My exploration of Suqqu Fall 2013 collection goes on. After being smitten, blown away, strung out by Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-15, I played with the second quad of the same collection, Ex-16 Benichagasane.
The adventure already started before I purchased. It was quiet a wild ride getting hold of these items. Although now Selfridges started shipping to Germany, online purchase of Fall quads doesn't work. This is why I decided to contact my Suqqu Dealer, who I got to know from eBay. Long story short, she wanted me to pay around 25% of the price additionally to her, which I was not very fond of. In the end she lowered the price, sending me the pieces. I don't know if this makes them even more exciting but I will never know when it will be possible to visit a web page and think about which quad to choose instead of constantly worrying about how to get hold of one. So here is to you dear Selfridges, I hope you fix your problems soon!
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| Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-16 Benichagasane |
Going back to the drool worthy Suqqu quads, are these worth all the hunt? I might have written it several times and I will do it again. Yes, to me they totally are. Let me put it this way, I wore this one yesterday, put it on around 8am. Blending and application was a dream on its own. Even with the shimmery shades, I find the textures to be very age appropriate and easier to pull off. What about the staying power? I was at work all day, then after work I went to Yoga for an hour. I was back at home around 8pm, it was almost like as if it is just applied. I can tell you this and mascara were the only things which survived my morning make-up. Isn't that amazing?
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| Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-16 Benichagasane |
Let me go back to Ex-16. It has a similar concept to Ex-15 and Ex-17. The bottom left eye shadow is divided between a dark matte definition shade and a bright shimmery shade, which I prefer calling the "accent" shade. Ex-16 has a bright shimmery pink as accent next to a cool matte brown. Once these two are layered, you get a beautiful satin plum. I believe Ex-16 is going to be the most popular of this collection, because the rest of the shades are beautiful warm and complex neutrals, which are nicely balanced with two basic mattes for base and definition which are rather on cooler side. The quad itself speaks of versatility and balance in an elegant way.
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| Close-up: Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-16 Benichagasane |
The shades are as follows:
#1: A warm gold champagne with shimmery finish
#2: A warm bronze with gold shimmer
#3: Off-white leaning slightly ivory with matte finish
#4a: Deep cool matte brown
#4b: Bright shimmery pink, with slightly transparent quality for optimal layering
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| Sun swatch: Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-16 Benichagasane |
After the dream experience with Ex-15, my expectation mush have been higher and I have to admit during application, Ex-16 Benichagasane got me a little bit worried. It was one of "shorter" nights and my eyes were a little red in the morning. After I was finished with the basic application, I wanted to add some pink and suddenly it gave me the rabbit eyes! I gulped and popped a bit more brown eye liner on the corners to separate the pink and my eyes. I also padded some to the corner for the following look and I was a bit frustrated that it only made my eyes look more swollen.
Here is the end result, let me know what you think...
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| In-action: Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-16 Benichagasane |
I also applied Chanel Creme Blush in Fantastic and Rouge Coco Shine in Romantic (old sheer formula) for the following look. I think end result was a wearable pink and was really autumn appropriate but as I said, was difficult for me to balance pink amount to make sure it doesn't bring out the redness of the eyes. I can imagine if you have blemishes or redness on your skin (which after holiday luckily I don't have) it might be even more challenging to find the right amount of pink to that. But you can always use the other four shades for a gorgeous neutral eye.
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| FOTD: Suqqu Blend Color Eyeshadow Ex-16 Benichagasane |
Also check out Belly's beautiful FOTD with Benichagasane here and Kate's brilliant dupe post with FOTD here. Also check out great comparison swatches for all three palettes here.
Final thoughts: Ex-16 Benichagasane contains the most beautiful neutrals among the three quads of Suqqu Fall 2013 collection. Shimmery textures are not over the top, they are very complex and come together with buttery soft, finely milled and pigmented quality which makes it a great palette for everyday usage. On the other hand the pink shade may be difficult to pull off, especially if you have redness issues on your eyes or skin. I found this one to be higher maintenance than Ex-15 and would opt for Ex-15 if I had to choose. Let me try Ex-17 too though and I will write a wrap-up post after that.
Can you use pinks on your eyes? What is your tips for that?
Oh Sara why oh why do I read your blog posts!!!! I don't have anything from Suqqu and now I want not only this but the ex15 palette from the swatches on Selphia. Officially on the 'need' list!
ReplyDeleteLOL, after seeing your haul blog post, I am afraid you might go for a second haul with Suqqu and it might turn out to be a black they for your wallet ;-))) I can't wait for your review on these.
DeleteAnother beautiful set of swatches and a beautiful look! I agree completely about the quality and textures! Suqqu is really stepping it up with the quality.
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I actually think that this pink accent wasn't too hard to pull off (maybe the very contrast against my skin?). What did look really weird was when I used the #2 shade as the main shade on my lids. It was very blah and unflattering on me. I took cues from the ad image and used the gold shade the next time around and it was much more flattering.
I totally agree, after Suqqu I started not being able to use some of the other quads I own because they don't blend like this one. Maybe I should lock away my Suqqus to get my blending form back! T is something like buying a piano with very hard keys to train your fingers ;-)
DeleteI am awed by how nice you pull off those pinks. Also Orchid Haze looks stunning on you. These two palettes have a certain shade that emphasizes some pink tones on my skin and making my eye look swollen. Maybe I should go for more coverage foundation while wearing pinks and tune it a bit yellow.
It is also interesting about the #2 shade. I used the gold shade because I thought it is lighter but let me try #2 and tell you if there is a way to make it work also on all lid.
Xox
I think this quad looks pretty great on you! That pink got me worried too. I've tried similar shades, but I always mix them with another shade in the quad/palette instead of wearing them on their own. I just don't really think they can be flattering on me, but you did a good job and I don't think your eyes look swollen!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sunny. I also layered it on brown, like you described and since this shade is a little transparent, worked nicely to give me a bruised plummy look instead or a swollen one ;-)) anyway I think the biggest problem was the light during application, it was a rainy day and I couldn't use the natural light so ended up applying a bit more than necessary in the beginning, then tried to fix it afterwards.
DeleteThis looks lovely on you, I still can't decide on whether to get anything from the fall collection as I keep changing my mind as to what palette I should get ;)
ReplyDeletexx
My favorite so far is Ex-15 but it may change after I try Ex-17. I will post a wrap up post this week, maybe you would like to wait for that.
Deletexox