For their 2010 holiday collection, Shu Uemura teamed up with artist Aya Takano to create the Abracadabra Fantasy collection. According to Shu's website, Takano's inspiration comes from "Japanese manga, science-fiction novels, a hint of eroticism, with a twist of Japonisme." Looking at the illustrations, I think that's a pretty apt description of her work.
Miracle cherry blush tint:
Bowwow! Magic Queen palette. Says the description at Shu's site: "Feel relaxed, curled up in the magic queen’s cozy home that is redolent with the fresh pine scent of her enormous Christmas tree filled with luxurious décor of silver, gold and bronze."
Inside:
With flash:
Here's the Reindeer Kiss palette, I think this is my favorite piece in the collection. "The colors of this palette evoke a frosty winter land covered in crystalline snow that sparkles in the light. frolic in a dreamy winter wonderland where animals and humans play together in the snow. are you lucky enough to find the reindeer and get a kiss?"
Inside:
With flash:
Finally, the cleansing oil described thusly: "a fantasy princess rides her magic stallion, their secret rhapsody sealed with a kiss!" Not sure I get that but it's cute.
Do these illustrations match up with the artist's other work? Definitely. Let's look at a couple of pieces by Takano.
Let's Go Into the World (2008), which features a woman wearing antlers much like the girl wearing the reindeer antlers in the Miracle Cherry Blush Tint.
(image from https://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp)
Then we have Mail Mania Mami's Summertime Move with a Rabbit (2005), which depicts a woman with a rabbit on her chest – the relationship between her and the animal has a similar feel to the ones in both the Reindeer Kiss palette and the cleansing oil.
(image from nytimes.com)
One final thought: I love the way the "a" in Uemura becomes the "a" in Aya on the packaging. Just a nice little design touch. 🙂