KIKO Make Up Milano (Introduction and Review)
So, Saturday night we safely arrived back home in Ottawa. After two flights and a very long day, we were in a word “exhausted”. I’ve got to say, it felt very amazing to sleep in our own bed!
I’m so far behind with things I want to post about on here, so I will do my best to get caught up. I’ll try to mix in trip photos over the next couple of weeks amidst everything else. While in Europe I ran into a couple of make up brands that I’d never heard of before and to the best of my knowledge, aren’t available anywhere in North America, so I was sure to pick up a few items so I could share them with you. And hopefully learn more about them from my European readers who have likely had a much wider experience with them.
The first one I wanted to post about is KIKO Make Up Milano. Available online at their website for residents of Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and the UK…KIKO Cosmetics is currently only available for sale in Europe.
KIKO’s identity is rooted in “Made in Italy” values and the world of the capital for fashion, art and design. The research into original textures and colours is combined with research into quality formulas with guaranteed performance, for a perfect fusion of quality and creativity.
We ran into this stand alone cosmetics store in the shopping district of Venice. They had every makeup and skincare product under the sun and tonnes of nail polishes too. And as you can see, it was packed! They had so much product in this little shop, I really wasn’t sure where to start. Because I had no idea of if there were any “must-haves” for this brand, I just snooped around and picked out a few things I thought I would enjoy giving a try.
I ended up opting for two eye pencils, an eyeshadow palette containing 4 shades and a nail polish.
The Color Fever Eyeshadow Palette I decided on was the one called Hyperreal Green Wood (no shocker there!).
Inside the box the palette comes inside a small velvet pouch for safe keeping. And you’ll be happy to know the lid offers a full size mirror with no wasted space.
The Hyperreal Green Wood palette features 4 gorgeous shades that are easily paired together and are all shimmery baked eyeshadows so they can easily be used dry or wet, depending on how intense you want the look to be.
Left to Right: Top Row, Bottom Row
The look I’ve created here is using a dry brush. And I found them to be very vibrant with lovely pigmentation and great blendability. After several hours of wear I experienced no creasing, fading or patchy wear of any kind. I was very happy with this palette and the overall quality of the eye shadows. I paid 12,90 Euro for this palette in store (that is equivalent to about $17 or $18 US dollars).
I also purchased Nail Lacquer 298 (no cute names, only numbers) for 3,90 Euro (which is about $5-$6 USD). The nail lacquer was not at all like I expected. It was a very sheer shimmer and after trying it out, I would think this is best used as a top coat if you wanted to add some shimmer to a matte or creme blue, green or black polish.
This picture here is showing 3 coats. I did 5 and still had a visible nail line, so you’d have to do at least 6 for an opaque/close to opaque look. Not sure who has time for that?
Unfortunately I only picked up the one shade, so I have no idea of whether this is just the case with their shimmer formulas and if an experience with a creme would’ve been different. I imagine it would be. Perhaps if anyone has tried out more than one of their nail lacquers you can leave a note below?? I’m really curious!
As mentioned earlier, I picked out 2 eye pencils while at KIKO. The first one was from their “Glamorous Eye Pencil” line and was number 404. It was only 2,90 Euro which is equal to about $4 USD.
It is a nice rich plum shade in a waterproof formula that starts out blendable and then sets into place.
For this swatch, I did a single fine line on the left which is just the width of the tip and then did a thicker swatch so you could see the true colour a little bit better.
The other eye pencil I decided to pick up was from the Smoky Eye(s) Pencil line in shade 03 (Violet Indigo). This one retailed for 6,90 Euro which equates to about $9 or $10 USD.
When I saw this product, I knew I just had to give this a whirl because it was the first time I’d ever seen a brush on the end of an eye pencil opposed to a smudger.
For the above swatch, on the left again I did the single fine line to show the width of the tip and on the right, I’ve lightly blended it out using the brush on the other end.
