Makeup Collection: It's all about lips!

Here is the fourth part of my makeup collection (there are two or three more parts to go, don't worry we will get there in the end)! This part features everything to do with lips!

Firstly, Gloss and Liner: I have quite a few lip liners/lip pencils and a few lip glosses too. Now I am a lipstick kind of girl, I don't wear gloss that often (most of these glosses were free or part of gift sets) but I do like them from time to time. For example, if my lips are really dry and I want to wear a lip colour, I find that even the most hydrating lipsticks and lip liner are far too drying so I like to wear glosses. My favourite lip gloss is definitely the Laura Mericer Lip Glace in the shade 'sweetheart' - I received this as part of a sale gift set for only £12 and I adore it (link to haul here)! I don't like all of them, for example, I hate the Collection soft matte lip creme things - I only have one and I really hate it! On to liners, I love the Kiko lip liners (the ones with the lip brush on one end)! I also keep lip stains in this draw too and I love the Revlon just bitten balm stains and the loreal glam shine splash thing, in the shade 'lolita' - seriously, what is the actual name for this product?!

Lipstick #1: These are my cheap/high street/drug store lipsticks that I use most of the time. I have lipsticks from: Yves rocher, Rimmel, Revlon, Duwop, Avon, Body Shop, ELF and so on. My favourite long lasting cheap lipstick is probably the Avon Extra Lasting Lipsticks (I have three - reviews of them can be found here, here and here)! I also love the Rimmel Colour Show Off Lipsticks! 

Lipsticks #2: Now these are my more expensive or limited edition lipsticks. I have lipsticks from Loccitane, Shu Uemura, MAC, Estee Lauder, Lipstick Queen, Burberry, Lancome and By Terry. I love the By terry lipstick in the shade 'tough cookie' and my L'Occitane lipstick in the shade 'pivione delicate'. 


My makeup is all stored in my Muji acrylic drawers - I will have a post soon about my makeup storage with a review of the Muji drawers too x

Read More

Sale Haul: Kiko

Kiko Cosmetics

This is the first in a (long) line of sale haul blog posts which will be posted over the next two weeks or so. Christmas is a time for giving - and also receiving and I have been receiving a lot of deliveries from royal mail and couriers! Firstly is a haul from Kiko cosmetics which is an amazing Italian makeup brand - if you are in the UK or parts of Europe you can buy Kiko online. 

I bought seven items from Kiko (I placed my order when I saw that they were having a sale on, on their christmas products - 30% off - which was the 19th of December). I bought six items that were reduced and one item that wasn't as the minimum order value for Kiko is £25 and I needed a small item to make up the difference. I bought a foundation, a concealer, a creamy lip pencil, a long lasting limited edition lipstick, a nail polish, a empty tub container and a limited edition eyeshadow quad - all for £25.90. The shipping was free for some reason when I made my order and it is not my first order with Kiko. 

Flash photographs

Firstly I bought the Kiko Anti-age foundation in the shade 01 Peach Pink. The foundation was an impulse buy, I didn't research the foundation and I didn't look at swatches online before I bought it was it was only £3.90. The foundation shade is a good match for me (I am very pale, NW15 in Mac). The foundation shade is a very good match for me, the foundation has medium coverage and a natural finish. The foundation doesn't really highlight any dryness on me and it doesn't look matte or dewy. It applies and blends well with my real techniques expert face brush and it helps to cover my dark circles, pores and redness - but it definitely doesn't cover anything! Overall, a great foundation - I think it will be in my January favourites. 

Flash photographs

The next item I bought was the Kiko 3D Lifting Concealer in the shade 02 Natural. This concealer was also £3.90 and it also comes in a pump bottle like the foundation. I bought the concealer in the shade 02 not 01 as the shade 02 looked peachy in tone so I thought it would be good for under eye correcting. The concealer shade is a good match for me and the slight peachy undertones of the concealer do help to reduce the darkness - although it doesn't have the coverage I need for under my eyes and it does crease under my eye easily. Although this concealer is great for helping cover redness and pores - this concealer is fantastic at covering the large pores on my nose. It applies and blends like a dream and it is just a great concealer - although maybe just for blemishes/redness/pores and not so much for under eyes, in my opinion. 

