Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow and Colour Sphere Eyeshadow Review and Swatches

I'm sorry this review is really overdue, I actually bought these Kiko products back in October (remember my October London Haul video?). But then better late than never, eh?

I got these products from the Kiko store in Westfield. Kiko is an Italian brand I believe and they have two stores in the UK (in both Westfields) and also a website* where you can order all their products from. The prices are pretty good and so is the quality of their products. I got two Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows and one Colour Sphere Eyeshadow.

The Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows are similar to Mac shadesticks (only better) and Topshop eyeshadow crayons. I got them in Lilac (15) and Nile Green (09). They are both creamy, well pigmented, soft, go on smooth and even. They dry down pretty quickly, so there isn't much creasing, but admittedly if worn alone they do crease a tiny bit. Not much, not enough for me to care, but just wanted to point it out. The Colour Sphere Eyeshadow is basically a baked eyeshadow, I got it in Sparkling Cobalt Green (27) which is a dark blue/green with lots of sparkles. You can wear it wet which makes it more intense. I also tried it over Nile Green Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows and it makes the colour really pop (you can see swatches below). 

The Long Lasting Eyeshadows cost £6.90 each and the Colour Sphere Eyeshadows cost £5.90. As I said above you can buy these from the Kiko website as well as their stores in Westfield. *If you decide to order from the website, be sure to register your details first as you get 15 days free shipping that way! Otherwise it costs £5.90 if your order is less than £49.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Paul & Joe Sparkles Cat Collection Review and Swatches

When I first saw the images of Paul & Joe's upcoming cat collection, I knew I wanted to get some products just because of the cute design. I ended up buying Face & Eye Colour in 077 Kittycat, Lipstick C in 076 Meow! and 077 Catwalk. I'm still wanting the Matte Pressed Powder to hit ASOS or BeautyBay (I got the others from ASOS, but I never saw the Kitten collection up which has the face powder, nail polishes and blush sticks).

As pretty as they are, sadly none of these products lived up to my expectations. Firstly, the Face & Eye Colour and Lipstick C in 076 Meow! both have really ugly packaging. Red background with ugly floating heads - WTF? I really don't understand why they would use something that ugly for something this pretty on the inside. Lipstick C in 077 Catwalk has lovely packaging at least.

The Face & Eye Colour is pretty sheer. There's one really lovely shade in it (the shimmery purple one on the back of the cat), the pink (background) is okay if a bit sheer, but the front of the cat is a meh light beigy-brown matte colour. I do love the purple though, it reminds me of Urban Decay Crash 24/7 eyeliner pencil in eyeshadow form. There was some glitter fall out from it, but as it's very very fine glitter, it was hardly noticable.

The lipsticks have really cute paw prints on the all the way down the bullet, but sadly that's where the positives stop. The two shades I got are nothing unique, they are both pretty sheer and the texture's not that nice either.

All in all, if it wasn't for the cuteness of the design (and the fact that there is no way I could've swatched them), I wouldn't have got any of these products. I thought about returning them, but of course once you swatch them, you can't. I'm not saying they're awful, but other than the design there is nothing special about them. I think the promo images are way nicer than the actual products - sadly. They're not cheap either, the Face & Eye Colour costs £21.50 and the lipsticks are £16 each.The Face & Eye Colour is 12 g, the lipsticks are 3 g each.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadows in Illusiore and Emerveille and FOTD

While I'm waiting for my eyelid to recover (dry patch is going away nicely), I managed to dig out these old photos I did back in October but never got around to putting up in a review. It's actually quite fitting as well, following yesterday's post on my Chanel eyeshadow stash. These cream/gel shadows came out last autumn and I have reviewed 2 other shades, so for more info please check out this post.

The shades I have here are Illusiore, a purple-grey/taupe, and Emerveille, a light peach colour. Both are really pretty with fine shimmer, well pigmented, smooth and long lasting. Emerveille is the perfect 5 minute make up solution, paired up with a brown or black eyeliner and lots of black mascara. I included some pictures of me wearing Emerveille, so be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post. I used them with and without primer and they held on perfectly, didn't even crease when worn without primer, so they would also make a good base themselves. They cost £22.50 each and you get 4 g, so they're not cheap, but you really only need a little bit in one go. 

I would happily recommend these to everyone, and I hope the rumours of Chanel bringing out more colours are true as these are really fantastic.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with Emerveille after the jump!

