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?

Boots hair haul!

I needed a new hairbrush, as my hair takes forever to try so I thought a vented one would help my hairdrying efforts. This is especially important at the swimming pool, where the hairdryers are 20p for a set amount of time. As the 3 for 2 is still on, and I always want to get styling products but am scared off by the price, I thought I'd get two to try.

Boots Essentials Vented Brush - 4.39
VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame & Shine Spray - 3.69
VO5 Plump It Up Amplifying Blow Dry Lotion - 2.99 (free in the deal)
Total cost: 8.08

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.

Review - Sainsbury's 2 in 1 strawberry shampoo

At first glance, this review shouldn't belong on a 'serious, grown up' (though let's not lie, when am I ever serious or grown up) beauty blog. It's a £1.10 kids' combined shampoo and conditioner.

But I'll let you into a secret here: It's fab!

I only use this for holidays/ after swimming when I don't want the fuss of separate shampoo and conditioner, as it's more expensive than my standard shampoo and conditioner (this is £1.10 for 250ml, I'm a cheapskate, I know), but it's really good.

I first picked it up a couple of years ago for a holiday for which I had to pack really light, but decided it was much better than I expected.

It conditions hair really well, and the scent is lovely.

Packaging

This shampoo comes in a squeezy-ish bottle, which is fairly standard, but it has enough swagger to its shape that it's easy to keep a grip on when wet, and it fits into the hand fairly well. A minor thing, I know, but an important one. The only downside is that as the bottle is completely opaque it's impossible to know how much you have left in the bottle.

Does it live up to its promises?

Sainsbury's Strawberry 2in1 conditioning shampoo has a mild and gentle formula specially developed for your little monsters! Avoid bath time traumas - cleans and de-tangles in one easy step! Leaves hair feeling soft, shiny and smelling Berry-licious! Suitable for all hair types

Right, ignoring the slightly patronising tone and overexcited use of superfluous exclamation marks (I'll put the grammar nerd back in her box now, don't worry), by and large this shampoo does live up to what it promises to do. I have yet to get it in my eyes, and much as I love you guys, I'm not going to do that on purpose just to see what happens... It does de-tangle quite well, though. While my hair is quite short at the moment, it still tangles really easily, and this shampoo copes quite well - I remember it working well when I had long hair too.

It does definitely leave hair soft - I keep stroking my hair after I use this shampoo, and there's also a little something of the scent left (which is a really nice, fruity scent) even nearly two days after the wash. It doesn't leave hair particularly shiny, though, or at least not by itself. If you then blow-dry and straighten the hair it looks really shiny and lovely, but if you just towel-dry it, it isn't particularly shiny.

Who would like this product?

Anyone in a rush, or going to the gym/swimming pool, or packing light for a holiday. Also anyone who has difficult tangly hair.

Would I repurchase it?

I already have! I'm halfway through my second bottle, with the next ready and waiting.

And in other news....

I'm doing a one mile swim for Sport Relief on April 27th, and it would be very much appreciated if you could sponsor me, even just fifty pence - every little helps! In Bangladesh, many children lose their lives every year when monsoon season comes around because they can't swim - so Sport Relief are trying to raise money to teach them, so that they can escape the monsoon rain. Sponsor me here :)

What's your best surprise buy?

And have you done any form of sport for charity?

March Empties: Well, this is a bit of a letdown.

With all good intentions I set aside a bag at the start of March to put all my empties in... and I ended up with just one. Oh well, on with the show.

Dove Silk Glow Nourishing Body Wash - Full size (250 ml)

This was part of one of those Christmas gift sets (in this case it came with another shower gel and a shower puff). It is available for £2.29. Personally, though, I wouldn't rebuy it. It did help moisturise, and so on, but I like scented shower gels. Though, of course, if it were on offer and, say, Original Source, wasn't, then I would buy it.

Does the job, just... no more.