Benefit They're Real mascara - A review

If you've read my blog posts before you'll know that when it comes to make-up, mascara is my holy grail product.  My eyes are small, and my eyelashes are stubby, and without mascara I pretty much look like a little mole who has just seen sunlight for the first time.

I've dabbled with other mascaras in the past, but I have a firm old faithful in Maxfactor's 2000 Calorie.  I love that mascara ... nothing volumises and lengthens my little stubbies like the 2000 Calorie, and because of this, I can be pretty dismissive of most other mascaras on the market.  If people recommend products to me, I'm out there in Boots before I've even reached the bottom of the blog post, but with mascara it just doesn't happen.

I've seen a LOT of stuff on the internet about Benefit's You're Real mascara.  It has got some impressive rave reviews from heavyweight bloggers, but the £19.50 price tag has always put me off.  My 2000 Calorie is £6.99, so in my head I'm thinking I don't want to get attached to something more than twice the price.  Ignorance can sometimes be bliss with these mega expensive products.

But then a girl I work with started using it, and she is a bit of a mascara junkie too.  And then she bought a mini sample in for me....and it was all over.

When I first pulled the mascara wand out, I was like "oh hi plastic comb type brush, I can tell we are not going to get on already".  I have a bit of a hatred for plastic comb type brushes as I just never find them volumising, and I never think they load my lashes as much as I want.  But as I started using it, I couldn't deny that this little plastic comb wand was GOOD.  It didn't take too long to build up a decent coverage, but the thing I loved about this was that it somehow managed to volumise but keep my lashes nicely separated.  The result was that my lashes looked really "pretty" and fluttery.  It was a lash effect that, I'll be honest, I'd never managed to achieve before.  They were thick and black but still delicate.

Soooo a full size purchase was made and I happily parted with my £19.50 safe in the knowledge I was now going to be a fluttery eyelash girl.

But a fluttery eyelash girl I am not.  I can hands down say that this mascara turned out to be SUCH a disappointment.  I am not quite sure what happened - whether the sample was a slightly different formula (unlikely) or whether the larger mascara dried out quicker - but either way, this mascara went on SO badly.

It is so hit and miss!  I start applying it and I'm starting to get my fluttery lashes and then bam! I have three eyelashes left.  You know the effect I mean, where the mascara sticks all your lashes together and however much you wiggle that damn wand and try and separate them out, you're left with just three spikey lashes.  It's how my lashes go if I cry with mascara on and I hate it.  The first time this happened I was thinking maybe I went in too heavy handed.  The second time it happened I thought maybe I still had to practice my application a bit.  But this literally happens 95% of the time that I use this mascara.  I do get right into the root of the lashline and wiggle wiggle wiggle with my wand, but those damn lashes wont separate out. It also dries quite quick and once it is dry it goes so rigid that you cannot go in with any more coats.  Once it is dry it's all over.  I'm pretty sure that die hard fans of this mascara will be muttering away about bad application, and yes, it could very well be that.  But I'm not a rich little lady, and I can't keep whacking out £19.50 to practice with a mascara that just ain't doing it for me.

The tricky thing is, if you're reading this and trying to decide whether to buy it, I'd have to say you need to buy one and give it a go, because products like these don't get cult followings for nothing.  But if you try it and you end up with three crispy lashes then you're not alone, you can join my club (and maybe go out and buy the 2000 calorie!).

All about eyeliner

Since I last blogged, the eye products in my makeup bag have undergone a bit of an overhaul.  It wasn't intentional.  Up until about a couple of months ago, I was more than happy using my faithful old Maybelline gel eyeliner pot with my Zoeva fine liner bent brush.  Yes, my eyeliner sometimes went on better some days compared to others, but I just figured that was how eyeliner worked. 

Then I purchased a magazine...aaaand it came with a free Eyeko skinny liquid eyeliner.  I didn't buy the magazine for the eyeliner and I didn't really have any intention of using it, but that little cosmetics freak inside me couldn't help but have a little intrigued "ooo what's this".

 

So, here is the Eyeko Skinny liner photographed above and you can see it is (dum dum dummmm) a felt tip pen.  Traditionally, I've been a massive snob towards pen eyeliners.  I think they dry out wayyyy too quickly, and I used to use one back in sixth form before I (after years of practice) mastered a gel eyeliner.  In my head they were something you used if you hadn't yet graduated to the world of gel eyeliner.  and I had.

 

First things first, I just want to say that I wasn't impressed with the Eyeko liner.  I'd have ben gutted if I had actually spent money on it, and safe to say it's currently mooching around somewhere at the bottom of my make up box, probably never to be seen again.

