Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara | Review

I'm really quite fussy with mascaras, really only loving a handful of them. When I find one I love I don't let go until I'm basically scraping it from the edges. Maybelline's newest - is it their newest? - mascara is my new love. 
I looks the same as any other Maybelline mascara does, the packaging is the same shape but the wand is different from the others - I think the wand is maybe the only thing that changes with these... 

The wand is a sturdy rubbery wand, that's slightly curved with both long and short bristles  - so it really gets in there grabbing all the lashes! 
I've found that with this mascara I only need one coat - it gives a really nice dark, thick and long looking lash. Everything I want and more from a mascara! 

Not Another Boots Haul

I keep telling myself I'm not going to spend anymore money, and almost as soon as the thought has occurred it seems to get chucked out my brain by the compulsive shopper in me. I'm telling myself this was an okay shop as I'm pretty sure the whole thing came to less than £8 due to most of it being clearance. Does the items being reduced mean theres something wrong with them? 

I've been meaning to try the Naked shampoo range for ages - I first noticed them when I was working in Boots back in October, they were a talking point for a few other people that worked there. None of us had tried them but all of us agreed that we wanted to. I'm not sure how much these are full price but I bought this one for £1.50, I mean how could I turn my nose up at that? This is the Naked Detox Peppermint and Sorrel Leaf 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner. It smells fairly nice, I don't smell much of the peppermint - I get more of a herbally grassy kind of smell. I don't think this will get used everyday, maybe once or twice a week as it is basically just a cleansing shampoo to get rid of build up. Its free from Sulphates, parabens and petrochemicals. So yeah, its good for your hair...

I think this was also £1.50, I'm such an impulse buyer. I think I only really bought this because I was of the impression that John Frieda is quite expensive. Just me trying to justify being a spendaholic. This is the Strength and Restore Shampoo, it claims to give your hair strength without weighing it down. Loads of shampoos seem to have on them now something along the lines of "doesn't weigh hair down". This is for breakage prone hair, this is something I definitely have. I have stupidly oily roots with really really dry split ends. When my hairs at its worst I can tug at the ends and the hair just snaps off. Joy. Maybe this will strengthen my hair - even if its just a wee bit. Its safe for coloured hair so I'll be safe with this then. 

 I love Boots Botanics range, I've tried a few parts from them and I'd been meaning to get a moisturiser from their range for awhile. And now I have one! And I only shelled out £1.75 for it! Bargain, yaaaaas! I'll be interested to see how long this controls my shine for - my Origins one doesn't give much shine control, which is a shame as its so lovely.  

I think I only bought this because it was on a deal and I had a triple points voucher. Actually, no, I'm 100% certain thats the only reason why I bought it. I don't need another mascara, this will most possibly just sit in a drawer until I eventually get to it, I've got more than 10 mascaras - and theres no need for that. 

Fingers crossed there wont be another haul of any kind for a little while, I'm jobless and fast becoming penniless. 

★

YSL Babydoll Mascara | Review

I had said a few months ago I would never pay more than about £12 for a mascara - well it appears I may have lied. I was scrolling through FeelUniques sale one night and came across YSL Baby doll mascara and eye makeup remover in a little set for £20.83. I really wasn't sure about getting it - its a lot of money for a mascara, I had also never read a review about it before so I didn't actually know how it looked on the lashes. Like any normal human being I decided to ask Twitter what to do - totally sane and rational right? A fair few girls told me it was an amazing mascara - but dries out fairly quickly. I'm hoping mine doesn't dry out quickly cause if I love it then its going to be a fairly expensive thing to love. A girl I went to school with, has this mascara and showed me a picture of it on her lashes. It looked amazing - basically as soon as I saw how it looked I bought it.

It came a couple of days later, Feel Unique are incredibly fast with delivery. Oh and their delivery is free! The mascara came in a beautiful gold box and was housed in a black felt type plastic container. The box seems to pretty to throw away, but it will save space to get rid of it.

