The Shu Uemura Sakura Collection will be launched in Singapore tomorrow (Friday 25 March) exclusively at Takashimaya! The other counters here will release it on next Friday 1 April.
As mentioned in my earlier posts, this collection is the brand's second collaboration with illustrious Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa who is renowned for her incredibly vibrant photographs of flowers. Ninagawa's images are kawaii ("cute") with a distinctive "pop and sweet wonderland" style, but with complex undercurrents that hint at erotic instincts, fragililty or melancholic beauty. Shu Uemura had first used Ninagawa's prints in the packaging of their 2008 holiday collection.
The Sakura Collection includes:
1. UV Under Base Mousse SPF30 PA+++ in Beige, Pink and BB Beige. (S$78)
2. Powder Foundation Case (S$25)
3. Rouge Unlimited (S$39): 5 lipsticks formulated with a new generation sakura hybrid pigment and encased in a clear pink case. Shown below are PK356 (hot pink) and BG932 (pink-toned beige)
4. Rouge Unlimited Supreme Shine (S$40): 2 rich dewy shine lipsticks in SS PK307 and SS PK314
All the products are limited edition except for the UV Under Base Mousse which is available in the permanent line in Beige and Pink. The collection also marks the 1st year anniversary of the UV Under Base Mousse, which was revamped for the 8th time in February 2010 and met with great success, selling 100,000 units in 2010 alone. The mousse has an innovative light airy texture with water-resistant pigments to give skin a natural glow and translucency while providing a perfect canvas for makeup.
The Beige shade (above) provides a natural, healthy-looking finish while the Pink version (below) adds a rosy glow.
The new limited edition BB Beige has a slightly denser formula with greater coverage and can be used as a BB cream to lighten a dull complexion without an unnatural whitish effect. Makeup Stash and Makeup Blogette have swatches of all three shades, plus the lipsticks.
I wore the UV Under Base Mousse in Beige today topped with only Shu Uemura's Face Powder Sheer Colorless. While the combination doesn't provide as much coverage as using powder foundation, it did make my skin look smoother and more even-toned. What really impressed me was the oil control. Usually, I have to blot about every 1.5 to 2 hours when wearing liquid or powder foundation but today, I only had to blot about every 4 hours. The light texture of the UV Under Base Mousse makes it particularly suitable for Singapore's hot humid weather as it is much less likely to clog pores than creamier formulas.
The ad visual features the brand's Beauty Ambassador, Yamada Yu. You can watch the video clip on the shooting of the ad visual and download the wallpaper and screensaver for the collection here. Do also check out the Shu Uemura Singapore Facebook page!
The Visee website has been updated with its new mineral makeup collection.
The five new Mineral Cheeks (Baby Finish) blushes look promising. These are formulated with a mild mineral powder coated with emollients, a soft mineral powder to give a baby-like finish and a bright mineral powder to counteract skin dullness. Hopefully, Lotus Palace will review these soon!
If you are interested in purchasing Visee, Adambeauty.com is a reliable online store based in Hong Kong that ships internationally and has reasonable prices.
While transiting at Narita Airport last week, I picked up some pieces from the Lunasol spring collection, which has just been launched in Singapore as well. As usual, the highlight of the collection is the array of five eyeshadow quads. The Ocean Scene Eyes collection is dominated by shimmery shades of icy pastels and light neutrals.
The collection also includes five limited edition Shining Ocean Eyes. These are super glittery water-based eyeshadows. I picked up EX03 Shining Sheer Green (7.5g) which I figured would go well with the two Ocean Scene Eyes palettes that I got. While the Shining Ocean Eyes do add a nice sparkle, the glitter bits felt sharp and slightly gritty to touch when I was smoothing it out on my eyelids. Nevertheless, it did work well as an eyeshadow base.
The Illuminating Highlight #1 Sheer Lavender is a face highlighting powder that helps to enliven skin that is looking dull or sallow. It is subtle enough such that dusting it all over the face won't make one look like a shiny disco ball. I like using this for adding a more natural glow to a foundation that has a flat matte finish.
Coloring Cheeks #8 Medium Pink (10g) is not part of the spring collection. It is a very wearable natural-looking blush with just the right amount of color payoff. The micro-sparkles are not noticeable when applied. I purchased this and the Illuminating Highlight without the cases as I'll probably get the Compact Case (Select) N later which can fit four of these. The Shining Ocean Eyes, Illuminating Highlight (refill) and Coloring Cheeks (refill) were all 2125yen each at Narita Airport, versus the usual retail price of 2625yen.
