Aikosmetics Rose Gold Brush Set

Complete Brush Set Review!

About a month ago, thanks to a Instagram competition, I was contacted by 

Claudejyne the founder of the luxurious beauty brand - Aikosmetics 

I had won a complete set of their beautiful Rose Gold Makeup Brushes!

I was so grateful & beyond excited to try these!

♥

The full set has 6 synthetic Face & 5 natural-hair Eye brushes
All with pale pink handles & rose gold ferrules, 
"..these brushes ensure you can achieve the best makeup application possible"

www.aikosmetics.com

Only a week after contacting me, this pretty pink box arrived

 to my house in NZ, all the way from UK!

I've spent some time using each of the brushes, cleaning & using them again to test the quality..

They are super soft, feel lovely on the skin & look beautiful

I have one problem & that's with the white bristle brushes in this set..

All four shed every time I use them!

Face Brushes

Lasting Perfection Powder Brush - Fluffy Finishing Powder Brush. Dense & perfect for applying setting powder & mattifying specific areas without caking up or moving other products on the face 

Radiant Complexion Buffer -  Round Top Buffer is great for applying foundation to achieve a naturally flawless coverage. I like to use it for buffing/blending out cream products; contour or blush

Angled Blush Brush - For soft blush/bronzer application, this brush picks up the perfect amount of pigmented powder! Also works really well for contouring & softly blending that cheekbone shape! Sadly it sheds the hairs every time I use it or wash it..but that doesn't affect the finish 

Flawless Finish Flat Top - Achieve a flawless finish with this foundation brush. The short dense bristles build up the liquid to a full flawless coverage without wasting & soaking up all the product!

Skin Luminosity Highlight - Perfect size & shape to blend highlight product to the cheekbones to create radiant glowing skin! This brush sheds also..

Eye Brushes

Imperfection Concealer Brush - Blend concealer onto smaller areas of the face to hide imperfections. Can also be used for defined contouring. I prefer to use it like an angled eyeshadow brush though!

Colour Precision Flat Brush - Apply eyeshadow base & shimmer all over the lid. I personally think it's to dense to pack on colour, it's better when used wet with shimmers

Beautiful Eyes Blending Brush - A fluffy eyeshadow brush that blends out harsh lines for a flawless eye look & good for applying transition shades. This is my fave! but it sheds while blending :/

Eye Contour Brush - This tapered eyeshadow brush blends eyeshadow into the crease seamlessly!

Smokey Eyes Pointed Brush - A pointed dome eyeshadow brush used for precise colour application. Apply a darker eyeshadow to the outer V for a smokey finish.

Perfect Brows Angled Brush - Used to create perfect brows or apply liner flawlessly. I love using this for my brows with a pomade, it's quite thin but easily makes fine hair-like strokes in brows.

I really love these brushes! 

They're beautiful pink & rose gold, soft & each one do what they're described to do!

The only downfall is the white bristle brushes shedding..

They are £59.99 (approx $140 nzd)

They ship worldwide! - prices will vary for country & weight of item,

Once shipped, they arrive super quickly in a pretty pink box!

You can purchase each brush individually on their website also ;)

LucyLoves! xx

ChiChi Cosmetics Brow Pomade Review

Possible Dupe for ABH Dipbrow?? 

Recently ChiChi Cosmetics added a new product to their line,

ChiChi Brow Pomade

"Waterproof, smudge free creamy formula that's an all-in-one brow product,

Smoothly glides onto skin & hair to sculpt, colour & shape natural defined brows"

Available in 6 hair shades - Blonde, Taupe, Soft Brown, Medium Brown, 

Dark Brown & Black Brown. All neutral toned to perfectly match real hair.

These are available in NZ from Farmers for $20.99 nzd

or Australia from Target, Priceline or online for $14.99 aud

♥

Could this product be a great affordable dupe for Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow?

I've got application & colour (Taupe) comparisons below!

www.chichicosmetics.com

Just like the ABH Dipbrow, the Chichi packaging is a solid glass pot with 

a black twist on lid & brand logo on top.

They appear the same size, but ABH contains 4g of product, the ChiChi only has 2g.

I've had my Dipbrow for just over a year now & still have a fair amount left, 

it has dried out slightly compared to the consistency when I first used it.

I found the ChiChi pomade to be very creamy which makes it easy 

to apply & a little goes a long way!

Application Tips: 

Because this is a cream product, it's easy to pick up more then you need with your brush, 

swipe most of the product from your brush on the inside of the lid & then apply to brows, 

reapplying as you need to get the desired effect

this also helps to avoid the thick, blocky brow look, less is more!

I find it easiest to use a angled liner brush with stiff bristles for control 

& a spoolie on the other end to brush them into shape & soften the product where it needs it.

Before & After - ChiChi Brow Pomade

It's super long lasting & it is waterproof! It needs a good scrubbing to remove!

Once dry, it's smudge free & doesn't move! Very much like ABH Dipbrow

I chose the colour TAUPE - a light, ashy "mousey brown" shade & matches my brows perfectly!

There's no warmth in it, it's cool toned & very natural looking.

L - ABH Taupe. R - ChiChi Taupe

Next to each other, they're basically identical 

I'm very happy with the colour & how close it is to my Dipbrow Taupe.

I decided to try one side with ABH Dipbrow & the other with ChiChi pomade

I used the same technique & angled brush for both..

I did achieve a better finish with ABH but I guess that's what you're paying for,

I don't know if it's because my Dipbrow has dried out slightly..?

I'm still super happy with the finish I get with the ChiChi pomade as a cheaper alternative!

Before & After - Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow 

Before & After - ChiChi Cosmetics Pomade



LucyLoves! xx

NARS One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette Review

Swatches & Palette Review

NARS Cosmetics have collaborated with Artistic Photographer,
Steven Klein for their Fantascene Holiday collection this year!
The Collection includes a couple of Cheek palettes, Lip sets, a Brush set & new 
Limited Edition Eyeshadows, Lipsticks & Nail colours all packaged beautifully, 
adorned with Stevens creative yet unusual work 

♥
Because of the colours & amazing value, I decided to pick up the
 One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette
$69us Exclusive at Sephora ($165 Value!)

www.sephora.com/NARS

Let me talk about the reason I got this palette & why I think everyone else needs one!

I haven't tried many NARS products before, just their Foundations,

& I've always been interested in trying the cult fave Laguna Bronzer!

The bronzer alone is $39us for 0.28oz 

This palette contains 0.29oz of Laguna bronzer!

That's approx $40.39 worth of Bronzer

Each NARS individual Blush costs $30 for 0.16oz

This palette contains four 0.12oz Blushes, two of which are limited edition & exclusive to this palette

That's about $22.50 each, making it $90 worth of Blush

And the Paloma Contour duo is originally $42 for 0.28oz

This palette contains 0.12oz of each contour shade

Approx $18 each, so $36 total contour value 

Overall this palette is worth $166us*

♥

This palette is the perfect way to try out new colours & more NARS products 

without breaking the bank! It would also make an amazing gift!

Plus the value makes this palette a must have for any beauty lover!

The only downfall is it's not designed to suit everyone, mainly fair to medium skin tones. 

Paloma Highlight - A matte flesh pink beige highlight shade
Paloma Contour - A deep neutral toned contour shade
Laguna Bronzer - A warm toned luminous bronzer
Robotic - A cool toned pink with a natural sheen finish
Blasphemy - A cool toned rosy mauve with micro shimmers
Luster - A tanned apricot with golden shimmer
Dolce Vita - A dusty plum rose with golden shimmer




The blushes are all great quality & nicely pigmented. I personally don't like blushes with strong pigmentation, I find it easier to build up the product to your desired intensity then to try soften it by buffing it out. The Paloma Contour gives a very nice natural shadow, it looks slightly red toned in the pan but blends in beautifully & the Paloma Highlight makes a nice undereye setting powder, brightens but not too highlighting. And the Laguna Bronzer is a really nice bronzer to warm up the skin & give it a natural glow, I've seen people use it for contour also & it's actually not too shimmery for that & works quite well. But as I mentioned above, the shades are not useful for deep skin tones & only really show up on Fair to Medium skin. But realistically it's impossible to please everyone with one palette.

NARS also have the Despair Cheek Palette with four 0.12oz Blushes & a mini ITA Brush available for $65us, but for $5 more you get the Contour & Bronzer shades too!!
This is an aaaamazing value! Get your hands on one quickly!
Exclusive at Sephora








The front design on the palette

LucyLoves! xx