Holiday haul : KIKO

The last time I did a Kiko haul was when I was in Italy and I regretted not getting more items from them because they were so affordable and the quality is great for the price.

During my winter holidays, I visited Germany, Spain and Portugal and all these countries carried Kiko products (yay!) and managed to sneak into every single Kiko store I passed by.

Here's the display of items I have gotten from Kiko. I picked mostly sales item up with the exception of the Smart Lipstick. 

Let's start out with the first item I got. This is the Kiko Bronzing Powder. The packaging is matte black with a rubbery texture, I would say it is comparable to the NARS' packagings. Not my favourite type of packaging because it gets dirty really fast but it looks really sleek. 

I bought this bronzer for around 2 Euros which is pretty much a steal. 

I chose the coolest tone among all because I am searching for a more contour like shade. 

This is a BB Balm pact.I am so lucky that the leftover shades were my shade match. The packaging is similar to the bronzing powder. 

Foundation pacts are really convenient especially on the go and travelling. 

It's nice that it comes with a mirror and a sponge applicator at the bottom. 

Kiko Beam of Light Highlighter.
I can never resist a highlighter and not when it is on sale.

The shade is 01 Cream.
It is a beautiful champagne shade highlighter.

Next up, I got blushers from them.
105 - Dark Rose is a brown beige shade with rose undertones

104 - Pastel Pink. It is a muted medium pink with slight brown undertones.

These two blushers are muted shades and they appear very natural on the skin if you are going for the natural blush look.

I didn't mean to pick this up but I just could not resist this shade. This is the Kiko Velvet Satin Nail Lacquer in Vintage Rose. It is a dusty rose taupe shade.

Kiko Smooth Temptation Lipstick in 05.

05 is a rosewood shade. A deep rose with brown undertones. 

Kiko Cream Crush Lasting Color Eyeshadows. 

This is a cream eyeshadow. They felt really good when I swatched them in store. They are very creamy and airy. So, I picked up two shades. 

This shade is 01. It is a pale champagne shade with pink undertones. 

This is the shade 02. It is a apricot shade. 

I really like cream eyeshadows because they are easy to use. Just pick up some colour and dab on the eyelids and you are done. 

I picked up the lighter shades because they can double up as an eyeshadow base. 

These Smart Lipsticks are really nice and creamy. I picked them up the last time I visited Italy and my mum loves them. So, I picked up one of the shades for her. 

From left : 917 and 913

917 is a medium rose with brown undertones. This one is for my mum, she likes this kinds of shades. 

913 is a dusty rose. 

Luscious Cream Lipstick. 

I got these because they were on sale. The texture of these are really nice upon swatching. They are smooth, pigmented and creamy. 

I also picked up one shade for my mum. 

The packaging is very unique. 

To obtain the bullet, you need to push the top part of the lipstick away from the cap. 

The packaging is nice. They are in a silver pearl in shade packaging 

From left : 515 is a pinkish purple shade whereas 505 is a peachy brown shade. 

Kiko Shining Star Lip Lacquer.

This is a limited edition. It is from their Holiday 2015 collection. 

The packaging is really beautiful that these are so hard to pass up. 

The Kiko Lip Lacquers is one of those type of hybrid lip product that provides the feel of a gloss with the pigmentation of a lipstick. 

From left : 02 Unique Magenta and 01 Cool Mauve 

Unique Magenta is a fuchsia-raspberry pink. 

Cool Mauve is a light mauve nude pink. 

Kiko Rebel Bouncy Blush.

I got three of them which is kind of impulsive. They were so pretty that I could not help pick them up. 

03 Treasure Rose

Treasure Rose is a dusty rose shade. 

02 Adorable Pink. 

Adorable Pink is a light warm pink shade 

04 Passion Red Wine

Passion Red Wine is a raspberry pinkish red shade. 

NARS haul

I did some NARS shopping when L'etoile was having a 40% off clearance on seasonal items. I love it when they do their 40% off sale because brands like NARS will be so much cheaper than getting them in Malaysia or the US.

I got three items this time since these three are the items that caught my eye.
I got the NARS Climax set, an eyeshadow and a blush.

The items of the Climax set comes in a nice sturdy pink plastic box. The box is of high quality.

This set comes in a set of three items, a nail polish, a lipgloss and a lipstick, all in full size in the shade Schiap.

