Aube Couture

As reported earlier, the Aube brand will be discontinued and revamped as Aube Couture on 6 December in Japan. In response to common complaints by ladies that it is difficult to know how to apply eyeshadow, find a flattering lipstick shade or draw their own brows, Aube Couture has designed its products to be very easy to use and to bring out the individual beauty of each lady. The addition of the word "Couture" to the brand name is to give the image of makeup products that are tailored to each individual's needs.



The Designing Eyes palettes have an easy-to-understand layout to help user know at one glance which shade should be applied on which part of the eye.



By selecting shades that are very similar in terms of tone and illuminance, the new palettes help to create a more natural gradational effect as shown in the picture on the left, compared to the picture on the right in which the gradational effect is more artificial.



The Designing Rouge lipsticks have been chosen such that they are flattering on most skintones, to take the guesswork out of trying to pick the most suitable shade. The lipsticks are formulated with a "Harmonious Pearl Gold" that is said to be especially flattering and natural on Japanese skintones.

The picture on the left features the Aube Couture lipstick with Harmonious Pearl as compared to another Aube lipstick without the Harmonious Pearl on the right.



This shows the contrast between a model wearing an unflattering shade (on the left) versus her wearing a more flattering and natural shade (on the right).



The spokesmodels are actresses Kanno Miho and Aibu Saki. The packaging is a soft metallic pink and carbon silver.



The product line-up is as follows:

1. Designing Rouge lipstick (16 shades, 3360yen)
2. Designing Eyes (5 palettes, 3885yen)
3. Designing Cheeks (4 shades, 2310yen)
4. Designing Cheeks case (1050yen)
5. Designing Double Mascara (2 shades, 3150yen)
6. Designing Eyeliner (2 shades, 3150yen)
7. Designing Eyeliner Pencil Cartridge (1050yen)
8. Designing Eyebrow (3 shades, 3150yen)
9. Designing Eyebrow Pencil Cartridge (3 shades, 1050yen)
10. Designing Eyebrow Powder Cartridge (3 shades, 1365yen)
11. Perfect Point Makeup Remover (1575yen)

The mascara bristles are designed with a hook shaped tip to catch each eyelash and lift them firmly as liquid is applied on the lash roots.



While I think it's great that Aube has designed its products to be even more easy to use, the packaging looks boring and not appealing to me at all. Maybe that is supposed to go with the brand image of being simple and functional, but I like my makeup products to be fun, glamorous and feminine, not boring and safe! Aube Couture looks like the staid older sister of Aube, as epitomised by its choice of spokesmodels, neither of whom look particularly glamorous.