I was invited to the Majolica Majorca Chapter 26 "She Was A Doll" workshop yesterday evening. It was a hands-on workshop for beauty bloggers to try out the latest MM spring collection, which is already out in Watsons stores. The workshop was conducted at Shiseido's office. The room probably looks familiar to those who have attended or read about the recent series of workshops for Shiseido and ZA. Each participant was provided with her own set of makeup tools while testers for the makeup products were shared. Look familiar? It's the dollhouse that was in the Watsons store in Ngee Ann City last year :-) The stack of goodies for the attending bloggers :-) Each blogger received the new Lash Bone Black Fibre In, Lash Enamel Glamour Volume On and one of the new Jeweling Eyes palettes. Majolica Majorca rarely makes accessories so I was delighted to finally have my own Majolica Majorca makeup case! I was delighted to receive the BL711 palette which I much preferred over the pink palette. Many thanks to Pearlin and Shiseido for the opportunity! I'll review the products in a separate post.
Here's a look at some upcoming accessories for the May issues of Japanese magazines.
Non-no (5 March): Integrate love pouch Spring (23 March): To b. by agnes b. (28x32x6cm) (fits A4 size) CanCam (23 Mar): Marc by Marc Jacobs bag (think this is a small lunch tote size) Maquia (23 March): ribbon accessory that can be worn as a necklace or hairband More (27 March): Jill Stuart x Liberty lunch tote The video clip for the April issue of Steady (due out 6 March) with the HamburGirl tote bag can be viewed here.
Here's the list of upcoming new products from Jill Stuart. The release dates are for Japan.
1. Extra Volume Mascara (2 April): Volumising and separating film-type mascara with a slim comb applicator. Can be easily removed with warm water. (3150yen)
Anna Sui gears up for summer with its Nail Colour Collection 2010. Due out on 8 April in Japan, each set retails for 3360yen and includes two Mini Nail Color N (5ml each), Nail Color Remover N (20ml) and Nail Sticker. Set #1 features neon pink and sunny beige nail polishes while set #2 has sweet brown and neon yellow. Pics and info from FAnet.
Tokidoki, which is one of my favourite brands, is teaming up with Sephora to launch a new makeup line! The range will be exclusive to Sephora starting in April. Check out pics of the makeup items on Highsnobette.com! I still own the Smashbox x Tokidoki makeup products from a few years ago. Those had very cute packaging but the quality of the products was lackluster so hopefully the new line at Sephora will be more impressive.
I was quite surprised by how many comments were left on my blog posts regarding the Starbucks Sakura collections in Japan and Singapore! It looks like the sakura tumblers in Singapore have been flying off the shelves with many outlets already sold out. But I still managed to find the mug and the bear in stock at the Liat Tower outlet today. Decided to get the mug since it was only S$12.90 and looked so cheerful :-) Love the detail inside the mug :-)
Here's the first look that I did with the Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette :-) I used MAC #226 brush to sweep White Rabbit (Polyester Bride) over the browbone area, followed by Wonderland (Maui Wowie) from the upper lashline to the crease and blended Mushroom on the outer one-third of the lid. Then I used MAC #228 mini shader brush to smudge Muchness (X) along the lower lashline and inner corners, and finished off with K-Palette Real Lasting Volume mascara. As you can see, all the shades are well-pigmented with a metallic glimmer. Of the four shades that I used today, only White Rabbit had tiny glitter bits which did cause a bit of a fall-out problem. The eyeshadows lasted very well over more than 14 hours of wear (with use of a primer) with just a bit of creasing at the inner corners and without oxidisation. This palette is definitely very worthwhile considering the number of products in it and the good quality! For about the same price as a Dior quint, you get lots more eyeshadow shades, plus eyeliner pencils and the famous Primer Potion to play with.
Passed by Sephora Ion at 8pm+ this evening and saw the Alice in Wonderland display right at the entrance! Looks like there are still quite a few left :-)
4. Jewel Light Nail Colour: 8 limited edition shades
5. Jewel Mode Top Coat It's interesting to see Coffret D'Or taking a leaf out of Maquillage's playbook with the embossing of the brand name on the surface of the eyeshadows. The two brands are close competitors as Kanebo's and Shiseido's mega drugstore brands. Some of you may recall that a few years ago, Kanebo stopped promoting Revue and T'estimo to launch Coffret D'Or while Shiseido stopped promoting Proudia and Pieds Nus to launch Maquillage.
