Empties: August 2015 – Part 3

Wow this seems like a never ending series of post – I’m back with Part 3 of August empties! I’ll be done soon, I promise! Part 3 is mainly skincare-centric – used up tons of little sample sizes of skincare. I still have a huge stash, but it is visibly smaller – and somehow I feel a lot lighter, mentally, too.

I feel really happy to see my room with more space, and somehow that has kept me from buying more things these couple of months – every time I see something I want to buy, there’s a little voice now that reminds me that I’m doing so well on de-stashing and I already have something similar!

Empties #19: March 2015 – Part 2

After a very small Part 1 empties blog post earlier, here’s a much bigger Part 2! Most of these are smaller items or mini/travel sizes of skincare, plus a good number of sachets. I also managed to use up a number of makeup items and that makes me really happy – I always finish up skincare but it’s much harder to use up makeup as I love switching them up!

Midweek Peek #21: This Week’s Day Time Skincare

Since I just did a Night Time Skincare post last week, I thought I would just follow it up this week with my Day Time Skincare. I have a few similar products for the day as what I use in the night, as I’m trying to stick to the same products and use them up before moving on to others. Also, it’s easier to tell if the products are really effective if I stick to the same products!

Products I’m using this week:
1. Sukin Hydrating Mist Toner to prep the skin
2. It’s Skin Power 10 Formula WH Effector for whitening
3. Primera Watery Cream Alpine Berry to moisturize though I don’t use it everyday
4. Lancome Renergie Yeux to prevent any crows feet
5. Kiko City Filter Suncreen Primer SPF50 for sun protection

I don’t do the moisturising step everyday, as the weather in Singapore too hot and my makeup would slide off with moisturiser under, unless my skin is feeling particularly parched and really need the extra help. But SPF is a must have – I truly believe in using sun protection.

What’s your skincare routine like?

EOTD #4: Neutral Browns for Work

Hi everyone! A quick EOTD – was waiting for transport to work this morning when I thought I might as well use the time to take a quick snap of my eye makeup! It’s quick and easy, plus I only used 1 eyeshadow palette. The palette is no longer available but the shades should be easy to dupe.

Products Used:

• Too Faced Shadow Insurance; all over lid, crease and browbone
• Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow in 35 Rives; white shade to highlight brow bone, beige shade all over lids, brown shade in outer half of lids and slightly smudged along lower lashline, dark brown shade along lash lines and on outer third of lids
• Kiko Twinkle Eye Pencil in 03 Flexous Burgundy; lined along upper lash lines and smudged out

It’s a typical neutral look that does not require too many steps, or too many items. I went easy on the rest of the face as well – just foundation, powder and blush – mostly because I woke up late and didn’t have time to bother, but I did manage to do my entire face and eye makeup in under 10 minutes. I hope you like it!

5 Friday Favourites #2

It’s been a really long while since I did a Friday Favourites post – the last was in December last year! I noticed that I have been consistently using some items lately, and thought it would be great to do an update!

// Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation makes my skin looks better than it is, is affordable, and has really good staying power. // MAC LoveCloud Satin Powder Blush has been my go-to blush for perking up my face and taking the years off. // Burberry Sheer Eye Shadow in Pale Barley is a repeat favourite; I’m still really loving it as a transition shade – it’s irreplaceable! // The Kiko Water Eyeshadow in 206 is gorgeous; great pigmentation and can be foiled to make it really shimmer. // The Dior Addict Lipstick in 553 Princess was an impulse buy that I did not regret; it’s sheer but gives a nice soft glossy pink tint to the lips and feels really comfortable. //

That’s all for my 5 Friday Favourites! What are you loving lately?

Review: Kiko Soft Touch Blush in 112 Light Plum

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a review on the Kiko products that I hauled in Italy during Summer holiday last year, and it’s definitely not because I haven’t been using them or don’t love them. I’ve been using the Kiko Soft Touch Blush in Light Plum so often that it’s nearly a permanent item in my everyday makeup bag, and at €7.50 for 5g of product, this was a bargain!

The blush is packaged in a small round rubbery casing; the material reminds me a lot of NARS, which also means it’s a dirt magnet. I don’t have a problem with it turning sticky so far though. It’s extremely compact with a tiny mirror and does not come with brushes, which makes it so travel friendly and convenient to bring it everywhere as it literally takes up no space.

Like its name, the blush is a plummy shade with a matte finish, but perhaps a little more than “light”. The blush itself is very pigmented, with a texture that’s soft but not powdery. Being as pale as I am, one of my biggest worries is that it will look exactly like what it does in the pan! But this was easy to blend, and with a soft brush, this works out nicely to a soft plummy color on my cheeks. That said, it also builds up well and I believe it can look like the pan colour if you ever decide that you need such strong cheek colour!

