Review: 17 Photo Flawless Lashes

I bought this last Thursday for £5.99 (though it was actually free as part of Boots' ongoing 3 for 2). I already love the eye pencil from this range, and this is also the most expensive mascara I've ever bought (because I'm a cheapskate), so I had high expectations.

And this mascara lived up to them.

It comes in Black-Blue, Black-Copper, and Black-Green, and the idea is that you buy the tint that matches your eye colour, to help bring out the colour.

On the eye

Photo 1: Just some black eyeliner (Collection's Extreme 24H Felt Tip Eye Liner)

Photo 2: with two quick coats on the top lashes - you can see that the lashes already have more length and slightly more body than before.

Photo 3: Finished! Another couple of quick coats on the top lashes, some white eye liner (Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Pencil) on the waterline, and a coat on the lower lashes. You can see that this mascara has successfully avoided the tarantula-eye syndrome. Even if the gold-ness isn't obvious on the eye, I do think (though this may be the placebo effect) that the mascara has helped to bring out my eye colour.

Packaging

As you can see in the photo above, it comes in a bodacious black tube and has a curved brush. The bottle/tube feels fairly sturdy, but what with the fairly gloopy formula it could be quite difficult to get all of the formula out.

Close-up of the brush

The brush is the first curved one I've tried, and it's really good for lifting the lashes. Not hugely high-tech, but sometimes low-tech is the best solution. The only downside of the brush is that it makes doing the lower lashes quite difficult.

I really like the film strip design on the bottle, even if the pedantic side of me says that a film strip wouldn't go on a cone...

Does it live up to its promises?

These fabulous mascaras have a clever curved wand that will give your lashes a long-lasting lift and voluptuous volume from day to night. They are smudge-proof and promise to leave you saying good-bye to panda eyes.

By accentuating your natural eye colour, you’ll never feel the need to hide from the camera again.

"Thanks to the angled brush of this mascara it creates the most dramatic effect by lifting and curling the lashes. The best thing about this mascara is the intense pigment in the formula that accentuates the colour of your iris, brightening your eyes making them bigger and your lashes full of life”.

 I would say that this mascara does live up to most of its promises.

• long-lasting lift - yes, this mascara lasts AGES.
• voluptuous  volume - um, maybe. Each individual lash maybe.
• smudge-proof - yes! I wore this mascara for a party on Saturday night and when I got home there was no smudging at all. Nada.
• accentuating natural eye colour - maybe. I like to think so. It's certainly less harsh a black than the usual black mascaras and less 'meh' than the brown ones. So I like the colour.
• lifting and curling the lashes - yeah, pretty much, thanks to the ginormous curved brush.

Who would like this product?
Anyone with eyelashes, I think! Although it's not a waterproof mascara, it lasts really well. Also anyone looking for something between a brown and a black mascara. It's a really good all-round mascara.

Would I repurchase this?
Definitely! It is fairly gloopy which means it might dry up quicker than some other mascaras, but I really like it.

• Collection Extreme 24H Felt Tip Eye Liner - Black
• 17 Photo Flawless Lashes - Black/Copper or Black-Gold (the same thing, the website calls it Black-Gold but on the tube it says Black/Copper)
• 17 Pure Finish Sheer Mineral Blusher - Plum
• Rimmel 1000 Kisses Lip Tint - Carry on Cherry

What's your favourite mascara?

Boots haul (another one!)

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for my slowness in getting this post out - I've been having issues with Blogger's new User Interface. On the bright side, it has meant that I have had a chance to properly use the products.

 

The first thing I went for was the Revlon Lip Butters. After testing the shades (we only had eight in my local branch, which included Lollipop and Candy Apple) I went for Tutti Frutti. I've never worn a coral lip before, but it looks good! Retails for £7.99, and I would say it's similar to 17's Mirror Shine Lipstick.

Up until now I haven't actually had a foundation - I threw out my old Natural Collection one as it was really bad at blending - but I hadn't realised other foundations were so much better than it! (Of course, this one should be, it's five times the price!) At £9.99 this is the most expensive beauty product I've ever bought, but it's so good! Full review soon. I bought shade 53 which is maybe a tad dark right now - but a little sunbathing will fix that. It's nice and yellow toned though.

Since they still have the 3 for 2, I wanted to get a mascara - I'm happy with my £1.99 Natural Collection mascaras, but there clearly existed something else which led people to go for slightly more expensive ones - this is £5.99. It's the first curved-brush mascara I've owned, which made the first use fun, but it's really good! I had thought it would be, as my favourite eyeliner is from this range.

Have you taken advantage of Boots' current 3 for 2?

March favourites!

This is a bit of a 'basics' favourites post, as I found up the five things that make my life pretty easily :)

Remington S7902 Wet2Straight Hair Straighteners

I've had these since October, and they're generally fab, but it was at the debating conference I went to that they came into their own. You see, I was really stupid and forgot to take a hairbrush (d'oh) - but I found that once I had straightened my hair with these you couldn't tell at all. Plus, since my hair is so thick, it would be impossible to fully dry it before straightening - with these I don't have to! I use Schwarzkopf's got2b Guardian Angel Heat Defence spray with them, which seems pretty good.

These have an RRP of £84.99 but retail on Amazon for £42.99

17 Mirror Shine Lipstick - Belle

(image from the fab Catherine's Loves blog)

I have been keeping this lipstick in my pencilcase for most of the past month, it's perfect for a quick swipe. The colour is fairly sheer, with lots of shiiiine and it's really pretty. That the colour is sheer means that you can just swipe away even without a mirror, as if you miss a bit/go off your lips it's not at all noticeable. 

Plus, the packaging is pretty snazzy too - it's fairly difficult to lose this bright blue tube in your bag.

It sells for £4.59 from Boots.

Elf blusher - Shy
(image from the fab Sugar Coated Muffin blog)
This blusher is a really good every-day blusher in my opinion, as it produces a soft pink which goes with everything and is really difficult to overdo. Plus it lasts really well to. Does what it says on the tin, really.
It sells for £1.50, either for 2g in its own thingy as shown or for 1.5g to go in their Elements system, from elf.

17 Solo Eyeshadow - Walnut Pearl (top left in this picture)
I love this eyeshadow - it's a lovely everyday basic colour, and goes with everything - basically the eye makeup equivalent of the blusher above. It's really long-wearing, too.
It retails for £3.89 from Boots.

17 BB Cream
The main reason I like this is that it is low coverage - it's really just a me-but-better look. I have been using it in Light, but I think I need to move up to Medium as I've started to pick up a bit of a tan. It lasts all day (always a bonus!) and generally helps me feel like a more polished version of me.
It sells for £6.99 from Boots.

NOTD and review: 17 Lasting Finish 'Glisten'

Do you ever have moments where something doesn't work how you thought it would, but you like it better that way? That's what I'm thinking about this nail polish.

I thought it would be a bit duochrome-y, which it isn't really. There's a very slight gold/pink gradient, but most of the time you just see the golden colour, and it's lovely!

Packaging

Fairly standard for a nail varnish, it has a nice long handle on the lid/brush which is good for ease of application.

The bottle contains 8ml, which is the same amount as in the Rimmel 60 second varnishes.

Does it live up to its promises?

This product promises to deliver up to 5 days of shine.

It is very shiny, yes, and the colour does stay on really well. I've had it on since Friday at this point, and while I've had to 'fix' some of the nails, the fix lasts well and blends in, as well as drying very quickly.

I did get bubbles on one nail where I didn't let the coat below dry fully, but the others look fairly perfect.

A downside is that it's very sheer, which could make it really good for syrup nails, and since it dries so quickly it's not an issue that it takes a good three or four layers for full opacity.

It also looks good with one layer over a solid colour.

Something I like about this colour is that it's fairly close to my skin colour, meaning that although this is a little bit of a 'party' colour it actually looks appropriate for anything.

Would I repurchase it?

I would, yes, and I'd consider purchasing others from the range. It sells for £2.99 and is currently on 3 for 2 with the rest of the 17 range.

Beautiful Spring palettes from 17

These aren't yet in my local Boots, but they are online, they sell for £5.99, and the two colours are called Hazy Days and Spring Brights. Personally I'm really tempted by Hazy Days, which is the one at the top of this post, as it has all the colours I like to use for an everyday eye in it.

Which is your favourite?

FOTD: Sensational Sixties and review of 17 Pure Finish Sheer Mineral Blusher

Products used:

• Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in One Of A Kind
• 17 Pure Finish Sheer Mineral Blusher in Plum
• Collection Shimmer Shades Blushalicious (review here)
• Collection Extreme 24Hr Felt Tip Liner

And a review of the blusher!

This blusher sells for £4.69 from Boots, and comes in three shades - I have 'Plum'

I've had this blusher for a while and I really haven't used it enough - it was my first non-palette blusher, and I was really looking for a cream blusher, which I found soon after and so then didn't use this.

Packaging

The packaging of this is really useful for travel - it has its own brush built in. That's also useful because it means that you can't accidentally use a brush with a different shade of blusher in. The disadvantages, though, are that the brush is slightly scratchy, and that it's impossible to wash the brush. Also, on first use, it can take a while to coax the blusher through the brush.

The packaging is also very robust, which I like - it's Lily-proof.

Does it live up to its promises?

On the packaging it says the product has a 'Super-sheer and lightweight formulation'

Whether it's sheer or not really depends on how heavy-handed you are, obviously, but I have found it quite difficult to get a sheer wash. The flush it does produce, though, is lovely!

I certainly agree with the 'lightweight' tag - the blusher feels really nice on the cheeks.

Would I repurchase?

YES! I think I might purchase it in Rose, though, as the Plum is a little too red - though maybe it won't be when I'm more tanned.

February favourites!

Photo from Penelope Row

This is Boots Natural Collection Moisture Shine Lipstick in Rose Bud. I love it because it's a subtly pretty pink that's suitable for day but still pretty for night

Photo from Midnight Violets

This was free in 17's winter GWP and for ages I didn't use it as it looked oppressively red, but recently I have used it - it's a lovely dark pink that I think would suit all skin tones.

Photo from Boots

I was given this as part of a gift set two years ago, but only just started using it - and it smells really nice. Mine is a mini, which means it's quite good for putting in the bottom of my bag for when I've got to school and am melting.

Photo from Boots

This Soap and Glory hand cream and I have an ongoing love affair. It smells so lovely, of marshmallow and so on, and it works really well. I've also used it as a face moisturiser in a pinch, and it works well for that too. I've currently got a full size one and a mini on the go, and a spare of each thanks to Christmas and my birthday

Photo from elf

This primer has made a huge difference - it means that my eyeshadows stay on just that little bit longer. Plus, because I have it in Champagne rather than Sheer it works well as a pale base across the whole eyelid.

On hindsight, this is a very pink favourites list... Oh well, I'm a teenage girl!

What have been your favourite products to use this month?

Two Things Thursday

This week the two things are cosmetics I've had for a while, that I'm only just getting into using.

1 - 17 Ultimate Volume lipgloss in Very Berry. I like this because it's a lovely dark pink that's fairly long lasting.
2 - Collection 2000 Shimmer Squares in Way to Glow. I've just recently realised that it is basically a one product face - more on that when I review it soon

FOTD: Subtly sunned

Products used:
- Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Way To Glo.
- Collection 2000 Colour Intense Trio Eye Shadow in Cookie Dough
- 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Belle

FOTD: It's Party Time!

It's my friend's birthday party tonight, which I'm really excited about

Products used (in order):

• elf Nail Polish in Purple Pleaser (mentioned here)
• elf eyelid primer (mentioned here)
• Hello Kitty Liberty eyeshadow palette (the white shade in the inner corners of the eyes, and then the dark reddish and the dark silver glitter over the eye)
• Collection 2000 Extreme 24H eyeliner (upper lash line)
• Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil in Black (lower lash line)
• Natural Collection LashCurl Mascara in Black
• Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Blushalicious
• Natural Collection Loose Powder
• Benefit Watt's Up! highlighter
• 17 Ultimate Volume lipgloss in Very Berry

FOTD: Red Lips and Cat Eyes

Products used:

• Elf eyelid primer
• Elf eyeshadow in 'driftwood'
• Collection 2000 Extreme 24H eyeliner
• Elf blusher in 'shy'
• 17 Ultimate Volume lipgloss in 'very berry'

FOTD: Recreating Zooey Deschanel's look from the new sitcom 'New Girl'

If you're anything like me, and since you're reading this you probably are, I bet you have a girl-crush on Zooey Deschanel. She's great, and so pretty! I've been watching her new sitcom, New Girl, and it's really funny - in last week's episode they attempted to defrost a turkey by putting it in the spin-dryer.

Anyway, I thought I'd have a go at recreating her look from the show.