The skinny gold tube with the red babydoll text on it looks super sleek and classy. The wand I believe is plastic, and the little bristles look really tiny - I've found in the past little bristles can be either really good or absolutely rubbish. There never seems to be an in-between.
First time using it I was blown away, it made my lashes look really dark, full and long. It also gave them an incredibly good curl without even using a curler! Since 99% of the time I wear glasses, I always judge how my lashes look behind my frames - sometimes they can look fab without my specs but as soon as they go behind my frames the beauty of them goes as well. Not with this though - both with and without my glasses on my lashes look amazing. I think I love this just as much as my YVES Rocher one. I find it kind of incredible - my lashes sort of look like I've got false ones on? I think I may be in love with this false eye look mascara - its my new baby.
I usually have one section of my lashes that just doesn't want to co-operate, but Babydoll fixes that. I've gotten myself in to quite an expensive love affair. My eyes look bigger and better when wearing this - I really wish I could show you a picture, but I just couldn't get a picture to show how good it looked!

Have you tried Babydoll? 

★

Not another sales haul | Urban Outfitters, FeelUnique.com

So I shopped the sales - again. This was all basically online things - so I did have to wait for this stuff to arrive. 
A couple of weeks ago I went to Urban Outfitters and the skirt I really wanted they didn't have in my size - so of course I had to go online and buy it there. But y'know it seems a waste to only buy one thing, so like any sane and reasonable person I picked up a few things. 

The skirt I got is this beautiful blue and green tartan print with flowers on it as well - I really love the zip detail on these skirts - I think I now have 3 or 4 skirts like this one. I just need to find some tops to wear with them. This skirt is in a small - gotta love UO sizing - and was £18 down from £35(I think).

I love Urban Outfitters jewellery, but it is rather expensive full priced - so what better time to get some than during a sale? This pack of 3 earrings was originally £10, but was reduced to about £4. They are quite cute, and simple. I don't wear earrings nearly enough so having these nice ones might encourage me to wear them more. The pack has silver v's, gold triangles and rose gold squares. 

I also got this ring from the site. I bought this ring thinking it was a midi ring - which I'm pretty sure the pictures on the website showed it as being, and got it in a S/M since I do have small fingers. It was around £3 in the sale so I thought the price was pretty good. When it arrived though it was huuuuge - they had sent me out a M/L! I'm hoping to get this exchanged for a smaller size - if not then I'll just get a refund. I unfortunately don't think I'll get a smaller one as their site is all sold out. 

When my new storage unit comes - this little guy is taking prime place on top of it. How cute is this owl tea light holder?! I spotted it months ago - but didn't fancy the £18 price tag that came with it. So when I saw it in the sale section of the website it took me all of about 2 seconds to add it to my basket. I believe he cost me £7-8 - still a little high - but it injects a little colour to my plain black and white room. I thought it would be a lot small than it actually is - its rather large.... 

Next up, Feel Unique. I went through their website quite a few times before finally finding a few things that I'd really love to try.

I didn't order much from Feel Unique since there wasn't really much that caught my eye - but two things did. The less exciting of the two being the Badger Sleep Balm - I really really struggle to fall asleep at night and I've wanted to try sleeping aids for awhile. So when I saw this I decided to give it a go - I had wanted to try things by This Works, but this was slightly cheaper so seemed the better starting point. It cost me £5.59 - in hindsight not a huge deal cheaper than the This Works set I could have got from Space NK - and there is just over 50g of product. It is a really thick balm, than melts slightly when you rub it. It smells quite nice, and does actually make me feel a bit tired for a few seconds after sniffing. They say "The soothing scent of Lavender and Bergamont will help you relax before sleep", they also suggest rubbing a thin layer under your nose, on the lips, on temples and any other pulse points. I'll let you know how I get on with this and if it does indeed help me fall asleep quicker. 

I finally caved in and bought myself the YSL Babydoll mascara - I think in a YouTube video a couple of weeks ago I said that I would never buy myself a high end mascara because of the price and the length of time they last. Well yeah, I lied.  This gift set, containing the mascara and their eye make-up remover cost less than the mascara on its own did. Being the logical person that I am - I decided that this was a massive bargain and therefore - after asking twitter about it, ofc - I must have it. It cost me a rather hefty £20.83 - next time I'll use my boots points I think. But I have been told it is worth every penny you pay and I can't wait to see how it works. 

