Marie Claire August 2012 ♥

I'm sure all of you are quite aware that the UK Marie Claire has a pretty amazing freebie this month- a choice of three, full size, Avon Mascaras. I was really impressed and obviously purchased the magazine asap! I chose Avon Super Extend Extreme Mascara, and I'm quite impressed.

 All three of the mascara wands looked amazing, but I picked this one as the wand reminded me of Max Factor False Lash Effect, which I love. It has a pretty similar effect, although I think the Max Factor mascara makes your lashes look fuller. The Avon mascara makes my lashes look super long and separated, but unfortunately I found it was really hard to make them look curved.

 I thought my lashes looked really pretty and natural though, so perfect for the daytime. I also used the mascara in the evening, and found it was easy to apply extra coatings to get a much fuller look. The only downside I've found to the mascara is that after a few hours wear, it seems to leave black splodges under my eyes. This has nothing to do with my foundation or concealer as I never have the same effect with a different mascara. This is the only problem really, and I guess it's quite a biggy....

Full blog review of the mascara coming soon...

Sorry I haven't blogged in a week...I've been training for my new job! Very exciting!

Have you bought Marie Claire this month?

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Volumptuos mascara review ♥

I am in love with this mascara. If you love long, curved lashes then you will love this mascara too. With its curved wand, it makes it that much easier to achieve this look. I really dislike massive mascara wands as I find they make it really difficult to reach smaller lashes, however this wand is perfect. It manages to reach every little lash, making sure that I have big, fluttery lashes!

 What I also love about this mascara is that you can achieve so many different looks. It's easy to build the mascara if you want to achieve a look for the evening. Lashes are long and separated, however, they look much fuller with the more you apply. The colour is black, but it's a really amazing jet black that makes my eyes stand out. The product looks sleek in a long red and black tube- I think they were trying not follow a Christian Louboutin scheme, hence the name of the mascara being Stiletto.

 It's lasts most of the day, although towards the evening my eyelashes don't look as curved as they did when I applied it in the morning. I would definitely recommend it though, as I love how many looks I can achieve with it.

The mascara retails at £8.19, which is quite pricey for a drugstore mascara, but I definitely think it's worth it.

What's your favourite mascara? Have you used this mascara before?

Glamour + Benefit freebie ♥

I think every beauty obsessed lady is very aware that Glamour has again teamed up with Benefit. I literally rushed to the shops to grab a copy, and managed to get the Benefit Bad Gal Lash...phew! Available was the face primer and the pore professional, which I'm hoping to also get my hands on this week.

 It's a really good sample size, and I think two sample sizes would make a full size, so for £4.00 you'd be getting a very good deal! A full size (8.5g) RRP £16.50, so it's worth buying a few! Benefit describe Bad Gal Lash as "Sexy, sultry, pure unadulterated black mascara for full, voluminous lashes. It's as BAD as you want to be! Famously big, bodacious brush coats lashes with our super black formula". I'm definitely impressed as well.

 My lashes are long, separated and luscious. I was really impressed with how I could build the mascara on my lashes to create different looks. The brush is really big which makes it really easy to create big, curvy lashes, however it can be a little difficult to reach the bottom lashes as you can see from the photo...I managed to get little black dots under my bottom lashes, which is not a good look. However, there are no other faults with the mascara - It stays on for hours, and my lashes aren't clumpy and look natural. Definitely worth grabbing this freebie in Glamour magazine this month!

Did you manage to pick up any Benefit freebies in this months Glamour?

No7 Extravagant Volume...woosh!

 I love mascaras, and I'm always trying new ones, so when I saw that No7 had brought out their new addition of mascara, No7 Extravagant Volume, I had to get it! It doesn't disappoint at all. The brush is amazing, and gives me long, separated lashes. Boots say No7 Extravagant Lashes Mascara will give you elegant, fluttering, show-girl lashes that really open your eyes. No7 Extravagant Lashes has an innovative brush shape that features a combination of bristles with unique-shaped discs that are designed to reach the very base of your lashes, separating and lifting each one and giving unbeatable volume and curl.

The mascara also contains  memory polymer ingredient that sets your lashes in place, locking in lift and curl- so your lashes stay flirty and fluttery for longer.

 I think this has to be my favourite No 7 mascara. Although retailing at the high end of No 7 mascaras at £12.50, it really is worth it. My lashes looked lovely, and very fluttery (perfect for the summer!) I love the brush too. It's so easy to use, especially in getting to the smaller lashes in the corner of my eyes. I can't stand big brushes (I especially wasn't keen of Rimmel Scandalouseyes' brush), as it makes it near impossible to get to every lash.

At the moment, with every purchase of this mascara, you can get a free No7 smoky powder eyeliner, which is worth £9.75...so definitely worth buying the product! 
Have you tried this mascara?

Oh, so scandalous!

Rimmel's new mascara VolumeFlash Scandal Eyes definitely has big results. With a massive wand, I was hoping that my lashes would be long and luscious...and I wasn't disappointed. Rimmel promise the mascara will mean that "No lash can escape! Scandalous volume, no clumps!". Well...

