Pretty In Pink and Peach

Hello, my dears! Apologies for lack of posts/keeping up with comments lately -- my non-blogging life has become insanely busy and my makeup has fallen into a rut that, while alliteratively pink, peach and pretty-pretty (so still, like, true to my cheeseball soul and stuff) isn't otherwise very blog-worthy.

But my latest batch of Japanese mags (more scans forthcoming) reminded me of how much I like looking at the nuances in subtle, professional and yes, pretty makeup so I'm going to risk boring you all with some recent spins on pink/peach eyes, which have become kind of a go-to since I dyed my hair lighter and warmer. [Busyness also means pictures rarely get taken, and when they do, often turn out to be fuzzy -- apologies in advance, but this post will be more about tonal pairings than interesting placements anyway.]

....yeah, all from Japanese brands, because they are light-years ahead when it comes to this kind of thing.
As regular readers will know, Suqqu eyeshadow are my never-bettered holy grail complex neutral faves, with a luxe pricetag of £45-and-worth-every-penny. But there are plenty of offerings at more reasonable mid-range and low end prices too -- more than enough to justify the common complaint that the Japanese drugstore's an endless sea of tasteful tonal gradational...*honkshu* BUT! when I am looking for neutrals, which allow far less leeway than brights for the interesting editorial clashy/ugly thang, the diversity of undertones (undersemitones or semidemitones might be even more appropriate) to choose from across those boring, subtle variations becomes a blessing.
Warm pinks/browns are among the trickiest colours for me to pull off but the thoughtful combinations of textures (especially varieties of sparkle) and tones in these two drugstore palettes -- KATE Deep Trap Eyes PK-1 and Fasio Shade Trick Eyes PK-5 [both discontinued, but still ebayable] make them effortlessly flattering and user-friendly, even pre-coffee-ten-minutes-to-get-to-work-utterly-brainless-user-friendly. Leaving time to really enjoy the process of choosing which lip and blush colours to bring out which semidemitone nuances in these neutrals... hey, I said I was going to bore you and I AM.

Picture time! 

KATE Deep Trap Eyes PK-1

Multi-shimmered sheer white (4th from left) as a base; peach (3) all over the lid fading into the socket; shimmery rose (2) on the inner and outer corners, blended inwards; plum (1) smudged up and out from lashline; glittery gunmetal (5) dabbed into the middle of the mobile lid.

Under the eye, I ran the white (4) along the lashline and blended the pink (2) and plum (1) together at the outer edge to join the shadow on the lid.

Lips: neutral rose-peach glossy (to echo the glossed-up centre of the eye), Chanel Extrait de Gloss Liberté and Confidence mixed together.
Cheeks: Beauty Is Life Geisha, a dusty warm pink.

SUQQU Blend Eyeshadow 11 Himesango

natural light

full sun

White (1) as a base and browbone highlight; pink-peach (2) and rosy taupe (3) mixed over the lid; bronze (4) on the outer third of the lid; plummy brown (5) smudged up from lashline. It was looking too hazy at this point, so I added a blunt wing with KATE Supersharp Liquid.

Under the eye: taupe (3) along the lashline; plummy brown (5) on outer third; pink-peach (2) to blend them out underneath.

Lips: Lancôme Corset, the softer, rosier version of Guerlain Colère, which would also have worked against this hazy eye, but I wanted more harmony this day as the blunt liner was enough contrast.
Cheeks: Beauty Is Life Palace, a sunny rosy coral, applied very lightly at outer edge of cheeks.

FASIO Shade Trick Eyes PK-5

Rose gold (2) on outer half of lid, sparkly peach (3) on inner half; brown (1) to line.

Under the eye: brown (1) on inner and outer thirds, frosty white (4) in middle of lower lashline.

Lips: a sheer jelly red (Suqqu Creamy Glow Moist EX-03 Usubeni) which lets my cool pink lips show through, to echo the reddened pink of the eye.

Decided I needed something more on the cheeks, so another pinky red: Beauty Is Life Opera.

For those who noticed the Beauty Is Life blush riff, my current collection (left to right): Geisha, Palace and Opera. See Delicate Hummingbird's epic swatch/review for more.

Voce Magazine September 2012

It's August which means we're heading for season of mists and mellow fruitfulness and toasted marshmallows and cosy knits and vampy lips -- what better way than to celebrate with a delicious crop of September issues?

First up, Voce, one of the Big Three Japanese monthly beauty glossies, along with the more no-makeup-makeup-obsessed Maquia and my personal (geekier) favourite, Biteki. For September, these three go all out with supplements listing the new collections along with shade names, prices, release dates, details of limited-editionness -- i.e. all the basic things I feel like a knob asking sales assistants about (especially when they have no clue....) -- as well as an array of 'new' looks with the products employing some nuanced little tweaks to make pretty, wearable makeup (which these three mags rarely deviate from -- look elsewhere for your editorial/streetstyle fixes) look fresh again.

Let's start with some tasty new product pics:

jelly polishes and split pan kohl liners from Addiction

cream eyeshadow bases (pencils) and loose pigments from THREE

Paul&Joe powder blush duos

Some more complete overviews from the new collections booklet (this included Euro/American brands as well, so I'm picking and choosing from the Asia-exclusive ones):

Addiction Desert Rose collection

Shiseido Maquillage

Sonia Rykiel Daisy Duck collection

Cosme Decorte AQ MW

THREE Fantastic Voyage collection

N.B. labels: 限定 = limited edition // 本記 Px = this product has been used for a look on page x of this issue.

Some of the looks in question:

Cle de Peau showcase

Suqqu showcase

I'm not usually a heavy-neutrals fan but I do like this end-of-summer burnt blush and black-rimmed eyes spin.... 

...using a THREE gloss, Addiction blush trio as well as new neutrals by Chanel and Dior.

much more to my taste: I love the discrete placement of pigment here...

...in a look devised by makeup artist Nakano Akemi using Ladurée, Paul&Joe, Chanel etc.

These last two looks don't just showcase the models but also the makeup artist responsible and feature their commentary on the overall inspiration/impression, choice of products and possible substitutes from other brands.

This is the kind of attention to detail which made me toss all past and subsequent English beauty rags into the bin circa 2006. There are shots of the makeup from different angles, not just one artistically underlit über-flattering 6/7th profile! There are actual words! There are realistic product breakdowns rather than totally random sponsored featured items!
Let's exclaim over a tutorial, one from a series of three on current trends: 'Mode', as opposed to 'Feminine' (flirty flicked liner / soft pink lips / high ponytail) or 'Sexy' (slightly dropped and elongated eye / berry red lips and cheeks / tumbling waves).

Closeup of eye with key points highlighted: khaki tonal gradation on the lid, echoed horizontally on the lower lashline, black rimming the waterline to tighten the gradation, mascara on the outer lower lashes to subtly drop the eye balanced with high-shimmer shading. Also note the split liner flicks, opening up the eye to offset the strong waterlining.

yet another angle showing how the lid-gradation catches the light // other possible products

And a twelve-step program (!) on the perfect translucent/dewy base, again with the makeup artist's little pop-up pointers:

To be fair, I am cherry-picking the best bits; there be plenty of photoshopped-to-hell ads, vapid diet plans and boring fitness/hair/celeb stuff to wade through too. But somehow less annoying when not in one's native language, as in this How Not To Be Jowly article:

In the UK, you can find Japanese magazines in Japan Centre on Regent's Street or JP Books in the basement of Mitsukoshi next door. Both shops also offer subscriptions by post/collection with a discount.