KIKO Haul

Carrying on the Birthday haul from when I went to Stratford... I found the KIKO store which I was interested in visiting. I have read about KIKO on a few blogs, and wondered if the Italian make-up brand was worth investigating. I've mainly heard about their nail polishes to be honest, and when I walked into their store I could certainly see why. I wish I had taken a photo now! They have hundreds of nail polishes and it stretches along one side of the shop. I've googled it and found a picture, which is from this blog here. 

Just imagine this, but stretched out and housing 200 polishes. W o w. I was like a child in a sweet shop, and it's safe to say that I spent quite some time browsing and swatching, whilst my boyfriend waited (im)patiently, but to be fair he did behave quite well compared to other shopping trips! Something that I will try and remember to take on nail polish hauls in the future is scotch tape. Scotch tape you say? Yes! They had holders which you could pull out some tape and put on the back of your hand and swatch away on there with no mess. Genius! I don't know why nobodys thought of it before! I've used scotch tape for manicures/nail art before, and I know they are good to paint on, but I didn't even think of it either! They also had bins built into the wall, which was another good idea.. ;) 

I came away with about £30 worth of stuff I think? Which was quite good for me, I was trying to save money to hit Forever 21 and MAC aswell! The polishes worked out at £2.50 each, which is BRILLIANT, considering it's 11ml of polish! I think they were on offer though, because there were signs in the shop window? But the website has them on sale for £2.50 aswell, so I'm not sure! I'll show you what I got though :) 

It was so hard to decide on the colours, I wanted colours I hadn't really seen before but I ended up getting colours I just really couldn't take my eyes off. And really, the colours I bought are pretty similar to other colours in my collection! But these are the ones I settled on anyway, aren't they preeeetttyy?! I also picked up my very first magnetic nail polish, a single eyeshadow and a concealer. On to the swatches!

This is colour 300. (They don't have the names in store or on the bottle but they do on the website, so I'll find the names for you aswell!) Pearly Malachite Green. It's a gorgeous pearly blue/green, it's also got shimmer in too. The picture doesn't really express the vibrancy of this colour. 

Colour 319 Light Dove. This is the only colour I haven't worn properly yet, but it's your typical taupe/mink nude. I wasn't going to get it as I think I do have such similar colours, but it's gorgeous, I had to! Looks nicer in person aswell.

Colour 290 Dark Magenta. This colour has more purple in it, but the camera hasn't picked it up. It's really creamy, but this is one coat and it's still got a visible nail line. This colour doesn't seem so unique, but I picked it up because in the shop it seemed a bit similar to NARS Ratin Jot, part of the new Thakoon Nail collection. It's not as purple unfortunately, but the NARS polish has been on my list for a while, so this has filled my needs for the time being! And at £2.50 I can't complain! 

Colour 375 Bois De Rose. Gorgeous dusky rose, again I have similar, but it's just so pretty, I love it! Don't really think these sort of shades suit my skin tone, but ah welllllll.

 Colour 341 Cobalt Green. Again, the colour isn't completely accurate in the picture. It leans a bit more turquoise, and in store this totally reminded me of OPI Fly (Nicki Minaj collection), and I L O V E that colour! I only have the mini version of it aswell, so obviously I couldn't put this one down, and I now love this one too :) 

Colour 255 Violet Microglitter. Holographic glitter in a dark purple polish, do I need to say more? I was just mesmerised by the bottle! The tester bottle was SO dried out and used up, I've never seen one like it! Cheekily swatched another bottle and fell in love. When it dries, it dries a bit grainy and bumpy, so I just whack a glossy top coat on top and I'm good to go! Worth a look if you like your sparkle!

Magnetic Nail Polish Colour 703 Wine Red. My first magnetic polish, and I wanted a colour that was a bit different, but when I saw a pink one I couldn't not have it ;) According to the website it looks like they have 8 magnetic polish colours, including a gorgeous light pinky silver colour! I like that you buy the magnets seperate to the polish, so you're not stuck with just one in the cap like other brands. Unfortunately they only offer 2 designs at the moment. The polish is £2.50 and the magnet is £1.90, so hardly bank-breaking at £4.40 in total! 

This was one of my first tries, and I accidently smudged my middle finger by holding the magnet too close, oops! I found that it doesn't seem to be too strong a pattern, maybe it's the colour? But then again maybe the colour/formulation isn't great? But it's not too bad for my first try!

 

Single Eyeshadow Colour 121 Matt Dove Gray- £4.90 This caught my eye just before going to the till, it's a colour I don't think I have, or that I would usually be able to find anywhere. Turns out the colour name is the same of the nude polish I bought! So I assume they're supposed to be the same colour! So it's a taupe/grey, matte finish, that's why I was drawn to it. It's really soft and buttery, but had to swipe it a few times for the swatch. I still haven't worn this yet, so I can't comment on wear time or anything. 

Natural Concealer Colour 04 Green. When I swatched this in the shop I saw how straight away it covered redness and brightened instantly. Really creamy and pigmented, I thought it would be perfect for  me and my stupid redness :( So chucked it in my basket. I've used it a few times, and it definately covers redness, I wouldn't say it lasts all day, I end up putting other concealer on aswell. But I swipe this along the bottom of my face under my foundation to help cover my red cheeks and it does help.  This cost £5.50

This was something I noticed when I had moved on from the nail polishes, the prices rise dramatically. The blushers were £7.50, but when swatching them I found them to be horrible! Chalky and not pigmented at all. I think the only products there that really impressed me were the nail polishes. I've worn them all but one so far and I love them! Coverage is great, drying time is alright, the lid is easy to hold, the brush isn't my favourite sort, but I love bigger brushes like Essie's diffusion line and such. They're all pigmented, and none of the polishes I've picked up are watery or runny, or too thick and gooey. So a massive thumbs up from me. I suggest you have a look on the website or if you do visit Westfield in Stratford I urge you to go and have a look around the shop! There's a bright blue that's very similar to Nails Inc Baker Street, and I'm pretty sure this isn't the only dupe available!

Also, on the website at the moment KIKO have a great offer running, click the picture to go there! They also have a sale running, with a minimum of 30% off products, and they even have nail art brushes in the sale! 

xo.