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New Year lucky bag from makeup giant Shu Uemura may disappoint makeup buffs but thrill otaku

Katy Kelly Jan 7, 2022
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Maybe the real luxuries are the pirates we met along the way.

Makeup brand shu uemura is known all across the world as a luxury variety, primarily sold at department stores with exorbitant price tags. Buying a Shu Uemura product is an investment—you need to be certain about that single tube of lipstick that costs a cool 4,000 yen (US$34.55). With that in mind, our resident Japanese-language reporter Ikuna Kamezawa had to deliberate quite a bit over whether she would pledge 13,200 yen ($113.97) to the altar of a Shu Uemura 2022 lucky bag. Surely it would contain some really top-of-the-line makeup…but what if it was all wrong for her?

When the bag finally arrived, she couldn’t help but notice some unnervingly familiar faces through the translucent wrapping. Then, when she laid out all the products on the table, her fears were confirmed.

▼ What is this, an anime goods lottery?!

The lucky bag contained four items, and two of those items were emblazoned with characters from One Piece, one of the most overwhelmingly popular anime series in Japan.

▼ Now, we’re no mathe-magicians…but isn’t that half the bag?!

So in total, the bag contained one 450-milliliter (0.9-pint) bottle of Ultim8∞ Sublime Beauty Cleansing Oil, the Wanted Treasure Box Eye Palette (Thousand Sunny version), a Rouge Unlimited Lacquer Shine (Nudy Roseo shade), and an H9 Hard Formula Eyebrow Pencil (Seal Brown shade). But rather than feeling like she’d scored a range of luxurious makeup products, Ikuna felt more like she’d been gifted a bunch of unsold extras from an anime collab.

▼ That’s what this is, isn’t it?

The line in question came out in Fall 2020, meaning this was clearly stock that had been left on the shelves…but oh well. It’s a lucky bag, after all. These are the risks we all take.

Still, surely the brand could make sure not to put two items from the same collaboration in one lucky bag?!

▼ You’re really cute, Chopper, but I don’t want to see your face right now!

One Piece is a dearly beloved anime series. Even Ikuna recognizes that, although she admits she hasn’t really read the manga or watched the anime. She would have had no problem with receiving these items in a dedicated One Piece lucky bag. But this is a Shu Uemura branded lucky bag, you know? The people who buy these are usually looking for classy, professional products with broad appeal. And it would be one thing if the collaboration had been subtle, with small decals alluding to the One Piece universe, but look at these things! They have more presence on the packaging than the brand name itself!

Ikuna couldn’t help imagining the sorry sight of a junior high school student who had saved up their hard-earned cash to buy some fancy Shu Uemura makeup for themselves, only to receive…two One Piece items. It was almost too sad to bear. Sob.

Still, no matter the packaging, these are Shu Uemura products through and through. Ikuna immediately took them for a test run, starting with the cleansing oil.

▼ A bottle this big typically costs 12,650 yen!

Despite its high price, this product is a hot seller—one is said to be sold every six seconds. The thought of this being a brand new bottle scored in a lucky bag was pretty great, Ikuna had to admit.

▼ It comes out of the bottle colorless with a smooth texture.

She hated to waste even a little amount on a test run, but in the name of journalism…

There! What do you think? She looks way more sparkly and glittery than usual, right?

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And when a Shu Uemura 2022 lucky bag presents you with One Piece makeup, there’s only one thing to do: try to make a One-Piece-inspired look with it.

Though Ikuna doesn’t know much about One Piece, she does know that Nami is one of the heroines of the series, so she decided to try replicating her aura. To her delight, the palettes on offer skewed towards Nami’s orange-and-yellow aesthetic.

▼ *daub *daub**

▼ *flick *flick**

She emphasized her eyes with anime-like upward flicks to give her Nami’s peppy energy. Then she just had to top the look off with her Chopper-branded lipstick, and hey… Looking good!

The eyebrow pencil wasn’t part of the One Piece collaboration, but Ikuna still felt she could use it to add the finishing touch. With a swoopy, confident line, she finished her masterpiece…

This lucky bag (as well as some more expensive variants) is still available for residents of Japan on Shu Uemura’s website, so if you’re cool with a little piratey panache in your makeup bag, why not try your luck? We’re sure there won’t be any remnants of 2019’s Pokémon collaboration left to stuff those bags, but there’s only one way to check…

Related: Shu Uemura
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