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.

Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV

Swatches:

Blue Bus, Gunmetal, Cobra, Baked (No Primer)

Bender, Gravity, Lost, Hijack (No Primer)

Midnight Cowgirl, Sin, Midnight Rodeo, Crystal (No Primer)

Bust, Missionary, Skimp, Zephyr (No Primer)

24/7 Waterproof Eyeliner

I bought this from BuyaPowa on Sunday, for the amazing price of £27.50, which is £18.50 off RRP! Such a bargain! I know recently, that loads of people have had doubts about BuyaPowa, due to the whole 'fake' MAC items they've been selling, and I would be a liar if I hadn't been a bit weary of it because of this. But I bought my Naked 2 palette from them, and that's authentic and great, I use it all the time with no problems, so I thought I would be alright with this, and I was right. 

I have two other Urban Decay Book of Shadows, and to be perfectly honest, I rarely get round to using them. But if I'm to have plenty of eyeshadow choice, it has to be Urban Decay hands down. This is the fourth Book of Shadows, and the most recent. Saying that, this has been out for quite some time, and is known for being quite gimmicky. When I say gimmicky, I mean all the little add ons they've tried to force in to it. 

This is the first Book of Shadows, actually I think probably the only make up palette that comes with a speaker. Yes, that's right a speaker. It has two leads, one to plug into your pc/laptop, and another that can go into an mp3 player/iPhone. The idea of this, is to plug into your outlet of choice, and watch the tutorials that Urban Decay have supplied within the box. They come on a piece of card, with a QR scan code that you scan with using your phone. For me, when I tried, it wouldn't focus or pick up the code for some reason. But basically, they've added a little holder for your phone, and you place it inside the lid of the palette, plug in the speaker, watch the tutorials and join in yourself! Obviously I haven't tried this yet, seeing as though I can't get the tutorials up! I tried the speaker with my iPhone, and it's not too bad. It comes with a keyring chain, so you can take it with you if you fancy.

It also comes with a mini eyeshadow primer, as standard. But in the new squeezy tube, which I have yet to try. A mini mascara, and a waterproof eyeliner. Because the eyeliner is so long, I thought it was a pen liner, but unfortunately it's a really thin brush. Which is probably to most peoples liking, but I find you need to have a really steady hand for them. Even though I have mastered applying eyeliner over the years, I still find myself making silly little mistakes, and for this reason prefer using pen liners or a thick brush with my gel liner. But I'll give this a try! When I was swatching it yesterday, I really scrubbed it and found it hard to get it to move, even when I licked my finger and dragged it across it didn't smudge or budge, definately waterproof!

When I finally got the palette and looked at the shadows, I was excited about Blue Bus, Bust and Crystal, but unfortunately these were the 3 lacking pigmentation! I had to swipe them numerous times, but still nothing :( Maybe if I try a primer they will improve, but I'm not getting my hopes up about that. Other than those 3 shades, the others all pack a punch! Check the swatches to see what I mean. It's what Urban Decay is known for, and they don't disappoint (unlike the 3 that do!)

At the end of the day, I will always choose Urban Decays eyeshadows over MAC and other similar brands. They're always so much more pigmented and longer lasting. If you somehow have missed out on trying one of their palettes I urge you to! They've also just released their own 'Build Your Own Palette' to rival brands like MAC and Fashionista, but the price has put me off so far. I do know that they have reformulated their shadows and released shadows that were only available in their palettes, to buy seperately (hello, mushroom!) I think I will cave and end up creating my own, so look out for that!

Do you own any UD Book of Shadows or palettes? Do you think they're better than other brands? Are they worth the money? And have you purchased their new Build Your Own Palette yet? If so, show me! I want ideas for shades to look at! :)

xo

Urban Decay Naked 2

Yes I know, I'm late to the party. But only because I wanted to be! I don't really spend loads of time doing eyeshadow, but when I do, they are usually nudes and from my first Naked palette or from my small collection of MAC shadows. I kept thinking about this palette, and when I get in this sort of mood, I end up NEEDING it. So I saw it was a up and coming co-buy in Buyapowa, I knew I had to keep my eye out for it. Unfortunately, the email was sent saying it was available ten minutes too late and they were all sold out. (Nice one Buyapowa, not the first time either...!) Luckily they listed again and I was bang on it! So I got this baby for just £26, which is £10 less than the RRP. Not too shabby.