Last up - not actually sale items but I felt I absolutely must include them. Its the L'Oreal #TXT styling sprays. I bought both ones that Morrisons stocked - I think there's another member of the #TXT family. I got the Volume Supersizing Spray and the Wave Creating Spray. Recently my hair has been a bit, bleugh and I've desperately wanted to do something to give a bit more life and va va voom. Hopefully these will help, I think the wave spray was about £1.80 and the volume one around £3.30.

Have you tried any of the products I mentioned? 

  ★

Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara Review

Awhile back, I was browsing ASOS (what else is a girl meant to do when bored?) and noticed that Rimmel items were discounted. It was then I decided to add the Retro Glam mascara to my basket and buy it - without doing any research on it (something I usually do). When it came I just put it aside as my absolute favourite mascara - YVES Rocher Sexy Pulp - hadn't ran out yet. It was when a uni friend said that she had heard bad things about it that I put it even further into my collection. I've never done a negative review before because I generally tend to do a lot of Googleing on a product before finally picking it up - that is probably where I went wrong with this. But I suppose there are going to be a few bag eggs here and there - it helps you find the superb eggs.

Recently my Sexy Pulp started to run out - and since the Glam eyes one had a similar brush I decided to start trying it out. The first thing I noticed was it was very wet, other bloggers said it maybe just needed to dry out and then I might like it. After it started to dry out, I noticed it started to clump - for me any mascara that is really bad with clumps is a huge no no. I could at first forget the clumps - it gave a really good voluminous finish - all be it my lashes looked fake because of how dark they looked. It was when I noticed how much the mascara flaked that I decided I just couldn't use it any more. I had only used it for about 2 weeks and it got really really dry so so quickly - I can imagine you would need to repurchase this really often.   

I'm sorry if this post seems a little bit ranty or rambly ( its 1:20 am and I'm buzzing off energy drink after work). My next review will hopefully be a positive one.

Whats your favourite mascara, I'm in the market for a new one. 

★

Tiny Little Boots Haul | Bourjois

The other day I was on my way to work and in the rush I forgot to apply make-up, when I got to Boots (that's were I work) I decided to buy myself some foundation and a mascara - I needed a new one since the one I use just now is pretty rubbish.

After reading so much about Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation I decided to give it a go - I wasn't sure if it was the right thing for my skin type. But I bit the bullet and went for it anyway. I went for the healthy mix serum, I got it in the shade 51 - I think that is the lightest shade they sell. I've worn this a couple of times and so far I like it quite a lot. I think I'll do a review later on it.

I picked up a mascara from Bourjois as well since they were having a free gift with purchase over £15.The one I bought was the Volume Glamour Ultra Colour mascara. I've stuck to the same mascara for over a year so I was a little overwhelmed by all the options, this one looked pretty decent and I'm really glad I bought it! My left eye lashes never look very good compared to my right ones but this makes both sets of lashes look amazing - they look fanned out and thick. So pretty.

The gift was the Iconic Glam set - it contained: a full sized Effet 3D lipgloss, Volume Glamour Max Holidays Mascara, full sized So Laque Ultra Shine nail Enamel and a full sized smoky eyes trio. All of this is apparently worth £29, its such a good deal.
You also get inside the box a £2 off voucher for any mascara or eye shadow - so if I'm going out to buy another mascara or shadow I'll get a little off it.
The Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Holiday mascara has a big fluffy brush, it looks like it will be amazing to use and I can't wait to try it out. The Smoky shadow trio looks really lovely as well - the colours look really pretty but they aren't colours that I usually wear (I don't tend to go for a dark/black smoky eye).
The Effet 3D lipgloss is a lovely pink colour, its not sticky and it smells quite nice - I'm going to try wearing it some more - maybe making up the entire look?
The nail polish I haven't yet tried properly yet - it is a pretty pink - hot pink? - and has a really high gloss finish. The polish dries really quickly and you only need one coat to have a really good colour.

Have you tried any of these products? 

★

Starting Off: Mascara

The final catch up post is all about Mascara. This is one of the few things I wear on a daily basis, for me mascara is a absolute must have in my make-up routine. Apart from foundation it is the only other thing I really wear on a daily basis.

For most people mascara is one of the first things people buy when starting out in make-up. Mascara doesn't take much time to apply and you can't really get it wrong, it can really transform how your face looks. On a day to day basis I tend to only wear foundation and mascara since I don't tend to have time for anything else. 

As far as I'm aware there are only water proof and non water proof liquid mascaras - I could be wrong. I don't own a water proof mascara as I just don't feel I need one. For me one coat of mascara is enough, other people prefer to go in with a couple more coats - its all down to the desired look you want. I'm very picky with mascara - I've not changed the type of mascara I use for over a year - at least not on the long term. I love the look of thick, fluffy, long lashes. 

The most popular mascara colour I would say is black, shortly followed by brown. Some brands do offer coloured mascaras, I don't see the appeal but I know that some people do like the look of blue or purple mascaras. 

To remove mascara I use a couple of different ways, one being eye make-up remover. Its simple and easy, put a little on a cotton pad and wipe away. I use the Garnier Fresh Essentials Grape eye make-up remover, it smells lovely and takes my mascara off after just one wipe. You could also use bioderma, make-up wipes or even a facial wash that removes mascara. 

My absolute all time favourite mascara is by YVES Rocher and it is their Sexy Pulp mascara. I've had mine for almost a year and its only just beginning to dry out now. Since that is the only mascara that I absolutely love, I can't really say about the other ones I love. 

Whats your favourite mascara?

★

Little ASOS make-up haul

So many hauls recently, can I call this a haul since there are only three items? Anyway, I made a little impulse buy, a couple of days before my spending ban started.

 I've been looking for a new mascara for quite awhile, and this one has a similar brush to the one I currently use - but its a fair bit cheaper. The Rimmel Scandaleyes Retro Glam mascara has a big brush and I can't wait to use it.

I never used to really care about how my eye brows looked, so I never really did much to them. I have recently though been trying to take better care of them, and make them look a bit nicer. I got the Lord and Berry eyebrow pencil, since it was a decent price and it looked like it could be quite good. I got the colour Brunette since it looked closest to my colour, although it looks a little light now that I have it. 

I've went from being a girl who only ever had one foundation to a girl that has quite a few different ones. The newest addition to the family is this Lord and berry one, I got this in the lightest shade possible - since I am fairly pale. It looks to be a pretty good match to my skin colour. I was a little surprised at the size of the bottle when it arrived - it seems really small - especially since it costs £19. Oops, oh well. It better be some foundation.

Do you own any of these items, what do you think of them?

★ 

Maybelline | The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara

Maybelline mascaras are always talked of rather fondly, or at least I think they are. In the past I have found them OK, nothing special. But a few months ago they brought out "The Rocket" and I adore this! I don't usually switch from mascaras, but when I find one I like more I completely forget about the other ones I own. This was certainly the case with this mascara. I used to use YVES Rocher Sexy Pulp mascara, and I think I bought two or three tubes of it, safe to say I loved it, but after using the Rocket I put sexy pulp to the back of my drawer.

 The Rocket gives amazing volume to your lashes, doesn't clump and makes your lashes look super long. What more could you ask for in a mascara? Oh, I know what else you could want from a fantabulous mascara. It to be affordable! And of course it is, it is £7.99 full price, but you can often get it at a lower price at boots.

When I first saw the wand I was a little sceptical, the bristles looked small and not like they would catch your lashes. How wrong I was, they grab your lashes and don't let go till they look heavenly. The Rocket fell from heaven and landed in stores to save our lashes and out bank accounts. 

The Rocket is the most wonderful mascara, its everything I could ask for - and more.

Have you tried this yet? Or have you got a mascara that you simply couldn't live without?

 ★