It is a great gift set and with the 40% off. What a steal.

Schiap is a hot bright pink shade.
It's loud but wearable.

The eyeshadow duo I have gotten is Dolomites.
This is such a gorgeous eyeshadow shade. It comes with a metallic muted rose pink shade and a warm toned red brown.
Definitely shades up my alley.

I have been into the warmer shades of brown of late. I find them really flattering.

NARS Deep Throat.
I was caught by surprise that this shade was on sale. I have not expected it since it is such a popular shade and it is not a limited edition.
I just had to get it.
It is a peachy pink shade with golden shimmers. I find this shade to be flattering on many skintones.

Haul : OPI & Rimmel

I went to the beauty store with the purpose to replace my Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner which is drying up.
Ofcourse, I didn't just pick up an eyeliner. We girls just have to go into the beauty store and buy everything not needed, if better, the whole shop along too.

I came out from the beauty store with two extra OPI nail polishes. They were on sale, for 299 rubles each which is about USD4 at the time of purchase. They were trying to clear out past collections.
I always have wanted to try OPI nail polishes but could never justify myself to buy them because of the price. With the sales, the price is just too good to be true. Ofcourse, I have to pick them up since I have been wanting them for quite some time.


I picked up two shades. Put it in Neutral and This Color's making Waves.

For eyeliner, I picked up the Rimmel Scandaleyes Percision Micro Eyeliner because it was on sale. I hope it works well on me. 

Nail polish haul : Pink Up! and Dance Legend

Another four nail polishes followed me home to join my army of nail polishes.
This is the first time trying out nail polishes from Dance Legend. I have been wanting to try out this brand for quite some time. The selection in the beauty store is pretty pathetic and I am too lazy to place an order online, pay for postage or travelling to collect it.
In the end, I still got two from the beauty shop after selecting for some time.

Two Pink! Up and two Dance Legend nail polishes. That is what I got.
The nail polishes from Pink! Up are from their new Masquerade line. I am not where is this brand from, I haven't seen this brand anywhere else except in Russia. I am guessing it is a Russian brand.
Dance Legend. Nail polish-holics might have heard of this highly praised Russian brand, I have seen it compared to many renowned brands. After much deciding, I finally settled with the Mist way collection. Probably because it was the prettiest collection available in the beauty store. I am kinda bumped that they do not carry new collections from Dance Legend. I wanted the Galaxy and Smoky collection but they are nowhere to be found and the only way to get them is to order them online which is too much a hassle for me right now. Maybe after my winter holidays, I might reconsider if they don't stock it up in the store.
From the Mist Way collection, I picked up Morning Dew and Blame.
Morning Dew is a mint green and Blame is a lavender-pink. The polishes in this line contains golden flakies (I am not sure what is the exact term to call it) which gives it a nice twist of romantic look.

They really don't have names for it.
The blue one is loaded with multiform glitters. It is pretty in the bottle and it reminds me of Frozen and Elsa's blue dress.
Despite being pretty in the bottle, it does not apply pretty. The nail polish is really sheer, it took me about 4-5 coats to achieve my desired opacity. On my nails, it does not look like a pretty light blue which I was hoping for. It appeared blue-grey. What a disappointment.

The pink nail polish from Pink! Up is pretty in bottle pink with gold shimmers. Sweet and elegant colour. On the other hand, this look really pretty on the nails too. It took me 2 coats to achieve my desired opacity.

The camera does not pick up its colour and the gold shimmers. In real life, I swear that this colour is beautiful and I am not bias because it is pink.

Dance Legend nail polishes are all about quality. These Mist Way nail polishes are no different. I like the texture of these nail polishes but I still find them not as good as the Sally Hansen or China Glaze.
The Mist Way nail polishes are more sheer in consistency, the first layer applies patchy. It took about 3-4 coats for me to achieve my desired opacity.

This is the finish look. The finish is a "crelly" (cream + jelly) finish.
The flakies isn't very obvious in real life, you have to look really close up to notice the flakes. This is pretty much the disappointing point of it but otherwise, it is very beautiful and the polishes are great,

I am looking forward to trying other Dance Legend nail polishes. 

