Saturday, 11 February 2012

Paul & Joe Kitten Collection Haul

While in London last weekend, I popped by the Paul & Joe counter in Fenwick on New Bond Street to check out the Kitten Collection. I had purchased Lipstick C #75 Sex Kitten and #77 Catwalk earlier from ASOS.com, and was eager to see the Blusher Sticks and Cinnamon Matte Pressed Powder in the green case.

According to the SA, the first shipment of the Cinnamon Matte Pressed Powder sold out in less than a week. A second shipment of 24 pieces arrived yesterday, and is again selling fast. It is not available on ASOS.com or Beautyhabit.com (probably because it has already sold out).

I was originally planning to get just one of the blusher sticks, but got tempted by the gifts with purchase into picking up a few other products.

Above are the Blusher Sticks 003 Catfight and 002 Minou (£21), plus Lipstick C #76 Meow! (£16). The new Waterproof Gel Eyeliner 01 (£16) is a fabulously pigmented intense black, similar to Urban Decay's Perversion eyeliner. It comes with a retractable brush that has no cap.

The packaging of the Face & Eye Color CS 078 Purr-fect is similar to the Face & Eye Colors previously released as part of the Clair de Lune collection for Fall 2010, except that the rubber band now comes separate from the box. This contains a whopping 12g of product, which will be near impossible to use up.



The three shades have a soft glimmer and sheer to medium payoff. The darkest green shade did not apply as dark as it looks in the pan. The texture feels smooth without being overly powdery. (Do also check out the reviews by Makeup & Beauty Blog and Messy Wands.) I used Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen #6 True Teal along the upper lashline and outer edge of the lower lashline to add definition.

For this look, I am also wearing Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation 100 Ivory, Bourjois Healthy Balance Unifying Powder 52 Vanilla, Stila Custom Color Blush Self-adjusting Coral and Catrice Lip Colour Cream 01 Spring Kiss.

The counter at Fenwick's was offering the red kitten pouch as the gift with any £40 purchase and the blue laundry bag with any £30 purchase. However, to get both, one had to spend £100, which was somewhat absurd. In Singapore, you get both the pouch and the bag if you spend S$200.

The kitten pouch is one of the most adorable prints I've seen from Paul & Joe. This is quite roomy with a bit of padding, but no internal pockets.

The gold logo charms add an elegant touch with a subtle heart motif.


Bobbi Brown Brightening Nudes Collection

Here's another pic of the Bobbi Brown Brightening Finishing Powder in #1 Porcelain Pearl and #2 Brightening Nude, which will be released in March as part of the Brightening Nudes Collection.

Bobbi Brown New Releases for April & May

Bobbi Brown's upcoming product releases in Japan include:

6 April: Long-Wear Even Finish Foundation SPF15 in 9 shades (6300yen, 30g). This lightweight, long-lasting foundation contains moisturising ingredients like shea butter and glycerin and has a lavender scent.

27 April
Rich Color Gloss in 4 shades (3150yen, 7ml)
Rich Lip Color SPF12 in 6 shades (3675yen, 3.8g)
Shimmer Bricks in Rose Gold and Wild Rose (5460yen)

18 May
Long Wear Eye Pencil in 6 shades (3150yen)
Long Wear Cream Eyeshadow in 5 shades, of which 2 are limited edition (3360yen)
Eyelash Curler (2100yen)
Long Wear Mascara (3990yen, 7ml)

Pic above was tweeted by Bobbi Brown Japan. See more pics on Kirei no Hone, Tina Life Blog, Kokusaishogyo.

Friday, 10 February 2012

RMK 15th Anniversary Collection

RMK celebrates its 15th anniversary this March with two limited edition Cheek Palettes with a petal-wearing pixie designed by famed illustrator Tanabe Hiroshi. Debuting on 2 March in Japan, each palette features six shades in soft coral pink and chic brown beige themes.

There will also be a 15th Anniversary Base Make Kit that includes one's choice of any RMK foundation and primer, plus deluxe sample sizes of the UV Face Protector and Control Color N 01 and a pouch. This will be released on 23 March in Japan. See the pics on Kuri's Beauty Report.

Pixi Glow Collection featuring Tinker Bell

While in London, I made my usual stop at the Pixi flagship store on Carnaby Street and found the Pixi Glow collection featuring Tinker Bell on display.

The collection includes the Fairy Face Palette in Pixi Belle (£32), Tinker Bell Fairy Dust in Moonlustre (£10), Straight On Till Morning Liner (£9.50), Tinker Bell Magic Tink Tint in Happy Thoughts Pink (£12) and two Tinker Bell Catching Shadows Crayons (£12). It is also available now on ASOS.com (which offers free international shipping) and Target.com (which ships only within the USA). Betty Confidential has an interview with Pixi creator Petra Strand on the genesis of the collaboration with Disney.

