iHope KANEBO 2020 Luxury Makeup Revamp (plus Swatches)

KANEBO Eye Color Duos 2020

Japanese luxury line Kanebo has revamped their entire makeup line this year, and did a complete 180 from conservative “OL” (office lady) aesthetic to something completely fresh and vibrant.

Besides including funky mixers and pop shades in their buttery N-rouge lipstick line to let you tweak and create completely unique shades yourself, they’ve also added interesting multipurpose creams called Drawing Dual Rouges and Drawing Dual Pens that promise to be usable on eyes, cheeks, lips, anywhere you like. Even the eye palette is a small custom compact into which you can slot up to 3 mini duos. We are basically free to experiment with colors and textures and it's all done with maximum portability, minimum weight and fuss.

Considering lipsticks cost about S$60 a pop and the tiny eyeshadow duos are S$35 in Singapore, it’s not easy to explore the line if you’re shopping online during the current pandemic, so here are all the color products (aside from the 3 basic monotone Drawing Pencils) swatched for your reference!

July to September 2018 Makeup and Beauty Faves

A quick run-down of some of my most-loved products products in the past 2-3 months and why I'm obsessing over them! This goes from skincare to foundations to perfumes and even a hair product.

If you don’t see some items I’ve mentioned before or recently, it’s either because they are long-term faves or a little too new (and have not been proven to stand the test of time yet). I narrowed it down to the things that I find myself repeatedly going back to in spite of the stream of new product launches.

PRODUCTS MENTIONED:

Skin Inc Pure Trinity Serum-Infused Cleansing Oil

Sunday Riley CEO Rapid Flash Brightening serum

Chantecaille Gold Recovery Mask

L'Oreal Colorista Washout in Dirty Pink

Juliette Has A Gun Sunny Side Up eau de parfum

LUSH Twilight Body Spray

YSL All Hours Foundation Stick B20

NYX Can't Stop Won't Stop Foundation 07

Clinique Cheek Pop 19 Blush Pop

Marc Jacobs Highliner in Fine(Wine)

Anastasia Beverly Hills single shadows in Buon Fresco and Pink Champagne

Kat von D Everlasting Lip Liner in Bow and Arrow

Etude House Soft Touch Auto liner  01 Soft Rose

NYX Powder Puff Lippie in Squad Goals

MAC Oval 6 Brush

April Skin SPF50 Sunblock Stick

Victoria Beckham x Estee Lauder Makeup Collection - London Look

Fashion maven Victoria Beckham has teamed up with Estee Lauder to release a capsule collection of limited edition products that allow you to recreate her signature look; bronzed gleaming skin, smoky eyes and nude lips.

The collection comes in super-sleek black and gold Art Deco style packaging and I have to say it reminds me very much of Lauder's ultra-luxe Tom Ford beauty line, not just in appearance but also formula, as well as pricing. Be prepared to fork out S$70 for a single shadow and $102 for the Morning Aura Illuminating Creme, but you can also expect very smooth textures and great quality.

The "London Look" is probably the most wearable and universally flattering of the entire collection, and features a sparkly brown smoky eye, soft caramel nude lips, and her famed dewy, "sweaty" skin. I really liked the super smooth dual-ended eye kajal in Vanille and Black Saffron, but I have to say the formula is so soft that the beige pencil tip broke right off the first time I tried to use it. 

I do still love how easily they glide right on and smudge out, but just be aware this is a kajal, and it is meant for smudging. This formula will not set and become budge-proof. Also, if you're on a tighter budget and just looking for key items to get from the collection, this is the thing I would skip since you can more easily replicate this using cheaper alternatives.

As for the Eye Shadows and Eye Ink, I have to say I loved what I tried. Bitter Clove is that gorgeous brown with bronze-gold flecks, and it has a semi-creamy texture that almost has a bit of bounce to it when I run my brush back and forth across the surface with some pressure.

I did get a few questions from people saying they were not able to get a very opaque coverage with this, but I did not have problems building color up with a synthetic pencil brush. I just buff it on in a windscreen wiper motion and keep building until I get the intensity I want. It's partly the type of brush, and also taking a little time to layer the color. This type of creamy-glittery pigments don't always play nice with all types of brush bristles.

