which, as the seventh day of the lunar new year, is traditionally known as 'everyone's birthday'. See, drivel can be all kinds of edumacational!

*makeupalleyers may recall such phrases as "tropics of doooom" or "foul mangoes of death and wrongness" being thrown around....

Disclosure: the products in this giveaway were provided by YSL.

With Valentine'sDay fast approaching, Visionary Beauty finds that the new Illusion d'Ombres from this years Chanel Notes de Printemps collection were meant for each other.

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This season is filled with surprises for Mostly Sunny. When she first saw and swatched YSL Pivoine Crush Palette, she thought it was impossible to work with. After some experiments however, she developed a huge crush!

Pink Sith is on a Radiant Orchid frenzy and the Buxom Full Bodied Lipstick in Swinger just ads fuel to the fire!

Win It!!! Did you know that January was National Oatmeal Month? You can still celebrate by entering Pammy Blogs Beauty's Giveaway for Aveeno's Oatmeal-Based Daily Moisturizer!!!

Marcia from Beauty Info Zone is so crazy about her I Love Nail Polish manicure in Molly that she can't stop seeing Radiant Orchid in it. Did she find the Pantone color of the year or not?

Dull winter skin in need of boost? Then Lola's Secret Beauty Blog suggests trying Radical Skincare Instant Revitalizing Mask. because it is will give your skin the magical boost it needs!

Carrie from eyeliner on a cat has found a brand new flame with Rive Sud Interior candles...

To celebrate the year of the horse, gallop over to drivel about frivol for the red and gold YSL beauties Kate’s giving away! And may the odds be ever in your favour! ….er… that’s totally an ancient Chinese New Year greeting. Honest…

15 Minute Beauty has found her favorite new neutral palette, the Too Faced Chocolate Bar!

Perilously Pale has swatched some Nicole by OPI polishes that are making her wish that winter would fade away quickly.

Visit Prime Beauty and drool over Tartes's spring 2014 cheek stains and LipSurgence lip stains. You'll have trouble choosing your favorites.

This edition of Testing Tuesday is Dohwa Dienstag! Because iz international wimmin of mystery, innit? And alliteration.

To showcase a few of the YSL goodies I'm giving away (you have two more days to enter, so get cracking!), I could think of no better look than a version of "Dohwa" makeup -- Do Hwa in Korean means 'peach blossom', abstract peach blossoms are on the cover of the YSL Beauty Blossom Collector Palette, and sprays and pots of the stuff are currently strewn all about Hong Kong to mark the Spring Festival / Lunar New Year. The stars, they align!

This was the best picture I could get of the Times Square display. Remember the 80 proof booze, yeah?

Ever since Amy left a fantastic comment drawing this Korean trend to my attention (thank you, Amy!) I've been having such fun trying it out ~~and pretending to be Oh Ji-Young~~ that NOT bringing liner in to sharpen the inner corner now feels unnatural. The tutorials I mashed together for today's look are:

1. Amy's original link from so young's beauty room, which features a great quick breakdown of the aesthetic and easy, approachable application (link):

2. A slightly more elaborate version from Pony's Beauty Diary, which uses some different tricks (e.g. multiple flicks) to achieve some similar effects, and a hilarious experiment to see whether dohwa makeup really does make one irresistibly sexy.... (link)

3. Korean TV show 'Get It Beauty' did an episode on Dohwa makeup last year, including guest plastic surgeons and physiognomists (seriously, physiognomists still exist?! And I will never get over how prevalent plastic surgery is in South Korea), moar pseudoscience delivered with hysterical cut-aways to members of the audience/panel nodding in enlightenment/sagacity (Hyun-A's sexiness is to all due to her round nose and nothing at all to do with the semi-naked writhing around bath bubbles breathy singing about 'cream'? Right.) but also a really good makeover section with what seems to me a more subtle and thoughtful application, aegyo sal and all.
An English-subtitled version is online (part I and part II) and I strongly recommend all beauty geeks to take a gander.

