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?