A couple more tips:

• Apply this with your finger to get more pay-off, then buff out the edges with a brush
• To bring out maximum sparkle as a final step, mist a soft buffing brush slightly with water and gently buff over the surface of your finished eye look to "polish" and bring out the shine even more

The Eye Ink in Black Myrrh looks like a shadow and can be used as such, but it's really meant to be a wet/dry eyeliner. It's not completely black; more a soft charcoal shade with a slight sheen. I used it dry to deepen the outer corners of my eyes in the look below, but also dampened my brush to apply it along my lash line as smoky liner.

Another fun thing to check out are the Eye Foils.This are liquid sparklers that smooth on and then set to a budge proof texture-less finish. You can apply it a bit more concentrated the way I did, or just sheer it out and pat it over your entire lid as a last step after eye shadow.

The shade I got to test is the paler shade, Blonde Gold. I have not seen the other shade but I would definitely suggest the paler one over the deeper if you want one shade that works well with any eye look, dark or light.

Eye look done with Bitter Clove, Black Myrrh, and Eye Foil in Blonde Gold (inner corners)

As for the lipstick, I'll say it's a great shade and a beautiful semi-sheer formula that feels and looks really pretty on the lips, but maybe not mind-blowing enough to justify $76 if that's way out of your comfort zone. If you don't usually go for lipsticks from lines like Tom Ford or Cle de Peau Beaute, this might feel like a bit too much.

ZA Vibrant Moist Lip Lacquers and Lip Crayons

Japanese drugstore beauty brand ZA has is throwing out lots of strongly pigmented lip products, first with the Vibrant Moist Lip Lacquers (SG$19.50) which are in Watsons stores now, and on 1 September their Lip Crayons ($17.50).

I am a big fan of ZA's Vivid Dare lipsticks because they surprise me so much when I first swatched them in store. Typically, Japanese brands don't release extremely intense colors, and to be honest I'd half given up hope that they would ever catch up with the Korean brands in terms of releasing fashion-forward pop colors and intense formulations. So when I first saw the Vivid Dare lipsticks I swatched them and posted about them on Dayre then and there.

So I was pretty excited to try the two new products.

The lacquers come in ZA's signature black and fuchsia packaging, and you can't really see colors from the outside. The spatula is pretty interesting - it's flattened and slightly curved so you can get quite a generous amount of product on your lips in one swipe, and also smooth and spread it out quite easily.

If you don't know, ZA is owned by cosmetics giant Shiseido, and there are some similarities in the vibrant red pigment technology being used in their high-end lipsticks, and these lacquers. It corrects dull lip color and also retains a very vivid and intense appearance under different lighting conditions.

Aside from the gorgeous colors, I have to say I'm a big fan because these manage to feel SO comfortable on the lips besides being intensely glossy and pigmented. No stickiness, ultra lightweight, and great color pay-off. The collagen and hyaluronic acid infused formula is also designed to hydrate and nourish for up to 12 hours. Everything I need in a glossy product. 

I must say that I can never leave a gloss or lacquer on the whole day without touching up so I cannot tell you exactly how long this lasts. It does perform better than other typical lightweight glosses, but no matter what, as you drink and talk, the color and shine will rub off no matter what. There was also a tiny bit of bleeding into lip lines, but that's expected of all creamy products.

If you want all-day wear and need to prevent any bleeding, I would apply a layer of liner beneath first. This will give you a super-intense lacquered lip look.

I've also always been a fan of applying opaque lacquers on top of matte lipsticks for that patent leather look, and these work great for that. In fact they remind me a lot of Shiseido's Lip Lacquers (which I am also a fan of), for half the price.

As for the Lip Crayons launching 1 September, these are a typical chubby pencil with a twist-up base. (Yay for no sharpening.)

