I Can Never, Ever Have Enough Brushes.

I had bought some brushes from Hakuhodo at a trade show, but I heard they had a whole showroom in Tokyo, so I had to go.  Finding things in Tokyo isn't easy.  There are no street signs and the numbering system is like nothing I've ever seen before.  Add to that, the fact that this showroom was on the second floor and you have a comical vision of me and my husband walking up and down the same street for 30 minutes looking for a sign, any sign, of the Hakuhodo showroom.  BUT!  When I found it, it was like brush Mecca.  Rows and rows of the softest, yummiest brushes you've ever seen.

Holy Grail of brushes!  Just look at them all!  Isn't it delicious?

This was our hotel room "studio".  Those sheers make for pretty light.  And the traditional "Tenugui" I bought made a lovely backdrop.

Hand made goat hair brushes.  These I actually bought in a traditional Geisha/Kabuki makeup store.  I'll post more on that place later......

More Drug Store Goodies.

I think this is my favorite drug store lipstick.  Luvshuca is made by Kanebo, and you can tell by the amazing quality and texture.  You know, the interesting part of this whole shopping exercise is that you really don't know what you'll really like or what will become your favorite until you get home and play with it, use it on people, see how it lasts on skin.  You just buy items because you think they're pretty and you hope that you'll love it.  These lipsticks are total winners.  They are like a glossy lipstick--similar to one made by Cle de Peau--, and the palette is in the most flattering neutrals (they look pretty dark in this picture, but one is a pale beige and the other is a light pink)  If I went back to Tokyo tomorrow, I would run to the nearest drugstore and scoop up every color.

Watosa.

I was walking down Omotesando with my husband, feeling--as usual--totally overwhelmed and overstimulated by all the Tokyo had to offer, and got distracted by a cute side street.  *sigh* This town is full of amazing cute side streets.  Like, the whole city is made up of cute side streets.  And it makes you crazy to think about all of the cute side streets you carelessly waked past and missed.... So anyway, we went down this alley and I found Watosa, a lovely little makeup shop.  They didn't have a ton of stuff, but what they had was just perfect.  I am just crazy for this foundation--top picture--and it came with the most insanely adorable, and frankly slightly impractical, sponge.  The other product that I bought--and that is in the picture above--is a lovely contour color.  I went bananas for the very subtle, sheer contour colors in Japan.  They do it right, not too much color, and just the right shade for very believable sculpting.  Love. Love. Love.

(The closest formula to the Watosa foundation in the states is the Liquid Canvas foundation by Vincent Longo.  It has the same sheer dewy result that makes the coverage so believable.)

Attack of the Super Cute

Japan has a way of taking the most mundane things and making them, well, super cute.  Who knew that I needed a heart shaped powder puff?  Or hot pink q-tips?  Or the worlds cutest eyelash case?  Well, thank you Japan, for making things that make my life just a little more adorable!

Get The Look: Nikki Reed Eclipse Premiere

(We interrupt our Tokyo shopping spree broadcasting to cover the Eclipse premiere.....)

Nikki's Marchesa dress was so beautiful and feminine we went for a soft etherial look, with just a touch of girlish color on the lips.  I prepped her skin with moisturizer and then a thin layer of Orlane's Eclat Absolut for a soft glow.  I used a light application of foundation and a dusting of loose powder before adding a little rosy color to the cheeks, just a touch to keep it sweet.  I wanted to have a light, easy eye, so I used a very light pink shadow, up just past the crease in the eye, with a little of a lavender grey over it for depth, then popped a little of the light pink into the corners of the eyes to add a little light to the face.  Instead of liner I used a creamy taupe color from Ellis Faas (one of my new favorite products) near the lashes for a softer definition, then a little mascara on the top and bottom to finish it off the eyes.  A matte pink lipstick gave the look an easy sweetness.

Skin Prep:
Yonka Pampelmousse moisturizer
Orlane éclat Absolu (for luminosity)

Foundation:
Armani Luminous Silk #7

Powder:
Chantecaille Loos Powder in "Ray"

Blush:
Jouer Mineral Blush in "Rose"

Eyes:
Cle de Peau Satin Eye Eolor #114
Jouer "Parfait" eyeshadow
Ellis Faas "Creamy Eyes #E107"
Lancome Virtouse Mascara in Black
Anastasia Brow Pencil in "Brunette"

Lips:
Lipstick Queen "Pink Sinner" lipstick

Sonia Rykiel Makeup. That's right, Makeup.

I'm not sure why, but designers have makeup lines in Tokyo that aren't available in the States or even Europe.  (Jill Stuart has one too---see tomorrow's post)  I don't know if the brand recognition is better in Asia or if it's just a better market for cosmetics, but regardless many designers have makeup lines in Tokyo that you wouldn't have any idea about here.  I loved the line from Sonia Rykiel.  The Summer Collection eyeshadows are amazing; really rich, incredibly reflective metallics.  I bought a rusty bronze and the deep purple in the still life above.  (The two colors I bought are the ones on my hand in the picture below.) 

The lip colors were lovely as well, but the day I found this line I was jet lagged and exhausted from walking for 12 hours straight, so I wasn't in a terrific state for checking our foundations and the like.  This is why I need to go back!  This trip really was an introductory journey to the wonderful (and sometimes wacky) world of Japanese cosmetics.  It was too much to take in during the short period we were there....but I will for sure spend more time looking at this line the next time I go back.

Clear Winner.

I am a lip balm addict.  I will buy and try any lip balm out there.  These caught my eye first because of the gold and silver.  I wasn't sure if it had shimmer in it, if it was a liquid, or what the story was.  Then when I looked closer I noticed that the formula was crystal clear!...which I have never seen before!  And then because I didn't know if I would like Menthol or Non-Menthol better, I had to buy both.  And 2 of each in case I really loved it, which I do~  and I marvel at the clear formula every time I use it.

Little Genius.

Of course there's an eyeliner that is made to get between every single eyelash....Why have one point, when you can have three?  It's a felt tipped liner made by Kate Cosmetics that is designed solely to make your lashes look thicker and fuller by filling in all of the gaps.  Really, it's pretty genius and works like a charm.  Hopefully someone stateside knocks this off so I don't have to travel back to Tokyo to get another one when mine runs out. (Ok, I bought 3 so it'll be a while before I'm in dire straights.)

Don't you love this shot with Tokyo in soft focus in the background?

The wonderful thing about drug store cosmetics in Tokyo is that the majority are made by really big companies like Kanebo (like this brand Kate), Shisiedo, or Kose.  (Like how Loreal in owned by Lancome. ) This insures you get amazing quality for a fraction of this price.  And it makes buying random things by the basket-full a little less painful!

Japan Products: FINALLY!

EVIDENCE:

I went to Tokyo last month to go to a trade show and essentially to go makeup shopping, which is a dream come true for any makeup artist.  The products they have in Japan are incredible not only in quality, but it ingenuity.  Add that to a total and complete language barrier and half the time you have no idea what you are looking at or what you are buying, which simply adds to the excitement and thrill of it all.  

I'm going to post a product a day (unless I am just too wiped out after work) for the next couple of weeks.  There was so much to buy there, and I did my best to scoop up as much as I could, but I still want to go back and do more research and shopping, I simply did not get enough stuff!  5 days was not enough time, I couldn't see everything no matter how hard I tried..  It was frankly too stimulating and overwhelming to be entirely thorough.  Sad but true..... but the upside is I'll quickly return to the coolest place on earth: TOKYO.

Because I was a little nervous about customs and possibly getting in trouble for bringing a ton of makeup back to the US, my husband and I set up a little "studio" in the window of our hotel room and we shot all of the products as I bought them.  This way I could document the packaging but bring it home out of it's packaging, and be a touch more incognito for my re-entry.  So remember, all of these pictures are taken in the hotel room, so forgive the surroundings and less than perfect photography -- although I have to say my husband did a great job with some of the still lives, which you sill see shortly.

We landed, went through customs and got to our hotel around 7pm.  After finding a place to eat in the neighborhood -- which was incredible by the way -- wonderfully delicious soba noodles -- I was antsy to hit a store.  We went to a drug store that I knew was open late, and I went into a fevered shopping frenzy.  One thing I saw, and could only guess at it's purpose, was this amazing marshmallow like puff.  It was moist and puffy in the package, squishy to the touch, and I just had to buy it to try to figure out what it was.

