London & My Shiseido Splurge

Okay, I never splurge – and for someone else, this may not even count as a splurge, but, well, for me it was. Back in May I made a bit of an investment and got the Shiseido eyelash curlers, Perfect Foundation Brush and eyebrow pencil in BR 704 Ash Blond (because mine was dangerously close to being all used up, it was time for a backup, and it's my all time second favourite eyebrow pencil, but I think that deserves a separate post sometime later). I would have gotten the pencil anyway, but the other two were unplanned purchases. Sort of.

Top to bottom: eyelash curlers, perfect foundation brush & eyebrow pencil


It all started way back when, when I was thinking up my fantasy brush list. This list has changed and evolved a thousand times by now. Seriously. I've had all kinds of highs and lows of wants that change based on my knowledge and needs... And practicality and sensibility too. But the Shiseido brush was on my shortlist, and here's what sold me on it.


I went to London in April for a portfolio review at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and stayed with a friend of mine who happens to be a makeup artist for Shiseido. Now, obviously, CSM was my main concern, but this was a very short trip – I arrived in the afternoon, had my review the next day and left in the morning of day three – and London happens to have so many brands and products I've only read or heard about, that are of particular interest to me, that I was dying to see.


I totally forgot about the one brand I meant to look up, Dainty Doll. I just remembered being sad I missed the Dior exhibition at Harrods, otherwise I would have absolutely went and remembered to check their counter out too. I first heard about the brand in Lisa Eldridge's foundation for pale skin video, and again in a video with her mentor, Mary Greenwell (love her! She's all “brown mascara is useless” and “use your hands, brushes and sponges are a useless waste of product!” - okay, this is a bit out of context, by a bit I mean a lot, but I loved her attitude so much! At the time my fantasy brush list was at its longest, and she made me realize if I didn't need them, I didn't have to get them. Just because you neither have, use or need ten brushes for your eyes, it doesn't make you any less capable of doing a great job at applying makeup. I found this very encouraging and relaxing) and initially got super excited about it. However, I've read a bunch of reviews and seen plenty of videos since, that made their products look entirely underwhelming so it was no longer a priority, and well, just not worth the effort when there was so little time and so much to see.


What was a priority, however – Illamasqua. I got off at Oxford Street and made a beeline for Selfridges. Oh it's my favourite department store in London... In retrospect, I'm sort of upset with myself. What is the matter with me? They have Suqqu and RMK and it never entered my mind to go look at them! They were right there, idiot! What happened?! Oh I know what happened... Someone went up to the shoe galleries first and that was that, game over. I was on a shoe high that culminated in the Louboutin room, where I was blinded, dazzled and disoriented and effectively incapable of any cognitive thought after. Oh well, another lesson learned. I did manage to not forget about Illamasqua and requested two samples of their Skin Base Foundation. The pure white in 01 and the next shade up, 02, which both I and the sales associate suspected might be the perfect shade match. And we were almost right! Almost.

Shooooes! Swoooooon!

I was so excited to try my lovely samples the following morning for my important day at CSM! I got up as early as I could and started working on my look for the day. 02, in lightness, would be the perfect match for me. The shade, not so much - it's too pink. So far so good, right? I wish... This was one of the absolute worst foundations I have ever had on my skin. No matter how long or how hard I tried to blend it, it just wouldn't. Nothing I did made it stick to my skin. It was the consistency of liquid rubber that you kept waiting would set and form a sort of film, and never did. It remained tacky even after I powdered it, a little at first and generously the further along my effort had progressed. And even after all that, if I gently touched the surface of my skin, the foundation continued to swirl around and look streaky. It set into fine lines, making the skin below my cheek bones down to my jawline look like a cracked desert, and it set into pores creating an array of tiny white dots all over my cheeks, nose and forehead. What made all of this look especially obvious is the fact that the skin on my face does not match the rest of me to begin with. It's a good couple of shades darker and much redder all over, add to that the redness from acne and hyper-pigmentation, and it truly looks mismatched with my body.

My face reacts to heat immediately, even if it's a little bit warmer than it would like, I'll be pink. If it's super hot, I'm in hell. If I've been exercising, I'll look like a lobster and when I come out of the shower it looks like I've just had a chemical peel (which is why I almost exclusively bathe before bed, it takes forever for me to cool down and look normal, so it's a habit of mine to just let it gradually happen over night). The only time my face almost perfectly matches my neck is in the morning when I've just woken up. The rest of the time, even minor activity - walking, talking, just existing - will cause me to have a light to strong flush of pink. This happens on other parts of my body as well. For example if it's a very hot summer and I'm carrying heavy grocery bags, my palms and wrists will get red, or if I'm sitting with my bare legs crossed, they will leave a red impression on each other almost immediately. I guess it depends on the heat, the amount of sweat it causes and the number of oil glands on any given area of skin.

The skin on your face produces the most amount of oil (actually, don't quote me on this - it may be the feet or palms, I'm not sure), and my oil glands in particular, happen to be, the way my dermatologist just last week put it, "very active and hard working". This was her response to a comment I made about how peculiar it was, that here I am, four months on Roaccutane with yes, some side effects of dryness - lips, arms, hands, but not the rest of my face really, not in a way I've read people experiencing at least, and when it was around +30C, it was just like last summer all over again - despite using a mattifying silicone primer and generously applied powder, the instant I walked outside I got oily and within 5 minutes had pearls of sweat on my upper lip and chin. I mean... WTF?! Pardon my French... So that was her answer: "Active and hard working oil glands you've got there. Despite our engaging them in chemical warfare." This is all very ironic because while my face seems to be hot all the time, the rest of me is almost always chilly or down right freezing.

Anyway, point being, this constantly present redness in my face has everything to do with oil production and heat, and nothing at all with my actual skin tone. This is the reason I've had the completely wrong shades of foundation offered to me at beauty counters for years and years. First of all, they'll tell me I have a pink undertone and then they'll say the lightest shade in their brand matches me by putting it just above my jawline. Well yes, if I'm in a store with artificial lighting, chances are it feels a tad warm and my face reacts, and if my pores are particularly oily and clogged, it's quite probable their lightest shade will match. But that's it. They never look at the rest of you. They also don't account for the fact that most foundations will react to your natural oil production and oxidize in a while. I remember the first time I went to get matched and told them to apply the foundation to my neck. Oh the looks I got! "But one doesn't wear foundation on ones neck, and if it doesn't match slightly, just blend it down towards the neck." Oh please! Wether or not I wear foundation on my neck is irrelevant. What use is it if the tone of my face is all evened out using a shade that's too dark compared to the rest of me, it'll just look like I'm two separate people. But rather than listening to that sass, I said: "Well you know, actually, see I have cystic acne here on my neck, just under my ears, and well yes, I need to wear foundation there. So either you have something that will match my colouring there, or I'm taking my business elsewhere." I of course knew they wouldn't have anything for me, but I felt like they were in need of an education.

I now have a much cleared idea of what will ACTAULLY work for me. As I said, I don't really have a pink undertone. With the exception of my face, I'm a neutral or slightly warm colour. However, in order to combat the pink in my face and make it match the rest of me, what I need is a very light, opaque, cool yellow foundation. I can't stress enough that it needs to be "cool", because the usual varieties of yellow foundations I see tend to be quite peachy and warm, which is not what I need at all. So far, MAC's Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC15 is the closest colour I've found that really addresses my needs and corrects my complexion. The lightness and formulation of it however doesn't work, so back to the drawing board!  

The reason I've veered so much off course is to help emphasize just how terrible the Illamasqua foundation looked on me. Besides its appalling finish and texture, it was a translucent formula - meaning my own skin shined through and reacted with the pink shade of the foundation, making me look all in all purple. My perfect foundation will need to match my neck but be significantly lighter than my face and not have the translucent properties this did. I didn't have any issues with the way it looked on my neck at all, but it wasn't opaque enough to mute the darkness or redness in my skin to make it match my neck better. It did something to help, but this something was so obvious and terrible looking that... Needless to say I was extremely disappointed. I was so hopeful this would be the answer to my struggles especially because it's received so many glowing reviews. I was quite heartbroken that it not only didn't work for me but was, in fact, terrible.

As disappointing as it was, I carried on with my day as scheduled - went to my appointment, had my little Saint Martins moment, met some crazy talented people, walked around the city, shopped for a fierce new look with my friend for her to wear to an important interview the next day, and had a bit of an adventure at Hearst Magazines (I was THIS close to seeing someone and possibly getting my foot in the door at Elle UK! It would have been unbelievable luck if it had worked, but I was there for not even three days, so I'm not too sad it didn't. Perhaps if I'd had a solid week, I could have made it happen. Who knows, I may pop in to London town again, with new energy and determination!).

In the evening my friend and I put together her look for the next day. Everything - the clothes, the hair, the makeup. I think we discussed every shade of eyeshadow she should use and narrowed it down to the 3-4 she did, likewise the two shades of Mac lipstick she would be mixing to achieve what I thought was the perfect colour. In the morning she got up three hours early to do the makeup! I was lazier, although I couldn't sleep in too much myself as I still needed to pack. I really wanted to give the Illamasqua another shot and decided to approach it in a new manner. I asked my friend for a foundation brush, any foundation brush. I don't know what came over me. I'd never used a brush to apply foundation before in my life, which is why on my list of "fantasy brushes", it wasn't really anywhere close to the top (I'd managed using my fingers for ten years, why be in a hurry now? Maybe I won't even like it?). But I thought this was the perfect opportunity to see how I like the process at all. Stores won't generally let you try out tools, and even if a makeup artist at a counter does, you'll be using their products in an artificial environment. This was perfect, my face, my products, my skill - let's see what happens.

As a professional artist, she has a lot of brushes to choose from, and I fully expected her to give me a random paddle brush. Truthfully, I thought if ever I did get a foundation brush, that's the shape I'd go for. I don't like dual fiber stippling brushes or kabukis, as I neither like or use powder/mineral foundation. However, many people swear by using those same brushes to apply liquid and cream products. Then they wonder why the brush is shedding. I've even heard professionals say, well, because it's not meant to handle liquid or cream, but whatever. Well, not whatever. Not to me. I feel like the brush is being misused, abused and hurt. And I don't want to hurt an innocent little brush. So that's why I think of a paddle brush as the go to brush for a liquid formula. The brush my friend actually emerged with upon my request, was the Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush. I couldn't believe my luck! This was something I was seriously considering and now I could actually test it in the exact circumstances I would if I had my very own. It was an odd shape to me and I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. I think I even gave my friend a rather clueless look and asked how to use it. She said I'd figure it out, and figure it out I did!

It's a small and dense, cylindrical angled brush with synthetic bristles. If I had to describe the sensation of using it, it's like a sponge that's made out of bristles instead of latex! I actually hate sponges for makeup - don't like how they feel and hate the amount of product that vanishes into them! But that's the go to application method at makeup courses and fashion shows because of their practicality and disposability. This brush was soo easy to make friends with! It felt absolutely lovely and what shocked me was what a vast difference it made working with the Illamasqua foundation! It was never going to look good because of its shade and coverage properties, but my goodness, how much better it looked compared to the day before when I'd used my fingers! Un-be-lie-va-ble! There was still a ton of tackiness, little white spots and lines, but far, far less than before, in fact, unless you were looking at my face as closely as I was in the compact mirror, you might not even have noticed it. I was really impressed, really enjoyed the process and design of the brush and it instantly went to the top of my list of wants.

While I was on this cloud, I noticed among the array of my friends tools an intriguing object - Shiseido's eyelash curlers in drop dead gorgeous gunmetal (no pun intended). I love gunmetal, I prefer it over silver and gold for everyday jewelry, and before you think, well what about rose gold? Don't, don't even... I hate rose gold with a passion! Why? Because unless you're buying jewelry made out of actual precious metals or just very high end costume jewelry, most brands use a rose gold shade base metal, and depending on the quality of said brand, whatever metal you thought your jewelry was when you bought it, will eventually wear off to reveal the rose one beneath. Some sooner than others. In my experience, H&M is by far the lowest quality jewelry I have, despite awesome design, and surprisingly, Primark has been some of the best value for money. But yes, adore gunmetal! Every time I think I'm done with it, I rediscover how much I like it.

Eyelash curlers have honestly never been on any hypothetical list of desires I've ever had. I know they are an absolute must for a lot of people and a staple for many makeup artists, but I've never gotten into them. Especially after being exposed to so many fashion shoots, having seen makeup artists use them and tried and failed to use them myself, they were simply not anything I wanted. I was actually, legitimately afraid of them! No joke! Any attempt I made to use them myself or have a professional do it, failed miserably. I don't know, something about them terrified me. I was afraid I'd pinch my eyelid, flinch in fear but keep the curlers tightly squeezed and rip out all of my lashes as my hand flung away in fear. Yup. Also, I know like brushes, they vary vastly in price and quality and I've never understood why. Again, I'd seen Lisa use and love her Shu Uemura ones so much, I thought, okay, when I have tons of money and nothing left to buy, I'll get those just for the sake of them being considered the absolute best. I was in a fantastic mood after using the brush and thought the curlers were gorgeous, so I started picking my friend's brain on the subject of curlers in general and these ones in particular. Often brushes and tools by luxury cosmetics brands are expensive, you pay for the brand, but are not particularly good. I was curious to know if this was the case.

She explained to me that what made the difference was the shape of the groove - brands that put more effort in developing a shape that suits most eyes and therefor captures the most lashes, were the best. And of course there's the design and build quality. For some reason the shape of Japanese eyelash curlers is simply the best. When I asked what the difference between the Shu Uemura and Shiseido curlers was, she said virtually none. In fact, most of her clients mistake the Shiseido ones for Shu. When I wondered out loud how well they worked and if they actually made a difference, she just told me to try them. "Um, I'm scared" I said and listed all the reasons why as she gave me that "you're crazy" look. She left me to face my fears as she finished getting dressed. I would compare the process to attempting to put contacts in, which I am completely incapable of doing. Somehow, still not sure how, I did it! Wow, I did it!!! One eye down, one to go! The other one by that point was much easier. Brilliant! I was feeling very accomplished and decided to add eyelash curlers to my list of wants and schedule them as "some day" rather than "eventually", and if my feelings towards gunmetal remained the same, I'd know which ones to get.  

After that my trip wrapped up sort of uneventfully. I did leave with a lot of things to think about and consider. I had plenty of time to kill at the airport and was delighted to see a Bobbi Brown counter at the tax free shops.  I was curious to check out their lightest foundation shade, Alabaster, but they were all out. I did however bond with the rep, Hannah, over skin woes and may have successfully talked her out of getting a chemical peel! I also took this opportunity to check out the brushes. They were quite underwhelming. I did however praise the holiday travel set and under the cover of secrecy, Hannah showed me the new one that would be coming out in a months time. Oh it was gorgeous! But I was mesmerized by the silver box purse case more than the actual brushes. I'm a sucker for presentation and packaging. Give me a pretty box and I'll swoon! Anyway, as lovely as this set was, there were just too many brushes there that would have been of no use at all to me, so I had to pass.

About a month later, back in my Nordic home, I was on a ferry to Helsinki when I spotted these two wonderful tools, the Shiseido curlers and brush, at the ship's duty free boutique. That almost never happens - they usually have a pretty limited variety of shades in makeup and focus more on perfumes. In fact I don't think I've ever seen high end beauty tools for sale there at all. This was extremely strange, but more importantly, a much better price than these things are in the city. I figured it was fate. These were things I wanted, that I'd carefully considered and personally tried and tested and knew were actually good. And so I went for it. Been extremely happy with them ever since. Highly recommend these to anyone thinking about getting them - they're brilliant quality, performance and gorgeous sleek design. All of my boxes were checked, that's for sure =).