Kiko is an Italian drugstore brand available in several European countries; in the UK they have an eshop as well as b&m locations in Westfield, London.
Last year Claire of Aucuparia Brumalis got me hooked on their nail polish and for my first foray into their makeup range I chose eye products, as many of my favourite high end eyeshadows and liners are manufactured in Italy. This post will focus on the Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadows -- cream eyeshadows in twist-up chubby stick form.
As one of these made it onto my Top 12 of 2012 list, it should be no surprise that I really really love this formula. Because again, just like the By Terry Ombre Blackstar cream shadow sticks, these are unctuously creamy, pigmented enough to line with yet effortlessly blendable to wear all over the lid, so lightweight they can work as a base under other formulas, and imbued with varying degrees of complex shimmer to add dimension while bouncing light away from textural issues -- which as a very dry-lidded person, I need -- and they reportedly wear like iron on my oily-lidded friends.
As Topshop Mystical fills the taupey neutral niche so well, I opted for warmer Kiko shades to gild my holiday wardrobe: 04 Golden Chocolate(top) and 06 Golden Brown (bottom):
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The two Kiko shades differ slightly in finish: 06 Golden Brown is a smoother shimmer with tonal sparkle, similar to Topshop Mystical, while 04 Golden Chocolate contrasts lime, red and several tones and sizes of gold sparkle against a brown satin base, in a similar style to (but with stronger contrasts than) By Terry Misty Rock.
The Kiko version retails for £4.90, as opposed to By Terry's £27.50 and Topshop's £7.50, and comes in a wider range of shades to boot (currently 16 in the core line). All three are made in Italy, in superficially differing packaging [actually, colouring aside, the Kiko and Topshop packaging is identical], and include 1.64g of product.
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Last year Claire of Aucuparia Brumalis got me hooked on their nail polish and for my first foray into their makeup range I chose eye products, as many of my favourite high end eyeshadows and liners are manufactured in Italy. This post will focus on the Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadows -- cream eyeshadows in twist-up chubby stick form.
As one of these made it onto my Top 12 of 2012 list, it should be no surprise that I really really love this formula. Because again, just like the By Terry Ombre Blackstar cream shadow sticks, these are unctuously creamy, pigmented enough to line with yet effortlessly blendable to wear all over the lid, so lightweight they can work as a base under other formulas, and imbued with varying degrees of complex shimmer to add dimension while bouncing light away from textural issues -- which as a very dry-lidded person, I need -- and they reportedly wear like iron on my oily-lidded friends.
As Topshop Mystical fills the taupey neutral niche so well, I opted for warmer Kiko shades to gild my holiday wardrobe: 04 Golden Chocolate(top) and 06 Golden Brown (bottom):
One-swipe swatches
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| natural light |
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| natural light, slightly angled |
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| fuzzy flash |
The Kiko version retails for £4.90, as opposed to By Terry's £27.50 and Topshop's £7.50, and comes in a wider range of shades to boot (currently 16 in the core line). All three are made in Italy, in superficially differing packaging [actually, colouring aside, the Kiko and Topshop packaging is identical], and include 1.64g of product.
Kiko Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadow Ingredients
For the highly similar Topshop and ByTerry ingredients, see here.
For two looks featuring these sticks, click through.
For two looks featuring these sticks, click through.