Shu Uemura Mini Nail Trio- Phantasm (2009 Spring Mirage Collection)

While I'm compiling other Spring collection posts I thought I'd better keep the blog flowing...here's a quick one! This is the Spring 2009 Shu Uemura collection which includes two limited edition nail polish trio sets (they are a fair bit smaller than the full sized Shu Uemura nail polishes, exactly half the size- 5ml each, full sized ones are 10ml). Retails for 800NT in Taiwan, which is about 24USD. I got the first set 'Phantasm', which features three shades, Lilac, Glitter and Soft Pink:

• "Lilac" a pure lilac creme with glossy finish, no shimmers or glitters, very opaque in two coats.

However it's a disaster since perfect lilac creme just doesn't look right on the nails... (as sweet as it looks in the bottle i think it's one of those shades that struggles to look good on common nails, much like pale green cremes or pale blue cremes....unless u were doing a photoshoot or makeup promo..or using in small doses for decals or small prints.)

Swatch below playing with all the colors:

Right to left: (I dont like this pic and certainly would prefer better looking pics on my blog but for the sake of the review...): - Lilac topped with lots of glitter shade - Lilac topped with the smaller glitters (the glitter shade is versatile...you can put more or less depending on preference) - 1 coat lilac, with pale pink shade over it- looks like a strange grey pink- not good. - Pure lilac, 2 coats- you can see it does have a good finish. But on my fingers..the lilac base look so wrong..

• "Glitter" shade- this is much like the limited edition releases in Sonia Rykiel's Christmas polish collection and I know some Japanese brands occassional release glitters like this size. It's a clear nailpolish base with tonnes of various sized glitters (from standard small shimmers and glitters to larger circular glitter circular flakes), gives a very dramatic and cool effect if you do like glamorous or more into the intricate Japanese type of sparkly nails.

Here's my sloppy pic with glitter shade topped over the lilac. Personally I think the glitter shade would look amazing if you were doing a candy soft pink nails with sparkles or a dark vampy shade with dramatic glitters.

If you like pre-mixed glitters of varying size similar to this but in a pre-colored base, I suggest the Kanebo Coffret D'or line- they have some good glitter topping shades in red/pink/blue/green etc. The consistency is great too. I'll do a separate post on all the Coffret D'or polishes I have down the track.

• "Soft pink". A frosty pale pink pearl, it's like a silvery pale pink, I dont really like frosty shades but this is half frost + a pearly finish. It's a decent office shade and reminds me very much of OPI 'Pistol Pack'in Pink' polish. This is a little bit too generic a color, I'd wear this but not my top pick shade.

Here's my full mani photo with it, 2 coats, daylight soft flash, no base coat but with Seche Vite top coat:

Daylight, no flash, shade.

Shu Uemura brushes are good even in the smaller polishes, the pigment is rich and even for these three shades, unfortunately because the pale pink one is a frost finish, it has the same tendency as most frosty polishes that you'd need two good well painted coats to minimise streaking or uneven finish. One coat looks too uneven on my nails.

They are not quick dry, a good 30min later they'd still get dented and smudged without a fast dry topcoat (I applied Seche vite top coat). Werability is decent - I always use a topcoat though. Day 3 and still looking perfect.

Comparison of the regular sized nail polishes against the trio, mini ones are 5ml and regular full sized ones are 10ml: (the red one is "Deep Velvet", I think it's a limited edition shade from one or two collections ago).

Back of box set

The other set is called 'Rapsody', which features a pale blue creme, a glitter shade (looks same as the Phantasm set), and a frosty pearl champagne sand beige). I didn't get this set because the glitter looks the same (although it's good glitter!), the frosty pearl beige I probably got similar colors everywhere (and I dont really like frosty finishes), and the creme blue- what would I do with it!