Both eye pencils had an extremely creamy texture and slid across my lids gently with ease. Below, you can see I tried pairing the blue one with some brown crushed pigments to add a pop of colour to my look which created a nice alternative to brown or black.
Overall I was really happy with the quality of products and given the price, you really can’t go wrong. The brand is quite affordable and offers an absolutely massive range of colours and options for people, no matter their age. The prices make it easy to try out multiple products right away unlike some high end brands that add up so quickly. Now all I wish is that I’d grabbed a lip product to test drive too…and honestly, some of everything would be nice! So, I can definitely say that I would buy KIKO products again if I’m ever back in Europe. Hopefully someday they will expand their on-line store and make shipping to North America possible!
So, for all my North American readers, keep your eyes peeled for KIKO Make Up Milano on your next trip overseas and for my European readers, I’m really curious if any of you are fans of KIKO Cosmetics and if there are any “must-have’s” people should know about?!?
Thanks for reading!
xox,
Shannon
BE WHAT YOU WANT
“In the Light” eye shadow palette by Stila
In my October Topbox, you might recall that I received a eye shadow sample card for Stila’s “In the Light” eye shadow palette.
It contained two makeup look ideas as well as samples of each shadow from their full-size palette called In the Light.
Although the samples weren’t huge by any means, I had enough to be able to give these eyeshadows a thorough try. It contained enough for swatches of all the colours as well as 3-4 regular uses as well.
The full size palette contains 10 wearable neutral shades designed to compliment any skin tone. It retails for $50.00 CAD ($39.00 US) and also contains a limited edition Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in a matte chocolate brown called “Damsel”.
Photo courtesy of Sephora.com
Swatches from the “In the Light” eye shadow palette:
Of the two makeup look suggestions included, I decided to showcase the look purrfect cat eye:
- apply “Bare” from lash line to brow bone
- apply “Kitten” to the lid and blend
- apply “Bliss” to crease and outer corner of the eye
- wet brush and apply “Ebony” to lash line, carefully extending the line up past the eye. (I totally copped out on this step and used my regular black felt tip liner)
As you can see, this is a very soft, subtle and natural eye makeup look that is perfect for daytime. It also gives you opportunity to use some of your more heavily pigmented lip products for that punch of colour that would be “too much” to pair with a smokey eye. Above on my lips I am wearing “Hope” by tarte from their line of LipSurgence natural matte lip tints which is one of my absolute favourites!
You will find this look in the full-size palette as well, inside a booklet containing 5 other suggested combinations. These look books are always great for those who might be a little overwhelmed with too many choices and aren’t sure where to start. I particularly love them, because they generally suggest pairing certain colours together you might not normally have considered.
Overall, this palette is quite lovely and has a nice variety of natural shades. For me though, I already have enough neutrals that purchasing this set wouldn’t make much sense. They do however have sister palettes with different combinations:
- “In the Moment” is a great universal palette with a mix of neutrals and purples that are ultra-wearable no matter your colourings.
- “In the Know” is a collection of 10 earth-inspired matte shadows which can be a fantastic addition to the beauty addict that mainly has lustre shadows.
- “In the Garden” is botanical inspired with a nice combination of matte and jewel toned shadows.
So no matter what your collection looks like at the moment and what you might be looking to branch out into…chances are Stila probably has you covered with a variety of combinations for the savvy shopper.
Have you tried Stila eye shadows before? What did you think? Which palette is your favourite?
Thanks for reading!
xox,
Shannon
a fun makeup look using only Drugstore products (for under $20)
After my 24 hour test of the Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow, I just had to grab a couple more colors when I saw they were on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart again for $4.99.
This time around, because I already knew I loved the product I opted for some brighter colors to have fun with. I grabbed Edgy Emerald and Painted Purple.
The consistency of these two is much like Tough as Taupe. They are creamy, smooth and glide on easily.
The packaging for this product is fantastic – nice clear glass pots that allow you to see the colour easily in your mess collection while you are quickly trying to get ready.
