Essence Lash Princess Volume Mascara

The past few weeks I've been stuck in a bit of a make-up rut. I've not really liked or loved anything new or things that I already owned. But, in my March Glossy box I received an Essence Lash Princess Volume Mascara and I'm back in love with make-up again!

It's brilliant! It's got a unique 'cobra head' shaped brush as the company have called it, but it does seem to be able to coat all of my lashes pretty easily and lets me get right into the corner of my eye pretty easily. 

I've taken a picture with it on one eye and not the other, and I think it's pretty good. This is one quick coat applied and I've not curled my lashes as I would normally have done, so you can see it properly.

It gives plenty of definition, they're fuller, longer and it holds a curl pretty well. It gives a very fluttery looking finish, which i personally like, but enough definition. I can be quite fussy with mascaras sometimes, I want the product to do everything and this pretty much does! 

If you're wanting mega volume, then maybe it isn't quite for you, but for me this is an excellent everyday mascara with enough volume and length. I do normally wear a little liquid liner on my top lash line too, which gives that little extra definition and a fuller appearance.

The packaging reminds me of the new Benefit Roller lash mascara, with the grip-able coral lid, but I can't compare the product as I've yet to try it.

I've worn it for a full week now, and it doesn't transfer onto my eyelid, it hasn't flaked down my face and it can last a full 45 minute spin class and not budge, which is incredible!

It is also priced at an amazing £3.30! So at this price I think it has become my favourite mascara, bye bye Clinique high impact! For UK readers, it is stocked in Wilko, so I think I'll be heading down to my nearest store and checking out some more of their range as the price and the quality of this mascara, have set my hopes very high indeed!

February favourites

I currently swear by the First Aid Beauty face cleanser and ultra repair cream. I have sensitive and temperamental skin due to a yet undiagnosed allergy. So, during a flare up, these two products seem to be the only things that are mild enough to use twice a day and moisturise the eczema like patches left on my face. I hadn't heard of First Aid Beauty until I heard Ingrid from Miss Glamorazzi talk about the products over a year ago, and they've stuck in the back of my brain ever since, and I'm so glad they did. I'm on my second tube of each, and I'm love, love, loving the combination on my current skin type.

Hemp lip balm from The Body Shop is a rediscovered old favourite. It is the best thing i've ever found for dry lips, my holy grail product, I take it everywhere, quite literally!

I bought the face polisher (not pictured) on a whim one day in Boots. I've always wanted to try the clarisonics but they are a bit on the expensive side, especially if i decided that I didn't like it. I don't have anything to compare the face polisher to, but I do really like it. It is quite gentle on the skin, but does take off any dead skin leaving my skin smooth.

Body butters in general are a current favourite of mine. I have been making sure that when I get out of the shower that I apply a body butter. I love The Body Shop's mango or shea butter or Soap & Glory's the righteous butter. The frangrances are very clean and nothing offensive. In a month, I've definteley noticed an improvement in my skin.

For Christmas, my parents bought me the Estee Lauder Modern Muse perfume. At first I thought it was a little overpowering, but once I learnt that a little goes a long way, I really love it. It is definitely more of wintery/evening fragrance but I know that I can apply it in the morning and the fragrance still be there early evening, but without being overwhelming.

I've been keeping my outfits quite minimalist the past few weeks, but to give them a little bit more detail, I've been grabbing this necklace from Oasis. It did seem a bit pricey at the time, however the amount of times I've worn it definitely justifies it, and I've had so many compliments on it.

Finally, Scandal. Oh my goodness, I'm completely in love with the series. I've watch 3 1/2 seasons in a month it is that addictive. It is very clever, the characters are extremely well written, I love Olitz, I love Mellie. It's brilliant, give it a watch!

February has definitely been more about skincare and 'fixing' my skin. I never feel as though I can experiment with makeup if my skin isn't the right texture.

2015 Makeup resolutions

It may be a little late for New Year's resolutions in the middle of January, but my 2014 make-up highlights got me thinking. Of course I've got the typical Bridget Jones style resolutions but I really need to start trying a few things that are out of my comfort zone. I've written a few make-up resolutions that I want to hopefully (finger crossed) accomplish this year.


1. Wear a coloured lip more often - meaning at least once a week. It doesn't have to be a dramatic purple lip mid week, but at least more of a stain or coloured gloss so it isn't as bold to begin with.


2. Use and experiment with the products I already own. It's not a money saving method (although that would be beneficial), rather a 'you own so many products and never use them' attempt. So every couple of weeks I need to make sure I have a good sort out and experiment with something new.


3. Learn how to use individual eyelashes. I keep buying packets of them attempting 1 lash and giving up. Strip lashes, I haven't got a problem with at all, but individuals are a whole new ball game!


