Kevyn Aucoin Lip & Cheek Palette – The Corals

Kevyn Aucoin is a brand that I have heard an awful lot about but had never actually tried any of the products so when I spotted this palette reduced from £44 to £22 on the Space NK site just after Christmas (why yes, I am spectacularly late reviewing this. What of it?!) I snapped it up. This is now showing as out of stock on the Space NK site but you may be able to find it elsewhere with a bit of googling so I’m reviewing it anyway.

Firstly I adore the packaging. Slim, sturdy and cool to the touch it is both practical with its good quality mirror and included lip brush whilst looking sleek and expensive.  The gold coloured clasp snaps shut securely so I have no problems throwing this in my handbag.  The underside of the palette clearly labels which pans are lipgloss, lipstick and cream blush. You get 3.3g in the three lipgloss pans, 3.2gm in the cream blush and 1.2g in the lipstick. Sometimes the brushes you get in palettes aren’t worth the plastic they’re made of but this is actually a fab little brush. I will keep it long after the palette has run out.

The three pans on the left of the picture are lipgloss. Whilst I like the texture, they feel creamy rather than sticky like a traditional gloss, I’m not wowed by the colours. These are sheer and tend to add just a hint of shine with a very, very slight shimmer (almost undetectable) rather than imparting much colour on my pigmented lips. They last for a couple of hours on my lips so pretty average for lipgloss on me.

The cream blush swatches beautifully doesn’t it? A light true peach that just screams spring to me. Sadly it doesn’t show up on my face quite as well as I would like, which really is saying something on my pale skin, I also find that this fades rather quickly on me and has disappeared completely by the end of a work day. It does work as a base for powder blush but I’m not really into layering my blush.

The lipstick is by far my favourite product in this palette. A creamy peach shade that works as a nude for me. The staying power isn’t fantastic and the creamy texture does slide around a little on the lips so this is definitely best worn with a lip liner underneath and I just find the colour gorgeous!

Overall I do like the palette but I’m not in love with it and I’m certainly glad I didn’t pay full price for it. As an introduction to the brand I’m not wowed. Have you tried anything from the Kevyn Aucoin line? What products do you suggest I try out? Anything to avoid?