For this Chinese New Year, Shu Uemura is releasing two limited edition Ultime8 Sublime Beauty Cleansing Oil and Blanc:Chroma Cleansing Oil featuring traditional Chinese kite art. This appears to be exclusive to Chinese-speaking markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong as there has been no mention of it in the Japanese press or on the US website. Pic below from Shu Uemura Singapore.
Pic below from Be_Hk.
Here's another pic of the Paul & Joe UV Cut Pressed Powder and Silky Pressed Powder, plus the improved Foundation Primer with enhanced hydrating capabilities. Slated for release on 6 April in Japan. Pic by Abe Sawako.
TokiLa has posted swatches of the new Paul & Joe blushes and eyeshadow trios (due out in Feb) here. Also out on 1 February is this Japan-exclusive Happy Makeup Kit (6000yen) which includes a choice of any powder blush and lipstick, plus a 10ml sample of the Moisturising Foundation Primer S 01.
Paul & Joe will release this limited edition Pressed Powder with a matching pouch on 6 April in Japan. Pic by At_beautist. Can't say it's that tempting at all, they should have just stuck to kittens and florals!
\
The Spring 2016 makeup collection is now available at B-Glowing and BeautyHabit. Both retailers are offering a butterfly print pouch as the gift with US$50 purchase. The collection is also available on ASOS (with free international shipping but be warned that they do not package fragile cosmetic items properly) and Beauty.com.
MAC recently launched its first ever cushion foundation, the Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact. The foundation itself is not new as the liquid version of Matchmaster first debuted in 2011. I've never tried the original Matchmaster foundation so this review is just for the compact version.
MAC claims that this:
- provides instant hydration
- controls oil
- instantly blurs lines and wrinkles
- instantly reduces appearance of pores
- long-wearing, eight hours
- oil-free
- provides stay-true colour
- non-caking, non-streaking and non-settling
- sweat- and humidity-resistant
- water-resistant
The 'sheer liquid formula lends true-to-life shade perfection and coverage,while letting your natural skin show through, ... providing a natural finish and sheer to medium buildable coverage". To be honest, I haven't used MAC foundations in many years as they never performed well on me, but just put it in a cushion compact and I'll definitely give it a spin.
This retails at a US$36 for 13g/0.45oz, whereas the liquid version is the same price for 35ml/1.18 fl oz, with refills available at US$28. Made in Japan, this comes in 12 shades. The SA matched me to the lightest shade 1.0, which means that paler skintones than NC20 will probably have difficulty finding a match. MAC recommends applying this with their new 197SH square duo fibre brush. I purchased the brush too but have not tried it with this foundation yet.
Below is a pic of my bare skin. My face is naturally a different color from my neck, mainly due to its tendency towards splotchy redness. Since incorporating Pixi Glow Tonic into my daily skincare routine, I do not get big acne eruptions anymore but my pores still get clogged mainly around the T-zone.
Using the included sponge applicator, I found that this applies sheer at first but it does provide some coverage of pores and skin redness. It feels beautifully lightweight on the skin without any discernible greasiness or powderiness. The oil control was much better compared to the Philosophy Take A Deep Breath Foundation, although there was still a bit of oil breakthrough on my T-zone around the four hour mark. There was also some minor streaking around the sides of my nose and between the brows, so I wouldn't say that this provides completely flawless wear for eight hours. Nevertheless, it did stay largely intact without visible oxidisation or descending into a greasy mess for the ten hours that I wore it (which included taking a nap). This could be partly due to the severely cold and dry weather we've been experiencing this week (around -10° C) so my skin is not as oily as usual.
Overall, I think this performed decently for the price and better than the Philosophy and Physicians Formula versions. Still, I'm pretty sure I would not repurchase it as there are always tons of new foundation releases to try out.
Ingredient list below.