Sonia Rykiel 2008 PINK KISS Collection (X'mas) Face Powder #01

Sonia Rykiel 2008 Christmas limited edtion collection is called the "Pink Kiss Collection". Features a range of products with the pink lips signature print in the middle, including 2 eyeglosses, 3 nailpolishes, 3 lipgloss pots and this "Face Powder 01" (I think that's it for this compact's official English name, strange eh..at least for the Chinese name they made up a name along the lines of 'Mysterious Kiss Sparkly Contour Compact").

The face powder retails for $1680NT which is approximately 55USD for 6.3g product, a bit on the hefty side. Product description indicates it's "a face powder/illuminator/contour or highlight powder all in one, to be brushed on T-zone, neck, decolletage and arms, to show off the sweet sexy female beauty blahblahblah. The pink lip section contains gold + white pearl pigments to bring natural shine, while the remaining refined powders gives a soft-focus effect to hideaway small flaws, to make skin complexion look more refined and translucent. Contains moisturising plant extracts to maintain supple skin."

Comes in a cute bright pink box, same color as the shiny metallic fuschia pink compact itself (non finger print magnet surface finish! yay). Very feminine.

Snap closure, contains a plastic tray which sits the soft brush, which is quite well made with soft bristles. Compact is very nice looking and very well made.

Contains two shades, the outter base shade is an off-white pearl, extremely subtly shimmery highlighter, or I'd rather call it an off-white translucent finish powder, it's subtle enough to be dusted all over face without showing visible shimmers, but applying a tad more, can definitely work well as a browbone or t-zone highlighter, extremely finely milled with a soft-focus effect.

The middle lip print section goes all the way through- it's a light pink based highlighter with very pale champagne-gold and white pearly shimmers, it's not deep enoguh to show up as any sort of pink on actual skin, the pink merely provides a pinkish base to it. This shade is more shimmery than the base shade, and pigment particles appear bigger (But still very fine compared to, e.g. MAC minieralised skinfinishes). Let's just say, even Snow White cannot carry off this as a blush...which is really what I hoped it was! a highlighter + blush in one.

Overall the powder is extremely high quality and finely milled, the shimmers are very nice and sophisticated sort of finish, makes a good higlighter. However, it's not very firmly pressed so there's some flyaway powder easily. For the pricetag and color selection, this is only yet another many, many, many highlighters I have and probably would not be a favorite.

Left: White layer alone, you can see it applies a soft-focused white shimmer, finely milled.

Middle: Pink section alone, you can see the faintest pink tint and how there is more pale pink-champagne gold shimmers to it.

Right: mixed, becomes a pastel pinkish white highlighter

Picture of other products from iswii.net, the blue polish is totally off color, it's meant to be a dark blackened eggplant

Lunasol 10th Anniversary Makeup Palette- swatch & pics

The long awaited Lunasol 10th Anniversary set, due for release in February 20th, 2009. I received this in the mail surprisingly early from a friend in PR- think it's released in Japan in February. Here are the product pics and swatches. (the Chinese version of this post is located here: )

RRP9500yen, which is about 90USD. Kit includes a full sized Skin Modelling Eyes in #1 (Beige Beige), full sized Coloring Cheeks #1 Reddish Beige, Glamour Gloss N EX08, Noble Shade Liner EX01, High Stylise Mascara EL #1.

Comes in a classy glossy patent deep Lunasol signature brown pouch with sturdy zippers. Unfortunately the palette is housed in a pre-sized plastic tray, I don't see how you can put in your own refills, maybe besides the blush pan- but it doesnt really seem to be designed refilled since I'm not aware of Lunasol selling refillable eyeshadows or smaller than full sized version eyeliners or mascara. There is a plastic cover (not fixed) over the eyeshadow and blush and brushes to prevent powder fall outs and to keep the brushes in place. Pouch contains its own mirror and can definitely be used as a separate cosmetic pouch later on if you take the full tray out, it's semi hard lined on the base so the palette doesn't get squashed.

