(image from Shiseido)
For me, Japanese makeup is constantly innovative and progressive, and, on the whole, it is leading the rest of the field. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the product development of point (color) makeup, and I’ll probably touch upon base makeup in a later post.
If you have been following Japanese cosmetics for the last decade, you will probably remember that, in the late 90s, a lot of the innovations were about creating lipsticks with a beaming watery shine. It was all about “gloss in a stick”. I still remember some ads from Shiseido PN featuring Arisa Mizuki with very glossy lips. The image you see above, from Shiseido PN’s spring 1999 collection, is what I remember the most from that period of time, and it really reflected what was then going on with Japanese makeup.
After the millennium, the development moved onto eyeshadows. The pigmentation level became more varied and there were more textures available (mousse, cream, liquid,…), both of which offered more choices for us. Also, the texture of the powder as well as blendability the staying power improved quite substantially. As far as trend is concerned, Japanese eyeshadows were getting more and more shimmery. They created dimension for the eyes, but it became increasingly difficult to find matte eyeshadows from Japanese brands. (It is almost hard to believe that Sofina’s Aube used to release eyeshadows that were completely matte.)
Now, we are back to lipsticks, as we have come full-circle within the last decade. While it was mainly about the finish ten years ago, it is now about the inner strengths. Major brands like Shiseido and Kanebo have been working on improving lipsticks’ moisture level and lasting power. Marketing-wise, lipsticks are often taking center stage as key items in seasonal collections, whereas, only a few years ago, they seemed almost secondary to all the eyeshadow palettes.
Lavshuca spring 2009 collection featuresDramatic Memory Rouge, which incorporates
“moisture wrapping oil” for continual moisture
and “fit stay oil” for lasting color
(image and info from www.nikkei.co.jp)
Unlike eyeshadows, I don’t think we are going to see a shift in the finish of lipsticks. (It seems that most Japanese customers still prefer moderately-pigmented lipsticks with a mildly glossy shine.) But we will hopefully be experiencing lipsticks that are even more lip-conditioning and with even better lasting power. So far I haven’t seen the drastic difference across major brands that I saw in eyeshadows (in terms of texture and staying power), but this is where the advancement of technology can potentially work its trick. We’ll see what happens.
Precursors of tomorrow:
Maquillage Lasting Climax Rouge
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post! Your blog is very informative.
And wow, spring 09 collections already! Just as I was getting to know the winter collections, hehe.
interesting view
thanks for sharing
PJ I have been meaning to ask you. I keep seeing VECUA lip glosses in Biteki – have you tried these??
Hm, why is the Lavshuca palette is so alike to Visee? Visee has one that’s something like this. Kate also have the Line Spicy N shape like that too~
Hi Paperdollrevenge,
Thank you very much! I am happy that you enjoy reading my blog.
I will certainly continue to bring you more spring 2009 makeup news!
Thank you for your comment! :)
Hi Yumeko,
You are welcome. :) (By the way, I love your blog!)
Thank you for your comment! :)
Hi Yasumi,
They certainly appear in Biteki every now and then, and they are probably among the brand’s best-selling items. I have not tried them, but I am tempted to. If I decide to get one of the shades, I will certainly talk about it on my blog.
Thank you for stopping by again! :)
Hi Plue,
Yes, I think the arrangement of the colors in the pan certainly looks familiar. I have not tried the ones you mentioned before, so I think there is still a very slight sense of novelty for me. I look forward to seeing the rest of the variations and I might decide to get one of them if there is something I like.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts again! :)
I think one of the innovations in lipsticks will be the incorporation of UV protection in all formulas. It just makes sense.
Great work with the blog. I love the audio feature. You’re the first beauty blog I’ve seen that uses it. I’ll try to do that on the Beauty Brains. Can you tell me how you did it?
thanks
Left Brain
Hi Left Brain,
Yes, I think there should indeed be more lipsticks from Japanese brands that have both UVA and UVB protection. I completely agree with you.
Thank you very much for your kind words about my blog. As for the audio feature, you can get it (for free) from http://www.odiogo.com. Do try it out! :)
Thank you for posting your comment! :)
Interesting. I have never tried Japanese makeup before.
Hi Datura Rose,
Thank you for your comment. Hope you will have a chance to try Japanese makeup. :)