HERA Eye Shadow Duo AD

In response to the recent market trend of moving away from clunky wasteful palettes, HERA has launched their new Eye Shadow Duo AD line (S$48 in 12 variations). The nifty little double-shade compacts come with coordinated colors and one larger pan, a smart move since most people tend to apply more of the base color and run out of it faster. The formula has also been updated to be creamier and less powdery, to reduce fall-out.

Bronze and burnt eyeshadow tones are big for F/W 2020 so one of the duos I have here is a Satin duo in shade 05. This is a rich flattering color that's easy for most skin tones to pull off. The color contrast between the two shades is not big though, so you pretty much just get a super-subtle gradient when using the deeper tone to contour or define the lashes.

HERA Eye Shadow Duo AD Satin 05

 The second duo I have is a Sparkle one, in a soft rosy tone, 09. The larger base shade is a translucent ivory sparkle in that semi-creamy formula similar to Tom Ford's, which can be applied easily using a finger. The accompanying soft rose shade is a more pigmented metallic with a fine-grained sparkle effect.

LANEIGE Ideal Shadow Quads: Swatches and First Impressions

LANEIGE updated their eyeshadow collection this month, and relaunched 10 quads in mostly new color combinations, repackaged in sleeker silver-lined cases. These are all currently available at LANEIGE counters and boutiques, as well as Lazada.sg and Zalora.sg.

I've been quite a fan of the older Pure Radiant Eyeshadow quads and had likened some of the color compositions to Tom Fords before, so let's get the head-to-head comparisons out of the way. The Ideal Shadow Quads:

• have 6g of product (1.5g per shadow, same as standard MAC/MUG pans), same as the Pure Radiant quads
• are S$42, $2 more than old Pure Radiant quads
• have updated formulas
• come in a mix of neutrals as well as a few more edgy color options
• have more mattes interspersed among the quads, so you have more options and textures

Shade overview - new LANEIGE Ideal Shadow Quads

The older compacts are smaller, and it looks like there is more product in the new quads, but they actually contain the same amount. I'm not complaining though; they've been quite good about keeping the price stable instead of taking the chance to jack the price up with this revamp.

The new quads DO look a lot nicer compared to the older ones which have a tendency to look a little "cheaper", not as grown-up, and a bit outdated.

"Old" Pure Radiant eyeshadow quad

LANEIGE New Two Tone Shadow and Lip Bars

I have a bit of a strange fascination with LANEIGE's popular Two Tone Lip Bars (SG$34) - those strange rectangular tubes of crayola-like dual-colored lipsticks that allow you to create ombre lips in a couple of swipes.

Nevermind that I actually never wear them out as intended, as ombre lips. I do wear ombre lips quite often actually, but I like them subtle. Meaning the two shades are no more than a few tones apart, so there is dimension but it's not "obviously two colors" on my lips. LANEIGE's lip bars pair very deep/strong and pale shades together, and if you're not careful it can look a bit crazy.

My preferred way to wear LANEIGE's Two Tone Lip Bars is to hold the two sides horizontally side-ways - as a single combined shade.

Because they're all frikkin' nice mixed together. They definitely gave thought to how the two shades in each bar combine and blend together.

The release of 4 additional new shades in 2016 is no different.

I kinda took my time to post a review because I popped one of the shades right into my purse the very day after I received them and never got down to swatching.

No 11 - Coral and yellow mixed to a warm papaya
No 12 - Red and nude mixed to a soft warm cherry
No 13 - Tangerine and beige mixed to a soft orange
No 14 - Rose and beige mixed to a rich fuchsia

As with the original 10 shades, these have a gorgeously creamy and pigmented texture and go on like butta'.

I have a bit more of a mixed response to the Two Tone Shadow Bars.
They're equally fascinating to me - I just love the bars and they seem like they would be a great idea. Two in one cream shadow sticks. But somehow, after the initial excitement, I'm not entirely sure they're the greatest idea ever.

Unlike with lipsticks, it's not actually troublesome to blend two shades together on your eyes quickly. In fact, it's very, very easy. Ironically these Two Tone Shadow Bars - pretty as they are - ended up making it very, very hard.

Firstly, the flat rectangular tips make it extremely hard to apply across the lids. In fact they are downright uncomfy if you want to get a full swipe across your eye. Good luck trying to get both shades evenly across your eye in one or two swipes. Eyes are curved, and a straight edge is just not going to be able to get two colors on quickly.

Also if you like to apply lighter shades on the inner half of your lids and darker shades in the outer corners, you can't do that with these sticks. And never mind that the socket is curved away from the lash line in the center of the eye. These sticks will give you a stripe cutting straight across your eyeball and socket. 

This somewhat reminds me of those L'oreal One Sweep Shadows from a few years back. (Read: someone who obviously doesn't apply makeup thought those palettes would be a really clever idea.)

I somehow feel if they had split the two colors into a double-ended stick with one color on each end, it would work a bit better. Putting it together ombre style is a new and fun idea - but in the end, it's just feels like something created to ride on the coat-tails of the successful ombre lip bars, and not because it's actually a great idea for the eyes.

Unlike the Lip Bars, the pigmentation is not quite strong enough for the two tones to have enough contrast against each other and if you go back and forth to get a noticeable ombre effect on the much smealler lid area, and you mostly end up with what looks like a single shade.

