Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow

So I'm not sure if I should thank Maquillage or hate them, because since last fall, the True Eyeshadows had scattered my attention and sent me in directions I never expected to go, first with Lunasol Three-Dimensional Eyes and Vivid Clear Eyes, then Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow, thanks to the similar looking split pan.

Starting in the spring of 2012 (I think, top screencap), Suqqu added quints to their usual lineup of quads, though by now only two palettes 10 Kozuecha and 12 Konruri remain on the permanent line (bottom screencap). I think 10 Kozuecha looks interesting (yes, me and my peach, beige, brown thing, boring I know...), but I'm also wary of the bottom right pan, which has a completely matte finish I always do my best to avoid. Then again, the draw of these "blend color" palettes is that every color in the pan can be layered and mixed, so technically that matte color should work.

***Screencap from Suqqu JP Online Shop.

So I was all ready to give 10 Kozuecha a try when Suqqu did something very interesting -- they released an octet EX-21 紫水晶 (Murasakisuishou) for the fall of 2014. Of course I skipped 10 Kozuecha in favor of EX-21 Murasakisuishou because, well, look at it! And of course the palette sold out pretty quickly everywhere and I was loathed to pay the doubled and tripled e(vil)bay rip-off price. So I started stalking Rakuten JP. After a few months of obsessively checking, my efforts paid off (or rather, paid out, ha... -.-") and I finally got a hold of one for 7,500yen including shipping, which is about USD62 with the current exchange rate. Scored!

***Screencap from Suqqu Global.

So this is my very first Suqqu eye shadows, Blend Color EX-21 Murasakisuishou. Ironically, it'll probably ruin all other subsequent Suqqu palettes for me unless they can top this octet ^.^" Who doesn't love color variety? And beautiful colors that can be blended and mixed! The palette comes in a plastic outer box and the compact itself has a sleeve that's microfiber inside but more velvety outside.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.



I love this palette! When I first opened it up, I thought, aww, matte again (that bottom right pan)?!? But thankfully I was wrong and there's no matte ^.^ The top 2 pans are semi metallics and the bottom 2 are shimmery, with the bottom left having a lot more visible sparkles than the bottom right that has much finer shimmers. The eyeshadows themselves are well pigmented even when many are semi-translucent, hence layering very well over or under each other. The texture is silky smooth without any chalkiness or powdery/shimmer fallouts, but that said they're also not as buttery as some of the Lunasol palettes. This last bit surprised me since everyone always raves about how buttery Suqqu palettes are, so may be it's just this particular one that's lacking on the butter LOL

Top left:
- Left: semi metallic, medium intensity. A gorgeous semi-translucent lotus pink.
- Right: semi metallic, medium intensity. Yellowy gold with some beige thrown in. Lovely on its own all over the lids.

Top right:
- Top: semi metallic, medium intensity. A semi-translucent mauvey tawny taupe. I'm very warm toned so I have to mix this color with the gold above if I wanted to wear it as a wash all over the lids. But if I keep it below the crease line it adds really nice depth.
- Bottom: semi metallic, medium intensity. A semi-translucent purplish taupe. Another really pretty crease color.

Bottom right:
- Left: shimmer, very sheer. A translucent powder pink with very fine shimmers. It's pretty much a soft white on me.
- Right: shimmer, low intensity. A semi-translucent pale ochre that's also pretty off white on me. This color differs with the powder pink above in that it's also slightly pearly in addition to being softly shimmery.

Bottom left: both make beautiful liner shades, by the way.
- Top: shimmer, high intensity. Shimmery blackened olive with larger gold shimmers.
- Bottom: shimmer, high intensity. Shimmery blackened denim blue with a touch of purple.

Angled close-ups. Sorry for the dry skin. I did moisturize my hands as always but it's still really dry. Grrr. And I'll update this post when I have more time to play with layering different colors.