Suqqu Kokoiro-Himeaka (Fall 2008) Dual eyeshadows

The Fall 2008 Suqqu collection was based around the red colour of the heart; "Beni." According to the promotional literature, this is a shade that has long been treasured in traditional Japanese makeup history. It is an expressive shade of red that has the power to warm any collection and brings depth and density to facial features. The Himeaka ("hidden beni") collection interprets this shade in a modern and wearable way.

This collection saw the introduction of the Suqqu dual eyeshadows. These consist of a darker contour shade and a light coordinating highlight. The darker shade has a sheen, and the highlight generally has a bit more shimmer to it, although none of these are overly frosty. I like these very much; they give a quick polished eye, and are faster to apply than the blend eyeshadow quads. The colour combinations are lovely, and I have bought or been gifted (by Mr London) four out of five of these.

01 Koushi. This is the duo used in the promotional picture, and in my opinion is the focal point of the collection. A rosy/burgundy dark shade is paired with a pale muddied lavender rose highlight. I do not find this looks as red as the promotional picture; I get more of a rose/bronze effect. It is very wearable, and slightly gothic, in a sophisticated way. I wear this duo with creamy liner 03 jet bordeaux or 04 brown.

02 Chaki. Medium dark slightly golden brown with a pale neutral green highlight. This is my favorite brown eyeshadow set from Suqqu. The brown shade is very wearable and flattering, and the green highlight gives an unexpected but not garish twist to the look. I wore this duo a lot over the fall/winter months. I wear this duo with creamy eyeliner 04 brown, but 01 green might be quite interesting with it too (this is a very dark, almost black, green with subtle multicoloured shimmer.)

03 Suion. Deep emerald green with a pale lavender highlight. This is the most dramatic of the duos, and I would not wear this for daytime unless I was deliberately going for a more intense look. I wear this either with creamy eyeliner 01 green or 05 green blue (which is more blue than green, and not as dark/blackened as 01 green.)

04 Bokuyu. Warm grey (with a hint of brown in it) with a peachy pink highlight. This is the only duo from this collection that I don't own. Even though it is very pretty, I felt it was too close to Blend eyeshadow (quad) 04 Shunboku for me to really want it (this also has a pink and a peach shade in it, as well as dark and silver greys.)

05 Aijou. Dark slate blue and pale cloud silver/blue highlight. This gives a beautiful subtle blue/grey eye look; it reminds me of the colour of the fur of a blue persian cat. I wear this with creamy eyeliner 05 green blue.

I like to wear all of these with the darker shade on the outer part of my mobile lid and smoked along the lashline, with the highlight blended onto the inner part of my mobile lid and into the crease, which was the suggested application for these on the Suqqu website. Sometimes I mix it up a bit by wearing the lighter shade on my lid with the darker shade in my crease as a contour colour.

The darker shade in each duo is similar in pigmentation to the lower left hand (main) shade in each blend quad, and the lighter shade is somewhere between the two upper shades (highlight on left, contrast on right) in the blend quads. I don't find I actually need a base with these shades, but I did purchase and enjoy using the eyelid base (a matte skin-coloured powder with a creamy texture) underneath them for maximum colour clarity.

All in all, these are beautiful shadows that I enjoy wearing very much. 01 Koushi and 02 Chaki have been particularly suitable for a professional but not boring work look. None of these duos are limited edition (although Suqqu has released two further duos with the Spring 2009 collection that are limited edition.)