 

But it was the ease of application that took me by surprise.  The nib was tapered to a very thin point and had a good mix between sturdy and flexible, meaning I could get right into my lash line and achieve a good even thin line.

 

The second thing I loved about this was how fuss-free it was.  The lazy little hobbit inside me absolutely loved that there was no brush cleaning needed.  I hate cleaning my eyeliner brushes.  I'm always in a rush and there's that annoying point where you're like "damnit I need to clean it so the bristles don't splay, but wow I can't be bothered."  The pen had none of this.  It had a lid, and lids I can do.

 

Downsides of this eyeliner though, in my opinion, was the major problem that this dried out...constantly.  My first eye would be all strong, black, inky line and then my second eye would literally be like "hello?"  You know when you were a kid and your felt tip pens ran out and went all faded before you'd finished colouring in your picture?  Well this is what this eyeliner was like. Every. Time.  The next day when I'd come back to it, the 'ink' (I call it ink, I mean the eyeliner) was flowing fine again, but one eye down and we're back to a pathetic faded line.  Not good.  I'm not sure if it's because mine was a free sample, but either way, I thought this was bad.

 

But nevertheless, it peaked my interest and less than a few days later and oh hello!

 

 

Enter into my life, the L'Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim.  I'd seen this given glowing reviews by Youtube make-up gurus such as Tanya Burr, so I thought I'd give it a punt.  At £5.99 it wasn't a bank breaker.

 

And oh my, I can now stand up and proudly say I am a felt tip eyeliner convert.  This liquid eyeliner is so good.  You can see (sort of) from the photo that the nib is quite long, tapered to a very fine point and I can confirm it is the perfect mix of sturdy and flexible.

 

I find this such a breeze to apply.  The nib gets right into the lash line and gives such a fine line that you can do a really subtle eyeliner effect that I haven't really ever managed with the gel eyeliner.  Yes, this does do that annoying pen eyeliner thing, where it spits out tiny 'branches' sometimes where you have eye wrinkles or creases, but its massively improved on the old pen eyeliners I used to use and it's barely noticeable.

 

The intensity of the colour is awesome, and this pen hasn't dried out on me once.  It's still going strong and I bought it over a month ago.  You don't get any of that frustrating brush splaying that you get with gel eyeliner, and no cleaning!! Hoorah!

 

I recently introduced by Mum to liquid eyeliner and she started off with the gel eyeliner and found it so difficult to control.  I bought her one of these and she loves it, so I'd definitely recommend this product to both the seasoned professional and to the beginners out there.   I don't think it will stop me using gel eyeliner as sometimes you just need that gel effect, but it's definitely a fantastic alternative and so much quicker and easier.  If you're a gel convert I'd implore you to give it a go, you may surprise yourself.

 

 

 



MAC Prep & Prime CC powder in 'Neutralise'

So I've owned this product for well over a couple of months now, and to be honest, I've been putting off blogging about it.

This was a massive impulse buy from the MAC store in Norwich - I didn't even need a new pressed powder at the time and to be honest, as my skin is extremely dry, powder isn't really my bag.

This cost me £20.00 in store, and it was definitely the colour that made me get my purse out and buy it.  Regular followers of my blog will know I am a massive fan of yellow-toned make-up products for the face, and this is specifically marketed as a yellow-based 'neutralising' product.

 

It's part of MAC's colour correcting range, which also offers powders and beauty balms in a violet toned colour, a peachy toned colour and an apricot colour.  They work on the 'colour wheel' basis, and are designed to neutralise different colour imbalances in your complexion.

I often find that a lot of high street foundations have quite a pink/orange undertone to them, and I struggle to find decent yellow-based foundations for a bargain price.  Having said that, the coverage and application of them can be really good, so it's frustrating when the colour range is so limited.  So my thinking behind this product was that I could use it to neutralise some of my more pinky-based foundations where I love the coverage but hate the tone.

Sounds simple enough....

But, as I have found with a lot of yellow-based 'neutralising' products, this just didn't really deliver for me.  First thing's first, the powder itself is everything you would expect from MAC.  It is soft, it loads really easily onto a decent powder brush, and it has an almost creamy quality to it.  I can also vouch for the fact it doesn't cling to the drier areas of my skin, although I do get a bit of a tight, mask-like feel when I first apply it.  I normally have to spritz my face with some facial mist just to make my skin feel a bit more comfortable again.  But as I said, my skin is super dry.

The let down for me though is definitely with the colour - which ironically is what the product is meant to be all about.  I just don't get any yellow from it.  I dusted half my face in my Bourjois powder, and my other half in the MAC powder, and to be honest there was barely a difference.  I tried photographing it but couldn't get a good representation.  I think it does neutralise the face out a tiny bit, but nothing groundbreaking.  I found a similar thing with Clinique's yellow powder - it just didn't give me much yellow.  This might be because I'm quite light in my application of the product, given that a) I don't need much mattifying and b) I do have very dry skin.  If you load this product on then you mayyyy get slightly more of a colour pay off. 

