Addiction by Ayako

I have a thing for acquiring cosmetics, especially hard to find cosmetics. Discontinued? Not sold in America? SIGN ME UP!

Recently a friend went to Tokyo and although I am really not supposed to acquire more, I had her purchase a few things for me to try out.

After I test them out, I'll do some reviews... but for now, here's a group photo:

It's Not the Same!

Today I stopped by the Shu Uemura boutique for a makeup application. I didn't have any intention of stopping by since the spring makeup collection did not interest me, but I felt like just going to the store. Since I didn't make an appointment, the artists were a bit busy... but I received an application of foundation, blush, and lipgloss. It was fun since I haven't done this type of thing for a long time.

The artist who worked on me was helpful and was not overly aggressive about sales. If you are in the SF area, try her out... the SA's name is Katerina.

Products the SA applied:

- Shu Architect Liquid Fdn - #764

- Pro spot concealer - #3 YR Medium/Light

- Glow On - P Pink 34

- Gloss Unlimited- 325m

I really liked the finish of the foundation, and I remember that I liked the way the foundation looked at my last Shu makeover two years ago....so I purchased it despite not needing any foundation haha. I'm not convinced about the concealer... I think it made my undereye area look a bit crepey... but my skin is pretty dry. The glow on and gloss were really cute., both colors are vivid pinks, especially great for spring! But I couldn't justify the purchase as I have so many blushes and glosses already.

Since the artists were kinda busy, I played with the eyeshadows myself. I did a bright look using ME Gold 335 (lid), P Green 430 (mid crease), M Blue 695 (outer V), M Beige 821 (crease for blending), and M Beige 800 (highlight). Since Shu's numbering system doesn't make sense for most people, here are my descriptions of the colors I used:

ME Gold 335: shimmery yellow. A replacement for the old shade ME Gold 330.

P Green 430: pearly grass green

M Blue 695: matte dark blue-green

M Beige 821: matte warm beige, a little peachy

M Beige 800: matte ivory

The result was nice... I already own similar shades at home, I was just trying to do a cute look to go with the pinks done by the artist.

I also tested some other beautiful eyeshadows that I didn't own yet (haha~). The ones that caught my eye were ME Olive 471 and P Purple 781. I bought ME Olive 471 which is a wonderful silvery green taupe-ish color. I hope that it will show a bit of the green color on my eyelids. I didn't test it on my eyelids since I already finished a complete eyelook at the store. ME Olive 471 pairs wonderfully with P Purple 781. I think the two would make an awesome smokey eye. I didn't purchase P Purple 781 because purples are hard for me to wear. I'll try this at Nordies next time I am there. If it looks nice I'll buy it with my rewards certificates. :D

I also tried the new UV Underbases. I tried both the medium beige and beige colors. There isn't really a big difference between shades on my skintone despite one being much more pink based. I think people with really good skin could get away with using this product as a type of tinted moisturizer. However, today I had some redness to my skin today and neither product truly neutralized it. I know, these bases aren't meant for that... the green base corrector is. I don't like to layer a million products on my skin and it would have been great if this product could have acted as a color corrector too. I found that this product did make my skin appear smoother and paired with moisturizer, application of foundation was a breeze.

All in all... it was a fun trip to the Shu Uemura boutique. But I do have to say I was disappointed in the plain black shopping bag I received from the store. Part of the bonus of shopping at the boutique is the nice Shu Uemura shopping bag! I like the way the logo looks on the bag (and the Shu by Ai promotion shopper bags were the absolute best!!!) and I'm sad that they don't give those out anymore. It just ain't the same without getting the bag... ya know?

Sometimes it's Too Good to be True

Since cosmetics rarely go on sale, I find that many people love it when they can find a deal on them. Cosmetics can be purchased at a discount at certain department stores during "friends and family" sales or warehouse sales held by the brands. Older products, often limited edition/seasonal products can be found at authorized outlets at your local outlet mall. L'oreal brands are sold at "designer fragrance & co" stores while Estee Lauder brands are sold at "cosmetic company outlet." The names of these stores sound shady, but they are the official outlets for the brands! I enjoy going to these outlets when I am in the area myself and have found very good deals there before. For example, I have purchased Shu Uemura eyeshadows for $5 (retail $18).

Nowadays, there are also many websites that sell older makeup stock at a significant discount. An online "cosmetic company outlet" so to speak. Among the most popular ones are: beautycrunch.com and beautyticket.com.

I am a big fan of Stila cosmetics and beautycrunch is authorized to sell Stila's older seasonal makeup lines. The prices are very cheap, especially when compared to the retail prices. In fact, since so many limited edition items made it onto beautycrunch, I am hesitant to purchase Stila limited items at regular price!

I have ordered from beautycrunch a few times, and I've never really had problems with my orders... my items arrived in a timely manner and well packed. I have never received rancid items either. Beautycrunch also stocks items from TooFaced, Pop Beauty and others.

