Kiko Super Colour Eyeliner in 105 Jade Green

On a recent trip to Westfield I popped into the Kiko store and noticed their colourful liquid eyeliners. I picked up 105 jade Green, a colour I hadn't owned yet despite having loads of liquid eyeliners (mainly MUFE and Stila, but also other brands).

This is what Kiko say about the eyeliner: "Coloured Liquid Eyeliner in a water-resistant formula. Its water and polymer based formula creates a film of extra-brilliant no-transfer colour with great coverage. The light and gliding texture dries quickly adhering perfectly to eyelids, without fading or flaking. The innovative, cone-shaped applicator in soft felt makes application very comfortable, simple and perfectly measured, for a line that can go from thin to thick. Its special long-handled design ensures maximum control of application for lines that are always flawless. Exceptional by itself or on top of eyeshadow, eye pencil or classic eyeliner, Super Colour Eyeliner is available in 14 vibrant shades."

I'd say I agree with most of it, except that there is nothing innovative about the applicator as it's exactly the same as the above mentioned brands' applicators. Now that's not a bad thing, just nothing new. The formula is a little bit runny, watery for my liking and it takes a few goes to build up the colour and as a result it does take a little longer to dry, but once it's dry, it's going nowhere. However it comes off easily with oil based remover and unlike some other liquid eyeliners it dissolves rather than flakes off. Shade 105 Jade green is an almost duochromey light green shade with some yellow and blue shimmer to it depending on how the light hits it. Very pretty colour.

You get 1.7 ml for currently £3.90 (normally £6.90) which is a hell of a lot cheaper than MUFE and Stila, although I do feel that the formula isn't quite comparable, so I guess that's about alright.You can order it from Kiko's website (which I don't recommend due to a previous bad experience) or buy from a Kiko store in Westfield Stratford or Shepherd Bush.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Recent Kiko Haul, Review and Swatches

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this post due to my bad experience when ordering from Kiko a while ago (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read this post, but basically their customer services based in Italy were a pile of cr@p), however, to be fair to Kiko, despite their non-existing customer service their products are actually very good and the staff in their Westfield store have only ever been helpful and nice. I still won't be ordering from their website, but it's worth checking out their store if you're near one.

On a recent trip to Westfield London I picked up four of their water eyeshadows, one long lasting stick eyeshadow and two nail polishes. The nail polishes were in the sale, I believe they are from the holiday collection which I never saw because I stupidly forgot to pop into the Kiko store when I was in London in December, and one of them is even holographic (I believe there were four of them in the collection)! The water eyeshadows are permanent and the long lasting stick eyeshadow is limited edition (although there are also some permanent shades in different packaging).

I haven't tried the nail polishes yet, so I won't be reviewing them in this post. I have tried other Kiko nail polishes and they were fine, but they come in lots of different finishes and colours. I got shades 402 and 404. Kiko nail polishes cost £4.90 for 11 ml, but I think I paid £2 each for the ones I got in the sale.

I have reviewed the long lasting stick eyeshadows (permanent line) before, if you want to read my review, it's here. The new limited edition shade I bought is 31 Hypnotic Iris Blue which is a bright blue with purple duochrome. It gave me a very hard time as my camera just couldn't pick up the beautiful duochrome, so I had to use my phone to capture the true colour (as a result I have to I apologise for the bad picture quality). It's such a beautiful, vibrant colour though, I had many compliments while wearing it. I used it over Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer and it lasted very well without fading or creasing. It was easy to blend out and stayed put without smudging. The product come in a twist up pen like many other cream eyeshadows. Long lasting stick eyeshadows cost £6.90 and you get 1.64 g product.

The water eyeshadows are basically wet and dry eyeshadows with an excellent texture and colour payoff. They come in 32 shades and I chose 4 of them: 212 Emerald Green, 221 Cyclamen, 225 Indigo Blue and 224 Lavender. The latter was also a troublesome shade, it has a gorgeous purple duochrome to it and of course that didn't show up properly either (cue bad quality phone camera photos). The eyeshadows are a little bit like the gelee powder shadows Estee Lauder and Mac have come out with, very smooth, easy to blend, almost creamy, but with the non-creasing advantage of powder shadows. They are quite shimmery and a bit metallic, but not glittery at all. I wore them on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer and they lasted all day without creasing or fading and with no fallout. I seriously love them, they are gorgeous. They come in mirrored black compacts and have a design that resembles ripples on water. The water eyeshadows cost £8.90 each and you get 3 g for your money.

See more pictures including swatches and looks I did with these products after the jump!

Online Ordering From KIKO - And Why You Shouldn't Do It

This was initially going to be a product review, but instead I wanted to share my experience about ordering online from KIKO, with a warning about their shameful, practically non-existent customer service. I placed an order for 4 Water Eyeshadows and an Eyeshadow Stick on Tuesday, 17th January. I received my order the following Tuesday, so a full week later, having been completely unaware that it was coming from Italy, as it doesn't say anywhere on the KIKO UK website. When I opened the package I noticed that they managed to send shade 102 of the Water Eyeshadows twice and didn't send me a 101. So I e-mailed them as there is no UK phone number on the website. They e-mailed me back the following day with what seems like an automated e-mail and requested that I send a photo of the products received. Now if the shadows had been damaged, I'd understand, but why do I need to provide photographic evidence that they sent me two of the same eyeshadow? Anyway I replied with a photo and that was 12 days ago. Since then I have not heard from them.

I am absolutely gobsmacked by this non-existent customer service. I'd just like to exchange one of the 102's for a 101 or get a refund if they can't send me a 101. And as this wasn't even my mistake, I would expect them not to even require me to return the extra one like many other brand would (I once received a damaged eyeshadow from Bobbi Brown, phoned up and was sent a new one immediately that arrived the following day), but I don't even mind, I'll send it back - at their cost of course! However, it's been 12 days now since I first e-mailed them and since then I have e-mailed them repeatedly, and they haven't bothered to respond. I then raised this issue with Paypal, started a dispute to which they also didn't respond and now I have escalated it to a claim, and still no answer. As there is no customer service number anywhere on their website, all I can do is wait for them to e-mail me or for Paypal to hopefully give me a refund. All I can say after all of this is that I will NEVER EVER order from them again, or even buy their products from their store in London. Their products are nice, but not worth this awful hassle and I am now officially boycotting KIKO. 

Have you been let down by bad customer service? Feel free to share your experience in the comments!

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!

My London Make Up Haul Video

I went to London yesterday and decided to make a quick video about my findings. Enjoy!