Next up is a Creamy Lip Pencil in the shade 404. I already have one of the Kiko creamy lip pencils in the shade 401 from my previous Kiko haul (link here to the haul). The lip pencil is really smooth, soft and creamy which means that it applies very smoothly/easily. The shade is a gorgeous deep rose pink with strong brown undertones. The pencil is matte and it looks natural on the lips, the shade can be subtle or built up. I use this pencil to line my lips then to fill in my lips so that it is an all over lip colour. Overall, I do recommend the Kiko creamy lip pencils. 

Left: Lip pencil (404), Right: Lipstick (05 dark salmon)

Next is a lipstick - the Kiko Unlimited Lipstick in the shade 05 Dark Salmon. This lipstick was priced at £5.20 and it is a gorgeous red shade with peachy pink undertones. The lipstick applies very smoothly and it has a creamy soft texture. The lipstick is very easy to apply and it looks gorgeous on the lips. The lipstick has good longevity (Although I will need to test it for long before a full review) and it is a bit difficult to remove. 

Flash photographs

The next makeup product I bought was a nail polish in the shade 393 which is a gorgeous deep dark green. In some lights this shade look like a deep forest green but in other lights it can look black or a dark navy. The shade is really nice and great for this time of year. The polish applies well, it dries quickly and there is minimal streaking/patchiness. Although without a topcoat this shade wears at the tips within a day - I will have to try it with my Seche Vite topcoat. 

Flash photographs - swatches

The final makeup product I bought from Kiko is a eyeshadow quad - the Color Fever Eyeshadow Quad in the shade 01 Unexpected Rosy Taupe. This palette should have been £12.90 but it was reduced to £9 which I think is great. The shades are all shimmery (I would have preferred a couple of matte shades) but the shade themselves are just gorgeous! The white shade is fantastic as a highlight (brow bone or inner corner), the silvery taupe and medium brown shades are great all over the lid and the dark brown is great as a liner or in the outer corner. Overall, great packaging, great shades...a great product although the shade do crease within a hour or so without a primer. 

Read More

Kiko Lipstick Shade 10!

This lipstick is one of the many that I have from Kiko - Kiko is one of my favourite makeup brands! This lipstick is one of the Smart Lipsticks from kiko and it is shade number 10. These lipsticks would make great stocking filler and Kiko has a Christmas collection available online now.

Various lightings (flash, indoor, outdoor)

The lipstick is a gorgeous purple toned pink shade which has some tiny shimmer particles it in. The shade is buildable, you can just have one layer and blend it into the lips or you can layer the shade to get a strong bold lip. This shade is my favourite from Kiko, that I own, and I definitely plan on buying more! This shade is very wearable, it applies very smoothly and it has a good level of pigmentation - I usually only wear one layer of this lipstick. The finish of this lipstick is semi-matte, in my opinion, it has a very skin-like finish and texture. The longevity of this lipstick is quite good, I find that this shade does transfer to glasses/mugs etc but the shade lasts on my lips for about 4/5 hours.

Positives: Easy to wear, comfortable, great shade, pigmented, smooth texture, very cheap and good longevity.

Negatives: Availability (can be bought online but you have to pay £5 postage and there is only one store in London).

Read More

A-Z Of My Favourite Beauty Brands!

A is for: Avene - one of the first french skincare brands I tried and I find their gentle cleanser to be amazing when my eczema breaks out!

B is for: Benefit and Bourjois - great foundations, nice packaging, widely available.

C is for: Caudalie! I adore Caudalie as none of their skincare products irritate my skin. I also love the brand Clarisonic and I do love my Clarisonic Mia.

D is for: Dior! I have been hooked on Dior since I bought my first Dior Mascara (Diorshow waterproof) and I have since bought a couple of large Dior travel exclusive palettes. Also Dove has to be included here as it is one of my favourite body/bath brands.

E is for: Eucerin - I love their 10% urea lotion for when my skin gets flaky and very dry and of course I have to metion ELF here as they make some great, cheap makeup although there are some awful products too.

F is for:.....

G is for: GHD - I have a pair of GHD straighteners which I used to use a lot but I prefer to embrace the curls, although they are the best straighteners I have used and the GHD Opulence Hair Mask is fantastic.

H is for:.....

I is for: Illamasqua - a great brand that produces high quality (and slightly quirky) products; I love the Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation in the shade LF120 which is the only match for my paler than paler skin right now!