Since I have had such good luck with beautycrunch, I was eager to order from beautyticket. Beautyticket also runs codes sometimes, so you can save an additional 10-20% off the already low prices! Beautyticket stocks many brands, from YSL, Molton Brown, Sue Devitt and more! For my first order, I ordered a blue liquid YSL eyeliner, a copper liquid YSL eyeliner, Bumble&Bumble deep hair conditioner, Molton Brown "eye rescue serum," and a Molton Brown body lotion. The prices were all excellent and I was very excited for my order to come.

Beautyticket shipped out of Los Angeles, CA and used priority mail, so I got the items very quickly. The items were well packed and they used cute pink paper strips too. As for the products themselves.... what I got was mixed. I'll explain.

My blue eyeliner was in new and unused perfect condition, but the bronze one was not. The bronze one had clearly been used (there was liner all caked around the plastic stopper... and the formula was thickened on the wand... this only happens on opened and used liquid liners). I had founds a Barneys New York sticker that was half peeled off on the box of my bronze liner. I can only surmise that beautyticket acquires some of its merchandise from old department store stock. This is probably fine 95% of the time. Sometimes the stores just order too much, or the limited colors just don't sell out. But the problem is... what if these items come from department store returns? If these items are not checked by the stores, there is the possibility of receiving used items like I did.

The Molton Brown lotion, while new, was a bit rancid. I have not tried the hair conditioner yet.. but maybe I should? The eye serum was ok, but probably due to the age of the item.... the bottle was not as full as it should have been. Overall, for the prices, I guess it is ok. Buying older stock can be risky (i.e. rancid items).

However, when I emailed beautyticket about the used liner, they were willing to refund me as long as I returned the item. I thought that was pretty good customer service. They also sent me a prepaid label to return the item via USPS. However, since I live in California, they should have also refunded the sales tax I paid on the liner. I think if I emailed them about it, they probably would have. But at this point, I didn't care that much about the $1.60 I paid in tax since I got most of my money back already. However, when issuing the refund, I believe that beautyticket should be more careful and look into the order to see which customers have paid the sales tax. However in their defense, only California residents pay sales tax and we are probably only a small percentage of overall customers.

So in the end... I have to say that sometimes things are just too good to be true, especially when buying online. Purchase older stock items at your own risk. The discounts are heavy and attractive.... so the best thing is to know what you are buying. Find out what collections those color items were from so you know how old these items are. If you don't know, try looking up reviews for the product at MakeupAlley. For items that weren't limited, try the products when you receive them. That way if they are rancid/old/used you can get a refund.

:) Hope that helps someone who is considering using these types of websites. My experience has not deterred me from purchasing from them in the future. However, I think for beautyticket, I will only buy items that show their usage clearly (e.g. lipstick, eyeshadow, etc).

New to Makeup?

If you are... you might want to check out this set from Lorac (super cheap) and Stila

NEW! VIP DISCOUNT
VIP STARTER SET
Only $18.50
A $160.00 value

Only available at loraccosmetics.com
While supplies last.

3 Eye Shadows in "Cappuccino", "Harmony", and "Persuasion"
2 Lip Polishes in "Delicious" and "Bliss"
Front of the Line Liquid Eye Liner in Black
2 Cream Lipsticks in "Eloise" and "Charity"
Mini TANtalizer Baked Bronzer
Double-Ended Eyeliner/Shadow Brush

As Good As Golden ($60 Value) @ Sephora.com
What it is:
A baked bronzer and silky-smooth finishing powder duo that creates the ultimate sunkissed glow.

What it does:
Give your skin a luminous, lit-by-candlelight look—sans the harmful rays—with this dynamic duo. The Stila Sun Shade 2 contains SPF 15 for daily sun protection and the Finishing Powder goes on silky smooth with its hand-milled and baked formula. Each is perfect for any skintone and you can wear them alone or together for the ultimate bronzed glow.

This set contains:
- 0.28 oz Stila Sun Bronzing Powder SPF 15 in Shade 2 (sheer warm matte bronze)
- 0.317 oz Illuminating Finishing Powder in Gold (light golden champagne sheen)

The fashion posts for J-town will have to wait... my bf's computer got infected with a virus and he is the photographer/photo editor 98% of the time.

Jill Stuart Eye Jelly Madness

In the spirit of the release of the "new" eye jellies from Jill Stuart, I have decided to post a photo of the eye jellies I own. I actually own one other shade, which is Ruby Romantic, an awesome reddish purple that does not make my eyes appear redder than they already are (quite a magical feat in my opinion). :) Please click the photo if you would like to enlarge it.