You get 2 eyeshadow dual-end applicator, (2 normal sponge tips, 1 pointed sponge tip and 1 brush tip), in addition to a small blush brush (quite thin in my opinion, probably designed so you can use the cheek colors individually). It's not exactly really flat but at the same time not a round applicator either. The brush head is almost a flat dome, longer bristles in the centre. It applies the blush just fine, bristles are soft, however it's very hard to blend with this brush- it picks up surprisingly lots of powder.

Coloring Cheeks #01 Reddish Beige : (blush from part of the regular line)

Left: a clear reddish pink coral, with almost no visible shimmers, but it's a nice glowy finish. I like the pigmentation of this blush, a lot of Japanese blushes tend to be on the sheerer side, but this is a unique shade and well pigmented (yet maintains that tralucent glowy finish and no muddiness). Finely milled.

Centre: lightly shimmery mid-tone red based pink. Buttery texture, as this is not a dark shade like the left color, it has less color payoff.

Right: a shimmery pinkish champagne beige. Same buttery texture and pigmentation as the middle shade. This shade is more a highlighter shade than blush.

Mixed together, you get a mid toned reddish pink with light shimmers that's very wearable. I'd say there's that hint of coral red or pink with it, but I don't detect obvious orange tones. The shimmers do not accentuate pores on my skin, simply makes it look glowy on my skin, under direct sunlight and close inspection I might see a tad of shimmers on my cheeks, but it's subtle.

Full Glamour Gloss N - EX08 Beige Coral

The lipgloss is a light shimmery milky pink coral (still with decent pink pigment base), it's not pure pink, there's some milky-ness to the pink, looks almost like a pinky apricot in the tube but swatch definitely shows more pink (I suppose beige light pink coral is a good description too). Infused with predominantly pink shimmers and some iridescence that flashes rainbow.

The shimmers are not glittery, but definitely has its noticeability (I do like it though, definitely office friendly though not sure I'd show up to client meetings with this gloss- then again I never wear lipglosses to clients!). It's very nice and totally wearable for most complexions, however I'm not sure it is that special (a lot of Japanese brands probably do this nice pink shade a million times and over). This is a limited edition exclusive color to this palette.

Bare lips with lipbalm:

With lipgloss in different lights:

Skin Modelling Eyes in #01 (Beige Beige): (part of the regular line from 2007 Summer collection, official website pic and suggested application below). (the theme was 'beige' collection), this set includes #01 Beige Beige, it is not a new exclusive color but I think this shade is discontinued in Taiwan at least.

Top left: Shimmery champagne beige, it's a light beige, but not as pale as I'd describe as vanilla or creme. It's very neutral toned. It has an amazing even shimmer, most shimmery out of the quad, with soft as butter texture, if you apply it densely it will look like a champagne beige fine metallic shimmer from a distance. It reminds me of those classic draped champagne silk dresses you see in old films...silky and mesmerizingly sensual. My favorite shade out of the lot. (Add: However, I wore this shade today, unfortunately while it can apply densely on the back of my hand, on my eyes (on top of foundation/concealer- no primer), it blends into a nice wash- but prone to some fall out, I suspect using an eyeshadow primer or cream eyeshadow base would fix this. After 8 hours of makeup, Mr Wombat did comment on "how come you got glitter on your face", when I checked, yes there were random sparse fallouts on my cheek, and a fair bit seem to have fallen off so I had random shimmers left on my eyes...)

Top right: A glowy beige, 1 shade darker than top left color, but 1 shade darker then bottom left. It's a velvety shimmer, not as shimmery as the first one and definitely not 'sparkly' as such compared to other Lunasol releases (e.g. the coral series). Unfortunately on my slightly pigmented lids (almost 1 or 2 shades darker than my face), it's like skin color! Bottom left: lightly shimmery beige wheat, the difference between this color and top right is quite subtle, if anything this is more brown beige where as the top right shade is ever slightly more peach neutral beige. 1 shade darker than top left. It has the same kind of velvety glowy shimmer as the top right shade. Instead of really calling the finish shimmery I'd call it glowy. On my eyes, unfortunately it's blends out like a natural eyesocket shadow of some sort. I found the way to wear this is actually using this as base all over lid, then apply the top right shade patted on the middle of the eye, then wear the liquid eyeliner from this palette. Bottom right: silky chocolate brown, not extremely dark, not reddish or yellow, just straight chocolate brown enough to be a liner color or crease shade. I think a lot of people would use a separate liner to accentuate a heavier line though (this palette comes with that perfect liner!). Similar glowiness and shimmer as the top right and bottom left shades. Unfortunately while this is a nice brown, it's not too special.

