Shiseido Eyelash Curler

I always though that it doesn't matter much what you use to curl your lashes...Until I got my Shu Uemura curler. With its steady grip, a flatter curve and gummier pad, Shu Uemura curler gave me my first pinch-free lash curling experience ever...Since Uemura was so much better than the 3 dollar Revlon, I never thought about trying new curlers until the tragic accident (I swear it has nothing to do with my butt ...)

Anyway, now I am kind of glad I did squash the Shu Uemura curler, as I have met my new favorite: Shiseido (the granddaddy of all Japanese cosmetics) !

Shiseido (the Silver one is from "The Makeup", from the way it looks I am assuming it's the same thing as Shiseido 213 sold in Japan) eyelash curler looks strikingly similar to Shu Uemura (duh!) with the silver frame and black rubber pad. Just like Uemura, it has a steady grip (not top heavy like Revlon), a flatter barrel and a tip that curves outward.
The curler comes with a paper box and after some serious looking, I can't find anything like "discard it after 6 months", just the basic precaution about avoiding squashing and bending it. The retail price for this Shiseido curler is 17.5 dollars, a bit cheaper than the 19-dollar Shu Uemura.However, if you were to buy them in Japan, Hong Kong or duty free...each of them are around 10 bucks. (So they are not really a splurge purchase, a rip-off for American, more like)

Of course, I prefer Shiseido over Uemura not because I like the brand better (as a matter of fact, I do like the brand), I found Shiseido provide me a better curve and a more comfortable application. If I am one of those Youtube girls, I might just stop my review over here...but since I never take people's point unless they give a solid reason...I will just go on with the review.

The difference in performance doesn't come out of nowhere, so let's take a look at the tiny parts first and see what we can find.
Like Uemura, the Shiseido pad has a mushroom top and a gummy texture (I felt that it's a bit less stiff than Uemura but I don't have an instrument to test that out.) Placed side by side and shot in a bird eye view, you can see that one pad just doesn't stand straight...Well, feel free to blame it on me for putting on a slanted surface (the block is machine cut so it's level to the ground). In fact, it's the pad that's slanted.
Let's draw some mental picture here: If you cut the Uemura from top, the cross session you get would be a mushroom, like a session of a squashed half-circle at the top with a rectangular base. For the Shiseido ones is the same squashed circle at the top, but the bottom is a parallelogram with an angle is aimed outward. The angle could be estimated but without a micrometer, I would introduced an error and get a result like 50 degree +/- 10degree so I am not going to bother with that...(Unless you would like to send me an micrometer, that guy is around 100 bucks, by the way...)

Anyway, I will just explain what can the subtle structural difference makes in my review for Maquillage curler later because I don't want this overly long and the Maquillage review way too short.