Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow 16 Hanashoubu & 17 Yomogiiro

Thanks to Bellyhead of Wondegondigo alerting that Selfridges had the new Suqqu eyeshadow quads for spring in stock, I swiftly placed an order on 12 February and it arrived by DHL on 19 February. Shopping online at Selfridges has become dangerously easy since they lowered their shipping cost for Switzerland from £25 to £15. As Selfridges also deducts the VAT for non-EU countries, I paid only £37.50 for each Suqqu palette, instead of the UK retail price of £45. This basically means that the amount I saved on VAT paid for the shipping cost. I also ordered some pieces from the RMK and Armani spring collections but I haven't had time yet to play with them. The RMK Kaleidoscope Nuance Powder was just £26.67 (about S$57) after VAT deduction versus S$79 in Singapore and 5040yen (about S$62.50) in Japan.

Of the three new quads, I purchased #16 Hanashoubu and #17 Yomogiiro, giving #15 Mitsucha a pass as it's a pretty basic brown and pale yellow combination. Unlike the past few seasonal collections, these quads are all permanent. Selfridges does not have them listed at the moment, but my guess based on past experience is that they should come back in stock at some point although that could take weeks, if not months.

The central theme running through this collection is elegant browns that are easily wearable. They are even touted as helping to conceal signs of aging such as wrinkles and skin dullness without the need for any special techniques. Unlike previous Suqqu palettes which usually contain a white matte base shade, all the shades in Hanashoubu and Yomogiiro feature some pearl shimmer. These look wonderfully lustrous in the pan while on the skin, they are more subdued and subtle, offering just a hint of a glow. The bottom right shade is supposed to be a "moisture wet powder" that corrects skin unevenness and gives moisture care while bringing you a natural luster.

My apologies in advance for not doing swatches, which you can find on Color Me Loud and Erica's blog.

Below is the look that I did with Hanashoubu, with the purple shade along the upper lashline and the brown shade in the outer crease. The pale yellow shade was used as the base while the light pink shade was used over the browbone area and along the lower lashline.

The combination has a gentle glimmer and zero frostiness. I find the texture to be more flattering and forgiving compared to Sleek's metallic shades. There was no shower of glitter bits descending on the under-eye area and cheeks, although there was a bit of powdery kick-up with the two pale shades when touched with the included brush applicator.

I also used Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in Iridescent Iris to line the upper lashline.


Like Hanashoubu, Yomogiiro is very easy to wear even if you are not used to green eyeshadows.



For the first look, I applied the brown shade from the upper lashline to the crease and the green shade in the outer half of the crease. The light yellow shade was used as the base and also dusted on top of the green and brown shades, while the light pink shade was applied over the browbone area and along the lower lashline.


For the second look, I swopped the placement of the brown and green shades, with the green shade along the upper lashline and the brown in the crease. Both the brown and green shades are nicely pigmented and glide onto the skin with ease, requiring very littler layering.


Both Hanashoubu and Yomogiiro wore very well on me without fading or creasing for more than eight hours, using Too Faced Shadow Insurance as the primer. They would make good solid additions to any working woman's makeup wardrobe as the shades are so easy to work with and require very little blending and layering. I'm glad that Suqqu has done away with the matte base shades as those usually just disappear into my skin and were pretty much a waste of space for me.