I came home with the Fairy Face Palette, Tinker Bell Fairy Dust and eyeliners in Straight On Till Morning and No. 6 True Teal. I'm not a fan of Tinker Bell as such but the flattering, easy-to-wear shade combinations appealed to me, as did the cool mint packaging.

The boxes of my makeup products usually get discarded straight away to save on space, but I'm definitely keeping these pretty boxes.


Inspired by budding roses, berry nectars and dew at dawn, the Fairy Face Palette contains five shimmery baked powder eyeshadows, five lip creams, a blush, double-ended sponge and brush applicators and a blush brush.

The two top trays slide out to reveal the blush pan and brush.

So far, I've tried two of the lip creams. Both wore very comfortably on the lips without settling into the fine lines. The double-ended lip brush works well for laying down a precise application.


The eyeshadows are on the sheer side but can be layered for greater intensity. Used over a good primer, they lasted well through more than eight hours of wear although there was a bit of creasing at the inner corners of the upper eyelids.



Swatches of the blush and the five eyeshadows done on bare skin without any primer. The eyeshadows were layered about 3-4 times each.

The blush is a mosaic of three pale and rosy pinks. Blended together and applied with the brush, these give a glowy sheen and light rosy tint to the cheeks. If applied too heavily, they can look a tad frosty.

The cute brush feels pretty soft without any scratchiness.

The Tinker Bell Fairy Dust is a finely-milled loose pigment that is great for a gentle illuminating effect.


It looks like a standard pearly white in the tube but when applied on the skin, the ethereal fairy dust comes to life with a lovely multi-color sparkle.

The Endless Silky Eye Pens impressed me with their ultra-smooth texture and good color payoff. These glide onto the skin effortlessly without tugging. The quality is way better than Pop Beauty's Glitz Blitz Glitterati Eyeliners, which were so hard that I gave up trying to use them. (Pop Beauty is created by Sara Strand, sister of Pixi's creator). ASOS.com also has a Endless Silky Eye Pen Trio that is a steal at £12 for three full-size eyeliners in No. 1 Black Noir, No. 3 Black Tulip and No. 4 Black Cocoa (see swatches on Makeup & Beauty Blog).

Swatches (from left to right): True Teal, Straight On Till Morning and Fairy Dust.

Here's a simple look that I did with the Fairy Face Palette and Straight On Till Morning eyeliner.


List of ingredients for the palette which is made in Korea.

Ingredients list for Fairy Dust, which is made in Korea.

Ingredients list for Straight On Till Morning, which is made in Germany.

Laneige Beauty Bazaar 10-11 February

Laneige is holding a sale with up to 80% off on Friday 10 February and Saturday 11 February at Robinsons Raffles City Level 3. Details below!

Benefit Survey

Benefit (Singapore) is conducting a survey of how consumers perceive the brand. If you like Benefit, do take part in it by simply answering three questions here. The survey closes end of February.

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Paul & Joe New Base Makeup and Skincare

Paul & Joe will release the following base makeup and skincare products on 1 March in Japan:

1. Pearl Foundation Primer #1 Bonbon (3675yen): Contains pearl balls in five shades that mix together to help illuminate skin with an inner aura-like glow. British Beauty Blogger has reviewed this.

2. Powder Compact Foundation SPF22 PA++: Formulated with whipped milk and cotton powder for a soft silk-like finish. (3675yen for refill, 1575yen for case and sponge)

3. Brightening Serum (5250yen, 40ml)

4. Brightening Lotion (4725yen, 200ml)

More details can be found on the Paul & Joe official website.

Bobbi Brown Brightening Collection

Bobbi Brown is slated to release the following new products on 2 March in Japan:

1. Brightening Finishing Powder (6090yen): Two limited edition highlighting face powders with six soft pearl tones in #1 Porcelain Pearl and #2 Brightening Nude.

2. Sparkle Eye Shadow (3360yen): 4 limited edition shades in #1 Silver Moon, #3 Ballet, #4 Mica and #6 Sunlight.

3. Brightening Lip Gloss (3150yen): 3 limited edition shades in #04 Pink Lilac, #7 Pink Opal and #8 Lilac Opal

4. Crystal Lip Gloss #1 Crystal (2940yen, limited edition)


5. Pot Rouge: New formula in 7 shades (3360yen)

6. Brightening Advanced Serum (10500yen, 30ml)

Info and pics from Voce.