As you can see from this swatch, the colours are rich and heavily pigmented. They are easy to use and blend well together. I was worried blending would be difficult (I don’t have much experience with cream shadows) but I was pleasantly surprised. 🙂
***I know lots of people who are used to purchasing higher end makeup are skeptical of this product immediately because of the price tag…and if that sounds like you, then you absolutely MUST check out my pictures and 24 hour test results here showcasing this products wear time and its quality.***
The drugstore I picked these up at had a sale on various cosmetics so I grabbed a mascara by L’Oreal that came with a bonus eyeliner. You know me and free things….
The package for both was on sale for $6.99, down from it’s regular price of $9.99.
On the side of the packaging there is a little diagram showing how this mascara creates the effect of false lashes. It also says “visuals are dramatized”. 🙂 At least they are honest about it.
The Voluminous False Lashes mascara itself comes in a highly reflective, twisted triangle shaped, gold container.
The wand isn’t too bulky so it should work on the majority of eye shapes as well as those hard to reach lower lashes and inner corner lashes without making a mess.
The bonus Voluminous eye liner comes in a sleek easy to handle tube, with a chisel felt tip.
Given the shape of the tip, you can actually use this eyeliner to create 3 different thicknesses quite easily. Take a look at my swatch below:
As you can see, you have a lot of versatility with an eye liner that has a chisel tip like this one.
I thought it would be fun to create a quick eye makeup look using all four of these new products to see exactly what is possible for under $20. Here is what I ended up with:
I really love “Painted Purple” and “Edgy Emerald” together, I find they really compliment each other for a fun summery look.
What shades are your favourite from the Color Tattoo 24 hour collection? Do you have cream shadows you prefer to this product? AND tell me, what is your favourite drugstore mascara???
Thanks for reading!
xox,
Shannon
Does Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow really last 24 hours? (Full Pictures)
Today I want to talk about Maybelline’s Color Tattoo Eyeshadow by Eyestudio. They make the claim that this is a 24 hour eyeshadow, so I decided to put it to the test and share my findings.
Before we get into the messy pictures, I want to start out with some basic details about this product.
The Color Tattoo 24 Hr Cream Gel eyeshadows are available in 10 different shades. I have seen them retail at regular price for between $8.99 and $10.99 at different locations here in Canada, including Shopper’s Drug Mart, Rexall Pharmaplus and Wal-Mart.
I was on the fence about trying this product, thinking “I won’t end up using this”. But when I saw them on sale for $5.99, I figured there was no harm in trying out one shade. After much deliberation, I went for a neutral shade, on the theory that if I am to get any use out of this at all, it will be during the week for work, when I commonly do a single shade and some quick eyeliner and mascara. So “Tough as Taupe” was purchased.
I actually love the container this comes in. It is a glass pot with a plastic lid, reminding me of higher end products.
The consistency is a creamy gel as advertised and slides on smoothly.
So for testing, I wanted to document what the eyeshadow looked like at three different intervals. First, we needed a place to start, so I took pictures of what the eyeshadow looked like when it was first applied, at 7:30am. Please note that I did use an eyeshadow primer prior to the application of the Color Tattoo eyeshadow.
Second, I wanted to see what it looked like by the end of the day. And to me, that doesn’t mean as soon as work was over. Generally people have committments in the evenings, whether that involves running errands, going for dinner or making your way to yoga…but no matter how you spend your time, your day doesn’t end when your work day does. So I took my next set of pictures at the 15 hour mark, before going to bed at 10:30pm.
Other than issues with my eyeliner, the eye still looks much like it did 15 hours earlier. You could even make the argument that the shadow hasn’t budged or been affected at all.
So after this, although I found the results very compelling so far, I decided to let the test run the full 24 hours, even though I had no intention of pulling an all-nighter. So I went to sleep, with full makeup and woke up the next morning to this…
So obviously, I am in no way recommending people do their makeup the night before…but I do believe the pictures speak for themselves in regards to the longevity of these 24 hr cream eyeshadows by Maybelline. I was very impressed with the results and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these for full day use. After all, the shadow after 24 hours looks much like it did at 0 hours! And best of all, I experienced no creasing at any point! I have always loved Maybelline’s mascaras and I can now add these 24 hour shadows to my list of favourites!
