Archives for January 2008

Budget makeup: I only have RM200 for makeup – Part 1

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I had a reader email me once to ask me how to buy makeup if she only had RM200 to RM250 to spend on makeup. Well, the point to note here is that good or at least decent makeup doesn’t have to be expensive. You can get some items that are of pretty decent quality at the pharmacy or drugstore and once applied, no one will be any wiser. I’m not kidding!

The nice thing about budget makeup is that it is cheap and often go on sale. So, if you are in the need of a pick-me-up and don’t want to blow a lot of money, just pop along to a pharmacy and pick up a lipstick. You’d be surprised at how much a new lipstick can do to brighten up your day.

I will be doing my personal recommendations for budget makeup over 2 parts so it doesn’t get too long. These brands I mention are easily found in most pharmacies including Guardian, Watson’s, Caring etc and if you have a Sasa, look in there too.

I will start with the Face – foundation and blush.

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Utowa – by Hiroshi Uemura

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I’m not sure how many people know this, but the son of the late Shu Uemura, Hiroshi Uemura, has a cosmetics line too – UTOWA.

The Utowa line of cosmetics seems quite small at this time, but is pretty complete with everything ranging from concealers to foundation to lipsticks to mascara.

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The packaging of the lipsticks remind me of the Guerlain Divinora cases. The color selection looks awesome with predominantly red hues.

I think the triangle blush singles are certainly something different. I’m not sure how practical they are in terms of storage though. The palette compact is designed in a square to fit 2 singles. Sneaky way to make you buy 2 blushes eh? The colours looked a little blah though but if the philosophy of the company is anything to go by, it’ll be sheer yet natural.

The eyeshadows too come in the form of triangle singles. Very sneaky!! You’ll definitely need a compact palette to hold them so you are likely to end up buying 4! But with such awesome selection of colours I don’t forsee a problem for me.

The Utowa line also carries brushes and if Shu Uemura’s brushes are anything to go by, Utowa brushes should be a treat! Utowa cosmetics are found online at Utowa, Beauty.com Your Cosmetics (all of which unfortunately do not ship internationally), and Mecca Cosmetics (Australia) (they ship internationally but at high rates). They can also be found at Mecca stores in Australia so if any Australian girls have tried this, I’d really like to hear from you!

This is what Your Cosmetics says about Utowa:

UTOWA – Hiroshi Uemura founder of UTOWA and the son of legendary Shu Uemura brings consumers a modern approach to skin care and color.

UTOWA ML Skincare awakens the skins natural ability to preserve balance levels of moisture keeping the skin soft and hydrated. With its unique ingredients it helps stimulate the production of moisture with Lily Turf Extract while purified deep sea water helps the ingredients penetrate into the skin. Phospholipids acts as a barrier locking in the skins natural moisture while Meadowsweet and Geranium Extracts, rich in vitamin C and natural Salicylic and Citric Acid, act as an anti-aging antioxidant. Rich oils, and other natural moisturizing and beneficial facial ingredients, work together to keep skin healthy, glowing, and looking its best.

UTOWA ML Color Series is associated with theories found in watercolor paintings. Washes of color enhance the primed canvas creating a perfect and balanced work of art. In the same manner, UTOWA skincare primes the face for color enhancement creating a perfectly balanced beauty. Color is translucent, and the skin is sheer yet flawless with micro-milled spherical crystal powders and other natural ingredients that help prevent dullness and create vivid, natural, beautiful color.

New Kanebo Chicca makeup and Dew Superior skincare

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I just discovered there are a couple more new lines out from Kanebo Cosmetics, other than Coffret D’or.

The first of these is Chicca – Kanebo Cosmetic’s line of makeup and skincare for mature women.

kanebo-chicca

I’m not sure if we’ll ever see this line here and let me tell you why. It is expensive as its supposed to be a high end product. An eyeshadow duo for example will retail upwards of RM235. Then again, I suppose the mature women the line targets will be able to afford the high price tags.

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Kanebo Chicca debuts on March 2008 in Japan. Don’t ask me when or if we’ll ever see it in Malaysia!

Another new line I just stumbled on is Kanebo’s Dew Superior skincare line. Its a pity I can’t read Japanese because I’d be curious as to what the concept behind this line is. I am only just trying out Kanebo Impress and loving it and have been using the Kanebo Blanchir line without complaint.

kanebo-dew superior

Looking at the prices of Dew Superior products, I’d place it somewhere in between Blanchir and Impress, price wise. Again, I don’t know if we would expect to see this line in Malaysia at any time soon. I hope they aren’t going to discontinue the Blanchir line because I really like it – its gentle and works for me.

I think if I lived in Japan, I’d be so spoilt for choice for makeup and skincare!

Review: Makeup: Kanebo Coffret D’or 3D Lighting Eyes Eyeshadow palette

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This is my review of the Kanebo Coffret D’or eyeshadow palette with color swatches. Coffret D’or is a new line of cosmetics launched by Kanebo to replace T’estimo and Revue. Coffret D’or will have base makeup and colour or point makeup which is more comprehensive when taken in totality than when taken separately.

I tried making enquiries here in Malaysia about when Coffret D’or would be brought in but got no positive response. So, I decided to purchase the Coffret D’or 3D Lighting Eyes palette online to see if I’d like it. This is Coffret D’or’s first eyeshadow colour (there are no singles at this time).

I went for 02 – Fresh. It is a blue-y palette and grabbed my attention more than the other colours. I felt that the other colours looked a bit too boring or were colours I can’t wear.

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And here’s my review on the Coffret D’or 3D Lighting Eyes palette.

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