After a phone call from our sister telling us that our Seven Reds in Seven Days photos are depressing (apparently we need some color, and our expressions are about as exciting as a 3-hour tax seminar), we thought we’d give you a smile.

Also, we’re wearing bronzer!

Today’s lipstick is Shiseido The Makeup Perfecting Lipstick in Real Red. This is a pretty, bold red with a berry undertone that seems to suit our (newly tan!) complexion. The creamy formula is highly pigmented and lasts for hours. Very nice.

Having a beauty website gives us access to hundreds of products to sample, test and review. This means we rarely get to the bottom of a product—even if it’s in our main rotation of favorites.

Last week, we reached full blown panic mode when we realized our most most most favorite cleanser Shiseido The Skincare Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam was nearly down to its last drop. After a small-ish tirade threatening to hurt any person at Makeup Bag headquarters that even thought about getting near our last drops of cleanser, our five-year-old quietly pointed to the beauty closet (it’s really an armoire, but calling it a closet sounds much more legit) where several backup options patiently wait.

Knowing that we have full bottles of perfectly fine cleansers, but instead choosing to wrestle with our nearly-extinct Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam—squeezing the plastic tube down like a smashed soda can to get every last remnant—tells us that this, dear readers, is the perfect cleanser.

A few Makeup Bag readers want to know which Shiseido The Makeup products were used to create the above look on Patricia Schmid—and we have the answer:

Accentuating Creamy Eyeliner

Eye Shadow Quad Shimmer Q9

Automatic Lip Crayon LC3

Too bad her skin isn’t for sale!

We don’t let a day go by without using our favorite Shiseido The Skincare Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam (so soft and creamy, it’s like giving our face a hug every morning) and Shiseido The Makeup Lasting Lift Mascara (the BEST for keeping a curl in our stick-straight lashes. Even when we use other mascaras, this goes on as a first layer)—now we’re adding a new product to our list of Shiseido must-haves:

Shiseido The Makeup Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow.

This award-winning creamy shadow is long-lasting, waterproof, and crease-resistant.

We’ve been using our favorite shade, Glistening Sand, as an eye shadow base, layering powder shadows over it, and our eye makeup still looks 8am-fresh during cocktail hour. We also use the super hydrating formula as a facial highlighter on our cheek and brow bones. So pretty!

Shiseido The Makeup Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow is currently available in the following shades:

• Goldlights (H1)
• Whitelights (H2)
• Tiger Eye (H3)
• Spring Plum (H4)
• Aqua Shimmer (H5)
• Violet Visions (H6)
• Green Exotique (H7)
• Bare Pink (H8)
• Glistening Sand (H9)

And come spring, we’ll see four new shades:

• Languid Lagoon
• Rose Tulle
• Lemon Sugar
• Clover Dew

We’re not sure if Patricia Schmid is using Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow in the image above—but we’re adding it anyway because she looks incredible.