Kiko is an Italian make-up brand touted as a professional make up line of the same standard as the more expensive brands such as MAC, Urban Decay and MUFE. It's a bit hard to get as even here in Europe it is only available in a few countries. Lucky me that Spain even has Kiko Outlet Shops! Kiko has a wide range of items, from makeup to body care and fragrances, and I know this is elitist, but all their items are made in Italy, not China. But my love for Kiko is mainly because of their lipsticks.
On my first spree to try out the brand I bought two lipsticks, two dual shadow sticks (since per stick has two colors, that's four shadows for two!), a nail polish and a polish remover. I haven't had time to use the nail polish and polish remover (lazy!) and I've used the eye shadows about five times. The shadows are fine and long lasting for me, but then it is winter here so my skin is drier than normal. Oils in the lids often causes eyeshadows to wear off easily.
It is the lipsticks however that convinced me that Kiko is a wonderful find.
I bought 2 Smart Lipsticks. Described as their moisturizing and luminous lipstick line, it is also their cheapest lipstick line for only 2€ each. I got the 62 (Reddish Brown) and the 42(Dark Pink). Both lipsticks have some sheen but are not really shimmery. They are both very creamy and are fragrance-free.
Prior to getting the Kiko lipsticks, I only had three lip colors and two lip tints in rotation. Yes, despite selling makeups for close to five years, I AM NOT A MAKEUP ADDICT. I carefully limit the items I buy to those that I feel that I need. Every girl needs some color on her lips, no?
Presenting my magic seven, from left:
Tony Moly Magic Lip Tint in Green Apple, Grape
Callas Long Wear Lipstick in RD01 (Red Square)
Chanel Rouge Coco Lipstick in 15 (Ruban Rose)
MAC Lady Danger Lipstick
All five lippies (before I got the Kikos) were my go-to lip colors for a long time, they range from expensive to really cheap, these are the results of my search for the lip products that could give me smooth consistency and good staying power in the shades/colors I want.
You can't compare apples with the more expensive pears, but surprisingly of these four, the Tony Moly tints, the cheapest in the group, is the most long wearing, followed by Callas (sold in Korea for about 10$), then MAC. The Chanel, which I love for its natural color, is really not for long wear. It rubs off my lips if I drink anything. Sad, for $30, it's the buttery consistency, color and the brand that I'm paying for, not for the staying power.
The last two colors above are my Kiko lipsticks.
Here's another picture of my Kiko lippies with the MAC Lady Danger:
Swatches:
Top: MAC Lady Danger in pretty orange! People often say that to wear this color you have to be light-skinned, but I think it really depends on your personality or your mood. It's an eye-catching lip color which will give you that hey, look at me! vibe.
Center: Kiko 42 Dark Pink. I love this color for everyday wear! Its pink but subdued. Not too flashy but there's an impishness in this color which I like.
Bottom: Kiko 62 Reddish Brown. It's a brownish red shade close to my Chanel lippie color but more pigmented with a tinge of red. For me at least, there is something comforting about the shade.It's for days when I want to take it easy and just be very quiet haha. It's a color I wear on days when all I want is to take life in an easy manner.
I love these Kiko lipsticks equally. They both have some degree of shine but are not glittery or shimmery. The texture is ubercreamy and there's no scent to distract me. But the best thing is really this; for a lipstick line that does not promise long wear, these lipsticks have amazing wear. (Kiko has a long wear line but each lippie is about 6€ each haha so I did not pick one).
So how did I know that these Kiko Smart lipsticks were long wearing? Well, one busy Saturday, at a little over noon, I put on my Kiko #42 lipstick, ran to the train station and went on a shopping spree at the Factory Outlet for clients. In between, I drank water, ate cheese curls, went home late, ate dinner (pinakbet and bicol express with rice bought from a Filipino restaurant and microwaved in the comfort of my hotel room. A pinay needs her rice at least once a week!). Then I took pics of the items I bought, typed some stuff and found myself dosing to sleep at 11 PM. I told myself I will sleep for two hours and go back to finishing my tasks since I was going out of Madrid the next day. Well what do you know, I dozed off and woke up at 5 AM without removing my lipstick (though to be fair, I used toner to remove my face powder before dozing off). And I woke up in the morning with the Kiko lipstick still on my lips. Not as sharp as before but no smears at all, and the color was still there! I knew they were relatively long wearing since I wear them to the office but was still! That was sixteen hours of long wear. Among my lipsticks it is the most long wearing, second only to my Tony Moly tints.
This might sound like an ad, no? But may I say that I will offer Kiko Lipsticks to my TLCshop clients confident of their quality, because I myself have tried AND LOVED them. The hype and the glowing comparison to MAC, MUFE and other more expensive brand is well-deserved. :-)
Kiko Smart Lipsticks Color Palette:
http://www.kikocosmetics.com/eshop/uk/product/-/productdetail/smart-lipstick/KM00201005/52/1
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