Hi lovelies! I’ve had chance to pick up a few beauty bits since I’ve been back and I'm here with a review. Most of my beauty purchases in Kenya tend to be on impulse. I occasionally pop into a Super Cosmetics or into Our Price next to Jamia Mall (speaking of which, can somebody tell me what’s happened to Our Price, it’s closed!!) to have a proper browse, but that’s maybe once or twice a month.
The first two goodies I picked up were from Suzie Beauty. I’ve been monitoring the Suzie Beauty line while I’ve been away and I’ve been dying to get my hands on this Kenyan brand! I made a dedicated stop at my nearest stockist (find your local stockist HERE) to check out the products. I tested out the foundations (although I couldn’t find a colour match, SB do promise to release two more shades in September, so fingers crossed I come up lucky), lipsticks, eye shadows and make up brushes.
After a lot of uhm-ing and ah-ing over the eyes
shadow shades, I opted for the colour ‘Usi’. Usi is a highly pigmented blue-black
matte shadow, with tiny multi-coloured shimmers running through it. But as you
can see from the picture, it’s really not a shimmer/metallic shadow per se –
the shimmery flecks are so tiny, they act as almost to deepen the colour and
give some depth to the solid matte look. You only really see the shimmer quite
close up and when moving in the light.
Once you get a closer look of the Usi on the
skin, you really do appreciate the beauty of its colour. The left swatch shows
the shadow alone and the right shows the shadow on a base of white kohl, which really intensifies its blue tone.
A tiny bit of this really does go a long way! I
used Usi to create a subtle daytime smoky eye earlier
this week and it lasted all day. Usi retails at KES 800, which is fairly
reasonable considering the wear you get from it. The only downer for me is the
packaging – the lid is made out of a very thin, lightweight plastic, which
makes a horrible sound when you tap against it, and the coppery finish is
likely to get scuffed after a few trips in your make up bag. Overall though, I
love this eye shadow goes on and it blends really easily – I can see it
becoming a staple product in my collection.
I also managed to get my hands on an ‘E4’ eye
shadow contour brush from the SB collection. Since getting back into my eye
shadow wearing phase over the past few months, I’ve been on the hunt for more
shadow brushes to add to my collection and this one does not disappoint! E4 is
a medium-sized brush with a domed head made up of synthetic fibres. The fibres
are super-soft and are densely packed enough to pick up just the right amount
of product. This worked really well to blend colours into the crease of my
eyelid.
The E4 brush retails at KES 900 and was worth every Shilling. Yes, it’s on the
higher side of brushes you can pick up in the Kenyan market, but I really can’t
stress enough how much a good brush will do wonders for your look. I’m pretty sure I'll be back to an SB stand soon to check out what other brushes are on offer!
I’m a sucker for a pretty
nail polish and while in the supermarket this past week I picked up two new
nail polish shades. Nakumatt’s merchandising department really has their game
together; those polish stands at the till while you queue? EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
First was a jade green Golden Rose polish in
Shade 151. I’ve really tried to capture the depth of this colour for you, but
honestly, the pictures don’t do it justice. It reminds me of a precious stone. Formula-wise
it’s fairly watery, as most Golden Rose polishes are, and as such you have to
be careful when you’re applying it to get even coverage. But once you do, its
beautiful. These retail at KES 299.
Second was a black semi-frost Luron Polish in
Shade 22 from their Tips and Toes collection. I say semi, because it’s not that
noticeable. I’m not a fan of frost polishes in general, but this one works! Check it out in my daisy nail art below. Luron polishes are remarkably cheap for their quality – KES 110 – and carry a
brilliant range of colours and finishes. This colour was opaque in two coats.
If you’re after a standard black polish, this is a safe bet.
The last goodie I picked up in Nakumatt was a Sleek lipstick in ‘Vamp’, from their True Colour Lipstick range. Vamp is a deep cherry red matte lipstick. It seems like the Sleek boffins have been in the lab and revisited their matte formula. For those of you that are familiar with Sleek products, their original matte was super chalky and oh so hard to apply evenly. The new formula applies like a DREAM! As with all matte lipsticks, make sure you exfoliate your lips well and apply a little bit of lip moisturiser (I live for Vaseline Lip Therapy in Cocoa Butter) before slicking on some lippy.
Vamp retails at KES 895 in Nakumatt. I haven’t
worn this out yet, so can’t comment on its wearability – but if it’s anything
like other Sleek lipsticks I have, you’ll get a good few hours out of it.
Have you tried out any of the products above?
What’s your take? Any products that I should check out?
-
Olivia
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