Formula wise, I can say right now I prefer these to Revlon's Colorburst Balmstains, which are just never quite plush or glossy enough for me. The ZA ones are creamy enough to give good shine without needing a separate gloss, which also means you can wear just a tiny bit for a stained effect without your lips looking patchy and dry (which can happen with typical drugstore chubby pencils), or build it up for more intense glossy color. 

With some of the paler or more milky colors, you also do need to spend some time blending or checking your lips because you can get a slightly streaky or patchy effect. But it's not as bad as some drier formulations.

I'm not the biggest fan of chubby pencils as a whole though. That's the same for all brands. (I just find they do the same thing as glossy or balmy lipsticks, and a lipstick bullet can give a quicker and more even application than the nub of a fat pencil, which is usually less even and makes you take longer to fill in your entire mouth.) 

So I'm definitely a bigger fan of the Lip Lacquers than the Crayons, although that's not saying that these Crayons are bad at all. It's just personal preference. If you already use and love lip crayons, you'll be happy when these launch because I do like them better than what we have in drugstores currently.

My recommended Must-Try is still the Vibrant Moist Lip Lacquer range. Because they honestly feel and perform very much like high-end lacquers. Without the high-end pricetag.

Urban Decay Alice Through The Looking Glass palette

Urban Decay's released their Alice Through The Looking Glass palette (SGD$88) in Singapore and here are swatches and a couple of quick eye looks, plus my first impressions on the shades.

The presentation is beautiful if you have a predilection for fantastical, psychedelic dream-scapes. The material is cardboard so this is not a heavy palette. Everything is in theme with the visuals in Alice Through The Looking Glass. 

The palette itself comes with a mirror, a quote from Alice, and a foldout that reveals a big blue butterfly within.

It's no surprise that the colors in the palette echo the tones seen throughout the movie. But aside from 4 brighter shades, the palette is filled with lots of neutrals. This is actually a rather versatile palette. There are plenty of options to create either bright and colorful, or soft and wearable looks.

What I always like doing is to combine neutrals and color. This allows me to create flattering, wearable looks that have just enough of a pop of color to make things fun and eye-catching. If you want, you can go to town with mostly bright colors, or play it safe with neutrals.

Shades used below:

A little navy pencil along upper lash line and outer 1/3 of lower lashes
 Bandersnatch and Metamorphosis around lash line
Dormouse as transition along socket
Duchess on lid
Royal Flush on inner corners

Lashes used: Ardell 120 Demis

I wish I could say all the shades are consistently good, but as with many palettes, there are some stellar shades, some so-so, and one so poor quality that I was actually shocked.

In the first row, the two greens, Hatter and Heads Will Roll, were so-so. Time, the gunmetal with a slight blue sparkle, is incredible. I got that swatch in just a single touch.

Dream On - now how did this shade make it into the palette??!
I had to rub a few times just to get that faint grey sparkly stain you see in the image. It's not really an overcoat type of shadow - the texture is too dry and the color is too deep. I'm just puzzled why this shade made the grade; shouldn't there be a minimum quality requirement for Urban Decay shadows?


That aside, most of the other shades are pretty nice in this row. I love Gone Mad and Duchess, and Reflection is a can't-go-wrong matte beige.

As for the warm-themed third row. These 5 shades make a perfect Fall palette.

I had initially expected Metamorphosis to be a bit bright and garish, but it's actually a nice periwinkle satin blue. Pretty.

Also, Cake looks very bright but if you blend it in with other shades it's just a soft warm rose shade, as in the look below.

Shades used below:

Cake in the socket and blended out towards the temple
Paradox on the lid
Gone Mad in outer corner
 Lily around inner corners
A little black liner smudged along the lash line, and a bit of Time blended over it to smoke out the line 

Lashes used: Ardell 110s

Both looks were done using a mix of brushes and without any eyeshadow primer.

This is a 2/3 neutrals, 1/3 colors palette. I think this is a good option for those who maybe want to experiment a bit with colors once in awhile, but mainly want plenty of neutral everyday shades. The quality is generally good, aside from that strangely unpigmented shade Dream On, everything performs pretty well. The brights are all pretty sheer and blend out quite easily, so it's probably more suited to those who aren't too daring with colors yet. Don't expect an intensely bright effect from the greens, blues and pink unless you really pack on the pigments over a good primer.