The main reason I've been putting off blogging this product though, is because I do use it everyday.  It's totally relegated my Bourjois powder, which I previously swore by.  But I just cannot tell how much of it is because it is just a nice, creamy MAC powder, or because I actually like the tone it gives my skin.  I'm going to be massively torn when it comes to repurchasing, because I don't think I'd necessarily recommend it to a friend, but then I'm worried I may be underestimating how much it actually works.  I think I thought I'd get a real 'Simpsons' colour out of it, but if it does neutralise, then it does it verrrrrry subtley.

So I think this is going to be one of those annoying blog posts, where if you are torn as to whether to buy it, this probably isn't massively going to help.  Some pointers I can give you - don't worry about avoiding it if you have dry skin, I think dry skinnies can get away with it.  Don't be scared by the colour, it's subtle.  Reeeeal subtle.  And if you're looking for a good powder, you can do a lot worse than this.  But if you're looking for major yellow neutralisation, I think you're going to be a tad disappointed.  I am. I think...



Smashbox Brow Tech "Blonde" & Revlon Brow Fantasy "Dark Blonde" & Soap and Glory Archery "Love is Blonde"

Ooo yes, let's talk brows.  Up until a few months ago, 'doing' my brows was never part of my make-up routine.  I did pluck to prevent any stragglers, but other than that, they were generally left wild and free.

 

It wasn't until I had a particularly over-zealous plucking session, and took off far too much of my inner brow.  In a panic, I went in search of a brow pencil to rectify the bald patch I now had, and I found an old one in my Mum's make-up bag.  I'm talking SO old that I can't even tell you the make, as it had long rubbed off.  My Mum is also darker than me so the pencil was a deep brown, and I'll be honest, when I tentatively went in with light feathery strokes, I was expecting a make-up distaster of Greek tragedy proportions.

 

But to cut a long story short, it did kind of work, and I enjoyed the 'neatness' the pencil brought to my eye brow.  It finished my eye area off a bit, and looked more polished.

 

So.  Off I went in search of a more suitable brow product for myself.

 

As I said, brows are a WHOLE new concept to me, so I was a bit of a fish out of water.  I did a lot of blog trawling and the basic message I was getting was that blonde brows are a nightmare to colour match, and basically trial & error was the only way to go.

 

So!  3-4 months down the line, I've tried four brow products, two of which I didn't think to photograph before they ran out which I'm SO annoyed with myself about, so it's going to be official photos of those I'm afraid.

 

Right.  First up was Soap & Glory's Archery in "Love is Blonde" £10.00

 

 

To date, on my brow journey, this has probably been my most successful purchase.  I was drawn to the double ended design, as it has a crayon one end and a felt tip the other, and I didn't know whether I'd be a crayon or a felt tip kinda girl.  So what a marvellous way to try both!

 

The felt tip end, for me, didn't really do much.  It has SUCH a fine nib and the actual ink (is that what you'd call it!?) is really pale and watery.  It added a nice gloss to my brows, but as for filling them in...I didn't really think this did much.  But again, I am a brow novice, I might be missing the point...

 

But the crayon end..oo la la I'm a fan.  The colour was pretty much perfect for my brows...which are an ashy dark blonde I'd say.  I don't dye them or do anything to blend them with my uber blonde hair, so they're my natural hair colour.  So yeah, mousey, ashy, dirty blonde.

 

The crayon consistency isn't ideal in my opinion.  I found it to break off into little crumbly bits quite easily and its not particuarly soft or creamy.  It's quite hard and almost brittle, and you have it give it a good old rub to get decent colour pay-off.  But the colour makes this a winner hands down for me, as it isn't orange-y in the slightest and looks mega natural when on.  At £10 it is bit steep purely because you only get about 2cm of crayon so it runs out quite quickly.  It also isn't the world's most amazing product, it's just the colour that I think will appeal to a lot of ashy blondes out there.

 

OK next up iiiiis.....Smashbox Brow Tech in Blonde £17.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

This teeeeeeny tiny little brow product is a whopping £17 and I only bought it because of a Boots deal that was running over Christmas.  When it arrived, I was like ohhh my god it is SO small (0.7g to be exact).

  It comes with two brow powder sections and one larger brow wax bit. 

 

This was my first foray into the land of brow powder, and I had to buy a slanted brow brush for E.L.F. as well so I could apply it.