I think the lasting power is great; I had this on before work and by noon, more than 6 hours later, I could still see some colour on my cheeks! Really love this and highly recommend it! Now my only regret is not grabbing more when I had the chance as it’s very hard to get from Singapore.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Kiko Twinkle Eye Pencil in 03 Flexous Burgundy

Hi everyone! A really quick review on the Kiko Twinkle Eye Pencil in 03 Flexous Burgundy; I just realised that it’s part of the limited edition Dark Heroine Collection and not a permanent product, but I have already taken photos for it so I thought I might as well put up a quick review on this!

I can’t remember exactly how much I bought this for, but it was pretty affordable as I remember it. I love how it is a twist up pencil, which makes it very convenient to bring out without having to add a sharpener.

In terms of texture, it is really creamy and glides on smoothly without tugging on the lids. I find the color to be opaque on first swipe and can be blended out for a smokey look, but once set, this lasts throughout the day for me without fading or smudging. A good eye makeup remover is recommended! One thing though, I’m not sure why it’s called “Flexous Burgundy” because it definitely looks brown with some shimmery red flecks to me!

In short, this is a great eyeliner and I hope that Kiko will make it permanent! Oh, not to mention, I hope Kiko makes it to Singapore one day too!

Rating: 4/5

Review: Kiko Water Eyeshadow in Shade 206

During my September holiday in Italy, I picked up a couple of products from Kiko Makeup – I’ve shown them in a haul post but after playing with them for a couple of months, I’m finally ready to give a verdict on some of them! First up is the Kiko Water Eyeshadow in shade 206.

Claims from the website:
Revolutionary eyeshadow with instant colour release and dual wet and dry use. A mixture of groundbreaking spherical powders for an outstanding colour effect, bringing together extreme coverage, pure luminosity and long lasting. Its soft, creamy texture enables the creation of a multi-dimensional make up, for colour with “bright” volumes and remarkable purity.

I bought this for 8.90 euros; I thought the price was reasonable – not exactly cheap but there’s quite a lot of product at 3g, as compared to 1.5g for a single MAC eyeshadow. The product is housed in a simple light weight black plastic square shell with a small mirror, without the usual lousy applicators. I love how it looks in the pot with its wavy shape and I almost feel bad about using it. Shade 206 is a shimmery dark brown/coffee colour.

The eyeshadow can be used wet or dry. In the above picture, I have made a few swatches using different application techniques – going from top to bottom: foiled with no primer, used dry with primer and used dry on its own without primer. I find that using it wet gives makes the shimmer stand out a lot more whereas using it dry makes it more of a satin coffee colour.

I have to say that I really love it; it’s very pigmented even when applied dry, blends easily and I don’t really experience any fall out. It lasted throughout my long work day with a primer. I don’t usually apply it wet because I just find it too troublesome. I also like how it appears to be multi-dimensional; I can achieve different ‘shades’ by switching between brushes such that I can get a deep dark brown with a stubby hard brush and a soft satin brown when using a really large fluffy brush. One tiny flaw is that it doesn’t feel as soft as it can be – it is a tad dry but I don’t find it a problem to work with. My only regret is that I did not grab more of these!

Rating: 4/5

Haul: Holiday Hauling with Kiko Makeup Milano

A holiday is not a holiday without some beauty hauling, right? I spent most of my 20 days of holiday in Italy in September lounging around the Tuscan countryside, but I did manage to grab a few items during our much shorter stay in Rome and Milan.

Almost all of my haul products are from Kiko – the bf wasn’t too pleased about being dragged around all the beauty stores on holiday and threatened to eat all the gelato by himself when I’m beauty shopping; I had to make a choice, and I wanted some ice cream! A lot of the beauty brands sold in Italy were also available in Singapore, so I didn’t see a point in wasting time and luggage space on them. I did also grab a couple of Bumble & Bumble shampoo (not pictured), but mainly because my hair was dying from using bad hotel shampoo and I desperately needed some good ones.

My cool new toys from Kiko:

• Kiko Soft Touch Blush
• Kiko Water Eyeshadow
• Kiko Smart Lipstick
• Kiko Latex Like Lipstick
• Kiko Energy Mask
• Kiko Hydrating Mask
• Kiko Mixing Solution
• Kiko Glitter Gloss
• Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eye Shadow
• Kiko 30 Days Extension – Daily Treatment Mascara\
• Kiko Twinkle Eye Pencil
• Kiko City Filter

I’ve just started to play with these, so I can’t really comment on them yet but some reviews should be coming soon! I’ve heard a lot of great things about Kiko so I’m really excited to try them out!

Have you tried anything from Kiko?