Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow #11 Himesango and Nuancing Cheeks EX03 Akanemizu

From the Suqqu Spring 2012 collection, I picked up the Blend Color Eyeshadow #11 Himesango (£45) and Nuancing Cheeks EX03 Akanemizu (£38) at Selfridges during my last trip to London.

Himesango is my second Suqqu eyeshadow palette after EX02 Fuyubara from the Holiday 2010 coffret. It looked like a good palette for daywear, with five well-coordinated shades instead of the usual four in earlier Blend Color Eyeshadow palettes. It comes with a dual-ended sponge applicator and brush applicator, which work decently but I often prefer to use my own brushes for blending.


Many often wax lyrical about the finely milled and dreamy texture of Suqqu's eyeshadows. Suqqu does excel at producing matte shades that have none of the powdery dryness that is common amongst mattes. Their shimmery shades also have a velvety smooth quality without any glittery fallout.

Most of the shades in Himesango have good color payoff except for the peach pink which was disappointing as it virtually disappears on my skin.

The white shade has a bit of a sheen that is visible under a spotlight, but it applies matte without any visible sparkle. Used with a good primer like Too Faced Shadow Insurance, the eyeshadows last all day without any creasing or fading.

While Himesango is a good, safe choice for everyday wear, it has not displaced Lunasol Ocean Scene Eyes EX01 Shelly Ocean (which has a fabulous dirty bronzed brown) as my favourite brown-themed palette of all time. The shade combination of Himesango is probably also easy to re-create if you own one of Urban Decay's Naked palettes or their plethora of knockoffs.


In comparison, I found Nuancing Cheeks EX03 Akanemizu to be more special and worthy of the hefty price tag. It's a lovely combination of a sweet rosy pink and a coral pink.

Under a spot light, the fine shimmer particles are more visible but I did not notice any silver sparkles on my cheeks after applying both blushes. These warm up the complexion very nicely, giving the cheeks a rosy color with just a few quick strokes of the included brush. They also last quite well although there is some fading after eight hours of wear.

The brush is of top-notch quality and easily one of the best I've ever come across as part of a palette. The Guerlain blue Pucci brush in the Terra Azzurra summer collection feels much scratchier against the skin in comparison. After using the Suqqu brush more than ten times, it has yet to shed a single bristle. I also like the sleek black lacquer-like packaging. You can see swatches of all three blush duos in the spring collection on Drivel About Frivol.



In the pic below, I used both Himesango and the coral pink shade from Akanemizu.

For the second look, I used the rosy pink shade from Akanemizu. You can read more reviews on Himesango on Front Row Beauty and Drivel About Frivol and also here (fabulous comparison swatches of all three palettes from the spring collection with other brands).

List of ingredients for Himesango.

And Akanemizu.