Make-Up: Japan vs. the West & ADDICTION by Ayako

Until last night, I've been sat in Japan for the past month thinking about all the lovely Western cosmetics brands that I miss, and then I spoke to H who I remembered always had an interest in Japanese make-up and I realised - what on EARTH am I doing?!

It's true - Japanese make up is VERY different from the typical Western ideal, in both products and looks. I feel like Japanese make up is a lot more sheer and glitter-oriented (you can kinda get the idea if you look up brands like Majolica Majolca, CANMAKE, RMK, Jill Stuart, KATE Lavshuca, Maquillage etc., etc.,), and much less bold or pigmented than what is popular in the West. I've got to admit that I typically lean towards the latter, and so while I have been perusing around Japanese drugstore brands, there was never much that took my fancy (okay, bar a few).

Then I discovered ADDICTION by Ayako. EEP!

Ayako is the former right-hand woman of (the incredible blush-maker!) Francois Nars. She left Japan for New York in 1990 with not much but her portfolio and she lives there today with her very own make-up line, which has launched here in Japan.

I read a bit of her interview, and the phrase that caught my attention the most was what I wrote above - the difference in the cultural taste in cosmetics. As a person who has lived less than half her life in Japan and the rest elsewhere, I'm always interested in transcultural topics and so this line caught my eye as something that may be the make-up equivalent of who I am - a Japanese with very different inspirations.

Tomorrow I'm off into the centre of Tokyo to pick up my student visa, and hope to take a quick (maybe not) detour into an ADDICTION counter, just to see if anything takes my fancy! Here are the things that have already caught my eye..

The blushes..

The customizable compacts.. (not that I don't have enough..)

Somewhat the lippies..

and the cheek sticks :D

Sorry for some of the poor quality pictures, but I didn't wanna take other people's photographs so do take a look on Google yourselves :)

As you can see, a VERY heavy influence from Francois Nars himself, but I am curious to see what she's done to make it hers :) I LOVE the packaging (check out the lipgloss packagings, they are LUSH.)

The Cheek Sticks are multifunctional, and can be used as eyeshadow bases as well as lipsticks. They've won an award for best cheek product of the year, and Ayako's powder foundation and nailpolishes have both won first place in their respective categories too.. so those 3 I will definitely be checking out! I am so excited. If that even covers it.

I am crapping myself (put ever so eloquently if I say so myself) at how much dosh I may be parting with tomorrow.. time to bust out more vouchers maybe?

What brands' philosophy/story fascinate you? :)

<3yu