Suqqu 2016 Spring Color Collection Swatches

Was at the Ginza Mitsukoshi this past Thursday night and the Suqqu 2016 Spring Color Collection was finally out on display (they weren't last weekend when I was there!), so I swatched all 4 of the eye shadows ^.^ 

 ***Screencaps from Suqqu JP.

Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge Part IV

What can I say, I just can't get enough of these Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge! Including PK-290 and RD-214 below, I now own a total of 9 colors. With the exception of PK-292 that doesn't work for me on a dry-lips day, I love the rest of them to death!

A backup of PK-289, and newbies PK-290 and RD-214 from the same limited edition release spring 2015. All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

So...I think I've figured out why I love these so much--the 9 colors I own are either jellies or cream-jellies! I don't know if all the Premium Stay Rouges are jelly or cream-jelly because I don't own them all (may be one day...).

Here are what I have:
- Jellies: PK-290 below, RD-212, and RD-214 below.
- Cream-jellies: PK-289, PK-292, PK-293, RD-215, RD-216, and RS-333.

Coffret D'Or Party Coffret 2015

Update Tuesday, January 14, 2016.

Did some comparison swatches again, this time for Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge PK-293 below against 3 other pinks: RS-333, RD-212, and Rouge Essence RS-282.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.  

Next to RS-282 and RS-333, PK-293 and RD-212 appear warmer in the tube, especially RD-212 with its gold shimmers. However, all these pinks lean cool.


The most obvious difference here is the finish: RS-282 is more opaque than the rest. Also, PK-293 and RD-212 look sheerer because they're translucent, but both can be layered to reach the intensity desired.
 

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Original post Saturday, December 26, 2015.

This year, instead of releasing a Total Designing Set like they did in 2012, 2013, and 2014, Coffret D'Or released 3 limited edition makeup sets in early September (which are still available at some drugstores!) and not 1 but 4 different Party Coffrets for the winter!



The Party Coffrets are as follow:
- EX-1: pink zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 08 Rose Variation with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-293, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL.
- EX-2: black zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 09 Blue Variation with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-294, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL. 

- EX-3: red zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 10 Beige Variation with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-295, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL.
- EX-4: white zipper pouch, Soft Glamorous Eyes in 03 Green Variation (in the regular lineup) with LE case, Premium Stay Rouge in LE PK-296, and Nail Care Oil N 8mL.

***Screencaps from Coffret D'Or JP.

I'm a big fan of the Premium Stay Rouge (more colors to come!) and eyed these Party Coffrets pretty much for just the lipstick because all 4 are LE colors. Off all 4 sets, I was immediately drawn to EX-1 and EX-3. However, when I was at the store, the Soft Glamorous Eyes in LE 10 Beige Variation didn't show up on my skin at all save for the 2 liner shades, the 2 horizontal strips one cream and one pressed powder. Even worse was the lipstick, which proved disappointingly sheer and a meh candied peach in natural light and not red at all as shown in the online photos. So I ended up with just EX-1 even though I love the red pouch, the red eye shadow case and lipstick case in EX-3 :(

Nivea Soft Skincare Cream

More creams abound, this time in the form of Nivea Soft Skincare Cream. This is a multi-purpose product suitable for face and body. It comes in a 50g tube, which I have, and a 98g jar, which is nice and big but I'd prefer not to dig into any skincare product with my hands.

I ended up giving this tube to hubby as he was complaining about dry hands. He only uses it for his hands, and I have been "borrowing" some every now and then for my hands too ^.^

I do like it. It has that generic Nivea scent, and it's a nice cream that's not thick but not thin either. I think it's decently moisturizing, although if you live in a super dry climate or if you're thinking of using it on your elbows, knees, and feet, you might need something thicker. For now it suffices. I will probably move on to something else unless hubby specifically requests this again.

Nivea Skin Milk

While in my hand cream panic, I also picked up a couple of bottles of body lotion, one of which is this 200g Nivea Skin Milk Refreshing (さやっぱり).

There are a bunch of other body milks, with a Skin Milk Moisturizing (しっとり) in a dark blue bottle and a Skin Milk Creamy in a pale blue bottle. I have the Skin Milk Creamy too and will review it later.

Afternoon Tea at the Oriental Lounge, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Part II

I didn't intend to turn this blog into an afternoon tea blog, but alas... Hubby's birthday was two months ago (yes, I'm now 2 months behind on posts, urgh), and to my surprise he wanted to go back to have afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo. I was more than happy to oblige, and I know hubby's colleagues have been going back with their visiting friends and family also, which goes to show how much we all love the place!

Since it was just the 2 of us and not our usual big group of 6-8, we got a window table with great view! Too bad it was a cloudy day, but it was still a really relaxing afternoon just snacking and chatting with my birthday guy.

Hand Veil Rich Cream

After the odd Hand Veil Moist Cream, I was a bit wary with this 70g tube of Rich Cream. So I tried it on my feet first ^.^" The reason being my feet are drier than my hands, and this cream is supposed to be "rich."

Hand Veil Moist Cream

So I had a hand cream panic a couple of months ago, as in I realized I was on my last tube and went on a hand cream rampage at the local drugstore. This 70g tube of Hand Veil Moist Cream was part of the haul. The blue tube is the Rich Cream, which I'll review next.

There was a bit of confusion trying to determine the correct product name, but a quick search online found that the Hand Veil is a line under the Mentholatum sub-brand under the Rohto mother-brand ^.^ And there are more of these tubes too, a total of 5 to be exact. In addition to these red and blue tubes, there are also a Moist Gel in a green tube, a Rough Hand Remedy Cream(?) in a gold tube, and a Whitening UV Cut Cream in a white tube.

Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge Part III

Update Friday, January 8, 2016.

Did a comparison swatch for Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge RS-333 below versus Rouge Essence RS-282. To my surprise, RS-282 may be medium rose but it appears quite reddish coral next to RS-333! Interesting, huh? As you can see, these two colors have equivalent pigmentation level.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

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Original post Saturday, January 2, 2016.

Finally getting to more of my Coffret D'Or Premium Stay Rouge, hooray! In this round, I have PK-292 and RS-333, both in the permanent lineup released summer 2015, along with RD-215 and RD-216.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Tokyo Eats - In the neighborhood Part II (Picture heavy!)

More food pics from the neighborhood, from the Atago Green Hills Forest Tower and the Toranomon Hills Tower. Hubby and I made good friends with his colleagues, and all of us hangout and eat with E. and D. a lot, like a couple of times a week, at either their place or at the Toranomon Hills Tower.

From the Atago Green Hills Forest Tower Lounge, this steak plate is J.'s favorite. Hubby tried it once and now he orders it pretty often too. You have a choice of rice or bread. The bread is just a tiny wheat roll, but J. once made the mistake of ordering 10 grains rice instead and as you can see, it came out on a huge plate! For some odd reason, there's a huge difference between the bread and rice portion. Go figure.