Shu Uemura Color Atelier Eye Shadow Swatches and Review

Shu Uemura has revamped their eyeshadow line and added an additional 41 shades, They will also be resurrecting 5 discontinued shades, so the total will eventually add up to 100 whopping colors.

Currently in Singapore, there is stock for 82 colors. 41 new, 41 catalogue. Once stock issues have been sorted out all 100 shades in 6 textures (matte, pearl, metallic, shimmer, iridescent, and glitter) will be available for you to pick to your heart's content. 

If you've never purchased Shu shadows before, you'll know they usually work with a custom-system where you buy empty 4-pan palettes for SGD$25 (that's the most common size) and slot in individual shadows at $22 each. The shadows are very reasonably priced as far as high-end shadows go in Singapore, but the palettes themselves tend to be a bit expensive.

If you're put off by that, what a lot of people do is keep their eyeshadows and blushes in the original plastic cases, buy one or two eyeshadow palettes, and just slot in 4 shadows - or 2 shadows and a blush - whenever they need to bring their makeup around. (Or skip the palette entirely if you don't travel or have large custom palettes already; it's up to you.)

Grey-toned smoky eye done with the 4-pan palette pictured at top of post

Shu Uemura shadows have always been great quality; there's no dispute on that. But I've always felt their strength was in the metallic (ME), iridescent (IR) and glitter (G) textures, and not so much the mattes, which were not as buildable or blendable.

But I was quite surprised after swatching 41 new and 2 re-promoted shades below that a lot of the mattes were actually my favorites of the lot. They are designed to have high color fidelity; what you see is what you get. And the textures are also meant to be ultra-smooth and easy to blend.

My custom palette is composed of the below shades:

M 907 -  matte white (catalogue)

M 613 - matte baby aqua (new)

M 935 - matte dove grey (new)

IR 685 - iridescent navy (new)

Silver Lilac Lids

Here's a quick and easy but high-impact look that I've been wearing often lately. I've owned a whole set of Australis Metallix shadows for awhile and haven't talked about them much because they're a little perplexing. 

They are made of the most beautiful sparkly flecks of metallic pigments. But the pigments are suspended in a very old-fashioned creamy base that creases and doesn't set, unlike the budge-proof cream shadows we're used to today.

However, these are great for layering - and I prefer them on top of shadows mostly - as a pop of metallic sheen in the center of the lids. But for some of the deeper shades, I just use them as a base for sparkly loose pigments, like Sparklers from Make Up Geek.

One of my favorite combinations these days is a silvery violet duo; Lana Del Grey from Australis and Aurora from Make Up Geek.

One bad thing about using the Metallix shadows as base is the flecks of pigments are quite large so you often get a slightly patchier coverage and gaps if you try to blend for too long. It's a product suited for dramatic sparkle and making a statement from a certain distance.

Other products used for this look:

• Taupe transition shadow: Innisfree Mineral Single Shadow 40
• Black matte shadow: Bourjois Intense Extrait de Fard 10
• Black liquid liner: KATE Super Sharp Liner in Black
• Metallic indigo pencil: Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Tornado
• Black mascara: Benefit Rollerlash Mascara

P.S. Run a little along the outer 1/3 of the lower lashes as well if you want more definition

Finish with mascara

The eye makeup looks both soft and dramatic at the same time. It mostly looks like a light silver or lavender eye depending on the light, but then when you blink and the light catches on the pigments, it looks like molten metal.

I've worn it to work a few times, and it does get attention, but I don't consider it overly dramatic compared to a full-on smoky eye or glitter.

Sunday "Face of the Day": Gold and Chocolate feat. some Recent Faves

INGLOT's reopened in Singapore (a temporary pop-up at Robinsons JEM from now until Aug 2016) after a short hiatus, and one of the star launches you should check out is the HD Lip Tint Mattes.

When it comes to matte liquid lipsticks, I tend to go for the reds, nudes, pinks, purples... This time round I suddenly thought I should go for the one shade that is severely under-represented in my very bloated lip color collection. Brown.

I can't wear browns usually. They make me look a bit dead. The exception is when they are very deep and dark. And this is a PERFECT shade for this sort of uber-matte velvet texture. Looks like antique brown velvet. So I'm very in love with this lip product right now.

I did also want to put on a number of other recent things that have really caught my attention.

LANEIGE's reformulated BB Cushion Pore Control

I was raving about this product on Dayre the other day, because I finally feel they've come out with a formula that can resist sweat and shine for a decent amount of time. The original Pore Control cushion was less dewy than the original Whitening formula, but it never really felt like it was made for oilier skins.

This new one sets to a fresh clean feel and doesn't transfer onto your fingers or feel tacky on the skin. It doesn't go to a flat matte, but it also doesn't look shiny, if that makes sense. Give it a couple of minutes and it goes to a demi-matte skin-like texture with light-medium coverage that can blur discolorations and faint blemishes.

I also like the new cushion with the textured, firm surface. I get a more controlled amount of product, and the foundation doesn't just all soak through the puff where it is wasted. This also makes it so much easier for me to clean my puffs regularly.

I'm also testing the new Whitening Cushion from LANIEGE, which has more advanced skincare properties, but so far - just in terms of how they look and perform through the day, the Pore Control formula is my pick. Both formulas have SPF50 PA+++.

ALBION Elegance La Poudre Haute Nuance

Now this gorgeous thing is ALBION's Elegance La Poudre Haute Nuance. If you're like me, you probably did not know ALBION had a powder. This Japanese skincare brand is famed for their robust science and research, and being suppliers to the Japanese royal family.

But they've also launched a permanent line of skin illuminating powder, a la Guerlain Meteorites.

The Elegance La Poudre Haute Nuances were previously a limited edition holiday release (SG$125 for the 8.8g pan, $188 for the 27g), but were so popular that the brand has decided to include them into the permanent line-up. Yay for us.

The best-seller and classic shade is I, which I am testing here.

The powder texture is so fine that you get a very matte, poreless look and a very illuminated effect because of the color-correctors. There is no shimmer at all. The powder is also designed to be oil and water resistant, so it keeps you looking fresh for longer.

It comes with a small soft puff, and you use it like a pressed powder, but I personally prefer to use a small soft brush instead, because illuminating powders can leave a bit of a cast around the edges of your face which powder puffs only exacerbate - and powder puffs tend to be the worst culprits because they deposit so much product around the outsides.

If you're bringing the gold compact out for touch-ups by all means use the puff; most of us touch up around the T-zone and inside areas of the face. This can brighten and counteract some of the oxidation and darkening that tends to occur when wearing foundations for more than a few hours.

Now my point makeup: INGLOT!

Because my lips were so dark and matte, I wanted luminous iridescent lids to balance out the look.

INGLOT has released about 5 new AMC Pure Pigment Shadows (SG$29) this season - and I always love these things because they are often duochrome, or even triple-chrome. Turn you face different angles, and you get 2-3 different colors on the lids. I picked out 3 faves - 22, 118, and 119.

INGLOT AMC Pure Pigment Shadows in 22 (left) and 118.

For today's look, I went with a brown chubby pencil around the lid and lashes (MAC Bitter Clove) just to add some shape and definition first, then layered on the pigments. 

I like to use these damp, with a drop of mixing liquid or Duraline for all-day wear. You can also use eye drops. Just dampen your finger, dip it into the pigment, and then smooth the mixture over your lids like a cream.

As for the lips, I've already mentioned the HD Lip Tint Matte in shade 18 (SG$32). This goes on a milk chocolate color but they almost always darken after a few minutes, so make sure you leave the swatches on your skin for a few minutes before picking a shade.

This formula actually feels pretty lightweight and not as dry as I feared. And it does set to a perfect matte in a minute without looking patchy. These don't smudge or feather, and I also don't use lip liners with them because they are quite precise. Just arm yourself with a clean cotton bud to rub out any mistakes before the product sets.

Makeup before/after!