Although I'm usually not a fan of beige shades, the greyish black and light beige combo of Ocean Scene Eyes #4 Smoky Ocean looked like a very wearable smoky eyes quad. I would usually avoid a palette with so many pale shades as they have a tendency to become indistinguishable from one another when applied. But the shades in Smoky Ocean looked very pretty when swatched so I decided to give it a try. The quad is 4250yen (S$66) at Narita Airport (versus the normal retail price of 5250yen in Japan and S$77 in Singapore).
With Shining Ocean Eyes EX03 as the base, I applied the whitish beige (bottom left) shade over the browbone area, the light beige (top left) in the crease, the greyish black along the upper lashline and the outer half of the lower lashline, and the silvery white shade at the inner corners and along the lower lashline.
The texture of the Ocean Scene Eyes feels more refined and smoother than Lunasol's earlier eyeshadow quads. When brushing the surface of the eyeshadow with the sponge or brush applicators, there were hardly any powder bits kicked up. I experienced only a tiny bit of fall out when applying the greyish black shade. There is no chunky glitter but all the shades are shimmery.
The lasting power was excellent with no noticeable fading and hardly any creasing, thanks to the Shining Ocean Eyes.
My first try with #3 Vivid Ocean was a bit of a disappointment because the blue tones were just not that visible when applied. I'll need to experiment with some other eyeshadow bases to see if I can get the shades to apply more like how they appear in the pan.
With Shining Ocean Eyes EX03 as the base, I applied the yellow shade over the browbone area, the light mint shade on the inner half of the upper lid and along the lower lashline, the sky blue shade on the outer half of the upper lid, and the dark blue shade along the upper lashline.
For both looks, I am wearing Illuminating Highlight #1 lightly dusted all over on top of my foundation, and the Coloring Cheeks #8.
If you have tried the Lunasol spring makeup collection, do let me know what you think of the products!
One of the most treasured parts of my makeup stash is my collection of Paul & Joe lipsticks. Paul & Joe usually releases these limited edition lipsticks featuring prints from their fashion collections only once or twice a year, usually as part of the spring and fall makeup collections. The relatively slow pace at which these are released means that it takes years to build up a decent collection, similar to Guerlain's Meteorites. The entire Collection Sparkles Archive dating back to Spring 2002 can be viewed on the Paul & Joe website.
The eye-catching whimsical prints never fail to brighten up my day. Because they are so unique and distinctive, I never have to waste time searching for the specific shade that I want. My only regret is that I didn't start collecting these earlier when Paul & Joe first became available in Singapore!
Although the tubes are made of cardboard, they are surprisingly sturdy. I have kept some of these in the side pocket of a bag for over a month without any visible chafing or denting. The lipstick bullets are also easily removable so you can replace the shade with a new one, including those from the permanent line.
Of the three new lipsticks from the Parasol spring collection, the only one that had decent colour payoff was #71 Afternoon Delight (extreme right). It's a sweet baby pink that's not really that special or unique. Both #69 Alfresco left) and #70 Chantilly (centre) are incredibly sheer and add more shine than colour. All three feel moisturising but tend to enhance any flakiness in one's lips. At S$39 each, I think these are not really worth the price and the only reason why I purchased all three was because I adored the prints on the packaging. Nevertheless, these are already virtually sold out at the three Paul & Joe counters in Singapore as the stocks that were brought for this collection were extremely scarce as the collection sold incredibly well in Japan.
Of my collection, the most well-used lipstick is Lipstick C #58 Muse (right in pic below) from the Fall 2008 collection. The chocolate shade doesn't look that exciting in the tube but on the lips, it looks classic and elegant, perfect for every day wear. The second most used is Lipstick C #65 Cruising, a ladylike pink from the Fall 2009 collection.
Recently, my Alice in Wonderland Lip Treatment Sticks have also been in heavy rotation, especially when I was travelling in the UK and US. These worked amazingly well at keeping my lips from getting chapped and flaky. These were from a limited edition collection from last March.
Hope you've enjoyed this look at my Paul & Joe lipstick collection!
