Kiko Cosmetics Review

So, first's things first's an apology is in order. Despite thinking about my blog every day I have been crazy busy over the past few weeks and haven't got round to writing ANYTHING! With moving house, decorating, unpacking, starting a new job and not having internet for a couple of weeks I actually think I haven't done so bad in taking as long as I have!

I suppose what comes with a being a blogger is the acceptance of other people who put their lives online. No depth is to be taken by that sentence - what I really mean is how easy influenced I am by other bloggers recommendations. I once heard a blogger say that Clearasil Clean and Clear scrubbed on once a day for a week would remove the pinky dots that plague my legs. And what did I do? Go straight into town to buy it! And did it work? No. But I don't often let this put me off. Bloggers are famed for their honesty and what works for some doesn't always work for others, and as we all know beauty is often times purely trial and error!

For example literally nothing does as much for my eyelashes as Diorshow Iconic, whereas most are more than satisfied with their Maybelline bezzie. Cutting a long story short, I heard a YouTuber talking about Kiko Cosmetics and naturally my interest was piqued.

Cue a few weeks later and in a mad rush in town getting lunch for a few people in the office I ended up right across the street from the Kiko Cosmetics store showcasing a very enticing 50% sale. Naturally, as soon as I went home I was on their website browsing for the next best thing.

The website is easy to navigate and being the savvy shopper I am (lololol) I stuck to the sale section.  Partly because as a MAC lover for life I didn't want to waste money on products I would never use and also in part because I am still stuck in the mindset of being a student - despite the fact my beady eyes are firmly set on an Olympus Pen E-PL7. 

Being pessimistic I'll start with the baddies. Firstly, I didn't realise that there was a minimum order value. Usually this isn't a problem for me (...) but seeing as I was firmly in the sale section I encountered a problem when I came to check out. The minimum order value is £25 which I personally think is enormous considering it is a brand which I would consider to be on the lower end of the economic spectrum.  

Regardless, I persevered and ended up with this delicious hollowed flat topped brush to bump up my total. I've been using it for foundation and cream contouring and to be honest, for £15.90, it has definitely been worth it. 

Secondly, the products took so long to arrive I had genuinely forgotten I had ordered. When I went to the Post Office to collect my parcel I totally intrigued to see what my secret admirer (Kiko) had sent me.

I couldn't resist this violet face primer when I came across it on the site. It's valued at £1.90 at the moment but I am sure it was something ridiculous like 70p when I bought it. To be entirely honest I'm not sure how much I rate this product, it has the desired tacky feel once applied but I'm not convinced it keeps my make up on for any longer.

Seeing as I bought some of the loose pigments I thought I should check out their Mixing Solution valued at £1.90. Put a tiny, tiny drop of this onto your brush then apply the pigments and you will be surprised at the depth of colour you can achieve. I really rate this product, I think it is really worth checking out!

Being a neutrals lover I was obviously going to go for Cocoa and Light Taupe (£2.90) in the loose pigments department. I am infinitely more impressed with Light Taupe, it is like literal moon dust. The colours are strong, but without the mixing solution they don't have the staying power to last a whole day at work.

The desire to add a filter on to my pasty hand pic almost overwhelmed me, but in dedicated blogger fashion I kept true to the original image!

The picture to follow shows the colours blended; top is Cocoa on it's own, middle shows the pair blended and the bottom shade is Light Taupe. The colours have much more of a shimmer in real life, but until I get my Olympus Pen my iPhone pictures will have to suffice!

The above shows the pigments with the mixing solution - how much of a difference does it make?!

Saving the best until last, I am introducing you to my new best friend. Beam of Light highlighter in Sand. I cannot get enough of this beauty - it is super long wear and holds the most gorgeous glow, at £5 it is a total steal.  I have been using this with my EcoTools blush brush which has the perfect fluffy texture for highlighter. 

Overall, I definitely think Kiko Cosmetics is worth a look.  I have totally fallen for some of their products, but there is so much more to be seen. Let me know what your experiences have been I would love to know!

Home Sweet Home

If you have read my most recent blogs you will probably be aware of our latest purchase - our first home!

Our new house has the bones of a cosy first home but the interior was awful. Think dark grey carpets, busy printed wallpaper and orange walls. There is barely anything I want to keep, but that's what makes it so exciting!

For months and months my brain has been buzzing with interior ideas, my Pinterest boards have expanded and now we can finally get cracking. Luckily for me, Ciaran is happy for me to decorate our home how I want so there hasn't been any beef..yet!

There is so much we want to do to our new home before we move in on 1st July. First on our list is to steam off all of the wallpaper. God only knows why the previous owners wallpapered a thousand layers of paper on top of each other but it is an utter pain to remove. There is basically 80 years of wallpaper intermingled with layers of paint. If I never see wallpaper again in my life I will be so pleased. 

On our first day in the house we ripped up the carpet in our new bedroom and found this gorgeous wooden floor underneath. It's pretty much filthy and paint splatted in places so in a few weeks we plan to borrow a sander and sort the floor out!

