For the fourth year in a row, Shu collaborated with an artist for their holiday collection. This year it was filmmaker Wong Kar Wai. Here's the scoop, from Shu's blog: "shu uemura celebrates the festive holiday collection rich in emotions and atmosphere inspired by the short film “MASK” directed by Wong Kar Wai and its special beautiful packaging decoration…Wong Kar Wai is a living legend of Asian cinema and known as a 'master of colors', just like Mr. Shu Uemura. And he has specialized in capturing the mystique of women, possessing a unique perspective on femininity, portraying women’s intoxicating sensuality and the richness of their emotions. Two artistic spirits come together for this Christmas time of this year, Wong Kar Wai and shu uemura create a fantasy world of holiday collection 2011'rouge et bleu' inspired by the short film."
Here's the film:
I'm not really sure I get this – to me it reads as a glorified ad for Shu with no real story. In a nutshell, the highlights of the collection consist of blue and red colors in keeping with the "rouge et bleu" hues from the film. Hence the red and blue polishes:
(images from shuuemura-usa.com)
There are also two palettes – Burning in Water and Drowning in Flames – which for some reason the U.S. market didn't get. Phooey. I would have gotten both.
(images from shuuemura.co.uk)
Instead I picked up one of the lipsticks (Rouge Luster) and the cleansing oil.
Cleansing oil:
While I wasn't thrilled with the film itself, I really liked that specific close-up images from the movie appeared on the corresponding products. The cleansing oil (meant for the face) features the face of Mask actress Sandrine Pinna while the lipsticks focus on images of her lips, and the nail polishes show her nails.
What do you think of the collection? I think it pales in comparison to past holiday collections like Mika, Aya Takano or Tsumori Chisato, but it was a good effort.