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Monthly Archives: November 2010
Three for two on makeup at Superdrug!
Just popping in quickly to let you all know that Superdrug is running a three-for-two offer on all makeup at the moment: choose any three items and the cheapest is free. Despite previously having declared myself to be “not much of a nail-polish wearer”, I found it impossible to resist the lure of the metallic shiny stuff at the GOSH counter (yes, more GOSH. I promise I’m not being secretly sponsored by them or anything…). And as I very much AM a false-eyelash wearer, I also found myself sucked in by the Eyelure stand. (I bought a set of CVS individual lashes in Asda, too. Guess what I’ll be wearing a lot of over the next few weeks?)
I did my shopping in-store, but you can also take advantage of the offer online – just click here.
NOTD: Barry M Nail Paint in 273 – Raspberry
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, everyone: I’ve been frantically trying to get ready for my holiday next week, which unfortunately hasn’t left me with much time to try out new products. Today, then, I give you one of my lesser-spotted Nail of the Day posts, featuring Barry M’s Nail Paint in # 273, Raspberry.
I actually bought this on a whim a few months ago, and, rejecting Boots’ offer of a carrier bag, threw it into my handbag, where I promptly forgot all about it until several weeks later. When I finally did remember it, it seemed a little darker than I remembered it, so this week is the first time I’ve actually worn it. Sadly, it’s still a little darker than I remember it, and it’s also darker than it looks in this photo. While it’s actually a lovely shade for winter, however, the colour makes it difficult to apply (or difficult for me to apply, I should say) without streaking: it would really require two coats to get the perfect finish, I think.
Still, it makes a nice change to my usual pillar-box red, while still remaining in the same colour family. It costs £2.99 and you can buy it here.
Dollface Reviews: Fade Out Anti-Shadow Brightening Eye Cream
So, can we talk about the dark circles under my eyes again? Oh, come on, it’s been at least 24 hours since I last mentioned them…
As you may recall, I’ve been using Fade Out’s Anti-Shadow Brightening Eye Cream on the offending area for the past few weeks, and I have two main observations to make about it, one good, one not-so-good. We’ll start with the good, shall we?
The Good:
This does exactly what it says on the tin tube: it brightens under-eye shadows. When I started using it, I’d been without a dedicated shadow-blaster for a few weeks, and I was starting to look a bit like this again, only considerably less cute:
Happily, the Fade Out cream got to work fairly quickly, and by the end of the first week I was able to once again move from three under-eye concealers (none of which disguised the shadows) down to just one again, and sometimes, on a very, very good day, to skip the concealer altogether. Victory was mine! But…
The Not-So-Good:
After a couple of weeks of use, I started to notice that while this product was still keeping the shadows at bay, the skin around my eyes was starting to look drier than usual. Switching back to my regular eye cream resolved that problem BUT brought The Shadows (not the group) back with a vengeance. I went back to Fade Out… and back to dry skin. In fairness, the skin around my eyes is prone to dryness anyway, and I had similar issues with the last anti-shadow cream I tried, so for now, I’m alternating Fade Out with another cream, which seems to be doing the trick, and may well be the way forward for me.
Want to give this a go? It’s £8.59, and you can click here to buy it.
(Disclosure: this was a press sample)
Dollface Reviews: Eyelure Eye Candy Individual False Eyelashes
It’s another day, so it must be time for another Eyelure Eye Candy review! This time I’m trying out the brand’s individual false eyelashes, and for the benefit of those of you who’re looking for a more detailed guide to how to actually apply these, I provided one here, so go and read that and then come back and read this.
It’s OK, I’ll wait for you.
Back? OK, good. The first thing to note, then, is that these are a different type of individual lash from the ones in my tutorial. Those ones were the “single lash” type, while these ones come with the lashes bunched together, like this:
Dollface Reviews: GOSH large powder brush
I’m sure I don’t need to point out to regular readers that I’ve been on a bit of a GOSH kick lately. I’ve had a lot of luck with the brand, which I think is, in many cases, a good mid-price alternative to some of the higher end brands I might otherwise be tempted by.