The products I used for my mashup include the Beauty Blossom Collector Palette[*], Rouge Volupté #34 Rose Asarine[*] and Cream Eyeliner in #5 Cherry Black from my YSL giveaway, but these are my own products -- the giveaway winner will be getting brand new versions, of course. The eyeshadow colours I chose are inspired by YSL's spring Pivoine Crush quint (see silverkis and mostlysunny for more) but tweaked for my colouring and skin:
1. and 2. come from Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld Prestigious Bordeaux
3. from Shu x Karl Smoky Velvet (EU version)
4. Fire-Tailed Sunbird, 5. Capricious Nightingale and 6. Sweet Dust Seriema are all by Rouge Bunny Rouge.

I kept things very soft and pretty and springy (I know, I know... florals, for spring...?) with some holographic pinkypeach (4) washed over the lid, adding depth to the inner and outer corners with a silver-dusted rose (1) and blending everything out with a my-skin-but-sheenier icy white-pink (5). On the lower lashline I added a dab more rose (1) at the inner 1/3 to join the upper lid and narrow the eye there, patted a mix of coppery- and white- golds (2+3) over the centre (la, I cry golden tears!), and shaded the other corner with matte taupe (6) extended outwards.
More of the matte taupe (6) on an eyeliner brush to sketch an aegyo sal line underneath my eye, and subtly highlighted the 'pad' with (5). YSL Cherry Black liner extended in a curvy dohwa flick and sharpening inner corner (which looks off-black in my terrible lighting, sorry!)
Doubled-up mascaras with Fasio Full Dynamic Volume and Long, for dohwa's epic lashy look.

YSL Beauty Blossom Collector Palette blush swept onto apples -- lower, more centralised placement than I usually go for, to go for a dohwa rabbit face (?!) and Rose Asarine on lips. I didn't take the thin-upper-fuller-lower lip thing too seriously, underdrawing the upper lip only slightly, blending out with foundation, but tried to achieve the upward tilting petal-pout shape from the Get It Beauty makeover. I do take this lipstick very seriously, however. Since deodorising it* I've worn no other colour for days. DAYS.

Base is Graftobian Porcelain mixed with Suqqu Makeup Base Creamy, with Burberry Sheer 01 concealer under eyes, and Shiseido High Beam White as copious central-face highlight. Brows Shu Uemura Hard 9 Seal Brown (I tried blunting and moving my natural arches inwards for a slightly more rounded dohwa brow but suspect I'm too hairy for serious brow tweaks.)

Apart from the lower blush placement (which just makes me look a bit globular, really, and not sold on rabbitface as something to aspire to anyway....), I find this look immensely flattering. In-built smize, yo! No-one's chased after and and prostrated themselves at my feet, however, so I declare the irresistible blossom effect LIES. Shocking, eh. If you try it, promise to let me know all the salacious deets of the scandalous love affairs that ensue.

*deodorising: airtight box, charcoal deodoriser, wayward lipsticks (Innisfree Creamy Lip Tint 15 Apple Red, YSL Rouge Volupté 34 Rose Asarine[*], YSL RV Shine 5 Fuchsia In Excess[*]), a few days. Done!

Disclosure: products marked with [*] were given to me free of charge

Out of 179 entries, the internets drew:

Which is:

Congratulations, leah! Looks like you'll be adding some bright pinky reds to that pretty spring look :D

Please email me with your mailing address within the week.

Sorry to everyone who entered and didn't win, but happy everyone's birthday anyway! And I for one had so much fun that I may be already plotting/shopping for the next giveaway :P So stay tuned :D

Let's play a game. It's called 'pretend it hasn't been almost six months since I announced this Brushes by Brand series of posts'. Big fun to be had. Much fluffs. Pointy sticks.

