My work day make-up, never very adventurous, has attained a new pinnacle of corporate monotony. I won't bored you with the details; suffice it to say that I have lapsed to a ready-in-5 ethos, and can frequently be seen heading out the door without eyeliner. And what is more: I'm okay with that.

And perhaps it is to counterbalance all that unobtrusive naturalism I wear in the office that, when I do get the time and the inclination to play with colour, I tend to go all out.

The incredibly adorable Shokay S/S 2012 Campaign

One of the common questions that beauty bloggers get asked: "How do you do make-up on an Asian eye?" 

I have seen lots of very helpful videos on the topic (from Lisa Eldridge, Rae Morris, and others), but without fail, I personally find the question quite annoying and fetishistic. There isn't a one-shape-fits-all, stereotypical "Asian eye", just as there is no such thing as a "standard (i.e. Caucasian) eye". If you have a monolid, or long narrow eyes, or a creaseless lid, my best advice would be to start looking at images of women with monolids, narrow eyes, or creaseless lids. A copy of Vogue China will probably teach you more about make-up that is flattering for your eye shape than I could in a dozen posts. 

That, and practice. 

Take the above image from the Shokay S/S 2012 campaign, featuring a long, eye-lengthening flick of black liner, orange eyeshadow, and rosebud lips painted not in your typical geisha red, but a glossy tangerine. Since my eyes are more rounded than the model's, recreating the whimsical, wide-eyed look on my features took some adjustment in the width and angle of the flick, but the placement of the coloured pigments is more or less the same. 

Full coverage foundation would have been better for this look, to more closely match HD "perfection", but lazy as I was on a Saturday, I opted for the minimal coverage afforded by Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation, with some concealing around the nose, mouth, and under the eyes. Brows were filled in with my current favourite brow product, Cle de Peau Eyebrow Pencil in 101 (a mechanical pencil with built-in brush), and shaped in as much of a rounded arch as I could achieve. My own brows are very straight, nearly-perpendicular to the line down the centre of my nose; to get the same angle in the brows as the model in the photo would have taken more plucking and masking than I was prepared to deal with. (Compromises, compromises…)

To match the eyeshadow, I blended two vivid metallics from Shu Uemura (their names long lost to me, as they were depotted into a palette years ago), for a warm, shimmery orange that stands out just enough from my skin tone. Toward the inner third of the eyelid, I faded the orange slightly with NARS Silk Road, a very glittery pink-nude, and the outer corner was deepened with Kevyn Aucoin Copper, which is more brown and less metallic. 

The white under the eyes would have been best achieved with a pencil, but with none in my stash, I made do with a layer of Shu Uemura P42 (matte white with pink undertone), followed by Addiction Cigarette to better catch the light. A hint of Cigarette also went under the brow as a highlight.  

The main attraction, the liner, was drawn in with a liquid liner pen, Lancome Liner Definition in 01 (Black). Its soft, flexible felt tip is not as fine as I would like, but it is very easy to work with, even for someone as unused to drawing flicks as I am. It delivers very crisp edges and dark, velvety pigment. NARS Zen beneath cheekbones and a light dusting of Shiseido RD103 Petal on the cheeks finished off the face.

I am less than happy with the lips - not the lipstick, which is a mix of Shiseido Day Lily and Chantecaille Canna - but with the mauve undertone that peeked through despite the foundation and concealer I used to mask the natural colour of my lips. A seam between face and lips destroys the illusion of skin melding invisibly into the sides of the mouth, and draws attention to the unnaturalness of the painted "pout". A peach corrector might have been more effective here to counteract the dark purple. 

L-R (click to enlarge):
Shu Uemura P42 blush (as a white eyeshadow base)
Shu Uemura metallic orange eyeshadow (discontinued)
Shu Uemura metallic bronze eyeshadow (discontinued)
Kevyn Aucoin Copper (contour)
NARS Silk Road
Addiction Cigarette (highlight)
Shiseido OR418 Day Lily
Chantecaille Canna

Image source: Shokay 

Labels: addiction, beauty notes, chantecaille, cle de peau, kevyn aucoin, lancome, nars, shiseido, shokay, shu uemura

8/10/2012 [9]

If the Christmas-New Year's period has found me somewhat quiet, blogging-wise, it's because I was travelling in Japan for nine days - visiting the Shiseido flagship store in The Ginza, feeding the sacred deer in Nara Park, walking around the Floating Garden Observatory in Osaka, and testing as many hard-to-find Japanese brands (ie. Suqqu, Hakuhodo, ADDICTION by Ayako, THREE Cosmetics, RMK, Elegance, and Paul & Joe) as I could get my hands on.

