Mascara. I find reviewing it extremely difficult, because it can be a real “Marmite” product.

Lets start with the brush – some people love a plastic comb, some love a traditional “spoolie” brush. Thats before we even think about the ”new generation” of wands which are a hybrid of the two… and what about shape? Straight? Curved? “Spoon shaped”? S Shaped? A spiky torture ball?

Then there’s the formula – some love a wetter more runny consistency, while some like a thicker consistenct of product.

Also, every one seems to love a different effect with their mazzy – some like length, others volume, some want curl, some want all three. Some like a bit of a clumping fake effect, others are all about the natural look.

It’s a jungle!

One of my all time personal favourites is YSL Faux Cils. As with every single product on the market though, it’s not perfect – one of the most common criticisms of the product is that it dries up pretty quick – I’ve always found that 3-4 months is the longest I can get out of a tube, and at £21.50 a throw, it’s an expensive one to fall in love with.

This comes in 6 shades – Black, Brown, Sublime Grey, Violet, Burgundy and Blue. It was also recently released in the high pigment black version – “Noir Radical”.

In the past I have only ever bought the normal Black version – I first picked it up for my wedding day (my love of the mascara outlasted the love of the now ex-husband…) and repurchased several times. I then started blogging and testing out lots of other mascaras. But recently I felt like treating myself and this was calling me. I decided to try the new Noir Radical version – after all, a mascara can never be too black really for my tastes.

The packaging and wand are all the same as I remember…

The wand is my favourite type of all – a traditional large, but not too large full brush. It also still has that familiar rose scent to it, which I personally really like – some obviously will hate it though!

It’s the type of mascara you can tell you are wearing – its quite dramatic, but I love that – having paid nearly £22 for it, I want it to stand out!

So far so good hey?

But the title of this post kinda gives away the fact that something aint quite right with this mascara.

I’d heard rumours of this transferring and running, but I hadn’t noticed any problems… until now.
Consisently this week I have been driving home from work and glanced in the rear view mirror to see a member of Kiss looking back at me.

Ok… slight exaggeration, but there’s definitely a problem here…

See that smudgy dark stuff under my eye? That’s not actually supposed to be there. I haven’t even been rubbing my eyes, crying, sneezing or any of the other stuff I’d expect to cause mascara to run…

Another problem with the mascara is that due to the vast amounts of black pigment in the formula, it’s very hard to remove. I use a balm type product at the moment to get this off. I’ll often remove it at night, and then on getting up the next morning will notice I have panda eyes after I finish in the shower. I mean I knew that an extreme black mascara was going to be very pigmented, but really? A day later and still there?

The bottom line is though, that I still love this mascara in general. I’ll be buying another tube in the future, but this is where me and Noir Radical part company. I’ll be sticking to the regular Black version from now on!

At £4.99 this is is the latest high street mascara adorning lashes in blogland. Affordable enough for the likes of mee the week before payday, I picked one up last week, and I’ve been using it for a few days now… If you get down to Boots, where this is available you get a free gift with purchase of a lash curler, tweezers and a pencil eye liner too. Rude not to really!

Some people might find the packaging a little garish, but I quite like it – leopard print is always fun, and for some reason the name of the mascar “Wild Curls” makes me sing Duran Durans “Wild Boys”over and over in my head. Just me? Ok then…

Anyway, the wand is fairly standard too…

I was initially a little worried this might be a bit of a clumper, as there does seem to be a lot of product on the brush… but I am happy to say, my worries were unfounded.

I was sent this for review purposes by Eyeko – I have to say, it hands down gets thumbs up for the pretty packaging – it comes in a long, sleek metallic purple tube with a silver floral design, accented by little crystals – lovely!

The mascara is apparenly a limited edition product from the Eyeko Couture range – I’m not sure how long it will be available, as the website doesn’t give any details. It’s available on their website here for £9, or the ASOS website for £8.

The brush is one of those very big ones – akin to benefit bad gal but not as massive (I don’t own that one, but the brush looks similar from what I’ve seen…). The fact that the brush is so big and the opening of the tube is so small, means that any excess product is removed from the wand, which minimises clumping and “goop buildup” on the brush. This worked well – I haven’t had a single clump since I started testing it…

Eyeko describe this as a “3 in 1 Mascara” – ie lengthening, volumising and curling. I’ve been test driving this for a couple of weeks now…. Here is a pic of my naked lashes;

…and here are my lashes with two coats of the mascara…

I’d definitely agree that this is a very lengthening mascara, and I experienced zero clumps at all while I’ve been using it. I didn’t find it particularly curling when used alone, but when applied to curled lashes it held the curl well. I didn’t find it massively volumising either – the formula is a little thin to be volumising.

Verdict – worth trying if you want a lenghtening mascara which doesn’t clump, but if you are after volume, this may not work for you.

Hope this helps!

MizzWorthy xxx

They say a picture paints a thousand words, so I decided to put this mascara to the test and let you be the judges!

Ok, so this is the drugstore version of mascaras such as Lancome oscillation etc…

The product claims to vibrate horizontally at 100 times per second to mimic the way pro’s apply mascara… I have to admit I was a little sceptical about this, I mean how hard is it to wiggle the wand as you go? Not very hey, so I thought this would be a gimmick in the same ilk as that awful Loreal Telescopic Explosion mascara – the one with the tiny torture ball applicator… I really hated that one, so had mixed expectations about this one…

To use it, you have to take it out of the plastic packaging (obviously) and take off the gold tag/label to activate the battery which powers the vibrations…no rude jokes please (yet!). The vibes can be turned on and off which is good- I didn’t fancy a vibrating object approaching my eyeball (ahem).

The button is not difficult to get to with the fingers either – quite intuitive (as all good vibrating items should be… stoppit!). I applied the wand to the base of my lashes and then “turned it on” and pulled it through my lashes (no wiggling – I wanted to make sure the mascara did all the work, as they claim!) slowly from root to tip.

*Clears throat* Anyway here are my lashes “au naturel” (or should that be “au natural”? Too distracted by the vibrations… snorrrt!)

And here are a couple of piccys of the lashes afterwards (peepers closed and open so you see the full effect…)

It goes without saying that you have to just not even acknowledge the eyebrows. I’m trying to grow them in a bit so I can reshape them…

Anyway, my thoughts on the mascara?
Not as scary to use as I thought actually, and the vibrating feels quite pleasant (stop giggling at the back there!).
It does take a little bit longer to apply to the lashes, but maybe this is because I am not used to the vibes?
I’m impressed with the results too… Gives quite false looking doll like lashes. This to me is good – I don’t see the point of applying mascara unless it gives your lashes va-va-voom. May not appeal to the more natural girls though…

What do you guys think?

MizzWorthy xxx

Hmmm… Mascara – such a divisive subject in the beauty world. There is definitely a place in my heart for high end mascara (I will always love YSL Faux Cils dearly – it was the first one I ever tried that made me realise the power of a fluttering lash!), and yet given the fact that macara has to be replaced so regularly for hygiene reasons, it makes sense to make the most of drugstore gems too!

So my current fave drugstore mascara’s, in no particular order (that would be impossible! I usually have about three on the go anyway!)….

Rimmel Sexy Curves
This one seems to be something of a “marmite” mascara (you either love it or you hate it…). I personally love it – gives volumised long fluttery lashes and builds well. Some people find the wand too floppy and flexible, but personally I’ve never had this issue. The bizarrely shaped wand works well to get product onto the lashes, as well as lengthening and building volume. Can clump if you use tonnes of coats, but some people like that too.

Max Factor False Lash Effect

This is marketed as Covergirl LashBlast in the US, and is apparently a best seller over there – a status which it fully deserves in my humble opinion. This has a MASSIVE applicator – one unlike any I’ve seen before. Basically a large barrelled plastic cone with teeth…. The product itself is also a great formulation – not too thick, not too thin, so it dries quick enough not to smudge, but slow enough to allow you to build your coats up. For me, this gives lovely long, thick and dramatic looking lashes. A fellow makeup addict at work, regularly asks me what mascara I’m wearing when I have this on…

Maybelline Colossal Volume

First off, lets talk about the packaging – I hate it! But this just proves you should never judge a book by its cover… and I suppose it makes it easy to find! This is great for building drama in a flash. I actually recieved this at a blogger event, and possibly would never have picked it up if I hadn’t (due to the radioactive packaging), and hence I tried it with some trepidation. However
I was surprised – builds extremely thick lashes with little clumping – this is a great one for a smoky eye, as it gives very thick and intense black lashes.

Barry M 3-in-1 Mascara

Again, I recived this at a blogger event, and I have to say, the makeup snob in me really expected this to be absolute rubbish. One of those occasions where I am so so pleased to be proved totally and utterly wrong. In short – this product costs less than a fiver, promises to curl, lengthen and volumise, and it actually lives up to those claims completely. If you haven’t tried this one, I urge you to get to your nearest Barry M counter and be amazed.

Max Factor 2000 Calorie

This is one of those mascara’s I keep going back to over and over – like a pair of comfortable shoes, I know exactly where I stand with this one. Gives reliable results and never lets me down. An oldie but a goodie. Coats lashes with minimal clumping and always looks great. A coat or two is great for the day, but extra coats can be added for nocturnal activities!

It has to be said though, for every great drugstore mascara out there, there are some absolute humdingers… some of my most recent let-downs include;

L’oreal Telescopic Explosion – Its difficult to express how much I dislike this mascara, but if you want to spend about 15 minutes faffing about with an applicator that looks like a torture impliment getting the outer corner lashes to look great, only to move towards the inner lashes and have the useless wand clump the outer lashes, then this will be perfect for you. Gawd I hate this one – did not work for me in any way shape or form.

Maybelline Lash Stiletto – Made big promises of long glossy lashes, and failed to deliver on either front. I just found this very average.

L’Oreal Volume Collagen – Looked so promising – huge brush and promises of long volumised fluttery boy-bait style lashes. Achieved this for the first use, however dried up within about ten minutes of opening the tube and promptly clumped horrendously on each following application. Currently trying out the “plus” version to see if it is more successful… will keep you posted!

Any other recommendations? I don’t like to miss out on good lashes!

MizzWorthy xxx

I don’t know about the rest of you, but at the moment, I’m not exactly flush – so in these “Financially Embarassed” times, I thought it might be a good idea to share some of the recent treasures I have found in my nearest drugstores!

First up, some body care goodies…

I have sahara like dry skin on my legs, and prior to discovering Garniers Hydralock body lotion, I spend many a night trying to resist the urge to scratch my legs to pieces while trying to drop off to sleep – this stuff is a godsend for me, the only body lotion that actually does keep me hydrated for any decent length of time. It’s unscented though, which makes it feel a little utilitarian at times, hence I also regularly call on my Jergens lotions, which smell really fresh and clean (thanks to Laura for introducing me to this stuff… I might not have looked twice at it otherwise!). I also love Loreal Nutrisummer gradual tanner – its very hydrating and comes in formulas for different shades of skin, so it prevents me from looking too orange or looking “fake tanned”, and because its gradual its virtually foolproof…

At work, I have to wash my hands a lot with delightful NHS infection controlling soap, and I also use a lot of alcohol hand gel between visits in the car and out and about… as a result my hands get really dry at times, so I like a really rich handcream for overnight use. I’m currently using Garnier Skin Naturals (although to be honest given the unpronouncable list of ingredients in this, I’m not sure how well this fits into the “natural” category!). I am also a fan of Dove overnight cream, and the Body Shop Hemp handcream. For my lips, I usually have a tin of vaseline lurking about at the bottom of my handbag somewhere, and I also LOVE Palmers Dark Chocolate and Peppermint lip butter – this goes on as a clear gloss, and it just smells divine, but the peppermint stops it from being too sickly. I’m on my second tube of this!

In the past my HG mascara was YSL’s Faul Cils, however since starting this blog and following others, I’ve realised that drugstore mascara is a far more savvy option – I change my mascara about every 3 months for hygiene reasons, so why spend £25 when you can pick up great ones for less than half the price?

My current favourite drugstore mazzies? Barry M intense black 3 in 1 mascara – claims to lengthen, volumise and curl, and it actually does! A real surprise to me, I recieved this at the Barry M event, and I really didn’t expect much, but for about a fiver, this stuff is fantastic, and really buildable too. A definate repurchase for me! I also love Max Factors False Lash Effect macara – which is marketed as Lash Blast in the USA. Once you get used to the strange brush on this, it gives amazing length and definition to the lashes – I have never had any clumping issues with this one. Another fave, and one which is a bit of a “marmite” mascara (ie you either love it or hate it..), is Rimmel’s Sexy Curves mascara. I personally love this and find it gives lovely “doll like” lashes. All there retail for around £10 or less…

Unfortunately, not all drugstore mascara’s are equal… two recent releases I had high hopes for…

(Sorry for the appalling photo!) … Loreal telescopic explosion and Maybelline Stilletto Lash, were two mascara’s that just didn’t work for me. Telescopic explosion is an apparent dupe for Givenchy’s Phenomeneyes (in terms of the wand at least, which is basically a spiky ball shape). I know a lot of people really like this, but I personally was very disappointed, and found that the product (or rather the wand) made my lashes really clump up. Similarly Lash Stiletto didn’t really lengthen my lashes unfortunately!

I love nail polish, both high and low end. I am a particular fan of getting “trend” colours from drugstore ranges too…

From L to R – Barry M Coral(no 296) a lovely bright shade for summer; Rimmel Lasting Finish in Dancing Queen, a classic orange based red; MissSporty Number 111, a two-tone coral with gold flecks; Rimmel 60 seconds Vinyl Shine in “Pulsating”, a fabulous rich purple-fuscia; Rimmel 60 seconds Vinyl shine in “Movie Star”, a gorgeous disco style glittery red; Barry m turquise (No 295). I have also heard very good things about the revlon polishes, but I’m yet to give them a go!

Well done if you have made it this far lol, not long to go now! Above, we have Miss Sporty Fabulous eye glosses in Vinyl (black with silver shimmer), Flower (cream with gold shimmer – also makes a fabulous cheek bone highlighter) and Pool (Pale blue). These make great eye bases and can also be applied simply with fingers for a simple look. Clooection 2000′s range of loose shadows/pigments are also really great value – they have a great range of colours and cost around £4 or less – pictured is Jaffa a lovely golden orange colour. Obviously Barry M dazzle dusts are always worth checking out – My personal favourites are shown here – Mushroom (No 51), which is a lovely grey with a pink/purple undertone, and Petrol Blue (No 98) a dark inky two tone shade. Rimmel’s Mono eye shadows are also worth a look – they don’t always have the greatest range of colours though! Pictured are Tempted (Blue) and Envy (Green).
MEMEME’s range often contains drugstore versions of more expensive products – Poppy tint is meant to be a dead ringer for Benefits Posie tint, while Beat the Blues is similar to Moon Beam.
I also recently purchased Sleeks “Glisten Me” liquid illuminator in Empress, which I really like – great value too, you get a whopping 30 mls for around a fiver (sorry, I can’t remember the exact price!) I picked this up while I was trying to get hold of the new neon plaette, but unforunately all the nes in Superdrug had been tampered with and smushed up… ((

Finally, a special mention to some lovely pencils I have in my collection!

Barry M’s shimmering lip and eye crayons are great chunky pencils with a very smooth and creamy texture – they make good inexpensive eye bases (they do feel a little heavier on than paintpots etc, but work really well for the price…)

I also discovered the Prestige “Total Intensity” Kohl based liners thanks to BritishBeautyBlogger (www.britishbeautyblogger.blogspot.com)- they come in a range of colours, such as purple or olive (both shown here), but the genius stroke is that they all have a black undertone to them. They are really smudgeable so great for creating a smudgy eyeline, and they last remarkably well for a drugstore liner. These retail for approx £4.50, and I cant recommend these particular liners highly enough… (I don’t like Prestige’s regular liners as I personally find them hard and poorly pigmented – if you want to try these, make sure you pick up the Total Intensity ones!)

So, well done, you made it to the end of the post!

I need to know now if you have any recommendations for me? What other products from the drugstores am I miss
ing out on?

MizzWorthy xxx

So FINALLY I get to do a blog post! The last couple of weeks have been unbelievably busy! Normal service can now resume however – The Most Boring Essay In The World (TM) has now been handed in, work is settling down a bit and my social life has returned to its normal ‘meh’ level, (well till next weekend anyway, when I hit they dreaded big-30! Scream!)

So as I’m sure you have heard, Barry M invited a load of us bloggers down to Madame JoJo’s – a burlesque club in London’s Soho. I was fortunate enough to be on the same train as Kirsten (Better known as Sakia the Salsa Fairy!). Having a lovely catch up, made what would have been a long and dull journey, really enjoyable, and before I knew it we’d arrived at Euston!

At the station, we met up with some other lovely bloggers/you-tubers – Gemsmaquillage; OliviaCosmetics; VocalTest and Dolly Is Glitter – all of whom were just as lovely in real life as you’d imagine!

So finally, we arrived at Madame JoJo’s. There I met up with Laura and Kelly again, as well as loads of other bloggers, such as Panda does Makeup, Sirvinya, Oxford Jasmine, Me Love Makeup, WSITN, FilthyGorgeousMakeup, DressJunkie, I would go out tonight… , and even Samantha Chapman from Pixiwoo! There were so many people there! (Sorry if I forgot to mention you – this would be the longest blog post ever otherwise!). The venue was fab and we were greeted by a healthy spread of cupcakes and sweeties – perfect! We were treated to some amazing perfomances by the fab drag artists there;
Then we had a couple of speeches to tell us all about the company and it’s beginnings (this speech given by Barry M himself!). We were told all about the “M Club” which is going to be a new social networking sight combining facebook, video/photo uploads and tutorials, twitter, email – it looked and sounded like it was going to be great – like you tube but better and specifically focussed on makeup lovers! I am hoping that the launch of this will mean we can upload longer videos lol – I can finally start to do some tutorials then! I am not a fan of the 10 minute YT limit!

We also had a special sneak preview of the fab new Barry M advert, which has been on channel 4 a few times this week during “Hollyoaks”. I think the ad represents the brand really well – you can watch it on you-tube here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAxtN5qjScM

One of the many highlights of the day for me was meeting Mister Barry M himself! Him and his son were there and made a point to say hello to everyone and make sure we were having a good time – they both seemed such lovely guys and were really friendly and approachable. It was lovely that they made such an effort to speak to everyone!

“Colour Chaos” in full swing! Models included Laura, Natalya and Natalia, MeLoveMakeup and Arlene(DressJunkie)

Samantha Chapman from Pixiwoo working her magic on Natalia, who looked fab!

The Winning Look – Apparently this will be appearing soon in an issue of “Now” magazine, so keep your eyes peeled for that one!

While all this was going on I was really chuffed to finally meet the lovely lady who writes BritishBeautyBlogger – she is a beauty journalist and we wrote guest blogspots for each other a few weeks back – she was just as lovely in real life as I hoped!

Before leaving the venue, we were all given another lovely treat by the company – a fab bag of goodies to try out;

The goody bag included a cute t-shirt, a makeup bag, a natural dazzle bronzer a mirror and a glitter “eye candy” set. We also got these little beauties; Nail polishes in Block Orange, Fuchsia, Mint Green (My heart skipped a little beat when I saw this one!), Bright Purple, and Acid Yellow (Summer toenail colour me thinks!). These are a welcome addition to my current nail paint collection!

Lip Paints in 144 (Cerise Pink – a lovely berry shade); 145 (Punky Pink – reminds me of MAC’s Show Orchid!), and 146 (Dolly pink – a lovely bubblegum barbie pink shade, which puts me in mind of MAC Saint Germain), as well as glossy tube number four, a nude peach shade. I am looking forward to trying these, as I know the lip paints are great – 132 is one of my fave lipcolours and I love vibrant shades like these pinks. I’ve never tried the glossy tubes before, so I can’t wait to try that!

We also got all these eye goodies – A green mascara, an intense black 3 in 1 mascara, which I can’t wait to try after reading Kirsten’s review -(http://saskiathesalsafairy.blogspot.com/2009/05/barry-m-3-in-1-intense-black-mascara.html) as it sounds fab! Also various liners including kohl, liquid and glitter… I also got fine glitter dusts in numbers 22 and 24, as well as Dazzle dusts in numbers 96 (a gorgeous yellow gold), 97 and 98 (an amazing color which reminds me of when you see oil stains and all the colours reflecting out of it… I hope you get what I mean lol!) as well as a special VIP colour made specially for the day (a blue and lilac one were made – I recieved the lilac).

After the event we headed to the MAC store in Covent Garden – I don’t think they knew what hit them as about thirty people descended complete with pink goody bags! I decided to wait outside and get some fresh air as there was nothing I majorly wanted… we were planning to go to Selfridges after that, but by the time everyone finished their MAC hauling, I had to leave as I had arranged to meet my BF who happened to be in London at the same time doing some training for his shiny new job… I should have known to give the shopping more time lol!

I was really sad to say goodbye to everyone – there were loads of people I wanted to chat with but never got to speak to as there were just so many people there – I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! If I did get to speak to you then hello
again! If I didn’t get to say hello, then I hope we get to meet again so I can say hello properly!

Thanks Barry M for a great day of colour, cupcakes and fun – it was a really fun day in a great venue and it was lovely to meet Barry M himself as well as his son, and so many lovely lovely bloggers and you-tubers. I really hope we all get to meet again , and next time, I’m definately going to speak to more people!

Hi everyone,

Happy1234 has started a great tag – what is your best facial feature and how do you emphasize it?

I think my best facial feature has to be my eyes, as they are quite big and blue and people often comment on them…

To make the most of them I always make sure I get my eyebrows threaded regularly, a monobrow is so not a good look! I also use an eyecream morning and night.

On a daily basis I try to wear mascara – the best I can find that makes me look like I have big fat long lashes (current fave is max factor 2000 cal), as that is usually all I have time for.

To make my eyes pop, maybe on a day off or something I’ll often use coppering and mythology with a little bit of dark shadow in the crease – I know brown is meant to be good for blue eyes but I find brown quite boring sometimes! Coppering and Mythology are quite reddish brown and they look great with blue eyes. I’m thinking of getting some orange shades as they look so good with blue eyes.

For an evening look I’ll do whatever look I’m doing and will also emphsise my eyebrows with dark powder/pencil, and make sure I do highlighter on my cheekbone and just above my brow in a kind of ‘C’ shape…

This is another great TAG!

I too tag everyone who reads my blog!

MizzWorthy xxx