Wore this today and unfortuantely, it's not really dark enough applied with a normal eyeshadow brush (didn't use the sponge tip applicator), and perhaps I need to apply a darker liner to make the look more striking. Basically as the name suggests, it's a variation of beiges (so I guess that explains why there are 2 quite similar shades of beiges with similar texture and just 1 shade off from each other). It's a great neutral quad to pair with any eyeshadow colors or on its own for a clean soft look. However I know for those with 10000001 earthy toned palettes, there might be less happy purchasers. (Hey the pouch is really quite nice though! I wish it was a tad bigger). The eyeshadow will definitely look nicer on those with paler eyelids or a bit darker lids to show sufficient color contrast, it sort of looked my natural eye skin color! merghh!

Noble Shade Liner EX01 Deep Brown and High Stylise Mascara EL #01 Black

The eyeliner is one of the biggest surprises in the set (given that the blush and eyeshadow, although nice, they were already released as part of the permanent collections before, the lipgloss- lovely but can definitely be found in many other cosmetic lines). I'm not sure whether it was released previously in other sets, but usually EX-prefix denotes exclusive/limited edition releases.

It's a dark, very pigmented chocolate brown infused with finely-milled shimmers that flashes green, gold and pink iridescence. It's so subtle that I had to blend the colors out to see the shimmers. It's quick drying, does not rub off that easily, the shimmers stay put after it dries (I tried to push around to see if the shimmers would fall out but it's still on my arm despite on the rubbing).

You can see how full the color is:

Blended out:

A quick swatch of liner, I'm only wearing the top left and bottom left shades of the eyeshadow palette, you can see it pretty much blends into the skin color, and camera flash washes away any colors of shimmers. While the set contains a smaller sized mascara and eyeliner, they are not that small as to affect their usability. The eyeliner brush is as good as full sized brushes, same with the mascara. The mascara is an extremely nice separating mascara, no clumps, applies very smoothly and evenly, has a standard brush head to the smaller side (no grooves or curves) compared to Lancome or Dior mascara brushes.

It's meant to be a more lengthening and defining mascara and that's what it does. Decent and basic- reminds me of Shu Uemura mascara basic. Holds curls ok, and relatively smudgeproof, light shadow after 8 hrs of wear. I don't think it's possible to build some serious length or much volume with this though.

The pouch empty:

What the container looks like:

****** Overall, the main problems I had with this set: - I do think if Lunasol was going to release an LE 10th anniversary set, they should've came out with some really unique colors rather than having two main palettes containing items from their regular line). Anyway, given that everything is such high quality in this palette, thumbs up for this! Not sure whether I'd be paying inflated prices above RRP for this item though.

- Eyeshadow can be a bit too average for most people. It's a nice basic neutral, but need a few darker or different shades.

- The plastic cover should be fixed- like a flip up cover or even a plastic film. I'm totally struggling with using it as if it was a portable palette- and accidentally dinged a bit chunk of the blush with my nail when the cover slipped =(

- There is some powder fall out that will get stuck inbewteen the palette when using the eyeshadow or blush. Not a huge issue if you keep the plastic cover in place, but it's annoying when the powders from eyeshadow mixes with the blush. Sorry for the lack of posts for two weeks, it was my birthday earlier so got caught up with celebrations =)

Given Lunasol eyeshadow quads cost $50USD alone elsewhere online and blush refills hefty as well, I guess it's not too much of a discount but if you happen to like the shades, this is a good travel palette and great set to have.