I have to be honest, and say that I really hate the packaging. Yes, it definitely caught my eye at the counter, but the colour is so bright. I think it looks quite unsightly, and I wouldn't really want to get it out in front of people. Maybe that's just me...

 I think the results are amazing though. They're thick, but not clumpy, and so long and separated. The brush however is quite hard to use, and I struggled to get to the more tinier lashes in the corner of my eyes, and also my bottom lashes. This was slightly annoying, as I ended up with lots of tiny, black dots and splodges under my eyes and my eyelid. Although the results are pretty good, it did take a long time to achieve, and is definitely something I wouldn't be able to use if I was in a rush.

RRP £6.99, however Boots are currently offering £2.00 off.

http://www.boots.com/en/Rimmel-Scandaleyes-Mascara_1238021/

eye eye, what's this?

I absolutely love mascara, and I try different ones pretty much every week because I love to experiment with my lashes! Today I woke up looking beyond tired, with just horrible, big bags under my eyes, so my eye makeup routine needed a little more applying than usual. Here's a sneaky peek...

Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place ShadowCreme in 06 Ivory Lace is literally one of my favourite make-up products at the moment. It retailed at £15, and at first I thought this was overly expensive for such a small pot, but I've had it for over four months now and it looks near enough untouched. It's such a beautiful colour, and the best thing is that that it doesn't crease like most creme shadows. It stays in place the whole day. I like to put a few coats of it on in the evening for a more shimmery look, buts it's lovely in the daytime.

I seem to have the worst red eye bags at the moment too, as I'm sure you can see! I have no idea where they came from, but I'm guessing late night dissertation work! I was after a concealer for ages, and had been using a Jelly Pong Pong product which was beyond amazing, but when it ran out I thought I'd try another product, which was L'oreal infallible 16 hours concealer.

It is literally, amazing. The consistency of it is so good. It's thick but not doesn't give that horrible, caked look appearance. It blends lovely, and sits perfectly all day. I like to use it under the arch of my eyebrows too. Retailing at around £8.

I'm also enjoying Revlon Grow Luscious Plumping mascara. I don't tend to use many Revlon products, besides their lovely nail varnishes, and I was quite surprised by this mascara. I wasn't keen at first, but the thick wand is great at creating thick lashes, almost a Twiggy look...not every bodies taste, but I love wow lashes!

...and these are the results. So much better after a bit of magic. My eyes never looked so tired as they did this morning, but hopefully nobody can tell now!

Love, Sophie Olivia x x

Wooosh, those lashes are big!

I'm a massive fan of all L'oreal products, especially their mascaras. I used to use the L'oreal Double Extension mascara, and then stopped using it for a while as I moved onto MaxFactor...however, I started using it again, and forgot how amazing it is! Basically, eye make up remover is not needed in order to remove it, but simple and free water! The mascara comes off in almost a tube appearance, and I have to hold a wet flannel over my eyes for around two minutes. Slight pain to remove, but I did worry that it obviously wouldn't be waterproof...however, don't worry about a small cry as it does not budge at all!

 I love the brushes. Lashes appear thick, and long. I pur around three to four coats on as I love my lashes nice and thick, however, they look just as beautiful with two coats.

Apologies for the eyeliner that's worn off...doesn't look too attractive!

So glad I rediscovered this mascara! Retailing at £10.99 and there is 3 for 2 on all L'oreal products at Boots at the moment so it would be rude not to buy one!

Love, Sophie Olivia x x

Bourjois, you are a treat ...

I'm not usually a fan of Bourjois mascaras, and I'll tell you why. Do you remember Bourjois Clubbing Mascara? Well, I thought that mascara made me look the bees knees...but it didn't when my eyelashes fell out. That stuff was lethal. I could never get it off unless I had soaked my eyelashes in lashings of very expensive eye make-up remover. It gave me conjunctivitis, not so pleasant, and my eye lashes had pretty much fallen out before hand. Thanks, Bourjous. Anyway, I was slightly petrified of using this mascara, but I've heard good things, so I took the plunge...

Bouurjois Volumizer mascara:

The mascara has two steps. Step one has a thin wand that basically separates the lashes.

 

Once applied, you then use step 2, which has a much thicker wand. Step 2 is basically the main body of the mascara you purchase...so I'm a little confused what happens when you run out of the step 1 mascara. I really dislike the smell of Bourjois mascaras. I think they smell cheap and like chemicals. I like the mascara wand of this mascara however, although they do appear to clog with wads of mascara, which is a little bit of a pain.

I thought the results were satisfying however. Not brilliant, but very nice.

It was difficult to apply to my bottom lashes, and they ended up getting a little clumpy, and leaving splodges underneath my eyes. I haven't attempted to take this off yet, but I will let you know....I don't want to be losing anymore eyelashes!

It retails at £7.99. I won't be purchasing again, but I'm not disappointed at all. I think it's a good low-end budget mascara!

Love, Sophie Olivia x x