Kiko Milano Cosmetics ~ Blush, Lipstick & Eyeshadow Mini Haul
So while I was in Russia I came across a Kiko Milano Cosmetics store at the mall near my hotel. One thing about shopping in Russia (based on my experience this trip), the sales associates and waiters/waitresses are super apologetic about their not near perfect English. They always mention how they are still learning and I'm standing there trying not to butcher ONE WORD in their language and feeling like an idiot. It's amazing that they care so much and made me feel really good as I shopped around.
The lame thing on my end is that I didn't do my research. I had never heard of Kiko Milano and I wanted to buy something foreign and unknown to review while in a foreign country, but apparently Kiko is known on the East Coast in the U.S. so I sorta failed on that point. They are Italian though so that sort of counts!
From what I saw when swatching and trying out various products from Kiko, I think they are hit-or-miss depending on the product. The dual eyeshadows look so pretty in the pans but they are one of those formulas where you swipe with your finger and the color doesn't transfer to your arm, or eyelid, and even with a brush--no color shows up anywhere, just sparkly powder that falls off. In the below pic you can see the lovely shades on my finger tips (the blush shade is in the middle).
I found that you need to apply with a wet brush which isn't a huge deal but can be a bit of a pain. The one that I got with this bright lilac shade and a darker, grey-ish purple, took a bit to build up even with a wet brush. These just felt very fussy to me and way more work than I want to put in. The bright lilac shade reminds me of Urban Decay's Asphyxia but is much more laborious to apply. While a UD single shadow is more pricey at $19 for the one pan, if you're drawn to this particular color, the UD shade will treat you much more nicely. The darker shade appears to resemble a shade in the brand spanking new Afterdark palette by, also, Urban Decay. I imagine there's a handful of dupes for each of these shades those are just 2 that come to mind.
Quick finger swatches of the blush (middle) and the 2 eyeshadow (on either side)
The blush was a disappointment. There were 2 in the collection at the store--the pink one being very sparkly and the more mauve-toned one being, while still on the sparkly side, a bit more workable. For blushes however, these just don't work. There was no color payoff and a lot of powder kick up. Even once the powder was on the brush and I went to apply to my cheek, the powder just went up in little puffs leaving behind some of the glitter and no blush color at all. In truth, I think they were going for the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder look with this product but there's a lot more actual sparkle--not finely milled sparkle that creates that light luminous touch but actual sparkle flecks in the powder.
The lipstick is the best out of the bunch and while I am not ridiculously over-the-moon with it, I'll be keeping it and wearing it mostly for Spring. In the store it was labeled as a Matte but is definitely more of a Cream, so unsure what that's all about. It also smells a lot like the Too Faced Chocolate products (the eyeshadow palettes, bronzer, whatever chocolate-y smell you're familiar with from Too Faced, yeah, this lipstick smells like that). I personally love that smell but if you don't, you may not love these particular lipsticks.
Packaging-wise, these feel like drugstore quality makeup with improved packaging for a drugstore brand--metal instead of plastic so there is actual weight to the products. The lipstick case, while not really pretty, is quite sturdy being that it's made of metal and I always appreciate the magnetized casing where the top snaps back over the tube. The blush case is also metal which is nice, but appearance-wise, it just doesn't speak to me. I want to feel magical and majestic when I use my makeup, like a princess fairy or something else whimsical. It's a pretty shade of red but something about it just doesn't make me look twice at it, but that's just personal preference on my part.
The dual eyeshadows, I realized once I got back to my hotel, are mean't to be put into a sturdier case with 2 other pans. So I basically just bought a single pan that comes in an awkward plastic case. If this is how you plan to use the single pan, it's super annoying. But as I was just buying the products to try them out I wasn't really keen on buying 3 just to put them in an actual case.
Overall, I'm not terribly impressed and will probably be gifting the blush and eyeshadow out to someone who may enjoy them more than I do. I'm a difficult one to please when it comes to what I want and need from my products, so my pickiness could definitely be a factor as to why I am not in love with these. Packaging prettiness and functionality is a pretty large factor for me when evaluating makeup items. If I'm spending non drugstore prices on something, I want packaging that works well and is nice to look at.
The lame thing on my end is that I didn't do my research. I had never heard of Kiko Milano and I wanted to buy something foreign and unknown to review while in a foreign country, but apparently Kiko is known on the East Coast in the U.S. so I sorta failed on that point. They are Italian though so that sort of counts!
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| Kiko Milano Cosmetics |
I found that you need to apply with a wet brush which isn't a huge deal but can be a bit of a pain. The one that I got with this bright lilac shade and a darker, grey-ish purple, took a bit to build up even with a wet brush. These just felt very fussy to me and way more work than I want to put in. The bright lilac shade reminds me of Urban Decay's Asphyxia but is much more laborious to apply. While a UD single shadow is more pricey at $19 for the one pan, if you're drawn to this particular color, the UD shade will treat you much more nicely. The darker shade appears to resemble a shade in the brand spanking new Afterdark palette by, also, Urban Decay. I imagine there's a handful of dupes for each of these shades those are just 2 that come to mind.
Quick finger swatches of the blush (middle) and the 2 eyeshadow (on either side)
 |
| Kiko Milano Cosmetics swatches |
The lipstick is the best out of the bunch and while I am not ridiculously over-the-moon with it, I'll be keeping it and wearing it mostly for Spring. In the store it was labeled as a Matte but is definitely more of a Cream, so unsure what that's all about. It also smells a lot like the Too Faced Chocolate products (the eyeshadow palettes, bronzer, whatever chocolate-y smell you're familiar with from Too Faced, yeah, this lipstick smells like that). I personally love that smell but if you don't, you may not love these particular lipsticks.
Packaging-wise, these feel like drugstore quality makeup with improved packaging for a drugstore brand--metal instead of plastic so there is actual weight to the products. The lipstick case, while not really pretty, is quite sturdy being that it's made of metal and I always appreciate the magnetized casing where the top snaps back over the tube. The blush case is also metal which is nice, but appearance-wise, it just doesn't speak to me. I want to feel magical and majestic when I use my makeup, like a princess fairy or something else whimsical. It's a pretty shade of red but something about it just doesn't make me look twice at it, but that's just personal preference on my part.
The dual eyeshadows, I realized once I got back to my hotel, are mean't to be put into a sturdier case with 2 other pans. So I basically just bought a single pan that comes in an awkward plastic case. If this is how you plan to use the single pan, it's super annoying. But as I was just buying the products to try them out I wasn't really keen on buying 3 just to put them in an actual case.
Overall, I'm not terribly impressed and will probably be gifting the blush and eyeshadow out to someone who may enjoy them more than I do. I'm a difficult one to please when it comes to what I want and need from my products, so my pickiness could definitely be a factor as to why I am not in love with these. Packaging prettiness and functionality is a pretty large factor for me when evaluating makeup items. If I'm spending non drugstore prices on something, I want packaging that works well and is nice to look at.
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