Beauty. Fashion. Lifestyle.
Posts tagged Mascara
A Simple Way to Create the Illusion of Longer, Fuller Lashes
6
9 years
I must admit, I’ve never been a fan of false lashes. The glue really puts me off using them and I really don’t think they suit me. I much prefer more natural looking lashes, but I have no problem with adding a bit of length or volume using make up. As well as the obvious choice of mascara, there’s also another simple way to create the illusion of longer, fuller lashes, and that’s with a thin line of eyeliner. Personally I like to use gel liner as it’s easier to draw a fine, smooth line with, but any eyeliner will do.
To create this basic look I used two gel eyeliners – a black one and a purple one. With a fine brush I applied a thin line of the black liner across my top lash line, as close to the lashes as possible. This is what creates the illusion of longer, fuller lashes, as the black looks like an extension of the lashes, and the solid line makes the lashes appear fuller. If you have paler lashes or use a different colour mascara, then use an eyeliner shade at this stage which is more suited to your colouring.
Using the purple liner I then drew a thicker line above the black line, with a slight flick at the outer corners. Adding this thicker line of colour adds to the long lash illusion as it gives the impression that the lashline starts where the colour begins, thus making the black look more like an extension of your lashes. It’s up to you what colour you use – I just wanted my eyes to match my outfit. Add a layer or two of your favourite mascara and you’re good to go!
I hope you’ve all had a good weekend!
Naomi x
BeTrousse to Yourself!
8By now, we are all used to the concept of the beauty box, that little present to yourself – you pay for a subscription, usually costing around £10 per month, and in return you receive a monthly box containing five or six sample products. If you’re lucky, one of them might even be full-size. But guess what? A new and unique beauty box has just landed in the UK, and this one, in my eyes, is bigger and better than any other. Why? Because unlike other beauty boxes, everything in this one is full-size! I am happy to be one of the first to introduce you to BeTrousse.
BeTrousse, a French company, put together monthly themed beauty ‘kits’, each containing five full-size beauty products. There are currently three boxes available; ‘The Must Haves‘ (£19), ‘Organic & Natural Beauty‘ (£17) and ‘Spring Beauty‘ (£19). The boxes cost more than the average beauty box, but they are great value money – the products in ‘The Must Haves’ box retail for a whopping £131 in total, for example, saving you £112. BeTrousse boxes aren’t offered via a subscription, you have to buy them individually, so if you don’t like the look of the products you don’t have to gamble your money on the box – simple!
I was recently gifted a box by BeTrousse to review, and was sent the very luxurious ‘Organic & Natural Beauty’ box. I was so excited about receiving it, and after a fairly short wait it arrived on Saturday. As you can see above, the box is quite large, like a shoe box, and rather heavy due to the size of the products, so this one won’t fit through your letter box! When you open the box, you are greeted with pink tissue paper wrap, like this…
And of course, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, here are the contents of the box!
As you’d expect, each product in the ‘Organic & Natural Beauty’ box is made of natural ingredients with no harsh chemicals, and every single one smells divine! I’ve tried all but one of them out, so I’ll tell you a little bit about each. I’ll probably do a proper review of the products that I really like when I’ve used them for a bit longer, as part of the point of a full-size box is to use the items for a while so you can see if they suit you 
Fro Her Aloe and Honey Mist – 75ml – RRP £10.99
This is the only product in the box that isn’t made in France – it’s actually from a company in Cardiff called Evelyn. The mist is intended for use on dry or afro hair, but it can be used on any hair type to help make it softer. The bottle says to spray the mist onto your hair and then brush it through to give a sleek look, which I did, and it works! I tried this out yesterday and my hair looked lovely and shiny for the rest of the day, and it didn’t make my hair greasy. It smells really sweet and lovely and the scent lingered for a long time – I kept catching whiffs of it all afternoon
Forest People Luminous Serum – 14ml – RRP £31
This Forest People Serum contains Borage and Rosehip Oils, and is used on the eyes to minimise puffiness and dark circles, and to contour lip shape. The bottle says to dab a drop of the oil onto the eyelids and under the eyes, and onto the cupid’s bow of the lips. The oil smells great and is very moisturising – I used this on my eyes yesterday and though I didn’t see much difference after one use, it made my skin feel very smooth and refreshed.
Lothantique Bath Salt – 600g – RRP £10
I haven’t yet tried these bath salts but they smell very fruity and have an air of luxury about them. The bottle is absolutely massive and for a French, organic product I’d say this is great value for money. I’m looking forward to pampering myself one evening with these in a relaxing bath!
*UPDATE* I just had a bath using these bath salts and they are looovely. They didn’t irritate my skin at all!