I used the following products, in this order:

• Natural Collection Corrector Stick (it's light green, to neutralise red cheeks)
• Natural Collection Cover-up Stick (beige)
• 17 BB Cream (Light shade) - review to come
• elf Eyelid Primer - review to come but mentioned here
• elf eyeshadow palette - review to come but mentioned here
• Collection 2000 Extreme 24 Hr Felt-tip liner - review to come but mentioned here (on the top lash line)
• Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil (black) - mini-review here (on the bottom lash line)
• Natural Collection LashCurl mascara (black) - review to come
• Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades in Blushalicious - review
• Natural Collection Moisture Shine Lipstick in Rose Bud - review to come

Gosh, looking at the list here it really emphasises how much stuff I already have that I haven't yet reviewed for the blog - thank heavens for Project Pan, eh?

Are any of you Zooey fangirls too? Let me know

FOTD: pretty in pink

Products used:

• Rimmel Colour Rush Quad eyeshadow in Urban Flower - I used the pale pink matte shade all over the eyeshadow as a base (reviewed here)
• elf Custom Eyes in Wisteria (swatched here). I found that I wasn't really using this shadow to its full capability, only as an interest point to lighten up other eye looks, so I wanted to use it as a focal point. And it's really pretty!
• Boots 17 Photo Flawless Eye Pencil in Carbon Black/ Copper.(reviewed here).
• Boots Natural Collection WaterGuard mascara in Brown/Black
• Collection 2000 ShimmerSquare in Blushalicious (currently with £1 off at boots.com, which means it's down to £3.19)
• Benefit Watt's Up highlighter
• Boots 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Belle

FOTD: it's Spring!

The trees mostly still have bare branches, but the grass is growing bright green and there were daffodils in the florist's shop yesterday. So it's spring! Yay!

Today's face of the day is a laid back look that took less than five minutes in front of the mirror - which is always good, really. Because it's Sunday and I like to let my skin breathe at least one day a week, I moisturised but didn't use foundation or BB cream today.

If you've read my blog before, you might know that I'm basically in love with my elf eyeshadows (on which note, they've got a free gift sale today and free shipping too, til 10pm). The only problem is that they have a lot of fallout. They definitely fall into the category of eyeshadows that you put on before your foundation. Today I decided to try and apply them with the minimum fallout possible. And I managed. The trick is to use your finger rather than a brush - somehow that reduces the problem hugely. It works because of how lovely and soft these shadows are - I've ordered another shadow and another blush, so there's now a queue of things to go into my elf palette (yes, all right, I forgot to include a second palette in my order...)

I used 'sage', a lovely lovely green, all over the eyelid, and 'wisteria', a pinkish lilac, above that close to the lash line. I really like the effect of that, and I think I'll team the colours up together like that again.

I used a metallic teal eye pencil - Boots 17's, though it's no longer in the range. It was a present from my lovely friend Philly (who runs her own blog) who had two of the Gift With Purchase that included the pencil (summer 09 as far as I can tell from the Internet) and gave me the second, because she's lovely like that. I guess the nearest equivalent now would be the blue eye version of the Photo Flawless Eye Pencil.

I used my elf blush in 'shy' which is a really pretty colour, as you can see on my cheek to the left of the picture - my camera isn't handling light and dark very well at the moment, as you can see, but the colours on the left of the picture are truer to life. Unlike the elf shadows, which are very soft and which I think I'll hit pan on very soon (especially sage), the blush is fairly hard, and despite having used it a lot I've barely made an indent on the top of it. I've ordered another elf blush as well, because I like this one so much. To finish off I used Boots 17 Mirror Shine lipstick in shade 'Belle' - which is, as others have said, fab. It's one of those your lips but better lipsticks.

Ta-dah!

Face of the day - family dinner

Quite a simple face of the day here - apologies for the photo, I wrestled with my camera for long enough...Eyes: I used the pale pink and the green from Rimmel's colour rush quad overshadow in 016 urban flowers and elf's sage colour from their elements range. I lined my eyes in collection 2000's Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner, which I decided on as a replacement for my liner that got dropped earlier in the week... I then used Natural Collection LashCurl Mascara in black which is amazing, and I will get round to doing a review soon, I promise...

