Shiseido Spring 2010 Beauty Workshop

A few weeks ago, I was invited by Shiseido for an interactive beauty workshop where I was given sneak previews of the Shiseido and Maquillage Spring 2010 collections. Together with a few beauty bloggers, I spent an enjoyable afternoon at Shiseido Singapore with the brand’s affable and accommodating staff, as well as pretty Pearlin, the organiser of the event.

The stark and languid feel of this poster at the reception area instantly conveyed the idea of makeup definition and the fluidity of skincare. And if you’ve always wondered about the origins of the brand:

The corporate name “Shiseido” is derived from the passage,
“How splendid is the virtue of the Good Earth! All is born from it”, in the Yi-jing,
the Book of Change, a fortune telling Chinese classic.
The name cherishes the riches of the Good Earth which creates everything.
The corporate name expresses the concept of “the Japanese spirit with Western learning”
treasured by Yushin Fukuhara, the Shiseido founder. He took from an Oriental philosophy
in naming the newly created business based on Western pharmacology at the time
the herbal medicine was the order of the day.
This concept was inherited by Shinao Fukuhara, Yushin’s son, who became the first President of Shiseido.
This basic thinking was to create many new and original products,
design packaging and advertisement tools embodying the Japanese sense in Western designs.
This merging spirit has been inherited into the core of Shiseido today.

Here are a few of the vintage portraits that line the Shiseido office walls. It was a treat seeing photos and artwork of Shiseido products of old. The one directly above is from the 1976 collection, Swinging Look.

I was ushered into the beauty studio…

…where I saw this delightful makeup set-up!

The makeup play station was filled with Shiseido beauty lovelies waiting to be caressed. ;) It was well-stocked with makeup removers and skincare items too.

The key to this workshop was a makeover using the Shiseido spring range. I let them do my hair but I made myself over, using what was available. The sweet and floral shades aren’t really my colours, so I requested something darker from the Rich Rocks holiday collection to work with. Iris, one of the lovely Shiseido people, obliged and specially took out Luminizing Satin Eye Color in BR618 Pyrite Sun for me. There wasn’t a shadow base available, so I used their concealer stick instead (it was smooth and very easy to lay on the lid). I wanted to create a semi-smokey look, so I used their Smoothing Eyeliner Pencil in BK901 Black as a lid base. This waterproof pencil is amazingly soft and silky, making a wonderful base for the colours to come.

I applied the brown first and because I wanted to work with the spring colours, I put the new Luminizing Satin Eye Color in BL223 Sky over it, whereupon the brown was transformed into a soft plum. Everyone was quite surprised by that. I put Luminizing Satin Eye Color in VI720 Ghost (a gorgeous twinkly lilac) in the socket  and finished with a mix of Luminizing Satin Eye Color in YE121 Bone and Luminizing Satin Face Color in WT905 High Beam White to highlight.

Iris later proclaimed to everyone who saw my eyes that although I’d used Shiseido, she didn’t have that particular shade! :D

After applying the new powder foundation on my face, I used Luminizing Satin Face Color in PK304 Carnation (a pretty girly pink) and High Beam White (a beautiful, subtle, luminescent white) on my cheeks. I completed the look with Perfect Rouge Glowing Matte in RD722 Whisper on my lips – I love the subdued tone of this silky taupe lipstick!

My hair is usually straight, so I told the stylist he could do whatever he wanted with it. Predictably, he put curls in them but they were fun and semi-wavy. He used two Shiseido professional styling products on my hair: Digna Style Keep Spray (a rose-scented hairspray) to hold the curls and a wax from Design Tex to mould the hair. Both are salon-exclusive. He kindly explained the different holds of each Design Tex wax variation and told me the bigger the number, the stronger its hold. The one he used on me (04) was of medium hold, affording some movement and naturalness. I liked how it felt light and wasn’t gunky.

Someone at the workshop mentioned that I looked Japanese in this hair-style. I think my small, very Asian eyes prolly added to the image!

Afterwards, I was able to give Elaine, another member of the Shiseido staff, a makeover of her own. She was so cute and a delightful sweetheart to work on. :)

I created two looks for her and she went from girly, pastelly sweet to sophisticated charm. I used colours from the limited edition Maquillage Eyes Creator palette in GR764 and the Shiseido spring colours for both looks but concentrated the creamy pewter over the first look, to smoke up the eye for the second.

The gel formula of the Maquillage cream shadow is amazing – it never caked or creased over the original powder shadow below!