Kicking things off, my collection of brushes from Hakuhodo, the most well-known and easily accessible (through their internationally-shipping English site) of the Kumano-based Japanese brush manufacturers. (Hakuho-do means House of the White Phoenix, btdubs, and an abstract phoenix logo appears on some of their brushes.)

Hakuhodo brushes K007, G5515BkSL, G5515BkSL, J5529, G515, B162BkSL, G521 - D1, G5512BkSL, G5513BkSL, Misako Portable Lip, Retractable Push-Up Lip Flat Black

In the past I've owned far more than eleven of their beauties, but my wardrobe has settled down into the current constellation of nine eye and two lip brushes. I don't have a curatorial bone in my body, so ditch the ones I don't use regularly without compunction*; the J5523 and J5522 featured in this recent post are out, as are, since my conversion to mostly non-powder blushes, all my Hakuhodo face brushes including a complete family of pointed yachiyos. Barring any major shifts in the formulas I own and looks I like to wear, I don't think I'll be making substantial changes to the current lineup for a while.

*I also back up my most-used tools without guilt and own two each of the Misako Portable Lip and K007 brushes and three of the G5512.

Handles:

The lineup, labelled:

Left Column (round ferrules):
Short-handled 007 weasel hair fine script brush (same head as K007, $15)
G5515BkSL tiny horse hair pencil brush (here, $15)
G5514BkSL slightly less tiny horse hair pencil brush (here, $16)
J5529 small rounded goat-hair blender (here, $16)
G515 CM Angled Canada squirrel brush (here, $41)

Right Column (flat ferrules):
Short-handled 162 weasel hair angled brush (same head as B162BkSL at $20 or S162 at $36)
G521 - D1 tiny concave weasel hair push liner (here, $20)
G5512BkSL tiny horse hair push brush (here, $15)
G5513BkSL small horse hair paddle brush (here, $16)

Lip Brushes
Misako Portable Lip (vermillion handle) -- weasel hair, rounded (here, $36)
Retractable Push-Up Lip Flat (black handle) -- weasel hair, squared (same head as the silver, red or pink Push Up Lip Flat brushes at $27 each and Portable Kokutan Lip at $36)

I've featured both lip brushes before, so will be focusing mainly on the eye brushes today.

As you see, my Hakuhodo collection is dominated by very small brushes in firmer hair types (mostly weasel and horse) that allow my very inartistic hands to achieve some highly precise effects on my small eyes -- I find them especially helpful when experimenting with new Japanese magazine techniques involving ultrafine angles and neat nuances. With my dry, thin, physically sensitive skin, I try to entirely avoid corrective q-tips, makeup remover pads or foundation/concealer cleanup after eye makeup (y no real life command+Z option?), so really value the unparalleled level of control these tiny brushes offer in placing and pulling pigment.
For more detailed reviews of the precision instruments G5515, G5512 and G521-D1 in particular, click here. Meanwhile, this post gives an idea of the sizes of the K007 and S162 relative to some other brands' offerings.

Here are some more closeups to illustrate scale: my flat-ferrule Hakuhodo brushes with a MAC 231 on one side and a standard eyeliner pencil on the other (3CE #9 Wow Pink).

Hakuhodo G521-D1, G5512, S162, G5513, MAC 231 brushes

Head-on

I tend to use the extremely fine, thin and small G521-D1 and G5512 to pick up pigment (from pencils, creams and even creamy powders) when I want a really fine line or if I want to do precise shaping. The S162 works brilliantly for a softer, smudgy application of powder, or to smoke out an already laid-down line in cream -- it's just slightly smaller than the MAC 231 in most directions but has a slightly fatter/fluffier head and a bit more 'give' from the weasel (vs. MAC synthetic) hairs; if you own the popular K005 this is similar but angled and with less rounded edges. The 5513, while not much larger than the MAC 231, is noticeably fluffier and plusher in cross-section and I mostly use it on its side or head-on to pat/press drier glitters onto my lid/lower lashline -- the shortness and density of the fine horse hairs prevent stray glitter from flying every which way while the brush's gentle taper ensures no harsh 'stopping' lines that need to be blended out (thus possibly risking more glitter fallout. ...I seem to have some kind of migrant glitter phobia.)

