Lavshuca Fall 2010 & Spring 2011

For once, I am about to review an eyeshadow palette within a month (or two) of its release!! I picked up one of the fall 2010 Lavshuca eyeshadow quads late last year, but my cousin also got me a spring 2011 Lavshuca quad when she recently went on a trip to Asia. As such, in this post, I will be reviewing Lavshuca Melting Eyes in RD-1 from fall 2010 and Star Decoration Eyes in GN-1 from spring 2011.


The Melting Eyes series received a lot of rave reviews when it was released in Asia last year. All of the colors in the series are variations on nude/brown, which is the most versatile and also possibly most loved color combination for Taiwanese/Japanese bloggers. The packaging is made of a sturdy plastic, and the princessy design is typical of Lavshuca.


Also typical of Lavshuca, the palette comes with a double ended applicator with one rounder end for the lighter colors, and one pointier end for the darkest shade. The quality of the applicator is okay but not anything to write home about. The lack of a mirror is also a shame, but not particularly surprising.


The colors of Melting Eyes in RD-1 are a pale nude gold, a pinkish rose gold, a light bronze copper, and a medium dark chocolate. All shades are shimmery, though not overly so. The powder is finely milled with a semi-moist texture typical of many Japanese makeup brands, and the color payoff for all shades is sheer to medium. As a result, it is impossible to do anything dramatic with this palette. The overall look is very OL and what I would describe as 姐姐風的溫柔感 (the closest equivalent I can say in English would be a grown-up and feminine).

Now moving on to the Star Decoration Eyes in GN-1...


The Star Decoration Eyes series is set to replace my favorite Lavshuca line, the Eye Color Select quads (the ones that look like tulips/hearts). The packaging (other than the fake gem at the top) is certainly prettier, but I am thankful that I am not in any danger of using up my Eye Color Select quads any time soon.


Like the Melting Eyes series, the Star Decoration Eyes series also comes with the typical double-ended applicator and no mirror. I think the layout of and design on the eyeshadows are prettier than those of the Melting Eyes series though. (Sorry for the washed out picture, I couldn't find a good balance between too bright and too dim under the sunlight)


As you can see in the above unfocused flash picture, the Star Decoration Eyes quads are very shimmery. I have only seen this color in person, but looking at the pictures on other blogs, I'm pretty sure the other colors in the series are the same. The amount of shimmer in this quad is definitely higher than the amount in the Melting Eyes series, and possibly also the Eye Color Select series.


(*UPDATE* Uploaded a new swatch picture above.) The colors in this quad are a silvery white with pale gold glitter, a straight silvery white, a pale grassy green, and a medium olive brown. It is unfortunate that the color payoff in this quad is not quite as good as the Eye Color Select line, but the texture of glitter shade is definitely better than the that of the glitter shade in Eye Color Select quads (for comparison sake, the pigmentation level is on par with my Melting Eyes quad). The glitter shade in Star Decoration Eyes GN-1 consists of a very finely milled base color combined with a non-gritty glitter. The glitter may be more aptly named as shimmer flakes since the texture is the same as the shimmery base except you can see that the glitter comes in bigger pieces.

I have not yet used this quad on my eyes (that's how new this is!!), but the color combination is very mori kei and fairylike/elfish to me. This quad is definitely not what I would consider as office appropriate, but I think it will be nice for the weekends come springtime ^_^

The product pictures for Melting Eyes in RD-1 were taken under whitelight, while the rest of the pictures were taken under natural light. The flash picture for Star Decoration Eyes in GN-1 obviously had some help from the flash on my camera though =P

In short: I was not completely wowed by these two Lavshuca palettes, though they both have their own merits. One thing is certain, Lavshuca is definitely not for you if you consider yourself a MAC girl or like very pigmented eyeshadows.

Lavshuca Eye Color Select BR-2: Japanese Drugstore Mini-Haul Part II

As alluded to in the previous post, I purchased another Japanese drugstore item along with MJ GR750, namely Lavshuca Eye Color Select in BR-2. I've already purchased all of the other permanent colors in the Eye Color Select line, and I was originally going to pass on this color, but I ended up getting it anyway since I wanted a cool-toned brown palette. So far, this palette has not disappointed and it truly is one of those versatile workhorse items.


The packaging, applicators, and powder quality for this palette are the same as the qualities of the other Eye Color Select palettes so there's not much to say. Please refer to the link at the end of this post to read a more detailed review of the Eye Color Select palettes.


The colors in BR-2 are a standard ivory highlighting color, a gold sparkle shade, a neutral mid-tone khaki with gold shimmer, and a neutral medium-dark brown. All in all, this palette is not particularly exciting, but I LOVE the khaki color. All of the shades in Eye Color Select palettes are shimmery to some extent (most of them have sort of a metallic finish), but this shade is unique in that it's a shimmery khaki with slightly larger gold shimmers/sparkles that stand out from the base. The slightly larger gold shimmers are not overly loud, which makes the color still office-appropriate, but the difference between the two levels of shimmer are noticeable enough to make the khaki shade a true standout.


The overall effect of BR-2 is less sweet and energetic than BR-1 but more natural and nude-looking. It reminds me of the Bobbi Brown Nude Palette that I have, except it seems more modern and less retro chic than Bobbi Brown due to the lighter liner color. This is another office appropriate palette that I highly recommend.

In short: Another excellent Eye Color Select palette that does not disappoint. Although the price tag is a bit higher than the standard US drugstore eyeshadow palette, it's also worth the money because of its outstanding colors and quality.

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For my original review on the Lavshuca Eye Color Select palettes, please see here.

For the review on Lavshuca Eye Color Select BR-1, please click here.

A Rather Lengthy Base Makeup Update

This is a long overdue update on the different base makeup items that I've been using for the past 4 months or so. After using the L'Oreal foundation and powder for a while early last year, I decided that the finish was still not exactly what I'd like even though the foundation has its merits. Especially when my skin gets these dry patches from acne medication, the L'Oreal foundation can make my face look rather cakey. Plus, the powder doesn't seem to help control oil or, in fact, do anything for my complexion, so I definitely needed to find something better. Since I haven't had much luck with drugstore foundations/powders, I decided to hunt for something in the higher end market.

After reading a number of reviews, I decided on Make Up For Ever's Face & Body for my new foundation, which is a really awesome and unique product. The foundation is oil-free and looks kind of like watered down jello in the jar (that's in a good way). On skin, F&B is sheer and very light feeling, and once dried, the foundation almost entirely disappears/melts into your skin. The result is a slightly better version of your skin on your face, which is exactly what I wanted. The downside to this sheerness is that the foundation has a hard time covering any major blemishes if you apply with a light hand. If you layer on the foundation though, you can make most blemishes look a lot less obvious if not entirely invisible. Another great thing about F&B is that it does not oxidize as the day goes on, so I never look like an orange version of myself by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, the foundation is still far from perfect. Perhaps because the foundation retains moisture well (as evident by the fact that it looks natural and never cakey), it does not agree with my oily T-zone and causes my face to be more oily than usual when applied. In addition, the closest color I've found to my natural skin tone (20) is still a bit yellow for me, so the limited color selection may drive some other people away as well. I also wish the foundation comes in a pump bottle since there were definitely a couple of times when I accidentally knocked over the bottle and spilled foundation everywhere.


Since I'm almost out of my F&B and I wanted to try something else, I went out and got Dior's Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Liquid Foundation at Lord & Taylor a couple of weeks ago. Similar to F&B, Diorskin Nude is known for looking natural and has also received a good number of positive reviews. The two foundations differ in that Diorskin Nude is a bit thicker than F&B, which means that it covers a bit better but also runs a higher risk of looking cakey, especially during the dry winters here. I've found that if I apply this foundation on top of my Shiseido White Lucent sunscreen, my face will look extremely cakey and dry. Since the foundation already has some sunscreen, I've opted to apply it directly over my moisturizer, which gives a much more natural finish. So far, I haven't had any problems with oxidation using Diorskin Nude, and my face is still at a normal level of oiliness by the end of the day. Diorskin Nude also wins over MUFE F&B in its packaging; I don't care that it's a hassle to get the last bit of your foundation out of a pump bottle, it is still much less wasteful than the F&B packaging with no pump bottle, which means major spillage for a klutz like me.


One problem I found with the Diorskin Nude after using it for a couple of days is that the color I chose (023) looks too red/orange on me (which goes to say, never trust department store lighting). After checking the color descriptions on Sephora.com, I realized that 023 is a peachy beige, which definitely does not describe my skintone. I'm thinking 020 neutral beige may work better so I will update once I get around to exchanging my foundation. (UPDATE 2/8/10: I went to Sephora last week and tried out the rest of the lighter colors in the line and all of the colors available are either too dark or too pink on me. I think I'll be going back to my MUFE foundation for now unless I spot a better alternative in the next couple of weeks.)


Now moving on to the powders...After my L'Oreal powder fiasco, I decided to try MUFE's HD Powder due to the numerous rave reviews. It imparts a very slight sheen to the face when applied and gives a soft focus kind of effect. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything else and especially does nothing for my oiliness. I gave it a couple of weeks and tried different methods of application (brush vs. powder puff), but I soon gave up and moved on to another powder.


I next purchased Lavshuca's Finish Powder in Lucent after reading the positive review on A Touch of Blusher. Compared to MUFE HD, Lavshuca has the additional benefit of being able to slighty mask pores, but it also doesn't control my oiliness. There is a matte version of the Lavshuca Finish Powder that is more geared towards oil-control (A Touch of Blusher mentioned that the matte version does control oil slightly better) but I'm not a fan of completely matte powder so I decided to pass on that.


One thing I love about the Lavshuca Finish Powder is its packaging. The original packaging for the Finish Powder (might've been called something else previously) was even more princessy, but this new packaging still looks very girly. I especially love the cute powder puff which adds a very nice touch to the product.


I have a couple of words to say about a some other products that I've tried very briefly or only through testers so I don't have product pictures.

Tinted Moisturizer - Dior HydrAction Deep Hydration Skin Tint SPF 20

I heard about this product through a friend who raved about how it covers everything but still looks extremely natural. I picked up a tester sample from Sephora of the lightest color (00? 01?) and it sadly didn't work for me at all. I felt like it didn't cover anything when applied sheerly and looked extremely cakey when applied generously. The color selection was also very limited so the lightest color was too light for me but the second lightest was way too dark.

Concealer - Neutrogena SkinClearing Oil-Free Concealer

I was having serious skin problems for a period of time last year so I picked up this concealer to cover my pimples/acne. The good thing is that it didn't irritate my breakouts so that they become worse, but I can't say that the concealer helped cure my breakouts either. The other downside was that this concealer looked very cakey and unnatural if I had patches of dry skin due to the acne medication, so I ended up throwing it away after a while.

Face Primers - Bare Escentuals Prime Time Foundation Primer Oil Control, Laura Mercier Oil Free Foundation Primer, Urban Decay Complexion Primer Potion for Pore Perfecting, Korres Face Primer

I've read on a number of makeup blogs that primers is the way to control oil, not powder. However, I have very little faith in face primers since all that I've tried (Smashbox, MUFE UV Primer, etc.) have failed me or exacerbated the problem so far. Still, after trying the HD Powder and still having no luck controlling my sebum secretion, I picked up a few more primer testers from Sephora. Both the Bare Escentuals and Laura Mercier primers I got because friends recommended them, and I got the Urban Decay primer because UDPP works really well on me. Unfortunately, all of them failed miserably at the oil-controlling aspect for my face. Even though the UD primer isn't specifically geared towards oil control, it was still a failure in that it didn't cover up my pores as advertised. I got the Korres primer as a sample for an online order, and it also wasn't any good at oil-control, but it was more geared towards moisture-retention anyway so I don't really blame the product. There is one amazing thing about the Korres primer, though--it makes my skin feel very supple, soft, and smooth without that silicone feeling you get with a lot of primers. I wish it would work with my oily skin since I truly love the finish, but this primer might be for you if you have dry skin.

In short: Make Up For Ever Face & Body - sheer and very natural-looking but limited color selection and not good for oily skin. Diorskin Nude - fairly natural-looking, still waiting to see if there's a good color match. Make Up For Ever HD Powder - doesn't do much, especially no oil-control. Lavshuca Finish Powder in Lucent - slightly masks pores but also little oil-control.

