This is my first-ever FOTD and my skin has cleared up quite a bit since my last breakout fiasco. I figured that it’s not that often I have okay-looking skin and I’ve “re-discovered” an old foundation that was unloved by me for the last year, so I thought, “Let’s do an FOTD!”

I bought Estee Lauder’s Double Wear Light Foundation Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF 10/PA++ (Intensity 2.0) in January as a “gentle” base during my horrible breakout phase last winter. I looked up Makeup Alley and found that those with acne-prone skin liked this particular foundie because it was light-weight, non-clogging, non-oily, and had decent coverage.

To be honest, I liked it at first and then I didn’t like it because it didn’t give me enough coverage and looked patchy on me. Furthermore, the brand Estee Lauder is not something I usually reach for as I prefer girlier brands, e.g. Jill Stuart and Paul & Joe, but I realized I’m actually smack in the demographic that Estee Lauder markets at – LOL!

But on hindsight, my skin really was a mess and I think I didn’t put enough of it on as I used to have a very light hand with liquid foundation. I just felt it didn’t give me that ultra-smooth complexion that some BB creams can (like the Nanoce one but it’s too rich for non-winter weather). And because it is very light-weight, I think it wasn’t moisturizing enough for the freezing temperatures in Feb and Mar in Tokyo. My skin was flaky at that point in time but I wouldn’t blame it on this foundation because I think I wasn’t moisturizing my skin enough and was using an arsenal of drying acne products.

BUT, in this warm-ish fall weather when it is over 20 degrees C in the day and 16-18 degrees C at night, somehow my skin has been LOVING this foundation. I do use it generously but it doesn’t cake. The only complaint I have is that it is a wee bit too light for me shade-wise but Intensity 3.0 is way too dark for me.

It gives a dewy look if you don’t powder your face after and it gives surprisingly good coverage to redness and freckles.

Other items used in this FOTD:
Lunasol Modeling Eyes 01 Beige Beige
Dollywink Eye Pencil in Brown
Lancome L’Extreme Mascara
Meow Cosmetics Brow Beater in Dark Brown to line brows
Esprique Precious Gradation Layer Cheek 01 Coral Red as blusher and face highlighter
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Medium Dark as bronzer
Revlon ColorStay Pressed Powder 104 Medium
Jurlique Love Lip Balm
Chanel Rouge Coco Cambon 31
Lancome Juicy Tubes mini (sparkly nude)

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Of all the Japanese drugstore brands, Esprique comes across as the most classy in terms of packaging and quality. It’s not extremely cheap but I think it’s worth paying more even if this is not a counter brand.

Esprique was very clever to use pop icon Namie Amuro to show off different looks, and at the shelf, the looks have all the product codes used on her gorgeous face and this just makes you want to have what she has.

In one of the looks, she had on the Mellow Rouge 422, a chic rosy shade — I love the way this lip rouge looks. I quite liked the Esprique Precious packaging already but their new Esprique image is even more elegant.

It is super soft and melty so it’s not a full-on lipstick per se. I think it’s more lip stain than lipstick but the plus point is that you don’t even need lip balm to let this glide on like a dream.

My lips with 422 and only 422. The colour looks much darker in the tube but on the lips it is this gorgeous healthy rosy nude tint.

I couldn’t help but get this neutral palette, Blend Dimensional Eyes B-1, even though I’ve got a few neutral palettes in my stash (I’ve also got an Esprique Precious grey/silver palette I bought some time ago). What I don’t have is that coppery burnished brown shade that would make your eyes pop.

The only thing I don’t really like is that the shades are not separated by dividers. I know eventually the colours would sort of go over their delineated lines and not look as nice but this is a drugstore brand so I can’t have everything.

I never used to gravitate to neutrals, gold, copper, brassy type of shades but they really do look better on me than pink, blue, or purple.

On a separate occasion (after thinking about it for a while), I bought the Blend Dimensional Eyes B-4 palette with the mossy green shadow which I had been eyeing. I don’t have many warm greens in my stash so I thought this would be a great addition…

The middle and third shades swatched beautifully — they felt buttery soft and were so pigmented. I have a feeling I’ll be using these two palettes very often in the fall. They are so wearable and elegant…

What is your fave Japanese drugstore cosmetic brand?

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I’m a big fan of Japanese beauty magazines, Biteki and Voce (plus I got one from Elle because I’m a Seibu department store member), and they came with inserts that are their autumn beauty “lookbooks”. I say that in quotations because they are obviously advertorials but they have models sporting looks for this autumn — I don’t mind these booklets at all, in fact, I love them!

It’s so easy to peruse what new items are coming out brand by brand…Unfortunately my efforts to photograph the pages I liked didn’t turn out well due to the rainy weather. So I plucked the images off their official websites…

I’m really eyeing the new Esprique eyeshadow palettes because the colours look chic and wearable. I have one grey Esprique Precious eyeshadow palette and the texture is buttery soft and highly pigmented. I’m always surprised by the quality considering that Esprique is a very affordable drugstore brand.

