Reading beauty blogs from all over the world is both educating and expensive. That's how I learned about Asia-exclusive brands and lines, and started a little quest to discover and obtain some of the gems. All I can say is that the internet is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
Maquillage is a Shiseido line that is quite fashion-forward and not available in the USA. I have no idea why, other than the fact that our market is pretty saturated already, and it's rather expensive to launch and do the necessary marketing. Still, everything I've tried so far from them has proven to be high quality and very nice.
Maquillage has been known to collaborate with fashion designers for the seasonal collections. Last year it was Christopher Kane, and fall 2009 was created with Alexander Wang. I bought (more on that below) the Perfect Gloss in RS587, a rich plum with red shimmer. The color is beautiful, of course, but there are also other factors that make this gloss a huge winner. First, the applicator. It's a thin and super flexible sponge wand that is light and very gentle. Second, the texture- not sticky, very light and still highly pigmented. Some of the shimmer and color even survive a drink.
Now, since Shiseido isn't offering Maquillage here in the USA, one can only buy it online, through websites specializing in international cosmetics sales. Thankfully, they take PayPal, so I didn't hesitate to make my first purchase, and discovered the service was excellent and very reliable. The ones with whom I'm familiar are http://ichibankao.com/ and http://www.adambeauty.com/.
Bottom line: Worth the trouble.
Photos: Mine.
Maquillage is a Shiseido line that is quite fashion-forward and not available in the USA. I have no idea why, other than the fact that our market is pretty saturated already, and it's rather expensive to launch and do the necessary marketing. Still, everything I've tried so far from them has proven to be high quality and very nice.
Maquillage has been known to collaborate with fashion designers for the seasonal collections. Last year it was Christopher Kane, and fall 2009 was created with Alexander Wang. I bought (more on that below) the Perfect Gloss in RS587, a rich plum with red shimmer. The color is beautiful, of course, but there are also other factors that make this gloss a huge winner. First, the applicator. It's a thin and super flexible sponge wand that is light and very gentle. Second, the texture- not sticky, very light and still highly pigmented. Some of the shimmer and color even survive a drink.
Now, since Shiseido isn't offering Maquillage here in the USA, one can only buy it online, through websites specializing in international cosmetics sales. Thankfully, they take PayPal, so I didn't hesitate to make my first purchase, and discovered the service was excellent and very reliable. The ones with whom I'm familiar are http://ichibankao.com/ and http://www.adambeauty.com/.
Bottom line: Worth the trouble.
Photos: Mine.
they sell this in convenience stores in japan! i played around with the line when i was there. the eyeshadows were amazingly pigmented, but unfortunately didn't last very long. definitely a great line though.
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