When it came to eyeshadows, the stand-out brand was ADDICTION. I am not a fan or a wearer of idealised East-Asian eye makeup: the combination of pale shimmer and barely-there colour with a very strongly defined lash line and extremely thick (often false) eyelashes. The ADDICTION eyeshadow range includes almost 60 colours, covering your basic neutrals but also many strong, fashion-forward colours, atypical of a Japanese brand. Most have pearl or metallic finishes, and the pigmentation and texture of these eyeshadows could give Shu Uemura (back when it was at its best) a run for its money. They are buttery-soft, and even when applied dry, have an intensity that appears almost wet.

ADDICTION Eyeshadows in (L-R) Shangri-La, Keshi, Arabian Ruby, and Cigarette. All shadows have been swatched dry. Click to enlarge image.

ADDICTION pressed eyeshadows are available as singles (2000 Yen each) which you can fit into compact cases. There is also a wide range of designed eyeshadow quads (9000 Yen) and sextets (13500 Yen), not to mention eyeshadow/blush combinations. I already had my eye on some specific shades, and decided on buying an empty 4-pan compact case, which I then requested that the sales assistant fill with the eyeshadows in Shangri-La (metallic red), Keshi (pearly silver gunmetal), Arabian Ruby (metallic aubergine-brown), and Cigarette (frosty white glitter). There was also a matte pinky-red shade, Alice, that I nearly got instead of Shangri-La. In the end, however, the softness and richness of the metallic won me over.

Equally fascinated and terrified by pink/red eyeshadow, having bought and discarded NARS Carravaggio duo (Azaela pink and irridescent purple) in the past, I had been searching for a very deep, punchy red since November, when Lisa Eldridge posted her red eyeshadow look video. The trend was undeniable, and I was obstinate that there was a way I could make it work with my warm, yellowy-olive undertones.

My previous attempt to wear red on the eyes used a NARS brick-red cream blush, Constantinople, in lieu of an actual red eyeshadow - and it wasn't bad, as attempts go. The warm matte red is easier for me to wear, but did not have the sparkling alienness that I was going for. This time, I was able to build up the red to the point of creamy opaqueness with Shangri-La. The colour itself is slightly cool, but not to the extent of being unwearable on me, especially when applied heavily with a wet MAC 239 brush; on someone fair and cool-toned, Shangri-La would appear more pink than red. To give depth to the outer corner and the crease, I dipped the same MAC 239 in Arabian Ruby, removing most of the dark purple on the back of my hand, before blending it gently into the red. Finally, I used Cigarette to highlight the centre of the eye socket, and lined the upper lash line with a black pencil, and then Keshi (wet).

At the Thakoon F/W 2011 show, glowing red and orange eyeshadow was paired with desaturated lips. I preferred the opposite: a closely matched red or pinky shade on the lips, which was what Eldridge used in her video. For my version of the look, I layered a shockingly bright, jewel-toned fuchsia (Anna Sui V 360) under a pinky-rose with a more neutral base (Utowa Rose 55). Offset by pale cheeks untouched by blush, the result is weird and unapologetic, but oddly flattering.

Click to enlarge image.

Have you ever worn red eyeshadow in public? I noticed many older women in Japan wearing a very subtle hint of red around their eyes, and assumed it to be a vestige of traditional kabuki makeup. Certainly I hope this experiment of mine has convinced you that the NARS Hanamachi Eyeshadow Palette is not merely a collector's item to be admired and not used. You might be surprised - as I was - how wearable red eyeshadow can be.

Labels: addiction, anna sui, beauty notes, lisa eldridge, nars, utowa

1/07/2012 [18]

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