Shiseido Face Color Enhancing Trio

(Shiseido Face Color Enhancing Trio in Apple pictured to the left)

Those of you familiar with me know that I’ve long stood staunchly against plastic surgery and have spoken out against it numerous occasions. World famous as the plastic surgery capital is Korea, where a disproportionate number of women, influenced by Korean and American entertainment, go under the knife. A close second practice to surgery is a make-up trick called “contouring.”

I can’t report on who first started the trend of contouring but I can definitely say that present day Korean make-up artists are masters of this skill, making Korean celebrities’ faces shift shape almost as if by magic when you see off screen versus on screen images. Personally, I will likely never understand why we can’t all just be content with what we were born with, why we can’t look at make-up as a fun enhancement tool rather than a complete face changer.

Being part of the entertainment industry though, I was not immune to pressures to change certain physical aspects of myself. I was also encouraged to learn this “contouring” make-up trick so I purchased a few kits from various top name brands with colors that promised to “contour and highlight” my face. I went through about 5 different kits before finding the Shiseido Face Color Enhancing Trio and all 5 of those simply made me look like a clown or a drag queen- not the looks I was going for.

Granted, perhaps my “contouring” skills are not up to par but on my fairly light facial skin, even the lightest contouring kits were turning me into a very tanned streak freak. When I encountered Shiseido’s new Face Color Enhancing Trio, I was skeptical at best, lazy to try yet another one of these contour highlight concoctions. I just didn’t prescribe to the doctrine that there was something so inherently wrong with my facial structure that I needed to change it.

I first tried the “Apple” trio- described as sun kissed shades of pink, gentle fawn and light peach. Applying the gentle fawn to my cheek “hollows” where the darkest “contouring” shade is supposed to go, I was half expecting to be annoyed again but was pleasantly surprised to see what I believe all the other kits were meant to do- provide that soft shade of color, just slightly deeper than my own to enhance my natural cheekbones. 

I then applied a few swishes of the sun kissed pink above the fawn, around the apples of my cheek up towards the hairline above my ears. Lastly, I used the peach to blend everything together. The result was the kind of soft, healthy glow I get after spending all afternoon at a Napa winery sipping on my favorite wine and strolling through the vineyards. I didn’t morph into an unrecognizable version of myself. I was just…simply, me at my best.

As someone often under camera lights, I acknowledge that these make-up tricks are sometimes necessary because harsh, bright lights and different lens can actually make us look different from our real selves so using make-up can actually be a good thing to make us look more like the real us.

That’s another use I found for this Shiseido Face Color Enhancing Trio in Apple- with a deeper application of the same trio of colors, I can achieve the same healthy glow under those bright lights without looking overly made up, without looking like a different person and without appearing washed out.

So ladies, if like me, what you want is a trio of colors that will enhance your natural lusciousness, give you that well rested, well taken care of face glow, all without needing professional grade make-up skills and without making you look like a clown in HD or what I like to call “Real-D,” (real definition = everyday life), I urge you to march your lovely selves to the nearest Shiseido counter and check out the Face Color Enhancing Trio.

It’s available in four shade sets to match any skin tone:
Apple (RD1) – sun-kissed shades of pink, gentle fawn and light peach.
Lychee (PK1) – pale shades of pink, ivory and cream.
Peach (OR1) – soft hint of coral, subtle beige, and delicate gold shades.
Plum (RS1) – vivid rose, rich bronze, and golden beige shades.

It’s packaged in a slim compact with a vertical mirror and includes the soft applicator brush. At US $37 each, with daily regular use, this lasts well over 6 months. How’s that for top quality value?

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(Shiseido Face Color Enhancing Trio in Lychee pictured below)


(In my picture below, I’m using the Apple Trio on my cheeks. On my eyes, I happened to be using Shiseido’s Cream Eye Shadow in Leather, dark brown eye liner and a bit of mascara. Sheer gloss on the lips.)