Reve De Provence Organic Bar Soap (Olive Oil and Lavender) – 150g – £4.99
When I first opened my box I was hit with the beautiful smell of lavender, and it was coming from this bar of soap, scented with essential oils. I usually use liquid soap as bars tend to have a drying effect on my skin, but after using this one my hands felt nicely softened. I can only put this down to the natural ingredients that it contains, and I’ll definitely carry on using it! The soap box also proudly states that the product isn’t tested on animals, which makes me very happy indeed.
K Pour Karite Hair Mascara (Dark Brown) – 0.52oz – RRP £12.95
This is the only product in the box that I wasn’t taken by. Hair mascara is a little bit 90s in my eyes, and I think it’s a strange item to put in a beauty box as it’s very specific – not everyone has light roots or grey hairs! I won’t be using the mascara on myself as I have no need for it, but I tried it on my mum as she has dark brown hair which is going grey. I managed to get some photos of how well it works…
Before
After
The colour match isn’t perfect, but it did give fairly good coverage after a quick try at it, and I imagine you could get even better results with a bit of patience. Still, at £12.95 it seems a bit excessive!
Overall, I am smitten with BeTrousse and I can’t wait to see what the next box brings! It feels like a real treat when you open the box up and find five impressive full-size products inside. You benefit from being able to try full-size products at a smidgen of the price as you get to feel the full effect of each one before deciding whether to purchase it again. Will you be buying BeTrousse?
Naomi x
Bellápierre Lash Building Mascara
5
9 years
by Naomi in Eyes
I recently purchased this Bellápierre Lash Building Mascara from a blog sale for just £1. Before I saw this in the sale, I hadn’t really heard anything about Bellápierre, but I did some research and discovered that the brand are an ‘all natural cosmetics line’, specialising in ‘Organic mineral make up’. Since I try to be as environmentally friendly as possible in my make up choices, I decided to snap this up and try it out for size (quite literally, seeing as it’s a ‘Lash Building’ mascara!) The mascara usually retails for £19.99 so I definitely got myself a bargain!
My first impressions of the mascara when I received it were mixed. The tube is averagely sized, containing 10ml of product, and though the black and silver packaging looks quite sleek and classy, I didn’t think it was anything special. It wouldn’t stand out from the crowd on a display anyway. The tube also feels fairly cheap, but I didn’t lose heart. After all, as the old cliché says, you should never judge a book by its cover.
When I first saw the brush I was quite pleased. I’m not a fan of bulky brushes and though this one is large, it’s a lot narrower than a lot of other brushes which is just right for me. I always find it much easier to apply mascara to the difficult corner lashes with smaller brushes and this was no exception. Application was brilliant – the mascara is very smooth in consistency and not too thick, and the brush holds just the right amount so you don’t have to worry about making any mess. It doesn’t clump either! I did get a couple of small blobs on my upper eyelid but I blame being distracted by my sister talking to me at the same time
The Bellápierre website claims that this ‘Lash Building’ mascara is long lasting and ‘was formulated to help create thicker and fuller lashes’, so I put this to the test. The pictures below show my eye before application (top), and after one coat of mascara (bottom)…
As you can see, the mascara makes quite a bit of difference. The deep black colour make the lashes really stand out, and the brush curls the lashes upwards slightly too, opening up the eyes. Considering this is only one coat, I’m quite impressed. I’d say my lashes definitely look longer and a bit fuller, and after a couple more coats they’d be even better. I also really like how the lashes stay separate and don’t stick together as they stay looking really natural. They also remained soft and supple which is great as stiff lashes are an uncomfortable no-no!
Oh and in terms of lasting power, Bellápierre mascara has it… When I wore this yesterday it lasted a good 12 hours and didn’t need reapplying, and it didn’t smudge either, but it removed really easily.
I really, really like this mascara – it does everything I want a mascara to do and more, but at £19.99 it’s a bit steep… Maybe I’ll keep it for best! If you want to see what else Bellápierre have to offer, you can visit their UK website here, and their international website here.
Naomi x
Glamour Freebie: Benefit BADgal Lash Mascara
5
After much deliberation I caved and ended up buying two copies of Glamour this month, just for the freebies! The first copy I bought contained this, the BADgal Lash Mascara, and the copy I bought today contained a little tube of Porefessional which I’ve been dying to try, but I’ll be reviewing that another day.
The mascara you get with the magazine is not full-size, but you do get a generous 4g, which is about half the size of the £16.50 big tube. Not bad for £2, the price of the magazine!
Magazine freebies rarely come packaged in boxes, and neither do samples, so that and the slick black and silver tube immediately make this product look classy and high end.
