Eyelashes from KKCenterHK

A few months ago the lovely people from KKCenterHK sent me some false eyelashes to review. Unfortunately I appear to have lost my favourite eyelash glue (Duo surgical adhesive, the best stuff ever!) so I spent ages trying to find a suitable replacement because the stuff that comes with most eyelashes is just rubbish. Eventually I discovered that the glue that came with some pricier Eyelure lashes worked almost as well as Duo so I was able to finally use what I was sent!

KKCenterHK sell wigs, nail accessories and some clothing and makeup but seem to specialise in false eyelashes. They've got all sorts from natural to really wild and accessories such as adhesives and applicators as well. The site has a bit of an Engrish vibe but it seems comprehensible and easy to navigate to me. The prices are generally very cheap but more elaborate styles are of course pricier.

I was sent 'ES Natural Cross Short To Long Fake Lashes' which you can find by searching their item number which is 'A399'. These are criss-crossed medium-long length black lashes and cost $6.50 for a pack of 10 pairs of the lashes.

They arrived to me quite quickly after I was told they were despatched (probably a week and a half). They were packed in an ordinary brown envelope (not a bubblemailer) and the box did seem to have been a little bit bashed about when I recieved it.

 

But the lashes inside were completely unharmed so I guess it doesn't really matter :P

Inside the box you can see the 10 pairs of eyelashes. They are simply slotted into a piece of cardboard so there is little protection. However like I said, even with the box getting a bit squashed all the lashes were fine.

 

To keep them in place the lashes slot into the cardboard through little holes. They have extra little 'wings' on the sides of the base to allow this. Before you apply you have to snip these off. I also cut mine down just a little to fit my eyes better.

 

So for reference here is my eyes with just mascara. On one eye I have eyeliner and the other is bare to show how the eyelashes look with or without liner.  

And now with the lashes.

They look a lot better with the eyeliner on but I find that's true of all false eyelashes, especially as I'm not the best at applying them.

I absolutely love the look they give me. They're sort of natural-ish because they're quite thin and fluttery and the criss-cross shape seems more natural to me but they're so long and dark they're still really glamourous.

Compared to more expensive lashes... well to be honest I didn't see any difference. They were no better but no worse. I found them difficult to apply but I find ALL false eyelashes difficult to apply. Oh and considering the price I actually think they're really good in terms of quality. Because I am so rubbish at putting them on I probably used one pair at least 6 times before I got them on well enough to leave them alone. Despite this and not being the gentlest person with my handling of them, they are still absolutely fine, I could wear them again with no problems. For about 40p a pair I think they're pretty wonderful to be honest!  Perhaps with more elaborate lashes there would be a difference in quality between cheap lashes from sites like this and pricier products but for simple lash styles like these they seem pretty much the same as brand name lashes. The only difference I can see is the less glamourous and protective packaging, lack of free adhesive and the fact you have to cut a tiny bit off them before you wear. It's actually quite difficult to review false eyelashes because... well they all seem pretty much the same to me! The fact it got bashed in the post and had little in the way of protection might be a bit of a problem though. While my lashes were fine other items might not be so lucky.

I would definately recommend this site if you were looking for false eyelashes. I could imagine it would be great for makeup artists because you get so many pairs for so little money you could dispose of a pair with no worries about cost, so that would be good for hygiene reasons. Wearing these has made me determined to teach myself to properly apply and wear false eyelashes again (I used to be a lot better at it but am out of practice) because I loved the way they looked on me. I'd be interested to try some different products from the site.

*I recieved these in exchange for a review but all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Sugarpill Cosmetics Review

I've been a fan of Shrinkle's for a long time, i own several items from her clothing line, and have always enjoyed reading her blog posts because she seems like a genuine, fun loving, sweet girl. She introduced me to Kryolan makeup and I always giggle at her blog posts detailing her love for Ron Perlman and grow lustful at the photos of amazing food she often posts (and yet remains so trim, damn you Amy!) and i've really liked her bright, colourful style and tranny/clubkid/80s rainbow brite girl makeup. So when i heard she was working on her own makeup line i was obviously really excited. I was sure that Amy would be taking the Kryolan she sells as her inspiration and creating something even more bright and beautiful.
And i was not disappointed.

I've got the world's biggest sweet tooth

And here to satisfy my candy cravings is Sugarpill cosmetics!
...Ok that was hella cheesey :P

http://www.sugarpillshop.com/

Yesterday me and Claire's order from Sugarpill arrived (we often buy makeup together so we can get twice as much but pay half each :P) and we were so, so excited i just had to show you as soon as possible. I wore the shadows yesterday (no picture because i did my makeup in a huge rush and it wasn't a very good look, but i did a video so you can see the shadows on me when it's up on youtube :)) and they were fantastic, so so bright and easy to apply and they lasted at least 10 hours without creasing or fading. However as i've only used it the once i don't want to write a proper review yet, but wanted to show you the amazing packaging and colours and give you my first impressions.

We made our order around the 13th of feb, which was a pre-order time, so orders didn't start getting shipped for a while, but as our parcel arrived yesterday it took less than 2 weeks from ordering for it to arrive anyway :) And here is the parcel:

(flap of paper is to cover up our address :P)
Cute huh?
Inside everyting is wrapped in pink tissue paper and arranged beautifully:

Can you see how wonderfully everything fitted together? I don't know if it's a coincidence or on purpose, but all the products slotted together perfectly, so they couldn't move around during shipping. Also there was no waste of a box too big for the products (i'm talking to you here Mac!).

Our order came with some gorgeous free stickers, an invoice with personal note and Amy was amazingly generous and gave us a free full size shadow! :O Claire was really happy because Amy's note mentioned a necklace she bought from Claire once i her note. It's little things like this that make a big difference.



Here is our invoice with our lovely glittery free Sugarpill Stickers (Claire is thinking of putting one on a scratch on her laptop), some business cards and the thank you note.

We picked up all of the pressed eyeshadows, 3 of the loose shadows (+ our free 'sample', a free full size pot of loose shadow) and a pair of her eyelashes. Shiping is free anywhere in the world on orders over $75 and at the time we ordered there was a 15% off sale. Our order came to $105 in total (we paid half each). All the single shadows are $12, the eyelashes are $8 and the eyeshadow palettes are $34.
Just to say incase you're confused, Sugarpill is neither a home-made makeup company, nor repackaged private label cosmetics, it's instead a 'small lab production' meaning that Amy has given her instructions and overseas production on small runs, nstead of owning her own factory like a big makeup company or just putting her own labels on a pre-made product. for more info see Grey's fabulous reviews here http://legothique.com/2010/02/19/sugarpill-a-review/ and here: http://legothique.com/2010/02/23/sugarpill-follow-up/ she knows a lot more about this sort of thing than i do.

Now onto the packaging, which is absolutely stunning. Each product comes in an absolutely gorgeous box, and then the product themselves are in gorgeous custom jars and compacts. And this packaging is really high quality too, the cardboard palettes are really heavy duty, the plastic jars are thick and the logos are printed on, not just stickers.

Firstly the eyelashes



Hee hee!


Nice instructions.


The lashes themselves. These are the 'Dewdrop kisses' lashes and have beautiful little crystals on the hairs. Sugarpill stock another pair of lashes too, a more regular cat-eye pair.

Next the pressed eyeshadows. We bought 2 of the palettes which contain 4 shadows each but cost $34 instead of $48 (single shadows are $12 each) so you're effectively getting a free shadow and $4 off :) Sugarpill offer 9 pressed shadows and the two palettes we got, Sweetheart and Burning heart, had 8 of them!


front of the box


back of the box


Front of the actual palette


back of the palette.


And all the shadows together.
Palette on left is Sweetheart with Dollipop (pink), Afterparty (blue), Midori (green) and Tako (white). Palette on the right is Burning Heart with Flamepoint (orange), Buttercupcake (Yellow), Love + (red) and Poison Plum (purple).

We decided we had to have the last pressed eyeshadow, Bulletproof, which is a matte black. Here is the packaging this came in.


box front


box back


top of the eyeshadow


back of the eyeshadow.

There is another palette, Cold heart which includes bulletproof, Tako, Poison Plum and Afterparty.

Now the Chromalust loose shadows. We bought Asylum, Tiara and Goldilux and we recieved Magpie for free! These jars are BIG for $12. Seriously you don't get a 5 gram jar of shadow, you get 5 grams of shadow!


Here is the Chromalust next to one of my Evil Shades glosses, which is in a 5g jar.


front of box.


Back of box.


The lid of the jar.


The bottom of the jar.


Asylum, Goldilux, Tiara, Magpie.


And finally, the gorgeous swatches!


Top row: Tako, Midori, Dollypop, Afterparty, Magpie, Asylum
Bottom row: Bulletproof, Buttercupcake, Flamepoint, Love+, Tiara, Goldilux.

So i'm going to go and have a big play with these for a while, really test out the formula and i'll be sure to tell you how i get on :)
What do you guys think of it?