1. I’ve been thinking about doing some product reviews for a long time, but never quite got round to it. I spend way too much money on make-up, some of the things that I buy I love, some not so much. I’ve also been reading a lot of other people’s blogs — lollipop26, gem’s maquillage and lily loves lola — to name but a few and feeling quite inspired to share my knowledge and experiences and put them to some use. I know there are tonnes of other review sites around, and I’m certainly not claiming to be any different, or better than the rest and I’ll also still be blogging or posting about the usual things that you find on here such as bits of nice design that I’ve seen elsewhere. So, for my first review, here are some of the products that I’ve been using a lot of lately. Clockwise from the top left is: Max Factor Masterpiece Max Mascara Lancome Adaptive in 02 Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils in Bourbon (brown) and Zero (black) Rimmel Lipstick in Coral Queen Benefit Lemon Aid I love this Max Factor mascara. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was my HG, but I do use it every day. I usually layer it on top of another mascara, currently Prestige ‘my biggest lashes’, because it separates and defines the lashes really well. For a drug store mascara it’s reasonably expensive, around £10, and I’m sure that there are cheaper mascaras on the market that do the job just as well, but I like it and I prefer it to more expensive mascaras that I’ve used before. Lancome Adaptive - I’ve been using this foundation for about a month now and I really like it. I originally bought it, because the foundation I was using was drying my skin out, serves me right really for using something cheap, but also, I do occasionally get an oily t-zone, so needed something that was for combination skin. I find that it lasts pretty well throughout the day, so long as I powder my face too. If I don’t, then by the end of a day at work, the foundation has pretty much worn off, but with a light dusting of MAC Mineralize Skin Finish (MSF) Natural, it lasts and I don’t really need to touch up, apart from my nose perhaps.  The colour match is good and they have quite a few shades to choose from. This also doesn’t dry too quickly, meaning it’s easy to blend, and the pump applicator means it’s much less messy than similar alternatives. I’d say that this was a medium coverage foundation and because it blends so well, you don’t really need to use all that much of it. I bought the Urban Decay Volume II eye palette a while back and with it came the two eye liners. I haven’t really tried tight lining or using these on my waterline because they’re pretty smudgy, so didn’t think they’d really be suitable, but you may know different. These are great for using though because they do as they say, they glide on, which means no dragging of the eyelid. I always manage to get a really smooth line with these and would re-purchase when they are no more. I’d been looking for a suitable red lipstick for ages and tried one from MAC and a Revlon one too, I found them way too red for my skin tone, but have seen how wonderful they look on other people. I picked up the Rimmel lipstick in Coral Queen because a friend, with a similar skin tone to mine had been using a coraly coloured lipstick, no idea which one though, and I thought that maybe a coral shade would suit me best. I didn’t really want to spend too much money though so thought I’d check out Rimmel. I picked this up and again I love it. I don’t use it everyday, in fact, I don’t even always use it on a night out because I quite like a natural lip colour, but I do use it quite a bit and it’s the perfect shade for me. Last but not least, wow this has been a long post, is lemon aid by Benefit. I bought this years ago originally (probably about 6 years ago, when I was first hit by the Benefit bug) and never re-purchased it. However, a few months ago, another friend, was round at mine and I commented on the colour of what I thought was her eye shadow. It was in fact lemon aid. During the day I use this product alone to even out the colour of my lids or at night, when I tend to wear some shadow on my eyes, I use this as a primer. It’s probably not as effective as the Urban Decay primer, and I wouldn’t really recommend it as a primer for for particularly heavy or glittery shadows, but for me, it does what I want, and that’s to keep my shadow in place and my colour looking even. Hmm, so I hope that I haven’t bored you all with my thoughts, if anyone has even managed to get this far that is. In future I’ll be doing more reviews, probably not quite so long as this one though, so if there is anything in particular that you want to see a review of, let me know.
    Jan 17

    I’ve been thinking about doing some product reviews for a long time, but never quite got round to it. I spend way too much money on make-up, some of the things that I buy I love, some not so much. I’ve also been reading a lot of other people’s blogs — lollipop26, gem’s maquillage and lily loves lola — to name but a few and feeling quite inspired to share my knowledge and experiences and put them to some use.