4. Try and find the perfect skinbase (foundation, primer etc). I know it is a pretty impossible task to fulfill but it's always going to be a wish. I've experimented with lots of things, but not neccessarily applied them in a certain way or in a certain order. I'll never know if i don't try.


5. Work out what colours and shades suit my skintone, hair colour, eye colour. I know to an extent what does and doesn't work, but i'd love to find the perfect red lip shade and a beautiful smokey eye colour combination.



Some of these may seem like chores, or will never happen, but I can at least give them a go.

2014 Make-up Highlights

Putting together my list of favourite make-up products of 2014 was surprisingly an easy task. I am a bit of a creature of habit, so as much as I love to try something new I do often return to products I've really liked using.

The face:

Primer: Rimmel match perfection fix and perfect provides an excellent base for foundation or tinted moisturiser. It's really smooth and lets make up glide over the top. 

Base: Foundation is something that I mix up a lot. In the summer time I love Bourjois Healthy mix serum as it's so light, but in the UK you only really get summer for 3 months of the year, so I often turn to something with a bit more converage. Clinique repairwear laser focus but in the old formula is my go to. You can do a full face with a small pump, so a bottle goes a long way.

Concealer: I'm not a huge concealer fan, I mainly use a radiant concealer so instead of forking out for the YSL touch eclat I've found that the L'oreal Lumi Magique concealer is a pretty good dupe. It isn't too cakey under my eyes, which is often an issue I find with many concealers and under eye highlighters. 

Bronzer: Bourjois chocolate bronzer is not too orangey of a bronzer, so suits my fair to medium skin tone nicely. Bronzer isn't a huge step in my make-up routine, but if I do use it this what I go for.

Blush: I kept hearing about this product from other bloggers a long while ago and never got round to using it. It's Rimmel's mono blush in Santa Rose, a perfect everyday colour. It goes with pretty much any lip combination and just emphasises the pink of my cheeks without looking OTT.

Contour: I've pretty much used MAC's blush in harmony as a contour colour for a few years, especially for heavier night-time looks. It's cool toned and doesn't look orange on my face, and you only need the littlest of bits in order to have those model like cheekbones, wahooo! 

Highlight: I only really use highlighter in the winter months, but this year I seem to have gone for MAC's highlighter in soft and gentle. It's a classic product but works so well. It's a warm golden toned highlighter, but just a warning, a little goes a long long way!

Setting spray: There's pretty much only one contender for this category, and it's Urban Decay all-nighter setting spray in the original formula. It keeps may make-up in place even in a nightclub or in bad weather. I was always sceptical on whether or not this would work, but i'm so glad I took the gamble 18 months ago, bye bye reapplication!

The eyes:

Mascara: Many people say that highstreet mascaras are a whole lot better than high end, but my favourite is Clinique's High Impact mascara. The classic straight brush with thick bristles grips the lashes, so a few wiggles of the wand at the base of my lashes and voila, big voluminous lashes which last the working day. 

Liquid eyeliner: There is no competition in this category at all. It's the L'oreal superliner in carbon gloss. It's pretty much fool proof, simple to use sponge tipped applicator that isn't in a pen formula.

Pencil eyeliner: There's some excellent pencil liners on the highstreet, but this year i've always turned to Rimmel's Soft kohl kajal eyeliner in sable brown. Once it's on it doesn't really move and you can pretty much forget about it throughout the day. 

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Naked 2 is my go to eyeshadow palette for day or night. There's a broad range of colours, the quality is excellent and with a primer on literally last all day long.

The lips:

Lip balm: My friends and family pretty much call me the Queen of lipbalm. If there's any lip issues going on them I'm the person they ask what they should get! I've pretty much tried everything on the market, but my hands down favourite in 2014 is an old favourite, and that is The Body Shop's Hemp Lip Conditioner. It's in a simple stick formula, which means you don't need to use your finger, easy to take around with me and is seriously conditioning. At £4 too, I absolutely love it, my holy grail of lip products! 

Lipstick: I'm pretty much a neutral lips kind of girl. The bold colours don't make that much of an appearance on a day to day basis, they just don't seem too practical. MAC's cremecup is an easy go to colour, it's simple but adds a splash of colour to my face and doesn't get all over my teeth, which is a big thing for me. 

Lipgloss: I was a massive fan of the Urban Decay Lip Junkie lip gloss in Naked for a long long time, but sadly as it is now discontinued (Sob...), I have had to venture to pastures new. My favourite go to product now is Rimmel's Stay Glossy Lipgloss in stay my rose. It's pretty similar to my natural lip colour and is really smooth in texture, compared to others which are really gloopy and sticky. 



Lets hope 2015 finds some new favourites!