Here's the new TV CM featuring Kou Shibasaki and the new Lasting Power Pact and Lasting Power Stay Fix UV.
The Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette launches officially in Sephora (Singapore) tomorrow. At the price of S$88, it is very reasonable compared to the original US retail price of US$52. This has become a highly sought-after item since its release in the US and has already long sold out on both Urbandecay.com and Sephora.com, with prices on Ebay going for over US$100. Sephora Singapore has brought in only 400 units of this gorgeous palette, of which over 80+ units have already been reserved. The customers who placed reservations were able to collect the palette since yesterday. When I was purchasing my palette at Sephora Ion, the SA said that they expect it to sell out tomorrow. So if you're still deliberating on this, do not wait too long because this is literally flying off the shelves. The cardboard packaging is quite sizeable but unlike the Tarte Treasure Chest, the sliding tray that holds the eyeshadows does not fall out easily. The lid has a magnetic closure that opens up to reveal the mirror and mushroom scene with the little Alice figure. The palette is made in the US. The shades in the palette are not new, just re-named with names inspired by the movie. Some of the shades do have glitter, which I positively hate for the mess factor but overall, the palette has a good mix of vivid, smokey and neutral shades with many creative possibilities.
The new April issue of Biteki (S$14.60), which just arrived at Kinokuniya today, comes with a 40-minute Lunasol makeup application DVD by Japanese makeup artist Mai Nishiyama. The DVD is region code 2 so you will need a multi-code DVD player to watch it unless you have a Code 2 player. Even if you don't understand Japanese, the video is quite easy to understand by just watching the artist work. The tutorial covers base and colour makeup application as well as fake eyelash application. The products used in the tutorial are:
1. Control Makeup Base #3 2. Modelling Water Liquid Foundation OC02 3. Under Eye Base N OR1 and 02 4. Nuance Change Foundation B 01 5. Eyelid Base N 6. Shining Water Eyes EX03 7. Nature Colour Eyes #4 8. Contrasting W Liner 04 9. Treatment Mascara Base 10. High Stylize Mascara N 01 11. Brow Styling Pencil GB01 12. Brow Styling Compact GB02 13. Brow Styling Mascara B01 14..Coloring Cheeks 07 15. Tone Up Powder 02 16. Contrasting W Lip Liner 07 17. Full Glamour Lips G 33 18. Full Glamour Gloss N 17
Picked up the April issues of Spur (S$21) and Spring (S$15.50) today at Kinokuniya. Spur comes with a Rebecca Taylor retro floral print tote while Spring comes with a Jill Stuart tote bag. The Rebecca Taylor tote is slightly larger at 24.5x34x12cm and can fit the Spur magazine just nicely while the Jill Stuart tote measures 32x21x11cm and is a bit too small to hold the Spring magazine. The Jill Stuart tote is made of a mix of cotton canvas and shiny polyester. This tote is roomy enough to fit 3 or 4 drink bottles. The Rebecca Taylor tote is made wholly of shiny polyester material and has no internal pockets. I think this bag print is cuter compared to the Jill Stuart. It's been quite awhile since any Japanese magazines had a Rebecca Taylor accessory item so I decided to splurge on this even though the mag is very pricey. There were plenty of copies of both mags when I was at Kinokuniya (Ngee Ann City) this evening at 7pm+. You can get a 10% discount with the Kino membership card.
Tipped off by a reader that the Starbucks in Singapore also carries the Sakura/Cherry Blossom range, I headed down to the Starbucks in Holland Village first thing this morning. Turns out that we got some of the same items as Japan, such as the clear transparent plastic tumbler, but we got a different cherry blossom design for the hot drinks tumbler. We also got a different sakura bear from the one available in Japan. This furry friend is going to asiyakei in Canada :-) My small collection of Starbucks tumblers. The blue wintery one on the left was released in December 2009 while the orange sakura one on the right was purchased back in 2006. There was also a bright red tiger print tumbler for Chinese New Year but think it's sold out already. The Singapore version may not be as colourful as the Japan version but it has lovely details like the metallic finishing on the sakura tree in the print. What's cute about this design is that there are pink hearts and sakura flowers printed on the external surface of the tumbler which makes them look like they are floating around the sakura trees :-)
