Kiko Eyeshadow Haul!

One of the first things I did after getting home to London following a long Christmas in South Wales, was to head straight to the stores and satisfy any new make up cravings I had. Over the past few months I've discovered a new found love for bright shimmering eye shadows, as I find they compliment my pale skin. When looking to invest in a few new colours, there was only one store I could think of that had a whole heap of shades in bright colours, that were high in quality and reasonably priced and that was Kiko. 

I love the huge range that's available in Kiko Stores, but more importantly -I love the price tag. Everything is just so affordable, and you don't feel bad if you decide to pick up quite a few different products. I bought 5 products and the total came to £34.90 which I found incredibly resonable considering the quality and shades I came away with. So, without further ado, here's what I bought!

KIKO Water Eyeshadow Shade #212 Emerald Green - £8.90

What attracted me to the Kiko Water Eyeshadows is first of all how shimmery and luminescent they were. The colours just seemed to sparkle in the store and stood out so much to me. I also really liked that these shadows are so versatile, and can be used both wet and dry. At £8.90 it was the most expensive item in my haul. It was a risky purchase, as I'm not usually one for blue or green eyeshadow for an everyday wear, but I just love how beautiful they look in photos.

Kiko Street Glam Eyeshadow and Eyeliner Palette #02 - £5.00

In the sale section of the store, I noticed the Kiko Street Glam Eyeshadow and Eyeliner Palette. at only £5.00 and featuring 5 different shades, It would have been foolish not to pick it up. these shadows are gorgeous and shimmery - and like the watercolour eyeshadow, they can also be worn wet or dry. As far as using them as an eyeliner, I'm not sure I would get that much use from them, but i'm willing to give it a shot and try something new. 

Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow Shade #15 - £6.90

I'm really into the Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow range from Kiko, and already have quite a few in my collection. I adored this frosted pink shade and thought it would look beautiful in a smoked out eye.

Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow Shade #20 - £6.90

One thing I can't stand about a deep black smokey eye, is the fallout from black eyeshadow when trying to blend it. When I saw theLong Lasting black eyeshadow stick, I had to have it. I have high hopes for this and am really hoping that the creamy consistency will make it a lot easier to blend and save me from the clean up.

Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow Shade #43 - £6.90

My final pick and purchase was the Long Lasting Eyeshadow stick in Shade #43 which is a beautiful icey blue. For some reason I seemed to be on a blue and green eyeshadow binge this day, and couldn't resist adding another to my collection. I'm looking forward to trying out new looks with this shade.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the products I purchased, which you liked the most and least! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Em xxx

Bourjois Quad Smoky Stories Collection

Bourjois are one of my absolute favourite drugstore brands. From blushers and eyeshadows to Mascara, chances are that on a daily basis i'm wearing at least one of their products... and when Bourjois have a new product released, you betcha that i'm excited to see what it is.

The Boujois Quad Smokey Stories collection* contains 8 different mini eyeshadow palettes that each feature 3 cream to powder shades and a shimmering glitter which can be worn to accent in the corners of the eyes, or even dabbed over your finished eye look for a bit more glamour.

At the Blogger Event last week I was lucky enough to see the entire collection, have a play with the colours and get to know these eyeshadows a little better. I was also kindly gifted 4 of them to play with and I can't wait to show you guys some looks created using them! 

Grey  & Night: Is a gorgeous collection of satin silver shades. Perfect for day to night smokey eye look.

Over Rose: A romatic collection of rosy shadows which I think would make the perfect first date make up!

Rock This Khaki: A collection of autumnal green eyeshadows which I fell in love with instantly. There's something about these shadows that I just adore.

Good Nude: The most understated of the 4, potentially great as an everyday shadow palette and that glitter may just be the thing which sets it apart from others.

I can't wait to experiment and share some looks using these shadows with you all! Which are your favourites? Let me know in the comments! 

Em xxx

P.S You may have noticed that I'm also using some new backgrounds to try and mix it up a little bit! Would love to hear your thoughts on that too.

Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Palette - Les Violines Review

Have you ever had a make up product that was so pretty you were afraid to touch it? For me, that product was is the Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Palette. A few weeks ago I received a lovely DM on twitter informing me I'd won a prize from the fabulous Dave Lackie - but not just any prize... a new Guerlain eyeshadow palette.

Dave shipped it out from Canada and it arrived within a matter of days, needless to say I squealed so hard when it arrived and opened the box to discover the luxurious velvet pouch and shining gold palette. At £39.00 for four shades, this palette is by no means cheap - but neither is the quality. From the velvet pouch to the magnetic clasp, everything about this product screams high end.

The Guerlian Ecrin 4 Couleurs- 17 Les Violines Palette is a collection of 4 beautifully rich violet shades. The colours are designed to blend together seamlessly but also work amazingly well as 'stand alone' shades. One of my favourite things about this palette is the texture of the gorgeous satin shadows, which is absolutely to die for. They feel buttery rich and glide over the eyelids so easily. 

What I love about these shadows is how easy they are to dress from day to night,and how you can layer them to create drama where you want it and after some experimentation with these shadows I think by far my favourite look to create with them is a 'Halo Eye'.  

I've got a couple of make up looks coming your way featuring this palette soon, and I cannot wait to share them with you.

Em xxx 

Urban Decay Naked 2 Basics Review

When I heard the news that Urban Decay were releasing the Naked 2 Basics Palette I think I let out the loudest squeal. I absolutely adored the first Naked Basics palette and wore it everyday for about 6 months when I first got it as a present.