 

Now again, with this one, I would 100% recommend the colour to my blonde ladies out there.  It's such a gentle colour with an ashy undertone, and you get two shades in the pot which compliment each other really well. 

 

I also found the powder to be soft, very long lasting, and it covers your brows really evenly.  For a novice, I found the whole application of this product SO easy, and I think it's ideal for people who just want to fill in sparse brows.

 

But if you're looking (like me) for a just a small bit of shaping or 'neatening' from your brow product, then I'd say this isn't worth the price tag.  The powder nature of it means the overall effect on the brow is soft.  It didn't give me nice clean lines, and so whilst it gave a lovely 'natural' look, if I was going for a more graphic eye,I just felt I needed more precision.

 

And as with the felt tip nib of the Soap and Glory one, I have to confess the brow wax in this one....ABSOLUTELY no idea how you're supposed to use it.  I tried applying it using the brush and it went on super thick, you could blatently see it, and it didn't exactly tame my brows that well.  I tried my finger, no joy.  I tried an old mascara wand (cleaned up) and I couldn't get the product out of the pot as the wand just kept knocking the plastic edges.  Argh it was so frustrating!!  So the wax is a no for me.  Again...I'm probably applying it using the wrong tools or something, but oh well.

 

So my disastrous attempt at brow wax, led me to buy MAC's "Brow Set" gel in clear £13.00 

 

My brows being unruly is definitely one of my "brow issues" so I thought maybe Mac's gel could tame them.  Sorry for the generic photo from the site, but although my gel is still very much going, it's now gone a manky brown colour, and wasn't worthy of a blog pic.

 

Now this gel...hmm...what to say about it.  It has a very satisfying squelch  sound when you pull the wand out!  The wand is a standard mascara type design, and if I'm honest, I'd prefer a slightly smaller one to be able to get along the shape of my brows easier.

 

I do find that this smooths my brows down, and keeps them in place pretty well throughout the day.  It doesn't dry crispy and you can't tell you're wearing it (in a good way, not a bad way).  But I can't help but wonder if a high street dupe could do just as well.  Not that I can find a high street dupe.  I was hoping Collection or Rimmel or someone might do one, but I cannot find any!  The only one I can find is a clear mascara from Natural Collection and this dries hoooorrrrribly.  So maybe you do have to pay the MAC price tag to get this product.

 

It also lasts well, I use it pretty much everyday and have had it over 4 months, and it is still well over half full.  I guess the proof on this one will be in the repurchase.

 

 

Which brings me onto my most recent purchase...Revlon's Brow Fantasy in Dark Blonde. £6.99

 

 

 This caught my eye for two reasons....the brow gel (cheaper alternative to MAC??) and the colour, which looked pretty good.

 

The design is double ended, with a brow gel on one end with a mascara wand type applicator, and a brow pencil the other end.

 

First thing's first, the brow pencil is so soft and creamy.  It was a joy to apply and felt a lot more high end than a £6.99 product.  But alas!!  The colour!  For some reason when I applied this, it looked dreadful.  The pencil had some kind of red/golden undertone which meant it clashed with my natural brow colour and was sooo obvious as it was a completely different colour.  I despise 'obvious brow filling in' and this was a classic example of it.  I'm gutted as I think if the colour was right, this product would be a real little gem.

 

I'm going to continue to use up the gel end, as the tint is barely noticeable and the wand is slightly smaller than the MAC one, and it would be a waste just to dump it due to the pencil end.  And once again, the gel pretty much does what it says on the tin, much like the MAC gel. But all in all, a massive disappointment for me I'm afraid.

 

I swatched the Revlon pencil against the Smashbox powders below, and you can see the difference in undertone really clearly.

Revlon on the left, Smashbox on the right

 

 So..my brow journey continues.  What I'm desperate to find is a decent, soft/creamy brow pencil in a gentle ash blonde. Something I can get some precision out of.

 

If any one has ANY recommendations at all, then this straggly browed blogger would love to hear them..



Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream & Maybelline Superstay Better Skin & Vichy Dermablend Fluid Corrective Foundation

 

 

If there is one thing I'm a sucker for in the cosmetic world, it's 100% a foundation.  I literally crave flawless skin, and since genetics and a penchant for chocolate means my natural complexion is pretty manky, foundation has had to become my best friend.  And I am always on the hunt for my holy grail of foundation.

 

It has been a while since I've purchased a new foundation, basically because I started to get a bit disillusioned by what was on the market.  Yet when I was on a recent blog trawl, I noticed a few new(ish) ones that were getting some impressive blog reviews.  And my my, am I easily led by a positive blog review.