More Lavshuca~~ Eye Color Select BR-1

I finally caved. After months of convincing myself that I'm not missing out, that I already have many brown/neutral themed eyeshadow palettes, I still ended up getting the very popular Lavshuca Eye Color Select in BR-1. To be fair, though, I don't own any orange/coppery brown palettes that seem to be popular with Asians so I have to get one if I even want to consider myself an Asian-makeup lover ^_^ (I believe that's a pretty solid excuse...) Plus, it was either this or something from Lunasol, so really, I'm saving a lot of money by getting the Lavshuca...

As with the BU-1, PK-1, and PU-2 that I already own from the same line, the packaging is super cute, the texture is great (except the top right sparkly shade is a bit gritty), and the lasting power is the best I've seen yet (at least out of the things that I use often), so let's move straight on to the colors.

The colors in this palette are an ivory base/highlight (A), a orangey copper (B), a medium warm brown (C), and a sparkly peach (D). I have to admit that even though I'm not big on huge sparkles that tend to migrate, my favorite shade in the palette is the sparkly peach color 'cause it's absolutely beautiful. I seriously would not have bought this palette if it weren't for this shade. The other shades are also gorgeous, but the ivory is nothing really unique or special. This palette is my current favorite because of its amazing ability to brighten up my whole face without much work.

For more details on Eye Color Select line, please see my previous review for the other three colors I own. The official application directions are also there. Also, note that all photos in this post were again taken in natural light.

In short: Love!! A reasonably priced palette compared to Lunasol with smooth texture and great lasting power in beautiful but practical colors.

Comparison Swatches - Lavenders & Purples

In the final installment of my comparison swatches, I will be showing my growing collection of lavender and purple eyeshadows. Lavender is my favorite color, so it's not a surprise that I have a lot of lavender/purple themed palettes and shadows. Still, compared to the beige/brown shadows I've swatched, my lavender/purple collection is still fairly small =P

First, here are the highlighting/base shades as well as some of the shading colors:


Color D from Maquillage's VI367 looks very white here, but you might be able to see the slight violet tint in the shadow. Similarly, color A from Lavshuca's PU-2 appears beige, but it also has a slight lavender tint, though it's fainter than the tint in color D from VI367.

Next, we have the purple-tinted neutrals, which can also be found in my earlier beige/brown comparison swatch post:


Many say that MJ's single eyeshadow in SV821 is a purple-tinted taupe, but I don't really see the purple in the color so I've chosen to leave that color out here.

It's hard to see the purple-ness of the above two colors just by themselves, so I've also included a picture of the two colors along side some of the purple shading and lining colors. The two purple-tinted neutrals are on the far left.


Following is the labeled swatch of the remaining lavender/purple shading colors as well as all of my purple lining colors:


The L'Oreal HiP shade here is the only completely matte shadow that I have (for a good reason since I prefer shimmer over a matte finish). The Shiseido eyeshadow is little bluer than the Shu Uemura shade shown here, but I wasn't far off in my review of the Shu Uemura palette when I said that the Shu Uemura shade is pretty much a powder version of the Shiseido eyeshadow (which is the only cream eyeshadow shown here).

For reference, all pictures in this post were taken under natural light. All of the Lavshuca swatches here are from a Eye Color Select quad, all Maquillage swatches are from a Eyes Creator (3D) quint, and the Coffret D'or swatch is from a Trance Deep Eyes quad. The Dior swatches are from a 5-Couleur Iridescent quint, and the Shu Uemura swatches are from a LE Winter 2008 palette. Finally, the L'Oreal HiP swatches are from a Concentrated Shadow Duo. For the Shu Uemura and L'Oreal HiP swatches, the colors are numbered from the left (i.e., the leftmost color is Color 1).

Comparison Swatches - Pinks, Reds, Peaches & Corals

I've put off swatching the pinks, reds, lavenders, and purples for so long since I was planning on acquiring the Dior Petal Shine quint before swatching these colors. Now that I've had the quint in my possession for a while now, I've finally gotten to swatching the pinks and reds =P

Without further ado, here are the highlighter/base shades of pinks:


As you can see, I was having a very hard time getting some of these shades to show up as pink rather than white/silver in the picture. NARS' Edie appears more muted and beige than pink when swatched, and the Shu Uemura shade here is probably the only warm pink. All the other shades are various shades of very light to light cool pink. Please refer to individual swatches of the products if that helps you see the color better.

