Kiko and Duty Free Haul

So I'm home, and back to normality. I'm not sure how I feel about this, I'm having Italy withdrawals and it's not good. School has been absolutely crazy and right now I want nothing more than to go back to Milan and relax. Gah.

Anyhow, as you can probably all tell, I did a little bit of shopping in Kiko and in Duty Free (goodness what a wonderful place it is), and as I know you all love a haul, I'm sharing with you what I bought, which surprisingly wasn't that much. 

Kiko

I made a wishlist of things that I really wanted from Kiko, but after going into stores and swatching them, they just didn't appeal to me anymore. Anyone else ever find that once you see a product in the flesh it doesn't seem so great anymore? Anyhow, my wishlist scuppered, I had a mass swatching spree and I came away with 3 items. Yes, only 3. Feel free to let out gasps of horror. I left a Kiko store with 3 items.

The first things I picked up were 2 of their single eyeshadows in shade '119' and '133'. 

Shade 119 is a shimmery, bronzey brown with a slight green tone to it. It's super pigmented and when I wore this the other day, I noticed that the greens in my eyes really stood out. Ahh, what a beautiful eyeshadow.

Shade 133 is a shimmery brick reddy brown colour and I am in love. There I said it. I am in love, not with a boy, with an eyeshadow. It is INSANELY pigmented, I honestly could not believe how pigmented it was when I tried it. Another reason I picked this up was because I don't own any eyeshadows that have a reddy colour to them and I thought I should step out of my comfort zone and get it, and after the successful swatch, I wasn't exactly going to leave it there was I? 

My last item I picked up from Kiko was a 'Multi-Effect Nail Lacquer'. There was a whole stand of these for €1 each and I loved the look of 'Shade 3' so it pottered to the till with me. Well not literally because it doesn't have legs, but you get my jist. 

Duty Free

I made a wishlist for duty free, but when I arrived, nothing on my wishlist was there *sigh*. But thankfully there were other fabulous deals that lured me in and emptied my purse, sort of. 

Firstly I went into Cath Kidston. It's one of those shops that is just me. I was so tempted to buy everything in sight but my birthday is soon, so I shall wait until then.

The only item I picked up was this makeup bag which has quite possibly the cutest patchwork pattern ever. It's the perfect size for all of my makeup and brushes and it was only £6.50. Absolute bargain in my eyes.

On the plane I made a pretty big splurge and bought 9 lipsticks. Yes, you heard me correctly, 9 lipsticks. 

The 9 lipsticks I got were part of the Revlon Lip Cube and they are the Super Lustrous range. I am doing a full review of this lip cube in the very near future so I won't be going into too much detail but I love all the colours, apart from one. Why must that one have been in there? There are 7 pearl finishes and 2 creme finishes and I'm loving them all so far, apart from 2. But I can find another use for them so the panic is over. It was £38 but considering the lipsticks are almost £8 each it is a very big saving, and a girl can never have too many lipsticks, right?

Kiko Wishlist

As you read this, I'm currently sat in Italy, I bet you're all jealous. I've probably already raided Kiko by the time you've read this, but I thought I would share with you all my Kiko wishlist. Kiko is a brand that I'm sort of familiar with as last year in France I picked up a few lip products. Safe to say, my purse will be sobbing once I've left the shop(s).

1-Kiko Unlimited Stylo

I've been eyeing these lipsticks up on the website for quite a while now and I now have an excuse to get one. They're said to be 'transfer resistant', 'highly pigmented' and 'semi matte' which is basically all I look for in a lipstick. And look how pretty the packaging is.

2- Kiko Colour Shock long lasting eyeshadow

I'm desperate to get my hands on one of these in the shade 'Snappy Brass' as Lily Pebbles was talking about it in a video once and it looked beautiful, and I love cream eyeshadows. I'm obviously not going to get the colour pictured but I'm determined to get the brass shade.

3- Kiko Loose Pigment Eyeshadow

I guess you could say that these are exact dupes for the MAC pigments. The packaging is almost identical and I'm sure the formula is too. Yet again I do not wish to buy the colour pictured but I really want the shade 'Taupe' which is a very close dupe of MAC's 'Tan' pigment, go have a little peek at the swatches on Google to see what I mean. 

4- Kiko Radiant Touch Creamy Highlighting Stick

I love the idea of cream highlighters, and after seeing Lily Pebbles talk about these on her blog (can you tell I love her blog and her videos?), I would love to have one in my possession very soon. 

If any of you have tried any of these products in this post, please let me know what you think of them as even if I've already bought them, I'd still love to know your thoughts! Oh the stresses of scheduled posts. I'll be back on Sunday but until the, ciao.

Autumn/Winter Makeup Essentials

So it's now well into Autumn and Winter is fast approaching. During the colder months, my makeup changes so I thought I would share my 6 main makeup essentials for Autumn/Winter. Enjoyy!