Note the copious amounts of wallpaper allover the floor - believe me when I say this is minor! We so far have filled 7 bin bags of wallpaper and the stairs still look like this...

Our kitchen seems to have been recently fitted and has soft close cabinets which I love. One of my favourite parts is the vertical pull out drawer beside the oven - perfect for herbs and spices.

The kitchen is long and narrow and has two build in cupboards that hooked me instantly when we viewed the house. One will be perfect for coats & bags and the other is crying out for some shelves to give all of my little bowls a home!

To  be honest, I don't like to counter tops or the floor in here. They are too dark and I would rather have more natural browns - a good replacement for this floor would be something like this but we will have to put this on the back foot for now, there are more important things to be done!

Diverging from our new home, I have come back to my home home. I flew back last night and as is our ritual for Saturday lunchtimes at home we took a trip to Picnic in Killyleagh. If you don't happen to know this absolute gem, it is my favourite deli cafe and serves the most delicious meals. It is on the pricey side of a cafe lunch but 100% worth it.

Today I got some corn cakes to take away and heated them up at home. They kindly packed me in some chilli jam, amazing coleslaw and my favourite smoothie of all time - non dairy strawberry, mango and passion fruit.

Lunch was eaten in the garden under the sun and joined by the pugly angel Betty and my freshly engaged best friend's gorgeous Springador pup, Annie.

May IKEA Haul

So, if you haven't already guessed the big secret I was too scared to say out loud for fear of jinxing it is that my boyfriend and I have bought a house and I literally couldn't be more excited!

That's not to say that I'm not worried about the impending doom of mortgage repayments, insurance, maintenance costs and stuff because I totally am, but of course I'm doing what any sensible girl would do and getting totally carried away with Pinterest-worthy redecorating dreams!

I've already decided on colour schemes and have it all planned out in my head. Over the last few years I have been collecting beautiful homeware and I am so excited to finally have my own home for them all to live in. 

Obviously a trip to IKEA was on the cards (likely to be one of many) so I trotted off a few weekends ago so buy some more bits for my new home. At this point you're probably wondering why I wasn't heading to a DIY store to buy some actual essentials but IKEA WAS MORE IMPORTANT, OKAY?!

If you have read my blog before, or even been within a 3 metres of me, you will probably know how much I love prints, paintings and particularly the excitement of getting something framed. BTW if you live in Leeds I would totally recommend The Picture Framer in Burley. Believe me when I say I have tried out so many in my area and this shop is vastly superior. You will be hard pressed to find a quality framers at a super cheap rate but The Picture Framer is very competitive and there is a dog that works in the shop too - pretty much grabbed my custom there and then!

I picked this print and frame up separately in IKEA on my last trip. I chose white because I wanted a really fresh and bright frame for my new kitchen. I love the flying fish and can't wait to hang this one.

The frame was £15 and the print £9 - absolute bloody bargain for a 50x50cm!

During my trip to South Africa in March I bought some genuinely beautiful spoons - sweeping statement I know for some spoons, but if you saw them you would agree - and I have been keeping an eye out for some equally lovely tins for tea, coffee and sugar. Maybe I'm too fussy but I actually couldn't find anything I liked until I saw these beauties. IKEA again reigns supreme, coming in at £3.50 for the set.

You may have noticed I love taking Instagramming the life out of things and when I saw this adorable jug/vase at £7.50 and faux milk bottle at A SINGLE POUND I couldn't resist snapping them up. I love the quaintness of them both - you will definitely be seeing these bad boys again! 

My next purchases were these two stripey plant pots from the Garden section of IKEA. At Easter when I had gone home I dropped into my favourite shop in Northern Ireland - The Cheshire Cat and Trio. My gorgeous Mum's shops have been a familiar fixture in Hillsborough for many years and I found the beautiful bird pot in there.

I can't find it on the website but I am pretty sure the IKEA pots were £4 each!

My last blog worthy piece from IKEA is this genuinely beautiful faux sheepskin rug. I have already envisaged my new bedroom to be a soft grey marl colour with white furnishings so I thought this fuzzy friend would fit in nicely. I couldn't believe the price when I stumbled across it in store it was only £10! Totally not thinking ahead I only bought one. I came home and was telling everyone about my new buys and realised as a bedside rug I would need two - total moron. The next morning I got up super early to make sure I got one before they sold out and ended up locked in IKEA jail (barriers put up half way around to stop you going further) because it was a Bank Holiday and not yet trading time. Buuttt, it was totally worth it and I know have a lovely matching pair. Giggity.

Last and especially not least is my new mirror. I've wanted a gorgeous wall mirror for ages and hadn't really found one I couldn't live without, but on a sofa buying mission in Halton I came across this great shop called Tailor Made Sofas and Chairs. I love the naked wood and initally thought how easy it would be to paint but I actually think I'm going to leave it in all its glory! This was a total steal for a 50x50cm(ish) mirror at £25.

If you soldiered through to the bottom of my excited ramblings thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed my totally non-essential but equally irresistible picks for this haul!

I have linked the products and shops where possible so please, for me, go out and bring something you love into your home!