Filofax sale at WHSmiths!

WHSmiths have a great sale on at the moment. You might know that I'm a little obsessed with organisation, I'm moving up into a Personal size Filofax I think, and this sale is helping me do it - I'm getting the Songbird one http://www.whsmith.co.uk/filofax

FOTD: lazy lazy

Products used:
Collection Extreme 24H pen eyeliner
17 Photo Flawless Mascara
17 Nude Blusher
Rimmel 1000 Kisses Lipstain and balm

This was me trying to come up with the simplest, least scary look possible - a guy friend of mine professes to hate all make-up, so I thought I'd have a go at proving him wrong

FOTD: Family Day Out

Products used:
- Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation
- 17 Eyeshadow in Walnut Pearl and Funfair
- elf blush in Shy
- M&S blush in Ginger (discontinued)
- Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti

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