Suqqu has been mutating slowly, season after season and today it looks nothing like before, when I discovered the brand a long time ago it was a revelation, I could find in Suqqu very special shades, complex in colors and diversified in textures. Many shades were pretty on their own, even prettier when blended with others.

You see me coming… indeed, hearing that Suqqu had completely been revamped did not make me that enthusiastic, at first I was in denial, now I started to enter acceptance and I am even seeing joyful moments ahead. Denial was probably what triggered my full collection haul, I received the #101 free for my consideration from Suqqu UK, but I had to order the rest of the collection. I had the urge to check the other quads, see if any good old Suqqu genes were still left in there for me.

I have had these 6 quads for a while but I couldn’t get myself to use them regularly, I had to change the way I use Suqqu, I needed more time to reevaluate how these new and more shimmery shades would work on my ageing lids, first approach was not satisfying and I wasn’t wowed by the results, I was even wondering if I would find the motivation to write about them.

In parallel  to this Suqqu post, I am preparing a little fun post just to share what I do in the morning and what I use, there’s the pet-routine, the baby-routine, then eventually 10mn left for my own.  I never apply make-up in public, or in the car or even at work. Make-up to me is a private ritual, therapeutic, relaxing, fun, not something I feel comfortable to do in public.

I will make those 10 private little minutes I have a blast, I’ll try to be creative and daring within my comfort zone when it’s for the office and I will not go through hell or stress to get new things work out, if the first quick approach wasn’t a success I will probably wait until I have the opportunity and more time to get to know the product better, it’s what happened with these Suqqu.

Official Suqqu introduction:

Exquisite delicacy & resilience, contrasting qualities of Japanese wild flowers

Japan’s distinctive four seasons and indigenous wild flowers play an essential part of the establishment of its people’s profound concept of beauty.

SUQQU has chosen Japanese flowers as its theme for the spring/summer 2017 collection.

Japanese native flowers tend to have bold and striking colours yet also with a modest appearance & a subtle scent. They look elegant and delicate, yet hide a strong & resilient nature that flourishes in harsh environments like cold winters and high altitudes.

SUQQU infused this contrasting set of qualities from Japanese flowers into its new makeup collection.

VERSUS THE OLD SUQQU

These will replace the old Suqqu quads, if you are a long term fan, you may notice the following:

Texture – There aren’t any mattes now, the textures are all shimmers but one pan in each quad ends up more like a satin (the darker shade).

Pigmentation – I thought that since these looked quite sheer and shimmery the base color would not be strong to show up but it is, compared to similar shades/textures from other brands, these are in average more loaded in pigment.

Lasting power – The lasting power of these is very good – they last all office day with a primer, but primer required! without it, I noticed the fading gets patchy on darker shades. There is no creasing whatsoever on  my lids, which is absolutely unusual.

Application – I was able to place the shades exactly where I wanted them, they stayed defined within their location but blended nicely, this allows gorgeous yet subtle gradations.

PROS: The looks I got out of these are really very nice, they may require an acceptance period if you are also an “older” Suqqu fan but then these can really be surprising, I managed a killer smokey eye look and other combinations that were truly satisfying.

CONS: When layered or blended together, they don’t work like the old quads where the shimmer was more subtle, these shimmer on shimmer layering adds even more shimmer and on myself it’s not something I go for.  The darker shade is more easy to mix with others as it is less shimmery.

I am not saying that the old quads were always perfection, sometimes I wished they were more daring, but the mixed textures worked better for me, actually, my only “complaint” today is the lack of mattes.

To make the looks work, I need to approach these new quads as follows:

• with a Viseart matte palette next to me (or any other matte shadows)
  With the old quads, there was often a base and a shadow that weren’t overly shimmery and that I could use as transition or to blend in the crease.
  I definitely feel like I need a sheer matte or even two in the mix for the transition and the brow bone, by the way, that explains an additional mess on my vanity by Friday…
• with an application that consists of max 3 shadows
  After many tries, I found out that if I completely discarded the white/golden/sheer pink or peach shades in the palettes (=the 1st ROW in the swatches below which are the top-left lightest shades in the quads), everything worked much better for me. It’s when I tried to add these into the looks that the shimmer/shine destroyed the looks for me, wherever I place them. They will look pretty on younger eyes, or maybe with other skills or techniques, but on me these are not useful, highlighting in the inner corner or transition/crease works better for me if I use smooth matte shadows.

The official website states that:

Each of these newly developed eyeshadow quads achieves a flawless gradation like that of natural flower petals. One shade can be layered on another effortlessly for a perfect natural definition.

For the base of these eyeshadows’ formulation we chose a new oil that is richer than our conventional formulations. It allows an evener application of pearls & a better adhesion to the skin for great lasting power. It also lets each shade spread smoothly as a very thin layer. You can create a flawless gradation and a finish that won’t end up being too heavy.

