Pupa Cosmic Beauty

In this sea of new fall LEs, Pupa comes out with a ... cyber/cosmic LE. They make direct references to cyberpunk in their website, talking about a "visionary, cybernetic future [...] inspired by an imaginary metropolis of the future, a city with a surprising charme, where the borders between real and surreal disappear: Cosmic Beauty. The girls of this town with an exceptional lifestyle dress with cybersexy clothes and use a psychedelic make up. The aesthetic charme of a new era."
Now, if this was an ad found in Night City, or the great metropolis that appear in Gibson's novels, I wouldn't be surprised. And I love anything cyberpunk, so if course I am enthusiastic about it
But:
1) if it's so cyber-inspired, why do they talk about space and the products have space-inspired names? First you tell me it's inspired by the colors of the galaxies then you give me a cyberpunk femme fatale. These are two different kinds of sci-fi, my dear.
2) I have now a headcanon: that the creative teams at Kiko and Pupa are best friends and regularly meet together to watch movies. Last year they both created China/East inspired LEs, almost identical in their inspiration. This year they must have gathered to watch Blade Runner all together, or something like that.
3) The collection has only a few products ( I get it's a preview, but I suppose they've shown everyhting), and there's nothing groundbreaking and futuristic for me. Let's see:

An eyeshadow/eyeliner. Comes in taupe, black, peacock green, blue and violet.

Pigments! This one looks cool, I'd admit it. Comes in blue and green as well.

Lip pencils are nothing new. Comes in red and pink too.

There' s a highlighter..

And the polishes. Two duochromes, two more "normal" shades. The burgundy one is great, even if not groundbreaking. The first duochrome reminds me of Catrice's Iron Mermaiden (now discontinued) and the second one..well, I'm interested in that.

Don't you notice something? No powder, no blush, nothing. Apparently in the future there'll be no need for healty and radiant complexions, we will all be cyborgs. Or have biosculpted faces.

OPI Are We There Yet?

Gorgeous, isn't it? A pretty warm salmon shade with pink/golden and, under direct light, I'd swear green shimmers as well. Application was also good, nice coverage (almost an one coater) and formula.
I was afraid it might be similar too Essence's Queen of My Cloud Castle, but the Essence one is "pinker" and cooler, and only has pink shimmer, so, no dupes! A very nice summer shade, definitely recommended!

Vote: A

Corset Nails v2 and a gift from Argentina!

I redid my old corset nails! It went so much better than the other time... I used Essence's tip painter in black from the Tribal Summer LE. Those tip painters are damn useful, the design came out very precise this time.

My cousin went to Argentina for an art exhibition and brought me a nail polish! The shade is Are We There Yet?, a brick rose with gold/pink shimmer. I can't wait to try it! She said she chose it because it reminded her of the place (the color of the houses, and so on).

Orly Red Flare

I wanted to keep this for the beginning of the university lessons, especially since it's a serious, fall/winter color. But I could not resist, it's my first Orly after all!
I must say, there's a great difference from cheap Essence polishes. The formula is just great and has good coverage, almost an one coater. It's also very shiny.

The color is a bit darker irl, the bright daylight makes it look lighter. 
It requires, however, super smooth nails since it makes the nail "lines" very visible.
I'm very happy with this purchase, it's a beautiful shade of red with a retro, serious look.

Vote: A. If you're a person that wears mostly red and "adult" colors (no glittery, only nudes and dark colors...) you should consider purchasing this. I can't wait to see how long it lasts on my nails!

Kiko 372 is on my ring finger, and I'm going to use this as a base for nail art.

Colorful Nail Art

I wanted to do something inspired by this lovely palette, Heart Breaker...look at how pretty the colors are.

It didn't end as I wanted, and the top coat dryed quite badly.I like the pattern and the color combination but some carpentry jobs ruined my cuticles and the bad drying top coat made a bit of a mess, sigh.

Anyway, I used Essence L.O.L, Kiko 294, Catrice Play It Blue and H&M Purple Sparkle. Perhaps, one day I'll own that palette....