When I first opened the tube I was really surprised to see such a big, bristly brush. I don’t usually like chunky brushes as they tend to hold too much product which can make application a bit gloopy and thick, but this one looked promising as it wasn’t too loaded with mascara.
When I initially applied the mascara I didn’t think it had made much difference, but I was wrong. The first thing my mum said to me after I’d put it on was something along the lines of “wow, your eyes look nice”. I looked in the mirror again and I realised that, actually, this is a very good mascara!
BADgal Lash is a very, very deep black so it makes your eyelashes really stand out. It doesn’t clump either which means that your lashes stay separate, giving the false lash look that this mascara boasts. The best thing about it for me though is that your eyelashes stay soft. I’ve tried countless mascaras in my life and most of them have made my eyelashes feel stiff, which can make your eyes a bit sore, but BADgal is so light that you can hardly tell you’re wearing it, so your lashes feel supple and natural.
My mum has always struggled with mascara as her lashes aren’t the longest, so it never makes much difference on her, or it blobs all over her eyelids and makes a mess. I let her try this one out and we were both amazed – her lashes looked longer and darker, but still natural, and there was no mess whatsoever. It didn’t smudge either when she rubbed her eyes, which is fantastic! And contrary to what other reviews have said about BADgal, it has lasted all day on both of us.
My overall thoughts on this? A truly impressive product and very high quality! If only I could afford to spend £16.50 on one mascara haha.
Naomi x
A Simple Guide to Smoky Eyes
3
10 years
I’ve put together a simple step-by-step guide on how to create a classic smoky eyed look. Many women have their reservations about smoky eyes, as such a dramatic look can be quite daunting to apply and wear, especially as any mistakes made with dark make up tend to show up more. This smoky style, however, is more refined and can be worn day or night, and most importantly is so easy to do! Unfortunately, I had finished applying my make up before I decided to blog a tutorial so I don’t have any photographs of each stage, but the application is so easy you won’t really need them!
How to create Classic Smoky Eyes
Using a soft brush, apply a soft grey shadow to the eyelid, up to the eye socket. Apply a little extra to the inside corner. I used two shadows at this stage (a very pale grey and a slightly darker grey) to achieve my desired shade.
Using a dark grey shadow, apply an angular c-shape to the outside corner of the eye, going into the eye socket and along the top lash line. Also apply a thin line of the dark grey colour along your lower lash line.
With a clean brush, blend the two colours together. Repeat the process again for a longer lasting look.
Generously line your water line with the black kajal stick, corner to corner, top and bottom.
Finally, layer your eyelashes with black mascara.
Remove any excess or fallen make up with the clean brush and there you have it! Smoky eyes in a matter of minutes.
Avon Haul – March 2012
0
My Avon delivery arrived this morning and, once again, I had ordered some goodies for myself in amongst the brochures and customer orders! Other than the Liqui-Glide Eye Liner, I’ve never tried any of these products before, so I will be reviewing them all in the not too distant future.
From left to right I have:
- Naturals Raspberry and Hibiscus Volumising Shampoo (yet to be released to the public)
- SuperCurlacious Mascara in Black
- SuperShock Eye Liner in Blackened Metal (comes in a little glass pot)
- Eyeliner Brush
- Glimmerstick Liqui-Glide Eye Liner in Black
And at the bottom is the fantastic Shine Attract Lipstick in Orchid, which I will be reviewing later today.
Have you ever tried any of these products?
Naomi x
Avon Super Magnify Mascara in Black
3
10 years
by Naomi in Eyes
During my time as an Avon Representative, I have tried many of Avon’s various mascaras, and this has to be one of my favourites. At £8.50 for 7ml, the Super Magnify Mascara is already a decent price, but as with most of Avon’s products, it is regularly on offer at a lower price which is a bonus.
I really love the sleek, pretty tube this mascara comes in. The flower print on my tube was a limited edition design, but everything else has remained the same on the new design, much to my delight. There’s something just so satisfying about the simple silver band, and the click sound the lid makes when screwed tight.
The brush that comes with this mascara is very fine and narrow, with a large number of tiny bristles. I was a bit unsure about the effectiveness of this type of brush when I first saw it, but it is perfect for creating the super magnified look this product boasts. The mascara applies smoothly and evenly and leaves no clumps or blotches whatsoever. The tiny bristles help to separate the lashes for a natural appearance. One application of this mascara provides a great daytime look, but the beauty of the Super Magnify Mascara is that it can be layered and built up. Two or three coats is enough for a dramatic evening look, and because of the delicate brush your lashes don’t stiffen as you layer. Instead, you are left with longer lashes that remain soft and supple.
Avon’s Super Magnify mascara is a make up bag essential in my opinion, as it is versatile and feels more natural than a lot of mascaras I have tried. I use it every day!
Naomi x
