Fall 2010 Beauty: Shiseido

Labor Day might not be here yet, but that doesn’t mean I’m not already craving all things fall. In fact, every year at about mid-August, I get the unmistakable urge to wear tweed skirts, thick patterned tights and suede jewel-toned handbags. Then I look outside and realize that it’s still 90 degrees out and it will be for a while (even longer now that I live in the D.C. area). But strappy sandals be damned — I WILL find a way to celebrate fall early…with makeup!

Thankfully, Shiseido has all of us covered for Fall 2010. In it’s newest collection, the luxe brand features an variety of new products, including concealer, eyeliner, nourishing mascara base, pore-minimizing primer, lipstick shades and eyeshadow trios (which are the highlight of the collection, in my humble opinion). I was fortunate enough to test out a few of the new products, which are all on sale now at your nearest department store or at Shiseido.com, and just like last season, I fell in love with Shiseido all over again, and I’m betting you will too!

Shiseido Automatic Fine Eyeliner
One of the most unique products from Shiseido is the new Automatic Fine Eyeliner, which offers one of the easiest liquid liner applications I’ve tried.

It’s really quite simple — you just click the bottom of the liner “pen,” and it saturates the built-in brush tip, so all you have to do is sweep it across your lids and you’re done. The brush itself is a fine tip that is angled for precision application. I could get really thick lines by holding the brush parallel (sideways) to my lid and extremely thin lines by holding the brush perpendicular. Here’s an example of the different lines drawn on the back of my hand.

This eyeliner is also resistant to perspiration and really doesn’t smudge or fade at all. I tried smudging some lines on my hand, and it took a lot of force to get even the smallest hint of wear.

Shiseido Pore Smoothing Corrector
The new primer from Shiseido — the Pore Smoothing Corrector — is designed to reduce the visibility of pores and reduce any shine, providing a matte finish for your skin before you apply foundation.

It comes out of the tube a creamy beige, which quickly dissipates clear as you rub it in. It’s definitely not as oily as other primers, and since it dries to a matte finish almost instantly, you really can’t skimp on your moisturizer application before using this — especially if you have dry skin like I do. But the primer does it’s job well, by offering a smooth foundation for your…foundation.

Shiseido Natural Finish Cream Concealer
The new Natural Finish Cream Concealer by Shiseido is available in five shades.

When I applied this, I found that it dried more to a matte finish than a natural finish, but they may have been exasperated by the Pore Smoothing Corrector used right before. However, it does do the job at concealing imperfections with a medium to heavy coverage. You can probably make it a lighter coverage like a tinted moisturizer almost by mixing a small dab with some of your favorite moisturizer.

Shiseido Perfect Rouge Lipsticks

Originally introduced in 2009, created by Artistic Director Dick Page, Shiseido has five new shades of its Perfect Rouge Lipsticks.

These lipsticks are hands-down the only type of lipstick I’ve ever worn that actually doesn’t feel like anything is on my lips at all. They aren’t drying. They aren’t super moisturizing. They just…are. It’s like my own lips just happen to be a different color. The lipstick lasts a decent amount of time too, like through drinking a can of Diet Coke. Here are a few of the new shades on my pucker:

RD732 (comes out way more pink in real life than in the photo above from the Shiseido site)

RD734

BR735

Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color
As I mentioned earlier, I believe that the seven new Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio palettes are the stunning highlight of the new Fall 2010 Shiseido collection. The dazzling array of eye shadow trios come in surprisingly unexpected — yet complementary — hues. And just like all of Shiseido’s shadows, these babies glide on like they’re made of silk. You really don’t know what you’ve been missing out on until you swipe a Luminizing Satin Eye Color on. I swear I’m not overstating this. It’s like buttah.

While the combinations you can make are virtually unlimited, I wanted to share three looks I created with several of the trios. I also used the Automatic Fine Eyeliner pen and prepped the lids first with the new primer and concealer.

YE406 (Tropicalia)