RMK Spring 2010 - Spring Modern Eyes N and Nail Color N

I have never owned anything from the Japanese RMK. Although I'm aware they have a counter next to SUQQU in London's Selfridges, I get tunnel vision every time I'm in the beauty department and zoom straight to SUQQU, pretty much ignoring everything else. Once I'm done at SUQQU I usually leave with a bag of goodies and a little skip in my step on the way out, again not paying much attention to the other counters.

RMK's Spring 2010 collection, Spring Modern, features 5 eyeshadow palettes, 3 cheek color palettes, 3 lipstick shades and 4 nail colour shades.

I was fortunate enough to be sent a Spring Modern Eyes N 02 Moss Green and Nail Color N EX-28 Rose Pink to review ^_^

RMK Spring Modern Eyes N - 02 Moss Green
Comes in silver ultra reflective packaging (can even be used as a mirror) and contains 4 shimmery eyeshadow shades. I think this is the quad used on the model in the promotional pictures of the Spring Modern collection.

I haven't had a chance to play with this yet; I was already wearing my SUQQU Blend Eyeshadow EX-06 (see post below for my first attempt at EOTD) so will swatch/review over the weekend. The colours look very pretty and from what I can see the eyeshadows' textures are quality.

Packaging

With flash

No flash

Closeup without flash

RMK Nail Color N - EX-28 Rose Pink
The closest fuchsia shade to this I currently own is OPI I'm Indi-a Mood For Love, but OPI's is more vivid in comparison. I've applied this to my toes (my fingernails are occupied by SUQQU). It doesn't take ages to dry and is quite creamy so I only applied one coat. I'll post a picture of it during the day.

Review - Kuan Yuan Lian masks

Whenever I'm away I somehow find myself doing even more internet shopping than usual. Nothing really beats coming home to a pile of post and the excitement of opening them all, lol. Anyway, I stumbled upon a rather impressive looking website Sasa.com which boasts a wide range of beauty brands including Japanese, American and a few I'd never heard of.

I browsed through the sheet mask section and found myself staring at some seriously low priced sheet masks ($6.20 at the time for a box of 10) by Taiwanese brand Kuan Yuan Lian. Since I'm usually of the "you get what you pay for" mentality, I was intrigued by the raving reviews these masks received and decided to order some.

In my cart went boxes of:
- Natural Care Moisture Mask (extra moisture for my skin is always welcome during the cold weather)
- Natural Care Whitening Mask (supposed to brighten/even out skin tone)
- Natural Care Firming Mask (only picked this because the Sponge Cucumber I wanted was out of stock)

The masks are preservative free and contain only natural ingredients.

Boxes of masks with 10 sheets each. There's around 25ml of essence in each sachet.


Natural Care Moisture Mask
Out of the three I purchased this is definitely the most moisturizing. My face was left feeling a lot softer and smoother. I don't really need to follow with a moisturizer after using this mask but I like to do so anyway. A great mask to use on dry skin days.

Natural Care Whitening Mask
Not really "whitening" as such, but it brightened my complexion and I really noticed a difference; my pores also looked a bit smaller. Doesn't feel as rich as the Natural Care. This is probably my favourite.

Natural Care Firming Mask
As far as firming goes I can't tell the difference (I don't think I need firming products yet anyway), but at $0.62 per mask it's very good value. However I don't think I'll purchase this mask again.

Directions:
1. Cleanse the face
2. Remove mask from its pack and spread it out evenly. The sheets are soaked full of essence and very generously sized.
3. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes (I usually leave it on for around 30), then gently massage the essence into the skin until fully absorbed. There's usually so much leftover that I rub it into my neck, hands, arms and anywhere else I can think of at the time.
4. Use 1-3 times per week or as needed

I love how reasonably priced these masks are; their price now has increased to $9.60 per box but still excellent value for money. The only downside is shipping from sasa.com to the UK is a flat rate of $18 unless you spend $100+ so for smaller orders it obviously adds quite a bit onto the price of each individual item. Having said that I won't hesitate to buy the Whitening & Moisture masks again once I've run out.

SUQQU Holiday 2009 Makeup Kits

As mentioned in my previous post, this review (amongst quite a few others) is long overdue so without further ado...


SUQQU's Christmas 2009 collection is Yukihana, which means snowflakes in Japanese. Both the palettes are decorated with snowflakes to fit in with the theme. The snowflakes on the eye palette are silver and ones on the lip palette are pale pink.


Holiday Makeup Kit A

This pretty makeup kit contains Eye Lucent EX-03 Yukigasumi, Blend Eyeshadow quad EX-06 Maiyuki and Original Pouch A (roomy chocolate brown makeup pouch with 4 inner pockets).

I really love the Eye Lucent; it's a very fine opalescent pink powder that comes with its own cute mini puff and can be used on eyes, cheeks and anywhere else you want to add a bit of shimmer. Really beautiful for a bit of extra sparkle when lightly sweeped over eyeshadow, and gives an awakening effect if used on the inner corners of eyes.



Swatching this was a bit tricky but you can see the shimmers here

The Blend Eyeshadow quad contains:
Bottom right - a pearly off white shimmery base to be used all over the lid
Bottom left - pigmented shimmery copper brown; this is the main/lining shade and I use it mostly along my top and bottom lashes
Top left - sheer pale mauve with very fine shimmers, used in the crease
Top right - medium taupe brown, I blend this on my top lid to add definition

On the whole this is a very wearable and versatile palette.


Swatches:

I think SUQQU makes the highest quality eyeshadows that I've tried so far; their ultra smooth textures blend effortlessly and stay all day without creasing. All shadows in EX-06 Maiyuki have a pearly/shimmery finish but I don't mind because I prefer shimmery shadows over matte ones.

This is the first Blend Eyeshadow quad in my collection and as much as I adore it, I don't plan on collecting them all. Then again because this is SUQQU I'll probably be persuaded otherwise ¬_¬


Holiday Makeup Kit B
This kit was sent to me to review by SUQQU; it was actually sent before the holidays but as I was away I missed the delivery and couldn't pick it up till I returned.

Makeup Kit B contains Gloss & Lip Color Palette EX-02 Yukiiro, Nail Color EX-25 and a shimmery lilac makeup pouch with detachable wrist strap.

I'm not usually much of a nail polish fan and only really wear it on my toes, however this sheer iridescent pink Nail Color in EX-25 really took me by surprise as it's different to the various shades of bright pink polish I own. I can wear it on my fingernails without it being too obvious.


Up close swatch which shows the multi coloured pink sparkles

Although I liked the lip products used on me at my makeover, I decided not to purchase Makeup Kit B as I felt two of the lip colours in the palette were too dark for my liking.

All the lip colours are wearable, but my favourites are top left (pretty shimmery lip gloss similar to the nail polish) and bottom right (pinkish red which gives a "my lips but better" effect). I like to layer the gloss over the lip colour as I'm not really one for lipsticks.


Swatches on my arm:

The lip colours & gloss have decent staying power and don't dry out my lips, but I like to use a balm underneath anyway to keep my lips extra hydrated.

The only minor gripe I have with the palettes is that their dark shiny reflective cases are major magnets for fingerprints (same goes for all SUQQU makeup actually) so I'm always having to wipe clean.


Both kits were still available for purchase at Selfridges when I visited SUQQU just over a week ago. Needless to say I took the opportunity to pick out a few more items...