 

My first purchase was Vichy's Dermablend Fluid Corrective 16hr foundation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a foundation that is marketed more as a 'medical' type cosmetic product, aimed at individuals with very sensitive, very reactive skin.  It was in the skincare section of Boots, was in a box, and came with a rather substantial instruction leaflet.  I bought mine in Shade 25 "Nude".  It is designed to be very high coverage (we're talking literal camouflage) but lightweight and also very gentle on the skin, so ideal for rosacea, severe acne, vitiligo or eczema

 

Now first things first, my skin is sensitive but not very sensitive, and is reactive but not mega reactive.  I have to be a bit careful about what I use on it, but it certainly isn't on the extreme end of the scale.  But at the same time, I do suffer with eczema, I do have significant red, itchy patches on my face, and I am a bit of a fan of a flawless high coverage finish.

 

So what was the verdict?  My first issue with this was the colour range.  Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know I'm all about the yellow undertones.  I always lean towards yellow foundation, yellow concealers, yellow powders....I'm obsessed with taking the pinky/red out of my skin tone.  This foundation comes in about 5 shades, with nude being the second lightest...and it really isn't very light.  It also has definite pink-undertones.  It's what I would call a very 'old-school' type foundation shade range, before cosmetic companies started jumping on the 'undertone' bandwagon.  If you have pale porcelain skin, I just don't think you're going to get a shade to suit you.  Likewise if you have very dark or olive-toned skin.  For reference, I'm an NC25 in MAC, and the Nude shade was a tinge on the dark/orange side.

 

Which is a shame, as the foundation itself is actually really good.  For the degree of coverage it gives, the consistency is actually not that heavy, nor cakey.  It applies really easily, blends well, and is definitely a really high coverage.  When I have red patches or scarring, this covers them an absolute treat, and gives a real airbrushed appearance to the skin.  It also doesn't sit in my rather oversized pores.  I do have to set this with a very light dusting of powder, as it does have a tendency to go quite greasy on the skin though.  For this reason, I use this more of a concealer than an all-over-the-face foundation.  It is ideal for providing higher coverage on areas you need, allowing you to have a much lighter foundation (like a CC cream) on the rest of your face.  It's success definitely comes from how easily blendable it is, because it means you don't get any obvious tide marks or texture changes if you use it with a much lighter foundation. 

 

I literally love this for touching up bad skin areas, and despite the poor colour range, will definitely be purchasing it again.  It is a bit pricey at £15-16, but if you use it the same way I do, then it will last for ages. 

 

My next purchase ws Maybelline's Superstay Better Skin Foundation

Now this little gem has received a LOT of fuss in the blog-sphere.  I'm not usually a fan of Maybelline's foundations, but this received such consistently good reviews that I decided to give it a try.  It retails between £7-£8 so pretty standard for a high street foundation, and it claims to improve your skin just from wearing it *sceptical eyebrow raise*

 

Now, first things first, this is a really, really nice foundation.  It has a really light consistency, smooths onto the skin mega easily, and actually leaves the skin with an impressive amount of flawless-ness.  I would even compare the consistency and finish to my all-time favourite foundation, the Diorskin Nude (amen).  But the shade range for this foundation IS. AWFUL.

 

As I said, I'm an NC25, which in my opinion is not particularly extreme on the pale scale.  I got this foundation in 010 Ivory.  The lightest shade appears to be Light Beige...but that's literally no lighter, trust me, I swatched extensively.  This looks SO orange on my skin.  And I'm talking nasty, jaw-line tide mark, orange.  The first time I wore it I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and was like sweet jesus I look like a 14 year old experimenting with make-up! I tried to tissue some off but ended up having to wipe it off completely.  I have given it another couple of tries since, but I just can't get on with the colour.  It just has such an orange finish to it - I think it might oxidise quite a lot on the skin.  You can see the difference below between the Maybelline (on the right) and my MAC NC25 on the left. 

I am SO frustrated with Maybelline about this, as the foundation really genuinely is an impressive high street foundation.  It's coverage and smoothness is reminiscent of much pricier foundations, and I think it would be a bit of a holy grail jobby if I could only get a colour to suit my skin.  So Maybelline, sort it out!!  Embrace a bit of pale and a bit of yellow-undertone!

 

My final purchase was the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream.



 

Now once again, I'm not particularly all over the Bourjois foundation range.  I do enjoy their Healthy Mix range, but I don't rave about them to the degree some people do.  So I was a little dubious about buying this.  It is Bourjois' answer to the CC/BB cream craze and is meant to contain apricot, green and white (really!?) to counteract fatigue, redness and darl spots.  Hmm..really?  A CC cream? But glowing reviews are glowing reviews, and I decided to give it a little punt.

 

Oh how glad I am that I did.

