Kiko Long Lasting Stick - 8 Hour No-Transfer Eyeshadow

From L-R: 33, 39, 25

Moving to Leeds last September to start my foundation degree, I was extremely excited upon seeing the Kiko shop! Having read about Kiko on many blogs, I had never tried any of their products before.

The first product I purchased was the Kiko Long Lasting Stick - 8 Hour No-Transfer Eyeshadow after hearing so many fantastic things about them. I chose colours 25, 39 and 33 as I felt these were colours I'd wear the most. Kiko Long Lasting Sticks are supposed to last 8 hours without any transfer, streaking or smudging and have been compared to many higher end brands. They are also water resistant! 

When applying the Kiko Long Lasting Sticks, they give fantastic colour payoff with a quick swipe over my lids and blend beautifully with a brush (I use the 242 Shader Brush from MAC). Staying power on my eyes is absolutely fantastic, even without my trusty primer. After a day at work, or even a friend's wedding, they've lasted all day with very little transfer and only minor creasing; even longer than a normal powder eyeshadow with an eye primer. This makes the No-Transfer Eyeshadow Sticks very well priced at only £6.90 each from Kiko or online. I think if my eyelids were not so well hydrated and a little on the greasy side, the eyeshadows would last a lot longer. Having swatched them on my hand, the colour remained strong through numerous hand-washes and a shower! Although it was looking a little faded and worn the following day.

The colour array is amazing, although I was a little disappointed when returning to their store in Nottingham as the selection actually in stock was not as great as Leeds. And their other makeup is definitely worth trying out. So far, I have worked my way through a few of their mascaras, nail polishes and lipsticks. Overall, I am extremely pleased with Kiko and will be visiting the store much more over the next few months!

Laura xx

     

L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Mono Eyeshadow in Nude and Smoky

L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Mono Eyeshadow (£5.49) come in so many gorgeous shades, and after reading so many positive reviews, I really couldn't wait to get my hands on them! 

The texture of these shadows from L'Oreal is just extraordinary. They are not a powder nor a cream, they feel like a combination of the two really, they have fantastic staying power and the colours are highly pigmented. I still need a primer when wearing these, as nothing ever seems to stay on my lids, but when swatching them on my hand, the colours stayed put in the shower and needed a good rub to remove.

Nude is just that, a nude cream with a golden shimmer running through. Smoky is a green, taupe type colour with a khaki, golden shimmer which subtly catches the light. Both of them work really well together and suit my pale skin and blue/grey eyes.

For the price of these Color Riche eyeshadows, I would definitely put them up there with high end products from the likes of Urban Decay and MAC. I will be picking up some more colours soon.

Laura xx

     

Barry M Dazzle Dust Swatches - Photo Heavy!

Just recently, I've been looking through my makeup collection for things that I push to the back and don't really use anymore. I pulled out my Barry M Dazzle Dusts and realised that I hardly ever use them. 

Number 24, a lovely brown/grey, I use the most and love to put a little bit of this on my lid with a lighter shade of eyeshadow (usually MAC's Retrospeck). The other colours, bar number 44, the bronze shade are quite garish and not completely practical for everyday wear! I'm going to try, over the next few weeks to use these a bit more. I'll try and snap some photos too and put them up on here or Instagram.

Have you ever tried Barry M Dazzle Dust? They seem to have dropped off the blogger radar recently but are really effective and very pigmented. 

Just in case people are unsure what these should be used for the Barry M website confirms 'A spectacular collection of breath taking loose, highly pearlised powder available in a profusion of colours to enhance your eyes, cheeks or lips.' I have only ever tried them on my eyes. I am not sure yellow cheeks are my sort of thing!

Laura xx

     

Holiday time!

After spending three days in London, I'm now off to Glasgow for a long weekend. Bit of a long way to drive for a long weekend, but I'm feeling like I just need a relaxing, fun break away from Nottingham. Here's some amazing goodies I got in London to keep you going whilst I'm away... I will blog more about each product after I've had chance to try them out over the next few weeks.

Smashbox Goodies

Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara

Smashbox O-Gloss which adapts and changes to your body temperature, PH levels and moisture

Smashbox Studio Skin - Full coverage but without the drying, face mask feeling of double wear. I have just used this today and my skin doesn't feel like it's going to crack every time I move like with Doublewear.

Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer - My skin is soooo dehydrated at the moment, so I'm hoping this can inject some moisture into my skin.

Smashbox Smoke Box - GORGEOUS! Love the colours, they're very me.

Smashbox Blush in Chiffon - a lovely coral/pink shimmer blusher

Smashbox Soft Lights in Shimmer - a lovely reflective shimmery powder

Smashbox Photo Set Finishing Powder - contains only three ingredients! Helps to minimise and absorb shine throughout the day whilst smoothing over and bluring any fine lines. Feels so silky and amazing. Not sure I'm going to need to use this as my skin is dehydrated.

Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder in Fair. One of my FAVOURITE products because of my dehydrated skin. Has a Hydrogel technology which apparently drip feeds your skin with moisture to keep it hydrated throughout the day.

ELF

I placed an order with ELF a while back, I think it was when they had a 50% off special day. I wanted to share with you two products that I brought from them that I love.

As you can see, these are well used products, so well used that the brand name is wearing off! The Baked Blush is £3.75 and an absolute bargain. Here, I have three colours, Peachy Cheeky, Passion Pink and Rich Rose. They are really pigmented and last really well on the cheeks. In comparison to similar products I usually buy from MAC, these are great value.

The only niggles I have with these in comparison to the MAC ones is that these are quite shimmery and iridescent on my cheeks. I would prefer more pigment and less glow. The colours also all look so similar when I'm wearing them and in comparison to the website, they are a lot darker colours. To be honest, if I put two different shades on - one on each cheek, you probably wouldn't be able to tell! But for £3.75 I really can't complain.

Another one of their products I LOVE is their Mineral Eyeshadow Primer which is only £3!! Apparently, it contains vitamins A, C and E too - can't be bad! It really does work at keeping my eyeshadow on. I've tried the Smashbox Eyeshadow Primer too, which I do prefer a little bit more than the ELF one, but for the bargain price of £3, you can't really go wrong. The Smashbox Primer is a lot thicker and seems to blend on the eyelid better with less drying time, whereas the ELF primer is a lot more watery and of a thinner texture. I will certainly be repurchasing this though when I run out!

Let me know if you've ever tried any products from ELF before. What do you recommend?

Laura xx