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4 Dec 2012

Bye Bye Becca, Farewell Jemma Kidd

In general I don't do these kinds of posts, but I'm lamenting the closure of two of my favourite brands and wanted to pay homage to those products of theirs that I love :-(


Jemma Kidd, a UK brand, have been in trouble for some time and have had to finally give up the ghost.

Boots discontinued stocking Jemma Kidd I believe approximately two years ago and they've been in trouble since (I am not faulting Boots with Jemma Kidd's demise, but from my perspective it just made it so much harder to purchase Jemma Kidd in Ireland after that, except for online).

The brainchild of Jemma Kidd and her friend Grace Fodor, the brand are responsible for probably my favourite cream highlighter of all time (which says a lot as I have about two dozen cream highlighters from varying brands);  the iconic Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme in both Rose Gold and Pink Gold, and also some of the best cheaper priced makeup brushes available on the market to consumers (I love their concealer brush and standard liner brush for example).

The company is gone into administration and a buyer is being sought, but at this point in time it is not clear if it will trade again.  So go and buy your Light As Air Liquid Foundation, and your Dewy Glow from somewhere, while you still can.  Because that, as the man said, might be that.


Similarly sad news for those of us (aka: me) who planned on visiting their UK store this week, Becca, or at least the UK arm of the Australian brand, is gone into liquidation.

Becca's Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl is one of my all-time favourite illuminisers/illuminators and I had great plans to get the others later on this week (Gold for my skin in the summer, Opal and Topaz for my kit).

Their Crème Blush is gorgeous and the Soft Touch Blush in Songbird is (in my opinion) a nicer NARS Orgasm.  The Ultimate Mascara is probably my favourite "natural looking lash" mascara - it's a tubing mascara that you only need warm water to remove, but it adds real length with a few coats, with no clumping at all.

I love love love their Creme Blush/Bronzer brush (#34) - it has short bristles, is a flat, "squoval"-shaped paddle brush, but sufficiently dense enough to use for loose mineralised powder products, cream products, liquid products... The Extra Small Polishing Makeup Brush (#55) is probably one of the smallest flat-head dual fibre brushes on the market, which is great for tiny faces or areas...

Becca for me is like a more polished, more interesting version of Bobbi Brown... I'm sorry that I won't be visiting them in the UK, but I believe that they are continuing to trade (for example, they signed a rather large stockist deal with Sephora in the US not a month or so ago).  It just makes it that much harder to source, especially since they pulled out of Arnotts (Dublin) some years ago.  Bummer!