Shu Uemura KYE Collectioon: Brow Palette in Cappuccino/Dark Rose

This the last of my KYE haul, and unfortunately is the biggest disappointment for me. I was so excited about this product, and felt like it would be a slightly-edgy-but-not-so-out-there thing to do to have dark rosy brows. The packaging is still cute, and feels nice and hefty in my hands, but that's about as far as it goes.

It contains Cappuccino, a light grey-mauve tone, and Dark Rose, which looks so beautiful in the pan. 

 

The instructions here to use Cappuccino to draw and Dark Rose to blend, makes no sense to me. As it turns out, Cappuccino is so lacking in pigmentation that I could not get it to show up on my brows at all.  Even on my arm, it look a lot of layers to even show any kind of shadow! 

Dark Rose is more pigmented, so it make more sense to actually use that to "draw" my brows and then go over it with Cappuccino to blend. I really was so excited and wanting to love this, but once I finished my look, I realized the shade is exactly like those eyebrow tattoos the Asian aunties used to have, that same reddish-brown..ugh! (Sorry you might have to be Asian to understand what I'm referring to). It just made me feel old, not cool at all.

This likely will work for you if you have reddish-brown hair though!

I'm ending on a down note I guess, but by far the best of the KYE collection so far for me was the cushion blush, second is the tinted lip balm. I'm only glad I got this brow palette on sale and didn't pay the full $55 CDN for it, eeks. The KYE collection does have a indigo-blue shade in the brow sword, which I might try (no "auntie" look there) but not sure if I will end up going for it as it may be a waste of money on something I may not end up using a lot of... we will see =P

What has been your most recent product disappointment?

Shu Uemura KYE Collection: Sheer Color Balm - melt in orange

If I for some out-of-this-world reason, I would have to only live with one single type of makeup item, I would choose tinted lip balms. They're easy to use to brighten my lips and complexion, moisturizing, and require no effort to blend. So of course I had to pick up one of the tinted lip balms from the Shu x KYE collection!

 

Normally I choose "safe" colors like peach and pink, this time I thought I'd brand out a bit and try the orange. It does look shockingly orange in the tube, however I was a bit disappointed it just turned into regular peach-pink on me (both on my skin and on my lips).

Despite my disappointment in this not being a very "out there" shade, I'm happy with the formula. It's thin and moisturizing, and on the glossier side. The formula reminds me most of the YSL Candy balms, which continue to be my favorite tinted lip balm line.

Also, how cute is the packaging?! Not "fancy" like YSL, but makes my eyes happy when I pull it out to use :) The cap is also fairly tight so I'm not concerned about it coming off in my purse.

Overall, this is a solid buy in the luxury tinted balms world, for $36 CDN. If you love tinted balms like I do, this is a great add to your collection! If tinted balms aren't your thing, skip this :)

Shu Uemura KYE Collection: Fresh Cushion Blush - hibiscus orange

I'm starting off this KYE series review with my favorite product thus far. This is my first cushion blush product ever, and have to say this now my favorite form of blush!

 I love applying cushion BB creams, like my IOPE Air Cushion, but this is even better!

 

 Cute packaging aside, it's a traditional cushion packaging with a soft sponge. This is smaller than a BB cushion of course, so only 2 fingers fit on this sponge rather than 3.

 

 The sponge is very saturated with product, and initially I thought I was going to apply way too much. 

I needn't have been concerned though, as this blush is very sheer, but buildable. I dab the sponge in the cushion then lightly tap it around my cheeks. It blends like a dream!

 On the left is a big unblended splotch of the product, and on the right is blended out. It's subtle and very natural, of a demi-matte, non-shiny sheen. It doesn't look artificially orange, but rather warms up my cheeks almost like bronzer, though without the "tan" look. It's beautiful though I had trouble capturing my cheeks on photo with this showing up so hopefully you can trust my words and go try this out yourself! It looks even more gorgeous if you add a golden highlighter on top!

Have you tried a cushion blush before? It feels like a pampering spa experience for my cheeks!

Shu Uemura F&F Sale - KYE haul

Shu Uemura recently had a sale, 25% off for spending over $125, which an amazing deal as Sephora's recent sad VIB sale was only 15% off. I picked up 3 pieces from the new KYE collection, collaborated with Kathleen Kye, a Korean streetwear designer. The boxes were super cute! I picked up the following:

- cushion blush 

- brow palette

- sheer color balm

Individual reviews will be posted shortly!

Why it's bad to buy too many new products at once...

2014 was a stressful year that resulted in a lot of stress shopping. I recently just discovered I completely forgot to open up this beauty from the Lancome x Jason Wu collection from 2014! I remember being excited to buy this but completely forgot about it amongst the pile of other stuff I bought. 

 

Sadly, despite much shaking, this formula is toast. It's consistency is unlike that of other artliners I've used in the past, and the pigmentation is patchy and impossible to even out despite my best efforts. I recall seeing gorgeous photos of this back in 2014, so my only conclusions is that I missed out on it's good days and it must have now gone "off". Sigh... oh how I wish I used and enjoyed this in 2014 when it was meant to be enjoyed!!

 

Do you ever forget about things you buy? Or do you always open up what you buy right away? If you're the latter I'm going to try to be more like you from now on! Or maybe I should just buy less...hm... =)