My last GOSH purchase was the Velvet Touch Foundation Primer, and as it was positioned right next to the makeup brushes on the stand, I was reminded of my promise to myself to start replacing my brushes, buying a new one every month. A powder brush was next on my list, so I picked up the GOSH large powder brush, and, giving the matter very little thought (I do that sometimes. I don’t recommend it.) threw it into my basket.
Once I got it home, my initial impressions were pretty good. It had only cost me £9.99, and although the bristles are synthetic, they’re soft, supple, pick up a nice amount of powder, and allow me to buff it into my skin without any issues. Fast forward a couple of weeks, however, and I was starting to feel a little less impressed. The bristles are still soft and lovely, but they’ve also started to shed. Every time I’ve used the brush for the past week, I’ve been left with a bristle or two on my face (lovely!) – it’s not shedding a huge amount, and it hasn’t become a big deal, but each time I use it, I’m reminded that, yes, it was a relatively cheap brush, and that I may want to be less of a cheapskate about it next time.
Still, this is far from the worst powder brush I’ve used either, and if you only want to spend £10, it could be worth a go – just be prepared to pick the odd bristle off your face when you use it!
(Click here to buy it)
Dollface Reviews: Skin Doctors Instant Eyelift Eye Lifting Serum
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time at all, you’ll probably know that I have a bit of an obsession with my under-eye area going on at the moment. This means I’m more or less willing to try ANYTHING that claims to make that area look better, so when the lovely people at Fragrance Mad offered to send me something from the Skin Doctors line to review, Instant Eyelift was my product of choice.
In retrospect, this probably wasn’t my wisest move ever, and, in fact, using this product has allowed me to realise that what I have under my eyes isn’t actually “bags”. Nope, they’re just very dark shadows. Sure, they may look a bit like bags, but it is but an illusion caused by the dark stripes that run underneath the eye sockets (or at least, they do when I’m not using something that gets rid of them – more on that subject next week), but they’re not, so an eye lift isn’t exactly what I need, as tempting as it sounds.
This is a shame, really, because if your eyes ARE in need of a lift, this product may well be of interest to you. This is a clear serum which comes in a pump-action dispenser, and is applied under the eyes to lift and smooth them. It’s an instant effect, but not a permanent one, so while it’s claimed that this will make your under-eye area look better within a few minutes of application, it won’t stay that way. In fact, it’ll last for about eight hours, before returning, Cinderella-like, to normal.
I’ve tried this a few times now, following the instructions on the box, which tell me to shake the bottle thoroughly and then apply a few drops of serum under each eye. Importantly, you’re not supposed to use your facial muscles any more than necessary while it’s drying, which will tale 2-3 minutes. What’s actually happening here, you see, is that the serum is forming a “film” over your skin, which will tighten it and hold it in place, creating the illusion of smooth, non-baggy eyes. In other words, it effectively “freezes” your skin in place, although the word “freezes” is misleading here, because a) it’s not cold and b) you will still be able to move the skin afterwards – it’s not going actually immobilise anything. The reason they tell you not to blink your eyes too much, or screw up your face, say, while it’s drying is that if you do that, it’ll just seal the expression lines you’ve just made in place instead, and no one wants that, do they?
Naturally, as soon as I knew I wasn’t supposed to move my face while I this serum was drying, that was ALL I could think about doing. I kept getting an almost-irresistible urge to screw my face up into the most grotesque shape possible, just to see what would happen. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Thankfully, I managed to restrain myself, and sat out the three minutes with my face as expressionless as an ACTUAL doll face. As I waited, I could feel the serum starting to take effect. It’s a curious kind of sensation, and a little bit like the feeling of a clay face mask drying on your skin: you can feel the skin tightening as it dries.