I saw their description after I finished writing this review, that means I had previously noticed the good lasting power and that I completely agree on the comments regarding gradation and finish.

THE PERMANENT QUADS

At first I thought some palettes were similar, specially the #02 and #03, I depotted them and swatched each row side by side to show you how the sheer, middle or darker shades differ in all the pans.

01 – 02 – 03 – 04 – 05

01 YUUSHAKUYAKU

(Soft Beige & Natural Brown) All-rounder set of natural beige & brown.

This is my favorite quad from the new first five permanent quads, a combination of shimmery beige, pink, taupe and a satin dark brown, these look more shimmery in the pans than in real life so it ends up being very wearable even on older lids.

I read on some comments that this was similar to Tom Ford Nude Dip. The colors are similar but this Suqqu has more subtle shimmer and a more opaque base color on all of the shadows, on top of that this Suqqu has a higher lasting power in comparison to the TF.

I did one eye with TF and one with Suqqu and went fishing for opinions, the Suqqu was prefered 100%. The TF shades are too shimmery and the shimmer sits on my lids, this is not very flattering when you don’t have smooth lids 🙁 The Suqqu shimmer melts more into the skin and actually shows like a shadow from within.

I absolutely love everything about this Suqqu palette, how easy it is to create looks with it, apply and blend, best finish for my older eyes, definitely much more appropriate than Tom Ford Nude Dip.

I used this quad many times already, when I noticed that the shimmer was more subtle than I had anticipated I started really enjoying it, using either two or three shades from the quad. The only shadow that I don’t use is the light champagne, if I do it just adds more shimmer and distracts from the other 3. Instead I Use the neutral matte Viseart palette:

I apply the Viseart light cream on the browbone or I use it to blend the crease and the lightest (actually almost white) in the inner corner as  highlight. On myself, using shimmer in the inner corner as highlight looks very wrong, doesn’t flatter me in any way, instead, using a matte shade there makes the others pop with more elegance.

When I was playing with all these quads, one of my favorite looks was placing this dark brown on the mobile lid and in the crease the dark shade from 02 HIKARITOUKA (then again Viseart mattes in the browbone and the inner corner of the eye). It’s a dark dramatic smokey look that I won’t take to the office but will definitely wear any other day, daytime or evening. After many hours I see that these shades kept their base color, they did not fade into each other. It’s when I achieved this look and saw the results that I definitely made peace with this new Suqqu DNA!

02 HIKARITOUKA

(Bright Orange & Reddish Brown) Brightening, radiance boosting orange with reddish brown.

… and taupe alert. Taupe or pewter as it has a complex grey/silver hue going on, very beautiful and not overly shimmery, quite easy to pull off on older lids if that concerns you.

Suqqu “how to” instructions found here, I have to share because 1) it’s funny 2) it’s useful..

This palette is my second fav, the coral and taupe shades are truly beautiful and what surprises me the most is the gripping and lasting power of these medium tones, you can apply them side by side and they still stay defined, or you can blend them together and they will merge smoothly. I was pleased to see that at the end of the day, the look was still showing each shade.

When playing with this palette, my fav look was to place the taupe on the mobile lid, the darkest on the outer v and in between a bit of coral, the transition from the taupe, to the coral, to the burgundy was a freaking striking success, I wasn’t expecting that transition to last, I thought either the taupe grey or the coral would sort of contaminate each other but everything stayed put, there is no light in the bathroom at work but in the evening I noticed that I could still see that gradation going on.

Again, I use Viseart mattes to transition and finish the look and I don’t use the lightest shade in this Suqqu.

Another surprise, specially because I loved doing strong dramatic looks, is that whatever the look, the shadows did not crease at all, I need a primer for sure but even with primer most of the shadows crease on me and these don’t.

This coral shade is a similar to the one on the trio EX01 Benikakesora but the new one has a deeper base color, appears more orange to me while the Benikakesora leans more peach.

03 BENIMIYABI

(Warm Red & Khaki) Chic red & khaki for a refined look.

…and reminds us of… Rengazome!!!

I noticed that all these new Suqqu shadows look better applied with brushes that are stronger, I recently bought the white brushes with horse bristles from the Hakuhodo S series and they work insanely good together. Of course you have to love strong rougher brushes, which not everybody does.

With a horse bristle brush -or a strong goat brush- the base color appears a little bit stronger and the shimmer a little less visible. With a squirrel brush I see more shimmer and less base color, is this difference significant? Not very much I have to say but I did notice it on me and whenever I can I will reach for stronger brushes.