Photos of My Chanel Eyeshadow Collection

I'm a bit frustrated at the moment because I have a very dry and itchy patch on my left eyelid and I've not been able to wear eye make up other than mascara, but there are so many products that I want to test and review and I can't. So I was scratching my head trying to come up with something to do a post about and I came up with this: I'm going to show you my Chanel eyeshadow collection. And here it is:

All my Chanel eyeshadows

As you can see, I own a lot of quads, but there are a few singles, a duo and some of the new gel/cream eyeshadows, Illusion D'Ombre. I have most of the latest quads and a good few older releases, some of those I bought from eBay, so some are more used than others. I also have a quad that I'm pretty sure is fake, but it is so pretty, I haven't been able to make myself throw it out.

So without further ado, here are some more detailed pictures, hope you enjoy looking at them. I'm not doing swatches as well, but if you have any questions/requests, let me know in the comments!

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Swatches and Quick Review

Following on the success of their Naked Palette, Urban Decay has released their Naked2 Palette and it is now available in the UK. I bought mine on Friday night and it arrived in the post this morning. I've had a quick look and swatched it for you all, but I have not had time to use any of the eyeshadows yet (except those that are permanent or repromotes, but not from this palette anyway).

My first impression is that I like it, some shades more than others. My favourite is the right half of the palette, in particular Suspect, Pistol, Verve and YDK, they all seem well pigmented and smooth, and the colours are lovely. Foxy (first one from the left) is a very hard to see skin tone shade, pretty unremarkable, Bootycall (third one from the left) is a nicer highlighting shade. Half Baked is included in this as well as the Naked Palette which is totally unnecessary. All in all it's not a bad palette and if you don't have many neutral shadows, this might just be exactly what you need. There are some mattes included and some rather shimmery, frosty shades too. There's also a Lip Junkie gloss included which is pretty nice, it has a minty scent and sweet taste, and lasts well on the lips, but colourwise it mostly just adds shine as it's quite pale. I have not used the included double ended brush.

The palette is exclusively available online from Debenhams, but it will hit the stores in February I believe. It costs £36 and you get 12 good sized eyeshadows, the mini gloss and the double ended brush. Not a bad deal at all. Also Debenhams are giving 500 bonus points to their Beauty Club Card holders at the moment (that's £5 worth!) with orders over £30. Have you ordered it yet? Are you planning to? Let me know!

See lots more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Duwop Crush3 Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

Duwop is not one of the most well known brands and I really only got into it because I saw their original Crush trio (Lava) featured on Musings of a Muse. Since thenI have bought a few other products from Duwop, but my favourite has to be that original Crush Lava trio. I don't think it's available separately anymore, but do not fear as it's included in this palette. Crush3 is basically 3 Crush trios in one palette. As well as the original Crush Lava trio, you also get Crush Emerald and Crush Amethyst.

According to Duwop "Crush3 is a palette of 3 trios of jewel toned, talc-free shadows that gives the look and intensity of a cream with the ease and convenience of a powder. A metallic shimmer breakthrough, these eye colours offer intense payoff and effortless applications." Couldn't have said it better myself.

Out of the three trios Crush Lava is still my favourite, the shades are vibrant, the colour payoff is excellent, and the application is smooth. I also really like Crush Amethyst, but Crush Emerald is a bit of a letdown. Emerald (the green shade) itself is nice, but the other two are not as pigmented as I would like. I have only worn Crush Amethyst so far, so I can't say how long all of them last, but Crush Amethyst stayed on my lid without creasing for 10+ hours.

The only trio available on BeautyBay is Crush 18 Carat, which retails at £21, so at £24.95 Crush3 is a bit of a bargain. I think it was £28 initially, but got reduced straight after Christmas which was when I scooped it up. You get 22.8g of eyeshadows for your money, so it's just over £1 for a gram! Good deal.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

FOTD: Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette

I wore this look in my Sales Bargains video, but I have to say, I wasn't sure whether to post this after all as it didn't look too good in the video. The pictures aren't great either, but it actually looked really nice in real life. I decided to post it anyway, if nothing else for the idea as I think the colours worked really well together.

For this look I used Too Faced Romantic Eye Palette which I have reviewed before, click on the link if you're interested. It's a lovely little palette and the shadows are really nicely pigmented, so I would definitely recommend it.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Barbara Daly Even Smoother Eye Base
Too Faced Honeymoon eyeshadow (Romantic Eye Palette) all over the lid
Too Faced Ever After eyeshadow (Romantic Eye Palette) in the crease
Too Faced Soulmates eyeshadow (Romantic Eye Palette) on the inner corner of lid and on brownbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Mildew on waterline
No 7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Parure Aqua foundation in 02 Beige Clair
Guerlain Radiant Butterfly Meteorites Voyage Powder
Blush from Too Faced Glamour To Go (French edition) Palette

Lips:
Mac Impassioned lipstick

See more pictures after the jump!