More Dark Heroine swatches

I have more Dark Heroine swatches for you! This time, I have all the Twinkle Eye Pencils right on my arm... and more.

 I kept the photo in an evening, natural light.

Twinkle Eye Pencils in Elastic Teal, Bewitched Periwinkle, Hypnotic Starry Black, Inspiring Golden Brown, Flexuous Burgundy, Desired Gold.

Elastic Teal is still my fave, but brown and burgundy are quite great too, the first one with gold microglitter and the second one with purple microglitter. It'a bit darker than an average burgundy, looks more like a cold brown. The black/gunmetal one is far too glittery for my taste, same for the blue one. The gold/champagne one is almost invisible on my skin, otherwise it would be cool. It seems it has white/silver microglitter.

Smoky Look Eyeshadow in Persuasive Sailor Blue and Harmonic Wine.

The blue one is nothing exceptional but the wine/burgundy one is really pretty.

Latex Like Lipstick in Plastic Red.

As its fellow, it's very promising.  Good texture and effect, it reminds me of Ruby Woo.


And that's all for now, folks!

P.s. Kiko produced new foundations as well and one of them, marked as Ivory, is exactly my skin color, this is a very heartwarming moment *_*

Back from the holidays..

I haven't had proper holidays in years, you know, the kind of days you spend visiting cities and monuments with friends trying to see a great number of things in a short time... so I ended up being pretty tired!
I still had time to buy a couple of polishes:

The Orly polish was on sale, and I always wanted to try that brand. The color is a bit darker irl.
The S-he polish is for my sister, but I'd still like to try it.
I will not do a full mani with Orly Red Flare right now, because I already have an idea for another nail art. Plus, Red Flare is a fall/winter color, imho.

A quick note

I'm leaving tomorrow and I'll be back friday (holidays yay!), see you when I'm back!

Kiko Dark Heroine first impressions and swatches

Dark Heroine has arrived. I don't have photos of the display, but you can find plenty of them online.

So, let's start with the swatches. I tried all the nail polishes and some other things. There were some surprises, definitely!

Laser Nail Lacquer in: Venom Teal, Strong Chocolate, Fluent Red, Psychedelic Blue, Sensual Candy, Gothic Purple.

Gothic Purple is very similar to Essence's Chic Reloaded, the others aren't anything special, except for Venom Teal, the other duochrome that goes from teal to violet/blue. Fluent Red and Psychedelic blue are very pigmented and could probably be one coaters.

Twinkle Eye Pencil in Elastic Teal (above the polishes).

I wasn't very impressed by those eye pencils on the website, but they're much better irl. The one I tried is of a beautiful teal with small blue glitter, and I have completely fallen in love with it. The glitters aren't exaggerate, and I bet they have a great effect once worn.

Smoky Look Eyeshadow in Heroic Brown and Inspiration Blue.

They're both pretty great, but I expected the blue one to be, well, lighter and brighter.
I made a comparison with the Sephora pencil in Azur Blue I own, and they're almost identical:

As you can guess, the Sephora one is the one on the right. I don't think I'll buy this eyeshadow right now, maybe when it goes on sale, since there's more product than the Sephora pencil, also considering the prices.

I also tried three lipstick. They're a bit smudgy now because of my watch...

Latex Like Lipstick in Pulpy Plum, Iconic Magenta (on the left), Glare Fuchsia (under Pulpy Plum).

As I was expecting, Pulpy Plum is gorgeous and I am probably going to buy it. Applying it was nice, and for once the name is well merited, it kinda feels like latex/plastic in a good way. Guaranteed to give you the perfect android lips!

I have no swatches of the eyeshadow palettes because the one I liked, the number 2, was a bit disappointing. TOO. MUCH. GLITTER. Maybe when it goes on sale... but certainly not now. The blushes seemed nice, and the highlighters have good pigmentation too.

Summary: Right now I'm interested in the teal eye pencil, the plum lipstick and the teal nail polish. They would look great together.

Kiko's new LE: Dark Heroine

Kiko released today the new fall LE, named Dark Heroine. Which has a whole cyberpunk/Blade Runner feel, hence the asian model I presum.
Urban settings, city lights and skyscrapers? Count me in.
My first impression is of genuine enthusiasm, if I have time I'm going to check if they have something this afternoon.

I can't wait to try the lipsticks (well, I'll try the plum, not this pink, either way look at the names, they're doing it right!)

And what about the nail polishes? I wonder about the finish... if they're available at Kiko I will do some swatches...


All the photos are taken from Kiko's website.

Are you excited as me for this LE?

(p.s. on facebook I've seen lots of complaints about the prices, honestly, they don't seem that high to me or higher than kiko's LE usual prices.)

Sleek Battle: Candy vs Lagoon

My lack of posts was due to not having worn anything new on my nails, since I went to the beach I preferred to keep it simple (Shaka Burlesque is the perfect summer polish).

I am working on a new nail art, but today I want to show you something else:

I recently bought the lovely Sleek Candy palette. I found it in Sephora, I was there for something else and then I saw it...it was the last one, I tried the tester, fell in love with the colors..

The packaging is cute as well!

Isn't it delicious? but we're here for a palette battle, so, here's a comparison between Candy and my other Sleek palette, Lagoon. I was afraid there might be dupes or identical shades...luckly, that's not the case.

Candy colors: first row from top to bottom: Flump, Pear Drop, Apple Sour, Parma Violet, Bon Bon, Strawberry Sherbet. Second row: Cream Soda, Mint Cream, Bubblegum, Aniseed, Blue Fizzle, Liquorice.
Lagoon colors: first row: Pink Jewel, Sand Dollar, Underworld, Sea Shell, Night Sky, Ariel. Second row: Sassea, Deep Water, Reflection, Emerald, Oyster, Black Pearl.

Both the palettes have a white and a black, unsurprisingly. Yet, the Lagoon white (Oyster), it's a creamy, ivory white, while the Candy white (Cream Soda) is more of a clean, classical white. Both are shimmery.
Lagoon's black, Black Pearl, is shimmery, while Candy's black, Liquorice, is matte.
As for the other colors, I say there can't be many dupe doubts: Lagoon's two matte violets, Night Sky and Deep Water, are darker and colder than Parma Violet and Flump. Parma Violet, the darker violet, is surprisingly warm.

I haven't had many chances to wear the Candy colors, since it's too hot to wear make up here (it's too hot to do anything, I wish i could just switch hemispheres when it's summer).
Both palettes are nice, I can't say I have a favourite, both have colors I love (Pear Drop, Ariel), but Candy probably has more colors I can use, since Night Sky and Deep Water don't look really nice on me, I can only use them as eyeliners. I can't wait to use those little palettes more, they're perfect for travel! I will bring Candy with me soon.

It would be hard to recommend just one of the palettes, because it depends a lot on the kind of makeup one's used to wear, you have many different options in both. Lagoon probably offers more "subtle eye" options, with Sand Dollar and Sea Shell. But considering how cheap they are, you can have both. I think those Sleek palettes are both great in terms of price and quality and are good pigmented, and offer a wide range of colors in a limited space.

Kiko Quick Dry Nail Lacquer 813 Pearly Brown

Not very summer-ish, but worth a swatch since they're new. It actually belongs to my sister, I borrowed it because I wanted to try this new range... if the quaility is good, I thought, I'll buy one for myself (the white with golden hues was nice).
First and foremost: no, it does not dry in 60 seconds. It's fast, but nothing new.
The color is a shimmery brown with olive and golden hues.

Why is it good:
-fast dry, if you care (I don't)
-Great brush! (slightly smaller than the "cat's paw" ones from the new Essence polishes)
-Nice color (and, overall, nice range of colors, better than the standard boring cremes)

Why is it bad:
-Not as fast as they promise
-Bad formula: very dense and streaky
-Nothing really new (with all the new trends, from the crystals to the furry nails to che chalkboard nails, this is all you could come up with?).
-Costs more and you get less product

Verdict: I really hope this doesn't replace Kiko's standard polish line, the formula is worse, but if you like the color, go for it. I've forgiven worse formulas (but they had something outstanding and unique, this does not.)