The new Suqqu 03 is more shimmery and these are not the exact same colors but it still follows same combination idea, the Rengazome is a big surprise, didn’t look very Suqqu when it was released and it became my most loved Suqqu palette, IMHO  perfection in terms of combination color and texture wise!  I like the new Suqqu palettes and don’t regret my purchase, however, if they were like the Rengazome I would be completely mental over them!!

04 AYANADESHIKO

(Mauve Pink & Deep Bordeaux) Feminine combination of deep bordeaux & mauve.

It’s the softer quad from the collection. The dark shade is pigmented and stands out more than it does in the swatch but adding a black or a very dark burgundy like the one in 02 Hikaritouka would make the quad more complete, but probably less “Feminine“. When I use this palette I add a dark satin or matte to the look, in the 4th ROW swatches below you’ll see that even if this shade is dark, the 02 is much darker and less shimmery and compliments this quad really very well.

I also created a smokey eye with the darkest shade from this quad on the mobile lid (2/3 of the lid), the light grey pink on the inner 1/3 of the mobile lid and then the darkest shade in 02 Hikaritouka in the crease. Viseart in the browbone and the inner highlight. Ended up as a stunning look! Since all the dark shades in this Suqqu collection are easy to work with, not that shimmery after all, don’t crease and last pretty much all day long, my favorite row is definitely the darkest row shown in the swatches (4th).

05 AOSHIZUKU

(Cool Navy & Icy Brown) Cool and sharpening combination of brown & navy.

With a dark beige champagne and a white/silver.

What I love to do with it is either:

1. A smokey look with the dark navy on the mobile lid and the brown in the crease, or
2. A neutral everyday look with the golden dark beige 1/3 inner mobile lid, the dark grey navy on the outer V and the brown lightly in the crease combined with a matte as transition.

Again, no white or silver shimmer for me, but the dark beige actually does not bring too much of a shimmery finish to the look, just subtle shimmer and the combination of the 3 darker colors in the palette works really well together. I am really happy that the 2 darker shades don’t contain a lot of shimmer and are more satin than shimmer actually.

This new Suqqu pans reminded me of the eye and cheek palettes, however, the texture, pigmentation and blendability is better with the new shadows, the application is easier, more opaque and blends more evenly.

LIMITED EDITION

101 SUMIZAKURAIRO

(Spring Pastels) Gentle light pastels that capture the elegance of Sakura cherry blossoms, Japan’s symbol of the arrival of spring.

This is the limited edition palette, I purchased all the other quads myself but this one has been sent to me by Suqqu UK.

I wanted to post about this palette quickly when I got it but by the time it arrived in my hands, it was already sold out…

The mint shade is actually strong enough to show on my lids without a white primer, the mint hue is still visible. The pink also shows better than expected, my fav look is to wear the pink in the crease, the mint in the mobile lid and the brown both on the outer v and in the crease on top of the pink, the brown tones down the shimmer in the pink and definitely looks more complex.

The Suqqu Komorebi is more green, the Suqqu Hekikai more blue and did not find any shadow in my collection with this exact mint color. I prefer the texture of the Hekikai as it has more grip on the skin but this mint is a subtle nice option.

SWATCHES ROW BY ROW

They are depotted just to speed up the process in the morning!

I did swatches side by side which allow to better see the difference in variation:

1ST ROW

01 and 101 are the least shimmery of the row, 03 the one with a darker base color. 04 and 05 are the ones with the most shimmer. 03 and 04 end up more “opaque”, although opaque is a strong word..

2ND ROW

01, 02 and 03 have the stronger base color. For taupe lovers 02 and 03 are the ones to target.

3RD ROW

It’s starting to show more pigmentation and I love it! I didn’t find the layering of the shadows was bringing me “more” about Suqqu, if I mix Suqqu now, the shades get more complex but I also get twice the shimmer, unless I am going for an even more shimmery look I won’t do it -which will not be THAT shimmery for most of you- but it will for me.

4TH ROW

These new quads are not re-promotes of the old quads, they are different textures and colors, I have been looking if I could find similar palettes in my Suqqu stash, sometimes I found a similar shade but not a whole palette was an exact replica.

Old Suqqu quads

BOTTOM LINE

I wish I could post looks with these but I just don’t have enough time to schedule it.. I am really sorry about that, I hope these swatches are still useful to you.

What I need in the morning is ready to slap palettes, combinations that don’t require thinking or textures that don’t require too much care and attention, that’s why I loved old Suqqu palettes. I am happy because even though it took me a while, I was able to make these new ones work and today I truly love them, BUT, I wish this was a new brand and that I would still see the old  Suqqu available.

The quads retail each at 46£, were, are, -or will be- available on Selfridges and Harrods as of March 2017 -or even February in some stores. Also available at Fenwick, however this store does not have an online availability as far as I know.  If you want to stay informed on the release date and time of the collection, you have to follow Suqqu UK on Instagram, this is the best to not miss them as these have become really really difficult to get!