In the last two weeks I've been lucky enough to be invited to two lovely store cosmetic brands' store openings in London; the first being the new Bare Minerals Boutique in Canary Wharf and the second being the Kiko Cosmetics Store on Regent Street.

Kiko Regent Street
Last week Tuesday, after the excitement of the Naked 3 launch I headed to the opening of Kiko Regent Street where the brand allowed bloggers, makeup artists and press to have an exclusive browse around the shop whilst it was closed to the public!
I have to admit I felt super special amongst the other bloggers who attended knowing that we would have undivided attention of the staff if needed and all the products were untouched and pretty much new.

The store itself is a massive improvement to the much smaller stores I've been to in both Westfields (Shepherds Bush and Stratford). 
The Stratford Kiko store is my local store that I tend to pop into frequently (much to my husbands dismay if he's shopping with me!), but I love that they have offers on regularly, my favourite being the all mascaras at £3.90 (my daily waterproof mascara is by Kiko so I stock up when this offer is on!)

The only problem with my Stratford store is that it's a small store so gets fairly crowded, particularly on weekends!
This store however has no issue with overcrowding as it boasts two floors of makeup, all laid out in an array of colours for the eyes to wander over.

sneaky picture taken with my phone through the glass doors before we were let loose inside!

I did feel overwhelmed at first when stepping into the shop; "where do I start, so many colours!" were my first thoughts. Luckily I met a lovely old colleague and friend of mine who worked there (Amira, fantastic girl!) and we got chatting about where I should start and what I should look at.  

bloggers congregated upstairs at the street level floor

I decided to head downstairs as most of the bloggers were congregated at the top street level floor and the downstairs held duplicates of lips, face and nail things anyway so it was a bit easier to browse through!

much emptier downstairs and all the pretty new makeup laid out

very handy pull out mirrors next to the products!

The products are laid out in a handy colour coordinated way with the corresponding products directly above them so you can self serve in the baskets given. I liked the fact that the mirrors pull out from the stands where the products are held so that you can get a better view of yourself if you've tried the product on yourself.
Otherwise, the area for makeovers is lovely and spacious with great bright lights lined around the mirrors, giving that hollywood feel.

I picked a couple things but felt like I needed to come at another day to take the full store in and went again last Friday where I picked up a good few more things, again with the help of the lovely Amira who's worked for many brands including MAC, Benefit and Dior. She admitted she actually enjoys using Kiko and finds the products surprisingly great quality. I personally agree and find the price point for Kiko amazing considering they offer just as good quality products as higher end brands.

I love that at Kiko stores I never feel pushed into buying products as I tend to find with other brands; their relaxed approach and self service displays makes it much a much easier and better environment to shop and I hope it stays that way!

Do feel free to check out previous Kiko posts here for reviews, makeup looks and swatches.

Bare Minerals Canary Wharf
I also attended the Bare Minerals Boutique opening two weeks ago and was totally impressed by the store layout; the ones I've been to have usually been in department stores that have had small counters with the pretty but impractical rotating wheels holding eyeshadows and foundations. Though they look gorgeous all laid out in a wheel, I do tend to find them a bit messy and hard to navigate around the counters without help from an advisor for what I'm looking for.

This boutique however is much more appealing to those who like to browse for products in their own time; the outskirts of the shop hold well displayed designated areas for the eyes, lips, face and skincare where shoppers can self serve and play with products on display with ample room. 

face area on the right of the store with cute hand written notes above

lips area with self serve shelves underneath for quick purchases

The middle holds a beauty bar where the Bare Minerals advisors give foundation fittings and beauty "make-unders" as the brand like to call it!

well displayed designated self serve areas on outskirts, beauty bar in the middle

The boutique is the first of many to come in the future I hope, I have to say I'm personally a fan of this new easy-to-navigate layout and as Canary Wharf isn't far from where I live, this boutique will probably be my preferred choice of counter to go to from now on!

What are your favourite brands stores and why? What makes your makeup shopping experience better?

 

Christmas look 2

I thought I'd play about with Christmassy colours, so I chose to use gold green & red for this look.. alternatively I guess it could be used to represent flag colours for either one of these countries with the same colours!: click here!

Here's the products used for this look:

> Bare Minerals foundation - medium beige
> UDPP
> Manly palette
> UD 24/7 eyeliner in "covet" & "zero"
> Dior Show mascara (forgot to add to pic!)
> MAC select moisturecover concealer in NC35
> Clinique blusher in "sunset glow"
> Natural Collection lipstick in "crimson"
> Barry M lip gloss wand in "cherry"

For this look I used all the shimmery colours.. festive looks have to have some shine to them, whether glitter or shimmer! I opted for shimmer as the glitter was going to be on the lips. I started by buffing on Bare Minerals foundation onto my face in Medium Beige.
For the eyes, first I started by applying a golden yellow from the Manly palette to the inner corner of the eyes as well as under the brows, followed by a shimmery green to the middle and end of the eyelid (using the MO eye shading brush) and blending the golden yellow with the green. I then used the No 7 blend & contour brush to add a little bit of shimmery red above the outer corner of the eyes, winging it out a little, and blending upwards into the gold underneath the eyebrows. I added gold to the rest of the eye area, blending into the green and reds, to make it less harsh. For the lower lashline I used a thin wet brush to add the golden eyeshadow colour in an upwards stroke along the lashline, followed by UD Covet eyeliner on the lower waterline. For the top liner I used Covet again, with Zero on top, for a dark green/black liner. After applying under eye concealer, I used Dior Show mascara on top and bottom lashes.