Here are the warm pink/red, peach, or coral shading colors:


I was surprised that the Dior shade here looks so pink since it looked more peachy in the pan and when swatched with other colors in the same quint. On the other hand, Shiseido's Bare Pink is a kind of peachy warm pink that looked more pink when swatched in my original review of the Shiseido Hydro-Powders. It probably looks more orange-toned here because it's being shown with similar colors in the same family. Also, I swear that the Shu shade looks a lot more red on me than it does here in the swatch. I guess just like Bare Pink, it is probably because this Shu shade is being swatched with similar colors that it looks so orange here. I would describe it as a bright copper-ish coral. Finally, I was surprised that the L'Oreal HiP color was so red since the intensity was not as noticeable before when swatched with other HiP duos.

Here is my measly collection of cool pink shading colors plus the lining colors:


NARS' Onidine is really a plummy color halfway between red and purple, though it looks oddly brown here. I decided to include it with the pinks instead of the purples in the next post since the other shades in the palette are also here. The two black colors both have either pink or reddish shimmer, which is why I included them here as well.

For reference, all of the pictures were taken under natural light. All of the Lavshuca swatches are from an Eye Color Select quad, and the MJ Majolook swatch is from a Trick On Majolook. The Shu Uemura swatches are from the LE Holiday 2008 Secret Luscious Rose palette, and the shades are numbered from the left (i.e., the first shade from the left is Color 1, and so on). The Shiseido swatch is of one of the Hydro-Powder Eyeshadows, and it is also the ONLY cream eyeshadow in the swatches. The L'Oreal HiP swatches are of an Metallic Shadow Duo, and I've named the lighter color as 1 and the darker color as 2. Finally. the Dior swatches are from a 5-Couleur Iridescent quint, and the NARS swatches are all of eyeshadows in the NARS Bridal Palette.

Comparison Swatches - Greens and Blues

Admittedly, I'm not a big greens and blues person when it comes to eyeshadows, so my collection here is very small.

Let's start with the greens:


I think Shiseido's Green Exotique looks more vibrant in real life, I just had a hard time capturing it's brightness. The Shu Mika Rose color 7 and the L'Oreal HiP Gunmetal color 1 are very similar olive greens. The only difference is that Shu's olive green is more gold, whereas the Gunmetal olive green is more gray/black. Also, even though Gunmetal color 2 looks pretty black on my arm, it usually looks a little more forest green when applied on my lids because of the shimmer.

And these are the blues:


Shiseido's Aqua Shimmer looks pretty similar to L'Oreal HiP Magnetic color 1, except the prior slightly flashes green and the latter appears more silvery. Again, the color 2 for L'Oreal HiP Magnetic looks black, but is actually more navy on my lids.

For reference, all pictures were taken under natural light. All of the Shiseido swatches are of Hydro-Powder Cream Eye Shadows. The MJ swatch is from a Trick On Majolook and the Lavshuca swatches are from Eye Color Select quads. The Shu Uemura swatches are from the LE Holiday 2008 Secret Luscious Rose palette. Finally, the L'Oreal HiP swatches are from Metallic Shadow Duos.

Comparison Swatches - Grays, Silvers, and Blacks

I never realized how many beige/brown eyeshadows I have until I started doing these comparison swatches. Compared to the five pictures I took for the browns, there are only two pictures for the grays/blacks. Of course, I included the taupes with the browns so that made a difference, but even then, I still have twice as many brown shadows as blacks.

Here are the highlighting/base shades:


Most of the colors except for the L'Oreal HiP shade look very similar. In fact, most of them are the same except for the texture. Shiseido Whitelights and Coffret D'or's color D are more sparkly, MJ's color A is more shimmery, and Coffret D'or's color A and L'Oreal's color 1 are more pearl/satin. The only shade that has a slightly different color is Kate BR-1 color A, which is slightly more beige and pink. So even though this color looked white when swatched with the real beiges (see swatch post for beiges, golds, and browns), it still belongs to the beige family.

