Lunasol 2014 Autumn Collection

Kanebo Lunasol's 2014 Autumn Collection is set around a Baroque theme.

This autumn collection is quite extensive with the following:

A) 5 [Limited Edition] eyeshadow duos called Dual Contrasting Eyes (retail price before tax 3500 yen)
- EX01 Icy Gray
- EX02 Tender Brown
- EX03 Warm Pink
- EX04 Modern Olive
- EX05 Chic Bordeaux

B) Eyeliner (retail price before tax 2500 yen)
- 01 Nuance Black
- 02 Deep Brown

 C) 2 eyeshadow quads called Grace Contrasting Eyes (retail price before tax 5000 yen)
- 01 Antique Gold
- 02 Romantic Pink

D) Day Treatment Eye Essence (10g) (retail price before tax 3500 yen)

E) Creamy Matte [Limited Edition] Crayon Lips (retail price before tax 2500 yen)
- EX01 Brown Red
- EX02 Dark Red
- EX03 Smokey Beige
- EX04 Rose Beige

F) Glamour Lips (retail price before tax 3000 yen)
- #29 Pure Red
- #30 Smokey Rose
- #31 Mauve Pink
- #32 Light Smokey Beige

G) Soft Contrasting [Limited Edition] Cheeks (retail price before tax 3500 yen)
- EX01 Soft Coral
- EX02 Soft Pink

H) Nail polish [Limited Edition] (retail price before tax 1500 yen)
- EX31 Grayish Blue
- EX32 Tender Pink
- EX33 Smokey Bordeaux

The Lunasol 2014 Autumn Collection will be stocked for sale on 22 August 2014.

Swatches - Canmake Cream Cheek CL05 & CL06, Love Switch eyeliners and Canmake Just For Me Essence Rouge

I love drugstores and never fail to visit them whenever I go on holiday overseas (we will proceed to ignore the copious amount of swatching and visits I do at drugstores in Singapore).

I managed to swatch these at the drugstore when I was in Kansai.

Canmake has recently (according to a Japanese beauty magazine I have) launched a new shade in Japan - CL06. CL06 is named Clear Peach Sugar whereas CL05 is named Clear Happiness. Personally for my NC25-30 arm, both these colors look washed out but would look great on someone fairer than me. 

I could never resist colored eyeliners and these Love Switch eyeliners were super smooth to apply. I personally find the Indigo Black shade nothing out of the ordinary but the Olive Black shade had a beautiful dark green, is-it-there-isn't-it-there hue to the black. Despite the 'pearl' indication on the display, these eyeliners did not have noticable glitter particles.

Canmake's Creamy Touch Rouge in 03 Sweet Cherry worked so well for me, I thought of purchasing some lipsticks from the Canmake Just for Me Essence Rouge series. To date, there have been 4 shades released - C01 Natural Beige, C02 Camel Beige, C03 Brilliant Red and C04 Pink Coral. 

The pigmentation and colors were good - in this picture the testers were a little gummy but another swatching run at another drugstore showed smooth, glide-on textures. However, I really hated the packaging and forewent (?) purchasing C03. 

All pictures were taken either inside the drugstore with store lighting or outside of the store but inside the subway station without flash.

Kanebo Media Creamy Lasting Lip A - swatches in real life

At the drugstore which I patronised in the Namba area in Osaka, they had a entire display of Kanebo Media products. Including the Kanebo Media Creamy Lasting Lip A. So naturally, I swatched. And bought a few. 

Pictures are taken under white fluorescent lighting within the store.

The official website for these lipsticks can be found here. 

Disclaimer: I received no payment or payment in kind for writing this blog post. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Addiction 5th anniversary palettes - swatches in real life

While I was in Japan, I was determined to try and possibly purchase 1 or 2 of the Addiction 5th Anniversary palettes. I had written previously about the shades breakdown I found in a post. 

Since I was at the Addiction counter anyway, I decided to swatch all 3 palettes. 

Here are the shades of each individual palette in all their glory under daylight (sunlight coming through the skylight in a mall) and in the shade. For basic information, my underarm is probably a MAC shade NC25-30, which is why the White Palette does not show up much. 

I did buy the Black Addiction Palette along with Flash Back as an eye shadow single in the end.

Disclaimer: I received no payment or payment in kind for writing this blog post. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Visee Duo Rich Eyes

Among my pre-Japan trip makeup buying research, I came across Kose Visee Duo Rich Eyes. Launched in June 2014, the press photos looked great and Visee has a good reputation for its recent eye shadow quads. 

So it's no surprise that I immediately swatched the whole range when I came across the Visee Duo Rich Eyes stand in a drugstore in Osaka. For science of course! 

Display stand showcasing all the colours. Left to Right: OR-1 Orange Brown, PK-2 Pink Brown, BR-3 Gold Brown, GR-4 Khaki, GY-5 Gray, BE-6 Beige, BL-7 Navy

Swatches are in the same order as the display stand

Looking to add green eyeshadow to my collection, I eventually purchased the Visee Duo Rich Eyes in GR-4 Khaki although I had previously considered getting the Visee Glossy Rich Eyes quad in GR-8. 

