Cosme Decorte AQMW Makeup Coffret VI

Despite the Cosme Decorte AQMW Eye Glow Gem creasing on me, I do like the four colors I have and am experimenting with a primer that will work with them. Either way, they got me a little more curious with the brand, specifically the lipsticks. Question is, where does one get a good sampling of a brand's cosmetics in one set or kit? Answer is, their yearly makeup coffret, where else?

Luckily for me, the AQMW Makeup Coffret VI released for the 2017 holidays season had everything I could have wanted and would actually use (important!), including a Rouge Glow PK861 Yours Forever, a Lasting Gel Eyeliner BR303, a cream Blush & Highlighter, with the star of the coffret being an Eye Glow Gem PK881, all limited edition colors. Just perfect. Sold.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

The cherry on top was that I found this coffret on Rakuten JP for 6,000yen (retail was 7,000yen) with a 300yen off coupon and 1,500yen's worth of points, so in all, I paid less than $45 for this coffret and made off like a thief xD

 
The coffret arrived in packaged to look like a cake, complete with a round outer box and a big, red bow. Kind of cheesy, and bulky too. But considering I got it for a steal and the stuff inside are all gorgeous, I won't complain.

So, the Rouge Glow. The tube is rounder and chubbier than I'd like, but it doesn't feel cheap and the plastic isn't flimsy. It closes securely at least. Being LE, this particular tube is pearly white with a gold sheen. It has embossed flower and vine motif with a raised butterfly at the top. The AQMW logo is in gold. As a whole, the tube is pretty in a sophisticated way and not over the top. The regular lineup has a black tube and an AQMW logo in silver.

To be honest, I have a strong bias for Kanebo lipsticks (Lunasol, Suqqu, Chicca, the long-discontinued Lavshuca, to name a few) and might have judged this lippie in a harsher light. It's my first high-end Kose lipstick, after all. Actually, it's my first Kose lipstick, period. But I'm happy to report the formula is fantastic! It's so buttery soft I had to apply it gingerly or risk crumbling the bullet around the edges. It's smooth and thick but not sticky. It's moisturizing and leaves a glossy finish. Looks like we have a winner, folks! This means I need more colors for research ^.^"

- Rouge Glow PK861 Yours Forever: semi-translucent warm petal pink with a very slight milky white base and subtle shimmers. The slight milkiness doesn't show on my lips, but I'd imagine some exfoliation might help if yous are super dry and cracked. I've read somewhere that Kose is a lot more liberal with white bases in their lipsticks than Kanebo, but this might just be my bias speaking. We'll see how things go once I get my grubby, baby-drool hands on a few other colors (okay, my hands aren't that dirty :P).

This particular Lasting Gel Eyeliner is in a white twist-up pencil with pretty gold motifs, whereas those in the regular lineup are dual-ended, with the other end being a tapered sponge tip for smudging. The tip of the liner isn't sharpened which I don't mind.

I actually haven't used this yet--haven't had a chance to, really, so I can't comment on its lasting power. However, just from playing around with it on the back of my hand, I find the liner drier than expected. It feels more like a kohl than a gel liner, nowhere as buttery and moist as some of my other favorites (Tarte Skinny SmolderEyes, the discontinued Three Flash Performance, Stila Smudge Stick, and Pixi Endless Silky). Also, after swatching I wiped my hand with facial tissue and the swatch came right off. Granted, the back of my hand was freshly moisturized, but this was not a problem with the other eyeliners. If this stuff couldn't stay put on the back of my moisturized hand, I'm doubtful it would stay put on my oily lids. But either way I'll update after a good trial. 

- Lasting Gel Eyeliner BR303: funny how they named this color BR for brown, because it's anything but brown. As you can see from the swatch above (angled swatch below), it's a pretty eggplant purple with subtle shimmers that don't show.

This Blush & Highlighter compact is pretty. It's white with gold motif and isn't bulky. The cream blush is great, though it's thicker than the Canmake Cream Cheeks that I'm used to. In fact, the pastier formula reminds me more of SkinFood Fresh Fruit Lip & Cheek. Anyway, for the past several years now I've been using cream, gel, and liquid blushes exclusively.

...And I haven't touched a highlighter, powder or otherwise, for just as long. Ha. My dry-combo skin already gets shiny enough on the t-zones, I don't need to add more shimmers to that oiliness. So if there's one item I'm least excited about in this coffret, it's this cream highlighter in the compact.

Going off on a tangent here, but I do use a couple of sunscreen powders that have shimmers. For example, the Koh Gen Do UV Face Powder Baby Pink I use to brighten up the under eye and around the nostrils and mouth areas, keeping away from the t-zones, and the recent favorite Beauty Protector Finishing Powder has shimmers so sparse they don't show at all.

- Blush: a warm pink with sparse shimmers that don't show. After blending, I just get a fresh, powdery glow. Very nice.

- Highlighter: a pale, milky pink-beige in the pan but swatches a pearly soft white and blends out to a pretty and subtly shimmery wash. It's much sheerer than the blush, of course. So while I don't use this highlighter, I'm sure many others make great use out of it. I want to try it on my eyes but I'm sure it'll crease like mad :(

This Eye Glow Gems is in a much nicer pot than those in the regular lineup. The be-jeweled twist cap actually makes it look less plastic, imho. I already reviewed these so I'll just go straight to the color description.

- Eye Glow Gem PK881: a golden rose-beige, or rosy beige-gold, and however you want to rearrange the order, it's gorgeous in an understated way and goes quite well with the eggplant eyeliner above.

Swatches and angled swatches for Blush, Highlighter, and Eye Glow Gem.

Overall, I think the folks at Cosme Decorte assembled all the makeup in this coffret expertly. All the colors are soft and wearable, and feminine but not too girly (despite the cake box and the big red bow). I saw several past coffrets from this brand and thought this particular one was the best so far. Let's hope they'll release even better ones in the future.