 

At the moment I am L.O.V.I.N.G this foundation.  Let me say first of all, that CC creams and BB creams and tinted moisturisers are normally not my bag.  I wear foundation for coverage, and normally the 'light-coverage' brigade just don't cut it for me.  But this little offering from Bourjois actually has coverage!  Who would have guessed!?

 

I bought this in shade 32 Light Beige (beige clair) and hallelujah (take note Maybelline) the shade is exquisite.  It has just enough yellow undertones to keep me happy, and is such a fresh shade.  As with the other Bourjois foundations, you may struggle if you have very pale skin, as I think this is one of their palest shades.

 

But the winning quality of this for me is definitely the consistency and coverage and (suprisingly) the staying power!  This covers equally as well (if not better than) some of my "medium-coverage" foundations, and yet it is so light and hydrating and evens your skin tone out an absolute treat.  It's perfect for Spring/Summer as it gives the skin a real glowy, natural look, but still does a good job at hiding your nasties.  At the moment I've been wearing this everday and then topping up my really red patchy areas with the Vichy Dermablend.  The two together are like a little dream team.

 

So if you're a light-coverage phobic like me, my only advice is not to overlook this little CC cream. 

 

 

So!  There you have it.  Now this little lady needs to stay away from the foundation counter for a while..!

 



The Balm "Bahama Mama" bronzer

Regular followers of my blog will know I have a bit of a bronzer obsession.  It is the staple of my make-up routine, and it's crept right up there with mascara as my desert island make-up item.

Thing is, I also have a bit of a phobia of orange bronzers.  I know they can be brilliant at warming up certain complexions, but on a bleached-blonde-fake-tanned young lady like myself, an orange bronzer can take you into territories you just don't want to go with your 'look'.

Up until a few months ago, I swore by Benefit's Hoola bronzer (you can see my mega bronzer post here), but the £23.50 price tag always depressed me a bit.  Especially as the design of the packaging means it is tricky to use all of the product.

Then I was watching a YouTube tutorial one day by SMLXO (such a good make-up vlogger, check her out here....SMLXO) and she was using The Balm's "Bahama Mama" bronzer.  She made a flippant comment about it being an "anti-orange" bronzer, and BAM, my little ears pricked up and I was on Google before she'd even finished her sentence.

Now it is an American brand I think, but it isn't one of those annoying US brands where you have to spend your life savings just to get it shipped over here.  I found it really easily on feelunique.com for £13.50.  OK, so we're not talking mega cheap, high street prices here, but at a whole ten pounds less than my Benefit old faithful, I figured it was worth a punt.

And worth it, it was. 

The product itself comes in a credit-card sized 'book', with a flip lid that has a mirror inside.  When I first got it, I was like wow that's small. But the Bahama Mama one is 7.08g compared to Hoola's 8g, and as I said, you struggle to get all of the product out of the Hoola tub because it is so deep.  However this is completely flat, so I think it will be easier to use all of the powder.

(This is a photo of the product after I've used it several times!)

A lot of reviews said not to freak out at the colour when it is in the palette, as it does look very muddy and dark.  I'd agree with the dark bit, but I was a bit like "hmm, it still looks more orange than I expected".  But looks can be deceiving and this certainly was.

The tone of the bronzer is definitely more cool than warm.  It is quite a sludgey colour, with a more yellowy undertone.  You can get a better idea of the tone when it is swatched alongside my other bronzers - Benefit Hoola and Sleek Contour in Light.

You can see the tone is quite similar to Hoola, but even less orange, and WAY more pigmented.  That's the only issue I have with this, it is very pigmented.  It would be amazing for hardcore contouring, but for a bit of a bronze glow you do have to give it a good old blend.  It's probably not ideal for bronzing novices, as it can look quite scary when you first apply it, and it does sometimes have a tendency to collect a bit, but I think that's because I have dry skin and I always use very moisturising foundations.  I use my Real Techniques blush brush to apply it, and I would recommend using a bigger, fluffier brush like this.  I think smaller, tight packed ones might load the colour way too much (unless you're contouring of course).

Despite the bicep power needed to blend it in, it does mean you barely use any product (whereas with Hoola I was always giving my brush a good old swish around the tub to get plenty of colour).  I use this everday, and have been for 3 months, and I have barely made a dent in it.  Plus I just love the tone of the colour.  I always go for yellow based foundations, and this compliments them perfectly.  I think it would look a nightmare on a pinky-toned complexion or base, as it would make it look a really dirty, muddy colour.  But blended in with a more yellow-toned base, it looks really flattering.  It matches the colour I go when I tan naturally much better than any other bronzer, which means I think it will be awesome in  the summer too.