Turns out it is for exfoliating your face, and it does a wonderful job!  It is soft to the touch, but has just enough resistance to exfoliate your skin without damaging it.  Plus it is just so fun to touch, you can't help but have a good time washing your face, it is the most incredible texture!  I was checking out the shops on Sawtelle (a three block stretch that has lots of Japanese stores on it) in Los Angeles the other day and I saw these for sale in the beauty section of one of the shops.  It made me so happy to see them sold here, it brought me right back to my time in Tokyo.  (FYI, they are a bit like a sponge, they get hard and smaller when they dry out.  I'm not sure how they suggest to keep them moist, again, serious language barrier so I can't read the packaging, but you can just soak them and they return to their crazy marshmallowy state.)  If there's a Japantown in your city go on a little hunt to try to find them.  You'll be glad you did......

Equal Parts Both: STRANGEBEAUTIFUL nail polish

I love nail color.  One one my first beauty memories is of a bright yellow nail polish called "Maize" that I had as a kid.  I love color and I love color on nails.  It's a temporary thrill to look and see your nails another color, and a cheap thrill at that.  I have drawers and drawers of nail polish.  I love the way it smells and the beautiful shiny shellacked look of freshly painted nails.  That and your mom's lipstick are the first beauty products you experiment with, and they're the least intimidating and the most user friendly.....

I read about this great new line of nail colors today called STRANGEBEAUTIFUL.  Not only are the colors done in "volumes"-- the bottles were designed to look like books on a shelf -- but they are the most unexpected colors with the most wonderful names.  The story of each color, the description of the inspiration, pulls you into another world and makes you look a little differently at the every day objects around you and really think about the colors you're taking in.  Jane Schub, the creator, went to my alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design, and was an illustrator before she segued into the world of beauty and cosmetics.  You can hear her art school voice and her exposure to art history in the descriptions of her colors...it's really wonderful to know that people translate what they see into what they make, even the most random inspirations make it into their creations.  Jane, I can't wait to see what you do next!

www.strangebeautiful.biz

Have a look at the site.

Get The Look: Nikki Reed

For beautiful, glowing, lit from within skin I mixed a little luminizer into the foundation.  After dusting on a little powder, I swept a bit of pink blush on the apples of her cheeks. I used a pretty, luminous light bronze shadow on her lids, and a touch of the same color along the lower lash line, and then added a little mossy green liner along the upper lash line to make her hazel eyes pop. Three coats of mascara on the top lashes--and just a tiny bit on the bottom--gave her a sweet open-eyed look. For the lips, I used a beautiful coral lipstick. I love coral and it looks so pretty with sunkissed skin, it just screams summertime!




Moisturizer:
Yonka "Pampelmousse"


Foundation:
Armani Luminous Silk #6.5 mixed with Jouer Luminizing Tint in "Bronzed"


Blush:
MAC "Dame"


Powder:
Chantecaille Loose Powder in "Ray"


Eyes: 
Josie Maran eyeshadow in "Eternity"
Chanel Long Lasting eyeliner in "Vert Bronze"


Mascara:
Lancome Virtuouse in "Black"


Lipstick:
Tom Ford Beauty lipcolor in "True Coral"

Can't Work Without You

One of the tools you will always find in my kit, and lots and lots of other makeup artists for that matter, is the Beauty Blender.  The first makeup artist I worked regularly as an assistant trained me to use a natural sea sponge to blend foundation.  She loved the way it seamlessly blended the foundation into the skin.  And I applied foundation that way for years.  (And then one day I just stopped, preferring to use a large flat squirrel hair brush to blend it out.)  Danilo, the amazing hairdresser, was the first person to tall me about the Beauty Blender.  He and Kathy Jeung were working on the studio next door to me and she was using it.  I tried one shortly there after and have been using it ever since.  

What's special about it is how perfectly it fits in your hand, how malleable it is, and how perfectly it blends the foundation.  Unlike using a latex sponge, it's reusable.  And unlike a sea sponge, the surface is  smooth and evenly rounded so blending is a snap.  If someone has skin that needs more coverage you can "bounce" or stipple the foundation on with it, making it a bit thicker where you need it, but still letting you have seamless edges.  

I mix my foundation in the palm of my hand, which warms it a bit and helps it melt into the skin, and then use a synthetic foundation brush to swipe the foundation where I need it; usually the cheeks, forehead, a touch on the chin and a dot on the nose (using more or less depending on the skin type/finish I want).  Then using a rolling motion I blend the foundation outward, towards the ears, away from the center of the face.  

Try it and you'll fall in love with it.  Promise.  Plus it's super cute in your kit.  Everyone who hasn't seen one before wants to know what the adorable pink tear drop shaped thing is.  And then when they see how beautiful their foundation looks they want one too!

Check it out here:
www.beautyblender.net