If you’ve been through a Walmart within the last year while on a quest for new beauty, you’ve probably seen the striking black and white packaging of Kokie Cosmetics. They’re a Maryland-born brand that’s cruelty-free and takes inspiration from the world of Korean beauty, aka k-beauty. (“Kokie” is derived from the Korean word for elephant!)
Kokie offers an entire face-full of makeup and beauty products. Their line includes everything you need for a makeup base, including color correctors, setting sprays, and foundation boosters. Brows are also fully covered with multiple products, and the lipsticks options are as abundant as their nail care line.
For being a rather new line, the amount of products that they have is pretty impressive. This is a fully realized beauty line and includes several wish-list-worthy eyeshadow palettes as well as some more innovative products that set them apart from your standard drugstore makeup brand.
Clockwise, L-R: Artist Palette in Peachy Queen ($12.99), Eyeshadow Palette in Rainbow Riot ($9.99), Eyeshadow Palette in Act Neutral ($9.99), Artist Palette in Treasured ($12.99)
They have two types of eyeshadow palette: the 9-pan palette, simply called Eyeshadow Palette, has eight variations and include matte, shimmer, and metallic shadows, and the 12-pan palette, the Artist Eyeshadow Palette, comes in four variations, each with their own theme and luxurious packaging. From the reviews I’ve seen, these are both great palettes, with the Artist palette edging out the basic one by a small margin. The shadows are very pigmented and often need to be tapped before applying so you don’t get loads of fallout on your cheeks. I love the color combinations in the palettes, and the Peachy Queen palette definitely belongs on our list of Modern Renaissance dupes!
When it comes to lip products, Kokie is overflowing with options. They have over 30 shades of their Kissable Liquid Lipstick ($5.99), 25 shades of their basic Matte Lipstick ($5.99), and 14 shades of their Lip Veneer Cream Lip Gloss ($5.99)… but the real show-stopper of the Kokie Cosmetics lip line is the Liquid Lip Poudre ($7.49), aka lip powders. While these aren’t transfer-proof, the consistency is super comfortable and the color is long-lasting and vibrant.
As for your complexion, Kokie wants really really a lot to be the only brand you need when you put your makeup on every day. Primer sprays, foundations, concealers, color correctors, cushions, contour palettes, blush compacts, highlighter sticks… They have everything you could ever want, and the foundations have a pretty impressive 18 shade range.
The concealers, on the other hand, need some help in the shade range department. There are two formulas, which is cool, but the Be Bright Liquid Concealer ($7.99) has only seven shades and the Liquid Cushion Concealer ($10) has only five. Aaaand they’re almost all light shades. Womp womp.
The non-pigmented complexion products are totally intriguing, however. Kokie has several setting sprays and primers, and has also put energy into complexion modifiers like mattifying or dewy foundation mix-ins.
In addition to the facial beauty products, Kokie also has highly reviewed nail polish in over two dozen beautiful shades. The finishes are extremely varied and include everything from chunky glitter to micro-glitter, and creamy opaques to duo- and multi-chromes.
L-R: Crown Jewel, Euphoria, Cafe Ole, Twinkle
As of May 2018, you can find Kokie Cosmetics at Rite Aid stores (look for them on the endcaps!) and Rite Aid online (Ebates: 3% cash back). Prior to May, the only play you could find Kokie was their website, Walmart stores, and Walmart online (Ebates: Up to 10% cash back). Since they’ve been in Walmart for so much longer than Rite Aid, Walmart has a a few more items in their inventory, but Rite Aid has exclusive lash sets available that you won’t find anywhere else.
Clockwise from top left: FL646, FL644, FL688, FL667
The lashes come in an impressive range with daily-wearable designs on one end of the spectrum, and Ru Paul-worthy styles at the other. Whether you like flared, thick, spiky, or nearly natural false lashes, there’s probably something you’ll love in the 20 styles available at Rite Aid. At the very least, you’ll love the price at $4.99 per pair.
Nearly everything in the Kokie Cosmetics catalogue is delightfully inexpensive, but when it comes to their selection of makeup brushes, the prices rise considerably, ranging from $7.49- $12.99 per brush. There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly special about the line of synthetic brushes, but if you get the chance to try one, let us know!
The good news is that you won’t find anything over $15 at Kokie Cosmetics. They aim to offer affordable, globally-inspired products that are relevant and exciting and they’re definitely doing that.
SHOP KOKIE COSMETICS AT RITE AID
SHOP KOKIE COSMETICS AT WALMART
Reviews of Kokie Cosmetics:
In regards to their cruelty-free status, a beauty blogger named Phyrra did some excellent digging, just to make sure: