Addiction Fall 2013

Here's a sneak peek by Abe Sawako of the Addiction Cheek Polish that will debut on 16 August in Japan. This looks like a high-end version of Majolica Majorca's Creme de Cheek which was released last October.


Some new nail polish top coats in the pic below.

Shu Uemura The Light Bulb Fluid Foundation

Shu Uemura will release The Light Bulb Fluid foundation on 23 August in Japan. Pic below by Maquia.

Available in 14 shades, it promises high coverage and a natural glowy finish. Pic below by Tomoichi.

Pic below by Vivi.

Pic below by Maquia.

The accompanying sponge is individually hand-crafted with the larger end for applying the foundation in a tapping motion and the smaller end for sebum-absorption. Pic below by Kuri.

Guerlain Fall 2013

Abe Sawako tweeted this pic of the Guerlain fall collection which will be released on 9 August in Japan. The powder/blush with the dot and lace motif looks delightful.

For Meteorites lovers, do check out this "Light is in the Air" video.

Found this ad on Twitter as well. Anna also found this pic on Instagram of a Meteorites Perles in limited edition packaging that will be released in Japan on 21 June.

Addiction and Primavista haul

After two months on a no-buy, I decided to splurge on a couple of the new Addiction Ready To Wear palettes and Primavista's new powder foundation. These pretties arrived today courtesy of the amazing So Lonely in Gorgeous who was kind enough to hunt these down for me.

Of the six Ready To Wear palettes, I picked up Soda Lunch (in the dinosaur case) and Mudd Club which is part of the permanent range. Mudd Club is available in a limited edition case specially for this launch.

At 6510yen for just 3.4g of product (versus the eyeshadow singles which are 1.2g for 2100yen), these aren't exactly a bargain. The quads are designed to be a convenient solution for customers for whom Addiction's 65 eyeshadow singles are a mind-boggling challenge.

The sleek plastic case has four holes in the back but it does not look like the eyeshadow quad can be depotted as it did not budge at all when I inserted a needle through one of the holes.

The individual eyeshadow pans can be easily depotted though, as these are secured with just a glob of glue underneath and can be lifted out just by sliding a needle under the pan.

The shades in Mudd Club contain varying amounts of shimmer.


Soda Lunch is a quirky combination that should be fun to experiment with although I'm not quite sure how to pull off that yellow shade. The white shade looks very similar to the one in Mudd Club. All the shades have a subtle pearly micro shimmer. Check out this pic of a shopping bag with the dinosaur print.


You can see swatches of both quads on Wondegondigo, So Lonely in Gorgeous and Swatcharama. The black panties has swatches of Sugar Rusk and Tuxedo Moon.

I picked up the Primavista powder foundation mainly because of the gorgeous bejewelled case which is a limited edition release for this spring.

The case retails at 1050yen while the powder foundation is 3990yen for 9g. That's pretty hefty for a drugstore brand but the foundation has received good reviews on Cosme.net. Both the case and the foundation refill come with a sponge applicator.


The latch has Primavista's signature bow design.

The foundation pan clicks into place with a snap (no messy glue here) and there is a protective plastic sheet to help keep the mirror powder-free.

Lunasol Fall 2013

Here's a sneak peek at the Lunasol autumn 2013 collection 魅光浄化 (Refined allure) to be released on 16 August in Japan. Pics by Abe Sawako. The rippled surface design is reminiscent of the Nature Color Eyes from Spring 2010. The sedate muted tones are typical of Lunasol's elegant classic style.


The W Liner & Shadow is also limited edition.

See more pics on Mochi cosme diary. Below is the full list of products in the fall collection.

1. Velvetfull Eyes: #1 Bordeaux, #2 Dark Brown, #3 Olive, #4 Navy Black

2. W Shadow & Liner in 4 shades (LE)

3. Cheek in peach and beige

4. Nail Finish N in 4 shades (LE)

5. Full Glamour Lips in 4 shades

6. Full Glamour Liquid Lips in 2 shades

7. Eyebrow Mascara in 1 shade

8. Face Powder (LE)

Bourjois South Beach Souvenirs and Summer On The Riviera

Bourjois had a couple of new collections for summer on display at Monoprix.

Summer On The Riviera is a colorful collection of lipglosses and nailpolishes with Manicure Toppings, little beads that you can use to top off your manicure. Bourjois seems very late to the party with this trend, doesn't it? There's also a dotting tool with a cute polka dot print.


