Giorgio Armani & Shu Uemura: My Nordies Lipstick Experience

I discovered the beauty section of Nordstrom Rack several months ago. At first I was enraged at finding my Shu Uemura Ninagawa Mika Secret Luscious Rose palette on sale for almost 50% off the original price when I just bought it at full price a few months prior. However, I was also ecstatic at finding a variety of department store makeup items on sale, including a fair selection of Trish McEvoy, Stila, Giorgio Armani, Too Faced, and Shu Uemura items. I was able to ward off any temptation of buying makeup items from Nordstrom Rack for a while, but eventually ended up buying a Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick and a Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited not too long ago. I will be briefly reviewing these two items in this post.


I love the sleek black packaging with Giorgio Armani lipsticks. Even though it is plastic, the matte surface makes it look modern and chic, not cheap-looking like some drugstore lipstick packaging. I also like the embossed Giorgio Armani logo on the lipstick itself =) The color that I got is 02.


The creamy consistency of the lipstick is excellent, but it is unfortunately too sheer for my semi-pigmented lips. I'm not a big fan of opaque lipsticks so I thought the Sheer Lipstick line would fit my needs better, but I didn't expect it to be this sheer. Also, at the Nordstrom Rack I visited, only this Sheer Lipstick in 02 was a color I would consider putting on my lips in public. I rather like the light peachy color, so it's just too bad that it doesn't show up on my lips.


Moving on...

I've really wanted to buy a Shu Uemura lipstick for a while now since I love the futuristic packaging (I'm shallow =P) and I've heard some good things about them. The color I picked is PK302, again because it was the only color in the batch available that I would consider putting on my lips.


Unfortunately, perhaps because the Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in PK302 I got was on sale, the texture was drier than I expected and not really what I consider good quality. In addition, I don't like the obvious silver shimmer particles in the lipstick, and the light pink color was also too sheer for my lips. I was too lazy to take a swatch photo for this since it looks very similar to the Giorgio Armani Sheer in 02, except the Shu Uemura is a little cooler.


The Giorgio Armani pictures in this post were taken under natural light, whereas the Shu Uemura pictures were taken under white light.

In short: A big disappointment for both purchases; both the Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick in 02 and the Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in PK302 were too sheer for me and the texture of the Shu Uemura lipstick was too dry. Definitely will not be repurchasing either of these. My lesson learned is that even though it's great to buy department store makeup at prices lower than retail, the outlet still has a more limited selection and the quality may be questionable such as with the Shu lipstick.

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 - 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!

I <3 Mika & Shu!

I just received my Shu Uemura Winter 2008 Palette (Ninagawa Mika Collection) in Secret Luscious Rose a couple of days ago so I'm too excited to pass up blogging about it. My first reaction upon seeing the Mika Rose palette was, "It's tiny!" I've seen pictures from other blogs, but all the pictures I've seen were close-ups so I've been assuming that the palette is sizable. Except in reality, this palette is the size of my highlighter o_O (and about half the size of my NARS palette) That doesn't mean I love it any less, I was just surprised.


The palette came in a cute little plastic box. It's really not that special, but I just think the little writing on the bottom left corner that says "mika <3 shu" is so adorable ^__^


On to the palette itself. There are 7 powder eyeshadow colors and a gel (or cream?) liner color in this palette. This is my first Shu Uemura eyeshadow product so I was happy to feel how soft and fine the shadows are. They are not super pigmented on the first swipe, but the color is buildable, and they do not get chalky as you layer the color on. The gel liner is also soft, smooth, and very easy to use. The shadows/liner last okay, faring about the same as my Majolica Majorca eyeshadows. The palette comes with a dual ended applicator that has a sponge tip on one end for applying eyeshadows and a liner brush on the other end. Both applicators work great, though I've stopped using the sponge tip end to apply the eyeshadows just because there are 7 eyeshadows vs. two sides of the sponge tip applicator, and I certainly don't want to contaminate the colors when I'm applying them =P


The colors in this palette are absolutely gorgeous. You should definitely click on the image to see the full size swatch to get a better idea. The first color (from the left) is a neutral brown with golden shimmer, a very pretty, basic color. The second color is a ivory beige with pale gold shimmer. This color really wowed me when I first swatched it since it looks like a basic ivory highlighter in the pan, but the gold shimmer that comes out on the skin is so beautiful! The third color is a coral-y copper with gold shimmer that looks pretty orangey red on my arm and lids. The fourth color is a pale cool pink that can also work as a highlighter. The fifth color is a blue-tinged purple, which looks like the powder version of my Shiseido Hydro-powder in H6 Violet Visions (I'll have to do a comparison swatch). The sixth color is a dark metallic royal blue that really gives a pop of color especially when paired with some of the more neutral colors in the palette. The last eyeshadow color is a olive green with some gold shimmer. The gel liner on the very right is a shimmery brown that looks more shimmery on my arm than on my lids.


All of these colors are truly beautiful, but I think the ivory gold (2nd color) and coral-y copper (3rd color) are the ones that really amazed me ^^ At the same time, I think the copper color may also be the hardest color to work with in the group because it can make my eyes look puffy.

All photos in this entry were taken in natural light.

In short: Major rave for the Shu Winter 2008 Mika Collection Palette in Secret Luscious Rose! I love the texture, love the colors, love the packaging, basically love everything about this palette. Of course, I'm still in the honeymoon period with this product so I guess I'll have to wait a while to see if I still like it this much. But for now, I shall go to sleep happy with the Mika Palette on my nightstand ^_^

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UPDATE: Now that I've passed the honeymoon period, I'm not sure I like this palette as much anymore. For one thing, it was really expensive, and my heart was absolutely bleeding when I recently saw it on sale at Nordstrom Rack for about 2/3 of the original price. Now that I've had more experience with Japanese drugstore brands, I think the quality of Shu's shadows are at about the same level as those of MJ, Kate, or Lavshuca. Also, I'm not very adventurous with eye looks so the most I would do is to mix 2 or 3 colors in this palette at one time. In that case, quads and quints with easy color pairings work mch better for me.