Origins Mask Marvel Gift Set

I'm a real fan of most things from Origins, so this gift set was a gem of a find. But instead forking out £50 which is a little on the expensive side, it's £23 at Boots this week which is an absolute steal in my eyes. It works out at three 75ml masks for £23, so that's what, £7.66 each. There was no way I wasn't getting my hands on this little skincare trio!

So there's the Drink up Intensive overnight mask, Clear improvement active charcoal mask and finally Out of trouble 10 minute mask. 

I received the Drink up Intensive overnight mask over two years ago as a free gift with my first ever Origins product. The sales assistant described the mask as a 'handover miracle', which I though was a tad of an exaggeration, but it genuinely is a gem of a find! It gives you a plumped up, glowing skin with literally no effort at all. Also, It smells incredible, a mixture of mango and passionfruit which reminds me of summer,

The clay mask is lovely, its a thick consistency compared to others on the market, and it's one of those products that you feel as though it's working whilst its on your face. I've never tried the 10 minute mask but i already love the other two masks in the pack, so i already have high hopes for this one! Over the festive season I think my skin may need a little TLC so this is perfect. 

The mask marvel set is only on offer for one week at Boots stores, so hurry! I'm sure this set wasn't as pricey last year though, so get it quick!

On Trial: The Body Shop Vitamin E facial mist

Normally in The Body Shop I stay away from facial skincare, not because I don’t want to try it, more I never know what I’d want to try. So this time I thought I’d take the plunge.

The Body Shop Vitamine E face mist

After seeing Caroline Hirons, a skincare blogger, recommend the Vitamin E facialmist I knew I had to try it. It’s a facial mist you can spritz onto your face throughout the day to provide constant moisture to dehydrated skin, which sounded excellent for an aeroplane. And as Vitamin E is The Body Shop's best selling range I had nigh hopes that it would do just that!

I kept spritzing this on my face throughout the plane, much to the annoyance of the stranger sat next to me. I can’t say that whilst I was high in the sky that I really noticed a difference, but once I had landed I did note that my face hadn't gained any dry patches and my make-up hadn't got that cakey appearance that can often happen after a long day, never mind a flight. For a 5 hour flight I think that is really good going, helping look a little more presentable when I landed!

The little spritz every now and then also helped me to feel (mentally) a little cleaner somehow, probably to do with the slight cooling feeling it provides and the light rosewater scent. But as its main use is as a skin pick me up i think it definitely achieved its aim.

Also whilst I was away I used it on an evening when we went out for meals, whenever I popped into the bathroom I gave my face a quick spritz and felt refreshed after. As for a make-up setting spray I've not really tried it, I've stuck to my holy grail Urban Decay Setting spray especially when it has been humid, but I've heard that it is meant to be really good.

The pink packaging is simple and clean looking, with a simple pump at the top. It’s a handy size so it can be put in a clear bag and popped into your hand luggage for flying or just chucked into your handbag day to day. I’ll definite keep using the facial mist over the next few weeks and hopefully it becomes a new holy grail product!

Overall review: 3½/5   

Review: Origins Drink-up intensive overnight mask

It’s such hyped beauty product at the moment, but I’m loving the Origins Drink-up intensive overnight mask. I’ve had a few sample sizes of this in the past but never thought to use them, which is ridiculous. I do like Origins products so had high hopes about this and I wasn’t disappointed!

The thing I first noticed was the smell, and oh my, I absolutely love it! It is clean, fruity and reminds me of the peach yoghurts I loved as child. I’ve never used a hydrating mask like this before, but it is basically an intense moisturiser you apply before bed, which helps replace lost moisture and lock in hydration to the skin. And in the morning you wake to hydrated skin which has been ‘drank up overnight’, just like it says on the bottle!

It’s a thick cream gel like consistency which you literally apply after you’ve cleansed your face. It doesn’t feel heavy or thick on the skin, but actually rather refreshing, which I think is half down to the amazing smell. It is designed for dry or dehydrated skin, and although my skin isn’t necessarily dry, I do have eczema like patches on my skin in the winter. I was cautious about applying this all over my face in case it made my face appear greasy, but fear not, I couldn’t have been more impressed.

I use it a couple of times a week, when I want to give my skin a bit of a treat, and I really do wake up in the morning and feel and see the difference to my skin. My skin feels plumper and the texture is smoother. I think that it is fair to say that this will be a staple in my skincare routine for a long time, as I’ve not found a product like it yet.

It costs £22 for a 100ml tube, which I don’t think is badly priced for a product that is effective and lasts a long time. I’ve used a 30ml tube in two months, and I’ve not tried to use the product sparingly. Has anyone else tried it or found another hydrating mask they love?

Overall review: 4/5