I look like my mummy in this photo. :P

I met beauty bloggers Sarah and Roseanne at the event and they had their own makeovers too, which you can read about on their lovely blogs. I was also pleased to catch up with Sesame, who arrived later and had a makeover too. :)

Before I left, I was given a generous goodie bag containing many Shiseido Spring 2010 items. To my joy, most of them were colours that I’d use and had fallen in love with during the makeup play earlier! ♥ Special thanks to Shiseido and Pearlin for this memorable day. :)

Image sources: Shiseido Singapore, The Dot Connector and Faces by Sarah

21 Comments

  • It was such a fun, interactive and pampering workshop. Missed the little group picture with Roseanne, Sarah, Sesame and you as i was having my makeover. I like your new hairstyle !

  • Marcia says:

    I love the eye you did. The whole day looks like a dream come true for a makeup artist like you!

    • makeupmag says:

      Hi Marcia!

      It’s a Marcia Eye, for certain. ;) I played a lot that day and was happy to get to know Shiseido products better. Everyone there was really kind and sweet.

  • plue says:

    This is my first time ever seeing your face! You look pretty leh! Love that cheek of yours! I think i need go check both of those colours out :P

    • makeupmag says:

      Hey Plue!

      Thank you (the eyebags give me away though :P)! Those colours are very flattering; well-worth a look.

  • Cass says:

    So generous of Shiseido. Love your eyes, the colours r so pretty.

    • makeupmag says:

      Hello Cass,

      The company was absolutely generous with the gifts, as well as with their time and help during the workshop. :) Thank you for the compliment!

  • xandrabelle says:

    You did great with that look. I’ve always thought the Maquillage shades very sheer but they seem to work wonderfully on you.

    I have a question that I hope you can help with:
    I plan to go to Japan in a few weeks time so what brands of shadows with good palettes that I should look out for? Singapore has Maquillage and Lunasol and Esprique Precious and Shu Uemura, but I’m not sure if they’re any cheaper in Japan. Is Jill Stuart or Integrate worth it? I’m looking for something in neutral/pink browns with a good colour payoff and not crazy glittery (I don’t mind minimal shimmer), and I won’t pay more than a Dior quint though this might be hard with the high exchange rate for yen currently.

    • makeupmag says:

      Thanks Xandrabelle!

      I used Shiseido on myself and Maquillage on my model. :)

      Jill Stuart can be very sparkly but the packaging is to die for! If you’d like to save your money for other products, you can get JS in Taiwan or Hong Kong, where it’s cheaper.

      I like Shiseido Integrate fat pencils; they’re great as lid bases. Their brow products are good too. I haven’t tried their shadow palettes though.

      Try something from Kosé Visée – this line is not expensive and quite pigmented. It can be found at the drugstores, where you will also see an extensive range of affordable cosmetics!

    • makeupmag says:

      Oh and don’t forget to check out Lavshuca, Kanebo Kate (cheaper in Japan), Tiffa and Aube. :)

  • Chantana says:

    You look so glowly, where got look like “mummy” ?

    This is the eye colors you were talking about after the Anna Sui event. For me, whom never used any Shisedo makeup before( also won’t think that the color belongs to shisedo!)

    • makeupmag says:

      Haha, Chantana,

      I meant I looked like *my* mummy, hehe! And I’m a mummy; it’s a fact. :D

      Thank you for your compliment, nonetheless! The colours certainly morphed beautifully.

  • sesame says:

    I like the way they styled your hair. Anyway, I just realized I can’t use the foundation on my tinted sunscreen. No wonder I can’t achieve that fair look the makeup artist did for me that day.

    • makeupmag says:

      Hi Sesame,

      I was glad to see you there that day! :) It’s interesting how certain products don’t mesh. Do you know exactly why?

  • nlngstar says:

    nice post, but sorry, I just want to tell that it will be better if u can use your own picture instead of get pictures from other people blog.
    no offense~

    • makeupmag says:

      nlngstar,

      I’m not sure why you assumed that I didn’t use my own photos. The majority of the images are mine. Every photo that I’ve watermarked is my own; I merely added the others to supplement my post and have credited the sources.

      For the record, I already had tacit permission from most of those image sources.

  • Fr0nd says:

    love seeing the old posters Mag.. thanks for taking the time to shoot them :)

    • makeupmag says:

      Hey Jo!

      I enjoyed looking at them; some of them were quite intriguing. It was hard taking proper photos because of the flash/lighting though. I’m glad they turned out ok. :D

  • xandrabelle says:

    Thanks for the tip. I’ll look out for Kate and Lavshuca as well if I can get to go.

    But that the moment, I’m a bit frustrated cos the trip might be called off because of my travelling companions. :(

    • makeupmag says:

      You’re welcome, Xandrabelle.

      Do check out Rouge Deluxe’s blog; she’s the expert on Japanese makeup in this country! ;)

      I’m sorry to hear about the hiccups in your travel plans. I wish you all the best!

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