The first item that is a must during Autumn/Winter, isn't necessarily makeup but I just had to put it in. I also mentioned this in My Daily Makeup and it's my Burts Bee's Lip Balm.

This is one of my all time favourite lip balms. I have tried everything, from Blistex to Vaseline, but none work on my very dehydrated, chapped lips. This is the only lip balm that actually does something. I apply a generous amount of this before applying lipstick/lip gloss and before I go to bed. When I take my lipstick/lip gloss off at the end of the day and when I wake up, my lips are as soft as a baby's bum (liking my metaphor there). I just don't know how it does it!! And just as you thought I couldn't praise this lip balm any more, the smell. Oh sweet lord it smells like peppermint which, if you know me well, is my favourite smell EVER. I could ramble on about this for hours but I'm going to stop and suggest that you go to your nearest Boots as soon as possible and pick one of these up, you will not regret it!

The second and third items I think are a must have are lip colours. I have chosen 2 that I have been wearing the most this season and that I think would suit everyone.

The first lip product I have chosen is my Kiko Smart Lipstick in the shade '904 Strawberry Pink'. Some people may say this is a 'summery' colour but I think it's perfect for this time of year.

Personally I love the Kiko smart lipsticks. They're creamy, pigmented and have incredible staying power. There is also a HUGE shade range and they really are not expensive at all. I picked this shade up, along with shade '905' (mentioned in My Daily Makeup), when I was in France and I will be picking up A LOT more shades when I'm in Milan next Easter.

I love this colour. It does look a bit darker on the lips than in the swatch above, but it doesn't look too 'over the top' and is perfect for school. It smells AMAZING, like white chocolate magnums is how I describe it to everyone. I would suggest that you all go and check Kiko out because they are one of my favourite brands, their products are amazing and great value for money!

The second lip product I have chosen is also from Kiko. It's the Kiko Extra Volume Lipgloss in '27 Opal Rose'. 

I purchased this at the same time as the lipstick and boy I'm glad I did. It is so so pigmented and can be worn alone, or over a lipstick (it goes really well with the lipstick I just mentioned). I don't find it to be sticky in the slightest and it also has the 'white chocolate magnum' smell which is an added bonus! The lasting power of this is also remarkable. Because it's so glossy you wouldn't expect it to last for long, but I have worn this for around 6 hours once, including eating and drinking, and even then it was only just starting to wear away. The glossiness had gone after around 2 hours and left more of a stain, but I'm not complaining. Unfortunately this shade was limited edition and is no longer available but I believe a similar shade is '19 Pearly Cranberry'.

The fourth and fifth makeup item's I have chosen are eyeshadow's. The first eyeshadow I have chosen is my Maybelline Color Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'. 

Now I talked about this is my last post, so I'm not going to ramble on for too long, but this is my perfect colour for this time of year as I like to stick with golds/bronzes/coppers etc. This is hands down my favourite autumn/winter eyeshadow and I have a feeling that it won't be off my eyes much. It also creates the perfect base for other eyeshadows which makes it even better. For a more 'in depth' mini review, read my October Favourites post.

The second eyeshadow isn't actually just one eyeshadow, it's actually a whole palette. It's my MUA Undress Me Too Palette. This is the only eyeshadow palette I actually own but I love it.

I don't use all of the shades at this time of year but the shades I do use are;

Devotion,

Fiery,

Dreamy,

Tranquil,

Wink,

And Obsessed.

I love all of these colours but my absolute favourite has to be Wink. It's a lovely rose gold sort of colour and just looks so so nice on the eyes. Just a quick side note, the colour I have hit pan on is the one I use for my brows so that is why I haven't mentioned it. 

Below are swatches of all the eyeshadow's mentioned. 

I love this palette and even though there are some dud colours (the black one in particular) I would recommend to anyone just starting out with makeup as you can do some really nice eye looks with the good colours.

The final product that I feel is essential for Autumn/Winter is a foundation. Now up until recently, I hadn't touched foundation for about 3 months, but now it's been getting colder, I've been reaching for my Max Factor Colour Adapt foundation.

This foundation gives a medium coverage but it is buildable. I think for autumn and winter, medium to full coverage foundations are great as I find my skin goes a bit crazy and I like to cover up imperfections and blemishes etc. I'd say that this is a cream to powder formulation as it goes quite powdery, but not cakey, when it sets. I love this as it dries matte and actually helps keep me matte all day. This does tend to cling to dry patches so I do have to be careful. 

I have this in the lightest shade '40 Creamy Ivory' as I'm like a ghost in Winter and it matches perfectly. Max Factor are one of the only brands that do foundations pale enough for my skin, so I always try and use foundations from them.

This is my new favourite foundation and I would recommend to anyone with oily, combination or normal skin.

Anddd, that is it for today's post. I really hope it was helpful and you enjoyed reading it. Please comment down below if you've tried any of the products I mentioned or if you would like to try any, or even if you have any product recommendations for me as I love trying new things:)