It was a no brainer to buy The Naked 2 Basics Palette from Cohorted when I saw it announced as an upcoming cohort and I actually managed to grab it for £15.40 rather than the full price of £22.00 which was an absolute bargain.

The Naked 2 Basics is palette full of 6 neutral mainly cool toned shadows, as a pale skinned girl, I'll talk you though the shades we have here.

Skimp -A shimmering highlight, ideal for the inner corner of the eye.

Stark - Can be a little too peach as a all over lid colour, but makes a great base transitional shade. 

Frisk -  More of a warm toned grey shade that's fairly taupe-like would work well in the crease for an every day basic look.

Cover -  A muted Red Brown shadow that makes a perfect transition shade if you're leaning towards creating a dark smokey eye.

Primal -  A muted brown shadow that would be perfect for a laid back brown smoked out eye.

Undone - A super deep brown shadow that I'd use in the crease or instead of black for a warmed smokey eye. 

I have to say that the one shadow I wish this palette had is a lighter neutral shade for us pale skinned girls. There are so many beautiful transitional shadows, with Stark being my favourite for a transitional colour, but i'm dissapointed by the lack of neutral pale beige shades.

The lasting power of these shadows is on par with Urban Decay's standards and by the end of a working day, my shadow is still there holding on even without a primer.

Overall, for £22.00 this is a great everyday wear palette with 6 highly pigmented shadows for the money. I look forward to creating some more looks using it and sharing them with you over the next few weeks.

Em xxx

Make Up Revolution Salvation, What you waiting for Palette Review!

If you're looking for an eyeshadow palette to get you through Autumn, then the Make Up Revolution Salvation (What You waiting for?) Palette may well be the product for you. I received this palette in a swap bag at a blogger meet up during the summer and It has barely left my face since. 

The Palette is comprised of 18 shadows in total, 12 shimmer and 6 matte neutral shades - which makes it an absolute bargain at £6.00. All the shades offer a good colour pay off and are easy to work with, including the matte shades.

 One of the things I love about the what you waiting for? palette is how easy it is to wear during day and night.  For a day time look I love to use the lightest three matte shades, a mixture of Your Capable, and Super Hot Female on the lid, with the gorgeous taupe shade Million Dollar Contract as a crease shade. For an Evening look, I love to add in Brand New Fans and Wicked Style from the matte shades and use Shut My Eyes from the shimmer shades to really finish the whole look off.

If you want to see this palette in action, you can check out my Kylie Jenner Tutorial on Youtube or click play below! 

Make Up Revolution has won me over which this eyeshadow palette as it's such amazing value for the money. I look forward to picking up some more of their products and expanding my eyeshadow collection. I'd love to hear some of your recommendations for other products to try from their range. Let me know in the comments!

Em xxx

KIKO Longlasting Stick Eyeshadow Haul & Swatches!

This week I was a woman on a mission to spend money on things I didn't know I needed, and those things just so happened to 6 KIKO Eyeshadow Sticks. This week also happened to be a week of first times, as these were my first ever KIKO purchases. I'd been into the store in Westfields Stratford before, but it was so busy I couldn't even get to the products and I sensibly left the store before I started getting pushed and shoved.

On Monday, I must have got lucky as on the suggestion of a few bloggers on twitter I walked to Regent Street in London, and popped to the KIKO store. I'd heard that the KIKO eyeshadows are good dupes for the By Terry, Ombre Blackstar Eyeshadows and having just spent £28.00 on one, I was keen to see how a £6.90 Dupe would compare.

There are 32 Eyeshadows in the range and I must've spent about 40minutes swatching and walking back and forth the shop trying to decide what to get. I finally settled on the 6 shades above as I felt that they were the perfect mix of every day wears and comfort level pushing shades.

My favourite on first swatch, has to be 07 as I think this could easily work it's way into my everyday look! Coming in close second is 36, this is a stunning rose gold shade and as beautiful as this is, I'm not sure If I can pull it off yet! I think it's going to take some experimenting!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these shades! Which is your favourite?? Let me know in the comments...

Em xxx

Under £5! MUA Make Up Academy Eye shadow trio 'Pink Sorbet' REVIEW

Hey there! I'm back with another £5 and under review! Today I'm going to be talking about MUA Make Up Academy Eye Shadow Trio in 'Pink Sorbet'

Now unfortunately I dived straight in and started playing with the product before I had a chance to take a photo of it clean. Sometimes I just can't help myself and I was way way too excited to try this product after hearing so much about it.

Here are the all important details.

• MUA Make up Academy Eyeshadow Trio Pink Sorbet
• Price: 2.50
• Shop: Superdrug
• Website: http://www.superdrug.com/mua-professional/mua-eyeshadow-trio-pink-sorbet/invt/267664

First things first, let's swatch them.

My first impression off the back of the swatch was 'whaaaaaaaat?' I honestly did not expect the colours to be so pigmented. I mean like, this is an eye shadow trio that costs £2.50! The swatches were just one swipe each. I would usually expect to may ££ for an eyeshadow that looks this good straight out of the pan. Great expectations for this straight away.

Let's see how they look!

Holy crap. These shadows are good. I think I'm in love. The powders themselves are quite hard, they're not creamy or soft shadows, but even still I can't believe how easy they are the apply, how strong the colours are, and how shimmery and lovely they look. The pinks go perfectly with my skin tone, and the the shades all blend in well together.They're a perfect mix of soft, shimmer and fresh romantic pinks. 

The only downside is the foam applicator is crap. Really crap, so I recommend using an eyeshadow brush and a nice big fluffy brush for blending. I think these are a fantastic buy for £2.50 and I'm going to be hunting for another 1 or 2 as a backup for my drawers in case I ever run out.