    I know there are tonnes of other review sites around, and I’m certainly not claiming to be any different, or better than the rest and I’ll also still be blogging or posting about the usual things that you find on here such as bits of nice design that I’ve seen elsewhere.

    So, for my first review, here are some of the products that I’ve been using a lot of lately. Clockwise from the top left is:

    • Max Factor Masterpiece Max Mascara
    • Lancome Adaptive in 02
    • Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils in Bourbon (brown) and Zero (black)
    • Rimmel Lipstick in Coral Queen
    • Benefit Lemon Aid

    I love this Max Factor mascara. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was my HG, but I do use it every day. I usually layer it on top of another mascara, currently Prestige ‘my biggest lashes’, because it separates and defines the lashes really well. For a drug store mascara it’s reasonably expensive, around £10, and I’m sure that there are cheaper mascaras on the market that do the job just as well, but I like it and I prefer it to more expensive mascaras that I’ve used before.

    Lancome Adaptive - I’ve been using this foundation for about a month now and I really like it. I originally bought it, because the foundation I was using was drying my skin out, serves me right really for using something cheap, but also, I do occasionally get an oily t-zone, so needed something that was for combination skin. I find that it lasts pretty well throughout the day, so long as I powder my face too. If I don’t, then by the end of a day at work, the foundation has pretty much worn off, but with a light dusting of MAC Mineralize Skin Finish (MSF) Natural, it lasts and I don’t really need to touch up, apart from my nose perhaps.  The colour match is good and they have quite a few shades to choose from. This also doesn’t dry too quickly, meaning it’s easy to blend, and the pump applicator means it’s much less messy than similar alternatives. I’d say that this was a medium coverage foundation and because it blends so well, you don’t really need to use all that much of it.

    I bought the Urban Decay Volume II eye palette a while back and with it came the two eye liners. I haven’t really tried tight lining or using these on my waterline because they’re pretty smudgy, so didn’t think they’d really be suitable, but you may know different. These are great for using though because they do as they say, they glide on, which means no dragging of the eyelid. I always manage to get a really smooth line with these and would re-purchase when they are no more.

    I’d been looking for a suitable red lipstick for ages and tried one from MAC and a Revlon one too, I found them way too red for my skin tone, but have seen how wonderful they look on other people. I picked up the Rimmel lipstick in Coral Queen because a friend, with a similar skin tone to mine had been using a coraly coloured lipstick, no idea which one though, and I thought that maybe a coral shade would suit me best. I didn’t really want to spend too much money though so thought I’d check out Rimmel. I picked this up and again I love it. I don’t use it everyday, in fact, I don’t even always use it on a night out because I quite like a natural lip colour, but I do use it quite a bit and it’s the perfect shade for me.

    Last but not least, wow this has been a long post, is lemon aid by Benefit. I bought this years ago originally (probably about 6 years ago, when I was first hit by the Benefit bug) and never re-purchased it. However, a few months ago, another friend, was round at mine and I commented on the colour of what I thought was her eye shadow. It was in fact lemon aid. During the day I use this product alone to even out the colour of my lids or at night, when I tend to wear some shadow on my eyes, I use this as a primer. It’s probably not as effective as the Urban Decay primer, and I wouldn’t really recommend it as a primer for for particularly heavy or glittery shadows, but for me, it does what I want, and that’s to keep my shadow in place and my colour looking even.

    Hmm, so I hope that I haven’t bored you all with my thoughts, if anyone has even managed to get this far that is. In future I’ll be doing more reviews, probably not quite so long as this one though, so if there is anything in particular that you want to see a review of, let me know.