I don't know what the Japanese put in their eyeshadows, but whatever it is, it's dope. It doesn't even matter if the brand is low or high-end - the eyeshadows are usually smooth and highly pigmented. You'll remember my review of the KATE Blendzone eyeshadow and how impressed I was with it. The new eyeshadow, the KATE Eye Shadow CQ (P960) is no less impressive.

Same as Blendzone, CQ is highly pigmented, creamy, long-lasting, well-milled - everything I'm looking for in a quality eyeshadow. The shades in this palette are all lovely and work great with my skintone.

I don't use cream eyeshadows by themselves because they're harder to work with and blend perfectly. However, they make excellent bases for powder eyeshadow. They increase the intensity and lasting power of the top layer - of course, provided that you're using a cream product that's not too emollient and oily.

That's what I like about the Tony Moly Backstage Paint Eye Pot (P448). It dries up quickly and doesn't slide around on my lid. I like that it doesn't dissolve with water or sweat. It does crease and fade, but powder eyeshadow helps.

Expect me to be excited when one of my favorite brands comes up with something new. This time, Clinique is bringing in a reformulted version of one of their best-selling products, the Clinique Turnaround Concentrate Radiance Renewer (P3,250) and the Lid Smoothie Anti-Oxidant 8-Hour Eye Colour (P1,550).

The Turnaround Concentrate is a "fast acting exfoliating serum that instantly creates a luminous-from-within radiance. Reveals skin's finest texture, too. Works to optimise natural cell renewal, gently, continually, unveiling skin that's brighter, healthier, more uniform." Intriguing.

At last, something new from one of my favorite brands, Colour Collection! I know some folks have been having trouble tracking down a Tupperware dealer in search of their excellent Color Intense Lipsticks, but I tell you, it's worth it. And now there's something else to pine after with the release of the Mineral Cosmetics Line and Age-defying BB Cream.

First off, I doubt that the makeup is actually 100% mineral - BUT there are no parabens or fragrance involved in the making of this line, and they also threw in some soothing ingredients like aloe vera, green tea, shea butter, and jojoba oil. The lipsticks are mostly made of oils, waxes, pigments, and silicates, so they can pass off as mineral makeup.

The powder makeup is mostly mica, talc, zinc, pigments, and chemical binders. So not entirely mineral makeup but they do have less irritants than the usual makeup. IMHO, that's a good job already because so many companies who got into the mineral makeup bandwagon are FAR from actually being MMU.

On to the collection!

They released five new shades of Mineral Lipsticks with SPF15: Plumberry, Creamy Coral, Satin Shell, Brick Rose, Smooth Wine. They're all pigmented and delightully loud!

Mineral here, organic there. That has been the trend in beauty for the past few years, but these days it's more of a given than an optional thing for brands. I mentioned before that I'm not completely sold on 100% natural beauty products simply because they're either ineffectual or, if the quality is good, the price can be prohibitive. Nonetheless, there is one brand that has sucessfully battled this dilemma by being somewhere in between - Human Heart Nature.

The HHN Mineral Eyeshadow Palette in Enchanted Evening (P275) is the first makeup I've tried from the brand. The packaging is pretty and the price is friendly, but is the quality competitive?

What I like about the product

• It doesn't have the usual tacky shade selection. The lilac, dusky violet, and gray purple are sophisticated shades that I didn't expect in a P275 palette. They will work with fair to morena skintones.
• Well-milled and not chalky at all. I like the silky texture.

Last month, I ran out of my favorite eyeshadow primers (UDPP and TFSI) at the same time so I decided to hunt for a new one. I'm foolish like that. I have holy grail products sure, but I also like to explore other options. It makes for good blog fodder, and who knows, the new one might actually work better!

Anyway, I came across the MAC Prep + Prime Eye (P1,000+) last August. I normally look for online reviews before buying a product in this price range, but I got this one on impulse plus I was in a hurry at that time. I didn't like it at first but I suppose it's just one of those things that grow on you, you know?

What I love about the product

• Intensifies eyeshadows, like a good eye primer should. It makes pigments and shimmers adhere better on skin.
• It feels like a very thin, lightweight, liquidy concealer, so it evens out your lid and can act as a base for your undereye concealer as well. If you don't have super dark bags, this can actually double as a concealer by itself.

Some girls don't like wearing eyeshadows because of the extra work involved. They also don't want to give the impression that they're overly made up, especially in professional or formal settings where they need to look clean and almost bare-faced. Hence, the "no makeup makeup" was born.

I think that the Cover Girl Eye Enhancers in Country Woods were designed with that look in mind!