Another scale picture with the Hakuhodo pencil and script brushes, a Suqqu S brush (discontinued, sorry! I don't mean to show off D: I no longer own the MAC 219 but you can see how one that relates to both the Suqqu S and Hakuhodo G5515 here) and the 3CE eye pencil again (the size of yer average eyeliner pencil).

Suqqu S, Hakuhodo G5514, G5515, K007 brushes

Head-on:

This lot is pretty intuitive: the three pencil brushes scale up in orderly fashion in all directions and dimensions, and the K007 script liner (click here for how it relates to some other similar fine pointy liners) emerges from an even tinier ferrule. The density and compact size of these Hakuhodo brushes grant an impressive degree of control -- all of these have held up with no splaying through many uses and washes -- and allow the use of softer-than-usual grades of pony in the pencil brushes. The G5514 is a more recent acquisition, thanks to a MUA buddy (hi, A!) but it's the scaled-up version of the G5515 (though still noticeably smaller than a MAC 219 or Laura Mercier Smoky Eyeliner Brush) and my rave review applies; its bigger-than-5515 size and consequently greater flexibility and fluffiness (though in the grand scheme of brushes it's definitely still in the precision instrument category) makes it ideal for the inner corner and inner socket accent work I've been doing so much lately, and it's also excellent for sketching out a soft cut crease or smudging a shader onto the lower lashline on smaller eyes (uses to which Lisa Eldridge usually puts the larger Suqqu S in her videos).

The G515 and J5529 are my biggest Hakuhodo eye brushes, though still moderately sized. They sit on either side of my pair of Paula Dorf brushes (the Sheer Crease and Eye Contour brushes), so I thought I'd show all four together:

Paula Dorf Sheer Crease, Eye Contour, Hakuhodo J5529, G515 brushes

Diffuse round-bellied blenders and angled brushes don't really photograph to advantage head-on, but here goes anyway:

brushes head-on: Paula Dorf Sheer Crease, Eye Contour, Hakuhodo J5529, G515

The G515 is a larger but denser angled doefoot than the Paul Dorf Eye Contour, so it's paradoxically more precise and gives a more concentrated application of product despite its size. But its perfectly packed, ultra-fine and soft Canada squirrel hairs never create harsh edges -- I mostly use this to 'stamp' on colour on my outer v, or in-set powder wing (as in the last look here), and even used in such an atrociously unsophisticated manner (:P) it lays down pigment in a perfectly even, diffused-edged shape. The G515's excellence at diffusing without disturbing (clumping up, buffing off etc.) pigment also makes it not-too-shabby blender, in a pinch.

Meanwhile, the J5529 is a shrunken PD Sheer Crease but otherwise pretty much identical in shape, profile, density and hair type (soft goat). The Sheer Crease is one of my favourite blender brushes, so I'm very glad to have the 5529 for more targeted blending -- of accent colours placed partially through my socket, for example (first look here) or when I want to soften just at the very edge joining two otherwise distinct colours without blurring them together (e.g. look two here).

Obviously, it's a highly idiosyncratic collection (missing many fan favourites and and largely absent in the feathery-soft squirrel department) and definitely not one I'd recommend as any kind of 'starter kit' for someone new to Hakuhodo or to makeup brushes, or frankly anyone with big eyes, a lot of lidspace and a limited lifespan... Also, my favoured laydown and blending brushes come from other brands :P But I hope this has been helpful to some of you, at least in deciding what you may safely skip from Hakuhodo's tempting range.

Disclosure: All brushes were purchased by me except for the Hakuhodo G5514 which was a personal gift from a friend.

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Brush By Brand: Hakuhodo