The lipgloss that comes with the palette, shade name 'Naked'. It's plumping, which I really do not like. My lips are an alright size, and if I wanted them to sting or tingle I'd go and play with a wasp! The colour is really pretty and neutral, so great for everyone, but I really think they should of just stuck with their eyeshadow primer - can't go wrong, I've got loads of half empty ones from all their palettes, and all the outside of the packaging is scratched and worn away, so a new one would of been good. Seeing as I use MAC Painterly as a base now, I probably won't be buying a full sized primer potion anytime soon.

Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper

These first 4 shades are definately too warm for me. Putting yellow shadow on eyelids, YU CRAZEE! And it's also not very pigmented and chalky. Half Baked and Chopper look almost identical in pan, but as you can see Chopper is a bit more copper. Bootycall is an alright highlighting shade and I'll get use out of this shade. HB and C are very pigmented, even with one swipe. What you usually expect from Urban Decays shadows.

Tease, Snake Bite, Suspect, Pistol

I heard that Tease was chalky and not very pigmented and it definately is :( as it's a matte shadow, it takes a lot of building up. I love this shade, but it's too chalky and more difficult to work with. Snakebite, Suspect and Pistol are three of my absolute favourite shades in this palette, all beautifully metallic and pigmented. You can easily create quick and easy looks with these shades. I used Snakebite and Suspect along with a few others last night (on top of Painterly), as I was in a rush it was nothing spectacular, but they all blended well and looked gorgeous together, so I'm impressed and happy with these shades.

Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout

Verve is quite silver based, don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous colour, but looks quite random in the palette. Lovely as a base colour also. YDK is extreeeemely pigmented, and has glitter in also. Busted is a dark brown, but a lot cooler in tone than Snake Bite. Blackout is the matte black in this palette, a colour that most people were looking forward to. In pan, it has glitter in, but when swatched it's not AS noticable. I find it very chalky and not that pigmented, but probably a little more pigmented than MAC Carbon. Still on the look for a matte black that wows me. 

The double ended brush that comes with the palette. I got the applicator brush in the original Naked palette and I do use it, so I will probably use this aswell. Although when trying the crease brush I wasn't too impressed, but I'll have to try it again. 

The case is metal and hard-wearing. I thought it would close magnetically, but it snaps shut and you have to really pull it apart to open it. Has a long large mirror inside, good for touch-ups I suppose, but I won't be using it as I don't carry palettes around with me. I do like the packaging a lot more than I thought I would, when seeing pictures of it I wasn't overly fussed about it, as I do love the velvet and magnetic fastening on the other Naked. 

I would prefer to de-pot all the shadows from both my Naked palettes and put them together in a Z Palette or something similar. That way I can easily mix the shades from each and find more combinations a lot easier. Because I will only usually get one palette out and just use shades from that instead of combining them or using MAC/other shadows aswell. I don't have the stomach to do it though! Even though I know I would prefer it so much more! 

I am glad I purchased this palette, unfortunately I think it's not excited people as much as the original, and Urban Decay have tried to make it different, and the outcome wasn't as expected. A few of the shadows quality aren't up to scratch, which doesn't answer the question "Do I need both?" It's totally your preference. For me I only really use nude shadows now, so I think I'm all set eyeshadow wise, and I have found a few new favourite colours from this palette.

At the moment Debenhams are offering 10% off Beauty & Fragrance until 11th March, and free delivery is also available. So if you're interested in this palette, you can purchase it online from Debenhams for £32.40 right now. Or it's available from pretty much anywhere, including; House of Fraser, John Lewis, HQHair, etc.

Did you give in and buy this palette? Or are you still deciding? Do you think it's worth having both?

x