Last week we had a little look at the Kiko Less is Better collection, which was the first collaboration to celebrate 20 years of Kiko. Now we have the second one, Kiko Tropic Heat, which is designed by Leitmotiv and in inspired by the “freshness and colours of the Spring and Summer collections,” result in an edit that’s bright, juicy and full of colour.
Kiko Less is Better contains mostly buttery, creamy textures designed to add gentle colour here and there, alongside a pop of colour on the eyes and nails and luminosity on the skin. It’s the sort of collection you might put together to take away on a beach holiday, with nothing especially high maintenance or OTT. A perfect example of this is the Tropic Heat Dewy Stick (£7.90) which, as the name suggests, as a dewiness to skin and is an easy way to add a bit of light and life to the face. The Tropic Heat Lips & Cheeks (£7.90) comes in three shades and is a big fat stick of buttery colour that works on lips or cheeks, although it performs much better on the former. I have Sweety Mauve and it is a total stunner for barely there lips.
Rather unusually, they’ve included a setting spray in the collection (Tropic Heat Primer & Fixer, £7.90) which comes in three flavours. I can’t vouch for whether these help keep make-up in place, but they do settle make-up so it’s a little more lived-in, and my one – Red Fruits – smells absolutely yummy. There are three bright and beautiful shades of Tropic Heat Nail Lacquer (£3.90, pictured is Tropical Strawberry) plus a fantastically bright and beautiful Tropic Heat Face Brush for £10.90.
The brightest elements of the collection comes courtesy of the Tropic Heat Eye Markers (£5.90) which come in four shades: Freshness White, Healthy Green, Vitality Sky Blue and Black, each of which are £5.90. Finally the Tropic Heat Highlighters (£6.90) are potted highlighters available in two shades Natural Gold (pictured) and Active Peach.
It’s interesting that they’ve included two types of highlighters in such a small collection, but I think it proves just how strong the focus is on gleaming, glowing skin as a base for the rest of the creamy textures to sit upon. The Dewy Stick adds a more dewy, natural finish, whilst the Tropic Heat Highlighter is a little more crisp and defined, whilst still staying wearable and natural. My favourite item in the edit is the Tropic Heat Lips & Cheeks as not only is it a really pretty shade (and the other two appear to be equally lovely), it’s also the perfect Summer product as it feels lovely on the lips and fits into most make-up looks.
If anything is going to to persuade me to try blue eyeliner, it’s a Kiko collection, and I’m surprised by how wearable this liner is; mostly thanks to how well designed it is, which allows a tight application that gives a subtle flash of colour. I really like this liner and I found it very easy to use, so I might track down the black shade for everyday wear. The full collection is available now and can be found here – link.
*PR Samples
