More Holiday 2011 Swatches: Suqqu, Jill Stuart, Chanel

SUQQU Christmas Collection (already out)
This is the only brand where the words "limited edition" cause me to reach for my diary (to draw little hearts around the release date of whatever-it-is) rather than roll my eyes and raise the cynicalest of eyebrows (my left, if you're wondering).

This year, they cruelly bundled two glorious taupe-based eyeshadow quads with SKINCARE. No mascara like last year, or delicate pigment like the year before. I raved, and fumed, and pre-ordered both anyway. And have no regrets. Both are delicately balanced on the cooler and warmer sides of neutral and should flatter a wide variety of skintones without being too predictable (ahem, Lunasol.) The textures are, as expected, perfection -- pigmented, smoother than silk, long-lasting and, used together, the subtle yet complex interplay of shades and levels of shimmer remind me again why Suqqu makes my favourite eyeshadows out there.

All swatches are one-swipe only.

Each set retails for £55 in the UK, ¥8400 in Japan. English site has full details.

Set A EX-05 Usumomokurumi

natural light with flash

ditto, angled to show the complexity of micro-shimmer lurking within

Set B EX-06 Usuchaori

natural light, no flash

I couldn't get a fuzzy shimmer shot of these, so reapplied and shook my hand violently in the bathroom. Artificial light+flash

Jill Stuart Fairy Garden Collection (already out) HK$620 or ¥7875 for the coffret.

I only swatched the eyeshadow palette (full details of the coffret on the JS Hong Kong site) as the gloss and powder were just shimmer on me. The colour combo is unusual and the SAs had pulled some lovely looks from it but the quad is typical Jill Stuart texture and quality -- strictly for fans of dry, sheerish and extremely glittery (and this is coming from me!) shadows. We will not speak of the perfume sachets. In fairness, the JS site design gives a better idea of their effect than any notes list could.

104 Fairy Opal. Three swipes each to build up colour and achieve even coverage.

natural light, no flash

 natural light, angled. Nope, still no flash.

Chanel Les Scintillances de Chanel

Lip products only, and only because I missed Triomphal last time. Hong Kong did not get Discretion Extrait de Gloss but everything else is here.

Fellow shimmerphobes: it breaks my Allure-loving heart but this collection is an utter disappointment. Everything is PACKED with shimmer, er, scintillance, that is visible on the lips even in foggy daylight (even if it's not always obvious in these pictures).

Empire is one swipe, Famous and Triomphal are two swipes each, Envirée and the glossimers needed three.

natural light

natural light, some weak sun