Despite the lack of orange, I do still find it to warm my complexion up, and it's bloody good at sculpting your cheek bones.  It's definitely not completely devoid of any orange - I think it's a bit like any tan product, you're always going to have that orangey presence - but this is 100% the least orange one I have found.  It reminds me a bit of the new generation of olive-based fake tans out there (i.e. Xen Tan) as it definitely has the same effect. 

So if you are ok with a generous amount of blending, and you tend to go down the yellow-based route with your foundation, then I'd definitely recommend it.  I'm quite pale skinned (NC25) and this isn't too overpowering and it doesn't look like I'm trying to achieve a face colour that's just isn't natural for me.   It lasts for ages and it isn't crazy expensive.  If you've made it this far down my blog post then well done, you have way more will power than me!!

Recent favourites

There have been a few products that I have been using lately that I wanted to blog about, and I decided the best way was to do a bit of a 'recent favourites' type post.  I do sometimes worry my reviews get a little long winded anyway, so I figured that by doing several in one go, it will (hopefully) make me get to the point a bit quicker!

So here they are..ta-dahhhh.  What a good looking little bunch.  I'll start with a few products I've 'rediscovered' lately...

MAC Studio Sculpt in NC25 £25.00

I can't remember if I have reviewed this before on my blog, but I have owned this foundation for literally years.  I bought it from Macy's in New York about 5 years ago (and yes, I know you aren't meant to keep foundations that long).  I bought it because it was hailed as MAC's dry-skin foundation, and if there's one thing I have in spades, it's dry skin.

When I first used this I hated it.  I found it cakey and it sat on top of my skin like a mask.  It  cracked and looked chalky and dry and I was so disappointed in it.  So to the bottom of my make-up bag it went.

It wasn't until I was watching some old Zoella youtube videos, I noticed that back in the day, she literally swore by this foundation.  I was so surprised, especially as her make-up always looks flawless.  One thing she did say was that you barely need any of this.  *hello lightbulb moment*.  So I gave it another try, with literally the teeniest amount of product, and used my Real Techniques expert face brush, and the difference was unreal!!  I still do find this to err a little on the side of drying - it gives quite a matte finish and it looks very 'make-uppy' - it definitely isn't a 'second skin' type foundation.  It has a nice creamy, almost mousse-like consistency though, and for these winter months I've been loving the coverage and the flawless finish it gives.  Not sure I would repurchase due to the price, but I totally take back my previous negative reviews of this.  Just use it sparingly and you'll get the right result.

Maybelline Gel Eyeliner in Black £7.99

 I love, love, love this gel eyeliner.  I finally ran out of my first pot after using it practically everyday for easily over a year (such good value for money).  I own the Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner as well, and in my opinion, this is way superior.  The Bobbi Brown one is too soft for my liking.  It doesn't last as long and smudges around my eye much more.  Whereas this one, ah I love it.  It's such a dark, pigmented, inky black and the formula is just the right balance between stiff-thick and creamy-soft.  The balance makes it so much easier to apply, and if you're new to gel eyeliners I would definitely recommend it.  I also think the consistency contributes to how long lasting it is.  I wear this quite happily all day and it's still intact by the end of the evening, with minimal smudging.  It comes with a brush which is a decent eyeliner brush, but I much prefer the Zoeva Fine Liner brush.  I swear by this eyeliner.  It is my make-up bag staple.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundations in 51 and 53 £9.99

I've been a fan of this foundation for a while, but recently I have noticed it has been gathering steam in the blogging world as a high street dupe for foundations such as Nars Sheer Glow, Chanel Vitalumiere and Giorgio Armani's Luminous Silk.  They're some big old names to be touted next to. But I can see where the hype comes from.  For a third of the price of the big-hitters, this is such a good performer.  I'd say it is medium coverage, and you'd probably need a decent concealer for any blemishes, but it gives such a nice dewy finish.  I have very dry skin and this doesn't tend to cling too much to my dry patches and it keeps my face looking plump and hydrated.  I always end up coming back to this foundation, it is such a staple product for me.  I also like the colour range as they tend to err on the yellow-based side and I am obsessed with yellow-based foundations.  I mix 51 and 53 together to get my ideal colour. I use either my beauty blender or my RT Expert Face brush, and both of them give a nice coverage and finish.  Seriously if you have been tempted by the higher end hydrating foundations, I'd give this a try first.  I've only owned the Chanel one before, but there's barely any difference between the finish of the Chanel one and the Bourjois one.

 Tangle Teezer Compact £11.95 and Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo £3.79

 Regular followers of my blog will know my hair regularly causes a hole in my bank balance, mainly because it has been bleached heavily and so needs a lot of tender loving care.

A couple of products I have been loving using lately are the Compact Tangle Teezer and the Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo.