For the cheeks I used Clinique Sunset Glow, and for the lips I used Natural Collection lipstick in Crimson, followed by Barry M's glittery red lip gloss - Cherry. Unfortunately the glitter didn't show up much in the pictures, but I assure you, its lovely and sparkly to add to your lips for a festive look!

Hope you like it!

 <3

Winning Look

Excuse the pun title, couldn't resist lol!

For this look I used:
> Bare Minerals Get Started Kit
> UD PP
> NYX "lagoon sparkle" single eyeshadow &
> NYX "purple pearl" Ultimate Pearl eyeshadow
> NYX "surreal"  Glitter Cream Palette (far left purple-blue)
> UD "zero" Ink For Eyes
> Eyelash curlers
> L'oreal Telescopic mascara in black
> NYX Diamond Sparkle Lipstick in "sparkling orchid"

To start, I used the Bare Minerals kit:

First I applied the "medium beige" foundation (medium looked too light, you get two in the kit), then I used the All Over Face Colour in "warmth", then applied the concealer "summer bisque" under my eyes (although I think it's too white/light for my colour), followed by the "mineral veil" all over the face. All products are instructed to be applied by three steps: Swirl (the brush), Tap, then Buff on the face. I did as instructed, with the included brushes and actually loved the effect on my skin, as I woke up today with unusually blotchy skin =(
I didn't use the included sample of Bare Minerals face primer this time round, thought I'd save it for when I get a better camera!

For the eyes, after using UDPP I added NYX Lagoon Sparkle to the inner corners of the eyes, followed by Purple Pearl to the middle and outer corners. I then added the NYX purple-blue glitter cream to the outer corners of the eyes (although it's sadly not as visible as it was in real life!). This glitter cream has the glitter on top, whilst the cream is underneath, which was different to work with, but managable!

I used my recently purchased Urban Decay Ink for Eyes in Zero, which went on so smooth, it's the best to apply with out of all of the liners I now own. Colour-wise, it's not as dark as I'd like. I then tried out the L'oreal Telescopic mascara, which I have to say I'm sadly disappointed with. It made my eyelashes look all sparse despite curling them beforehand, and brushing out with a mascara wand. I think the product was too wet than what I'm used to, which spoiled it unfortunately.

Finally I used NYX Diamond Sparkle Lipstick in Sparkling Orchid, which I love; the colour is beautiful, the camera does it no justice! It was very very moisturising, the most moisturising lipstick I've tried to date.

I personally think my skin looks airbrushed with this Bare Minerals, and a little bit tanned, but maybe it's the camera quality that's making it tanned.. I'll defo be trying with a better one soon! Even though I don't wear foundation and tend not to be a fan, I'll be saving this for special occasions/when I have more time!

As for NYX products, I'm pleasantly surprised that the products are lovely to use, I still have the Glitter Liner in "Disco Queen" to use as well as the Powder Blush in "Cinnamon" and the rest of the Glitter Creams =D

Hope this was helpful to those of you interested in either NYX products or Bare Minerals =)

<3

I love receiving packages!

I've been waiting for two packages all week and they both arrived today, so I was super excited! Last week was my luckiest week ever, first I won the NYX halloween competition to spend £35 on their website, then I entered the facebook competition of feelunique.com (click here), and I won £50 to spend on their site too! I actually thought it was a scam competition when I won £50 just like that, but then I saw other people won things too on the page, so I ordered and it worked!!
Obviously I got all my mates to enter too, but unfortunately the most they got was 10% off.. So I feel so grateful God has seen how broke I am, yet yearning a lot lol!


Anyway, here's what I ordered from NYX:

And here's what I ordered from feelunique:

When I went Covent Garden the other week with my mates, we popped into the Bare Escentuals shop, where my mate tried on their foundation with the help of the assistant. Personally, I'm not a foundation person; they're either too heavy on my skin, not the right shade, or if they're a powder like this, too dry on my already dry skin! Plus I don't like the idea of taking copious amounts of make up off (I already do with eyeshadow, concealer & blush!). 
Anyway, when I saw it being put on her, I thought it looked nice, gave great coverage and suited her tone nicely, giving her a nice glow. It's only when we were going home via the tube that I looked back at her and was wowed by how flawless her skin looked! Then I read reviews about it and how it "magically transforms your skin" after at least 15mins, and I couldn't help but believe it as I saw it with my own eyes. So obviously this was in the basket asap when I saw it, and although I hadn't tried any on myself, I decided to go with the shade that the assistant tried on her, as she's similar to me; Medium beige.
I also am still on the lookout for the perfect solution for my terrible zombie-ish dark circles and read pretty good reviews on the Garnier Caffeine Anti-dark Circles so I thought I'd give that a go.

I couldn't wait to dig in and swatch, so I tried a makeup look as soon as it came today using as much as I could and I've been wearing the NYX Diamond Sparkle lipstick since 2pm and it still feels moist.. naice!
Stand by for the makeup look (with my Lumix camera!)

<3