Left: Visee Glossy Rich Eyes quad in GR-8, right: Visee Duo Rich Eyes in GR-4 Khaki

Swatches of the 2 different palettes, left: Glossy Eyes quad, right: Duo Rich Eyes. 

You can clearly see that the greens in both palettes are not identical, the green eyeshadow in the Glossy Rich Eyes is a beautiful smoky matte-to-pearl dark green whereas the lighter shade/green in the Duo Rich Eyes is a pearl-to-metallic khaki green. In terms of pricing, the Glossy Eyes quad sell for 1600 yen before tax, 1728 after tax (which works out to 432 yen per color) whereas the Duo Rich Eyes sell for 1000 yen before tax , 1080 after tax (which works out to 540 yen per color).  

I was going to pick up the Visee Glossy Rich Eyes in BL-7 too on another day, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to go to a drugstore selling the Visee Glossy Rich Eyes before I left Kansai. *shakes head I still can't believe how little shopping I did, but then again it was a short vacation and shops tend to close before 9 pm. 

Swatches of Visee Glossy Rich Eyes BL-7

For more colors and information, the Duo Rich Eyes can be found here and the Glossy Rich Eyes can be found there. 

Disclaimer: I received no payment or payment in kind for writing this blog post. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Addiction 5th anniversary palettes

Addiction is a makeup brand currently only available in Japan. Despite only selling in Japan, Addiction has established an excellent name for itself in the eyeshadow range. Addiction is in fact, a brand under the Kose group and its creative director is a makeup artist based in New York by the name of Ayako. 

Face of 5th anniversary collections (model: Rila Fukushima) tweeted by Ayako

Addiction celebrates its 5th anniversary in 2014 and is launching 3 limited edition eyeshadow palettes for the occasion.  For someone who doesn't really own any high-end eyeshadows, I am very tempted to purchase the Addiction 5th Anniversary eyeshadow palettes. More precisely, the red and black palettes. 

Shades in the red palette: Alice 025M, Mariage 062P, Flash Back 030ME, Ice Wall 008 ME

Shades in the black palette: Joker 019M, Thriller 035P, Concrete Jungle 027P, Arabian Ruby 029ME

Shades in the white palette: Paper Doll 001M, Sugar Angel 002P, Nouvelle Lune 060P, Cigarette 034P

Each palette comes with 4 eyeshadow singles and is priced at 6696 yen after tax (6200 yen before tax; the anniversary palettes are the same price as the regular Addiction eyeshadow quads). You can find more pictures here and here. 

These palettes will be stocked for sale on Friday 11 July. 

June theme special - Eyebrow products

Due to the shortness and sparseness of my plucked brows, I've been filling them in for a long long time. I can leave the house without sunscreen or any makeup on but I do need my eyebrows!

Recently, I made these 2 purchases in June and thought I'll review them alongside the brow products currently in my stash.

1) IN2IT Waterproof Eyebrow Liner in WB03 ash brown, with a bevel tip. This product strangely still has the 'new' sticker on it, however the manufacture date is 071112 and expires on 071115. This item was purchased in Malaysia for just under RM$18. 

2) K Palette 1 day Tattoo Real Lasting Eyebrow 24h in 02. Manufacturing date: 06 2013.

My current go-to daily eyebrow product is ZA Everbrow in 03 Natural Grey. Before this, I was alternating between a cheap eyebrow pencil from Daiso Korea (see below) and the Integrate eyebrow palette in BR631 and applying it on with a synthetic angled brow brush. 

In the family, my brown shades are the Maybelline Define-A-Brow eyebrow pencil in 643 medium brown, Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil, Dark Brown 001 and ZA's Ever Brow in BR22 (old packaging). 

I'm by no means a beauty snob and I have 2 cheap eyebrow pencils in my stash to demonstrate so. Bilena Eyebrow Pencil in brown was purchased from Daiso and so was deco Olive Auto Eyebrow Pencil (however the Daiso store that deco Olive Auto Eyebrow Pencil came from was located in Korea).

Basically the shades in my eyebrow stash tend to be brown, greyish-browns and greys.

Left to Right
ZA Ever Brow in BR 22 - this brown leans red to me
Ever Bilena Eyebrow Pencil - this cheapie pencil is really difficult to apply/ draw as you may be able to tell by the residue still on my hand
Maybelline Define-A-Brow - the twisting mechanism is difficult
Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil - this dark brown leans just a little red on me, if my hair shade was warmer, it might be a great fit
IN2IT Waterproof Eyebrow Liner in WB03 ash brown - this come off as a soft greyish-brown
ZA New York everbrow in 03 Natural Grey - inspite its name, this shows up greyish-brown on me rather than just grey
K Palette 1 day Tattoo Real Lasting Eyebrow 24h in 02 - is a translucent grey on me
deco Olive Auto Eyebrow Pencil shows up as a greyish-black.
Last of all, the grey in the Integrate palette is a soft grey-brown, somwhere between IN2IT and ZA New York Everbrow in 03 Natural Grey

I do like the IN2IT eyebrow liner, it gives me an opportunity to draw soft thicker eyebrows a-la Korean drama queens as opposed to the classic slightly arched brows which I am prone to draw.