Nail Polish haul : Sally Hansen & China Glaze

New collection of nail additions into my collection.
These are the new four babies in my collection.
From Left : China Glaze nail polish in Sweet Hook, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Cafe au Lait and Mauve Along and China Glaze in Pink-ie Promise.

Up until now I have never tried China Glaze nail polishes. The other day, the beauty store near my hostel had an offer on China Glaze nail polishes and I thought why not grab the opportunity and try the nail polishes. As usual I stayed with the colours in my comfort zone. I know it is getting boring and I should venture out for more exciting colours.
"Sweet Hook" is a lilac creme, I probably have so many colours of this shade but this shade is just too beautiful and it is very suitable for daily wear, since it is very feminine and toned down.
"Pink-ie Promise" is a muted down barbie pink. If you love barbie pink but you don't want it to be too loud and a mature, feminine kick, this is the shade for you.

So far, I haven't really painted my nails with these polishes. The most I did was swatching them on my nails. I really like formula from swatching it, it is a little thick but it evens out and dries down very nicely. Not streaky at all.

The Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure are currently my favourite nail polishes!
It is very easy to apply with the wide brush head, it doesn't streak, two coats is all that is needed for a nice opaque colour, 3 if you want to be safe and it doesn't chip until a week. That is the total plus point, it doesn't chip until a week. With the price, that is better than a salon manicure.
Rive Gauche are having a sale on these nail polishes for 149 Rubles each and I can't help myself and picked up two more shades.
They are nudes. Super pretty nudes, especially Mauve Along. I am no good when it comes to explaining colour, I would say Mauve Along is a nude creme with mauve and pink tones. It is very different from all the nudes which I own. This one just stole my heart away.
Cafe au Lait is more of the typical nude. It is beige nude with slight silver shimmers that is barely visible upon application. A very neutral colour that is suitable for everyday use.
Now I am eyeing on the Miracle Gel nail polishes. I will definitely grab when they go on sale. I am a cheapo, I am not willing to fork out more than 250 Rubles for nail polish

Hello October + Haul

Rive Gauche were having sales on the L'oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Liquid Lipsticks. They went down to 369 roubles (around USD9) which is considered a great price over here since they usually retail from 447-469 roubles.

The L'oreal Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick is my favourite lipstick hybrid. They are so easy to apply and they feel like cushion on the lips. They glide on the lips like butter.
They aren't very long lasting, about 4 hours on my lips but when they are on the lips. They are really moisturizing and they feel so good.

Since they were on a sale, I thought I would pick them up and stock them up.


Call me a hoarder. I picked up 5 colours.

From left : Blushing Harmony, Fuschia Drama, Molto Mauce, Nude Vibrato and Nude Ballet.

From top : Nude Vibrato, Molto Mauve and Blushing Rose

Nude Vibrato is a beautiful peach nude. On my skintone, it doesn't wash me (for a reference I am a NC15-20)  out or look 'dead' but if you are darker than me, this shade can appear dead. Since it is a lighter colour, it appears slightly sheerer than the other shades.

Molto Mauve like its name , it is a mauve with silver iridescent shimmer. It is one of those "my-lips-but-better" colour.

Blushing Rose is a medium dusty rose. It is also a "my-lips-but-better' shade but with a hint of pink.

From top : Nude Ballet, Nude Vibrato and Fuchia Drama

Nude Ballet is a beige nude. Compared to Nude Vibrato, there's more brown tone as opposed to Nude Vibrato's peach tones.

Fuchsia Drama is a straight up fuchsia, not for the faint heart. I find fuchsia extremely flattering on Asian skintones, it hides the yellow tones of the skin and brightens the skintone nicely.

Rimmel 60 seconds nail varnishes were on sale too. Being the nail junkie I am, I couldn't resist picking them up.

From left : Ring a Ring o' Roses, Major Brown, Caramel Cupcake, Rose Libertine ,Out of the Blue

I love the formula of the 60 seconds nail varnishes. They do not dry in 60 seconds as claimed but they dry pretty fast, maybe slightly over 60 seconds. The brush is thick, making application very easy and fast and the colour selections is great.
I love how quirky the names are.

The last item is L'oreal Volume Million Lashes So Couture Mascara.

I have been on a mascara kick and since this was on sale, I just randomly pick it up to try it out. I have yet to try it out. I will review this item as I get my use out of it. 

Autumn Haul & Hello September

Hello September, summer has gone by just like that. It is time to welcome the chilly autumn breeze and soon we see the leaves turn yellow and we will be dressed with our knitted sweaters. 

September also marks a new school semester. Anyone excited? 

Back in Moscow, so back to crappy lighting. 

Wasn't suppose to haul anything in Moscow but Sally Hansen nail polishes were on sale and I brought back all my nail polishes back home during my summer vacation and I didn't bring any back over here.I am left with zero nail polishes so I thought I needed some.

I need to stop splurging. I spent too much during my summer vacation.
ps. A sephora + high end haul will come soon and you all will get the jazz about the splurging.

'Complete Salon Manicure' , the name just sounds so tempting. Who doesn't want salon nails from home, it saves the time visiting a nail parlour and also money. Money is what we are talking about.

I picked up three colours : Jaded, Shall We Dance? and Commander in Chic

Jaded is a mint green colour. I have lots of mint green and I shouldn't be getting anymore mint colours but this leans more green and muted with greyish tones. It is really soft and right up my alley!

Shall We Dance is a sheer pale light pink. A romantic colour and also an everyday nail colour on the go.

Commander in Chic is a taupe colour. Also one of my favourite colour in nail polishes. It just complements my skintone really well and it gives a very chic (just like its name) touch to daily looks.

The brush of the nail polish is flat and thick. This is how I like it, I find these type of brushes gives fast and easy application.

I have been a L'oreal mascara fan after trying the L'oreal Volumissime x5 Carbon Black. It gives me the most beautiful length and volume with no clumping but sadly it does smudge on me throughout the day, but for that length and volume I can't let go of it. So, I thought I would give another L'oreal mascara a go, hoping it performs like the L'oreal Volumissime Carbon Black without the smudging. The L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Noir and L'oreal Volumissime x4 Waterproof was on sale and I got it.
I like the packaging for L'oreal Volume Million Lashes, it is very chic and sleek. I am excited to try out this mascara.

Max Factor 2000 Calories Mascara. I heard lots about this mascara, since it is on sale, I thought I would give it a try. Have been loving the Max Factor False Lash Effect, hopefully this gives a somewhat same effect on my Asian lashes. 

Summer little loot : Essence cosmetics

I went to the beauty store wanting to get a top coat but as usual I exit the store getting more than just a topcoat.

These are the items I got from the beauty store. Nothing too exciting, everything is from Essence cosmetics.

First item is the Essence lipliner in Wish Me A Rose.
It is a newly added colour to the collection.

This lip pencil is a very budget friendly lip pencil and surprisingly it is very creamy and pigmented.
This colour is a matte pink which is quite a MLBB colour on me.

I came across Carli Bybel's 'how to make your lips appear larger' video the other day and I thought, wow! I want to try that tutorial.

By the way Carly Bybel is a youtube guru with beautiful eyes and lips. She is extremely gorgeous.
You can watch her video on the tutorial over here 

I do not have a lipliner with me over here.
When I saw this at the Essence stand for 65Rubles (less than USD2). I just picked it up because of the extremely affordable price for a great quality and pretty colour.
I will do a quick post when I do try it out.

Essence Glossy Lipbalm in Mango Icecream.

Just a basic glossy lipbalm that is always handy everywhere.
I own their old version in Pink Dragonfruit and I like that lipgloss a lot because it's just really handy and moisturizing. The only downside it doesn't last that long and it is quite sticky.

These are the new versions. I don't know what changes they have made in the new version but a review is coming up soon. I hope they made changes to the formulation in terms of stickiness.

This is the star product of my haul.
I think I just found my HG top coat. I just applied nail polish over my nails before I blogged and oh wow, this top coat dries down so fast like a dream. It dried seconds after I applied it. No joke.
I never used a top coat that dried so fast.
I am already doing my daily routines as usual after applying my nail polish without having to worry my nail polish is going to 'dent' or smudge.
It gives an absolutely lovely high shine too. Usually the shine in my nail polish fades after awhile but the shine is still here.
I just can't sing enough praises for this product. I am going to see how many days the nail polish is going to last without chipping and report back.

This top sealer is probably for gel nails but I used it on normal nail polish and it works fine on it.

I am having it over my Orly's You're Blushing. Incase anyone is wondering what nail polish I am using on my nails.