Face Shop Illuminating Cushion Blusher Swatches!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

13 comments
Even if you have only a customary knowledge of Asian beauty brands, you would probably have heard of The Face Shop before. It's a drugstore brand of makeup hailing from Korea, and in addition to the requisite cute, girly, and drowned-in-pink packaging that Asian brands seem to be fond of, it's also pretty well known in Asia for engaging hot Korean stars (both males and females), and putting them in very girly, pink advertisements. Yes, girly and pink, and kawaii. Even the guys.

Case in point: an example of a typical Face Shop ad that just ran for Christmas 2010 featured some Korean star (Kim Hyun Joong, but I have no idea who he is because I don't follow Kpop) for the following ads:



See? What did I say? Pink and girly, and he's a guy!

Now, here's kawaii:



(Images are courtesy of http://fangurls.blogspot.com)

Having lived in the West for 4 years, I am always slightly bemused by these ads, because these are the kinds of ads that would sell products to people in Asia, but not necessarily in the West. I mean, I can already imagine the reaction some of my American friends would have to ads like these: "Oh my gosh, is he gay?!", "Wait, you mean, this is normal advertising in Asia?" "So noone in Asia thinks this is too effeminate for a guy?" "Wait, are these ads targeting the gay segment?" "Ewwww....that's so gay." Ah well. But just as the West has its on advertising idosyncracies, so does the East. After all, if Paris Hilton can sell false lashes and perfume, I'm sure we can wrap our male stars up in pink and make them look all girly. You know, whatever sells.

Anyway, yes, this post was about the Illuminating Cushion Blusher. Not much to be said about it really - just like those ads pictured above, it rides more on it's innate cuteness and girly packaging instead of actual product quality. The packaging for these blushes is absolutely adorable - they come in little round paper pots with a little ribboned powder puff in them. As the name suggests, it's a Cushion Blusher because you use that little powder puff (which they have called the cushion) to apply the blusher. Cute, right?

By request, I've updated the post with an actual product picture. It's a pretty last-minute update, so I took the liberty of plucked off from another website, a Thai makeup selling forum. (Picture courtesy of 212cafe.com)



Here are swatches. These are my own, of course:

Face Shop Illuminating Cushion Blusher

L-R: 01 Pink, 02 Orange, 03 Violet.

01 Pink is a candy pink shade that leans slightly cool. 02 Orange is a similarly candy-looking orange shade, while 03 Violet isn't actually violet, but a very pale pinky-white with a hint of violet. I personally can't imagine wearing either the Orange or the Violet colour, but I can imagine that some girls might like them. The colours have some shimmer, but nothing too OTT for work. I personally like the pink best, for that naturally-flushed-cheeks look.

That said, when I swatched these, the product was a little disappointing. For one, it was quite sheer, and you really need to layer these on for them to show up. My swatches reflect a heavier application. But I guess as far as Asian cosmetic brand blushes go, this is pretty alright. For some reason, Asian brand blushes tend to be pretty sheer, probably because sheerer blushes seem to sell better in Asia. Also, I'm dubious about the efficacy of using a powder puff to apply blush. I mean, wouldn't you need to blend it out with a brush anyway? I guess it adds to the kawaii factor.

So these blushes are decent, but they aren't perfect. But for anyone who wants a piece of kawaii, you know which brand to start looking at!

13 comments:

  1. I remember this company from back when I worked at Walgreens. It was when we/they got in the cloth masks infused with serums and other facial goodies. I used to love them. I think they're in fact a lot harder to come by now.

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  2. Wow I can't imagine how that violet color would look good on anyone! having said that I'm a huge sucker for packaging, no matter what the product is actually like.

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  3. Omgssshh Kim Hyun Joong is soooo amazing <3. loolz. he's in Boys Over Flowers and in SS501 :P. I never knew guys were modelled in cosmetics o.O lolz. xx

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  4. Never knew guys modeled for cosmetics in Asia, either. Thanks for schooling me! Do you have a shot of the blush packaging? Curious to see how cute they are!

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  5. @EBoogie: I'm updating the post with a picture of the product right now :)

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  6. I saw Kim Hyun Joong and was like "yey!"

    He was gorgeous in Boys Over Flowers. Rubbish actor, but attractive nonetheless.

    I'd want to keep washing the puff after about two or three uses though :/ I'll stick to brushes.

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  7. Yeah, I know what you mean =P I'm portuguese but I'm studying Japanese and Chinese so when I show something like those pictures to friens and family I ALWAYS hear those comments...

    And I actually prefer sheer blushes... And those puffs are so cute!! something to buy later on =)

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  8. lust lust lusting the violet! Great blog! Will def be following you :)

    www.lovelywanderlust.com

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  9. I don't know about this blush specifically, but I've read on Korean blogs that using the powder puffs give better colour payoff.

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  10. OMG VIOLET :O I only bought one Face Shop product when I was in Malaysia - a green shimmery gloss that I bought in lieu of MAC Spring Bean lustreglass as they didn't sell it there :)

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  11. I love Kim Hyun Joong, I don't follow his music but I loved him in We got Married and Boys over flowers :D I just go to the face shop for face masks so I like to read about the cosmetics in hopes of someday tryin them myself ;D

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  12. surprisingly i owned the orange and it looks good on me. kind of pinkish when applied. but like you said, it's REALLY sheer so i couldn't really tell it's pink or orange. LOL.

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Thank you for commenting! I read each and every single comment! If you ask a question in your comment, please check back to this post, as I will reply in a comment to this post as well :) Please note that comments with soliciting links to shops or websites will be removed. Thanks!

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