Disclaimer: I received no payment or no payment in kind for writing this blog post. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Quirky finds in Singapore June 2014

Found this today while wandering around in a mega-store.

Biore Men's pore pack - available in black or white

Biore Cleansing Oil Cotton Facial Sheets (most brands do a micellar water version of the makeup remover towelettes) 

Yoko (Thai brand) various salt scrubs

Nose hair trimmer by Kai 

June theme special - Canmake cream cheek CL03, creamy rouge 03 and stay-on balm rouge swatches

This post is dedicated entirely to Canmake lip products. Technically the Canmake Cream Cheek is a blusher but I found it to perform best on my lips as a matte-ish stain compared to it being a blusher. These are Canmake products either purchased personally (using my own money) or swatched in late May/June.   

Canmake Cream Cheek in CL03 Clear Sunset

I was reading reviews on the Canmake Cream Cheek and the words "limited exclusive shade" jumped out at me for Canmake Cream Cheek CL03 Clear Sunset. The colour swatches of CL03 found on a few beauty blogs were gorgeous and I decided to pop into my local Watsons to see if it was in stock. It was and my handbag was more than happy to accommodate a Canmake Cream cheek on the way home. 

Front of Canmake Cream Cheek (packaging still intact)

 Back of Canmake Cream Cheek (packaging still intact)

Plastic removed! 

CL03 Clear sunset has been described as pinky-red or a watermelon red

When I first used the Canmake cream cheek, it was as a blusher. I was applying it in the car (as a passenger) and dabbing at it with a cotton bud then applying it on my face was too bright for me. It could also be my technique as I didn't have any brushes with me and could only smudge with my fingers and cover up the subsequent brightness with powder and a foam wedge. 

I have used stick cream blushers in the past and found that my personal preference for cream blushers may lie on the stick format/tube-y way. It is far easier (to me) to apply and blend cream blusher using my fingers if it was first applied on my face via a stick. I may have to experiment more with picking up and applying cream blusher using a synthetic makeup brush before any conclusions can be drawn. 

Canmake Creamy Rouge in 03 Sweet Cherry

Actually, the Canmake Creamy Rouge in 03 Sweet Cherry was my first Canmake purchase but due to online shopping, it arrived at my doorstep after I had purchased the Canmake cream cheek from a physical store. 

I love the gold casing. Considering its price tag and general target audience (Canmake is marketed at under-30 years-old in Japan), this feels quite luxurious with the weight of the case and 'Creamy Rouge' at the side of the tube. 

The color seems a tad bright but once blotted, it's perfect on my pigmented lips. 

Swatches of both on my arm (applied with cotton bud)

As an experiement, I applied both the Canmake Cream Cheek CL03 Clear Sunset and Creamy Rouge 03 Sweet Cherry on different halves of my lips.

Left half: my original lips, without any lip color applied (I have lanolin on my lips but it's only to moisturise lips before any lip color). Right half: Canmake Cream Cheek CL03 Clear Sunset on my pigmented lips, applied with a brush (no blotting yet)

Left half: Canmake Creamy Rouge in 03 Sweet Cherry applied with a brush, right half: Canmake Cream Cheek CL03 Clear Sunset applied with a brush (no blotting for both halves yet)

30 minutes after blotting. Both halves have effectively 'melted' into my lips and makes them seem rosier/pinker than they actually are. They feel invisible and does not overly enhance my dry lips/lines. 

I do like the effect for both and will be adding them to my daily/go to makeup bag (along with a brush). 

Since we're on the subject of Canmake lip products, the Canmake Stay-on Balm Rouges were another lip products which have received good reviews. Generally and favorably compared to the Revlon (original) Just Bitten Balm stains, the Canmake Stay-on Balm Rouge can be found in 7 different shades in Singapore (including 01 which has been discontinued in Japan).

Spotted this display stand at a Watsons store

Display stand highlighting that 07 is the latest addition to the Canmake Stay-on Balm Rouge color family 

Left- Right: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07 (yes, I reorganised the testers in the store in this order). There are only shade numbers, no names/descriptions with the Stay-on Balm Rouge.

Swatches of the Stay-on Balm Rouges in the same left-right order as above (store lighting)

Swatches of the Stay-on Balm Rouges in the same left-right order as above (mall lighting but under a skylight with daylight coming in)

The colors are pretty and I found them easy to swatch e.g. they glided on easily. However, due to my own pigmented lips, I was concerned that they might not be sufficient to overcome my original color and might in fact appear more like a tinted lip balm. There have been feedback from people who purchased these who love the color and texture but those whom I know of don't have as pigmented lips as mine.

However, if I were to purchase, I might purchase it in 07-something about the berry red hue calls to me.

Disclaimer: I received no payment or payment in kind for writing this blog post. Any opinions expressed are my own.