Here are the shading or liner colors:


I remarked in the review for L'Oreal Sterling color 2 that this color is slightly blue-toned, which is why it's hard for me to pull it off. Here, you can see how it looks bluish when compared to the other grays.

For reference, all pictures were taken under natural light. The Shiseido swatch is for a hydro-powder cream shadow shade. The Coffret D'or swatches are from a Trance Deep Eyes palette. The Kate swatches are all from Deep Trap Eyes quints, the Lavshuca swatch is from a Eye Color Select quad, and the MJ swatch is from a Trick On Majolook. The L'Oreal swatches are from a Wear Infinite Duo and the L'Oreal HiP swatches are from a Metallic Shadow Duo.

Comparison Swatches - Beiges, Golds, and Browns

To honor my collection of makeup, I decided to do some comparison swatches. However, since just swatching the brown-ish neutrals took some time, I also decided that I should stop for now and finish the rest some other time =P

Let's start with the bases and the highlighters:


You can see how the L'Oreal single eyeshadow becomes really dull when placed next to the shimmery Japanese eyeshadows =P Even though Kate BR-1's color E looks rather taupey in the photo, it actually pink-ish in real life when swatched next to these colors. If there is any confusion as to which product each label refers to, please read the paragraph at the end of the post for an explanation of the labels.

Here is the swatch of the taupey shades:


This is the swatch of the warmer brown shading colors:


And finally, the liner color swatch:


It's amazing what difference it makes to do a comparison swatch versus just one for each palette. I could've sworn when I swatched color D of Kate's BR-1 with the rest of BR-1's colors that it was straight up brown. But here, it almost looks like black with a hint of maroon. Also, although color C of MJ's BR742 looks almost gray-ish in the swatch, it is definitely just a very cool-toned brown. Color 2 of L'Oreal HiP's Gilded is the only color here that has a straight up black base. In addition, in terms of the texture of the shadows, Kate's liner color was the one that swatched the smoothest and appeared darkest upon first swipe, a nod to its very high pigmentation. L'Oreal HiP's Gilded refused to be cooperative here and was very gritty when swatched, which is why it looks so uneven.

For reference, all of the pictures were taken under natural light. All of the Kate swatches are from Deep Trap Eyes quints, all of the Lavshuca swatches are from Eye Color Select quads, and all of the MJ Majolook swatches are from Trick On Majolooks. Those MJ swatches labeled as "single" are from the Shadow Customize singles (Note: 16 is discontinued). The Shu Uemura swatches are from the LE Holiday 2008 Secret Luscious Rose palette (I wrote Mika Rose since it's the Rose palette from the Ninagawa Mika collection). The shades are numbered from the left (i.e., the first shade from the left is Color 1, and so on). The Dior swatch is from a 5-Couleur Iridescent quint. The Shiseido swatch is of one of the Hydro-Powder Eyeshadows, and it is also the ONLY cream eyeshadow in the swatches. The L'Oreal HiP swatches are of Metallic Shadow Duos, and I've named the lighter color as 1 and the darker color as 2.

All That Shimmer

I had some time today so I took flash pictures of my palette collection to show you the shimmery-ness of these babies. As such, this will predominantly be a picture post with very little text. Please refer back to my reviews to read more about each of these palettes.

MJ Trick On Majolooks BR742 + BR751



Kate Deep Trap Eyes GY-1



Lavshuca Eye Color Select PK-1 + BU-1 + PU-2



Coffret D'or Trance Deep Eyes 04 Grey Variation



Shu Uemura Winter 2008 LE Palette (Ninagawa Mika Collection) Secret Luscious Rose

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As a preview, here are some flash pictures of my small birthday haul...

Kate Deep Trap Eyes BR-1



Maquillage Eyes Creator (3D) VI367



Can't wait to try these!

Lavshuca: My Inner Princess

I haven't really ventured much into the world of Japanese makeup products in my blog entries yet, but it really is a totally different world. For one thing, Japanese makeup products tend to put a greater emphasis on packaging, which I see less with most American and European brands. More specifically, there is a sector of Japanese makeup that caters to girly girls who love princessy or cute packaging. Such brands include Shiseido's Majolica Majorca, Kanebo's Lavshuca, and Sony CP's Love Clover, just to name a few.