This palette has four neutral eyeshadows that are decently pigmented for a drugstore brand. The eyeshadows won't really show up brightly though. That just give the eyes the subtlest hint of glimmer and contour, improving their shape and color, without giving many clues that they're actually there. Pretty neat if you ask me.

What I like about the product

• Nice pigmentation. Won't blow your mind away, but it works.
• Colors really bring out the eyes without looking obvious. They look good on fair to medium skintones. 

Foundations even out the skin and soften blemishes, but they don't always give the illumination that our face needs. They usually have a matte or satiny finish so you may need another product to sort of finish off your face in a literal halo of light. Illuminators do this for you by having light-reflecting ingredients that create this subtle haze of light around your skin.

Sounds too complicated? It's actually easy to get illuminated! It's only difficult when you're using the wrong product - by wrong I mean too shimmery, too pigmented, too obvious. I love the Guerlain Meteorites for that instant ethereal glow but for a warmer finish, I prefer to use the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Compact in Bronze (P2,300).

Shimmer bomb? As the name suggests, the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick is shimmery in the pan. However, when it goes on your face, the fine shimmer diffuses and isn't really detectable unless you look closely. It's more shimmery than the Guerlain Meteories (which is more on the pearly side) but less pigmented than the NARS Laguna Bronzer.

Pigmentation and finish. At first, I was trying to get it to work like a bronzer by contouring my cheeks and the sides of my face with it.

If you've ever been to a Tony Moly store, you'll know that the place is stocked with beauty products from floor to ceiling. The Megamall store in particular is small but the first time I went there, I spent 15 minutes going through everything! There was just so much to take in. However, even though Tony Moly carries an extensive line already, that doesn't stop the brand from bringing in more, more, more.

Here are some of the brand's latest products. A few of these may not be available yet so better inquire at the Tony Moly Facebook Page to be sure.

It's a lot! There's something for the hair, feet, face, and of course TM's cute makeup. Oh, the makeup. They look like toys so I wasn't initially inclined to take them seriously. Well I do now after using them!

Berry Trendy Style Hair Glaze (P378), Backstage Paint Eye Pot in Lavender (P448), Shiny Foot Baby Skin Heel Patch (P178), Petite Bunny Gloss Bar (P278), Lovely Girl Eau de toillete (P748)

I love me a brand that innovates and constantly tries to improve on its past products. Human Heart Nature, for instance, never sits on its laurels. It recently released three new products for organic lovers out there. Check out the latest goodies!

 Kids Natural Shampoo & Body Wash with Protein Care System (P139), 100% Natural Lip Balm(P70), and the Mineral Eyeshadow in Enchanted Evening (P275)

I am super intrigued by the new eyeshadow palette, if only because of its lovely packaging! I particularly like the box, but other than that I think the dusky violet shades are quite classy and wearable.

Have you guys seen the Revlon CustomEyes Shadow & Liner Duo in Metallic Chic? It's pretty no? The textured palette reminds me so much of cozy cableknit sweaters. That aside, you'll find that this palette is better than Revlon's last few ones. 

Shade selection. The CustomEyes Shadow & Liner Duo has five eyeshadows (the darkest of which you are supposed to use as an eyeliner) that are decently pigmented and nicely chosen.

The Bobbi Brown Tortoise Shell Palette in Sand (P3,000) was designed specifically for women who wear glasses, but if you ask me it's still a great all-around palette even if you don't don frames. It has a well-selected mix of eight shades that provide a soft focus effect, as if there is just a natural haze of color around the eyes.

I've been using it this past week and girls, I think I've found another permanent mainstay in my kit! The eyeshadows are well-milled and pigmented.

You know those pesky Facebook ads? They can be annoying, but they're useful sometimes! That's how I found out that The Pink Slippers Boutique is selling the Sigma Flare Eyeshadow Palette. It's part of the latest palette collection of Sigma featuring eight eyeshadows bundled in with a double-ended brush (the E55 and E40). At P2,000 it looks expensive, but I think the brush + eight eyeshadows more than make up for the cost. Bought this a couple of weeks back and I really enjoy the brush, most of all.

What I love about the product

• Great selection of fun colors - warm and cool - that can work well together. Indeed, this is the one feature that convinced me to buy the palette. 
• Intensely pigmented with the right eyeshadow base.

When I first saw the Bobbi Brown Tortoise Shell Collection in Temptalia a couple of months back, I was floored. I like the theme and the fact that this collection is targeted towards women who wear glasses (me)! You see, it's a more difficult to use makeup when you wear glasses since they bring focus to the eyes. You don't want to be caught dead with droopy or tired-looking eyes, right? The Tortoise Shell Eyeshadow Palette is specifically designed to highlight our peepers without them looking overdone or trying hard. 

Aside from the palette, a set of mini-brushes with tortoise shell handles will be making a debut. If you've ever wanted to try Bobbi Brown brushes but can't afford them, this set is your best bet since you won't have to pay full price for them to get the same quality. It's P3,000 for the set but that's considerably less expensive than the normal size brushes which can go up to P2,000 a piece.  

Click after the jump to get more tips from Bobbi Brown on how to wear makeup with glasses on!

I'm low on eyeshadow primer so I went on a swatching spree a couple of weeks back to decide on a new one. I LOVE the  Urban Decay Primer Potion and the  Too Faced Shadow Insurance - two cult favorites in their own right - but I still want to check out other locally available eyeshadow primers. Laura Mercier's primer looks promising, but I didn't want to spend P1,000 at that time.

I ended up buying the E.l.f. Eyelid Primer Collection (P249)

The E.l.f Eyelid Primers aren't comparable to UDPP or TFSI, but hey do the job of intensifying eyeshadows and keeping them more or less intact during the day. That's not too bad considering the friendly price tag they come with. 

The set has three shades of the primer: Champagne, Sheer, and Pearl. Champagne is a dirty, shimmery beige-brown that looks weird on my lids as a primer. It definitely doesn't look like the usual champagne shade! Sheer is, well, sheer, although it leaves a whitish cast on my medium skintone that I still need to blend out afterwards. Pearl is white with big, gritty glitters that really look off on skin. 

I'm finding it a teensy bit difficult to begin this post, which is why I've been putting it off. I want to be able to sound sophisticated and knowledgeable while writing this review but I can't seem to get it right! You see, all I really want to say is this: Shu Uemura makes some of the best, if not the best, eyeshadows out there. Get one if you can, I'm not kidding!

I own a Shu Uemura travel palette but I never really appreciated the brand's eyeshadows until I got to try their singles from the Color Atelier. The colors are absolutely amazing, and the texture, my gosh! So soft and buttery. You don't even need a primer to make them stay on and look intense. These eyeshadows have no cons for me, although I do know P695 for a refill pan is steep. Still, that's considerably cheaper than other similar high-end brands pricing their singles at P900 up.

Shu Uemura recently released a customizeable palette that you can fill up with eyeshadow singles and/or blushes. It sells separately for P1,095 and also comes in one and two-pan versions. It's a well-designed case but you may also opt for a magnetic palette from a different brand to hold more Shu eyeshadows. Because seriously, are you going to stop with just four? I'm not!

Here are the colors I chose for my customized palette. I wanted to get ones I don't have yet; the rainforest paradise vibe was an unconscious theme! Hehe.

ME Soft Blue 655

IR Soft Gold 370

Sometimes, all it takes to have and spread good vibes is to just look the part. I was all about good vibes last Friday when I went to a shoot for Ferretti. I knew it was going to be a fun day, a good one, so I made sure my whole outfit was in tune with it.

Topshop blouse/ Soiree jhodpurs/ Ferretti tan wedges/ Parfois gold leaf necklace and ring 

I really liked my outfit that day but, yes, I should really learn how to pose. Never mind! The color combination and silhouette was what mattered. For makeup, I wanted to road test my Color Atelier palette from Shu Uemura for the first time. I only had 10 minutes to do my face since the call time for the shoot was early, so I just lined my eyes with two shades for that nice cheery pop of color.

Face: NARS Sheer Glow Foundation, MAC Studio Finish concealer, Makeup Forever Full Cover Concealer (for those really pesky blemishes), Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit (for dark circles), Clinique translucent loose powder, Guerlain Meteorites

Last Wednesday, Shu Uemura invited beauty bloggers to check out their latest product: a customizable palette! They also introduced new eyeshadow and Glow On blush colors, collectively called the Color Atelier. All these are designed to accommodate any look you can think of, since the palette can carry a combination of four eyeshadows or two eyeshados + one Glow On. It also comes in singles and doubles.

The palette itself is pretty neat since it's functional and no-fuss (no need for magnets or adhesives), but are you ready for the REALLY good news? The single eyeshadows are only P695! I know, still steep, but compared for other high-end brands here in the Philippines, that price is very, very affordable. They're the kind of things you'd love to collect since the colors and quality are just lovely.

Ok I am gushing too much. I can't help it. I have a couple of well-loved Shu Uemura items (a Glow On blush and a palette) so yes I'm very excited to add a few more. When I went to their Rockwell branch, I was like a kid in a candy store. I checked out all the makeup and agonized about the colors I want to put in my own palette!

There was no question: I wanted four eyeshadows.