Man, this review was a couple months in the making. The long of it is…long, but the short of it is that the products got bounced around in the mail for months and went from the UK to Singapore, then back to the UK, and finally to me here in LA earlier this week. You have my sincerest apologies for this review being so late – the SUQQU team and I tried our best to corral them, but these little beauties just wanted to see the world!
So without any further ado, I present these highlights from SUQQU’s AW17 collection: Designing Colour Eyes in #107 Horeaka, Pure Colour Blush in #104 Beniazuki and Moisture Rich Lipsticks in #06 Senkenka and #102 Hyouka.
I’ll start with the eyeshadows, because SUQQU quads have a special place in my heart and are always where my eyes go first. The colours of #107 Horeaka are described by the brand as being “Garnet & Foggy Pink…evoking the familiar warmth of winter sunset.”
My first thought when I opened Horeaka was that it reminded me of Tom Ford’s Honeymoon quad, though Horeaka is more interesting and varied in terms of textures. Yup, you read that right: no uniform shimmer in this quad – there are distinctly different finishes! But I’ll get back to that in a moment. First, let’s appreciate the beauty of the complex shadows in their pans:
On the top we have a shimmery golden khaki (L) and an subtle duochrome shade that has a pale pink base with a frosty-bordering-on-glittery gold finish (R). On the bottom there’s a shimmery red with fine pink flecks (L) and a satin plum-brown.
The absolute worst thing I can say about this quad is that the golden khaki awed me the least by swatching exactly how it appeared in the pan – that’s how great the quad is on a whole. It’s not the most exciting shade, but serves as a much-needed base colour to build the others around and is a very elegant “one and done” shade for those days you want a subtle wash of colour and nothing else. It reminds me of a more shimmery version of Burberry’s Pale Barley in that sense.
The pinky gold almost-duochrome (it counts as one to me, but the pink base is so light it’s hard to visually isolate it when the gold flashes) was drier than the rest of the shadows but not difficult to work with. I didn’t have trouble with fallout or notice that it kicked up excessively when I used a brush, but it looked best when patted on with a finger. I imagine it would be stunning foiled on as well! So far this is the most dramatic glitter shadow I’ve encountered from SUQQU.
The red almost scared me with its pigmentation. One swipe was all it took for the swatch below, so you can imagine how striking of a look you could create with this shade, and quite effortlessly too (for better or worse)! There’s a dimensionality to this shade that makes it more unique than just a regular shimmer red, which on the eye really gives the impression of your having done more blending/layering work than you actually did.
Finally, the plummy brown was a surprise to me as well. I was sure it was going to be shimmery too but it ended up being a rich, pigmented satin that applied smoothly and blended well. It was the perfect foil to the rest of the shades, and a possible indication that SUQQU may be moving in a direction to give us die-hard fans the textural variety we have been missing from the discontinued Blend Colour Eyeshadow quads.
Because this is a very harmonious palette, layering the shadows doesn’t really yield more than variations of browns and burgundies but it is interesting to note that all the mixed shades felt a lot cooler to me than the originals.
And speaking of warm-cool switcheroos, let’s have a look at Pure Colour Blush in #104 Beniazuki – a bright pink powder blush with stripes of icy lavender and golden tangerine:
The lavender and orange are shimmery while the bright pink is not, so there really are a lot of different combinations you can make with this 3-in-1 blush depending on how you swirl your brush in it. I discovered that the included brush is actually the perfect size for playing around with combos; my regular blush brush was too large to pick up say, the orange and pink but not the lavender.
The swatches (taken first in natural light and then in my bathroom to better show the shimmer) are pretty self explanatory – you can wear this blush warmer or cooler, and more matte or more shimmery depending on what the rest of your makeup calls for, which makes it extremely versatile.
Considering how sleek the case is and that it also contains a mirror and excellent blush brush, this is probably the most useful travel powder blush I own right now. I can also see myself reaching it on days when I’m being lazy and need a cool or warm blush but don’t want to mentally run through every blush I own and figure out which is which. I mean, why go through the trouble of swatching your collection to find the perfect shade when you can just mix it up on the spot?
Bascially, if I had to pick just one SUQQU blush to own…I think this would be it.
And last but not least, the sheer and hydrating Moisture Rich Lipsticks. SUQQU kindly sent me two shades to try, a cool bright pink which was right up my alley and…a baby blue. I know. I wasn’t expecting that either.
But let me back it up a little and talk about the new packaging we’re seeing here: SUQQU has gone from sleek, skinny black tubes to square black tubes with gold bases to these newer, heftier tubes that are full-on luxe. Although it’s probably a pain for anyone who loved the portability of the original lightweight packaging, there’s no denying that the weight and gold-heavy design of these lipsticks is more on-par with other luxury brands’ offerings.
Anywho, on to the swatches. As I mentioned, #06 Senkenka aka Fucsia Pink is just so me. Why? Because I’m lazy and a balmy, brightening pink that not only wakes my face up but can be used to hydrate my lips when they get dry (which is often) is exactly the kind of thing I reach for on an almost-daily basis. It appeals to me as a sheer version of my favourite SUQQU lipstick to date: Creamy Glow Moist in Ex-21 Senka.
The blue shade, #102 Hyouka, was a touch more perplexing. It’s purportedly tinted in a way that “cools and tones down redness of lips”, but on my skin and lips it looked pretty much clear. Or did it? I still can’t quite figure out if I can make out the barest tint of coolness, or if it’s just my imagination. In any case, the moisturizing formula made it an excellent lip balm though, and – thanks to its hue and packaging – a very unique one to own.
Phew, that was a long post! If you’ve made it this far, congratulations on your stellar focus and thank you so much for reading. I can only assume you’re a SUQQU fanatic as well, and I hope that my photos and opinions were helpful to you. I’ll be posting some FOTDs with these products next, so do check back if you’re interested in seeing how these worked as a full look.
This post features products that were provided as press samples, however all opinions and observations are my own and not influenced by the brand or its PR team. This post contains affiliate links.
No Comments