Lavshuca is a fairly new brand (about 4-5 years old) that challenged the reign of the long-standing drugstore queen of girly packaging, Majolica Majorca. Particularly adorable are their Eye Color Select Quads that was all the rage when it came out. This eye palette series is what I will be discussing today, and is also the only Lavshuca products that I currently own. I used to have one of their lipsticks (the long thin one in a gold tube), and I would have repurchased the lipstick in other colors if it weren't for the fact that the lipstick went bad just a couple of months after I bought it (which could have been a quality control problem by Lavshuca or a problem with how long the online vendor I bought it from has had it storage). But I digress.


Lavshuca's eyeshadow quads are very different from what I'm used to with Western products. I've found that many Japanese eyeshadows, if not all, focus more on the shimmer (amount & quality), whereas Western products like to focus more on pigmentation. Along the same lines, Lavshuca's Eye Color Select Quads are big on shimmer and not particularly pigmented, which I would say goes along with the whole princess image. The powder of the eyeshadows are very fine and not at all chalky. With UDPP, the shadows don't crease at all on my lids, and without, they only crease after 7-8 hours. Like most Japanese shadows, all of the shadows have a layer of overlay on top that's a little lighter than the actual shadows. You can see the difference between the overlay and the actual shadows in the picture of the purple quad below, which was the only quad out of the three that I had used prior to taking these pictures. Each quad consists of three shadow shades plus a sparkle color in the top right. Also, each quad contains a double-ended applicator with a wider end for shadow application and a thinner end for lining.

PK-1 (the pink quad) contains an extremely pale pink (A), a taupey purplish dark pink (B), a light pink sparkle color (D), and a hot pink (C). The finished look is actually pretty neutral, unless you play up the hot pink liner color. Sorry if the "numbering" seems kind of erratic, but I listed them in the order in which they were swatched, but numbered them in the order in which the shadows are supposed to applied according to the instructions on the back of the box. In any case, if that explanation was too confusing, just refer to the letters when comparing the text with the pictures.


BU-1 (the blue quad) contains a pale blue with a green cast (A), a medium sky blue (B), a light silvery blue sparkle color (D), and a pewter with blue shimmer (C). BU-1 is not very flattering on warm-toned skin like mine because of the coolness of all the colors, particularly B, so it can easily make me look garish. I am still working on how I can make the shadows look better on me, but most likely, I'll have to break up the colors and use them with other shadows to make them work.


Finally, PU-2 (the purple quad) contains a pale champagne gold (A), a light lilac (B), a medium brown sparkle color (D), and a black with purple shimmer (C). The finished look of PU-2 is very neutral with a small hint of lilac. Because this quad was released as part of a fall collection, the colors are more grown up and serious than the other two palettes, which were released as part of a spring collection. D in this quad is also the darkest sparkle color out of the three palettes. With the other two quads, I usually apply a little bit of D over the other colors, but because the D color in PU-2 is so dark, you should be careful not to mix B with D (or put them next to each other) since it will make your eye makeup look dirty.


Also, a note about application. At first I was a bit skeptical of the quads because D contains a lot of glitter. However, once I got a hang of how to prevent the glitter from falling all over my face, I was very happy with the product. Btw, I don't have any problems with fall outs from any of the other colors in the palettes. When applying D, applying it wet with a brush or layering it on little by little will help immensely with preventing fall out. Also, you should always pat on the shadow instead of rub. Be gentle. I've included the instructions for the suggested way of using the quad for those of you who can read Japanese.


Other colors in the Eye Color Select Quad series that I didn't purchase are BR-1 and BR-2. BR-1 contains peachy, orangey, warmer browns, whereas BR-2 contains gold and neutral browns.

All photos in this entry were taken under natural light.

In short: I love the Lavshuca Eye Color Select Quads for their fine powder, sheer wash of color and abundant shimmer. However, all of these quads have little quirks that can make them hard to work with. Namely, PK-1 has a hot pink liner that's hard to use, BU-1 can look garish on warm-toned skin, and PU-2 has a crease color and a sparkle color that don't quite mesh well together.