Once it was done, I looked in the mirror, expecting to see someone several years younger staring back at me. Nope, it was just me. In fact, I didn’t really see much of a difference at all, although I have to point out that this is probably because I don’t really have “eye bags” as such. From the tightening I could feel going on, I have a feeling this would have a much more obvious effect on someone who DID have pronounced lines or sagging under the eyes, although I’m curious as to what would happen at the end of the eight hours: does your face just suddenly dramatically collapse, I wonder, causing you to age instantly in front of whomever you happen to be talking to at the time? That would be… well, kinda cool, actually, as long as it wasn’t ME doing the ageing. I do enough of that already, thanks.
I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to wear makeup on top of this, as it basically creates a “film” on the skin. To my relief, though, my makeup went on as normal, so I was able to apply my usual trowel-load of foundation and under-eye concealer. (I still looked like a raccoon today, though. I seriously need to get more sleep.)
Here’s a before-and-after shot from the Skin Doctors site, to give you an idea of what this SHOULD do, and I just want to stress that this is NOT ME:
Pretty dramatic, huh? And this reinforces exactly why I’m still in the wrong age group to be able to really tell you whether this works or not: my eyes don’t quite look like the “before” shot yet, although just give me a few more months and I’m pretty sure I’ll get there.
If you’re there already, however, and you want to try this out, it’s currently £9.99 at Fragrance Mad: click here to order it.
Dollface Reviews: Clinique High Lengths Mascara
Along with the holiday compact I reviewed last week, Clinique also sent me a tube of their High Lengths Mascara, which, being the mascara addict I am, I greeted with great excitement. I actually wrote about this mascara back in January, and had been most curious about the long, curved wand (that’s it above), which, as you can see, is totally smooth on one side, with a double row of “teeth” on the other, in order to help create the “high length” spoken of in the product name.
Revlon Scents of Summer scented nail polish to launch in the UK
I don’t tend to smell my fingers very often. (Now there’s an opening sentence I never thought I’d write…) I don’t know why, I just don’t. So the part of me that doesn’t want to spend money on something that will be of limited use to me is trying to tell me that scented nail polish is simply a gimmick. The part of me that’s a complete sucker for a good gimmick, however, is telling me that, d’uh, of course I’m going to want to try scented nail polish! Why on earth not?
Good question. Revlon’s Scents of Summer collection has been available in the States for a while now, but won’t be released here in the UK until next March, at which point we’ll all be able to have fingernails that look good AND smell good. The collection will include the colours and scents of Cotton Candy, Bubble, Orange Pop, Orange Smoothie, Ocean Breeze, Gum Drop, Peach Smoothie and “Grapy Icy”, whatever that may be. I’ll probably want to try at least one of them. What about you, though?
Frownies Under Eye Gel Patches
Last week, my ongoing search for products designed to help get rid of (or at least reduce) the dreaded 11s between my eyes led me to the Frownies website.
Now, Frownies, as I’m sure you know, are the little patches you stick onto your face overnight in order to relax the muscles and temporarily get rid of lines. I’ve actually tried them before, and wasn’t particularly impressed by them, but looking back, I was trying to use them at a time when I didn’t really have any lines to speak of (oh, those halcyon days!), so no wonder. I may well be driven to give them another go, if Mr Dollface can be persuaded to stop laughing at the sight of me coming to bed with bits of paper stuck to my face.
That’s not what I’m here to talk about today, though. No, you see, while I was on the Frownies website, I found a few other products which I had no idea they made, including these under-eye gel patches. These aren’t just about wrinkles, either: they’re also designed to address that other major bugbear of mine – the dreaded Dark Circles O’ Doom – and they do this by boosting circulation in the eye area, rebuilding collagen under the eyes, and smoothing out lines.
All of this sounds pretty good to me, and the fact that they cost £29 per box of three only puts me off the idea very slightly. I mean, if it works, right…? (Yes, OK, I’m desperate. I know.)
I’m still a couple of weeks away from payday, so if you want to try these out before me, click here to buy them. Then come back and tell me if they work.
More Eye Candy False Eyelashes!
This is the second set of false eyelashes I received from Eyelure’s new Eye Candy range last month, and as you can see from the packaging, these promise to give you “thicker, fuller lashes”. Well, let’s just put that to the test, shall we?
Here’s what they look like out of the packet:
