Beauty : Kylie Cosmetics - Is it worth the hype?!

I have been debating writing this post for the past couple of months. I have had such an up and down experience with ordering from Kylie Cosmetics and thought that it was about time I sat and wrote about it all. First of all I want to say the obvious, I am in no way affiliated with Kylie Cosmetics and all opinions in this post are very much my own. I just wanted to let others know a couple of things I wish I knew before placing orders. I also see questions being asked on Twitter about ordering online to the UK, and the uncertainty of the delivery/custom charges, so thought I would include some of this information in the post as well. (I'm not trying to sound like an expert but wanted to write about my own experience, as well as following up on my first impression product reviews.) 

I placed my first order with Kylie Cosmetics in January 2016. Back then Kylie had only released her famous lip kits and this was the first restock after she had sold out. I believe she only had three colours on sale, Dolce K, True Brown K and Candy K. My brother's girlfriend Emma and I had made up our minds what we wanted as soon as we figured out the release date, (everything was more secret then. It took a lot of hunting on Instagram, and following lots of people with the Kylie App to find out the specific date and time). 

I knew from the get go that I wanted to try Candy K, I thought it would look best against my skin tone and when looking at swatches on Kylie's Instagram thought it was the 'safest' option for me to get. Not being able to actually swatch anything in person is quite a big downside to ordering, so I knew I wanted to choose something that I would be able to possibly wear and wasn't too risky for me. Emma wanted Dolce K, so as soon as the products went live on the website we placed an order together. Ordering with a friend is something that I would recommend doing. The shipping costs are quite pricey at $14 which works out as being roughly £9. So with the price of lip kits being $29.00/£23.00 and then the added delivery charge on top, it can soon add up to being very expensive to order in to the UK. Once the order has been placed the long wait for the products to arrive begins. (If your wondering about placing an order in dollars then don't worry! The whole order I placed in January 2016 came to about £50 so it works out as being more affordable and easy to place than you think.) 

Since ordering back in January 2016, to my most recent order in October 2016, the delivery times have become much quicker and a lot more smoother. In January it took almost 4 weeks for the Lip Kits to arrive, whereas in October it only took 2 weeks. 

So let's talk customs... Ahh custom charge's. What a wonderful thing to have to pay on top of everything else. It still frustrates me that a company as big as Kylie Cosmetics are still unable to cover this charge within their postage, but I guess that's a completely different story. From what I can gather online, and from my own experiences, the custom charge can depend completely on what you order to whether its your lucky day. I say this, because out of the 4 orders I have placed with Kylie Cosmetics, I have only had to pay custom charges on 2 of them. Some people say that it's to do with the price, but every order I have placed always came to the same amount so not sure how true that is. 

The only time that I have been really reluctant to pay customs charges was when ordering the lip glosses for the first time. I was one of the unlucky orders that were given a completely mucked up wand (which still makes me laugh when I see it). The great thing about Kylie Cosmetics replacing the glosses was I would actually be able to use the product that I had paid for, however this free replacement came at a price. A £12 custom charge which was rather frustrating seeing as this wasn't something that I had wanted to order in the first place. When messaging the Kylie Cosmetics team I received lots of rude replies of 'If you don't want it then leave it in the post office', and my favourite comment, 'Don't be so ungrateful'. Not exactly the response I thought I would be receiving!

So the lip kits themselves have had some great and negative comments about them online. I have written a review on each product individually on my blog in the past when I first got them which you can read here, here and here. Most of my opinions on the kits are the same, although a few of them have changed. It's safe to say that Candy K is still my most worn and favourite Lip Kit that I own, although it is more of a favourite in the summer than in the winter. I actually restocked Candy K in October as I was running out and didn't want to not have it! I feel the same way about Maliboo. The shades are quite similar and they both feel really comfortable when being worn. Kylie has really perfected her 'nude' colour tones, and they really are worth ordering. 

I can't say the same for all of the other colours though. I'm not sure if the formula is different for the Lip Kit's depending on the colour, but they just don't apply the same at all. I am probably the most disappointed with Posie K. I bought this shade with hopes that the pink tone would look gorgeous with a neutral eye look, which it would if it was comfortable to wear! I have tried so many different things with the hopes in making it work. I have used the Lush lip scrub, which I never have to do with Maliboo or Candy K, in hopes of making the product apply smoothly but it just never seems to sit nicely on my lips and is quite uncomfortable to wear. It also comes off really flakey in the corners of my mouth as well as where the lip liner is. 

Another disappointment is the Like Lipgloss. I know that lip glosses aren't everybody's cup of tea. I always found them a hit and miss when trying them in the past, but after watching the promo video wanted to give this one a little try. The shade is gorgeous and it's comparable to Candy K in terms of colour pay off. When I first got this product, and was able to use the new wand, I really liked it. It would last all day and I used it a lot on my recent trip to America in the evenings. However, after using it for a couple of months the product has just gone so sticky. The smell of the gloss has also changed since first trying it out too. The sweet scent smells less like vanilla and more sickly, as well as it also tasting awful when applying it, which makes me not want to wear it. So I am gutted about that. 

Now onto some swatches...

Like Lipgloss

Like Lipgloss

Posie K Lip Kit

Posie K Lipkit

Posie K Lip Kit, when washed off with a makeup remover. 

Candy K Lip Kit

Candy K Lip Kit

Candy K Lip Kit, when washed off with a makeup remover

Maliboo Lip Kit

Maliboo Lip Kit

Maliboo Lip Kit, when washed off with makeup remover

So what are my final thoughts...

My final thoughts on the Kylie Cosmetic products are generally positive. It's very rare that you like every product from a range so there were bound to be some hit and misses along the way. Candy K is probably always going to be my favourite shade out of the collection, but the other Lip Kit disappointments won't stop me from wanting to try more. It's very easy to judge the brand, but the products are great quality. A lot of the issues happened at the beginning, and the expansion of the different lines are amazing. The custom charges is still something that I think needs improving, although not sure how they would be able to do this. The idea of Kylie creating her own stores is something that would be a great addition, although not something that would probably come to the UK anytime soon. (Although I'm hoping she stocks her products in places like Debenhams or Boots!) 

Next, I really want to try some of the palettes. I have my eyes on the Peach palette first, although the Bronzed one also looks gorgeous! (If anyone has any reviews on these then please send them my way). 

I hope you enjoyed this very different style of post from me. Like I said it's something that I have wanted to write for such a long time. Hopefully it helped you out if your thinking of purchasing from the Kylie Cosmetics store! 

Until next time,

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