Summer on the Riviera features a slew of tanning/bronzing products, like a Fabulous Bronzing Mousse for an instant tan, Maxi Delight powder bronzer, and what looks like an intriguing first - a BB Bronzing Cream with not just eight benefits but also an "addictive fragrance".


Maybelline has also released a new Dream Pure BB Cream with 2% salicylic acid, which should be good for acne-prone skin types.

Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen Swatches

As mentioned before, Pixi has become my go-to brand for eyeliner pencils as their pencils have a wonderfully smooth texture that beats even Urban Decay. Recently, I picked up another two new shades, #7 Sage Gold and #10 Copper Glow, which were released for spring.

Copper Glow comes in a bulkier, more ornate packaging whereas Sage Gold does not. Both shades are currently available on ASOS.com, which offers free international shipping.

Sage Gold looks like a re-promote of Straight On Till The Morning eyeliner in 2nd Star Twinkle from last year's Tinkerbell-themed Pixi Glow collection. If you already have 2nd Star Twinkle, you can safely skip Sage Gold.

Below are swatches of my collection of Pixi eyeliner pencils.



True to their name, these have an intense creamy consistency that glides effortlessly onto the skin with minimal tugging, and produce excellent color payoff from the first couple of swipes. Unless Urbay Decay's pencils, I have not experienced any shrinking of the liner from the wooden part of the pencil. Most of the shades have a metallic sheen, nothing too flashy or frosty.

I reach frequently for Oyster Glow to highlight the lower lashline and inner corners. True Teal is eye-poppingly bold and fun for experimenting with. The rest of the shades are all pretty easy to wear for the office or daytime.

These retail for £11 in the UK and US$15 in the US. For me, they are well worth the investment and it's a pity that Pixi offers only 10 shades of these marvelous little workers.

You can view more swatches on Drivel About Frivol and Citrine's blog.

L'Oreal Miss Pop Collection - Color Infallibles in Immaculate Ocean and Paradise Orchid

While browsing the L'Oreal counter at Monoprix in France today, I spotted these two new Color Infallibles #51 Paradise Orchid and #52 Immaculate Ocean in the permanent display. Turns out that they are part of the Miss Pop collection for spring in France, although there was no special display for the collection. You can view the full collection, which also includes some Glam Shine lipglosses and nailpolishes, on Journal d'une beauty parasseuse.

Naturally, I could not resist hauling these pretties which have a shimmery finish that make them far more interesting than the three matte shades released last fall (#41 Taupe Royal, #42 Green Baroque and #43 Brown Temptation). Immaculate Ocean is a metallic silvery grey blue with a duochrome finish. At certain angles, it looks like a metallic grey but under a bright light, the blue sparkles come to life.

Paradise Orchid is another lovely complex duochrome shade. It shifts from a metallic pale violet to flashes of pink.

Color Infallible collectors would be happy to know that Paradise Orchid looks like an all new shade and not a dupe of other Color Infallible shades (as L'Oreal has been known to release the same shade under different names in different countries). It is not as pink-toned as With A Twist.

For this spring, the US received four new Color Infallibles as part of the Miss Candy collection: #340 Dive Right In, #341 Strawberry Blonde, #342 With A Twist and #343 Cherie Merie (see swatches on Macnunu). Of these, I purchased Dive Right In and Cherie Merie off Ebay a few weeks ago.

Immaculate Ocean looked like a dupe for Dive Right In at first glance but upon swatching, Immaculate Ocean leans a slightly darker grey while Dive Right In is a tad darker grey with a stronger silvery blue flash when it catches the light.

Both Immaculate Ocean and Paradise Orchid are made in Italy while Dive Right In is made in the US. The packaging has just minor differences, like the words 'Color Infallible' are printed on the bottom of the pot of Immaculate Ocean but not for Dive Right In.

Below are comparison swatches with other Color Infallibles in the aqua spectrum.

If you own Dive Right In, you probably do not need to hunt down Immaculate Ocean unless you're a diehard Color Infallible collector who delights in the subtle nuanced variations. Paradise Orchid is beautifully unique and worth snapping up, if you can find it.





I also swatched Cherie Merie alongside Magnetic Coral (from the Miss Candy collection) and Pepsy Coral (from the Cannes collection).

Again, these are not exact dupes but rather, close cousins. Cherie Merie has the most intense coral orange tint out of the three.

The behind-the-scenes video for the Miss Pop commercial featuring Hungarian model Barbara Palvin.