Volume 1 seconde mascara

I haven't done a makeup review for a while. That's because I've been too poor to buy any! Luckily, mes amis, I bought this Bourjois mascara before I went on holiday, and I finally got around to opening it today, so this is a first impressions/review. 

This is the normal black mascara, the waterproof one has a bluey colour instead of pink. 

I think the wand head looks so cool. There are little tiny balls (or spheres) within the bristles to make sure there are no clumps when you apply it. 

Above; my bare, curled lashes. 

Above, as you can see, my lashes after 1, 2 & 3 coats, then a coat on my lower lashes and zoomed out so you can see the full effect. 

My thoughts: It has a great formula, smooth, not too wet, doesn't clump, and does create decent volume after two or three coats. It hasn't flaked but it did pull my curl out a little bit, but not too much. This is a lovely mascara, and I would love to try the waterproof version. 

May 2014 Birchbox

The title says it all. Come see what I got in this month's Birchbox! 

My thoughts: I actually didn't like this box at all, but I am not complaining as they put some rather lovely and expensive stuff in there.

Although the shampoo & conditioner looked promising, I'd only be able to use them twice as I use massive amounts of both in each shower as I have so much hair. 

I'm not a huge nail varnish user, and I think the colour I received was awful as I dislike that colour quite a lot but I'm sure other people would love that colour.

I'm sure that most people that receive a sample size of Benefit's They're Real mascara would squeal for joy, but not me. I bought it a fair few years ago and it did not work for my crappy lashes at all, so I threw it away. Biggest waste of £19.50 ever! 

I don't use body oil. Maybe I should but meh. 

The hot cleansing cloth & cleanser is also something I will not use. I work long hours and don't have time for long beauty skin regimes, especially if it requires me to stand in my freezing cold bathroom getting all my makeup off. 

I decided not to open any of it; I carefully rewrapped up the hot cleansing cloth stuff, popped it all back in the box and gave it all to a work colleague to give to his wife. Waste not, want not! 

Love Alpha Mascara Fibre Mascara Review

Oh my goodness, I haven't blogged in forever! I've kind of lost my YouTube mojo at the moment; I've lost my inspiration to film videos.

BUT! I have a mascara that'll lengthen your lashes more than you could imagine and for less than £5! Still reading? I hope so... 

This is the case. I don't much care for leopard print but I'm sure there are plenty out there that would appreciate it more than myself. It is pretty sturdy and hard wearing though, that much I can say. 

Inside we have two wands. The longer one at the back is a 'transplanting gel', basically a black mascara, and the shorter wand contains the fibre wand. 

Above: a close up of the transplanting gel/mascara wand.

Above: a close up of the fibre wand.

Ok, so the skinny of this is to use the mascara wand first, then brush on the fibres, then go back over with the mascara to lengthen your lashes. You can, if you want, add another coat of fibres and then add another coat of mascara for extra long lashes. 

Ok! Now that's out of the way!  

Above: bare, uncurled lashes.

Above: one coat of transplant gel.

Above: coat of fibres over the lashes.

Above: second coat of transplanting gel to lengthen the lashes. 

Above: on the left, eyelashes with two coats of mascara. On the right, Love Alpha mascara/fibre duo. 

My thoughts? Well, for around £4 this is a steal. You can buy them from eBay or aliexpress.com (the latter is cheaper but it'll take longer to arrive). There are other mascaras out there that do the exact same thing but cost £35, so this is worth the money. However, the transplanting gel goes thick and gloopy quite fast with repeated use, which makes it less effective for the fibres to hold on to. That being said, you can buy 4 or 5 for around £20, so I reckon you still get your money's worth. 

I personally have been through around 8 of these Love Alpha duo mascara's so far, and I will continue to buy them because they work wonders for me.  

Max Factor Excess Volume Extreme Impact Mascara

Yup. Yet another mascara purchase. Although I don't normally try to defend my mascara purchases, I must explain one thing. My eyes are partially hooded. When I hit my forties they will become hooded. I've known for many years that in my case, lashes are more important than eyeshadow, so I like to accentuate them more. Wearing false lashes is becoming a more common thing for me. Anyway! Back to the review! 

I bought it from Boots for £9.99. It's currently on offer; it's normal price will be £12.99. It's a double ended mascara and I bought this in the colour Black. 

It's a chunky mascara tube, not elegant or particularly good to look at, but I'm not here to judge this book by its cover.

So I thought I'd start you all off with a picture of my eye. I'm not wearing any makeup at all in these photo's, barring the mascara.

So this is side 1 Extreme Volume. It has a rubber wand with bristles that are good for separation.

After one coat my lashes are defined, but there's no real volume. Side 1 did state extreme volume, so I figured one more coat was necessary.

A second coat. There's a few small issues with fibres, but so far there's still a lack of volume. I decide at this point to stop layering mascara side 1 and switch to 2:

Which looks like the above photo; the wand looks very much like the typical mascara wand. Nothing special. Side 2 is Dark Lacquer, a shiny dark coat to make lashes look super dark and glossy. 

Let's do this! 

After one coat my lashes are definitely darker. Hooray, one side holds up to its promise! 

After two coats, my lashes are starting to look thicker...

After three coats my lashes have stuck together somewhat and are in danger of looking really spidery and clumpy. Not massively attractive. 

And here, zoomed out so you can see both of my eyes. Each eye has two coats of side 1 mascara and three coats of side 2 mascara on the top lashes, and one coat each of side 1 & 2 on the bottom lashes.

My thoughts: I think it's an ok mascara, it doesn't give me the volume I dream of, but my lashes are kind of sparse; people with more lashes than me might have more success at this. I would have liked side 1 to have more volume as it states on the tube, but never mind. Side 2 has a far more pleasing result, considering the brush/wand was "nothing special". 

Would I repurchase?: probably not. Seventeen's 'Super Lash' mascara pretty much does the same thing after 3 coats instead of Max Factor's 5, and it costs (full price vs full price) £5 less. 

Would I recommend?: To people with more lashes, yes, I think you'll get better results with less coats of mascara. To people with sparser lashes like mine, probably not. You'll have to keep layering until your lashes look spidery and clumpy. Or keep a really good lash comb handy...