The new eye jellies come in most of the same colors, but they took out the more interesting shades in my opinion (mainly green butterfly and gemstone green). I'm really glad I have the ones that I do, since they are no longer in production! The new eye jellies feature a more ornate jar and supposedly have the same net weight (6g) of product in them. I would like the color #9 Midnight Shine at some point, but I have many many cream shadows. =(


By the way, Jill Stuart is no longer a Japan exclusive brand. It can be purchased in Hong Kong (this is old news... but who cares?).

Gel Eyeliner Tutorial

So... gel liners have been all the rage for quite awhile and I think they are here to stay. Every major cosmetic brand has a gel liner, and they are getting knocked off in the world of e-tailer cosmetic brands.

Honestly, I loathe them because of their inconvenience. You have to use a separate brush and you have to wash it after using it, otherwise it will dry and cake up your brush (gross!). What an inconvenience! Give me liquid liner any day.

But, honestly, there are certain pros to gel liners. Gel liners often do not smudge for those who have oily eyelids (do note that not all brands perform the same... so you may need to try various brands if one brand ends up smudging on you), they are solid so those who desire the look of liquid liner (but with shaky hands) can achieve crisp lines and cat eyes. The gel liner can also be used as a shadow base and smudged out, perfect for smokey eyes!

I have often been complimented on my eyeliner... so I will share my technique for gel liners. This is only one method, if it doesn't work out, keep trying, there are other methods of application out there!


Materials:
- gel liner
- pointed brush
- mirror

Method:

1.
Dip your brush into your gel liner. Don't be afraid of using too much, in fact, I like to "overload" the brush. The thickness of your brush will determine the thickness of your line. If you want a thin line, use a fine brush. I prefer using a lip brush made of synthetic material (easier to clean). Starting at the inner corner of your eye, dot the gel liner across your lashline (or in between your lashes if you are tightlining).

2.

Continue dotting the liner to the outer corner of your eye.


3.
Work quickly to blend your dots of liner into one continuous line. If your liner is uneven in width at this point (i.e. not intentionally so), fix it now by adding a bit more in the areas that are "too thin."

4. Optional step


If you wish to have a cat eye, you may "wing out" your liner at this point. Simply flick your brush/wrist quickly as if checking a checkbox on a form. It will take some effort to practice this to get them symmetrical on both sides.

Good luck, hopefully this has helped.

MAC Cosmetics Friends and Family

Even cosmetics giant MAC must be feeling the pinch. I remember a time when MAC NEVER went on sale (except at the authorized Estee Lauder outlets). I mean, with their limited edition factory producing new collections every two weeks to feed the frenzy, why bother?

At any rate, the Friends and Family even is up and running now on maccosmetics.com. You can save 25% off your total purchase with the code SUMO (yes, as in sumo wrestling...). The code expires on June 18, so act quickly before all of the limited edition goodness sells out. :P

New Shu Uemura Collboration

There's a new Shu Uemura collaboration for June 2009. I think it will be a big hit, just as big as the Yamaguchi Ai collaboration (my favorite to date!). This time, Shu Uemura is collaborating with manga artist Moyoco Anno!!!

Everything is super cute and I want it... I haven't wanted anything from Shu Uemura for awhile.

The images for this collection were taken from lifestyleasia.There is also a limited edition brush set and makeup box. The makeup box is SUPER CUTE and also super pricy, priced at $2,200HKD (roughly $300 USD). I'm not too keen on gold used on this version of the makeup box, but the inside of the box is terribly cute: there are gold imprints of the girls' faces as crests on the inside of the box. The outside of the makeup box features a stylized chysanthemum on the front. It really is too bad the makeup box is made out of CARDBOARD and a terrible value for the money. I think it's meant more for the collector and avid Shu Uemura fan.

What will I be purchasing? I think three cleansing oils (Fresh, Original and A/O formulas). I hope this collection will be released in the USA because it is already for sale in Asia.

There is a post on Hong Kong beauty blog beautytalk about the makeup box. Check it out!

Free Palette Promotion

Shu Uemura USA is promoting its custom palette system by offering a free palette with the purchase of any of the following product combinations:

1. 4 eyeshadows
2. 2 eyeshadows + 1 glow on
3. 2 glow ons

The design on the palette is quite pretty and I am a little tempted by the promotion. However, I have most of the Shu items that I want ... so it is kind of tough to justify this purchase when it is not really a "good deal." In addition, what I really want to buy are the Tokyo Kamon Girls Limited Edition Cleansing Oils! I must have at least two or three of those...

Shu Uemura Pink Collection

Shu Uemura has released a collection of pink lipsticks and lipglosses. They claim that the pink pigments have been specially formulated for them and are therefore more intense than pinks from other competing brands. The makeup artist I spoke with claimed that the pink pigments were special, and they were not formulated using the traditional method of mixing red and white pigments together. Based on what I know about color theory . . . this really confuses and confounds me. How can this be true?

Either way, the promotional image for the pink collection is absolutely gorgeous and wonderfully intense!