Kiko Life in Rio Summer Collection

Here we have, quite possibly, my most favourite Kiko launch to date; Kiko Life in Rio is a beautiful, summery collection of wearable brights and easy nudes that all work together allowing you to find a look that you like.

I am so impressed with these releases and a few of them are already being put to use on a daily basis! Here’s a closer look at the collection:

The Tropical Heat Waterproof Eyeliners are available in six shades and priced at £7.90 each and the two shades I have are 01 (light gold) and 05 (medium purple) both of which are shimmery and highly pigmented.

I haven’t tried these yet but I love both shades and even though the purple isn’t something I’d normally go for, it’s such a pretty shade that I can see myself giving it a whirl.

Next up are the Creamy Touch Eyeshadow Duos which are my favourites from the collection.  They’re dual-ended pencils with complimentary colours of the creamiest shadow I have ever come across in my life at each end.  They produce the most astoundingly smooth finish that’s easy to blend and work around which you have a few minutes to do before it settles into place.  The two shades I have are 104 (matte mid pink and light sparkly pink) and 101 (matte, light beige and matte dark brown).

I’m not sure I could pull of 104 as pink shades tend to make me look rather knackered, but 101 is phenomenal; I use the lighter shade all over the eye and the darker shade worked into the lashline which gives brilliant and very natural definition.  There are six shades of these available and they are £9.90 each.

The Essential Bronzer and Sun Lovers Blush are the usual fabulous shades you get with every Kiko collection.  These are trusty staples rather than products to get excited about, but the design is fun and you get plenty for your buck.

The Essential Bronzers are £16.90 each and available in two shades and the Sun Lovers Blush are £14.90 and available in four shades. The shade I have in the bronzer is Warm Melange – 200, and the blusher is Atlantic Camellia – 04.  In the swatches the left swatch is the bronzer, the middle two are the individual blush shades and the far right is the blusher shades all merged together.  The final effect of the blusher reminds me of Bobbi Brown’s Antigua and would be a great choice for paler types who are prone to going red in the sun, as this shade will work naturally with that!

The Exotic Shine Lipsticks are my second favourite from the launch due to the fab shades and gorgeous formula.  The shades I have are 01 and 03 with the beautiful muted pink shade of 01 being my absolute favourite and fab to wear with the brown shades from the Creamy Touch Eyeshadow Duos.

The formula is moisturising and buildable and I can see these being very popular.  There are six shades in total and each costs £8.50.

The Sun Show Nail Lacquers are fantastically vibrant shades shot through with heavy shimmer making them a really easy way to embrace the colourful Rio look.  There are ten shades in total and I have 469 and 473.  473 is the purple shade that I’ll definitely be using for my next manicure as it’s just soooo pretty!

I’ve seen swatches of some of the other shades and they really are fab, so definitely worth checking out for £5.90 a pop.

The Life in Rio Face Brush is a multi-use brush that I think would be best suited to contouring with either powder or cream products.  I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I do love Kiko brushes so I’ll report back with how I get on once I’ve had a play.  It’s £16.90.

The other products in the Life in Rio range Sunproof Cream Foundations (£14.90, 3 shades), Sunproof Powder Foundations (£14.90, 3 shades) Sunproof BB Cream (£9.90, four shades) and the Shimmering Body Oil (£12.90, 2 shades).  As you can see, it’s another mega collection that launches this month (April 2014) and if I had to pick one thing that embodies the collection, I’d go for the nail shades.  However, the creamy shadow duos and new lipsticks are gorgeous too, so have a good nose through it when it lands as there are a few gems to be found.

*PR Samples