Anna Nicole Smith

Colleen from The Lipstick Page Beauty Blog made an excellent post about Anna Nicole Smith's passing. All I can think of is that it's a waste that her life should end at such an point. So very sad.

swoon

Vanessa L. Williams looked fantastic at the Screen Actors Guild awards! I love the earrings! And she's so beautiful.

Almost the weekend

Time for pictures of eyeshadow and lip gloss from Inoui ID (Shiseido's line with makeup artist Dick Page). The eyeshadow is wonderful; easy to apply with beautiful colors that build up wonderfully. The case is sold separately but I'm glad I bought it; the brush applicator that it comes with is excellent and I've been carrying the quad around every day. I'm going to buy one or two more quads before Inoui ID closes in March (late Feb?), and refills for the eyebrow pencil. I might get another lip gloss too.


Inoui ID eyeshadow quad #35 and case


Inoui ID lip gloss #5 (Sweet)

TGIF

Yay, it's Friday! This was a busy week, so in celebration I'm going to post one of my pretties from late last year when I discovered that some Japanese drugstores have semi-permanent sales on various Japanese cosmetics. The blush at the bottom is much more peach in real life. My flash washed it out quite a bit.

Shu, JAR, Fresh, grass

I picked up my first Shu Uemura eyeshadow from a duty free shop in Taipei. Love! It's a metallic brown color with a surprising hint of pink in it. Dark but quite wearable, and wow does it last a long time. It even prevents my eye liner from smudging. That has never happened before. I can hardly believe it. Brilliant! I will have to get other colors.

In my whirlwind (albeit longest ever since childhood) tour of NYC, I ventured into Bergdorf Goodman and sought out the fabled JAR boutique. I'd imagined a sheltered cave, but it was more like a dark little alcove with dark velvet. An unmanned dark little alcove, with people flitting in and out of the secret room on the side, and no one giving me a second glance as I peered into the alcove.

I wandered in and out, hoping someone would appear to stand duty over the JARs, but no one did. So eventually I just waltzed into the alcove and peered at the bottles lying in a velvet tray. The bolt of lightening insignia in lieu of any words is rather spiffy. Since no one materialized to assist me, I thought about just picking up a bottle and trying it on, but I wasn't in the mood to talk to security that day. And what if I dropped it?! No new debts needed for the new year. So, that was my experience, or lack of, with JAR.

In lieu of that, I sniffed a bunch of the Carons and Annick Goutals in the perfume area next to the alcove while two sales people ignored me. I tried on the ETRO with almond on it (very nice). I dabbed on one of CB I Hate Perfume's products, a black tea if I remember correctly. Very interesting! I asked around for the Slatkins perfumes and got to try one on; lovely. The lady on duty there was very friendly; we chatted about the unavailability of the perfume in Japan. As I left the store, I slid past a group seeking a restroom being denied entry because closing time had been reached.

In Saks a friendly Bond No. 9 saleslady showed me the most recent Bond perfume; I can see why this line is popular. In Bloomingdales I finally ran across Hanae Mori Butterfly; I'd like to get a sample of this to try on longer. I was impressed that my NY friend had almost used up a bottle of Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely.

At the Fresh store in Soho, a friendly saleslady let us try on Fresh's Sugar lip balm. The scent is pretty but it didn't seem all that spectacular. An hour or two later though, I noticed how pretty the balm looked on my lips. At the end of the day my lips were still soft and moisturized. I can see why this is their top seller; I'm tempted to buy it in spite of the exorbitant price tag.

The nice thing about my trip to NY and Taiwan was the realization that my "the grass is always greener" thinking has been in effect for a long time during my residence in Japan. But other than a few items (shoes in my size), there isn't a lot that I can't get for reasonable prices in Japan. Pretty much the only difference is that certain foods can be a lot cheaper and better outside of Japan (say Chinese food), but there's a heck of a lot of good food in Japan. So now I'll stop thinking "I could get this way cheaper in the U.S." and just focus on whether I like it or not.

I really like my T'estimo metallicolor liner, and I'm still addicted to the smell of Beauty Credit Pomegranate Emulsion. And I have no desire to shop for a long, long time. Which is good because I need to exercise and do some volunteer work.

I still need more shoes though.

Makeup advertising campaigns: Aube, T'estimo, Esprique Precious

Sofina's Aube, Kanebo's T'estimo makeup lines have been relaunched recently and Kose just launched their new line Esprique Precious (not to be confused with Esprique Select).

Rinka, currently a quite popular model and TV personality in Japan, is the spokesmodel for Aube's relaunch. She looks good in the ads - in particular her skin looks perfect - but the hair styling is a little unnatural in the photos for the pink look. They used the purple and pink eye shadow palettes for the photos. The colors don't really appeal to me but they look pretty good on her. I'm still not sold on the purple though.

The actress Asami Mizukawa is the face of T'estimo's relaunch. I don't like the makeup they put on her. The shimmer and colors just doesn't suit. She's super pretty so I think it's just the color selection that I have an issue with. I've seen her in all of the new palettes and I don't think I liked any of them on her!

The supermodel Gemma Ward is the face of Esprique Precious, the catch phrase for which is "おとな。 but カワイイ," which translates into "grown-up. but cute." I'm guessing she's the most expensive of the spokesmodels for these campaigns, since she's internationally famous, but who know? Heh. For some reason, I really don't like the makeup they put on her. She's gorgeous but the colors seem to kind of wash her out, although they do bring out her grey-blue eyes. They should have gone with lighter lip colors. The pink is a bit too heavy on her. You may be unsurprised that the whole concept of the line is of little interest to me.

Maybe the problem is just that I don't like salmon pinkish colors. But other pinks look absolutely gorgeous - the magazine bea's Up this month has lovely layouts of a myriad of pretty pink lip colors - so I don't think that's the issue.

So far, I like the winter ad campain for Shiseido's Majolica Majorca line the best. Pretty and well done. The lip colors don't appeal to me, but they suit the model perfectly. The makeup for Chanel's Spring campaign is stunning though. Strong impact and looks great on the model. The model for Jill Stuart Spring also looks beautiful.

Recent purchases: Origins Underwear for Lips, and Covermark stick concealer

I bought this because the Armani salesman was a little scary and the friendly saleslady was no where to be found, so I had to flee to the Origins counter instead. Underwear for Lips is a lip base to wear under lipstick or lip gloss. It neutralizes the pigmentation in your lips a bit, and lipstick goes on quite smoothly. Still, I haven't noticed any marked improvement in appearance (I wipe off all my lipstick and gloss at lunch) so I am not overly enthusiastic about this item.

My unplanned purchase of CoverMark stick concealer was the result of an uninterested Inoui ID saleslady (again, the friendly lady from my previous visit was not working that day). Lately, I seem to be unable to say no if I try something on. So I have to hide from cosmetic counters. Too dangerous! Anyway, the concealer is convenient and easy to apply, but does sink into lines a little bit. And I could use a bit more coverage. I'll use it up, but again, I am not overly enthusiastic.

Ah well. My clothing purchases have gone much better (although they have also been pricy). I may take pictures for an end-of-the-year entry (inspired by Koneko).