Suqqu Marotsuya autumn/fall 2009 collection - purchases

I had an unexpected and lovely makeover at the Suqqu counter yesterday lunchtime. I hadn't booked in for the Marotsuya event because I just didn't have the time for the full gankin massage and skincare as well, even though I knew that Ohbayasi San was visting again from Japan for the event. (I had a wonderful makeover with her for the Spring Sakurakage event - you can read about it here.)

Anyway, I popped to the Suqqu counter to have a look at the new collection after a frustrating 30 mins in Nationwide building society. (You can't change your address at the counter. You have to fill in a form, and then queue again to see the customer service person, who in my case was spending 20 minutes discussing savings with someone.) Ohbayasi San had finished her previous makeover and the next customer was still in the skincare stage, so she very kindly offered to try the colour cosmetics from the collection on me.

If you ever have a chance to have a makeover with her, or with any of the Suqqu national artists, I could not recommend it highly enough. She is so gentle, and her touch feels like a butterfly's wing as she applies the products.

The inspiration for this collection is the play of light on the polished sheen of a bronze statue. I love the themes of the collections, they are always interesting and enchanting (and very wearable.)

I purchased the following products used on me (all pictured above, pictures are clickable for a bigger/closer view):

Polish face colour. This comes with the brush pictured for £40 in total, and this is selling extremely quickly. The three colours are used separately and in combination to polish and sculpt the face.

Lipcolour pencil EX01 Amecha, a peach shade. This is a thicker pencil used to colour in the whole lip. It's a twist up pencil so it doesn't need sharpening, and it does not dry out the lips. These are £22.

Dual gloss colour EX01 Kinsa, sheer sparkly gold and bronze glosses. Suqqu has previously sold similar pots with a fuller coverage lip colour and a lip gloss, but these are both sheer glosses. These are very pretty, and I'm glad I bought it, but I could easily have substituted a gloss from one of the other gloss and lip colour pots I already own. These are £20.

Blend eyeshadow EX04 Douku, a pale gold base, deep cool bronze liner/shadow, shimmering gold bronze accent and pale iridescent blue highlight. These are £36.

Dual contour EX01 Kokucha, a slightly greenish bronze and a pale pink/neutral for highlighting. The contour shade goes at the top of the nose and into the brow, and the highlight is applied in an arc over the place where the orbital bone meets the cheekbone at the outer corner of the eye. The contour strengthens the definition of the nose (which is good for those with flatter or less obvious bridges. That's not me, but I wanted it anyway, and I liked the effect very much.) The highlight opens and elongates the eye. These are £28.

I love everything I bought. I admit that when I first saw the collection online I thought it looked a bit dull and brown, but each of the quads has a beautiful highlight in blue, green or gold and the bronze shades are much more beautiful and complex than website technology will show. I'll quite possibly buy Blend eyeshadow EX03 Koudo (with an iridescent green highlight and a cooler bronze accent) and I'll definitely buy more of the Lip colour pencils.

I could post a picture of my makeover, if anyone would like to see it.