Next time I see these Color Tattoo eyeshadows on sale, I plan to grab a couple more shades for sure!
What do you think? Have you tried these 24 hour eyeshadows already? How did they last for you?
xox,
Shannon
P.S. The jelly sandwich manicure shown in the pictures above was the longest lasting manicure I ever had. After 8 days they were still absolutely perfect, not a single chip. But I did remove them so I could change up my look. I have decided that this jelly nail polish is some sort of witchcraft.
Classic Smokey Eye Makeup
As much as I love crazy bright, dramatic makeup…certain occasions may call for something a little more subdued…or at the very least more of a classic look.
The Smokey Eye is probably the most sought after makeup look out there right now. Everyone puts twists and turns on it, but it seems to be what the majority of looks stem from. There are many ways to create one, but I’m going to show you how I created what I consider to be the classic smokey eye using silver and black eyeshadows.
What you want to do is select three monochromatic eyeshadows (meaning they must stem from the same shade). For my look, I used Forgery, Print and Black Tied eyeshadows – all by MAC Cosmetics. All of them are cool shades containing silver sparkles (see swatch below).
Forgery – Sterling Silver (Lustre)
Print – Muted grey with shimmer (satin)
Black Tied – Black with silver sparkle (velvet)
How to make a smokey eye:
- My first step is always my eyebrows and under eye concealer. I used Palladio’s eyebrow gel to hold my brows in place and then filled them in using Mystery eyeshadow by MAC.
- Using an eyeshadow primer, cover your lid and all the way up to your eyebrow. For this I used Mary Kay’s eye primer.
- Then, using your lightest shade from your three shadows, cover the middle part of your eyelid and stop at the crease. The inner and outer portions of your eyelid should be bare. For this step I used Forgery.
- Then, using your middle shade, (in my case “Print” eyeshadow) you want to begin filling in the inner and outer portions of your eyelid. Blend this in gently with your lightest shade, be careful not to go too far into the middle of your lid.
- Using the middle shade still, gently blend up into the crease of your eye and go back and forth throughout the entire length of the crease – connecting the inner and outer sections of shadow.
- Now, you want to take the darkest shade of your trio (in my case, Black Tied) and begin dusting it on top of the middle shade, focusing mainly on the outer and inner corners of your eyes. This will help create depth and dimension. Again, be sure to blend evenly. You shouldn’t be able to tell where one colour stops and the next begins, everything should flow together.
- For under your lower lash line, you want to take your darkest shade and blend it into the lashes on the outer half of your eye, connecting it to the dark outside corner of your lid.
- Then, take your lightest shade and blend it along your lower lash line throughout the inner half of your eye. This will help open up your eye and not make it appear “closed off”.
- Using your lightest shade still, go ahead and highlight your brow bone.
- Apply your eye liner next. I used Master Precise Felt Tip Liquid Liner on my upper lashes and used MAC’s Blacktrack fluidline gel liner on my waterline.
- Finish with mascara on both your upper and bottom lashes. I used Clinique’s High Impact Mascara.
- Apply your lashes (completely optional). For this look, I used Ardell’s 102 Demi lashes.
All of the above pictures are taken with flash and you can see a real difference in this look when you capture it in natural light or direct sunlight. It’s not as intense as you might initially think.
I absolutely love this look for that very reason. It is super wearable for daytime and sexy enough for evening. And with MAC eyeshadows being super long lasting…you can literally wear this classic smokey eye all day!
What do you think? Do you have a technique for creating a smokey eye that you like better, or do you think you will give this a try? I’d love to hear from you!!
Thanks for reading!
xox,
Shannon
Eudora Cosmeticos
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I love looking at cosmetics from all over the world, even if I can’t get my grubby mitts on them…
When Samira came to visit from Brazil, she brought along with her a couple of products for me from Eudora, a Brazilian cosmetic company that she works for.