Ooooo, Addiction’s Emotional blush is calling my name (on the right; it’s a shimmery golden coral). I love the whole aesthetic of Addiction but have not got a single thing. Would you believe that I’ve gone to the counter twice and all five SAs were super busy on a weekday night? It’s definitely becoming an extremely popular brand.

The name of Addiction’s fall collection is Aurora Reflection — how gorgeous does that sound? I really love the green shades, Deep Forest and Silent Scream. It’s about 9,500JPY for an eyeshadow quad but you can of course purchase the eyeshadows individually. But I think if you are going to start with one or two, you might as well get four at a go.

I adore the names of Addiction shades — whoever does the naming sure has a sense of humour. I like Fall In Love (can see this to be a shimmery nude on to add dimension to the lips) and Platonic.

But the one that really purrs in person is Miss You More, a bright fuchsia that will slap on some glam on a night out.

I got a bunch of Paul & Joe base makeup and eye glosses so I won’t be purchasing any more from this brand in the near future but I just like looking at their products. I actually tried the lipstick 074 Lower East Side (lipstick on the extreme left) which is a dusty rosy red and was surprisingly flattering on my skin tone (I tend to avoid reds but now will be open to the idea of them), but I have many lipsticks so I’m “KIV-ing” this (keep in view).

These Lunasol blushes are gorgeous….! I prefer to buy Lunasol at duty free as they are quite pricey.. They consistently produce attractive, sophisticated palettes every single season so I never get sick of looking at them…

The triple panel thing in one square of a quad is curious…I wonder if it would make a difference to your eyeshadow look — it’s something I’m waiting for the beauty gurus on Youtube to experiment with!

I’m considering getting a Jill Stuart nail polish just because of the packaging. It’s so shallow but I’m sort of thinking I would like a princessy addition to my travel makeup (for my weddings; both are not in Tokyo so I need to pack stuff to last me for about three weeks) — there’s no logic, only desire!! I’m hesitant to get a gel manicure because my nails are really in poor condition as it is.

I’m considering 50 Layered Petal which is a lovely nude pink that would match anything (I hope)…

I’m trying not to wear any nail polish from now till mid-Sept when I get my nails done for the big day. Since my second big day is deep in the Hokkaido boonies, I’ll probably do my own nails (I doubt my manicure would last for seven days from the first wedding) though I’m sure many of you are gasping in horror. Wasn’t Kim Kardashian’s wedding over-the-top or what?

Doesn’t this just scream “wedding”? Jill Stuart always reminds me of Vera Wang for women who like this type of look but have an excuse to indulge without needing to get married…

Is it possible to die from too much prettiness? This pressed powder compact won the number four position in Voce’s Spring/Summer 2011 Beauty Awards. I know this is a mainstay in their range so not exactly a fall item…

I was also thinking this golden nude shade P 24 by RMK would be fantastic for my wedding as well….

I’ve been looking into pressed powder compacts more lately and these new RMK ones look so sophiscated. I recently discovered that RMK is under the same company as SUQQU so it has great quality cosmetics at a fraction of SUQQU’s price…

Last but not least, Maquillage’s Essence Glamorous Rouge for this fall. Japanese cosmetics have this curious addition of liquid lipsticks that give the coverage of a high sheen lipstick topped with gloss. It’s not as light as a lip stain but of course not as opaque as a matte lippie, if you get what I mean.

PK393 is “recommended” which is something I find unique to Japanese marketing — they would tell you this is their best colour and usually more often than not, I would find it the most wearable in the collection.

Alright, that’s it for my wish list this season. What are you eyeing this fall?

P.S.: FIVE MORE DAYS till our 3rd Anniversary Giveaway closes. Lots of Japanese drugstore faves to be won, so get your tush there now!

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With the changing season, I felt the need to refresh my wardrobe and make up a little. I’ve not indulged in this type of thing for awhile and it feels good to focus on being girly.

I want to get away from wearing sad old tired stuff all the time, but that’s not to say I’m dumping out a whole lot of stuff and buying hordes of new ones. I just added in new things to spruce up the old.

Personally I think it’s important to rejuvenate yourself in one way or another every few months — clearing out and organizing to make way for clearer thinking and being.

Okay, that’s my intellectual spiel to justify some new cosmetics…

Let’s cut to the chase, what did I get with my 10% Matsumotokiyoshi discount? Compared with other bloggers’ hauls, this is quite small, I’ve to warn you, but there are pretty colours all the same…

I’m so in love with Integrate’s Butterfly Grade palettes — the purple palette won me over so I decided to load up on more. I’m not keen on the packaging but the shades are pigmented and sparkly…

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