J is for:.....

K is for: Kiko, since I spent 40 euros in one Kiko store (in about ten minutes) I have been addicted to the brand Kiko - it is an Italian brand but they do ship to the UK - I love their lip pencils, eye shadows, nail polish etc.

L is for: Lush, of course! I adore Lush - I have a Lush draw...

 (L'Occitane and Lancome have to be included here too)

M is for: MAC, I have quite a few things from MAC on my beauty wish list and I only have few things from MAC but I love my MAC Moisture Cover Concealer (shade NW15).

N is for: Nars; I love my Nars Velvet Lip Pencil in the shade Dolce Vita, my Nars Pro-Prime Eyelid Primer, my Nars Bellissima Eyeshadow Duo and my Nars Bronzer in the shade, you guessed it, Laguna!

O is for: Original Source - they make great (and great smelling) shower gels that are so cheap!

P is for: Prada, in particular their Prada Infusion D'Iris which is my joint favourite perfume of all time - along with L'Occitane Cherry Blossom.

Q is for:.....

R is for: Rimmel, the essential brand for secondary school girls - all of my friends had Rimmel makeup while at secondary school and I still use some of their products now such as the Stay Matte Powder.

S is for: Simple - I have been using Simple skincare products for at least three years now and I will continue to use them - some products are amazing but others can irritate my skin (Soap & Glory also have to be included in this one!)

T is for: Tweezerman; I have three items from Tweezerman that I adore. Firstly, the amazing Tweezerman Browmousse which is the only product that keeps my brows from being mistaken as a jungle. The other two product are the 10x magnification mirror which is great for tweezing and the Tweezerman Tweezers themselves (mine have ladybugs on!)

U is for:.....

V is for: Vichy - the Vichy 3 in 1 Calming Cleansing Micellar Solution - it is just as amazing as Bioderma, in my opinion.

W is for: Wella - in particular their Clear Scalp Mask which is the only product I have used that gets rid of dandruff completely!

X is for:.....

Y is for: Yves Rocher; they make gorgeous bath, body and fragrance products! Although I wish the products were more available in the UK. I also love my YSL Parisienne perfume.

Z is for:.....

Read More

Kiko Lipstick Swatches #1

I have been in love with the Italian cosmetics brand 'Kiko' since I went into one of their stores in Taormina, Sicily and I ended up spending 40€ in the store. Now Kiko has finally expanded and opened an online store which ships to the UK, which is amazing! I went a big crazy and bought quite a few things and here are the three lipsticks I purchased. 

^Kiko Smart Lipstick Shade: 14^

Shade 14 is, in my opinion, a rosy bronze shade in the tube and when swatched on the skin it is a rosy bronze shade - it looks really nice when it is swatched. This shade is a bit darker than it looks in the photographs. This shade isn't the most pigmented and it has fairly large shimmer in it which can be felt on the lips. This shade is quite nice but the large amount of shimmer in this shade makes it look really quite metallic on the lips, which I don't like. This shade wears quite well although the shimmer tends to stay on my lips longer than the colour and it can highlight dryness. Overall: 3/5. 

^Kiko Smart Lipstick Shade: 96^
Shade 96 looks like a gorgeous beige, rosy nude in the tube and when swatched on the skin it looks like a rosy nude. The shade looks more pink/darker in real life than the photographs. Shade 96 is similar to shade 14 but this one does not have any shimmer; so it applies really smoothly to the lips. The application of this shade is great and the pigmentation is fantastic. Although this shade on me looks very pale and it is too pale for me to wear. If you a a fan of really nude/concealer lips, then you will like this shade. This shade can highlight dryness slightly. Overall: 3/5. 

^Kiko Smart Lipstick Shade: 84^

Lastly shade 84 which is my favourite shade! This shade is a gorgeous bright cherry red. This shade looks brighter on the lips than it does in the tube. This shade is gorgeous and it is quite neutral toned so it does not make my teeth look yellow or whiter. This lipstick applies so smoothly and it is really pigmented; it is one of the most pigmented lipsticks I own. This shade looks quite matte but it is not drying, it is comfortable to wear and it doesn't highlight dryness at all. The longevity is really quite good too, for a red lipstick. Overall, 5/5. 

Read More