Eudora is similar to that of Avon or Mary Kay here in North America….where we have representatives and catalogues you can order from. But Eudora also has stores where you can physically go in and shop. Eudora has everything from makeup, to skincare, to perfume, to everything bath & body. They have a tonne of beautiful products on their website (you will need to use your Google Chrome browser to translate unless you speak Portuguese) that I wish I could have…but unfortunately Eudora does not yet ship internationally. They are a fairly young company though, so perhaps in a couple of years we will be able to readily access all of their goodies.
But for today, I wanted to showcase the two makeup products that I do have on hand.
The first item is from their Soul-Kiss me line of lipstick. She brought me this lipstick in shade “Mango Box” which is a beautiful orange. This worked out really well for me, because I don’t have any orange lipsticks at all, so this certainly helps round out my collection and gives me a fun alternative this summer. The Kiss Me line of lipsticks by Eudora is described as a hydrating lipstick with a soft texture and creamy formula with Vitamin E, which promotes maximum hydration and protects lips.
I have lip swatches both with flash and without. First, let’s see how this looks under my camera’s flash:
And without flash under our horrific bathroom lighting:
The other item I have to showcase here is from the Eudora Magnetic Eyes – Sombra Mono Baked collection in shade: Luxury Green. “This product is designed with a unique process that promotes maximum intensity and color fidelity. Its special pigments provide ultra pigmented colors and easy application. It can be used dry for a smoky effect or wet for even more striking colors.”
The texture of this product is lovely and is a gorgeous olive/gold shade. I can’t wait to try it out in a makeup look, something tells me it is going to be really beautiful on.
Again, I made sure to get swatches both with flash and without. Here is how it looks with my camera’s flash:
And without flash:
I was really happy to see how nice these products swatched. I can’t wait for the sun to start shining here so I can try out this orange lipstick!! And after snooping around more on the Eudora website, I’m thinking Christmas will be a perfect time to do a Brazilian beauty swap with my life long pen-pal! I’ll start making my list……lol
xox,
Shannon
my Inglot cherry popped
I ventured into an Inglot in Montreal with Samira a couple of weeks ago and decided it was certainly time to pop my cherry. Inglot, a 25 year old cosmetic company from Poland has only 4 stores in Canada (all in Quebec) and only 9 locations in the USA (find a store near you), so Inglot is not a brand that you will run into often – depending on your locale. When I ventured into one of the 3 Montreal stores, the sales associate immediately started to tell me a little bit about the brand…comparing their products to that of MAC Cosmetics and Makeup Forever. The mission: to produce high quality products at fair and reasonable prices, using only the best possible ingredients and raw materials from the most reputable suppliers.
Their “Freedom System” of palettes is what she said they are most famous for. The combinations were endless and I knew I was in trouble. There are 15 different shapes and styles of palettes. You can have only “face” palettes” or only “eye” palettes if you want, but there are also combination palettes where you can have 2 eyeshadows, a blush and a face powder all together. How amazing is that?!? Everything is customizable! When you are in the store, they let you walk around with a big magnet, so you can just pull out whatever you like and stick it on your magnet so you can see everything together and keep track of what you are interested in. Genius.
So let’s take a peek at what I got! I took a lot of pictures, so please hang in there!
First, let’s take a closer look at the AMC Pure Pigment Eye Shadow I purchased in shade 70.
Their range of pigments is massive. I’ve linked to the US online store so you can see all of the colours available. Tell me – what competitor offers this many options??? You get 2g of product for $14US. I believe I paid $19CAD in store in Montreal. This colour is stunning. I was sold before I even swatched it in store, all it took was seeing it sitting on the table. Just look at this swatch of AMC Pure Pigment Eye Shadow in #70 in natural light.