Face generally: Boots 17's BB cream which I love - it's so light on, for a start, and it does enough of a foundation job for me at the moment. Then my new Benefit Watt's Up highlighter, which is courtesy of britishbeautyblogger.com's giveaway. It's so amazing. Love the packaging as well - it looks like a lightbulb!
Then I used a really, really old Marks & Spencer blusher in Ginger, which I gaily went for with my total face brush and then realised I'd made a terrible mistake. Once I blended it out a bit though, and removed a little of the excess, it was fine. I then used the Natural Collection Moisture Shine Lipstick in Rose Bud, which I picked up in a 3 for £5 deal as my third item and never expected to like as much as I do - the colour is lovely, it's long lasting, it doesn't come off on glasses etc, and it really is moisturising. Plus it was only £1.99

Emergency, emergency!

Right, so, due to my liquid eyeliner (which has gone from never-used to loved in the space of less than two weeks) smashing all over my bathroom floor I have started in my quest for a new one.
Here are the top candidates:

An exact replacement
http://www.boots.com/en/17-Liquid-Eye-Liner_927276/
It's cheap and I know it works, but maybe I should be more adventurous...

Collection 2000 felt tip liner
http://www.boots.com/en/Collection2000-Extreme-24hfelt-tip-liner_1160659/ (the picture's wrong for some reason - don't know why, I did look on the superdrug site but they didn't have it at all)

Some other liner - I have hours to kill in town on Saturday so will probably spend forever browsing both superdrug and boots. Suggestions very welcome :)

FOTD: It's Showtime!

So tonight I have my first poetry gig in quite a while, and I thought I'd do a FOTD for it. It's in a pub, so fairly dark, and I need people to be able to see my face.
I started with my new Boots 17 Blemish Balm, which had £2 off and so was only £4.99 - Boots 17 seem to have an offer on all the foundation-type-things at the moment, by the way.

Next was eyeshadow, and I used my much neglected Max Factor Smoky Eye Effect Eyeshadow. It's what I bought as a present to myself in early December, at the end of Oxford interviews, and I love it. Apart from anything else, it's fairly foolproof, as the colours have been selected to go together perfectly. Then I lined my bottom lash line with my standby Photo Flawless Eye Pencil, and a thin line of liquid liner across the top lash line, as it'll be dark and I need the definition. Last for the eyes was mascara - Natural Collection's is all I have at the moment.

Then what has become my standard blusher, e.l.f. elements in 'shy', and to finish a swipe of Mirror Shine Lipstick in Belle - it really is a 'your lips but better' finish.

FOTD: Simple green eye

Originally I wasn't going to post this, but today at school one of my friends said she liked my eye make-up, which I took as a go ahead to share the look.

So here it is, and you have Sarah to blame if you don't like it, haha.

I think this took less than five minutes to do in total, which is always good for hurried school mornings. Another thing about it that was good for it being a school morning was that it only used three products, so there was no scrabbling around, and walking back and forth from my makeup shelf to my bathroom sink.

As always, I started with this moisturiser. I put it on as I got out of bed to let it sink in while I got dressed - this was a key time-saving thing. If I'd worn foundation today I would have paused halfway through dressing to put it on, to let that sink in while I finished getting dressed. This dramatically reduces the amount of time spent at my dressing table, and increases the amount of time I get to spend having breakfast!

First was my trusty Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil, this time in shade 031, Jungle Green. It blends so well. Love it. I put this across the top lash line, and halfway across the lower lash line, from the centre outwards. It then smudges slightly as I put the eyeshadow on.

Next was eyeshadow - I used my e.l.f. elements one in shade 'sage' - top left in the palette in this picture, and centre of the swatches - across the whole eyelid. Simple but nice.

I then used the blush - 'shy' - from this palette too, which I have really loved using over the past week, as it's just pigmented enough, but not too brash, looks natural on, and blends well.

And ta-da, the finished look! Those of you who've seen previous Faces Of The Day will notice I've had my hair cut. I decided that cost would win out, and went to Supercuts, and I'm actually really impressed. The stylist was efficient, nice, etc, and always asking if the cut was okay. She was chatty but not too much, and the salon was nice and clean. So yeah, good.

I then decided to add some lip colour, and I used Boots 17's Lasting Fix lipstick, in the shade 'Chocolate Eclair'.

It's alright, but I don't think it will be a repurchase. It has a tendency to go bright pink after a few hours...

But here was the look totally finished: