Review: Kiko Nail Lacquers (338, 372, 479, 497, 511, 527, 530)

Kiko is definitely my favorite nail polish brand. They have huge range of shades, classic packaging and they all have great formula. Creamy ones are one of the rare nail polishes that actually last on my nails for about 3 to 4 days. I had the chance to buy some new shades and a lot of these were on sale for only 1€ which was fantastic.


These have regular square glass bottle with black plastic top. In each is 11 ml of product. I believe the regular price for these was usually 2.90€, but as I've said, I mostly got them for 1€ and some were a bit more.

These have regular straight cut, not too thin, but also not too wide brush. It applies product lovely. The formula depends on the finish. Creamy ones are usually a bit on the thicker side, which means sometimes you'll only need one coat. Shimmery ones are a lot more transparent and usually need at least two coats to be fully opaque. I also find that shimmery shades don't last as long on my nails as the regular creamy formula. In general I can wear Kiko Nail Lacquers for about 3 to 4 days (depending on the health of my nails). 

Kiko Nail Lacquer 372 Nude

It might be called nude, but it's actually a bit more colorful. Nude nail polish to me usually means something in the light beige shade that mimics skin tone. This nude has a dirty pink or even lavender tone to it and I love that. It's such a lovely pastel shade that doesn't disappears on my nails like other nudes. I also love that it's not too cool nor too warm, more of a neutral shade. 








Kiko Nail Lacquer 479 Pearly Golden Sesame

It has a lovely pastel taupe base, which is neutral toned. It's like a light brown mixed with grey. On top of that it also has a yellow toned golden shimmer in it which is more visible on the sun. I love this unique combination of taupe (which is usually cool toned) and a warm golden shimmer. It's very neutral and goes with everything.







Kiko Nail Lacquer 511 Metallic Mercury Purple

In the bottle it looks like a warm purple shade. It has a lot of shimmer in it. The shimmer is purple and light gold. Funnily enough on the nails that gold shimmer looks like a silver sheen. Essentially it's a shimmery purple shade with silver sheen. It almost looks like a pearl finish to me. 







Kiko Nail Lacquer 338 Light Lavender

Name is totally off, based on how this looks like on the nails. It's a unique blue shade, which looks like it has a bit of cool purple or even lavender tone to it, but it's in fact blue. My photo doesn't do justice as to how pretty this looks in real life. On my photos it looks like a regular blue without the purple undertone. It's one of my favorite blues, because the shade is so unique. 







Kiko Nail Lacquer 527 Metallic Emerald Green

It's a turquoise color with an emerald sheen. On the nails the sheen is not as visible, it looks more like a turquoise color and it has lovely green shimmer in it.







Kiko Nail Lacquer 530 Pearly Blue Peacock

This is one of my favorite Kiko shades. It looks stunning in the bottle. On the nails it looks like a darker blue with green and gold shimmer. It almost looks like a mermaid shade and I love the shimmer in it which is more visible in real life than on my photos.









Kiko Nail Lacquer 497 Pearly Indian Violet

This shade caught me off guard. I expected it to be warm purple with gold shimmer since it looks like that in the bottle, but it goes on the nail completely different. It looks like a really dark eggplant purple. The shimmer in this can sometimes seem blue and on the sun it looks warm red







372 Nude is my all time favorite nude. I think this is that kind of shade that will look good on many different skin tones. 338 Light Lavender is one of my favorite blues, because of the lavender tone to it. It's the most unique non conventional blue. 530 Pearly Blue Peacock is another one of my favorite shades. It looks so rich and unique. I love the shimmer in it and it really does look a bit like a peacock. 

Even though 497 Pearly Indian Violet surprised me how different it looks on the nails than in the bottle, I actually really like this shade for fall. It's a colorful alternative to black. 479 Pearly Golden Sesame is an alternative to nude shade, because it has warm shimmer in it. I like it, but probably won't be wearing it as much as some other shades. I do feel like the color combination is unique. 

The only two shades that I'm not too keen on are 511 Metallic Mercury Purple and 527 Metallic Emerald Green. 511 looks a bit too pearly and old school for my liking and I don't think the shade suits me well. 527 is a bit boring for my liking. I expected it to look different with my skin tone. 


If you get the chance to find these on sale, I definitely recommend you to at least try one. Especially creamy ones are the bomb and they have so many shades to choose from. 

Review: Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar

I don't usually get to see high end makeup products in real life, so when I had that chance in Sephora, I really wanted to try one of the Too Faced raved about eyeshadow palettes. I really wanted the Sweet Peach palette, but it was sold out. That's when I decided on Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette, because it had the most my kind of shades. I don't like buying expensive eyeshadow palettes, because there are always some shades that I don't really use. That's why I try to go for the one that has the most my kind of shades. 


Palette comes with a brownish cardboard box with gold edges. For some reason it reminds me of gingerbread man - don't know why. Packaging of the palette is a tin shaped like a milk chocolate bar. Appropriate to the name of it. I find it really pretty, but a bit too bulky for carrying around. Maybe I've just gotten a bit more used to Zoeva slim palettes. However, this one feels a lot more secure. It also has magnetic closing


3D details are just as pretty and the whole packaging in general is a very fun design.



Inside you also get a mirror, which is actually useful for applying eyeshadow. In the palette are 16 shades. Some mattes, some shimmer and even one glittery. Tones are mostly neutral with a few pops of color. In the whole palette is 17,70 grams of product and I paid 44€ for it, which makes this the priciest eyeshadow palette I own.


If you're a beginner at makeup, you'll appreciate their notes on three of the looks that you can create with this palette. 


Texture of all eyeshadows is a pretty wet one. It's not already like a cream, but they are definitely not dry to the touch. Pigmentation is good (obviously better that most drugstore ones) which I expected from such a pricey palette. Dare I say that I think my Zoeva palettes are a bit more pigmented. If I touch Zoeva eyeshadows there's a lot more payoff than with Too Faced ones. That being said, Too Faced are just a bit less pigmented, but still a really good quality. I find that some of their shimmery shades loose intensity by blending them, which doesn't happen as much with Zoeva. Mattes in Too Faced are superb.

In the ingredients of these eyeshadows is also 100% natural cocoa powder. Some say that eyeshadows smell like cocoa, but Semi-Sweet Chocolate to me smells a bit more vanilla like. It's a very sweet smell. I never thought I would say this, but I love that this palette smells so good. It just gives you a whole different experience while applying on makeup. I am actually looking forward to leaving it open by my mirror, because it just smells so good.

Staying power is as expected. I can wear these for the whole day without any major fading or creasing. Of course, I always have eyeshadow primer underneath, because I never do an eye makeup without one. I don't notice any fallout except with glitters in the shades. Those tend to fall down like Pink Sugar and glitter from Cocoa Chili. If you overload your brushes with a lot of product you may get some fallout, especially with really dark shades. 



Licorice - matte black (great for deepening makeup looks or using it as an eye liner)
Coconut Creme - very light warm beige (perfect all over the lid base)
Nougat - cool matte muddy pink (it almost vanishes on my skin tone, I use it in the crease or as an all over the base)
Truffled - warm matte medium chocolate brown (great for deepening the crease or smoky eye)
Hot Fudge - cool dark brown with multi pink and gold shimmer (great for smoky eye or darkening outer lid part)
Cocoa Chili - warm matte medium brown with sparse gold glitter (great as an all over the lid shade)
Pink Sugar - cream like transparent base with gold and pink glitter (glitter with transparent base that can be put on top of any other shade - it falls down on under eye area and my camera doesn't pick it up on the photos)
Puddin' - cool matte medium taupe (good darker crease shade)


Blueberry Swirl - cool medium blue with blue and gold shimmer (pop of color on the lid)
Peanut Butter - warm matte light caramel brown (warm crease shade)
Frosting - warm bronze brown with gold shimmer (lovely all over the lid shade)
Rum Raisin - cool light taupe with silver shimmer (lighter all over the lid shade)
Mousse - neutral matte light camel brown (neutral brown for the crease)
Caramel - warm copper gold with gold shimmer (warm accent shade for the lid)
Bon Bon - warm light shimmery salmon (pink peach brown) (great lighter all over the lid shade)
Butter Pecan - warm light yellow nude with white and light yellow shimmer (perfect inner corner highlight)


Coconut Creme is my most used shade, because it's the perfect neutral matte shade to put all over the lid as a base. I adore Peanut Butter. It's my perfect warm crease shade, because I just love warm matte browns. On days when I want my crease to be a bit more neutral, I love to use Mousse. It's less dirty than theBalm Nude'tude Sultry and less yellow toned. I'm already making a dent in this shade that's how much I love it. Truffled is perfect for further defining and darkening the crease. I like that it's not too warm nor cool. 