For palettes, after much deliberation I opted for the 10 eyeshadow palette. Because of their instore promotion, I got 10 colours of my choice and the palette for $79.00 + tax. That works out to $7.90/eyeshadow with a free palette! For comparisons sake – eyeshadow pans at MAC are $14.00CAD/each and that isn’t even taking into account that you have to buy the palette and you get less product….
Each palette has small magnets in all four corners of the lid as well as the palette itself. So it easily pulls into place when you are closing up your palette. You can also stack palettes and use only one lid on top.
Both swatches were taken in natural light with no flash.
What I love:
- The amount of each product in each pan is enormous. From what I’ve noticed, not all pans are the same – it seems to vary depending on the texture of the shade. My matte shadows are each 2.3g and my others vary from 2.5g up to 3.5g.
- Their Freedom system of palettes is amazing and is to my knowledge the most flexible and customizable option available to beauty addicts and makeup artists alike. I love how with the magnets on each corner, you can actually stack all of your palettes together and simply put a lid on the top one. I’m excited to grow my Inglot collection!
- Their products actually GO ON SALE! I’m so used to MAC Cosmetics where in Canada you will never see a sale – EVER. (Residents in the United States luck out with the Cosmetic Clearance Centres available where all of the limited edition left over products go to die and be sold at discount – I WISH.) But I was thrilled when I started building my palette and the sales associate was running off numbers and then used the phrase “except, it will be even cheaper right now because we have a promotion on these palettes.” *Angels sing* I couldn’t believe it, a promotion!
- Rainbow eyeshadows! They have a line of rainbow eyeshadow pans that actually have 3 shades of the same colour in one palette pan. http://inglotcosmetics.com/rainbow.eye.shadow/products/657/793
- Their collection is all encompassing. They cover everything from eyes, lips, face, brushes, accessories and even a new nail lacquer line which is described as “breathable Nail Enamel ensuring better health care for nails whilst enhancing their beauty.” It is one of the many things on my “next time” list.
- Their selection of pigments was huge compared to MAC cosmetics. They had a much larger range of colours (it would be comparable to the collection available at MAC pro stores, but I think even then MAC would fall short, Inglot just has soooo many.)
What I hate:
- The shadows aren’t named, only numbered. I like being able to use a name when talking eyeshadow colours, rather than “I used number 207 through my crease…” But that might just me being used to a certain way. I guess I figure I am more likely to remember the name of something rather than a catalogue of numbers. (Makeup Forever products are the same way – numbered.)
- There isn’t an easy lip to be able to get your product out of the pans and move them around if you like. You need to use something like the blade of an exacto knife to pop out each shadow from the palette. Not a huge deal, but slightly inconvenient if you are in a hurry.
- Unlike at MAC, they don’t offer samples of their loose pigmented eyeshadows. You can try them all in store, but if you want to check it out with your makeup from home, you will have to buy it.
- Unfortunately, their online shop doesn’t allow for shipment to Canada. They have full sites for which you can purchase product in the US, Australia, UK, Netherlands, South Africa and Finland. I will unfortunately have to wait until my next visit to Montreal.
For the rest of my look, I used the following:
Skin – Makeup Forever’s HD Foundation in shade 118 topped with Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Light Plus by MAC
Lashes – Ardell’s Demi Wispies False Lashes and Too Faced lashGASM mascara on my bottom lashes
Liner – Maybelline Master Precise Felt Tip Liquid Liner in Black on my lids and Blacktrack Fluidline by MAC on my waterline.
Lips – Clinique’s Longlast Lipstick in Heather Moon
Cheeks – Margin blush by MAC
Brows – Mystery Eyeshadow by MAC to fill in my brows
With flash:
With natural light:
The verdict: The shadows were long lasting and didn’t crease or budge after several hours of wear. For the price, I see this brand has incredible value and a giant range of shades. I will be visiting Inglot upon my next visit to Montreal for sure in order to try out some of their other raved about products.
I hope you found this post useful. Do you own any Inglot products already? If so, what are your favourites??
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled the next time you are near an Inglot – or maybe on your next vacation. You won’t regret it!
Thanks for reading!
xox,
Shannon
