Sunday 3 November 2013

Suqqu 2013 Christmas Makeup Kit A Swatches

The Suqqu holiday kits appeared on Selfridges.com a few days ahead of the official 1 November launch date in the UK. Knowing how quickly Suqqu's limited edition palettes usually sell out, I snapped up Kit A and within two days, the order arrived by DHL. Due to a technical error, Kit B was not available for international delivery at the time that I placed my order, otherwise I would have been tempted to get it as well. Both kits have since sold out on the website.

The case design of the Blend Color Eyeshadow is a stunning shimmery galactic midnight blue that continues on the back and inside of the case. The understated elegance and complex depth is simply what Suqqu excels at. In contrast, the black polyester and lace pouch with the gold metal snap looks and feels so cheap that one wonders why Suqqu even bothered to include it. It's the only item in the set that feels like a needless after-thought or filler material.



Quite unusually, Suqqu included a mirror in the set. It looks tiny but as it is a magnifying mirror, it actually comes in rather handy for close inspection of one's makeup. The back is a smooth matte finish.

The Blend Color Eyeshadow EX18 Aoboshi features two pink shades, a midnight blue and matte pinkish white. The midnight blue shade is the most sparkly with blue and gold micro-shimmer while the two pink shades have more of a gentle glimmer.






When swatched on bare skin without primer (pic below), the midnight blue shade had a bit of powdery kick-up whereas the two pink shades applied much more smoothly.

The shades looked more vibrant when swatched over NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base. The lighter pink shade has a lovely pearlish opalescence. The dreamy pinkish white shade is nothing extraordinary. If you own several Suqqu palettes, you probably already have a close dupe for it.


Comparing Aoboshi with my other Suqqu palettes, I didn't find any exact dupes for the shades in Aoboshi although there certainly are similar shades. The three palettes from the Fall 2013 collection are still in pristine condition as I haven't been wearing makeup since going on maternity leave. They look so pretty in their brand new condition that I would hate to mess them up.

Overall, the set is a pretty good deal at £58, even disregarding the awful pouch, given that Suqqu's eyeshadow palettes usually retail for £45 each. If you live in a non-EU country, Selfridges deducts the VAT on your order. The mascara is excellent (although I have not tried the new EX03 Black Navy shade in this set). The two cleansers are compatible with my skintype albeit repetitive as they were also included in last year's Christmas sets. I have been using the Refining Foam daily in the morning. It cleanses thoroughly without drying out my skin. The ingredients lists are below.


21 comments:

The Driveller Kate said...

LOL, that pouch is terrible!
I'm a bit disappointed in the blue glitter shade :/ It looks dry in the pan and your swatches and the same goes for Swatcharama's pics :(
Maybe I should be glad Selfridges just emailed me that my Set B order was cancelled as it's sold out.

Anonymous said...

Hi Iris
Maternity leave? Congrats!!
Love
Mei

Haru said...

hi Mei,
Thank you, I gave birth two weeks ago to my son :-)

Haru said...

hey Kate,
Yup, I wouldn't even give the pouch away to anyone, it's just so unattractive. Sorry to hear that you didn't manage to get the Set B, hopefully there'll be even prettier palettes come January in the spring collection.

The Driveller Kate said...

PS Haru, congratulations on the baby :D Maybe he can kick the pouch around after a while.

Anonymous said...

Hi haru! Congrats on the arrival of your baby!!!
Didnt read this in the blog earlier. U hv a good rest

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your new child! Thank you for all your hard work on keeping your blog updated even though you have your hands full.

. : * justine * : . said...

FIrst off, CONGRATULATIONS on the birth of your son!! I hope you and Dad are both doing well, and that the baby is letting you sleep!

The super hi-res photos from the Chinese blog had me convinced and even though the glitter shade looks dry I still think I want the coffret... we'll see!

Stroberikises corner said...

Hi Haru!

Congratulations for having a little angel. I really love your blog and thank you for keeping your blog updated :)

Please do visit my site if you have time.
http://www.immunetra.com/blog/

visee said...

Dear Haru, congratulations on the birth of your baby boy! May he bring lots of joy to the family. Hope you are doing well too! :)

Makeup wise, thanks for the swatches and updates even while you're on maternity leave! I bought the suquu kit b and am looking forward to receiving it!

Haru said...

hi visee,
thank you, we're all well and enjoying his incredible cuteness :-) Hope the Kit B works well for you! I can't wait to see what Suqqu has lined up for next season.

hey justine,
thank you! We're adjusting pretty well and the sleep deprivation isn't that bad. There are so many collections this holiday season that look tempting, so even if you pass on Suqqu, I think you'll find other treasures easily :-)

hi Stroberikises corner,
thank you for reading and the well wishes!

Rei said...

Hi Haru,
Congratulations on the birth of your boy!! This is so exciting, and I hope you are doing well! I also became a mum recently and I found that the first mth was extremely hard... All the best to you and your family :-)

Thank you for the Suqqu swatches, I can't wait to receive mine :)

How long is your maternity leave?

Haru said...

hey Rei,
Thank you, I have four months of leave from work. The first few days were quite intimidating but fortunately, the hospital staff were very helpful to us and everything's gone smoothly so far. Congratulations on your baby too, looking forward to reading more updates from you!

Anonymous said...

Congrats Iris on the latest addition to your family! Grab as much rest as u can... U need it! ^^

What wonderful news~ :)

Lyn

Anonymous said...

Dear Iris,
Having 'stalked' you since cozycot CP days when u were still living in Japan (and getting goodies for us makeup lovers in Singapore), I'm so excited about your new bundle of joy!
May you be blessed always,
Eunice

Haru said...

hi Eunice,
Thank you, it's been so many years since my Tokyo days, I'm really touched that you have continued reading the blog. It's been a great adventure so far with the little one!

hi Lyn,
thanks, it's been tiring at times but we get rewarded with the baby's smiles every day :-)

Hannah said...

Congrats Iris!!! What a wonderful news! You had just gotten married when I first stumbled upon your blog years ago and now you're a mommy! Very happy for you!

Anonymous said...

Hi Iris,

Congra on the arrival of your new family member!!! Enjoy =)

By the way, which website can we buy the suqqu fall 2013 eyeshadows and ship to sg? I like the EX-16. thanks.

Haru said...

Hi,
Thank you!
I don't know of any websites that still have EX16 in stock, perhaps you could try Ebay?

Hi Hannah,
Thanks for the kind message and for reading all these years!

Jacqueline said...

Congratulations Haru! How are you dong? As much as I like the dark blue shade, the swatches make it look on the drier side. The pink shades are very pretty though. I'm half tempted to get one of the sets, argh!!! See no evil.

Haru said...

hi Jacqueline,
Thank you, I'm doing great! The dark blue shade has good color payoff, but there is some fallout including the small gold glitter bits which may bother some people. The pink shades also show up quite nicely on my skintone, so overall I'm quite happy with this palette. I've been wearing it the past couple of days and the lasting power (used over Too Faced Shadow Insurance) is excellent.