Kanebo KATE Lipgloss S Swatches

KATE is the drugstore arm of Kanebo cosmetics, the ever-popular Japan-based cosmetics and skincare brand. KATE has been gaining popularity among Asian girls as it is often perceived as being similar to Kanebo, it's more expensive sister, but at a better price point. That, combined with the cutesey marketing and the "it's-from-Japan" hype, has garnered it something of a small following.

One of KATE's latest products is the Lipgloss S, consisting of just five colours. I have to admit, Asian cosmetics naming conventions are so odd that although I'm Asian myself, I've no idea what S stands for. Shine? Shimmer? Sheer? Sticky? Well, the Lipgloss S is all of those, so I guess they picked the letter quite rightly. Anyway, enough of my snark, here are the Lipgloss S swatches.



L - R: PK-2, BE-1, PK-1, BR-1, RD-1

In general, Asian cosmetics naming conventions for lip shades go as such:
PK = Pink
BE = Beige
BR = Brown (although oftentimes in Asian cosmetics "brown" really looks more like "pinky-brown-that's-not-pastel")
RD = Red
PP = Purple (once again, not as purple as it sounds, it's usually used for plummy shades)

And the 1, 2, 3 etc numbers usually denote depth or darkness of colour. So, say PK-1 and PK-2 would be both pinks, but PK-2 could be reasonably be expected to be darker than PK-1. Which in itself isn't saying much, because you know, darker could be one shade darker, or three shades darker, and there is huge variance in shade depth between shades.

Anyway, here's my colour description below:

PK-2 is a pale, purply-pink with big chunk of glitter.
BE-1 is a pale, sheer, peach with glitter.
PK-1 is a pale, pastel pink, that's not as purply as PK-2, and also has glitter.
BR-1 isn't as brown as the colour naming scheme makes it sound. It's actually a gorgeous neutral pinky-brown, a lovely MLBB (My Lips But Better) shade.
RD-1 is the lone shimmer-free shade in the range. It's a sheer red, perfect for girls who want an introduction to the red lip.

As I've mentioned previously, all these glosses are sheer, have copious amounts of shimmer, and are really, really sticky. Like, Lancome Juicy Tubes kind of sticky (and if you're a makeup fanatic like me, you'll know the Juicy Tubes are famed for being possibly one of the stickiest glosses ever to have touched the lips of womankind). As it tends to be with Asian cosmetics, the lighter shades tend to be sheerer and have more shimmer, while the darker shades tend to have better pigmentation and be less glitterbomb-ish.