My favorite basic shimmery brown has to be Frosting. It's not too warm, but just looks great all over the lid. Especially when you're in a rush. Of course, Caramel has to be my favorite shimmery shades. I love those warm copper golden shades. I also really like Bon Bon which is kind of unique to my collection. It can almost look a bit pink sometimes and sometimes it looks peach. This is a very subtle lid shade that doesn't stand out as much as Caramel. On rare occasions I also really like Blueberry Swirl, because it has such a lovely blue almost peacock sheen to it. It's not my every day shade, but it looks really nice with a smoky eye. 

I compared some of the shades with my other eyeshadows. Too Faced Caramel seemed similar to Zoeva Cocoa Blend Pure Ganache. Pure Ganache is more orange copper toned and Caramel is more yellow golden toned. Frosting seemed similar to Zoeva Cocoa Blend Subtle Blend, but is in fact less shimmery, lighter and more taupe based. Subtle Blend is a lot more shimmery, warmer, darker and more gold based. Peanut Butter looked very much like Zoeva Cocoa Blend Substitute for Love, but is again a bit different. Peanut Butter is more peachy while Substitute for Love is more yellow orange toned.


Hot Fudge is similar to theBalm Nude'tude Sophisticated, but not a dupe. Hot Fudge is darker, more purple grey and has a light pink and gold shimmer in it. Sophisticated is lighter, more brown and has a lot more shimmer, which is gold. One of my favorite shade of theBalm Nude'tude - Sultry, seemed similar to Mousse. Mousse is actually a bit more red based brown and Sultry is more yellow toned and more muddy looking. The only two shades that could easily be dupes are Coconut Creme and Zoeva Cocoa Blend Bitter Start. Both of these are your regular bone colored matte shades for all over the lid. I can't detect any difference between them. 


As always here a few of the looks that I created with this palette just to give you some ideas as to how these look like on the eyes.

Brown

All over: Coconut Creme
Crease: Mousse
Outer corner: Peanut Butter
Lid: Frosting
Inner corner: Butter Pecan

Lips: Kiko Creamy Colour Comfort Lip Liner 301





Taupe

All over: Nougat
Crease: Mousse
Outer crease: Puddin'
Lid: Rum Raisin
Over the lid: Pink Sugar
Inner corner: Nougat, Pink Sugar, Butter Pecan

Liner: Avon Liquid Chrome Eyeliner - Plum Dazzle
Lips: NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream - Stockholm





Warm 

 All over: Coconut Creme
Crease: Peanut Butter
Outer corner: Truffled
Lid: Bon Bon 
Center lid: Caramel

Liner: Clio Kill Brown Waterproof Brush Liner
Lips: Avon 3D Plumping Lipstick - Cantaloupe





Blue

All over: Coconut Creme
Crease: Mousse + Puddin'
Outer corner: Hot Fudge
Lid: Blueberry Swirl
Inner Corner: Butter Pecan
Lower lid: Mousse + Caramel

Liner: Clio Kill Black Waterproof Brush Liner
Lips: Avon 3D Plumping Lipstick - Cantaloupe





Smoky

All over: Coconut Creme
Crease: Peanut Butter
Lid: Cocoa Chili
Inner Corner: Butter Pecan
Liner: Licorice

Lips: Avon Shine Burst Stick - Nude Shine





It has a very fun looking and well made packaging. Eyeshadows have good pigmentation and you get a variety of shades as well as finishes. I'd say this is great neutral palette with lots of warm as well as cool toned shades. You also get a few colorful pops of shades for a bit more adventurous looks, but still very much in a comfort zone. Eyeshadows last all day long. Vanillary sweet scent of this palette is an added bonus and makes for a more pleasurable use (considering that you're not sensitive to scent). 

My problem with palettes that have a wide range of shades is that I'll never use all of the shades. In this case cooler toned shades are not in my daily use. However, it's a great basic palette for anyone that just wanst one palette to do many different looks with. Is it worth 44€? In all honesty, you do get a lot of shades and the quality is good, but me personally, I would probably rather buy one of the Zoeva Spectrum Palettes (assuming that the quality of the shades is as good as with my Cocoa Blend and Mixed Metals). These are a bit cheaper (around 35€) and offer around the same amount of product (15 grams). 

I'm still a bit said that I didn't get Sweet Peach. I think I'd like it a lot more, because the shades are not as neutral - I already have too many neutral eyeshadow palettes. That's probably the one palette that I would still love to try from Too Faced.