I've owned the original tangle teezer for some time and would never go back to using a regular brush on my hair.  It gets through my knotty, thick hair so much easier, and the reduction in breakage is obvious.  I used to have so much hair wrapped round my regular brush, and although I do still get hair on my tangle teezer, it is so much less.  I've got all my girly friends into using these - they really are such a revolutionary product for long, knotty hair.  I got the compact one for Christmas, and I much prefer it to the original.  It fits in my hand much better which means I fling it across the room much less (I'm a vigorous hair brusher) and it comes with a 'lid' to protect the bristles.  If you're looking to buy one, I'd definitely say go for a compact over the original.

The Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo is something I bought for a bit of a naughty reason.  I recently had my hair dyed a darker blonde, and I'm just not feeling it at all.  My hairdresser said that as my hair is bleached, the dark blonde will fade quickly.  Soooo.....I bought a deep cleansing shampoo to kind of help it along the way.  Naughty.  But I've fallen in love with this!!  It lathers up so nicely, and leaves my hair so clean and soft.  You'd expect a cleansing shampoo to strip the hair, but this definitely doesn't.  I've noticed my hair stays cleaner for longer too which is a bonus.  I got this on half-price offer for about £1.95 and it is SO worth it.  It's a little hair wonder bargain!

Sleek Blush in Rose Gold £4.49



Rose Gold blusher blended

I got this little Sleek blusher for Christmas, and I have been using it sooo much.  It is really pigmented and is a gorgeous bright rose pink with gold shimmer.  You can kind of see the gold shimmer in the photo above (by the way I had to enhance the contrast a bit to get a true reflection of the blush colour, but it has in the process, made my sister's arm look really weird!  Sorry about that Rachy!) 

For how cheap this is, it has a lot of colour depth and blends quite easily.  It looks so pretty paired with a nice bronzer, as it has almost mauve-y type undertones.  I've been loving wearing this with a basic, black feline eye, and leaving the blusher to be the focal point.  It's going to look really nice in spring/summer too.  It really 'pops' on your cheeks and is such a flattering shade.  I normally hate glittery-shimmer in cosmetics, but I like this because the gold shimmer is quite fine, and when you blend it out it doesn't just leave glitter on your face like some products too.  You keep the nice rose pink still.  

Maxfactor 2000 Calorie curved brush £7.99



Regular followers of my blog will know I am one loyal young lady when it comes to mascara, and I have been using Maxfactor's 2000 Calorie mascara for as long as I can remember.  Any time I have been tempted to stray from my old faithful, I've always found other mascaras to just not be up to the job.  But I did notice that Maxfactor had brought out a slight revision, with the 2000 Calorie Curved Brush mascara.  It intrigued me, so I thought I'd give it a try.  And I actually really like this.  I think the curved brush actually improves the 2000 Calorie design, for two reasons.  Number 1, the curve makes the brush sit easier around the lashes and also it seems to lift the lashes better, improving their curl.  I also think the curve makes the hump of the brush closer to the inside of the tube, so it picks up all that mascara that clings around the walls of the tube.  When you pull the wand out, the hump always has more product on it, so I use that to really ramp up the volume, and then use the inner curve to separate and lift the lashes.

If you're a fan of the original 2000 Calorie mascara then I'd definitely say this one is worth a look.  It's got everything the original one has, and then just that little bit more.

MAC Cremesheen Lipglass in Boy Bait £17.50

I got this lip gloss as a birthday present from my boyfriend, and it is definitely my go-to.  It is such a perfect pink-nude shade and makes a make-up look appear really polished.  It is a bit on the steep side, and I'm not going to lie, I'm glad I'm not the one who had to shell out for this.  But as a present..ah it was such a good present.  The applicator is a small plastic brush, about a centimetre or so in length, and it applies really easily.  I do tend to prefer sponge applicators for lipgloss, but this is MAC, and they don't tend to do a bad applicator - so the brush works.

 

The shine is good, but in all honesty I think high street lip glosses have evolved so much that you tend to get the same 'shininess' from a lot of glosses on the market.  This isn't too sticky though, which sets it apart a bit as a more high-end product.  You're aware if it on your lips for the first half an hour or so, but it isn't uncomfortable.

 

But it is the shade itself that makes this a winner for me.  It is such a gorgeous colour, and even when the shine wears off (which is inevitable with any lipgloss) it leaves your lips looking all hydrated and plump and a pretty nude colour.  Despite the price, I know I'll end up repurchasing this as I've never found a nude lipgloss that is the perfect shade for me.  They're always either too pale, or look a weird grey-based colour, or are too dark or pinky or orangey - you get the jist.  Ah but this is perfect.  It's the ideal shade to pull together a more classy or polished look and I love it.