Shu Uemura beautiful picture

Shu Uemura, the best makeup creator ever. I love all his products (except the bronzer, tee-hee!), and he is pure genius. In this business for years and with the most superb colours and minimalist designs. One can only love him.

I found this picture of Uemura-san in one of the Shu Uemura's websites. It is gorgeous, a wonderful picture. He is holding his famous Botan (peony) brush, which is very, very dear by the way! I love his face, his eyes and wrinkles. Just beautiful!

For more info, please click here.

Theoty by Shiseido (Bénéfique)

Adam sent me some samples of this lipstick, Theoty Bénéfique by Shiseido. My favourite colour must be the one in the picture, nr. 58, a brown, coppery nude shade, very warm and shimmery. The texture is amazing, and it stays for quite some time.

One of the things I love about Shiseido is the variety of lines and the amazing design of the items. Pity we don't have most of these wonders here in this region (they are Asia exclusive).

Makeup Wishlist for Fall!

I want it, I want it, I want it!

Lunasol Geminate Eyes in 05 Ruby - Lunasol (by Kanebo) is nowadays my favourite brand for eye shadows (and foundation). So smooth and shiny, impossible to resist. This shade would be a nice addition, maybe!

Kate Gradical Eyes S in GN-1 -these days I am in love with greens. It goes really well with brown eyes and this new palette looks gorgeous. Kate, besides, is not expensive at all and the overall quality is outstanding. Also by Kanebo.

T'Estimo new single eye shadows - these are lovely indeed and also quite cheap. You can buy a little case separately and make your own palette. The colours I want are (respectively): DG-01, GY-36, WN-32 and GN-31. Once again, from Kanebo!

Shu Uemura Komon limited edition eyeshadows - in Ebi and Sakura. Sakura is the one in the photo. Ebi could be described as a very deep purple with warm wine undertones, from what I could gather from the tiny swatch in the Japanese website! These two together would look great, I think. Shu Uemura is also one of my favourite eye shadow brands, along with Lunasol.

Shiseido Maquillage Sparkle Contrast Eyes II - in RS-753. I have a previous release of this palette and love the texture, especially the creamy eye liner that comes with it. This new one includes a nuance powder (top left), a shadow powder (top right), a creamy eye liner (bottom left) and a creamy base (bottom right), as before. The base was quite shiny in the previous version, and looked especially nice when near the brow bones.

My gifts!

Well, here's the pic of the lovely gifts Mark gave to me for Valentine's!

The star on the card is actually a pin, the hearts are M&S champagne truffles (all gone by now!), the CD is Queen's A Night at the Opera (it was in my wish list and I am happy he remembered because I've kinda forgotten about it). And the little compact is a cool, new Chanel eye shadow palette, which I haven't used yet since it looks very pretty in the pan and I am hesitating to mess it up!

I gave him a box of Belgian chocs and a card with a cute cow, a Valentine's cow...

M&S is great although I hate their ads: "This is not just food, this is M&S food", aaaarrrghhh... The voice of the woman is just utterly pathetic in its attempt to sound sexy, and, in the end of the day, yes, it IS just food, for crying out loud. Nice food? Indeed. But just food, really! The ads irritate me a bit as you can see, but I still like buying there because it is nearby, and they also have a wider range of everything you need: fruits like yellow plums, avocados, golden kiwis, nice breads, pomegranate juice and gingerbread men.

Ah, those lovely Greek products...

I recently found out about Korres, the Greek apothecary, and bought some of their products from Beauty Expert, a website based in the UK. This is what I bought:

- Alpine Herbs Anti-Stress Energiser - a lovely cream, light textured and mildly scented, which is a joy to put on, especially at night. You wake up with baby-smooth skin. Really! It can also be used during the day, under your makeup. Fresh and yummy.

- Rice Proteins & Oligoelements Shampoo - a shampoo for fine, limp hair as mine, always searching for some extra volume and vavavoom.

- Nutmeg Body Milk - since I adore the scent of nutmeg, I decided to get it and it's really very, very moisturising, with that very sweet, spicy and unmistakeably nutmeg-ish fragrance. Smells divine, oh yes...

Well, they sent me some nice samples as well, from both Korres and Phytomer (a quince body butter in a very generous sample of 50ml, and coming in the cutest tube, a day cream, and a little tube of a face mask).

I was indeed quite happy with my purchases, until I found out in the web a pharmacy in Athens that sells most of the Korres line for a third (yep, 1/3) of the price! The Papadopoulos Panagiotis pharmacy. I was in a shock, because it's so much cheaper... OK, let's face it: it's not like it is an "imported" product, right? I mean, we are all in the EU, so, it's Greek alright, but not an import, for heaven's sake! Maybe I am wrong, and I don't know much about those commercial regulations, but still... Why do Beauty Expert charge that much? I am curious to know how much these products cost in the Korres London emporium.

One thing must be said though: expensive as it may be, at least they are fast with the shipping (1-2 days) and quite generous with samples. However, lesson learnt: next time buying Korres, it will be directly from Athens! Nowhere else!

Sometimes a lipstick is just a lipstick...

In November's Voce, I got a Shu Uemura booklet with their new lipstick: Rouge Unlimited. As usual, the super-cool minimalist packaging so characteristic of the Shu Uemura line. I love the simple shapes and astonishing colors - and the quality of course. Their eyeshadows and lippies are the best!

Here it is, for your sheer delight...

YSL Signes d'Orient Palette

I bought the new Yves Saint-Laurent palette Signes d'Orient last weekend, while in the House of Fraser.

I would give it a 8/10 rating.

It can be used on both eyes and face and it's composed of 3 colours: 2 lighter shades (baby pink and light beige with shimmers) and a lovely neutral brown, also a bit sparkly (golden flecks).

I don't think the brown could be used on the face as a blusher - but then again, maybe a darker complexion could do it - but it works beautifully as a contouring ayeshadow on the lashline and crease. It is very pigmented, that's why I think it would not work as a blusher, since it may look "streaky" on the face.

The lighter shades are great as both face highlighters and eyeshadow, providing a good base for darker shades and giving a nice glow when set over the brow bone. It is a great palette for everyday use, since it's neutral and subtle, very understated, easy to apply. I love it. Also, the embossed Chinese design on the pan is a must, however you feel a bit sad when you use it for the 1st time and realise it's not going to be there forever!

There are two things I don't like about it though:

- The golden shiny case with the YSL logo in matte gold looks pretty but is a magnet for fingerprints and other stains and marks. I really have this problem with the YSL golden cases and, moreover, they tend to oxidise over time;

- As it commonly happens with multi-task makeup palettes, it comes with a velvet black pouch (again, a magnet for fluff and dust-bunnies) and two applicators, being one for blusher (a small brush) and the other for eyeshadow (a double ended sponge applicator). These are useless. The brush is kinda cute but tiny (maybe it would work better as a shader?) and the spongy thing is flimsy and, again, tiny. Why they do still insist in pushing us those things, I don't know. Except for the Japanese compacts, which come with the best applicators, the compacts in general (European brands) come with these little useless contraptions that add to nothing in the end. I believe nowadays people have real brushes to apply makeup (I do, at least!): a nice fluffy brush for blush and a variety of different brushes for eyeshadow and liner - either from Shu Uemura, Bobbi Brown, or whatever! But quality brushes, and not doll-house artifacts!

Shiseido Beautiful Ad

This ad is just perfect. I think the model is Itoh Misaki. The ad for Shiseido's Skincare products, which simply are the best. Music and photography are perfect. The whole ad is a real gem and makes you want to try all their products. I especially love the part with the oritzuru (paper cranes), it's so colourful and delicate...