The colors themselves are actually pretty darned nice, if a little lacking in options - there are 4 all-warm colors currently:

No 1 - coral and peachy champagne

No 2 - rose-gold and champagne

No 3 - orange and champagne

No 4 - chocolate and champagne

There are no cooler-toned or deeper options aside from No 4, which isn't all that deep once blended on the lids. Also the formula is not designed to be budge-proof, and you're kinda supposed to apply a thin layer of translucent powder over them to set, or use them as base for other shadows. Which kinda mutes the sparkle and defeats the purpose. If you have crease-prone lids, I would skip these.

It's not easy to apply these as an eye base compared to the typical cream shadow sticks or pots because of the awkward shape and the slightly less creamy texture. And on their own they aren't as pigmented and don't set and last as well as many other shadow sticks on the market. 

 I say all this - but I remain very fascinated and I keep using them despite the slight hassle of working with that oblong top and the slightly finnicky formula. Maybe I have an undiscovered fetish for crayons.

VDL Candy You Makeup Swatches

Hip Korean beauty brand VDL's Spring 2015 makeup collection is called Candy You, and features 2 bright matte lipsticks (SGD38) and an eye quad (SGD58) in shimmery spun sugar colors.

The Expert Color collection is VDL's premium makeup range, and tends to feature richer pigmentation and stronger colors, which explains the higher price compared to their more affordable general line of makeup.

The palette is Expert Color 09 Rainbow Popsicle. A very fitting name for the translucent sparkly tones.

It's not the most pigmented quad from the line by any means, but the look is mean to be translucent and girly anyway.

I would pair these with a brown liner just for a bit more definition, although that brown shade is rich enough to define the socket and lash line in most cases. I would DEFINITELY recommend pairing the pale shades with a deeper one at the lash line (so don't wear them alone). Otherwise you can look a bit puffy and rabbity, as with cases where you're wearing a lot of pale shimmery colors together.

The lipsticks on the other hand, pack a lot of wow.

The Expert Color Lip Cubes are one of my favorite Asian lip color lines around, for the intensely saturated color and long-wearing performance. Now they've come out with Lip Cube EX, and the 2 shades in the Candy You range are a "sensual matte" texture. They're similar to MAC's mattes. Very creamy and intense but also truly matte.

I applied the bright coral, 03 Heyy, over a bit of  balm so that's why it looks quite creamy here.

04 My Valentine is a bright purple-pink.

Do note that these are swatched and shot in artificial light, and because these are such bright pigments, they tend to look different in different lights. (I personally like them more in daylight.)

Etude House

Etude House Play Color Eyes palettes: #2 in foreground, #1 in background

Short note: Sorry for neglecting Blogspot! Been a little too busy recently, and just couldn't find time to update both blogs. I've been active and busy though! If you haven't subscribed by email (to the right), you can also find me on Instagram to stay updated on what I'm playing with, testing out, and swatching from day to day!

Super-popular Korean beauty brand Etude House has come up with 2 new 10-color palettes that take fashionable young women through all kinds of occasions, from school and work, to play.

The 10 colours in the So Hot Palette #1 include: Party Gold, Burning Red, Temptation, Naked, Pony Tail, Modern City, Chic Blue, All Night, Snow Queen and Military Khaki.

So Hot Palette swatches part 1

So Hot Palette swatches part 2

The 10 colours in the So Chic Palette #2 include Clutch Brow, Coco Brownie, Pop Champagne, French Kiss, Misty Rose, Diva, Glam Forest, Midnight Star, Sparkling Wine and Leopard Brown.

So Chic Palette swatches part 1

So Chic Palette swatches part 2

I don't really need to say too much; these palettes are very smooth and pigmented and the swatches will speak for themselves! There are a couple of shades in each palette which will be less pigmented or chalkier than the others, but most of them are very rich and smooth. The sparkly shades are especially gorgeous and remind me of sparkly shadows from Japanese brands like RMK and Shu Uemura.

Random swatches from the Play Color Eyes palettes to show pigmentation and sheen

My personal favorite is for the So Chic palette (#2) because the shades are more wearable over all. If you prefer a few more dramatic shades like red and burgundy, then the So Hot palette (#1) is for you!

Both palettes are available from 2 Feb 2014 for S$37.90 each.

Club E: Smoky purple look feat. VDL cosmetics

At present, VDL has confirmed it is not internationally available (bummer...) but if this ever changes you will be the first to know! In the meantime, you are free to substitute similar colors.

This is a browny plum. If you can't find VDL, CoastalScents.com's Tyrian purple is a slightly cooler version.

Alternate options: Coastalscents.com's Violet Echo or  NYX Purple. 

(read more below)

Nails of the Moment: Matte Orange Creamsicle

—-
I’ve had my eye on creamy pastel orange/coral with a slight hint of pink for some time. The only thing more gorgeous than that is a MATTE creamy pastel coral.
I got mine from Korean brand Etude House (Matte polish #6), but if you can’t get hold of this online or in stores, L.A Girl has something similar in their matte nail enamel range, although slightly less peach, and more of a stronger orange.

The perfect lip to match? Lime Crime Cosmopop or maybe MAC Peachstock if you can’t wear anything too milky.