Kiko Water Eyeshadows are pressed, embossed powders designed to be used both wet and dry -- and for these I lay the blame firmly at the door of Ms Naz of Mascara Magic.
Okay, and also because they seemed similar to the Estée Lauder Cyber formula (also made in Italy; swatches here) of which I am a fan.
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Approximately two seconds after taking that picture, this happened:
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Spontaneous self-depotting? Um, way to jump straight into my good books, little Eggplant! Unfortunately, as these don't have a separate pan holding the pigment together (nor do the Estée Lauders, btw), I had to rehouse it. Here's how the surfaces look after being used wet -- as you can see, no hardening. But Eggplant Purple is prone to cracking :(
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Pretty self-explanatory, eh? Used dry, these are DRY and drab and sheer and chalky and just extremely disappointing. Used wet, they swatch very nicely indeed (check out the multitonal shimmery complexity in Eggplant Purple and the strong iridescent metallic flash in Indigo Blue), but on my dry lids they were difficult to blend and once set, tended to look patchy and emphasise skin texture. You can see this beginning at the edge of the wet swatches, but for the full effect, here's Indigo Blue over the lid with Eggplant Purple in the outer third, both used wet.
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These are not issues I'd experienced with even the driest of the Estée Lauder shades (Cyber Green and Cyber Copper).
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Okay, and also because they seemed similar to the Estée Lauder Cyber formula (also made in Italy; swatches here) of which I am a fan.
Kiko Water Eyeshadow 223 Eggplant Purple and 225 Indigo Blue
Approximately two seconds after taking that picture, this happened:
Spontaneous self-depotting? Um, way to jump straight into my good books, little Eggplant! Unfortunately, as these don't have a separate pan holding the pigment together (nor do the Estée Lauders, btw), I had to rehouse it. Here's how the surfaces look after being used wet -- as you can see, no hardening. But Eggplant Purple is prone to cracking :(
Patted-on swatches, dry (top) and wet (below):
(is it just me or is this post getting seedier by the scroll?)
(....slant rhyme!)
Pretty self-explanatory, eh? Used dry, these are DRY and drab and sheer and chalky and just extremely disappointing. Used wet, they swatch very nicely indeed (check out the multitonal shimmery complexity in Eggplant Purple and the strong iridescent metallic flash in Indigo Blue), but on my dry lids they were difficult to blend and once set, tended to look patchy and emphasise skin texture. You can see this beginning at the edge of the wet swatches, but for the full effect, here's Indigo Blue over the lid with Eggplant Purple in the outer third, both used wet.
Rest of the look here.
These are not issues I'd experienced with even the driest of the Estée Lauder shades (Cyber Green and Cyber Copper).
Kiko Water Eyeshadow Ingredients:
