Day 9 : Kanebo T’estimo Serumdrape Rouge Lipstick

Paris B 11 Comments

Day 9 of the 30 lipsticks in 30 days project features my favourite Japanese brand of all time, T’estimo! Its been discontinued – boo hoo! – but it can still be found online and at warehouse clearances if you look!

T’estimo Serumdrape Rouge Lipstick – RS-121

T'estimo Serumdrape Rouge RS121

RS-121 is  my first Serumdrape Rouge which came all the way from Japan and I loved it so much and used it so much, I was horrified to discover that it was almost half gone! So I quickly had to get another – why not?! 😛

The texture of T’estimo Serumdrape Rouge lipsticks are very smooth but sheer and glossy and shimmery. If you like pigmented lipsticks, you’d scoff at these, but Oh I love them so! And so do most people I’ve gifted them to 😉

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MAC Dame Edna Wisteria Eyeshadow Trio dupes?

Paris B 10 Comments

Most of the new MAC collections have not excited me. I’m just not a MAC girl, sorry to say. This explains the lack of posts about MAC on this blog. However, when I saw the Dame Edna collection, I had to laugh. I remember watching Dame Edna on comedy skits on British tv on cold winter nights and he/she was hilarious!

I love that MAC put the trademark Dame Edna spectacles on the case of the Dame Edna collection – It is just fitting. Since I’m not a MAC girl, I can’t bring myself to buy anything from there. However, having seen pictures of the collection, the Wisteria eyeshadow trio seems to call my name. Over the weekend, while I was passing a MAC store, my eye was drawn to the bright red words “DAME EDNA” over the store front, and I knew I had to walk in to take a look.

MAC Dame Edna collection

To my surprise, I actually had a good shopping experience at MAC Cosmetics! I enjoyed chatting to the makeup artist/sales person at MAC Pavilion Kuala Lumpur and I enjoyed playing with the Dame Edna collection and talking about the upcoming MAC collections with him. He was friendly and helpful and showed me various items without once being rude or dismissive – it made me rethink my earlier impression of MAC – seriously. If you are thinking of buying MAC, I recommend Stephan from MAC Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. Tell him the lady who was discussing Hello Kitty with him sent you 😉 That is, if he remembers LOL…

Anyway, after seeing the Dame Edna collection and the Wisteria eyeshadow trio (RM125) in person, I knew there was no chance of me buying it. I have owned MAC Lustre eyeshadows before and after playing with the trio, I was reminded that MAC eyeshadows are just not my style. So, I thought to myself, “Hey, why not dupe it since you won’t be buying it anyway?” And you know what? I agreed with myself in a split personality sort of way, and went off to trawl through my stash.
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Why use neutral eyeshadow?

Paris B 23 Comments

I received an Isetan mailer recently which had pictures of the new Bobbi Brown Nude eye and lip palette (RM210). I also saw the palette in person last week and the shadows were 4 similar colored nude or neutral eyeshadows. It reminded me of a question I used to ask before – Why would anyone want to use neutral eyeshadow or eyeshadows that look nude? Isn’t the purpose of eyeshadow having colour on the eyes?

nude eyeshadows
Clockwise from bottom left: Bourjois Brun Irrel, Bourjois Beige Rose, MAC Coco pigment, MAC Naked Pigment,
Shu Uemura ME Silver 945, Stila Kitten, Wheat, Oasis, Sun

I’ve since worked out the answer for myself. There are some days or some occasions when having other colours on your eyes won’t do. Examples are strict work places or serious events or even just when you want to be taken seriously like if you have to attend meetings or meet new customers or clients or business partners. If you are in a serious sort of job, having beautifully made up eyes with coloured eyeshadow just won’t do because people just don’t take you seriously otherwise (unfortunate but true). (Read more after the jump) Continue Reading

Review: Makeup: Kanebo T’estimo eyeshadow

Paris B 3 Comments

Kanebo’s T’estimo makeup line is to be replaced with a new line called Coffret D’or. So, if you are a fan of T’estimo, you won’t have long more before they are phased out totally. It might take a while here in Malaysia though – no one seems to know yet about the phasing out, and that the current T’estimo collection is the last for the line.

Be that as it may, I thought I’d review the single eyeshadows from T’estimo.

Pictures 213 Pictures 212

These are the eyeshadow singles I have presently. They come in a transparent square case, rather like that of Shu Uemura. However, you can easily depot it into a palette just as I have done.

The texture of the eyeshadows are slightly sheer but pigmented, and shimmery. The shimmer puts off some people, but I like it because it adds definition and it isn’t so super shimmery as to be glittery. Some textures are slightly more metallic than others but I never got round to figuring out the system.

What I like about T’estimo eyeshadows is the fact that although I use my fingers on them, they never form a layer on the surface like other brands do. So, they never look awful and crusty after a long time, and that’s nice.

I cannot remember the price of a single shadow – it might be between RM30-40 each but I think its worth every sen! I hope Coffret D’or lives up to what I have enjoyed of T’estimo so far!

Pros: Shimmer, sheer, lots of colour choice, doesn’t get crusty, inexpensive

Cons: Being phased out, sheer

[rating:4.5/5]