Millie Mackintosh Belgravia lashes

I've got really small eyes. I've mentioned (moaned) about it many a time, and for someone who loves make-up it is my biggest annoyance and restriction. 

At the weekend, my sisters and I all went up to the O2 arena to indulge our guilty pleasure....Girls Aloud (excuse for a cheeky picture I'd say)....

Going to see Girls Aloud calls for one thing....unashamed glamour.  And you can't do  glamour without false eyelashes.  And here my small eyes cause me a problem.  There isn't much of a distance between my lashline and my eyebrow, and my eyes are quite deep set which means you don't see much of my eyelid when my eye is open.  This means I cannot pull off lashes that are too long, as they just look ridiculous.  Thing is, you can easily trim eyelashes width-wise, but trimming the length is a whole new world of trickiness. 

Practically all fake eyelashes I've tried are too long.  There's a fine line between glam and drag queen, and most of my experiences fall into the latter, purely because the lash completely dominates my eye rather than enhances it.  I can't use any of those lashes which are mega thick at the lashline, as it just makes my eye look like a big black blob.

Basically I want to look like this.....

But end up looking like this.....

So ever in the search for the ideal lash for a tiny eye, I decided to try the new offering by Made in Chelsea's Millie Mackintosh.  I figured, based on her look, they might be quite natural and I liked the idea they're not synthetic.  I picked her Belgravia lashes which are meant to be her 'everyday' lash.  They're brown but this isn't a problem as I put mascara on them anyway.

When they arrived they looked a really good density -thick but natural - exactly what you want from a false eyelash in my opinion. But they looked BIG.  

They come with a glue, a guide to application and some mini tweezers - a cute extra that makes them feel quite luxury and sets them apart from the rest of the products on the market.

I had to cut 6 lash bundles off to fit my eye.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing as I often keep the cut offs to wear on the corner of my eyes for a flirty, feline eye.

 

The application was standard and the glue was good, nice and sticky, dried clear and stayed put for 10 hours through train journeys, cocktails, shopping and lots of screaming and dancing.  But the lashes themselves looked terrible on me. They were so long.  I looked like an absolute drag queen.  I ended up having to trim the length, which always ruins the look as you lose the 'feathery' edge for a blunt even one.  Not a good look.  I was gutted as the lashes had a really good density and were super light to wear.  I also agree with Millie's suggestion that (looked after properly) these could be re-worn several times.  If you can pull off more dramatic, longer fake lashes then I would definitely recommend these for wearability, staying power, and style.  I particularly liked the density, which was very reminiscent of naturally thick eyelashes, and you can tell they aren't synthetic as they are so light and delicate - much like real lashes. 

 But for small eyes like mine, even Millie's natural offering is just too much. Hmph. 

Catastrophe Cosmetic face mask - Lush

I've not dabbled much in the past with face masks, mainly due to having very sensitive skin.  But my younger sister has recently developed an obsession with Lush products and bought me their Catastrophe Cosmetic mask.  It is meant for skin going through a bit of a crisis (yeah, cheers Rach!) which at the moment mine isn't really doing.  But as with most Lush products it was fresh and so had to be used in 3 weeks, so use it I did....

The mask comes in the usual black pot typical of all Lush products.  Take 5 empties back and you'll get a free mask. It retails at £5.75 and I have easily got about 5 generous applications out of it.  Bear in mind though that you're under time constraint (it is so fresh you're even meant to keep it in the fridge).

The consistency is lumpy as it has got bits of real blueberry in it (allegedly) and the smell is lovely - blueberry with just a hint of Lush's usual aromatherapy type scent.  It isn't the easiest mask to apply - it is like spreading clay and the bits often drop off making it a bit messy.  You need quite a thick layer and it dries after about 7 minutes.

I left mine on for ten minutes then washed it off.  My skin did feel tight after and I did need to moisturise heavily but if it is meant to sort spots it has to have some form of drying property.  It didn't sting or itch, which for my skin is unusual and a big plus!

The results are hard to pin down.  As I said, my skin wasn't in crisis so it can't be criticised for not doing what it said on the tin (or..pot). My skin didn't look improved but it did feel calmer.  It is definitely a mask that feels like you are pampering your skin, but I didn't notice much visual difference. 

I did get a couple of spot flare ups and applied the mask just on these, and it did kill some of the redness.  But generally I wouldn't repurchase this unless perhaps my skin really started misbehaving and needed some SOS.  One bonus is definitely that I didn't react to it, so it is definitely one to keep in mind if my skin takes a turn for the worst.  But for general use, it is a 'nope' from me.