Review: No7 Lash Impact Mascara

I've had a love affair with many mascaras in my time. I've flitted and flirted with many, and this year I decided to give the No.7 Lash Impact a try.

Why this mascara I hear you ask? Because it's in a red sparkly tube, duh! Plus it was on offer.

I was sceptical to begin with, however I've found that I actually really like it. Proof that love can happen when you least it expect it.

The brush is right up my street. Nothing fancy, no weird shape just big, fat bristles. It goes onto my lashes easily and coats every last lash.

I've found it doesn't smudge. gives me nice volume and length, and I really like it. I find that it doesn't give me clumpy spiders legs, rather accentuates what I already have.

Will I be repurchasing? Only time will tell!

Have you tried this?

Friday Fact

Wait for smudged mascara to dry before you try to remove it.

Whilst it's tempting to want to get rid of a smudge straight away, it'll move away quicker once it has dried.

Happy Friday!

Laura xoxo

Review: Max Factor Wild Mega Volume Mascara

When it comes to mascara there is only one brand I go for, and that's Max Factor. So when I saw this new offering promising me voluminous lashes I picked it up. (Plus, the tube looked cool.)

When I opened it up and saw the brush I was shocked (bit over-dramatic but you get me) as it is like none I'd seen before. It's of a medium thickness, but it's the dip in the middle that was new to me. I didn't understand how that worked, but I went with it anyway.

Whilst I don't dislike this product, I definitely don't think it's the best one Max Factor have released. I wouldn't say it is that volumising, but it does lengthen my lashes. What I dislike about this is that the formula feels quite dry and goes on quite clumpy which is just a no no for me.

Overall, if you're looking for a new mascara, I definitely think Max Factor have better offerings (false lash effect and high definition.)

What do you think of this?

Laura xoxo

Review: Revlon 3D Volume Photo Ready Mascara

Wow, that’s along title for mascara isn’t it? C’mon Revlon, something a bit easier next time please? So I purchased this after seeing Adrienne mention it in a tweet and I was in Boots, and you can guess the rest.

It’s quite a big mascara, and breaks the usual round mould and is square, which is annoying for me as it takes up a lot of space, but it’s nothing too serious.

The wand reminds me of the They’re Real mascara, I don’t know why, and it’s been a while since I tried that so I may be wrong. It has bristles all down the side (I can never tell the difference between plastic or not, so I have no clue) and also at the end, I’m guessing so that they can get those ‘hard to reach’ lashes.

When I first used it I was quite disappointed. Yes my lashes look ok, but not sounding big headed, my lashes are alright on their own. However, I preserved and now I really like using it.

What I’ve found is it gives a really nice ‘everyday natural’ look. The bristles really work well at separating my lashes instead of clumping them together. I didn’t realise at the time but I picked up blackened brown instead of black, so maybe that aids the ‘natural’ look.

Overall, this is a nice mascara, slightly pricey at I think £10.99, but I would recommend if you already have nice lashes you want to enhance. I probably won’t by this again, but if I do, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Have you tried this? What do you think?

Laura xoxo

Review: No.17 Dolled Up Mascara

I purchased this after seeing No 17 retweet a picture of someone wearing it, as their lashes looked amazing. If you've followed my blog for a while you will know that I am extremely faithful to Max Factor when it comes to mascara, but at a fraction of the price, I thought I'd give this a go.

The wand of this mascara is not something I'm very fond of, I prefer thicker wands, but it isn't the worst I've used.

As you can see it gives my lashes a nice length, and it does look quite natural (not this zoomed it) but it didn't blow me away like I was expecting.

I then decided to check it out next to my faithful False Lash Effect:

and realised that 17 was not the one for me.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a bad mascara, I've definitely tried worse, but I won't be re-purchasing it.

Have you tried this? What do you think?

Laura xoxo

Throwback Thursday

This used to be my holy grail mascara, still is, but with the world of blogging telling me that there are better mascaras out there I had to try them. None of them have really compared to this if I'm honest, and I didn't really realise until I pulled it back out of my collection the other day.

The wand is the perfect size for me, not too thick and not too thin. It gets at every lash, whilst making them fuller, thicker and more defined, what more does a girl want?

(Without/With)

(Sorry for the bad quality, I took them y'day before uni and it was so dark, but you get the idea.)

While I probably still will succumb to trying other products, I can definitely see me having a constant tube of this!

What is your holy grail mascara?

Laura xoxo

Anastasia Lash Genius

A while ago I was sent an email asking if I would like to review the Anastasia Lash Genius (I felt very blogy when I read that email haha,) and after reading Amelia's review here, I decided to say yes, as I it had intrigued me ever since reading it.

Firstly it came with a really cool book, which made me laugh , and I thought it was a really nice touch, here are a few of the pictures. 

Now I don't really need waterproof mascara. I don't swim often (or wear make-up when I do) and I don't go on holiday abroad often enough to need one for pools etc. But I was interested to see if this worked for the longevity of a product! First of all though, I thought I should test the waterproof claim. To do this I put mascara on both of my lashes, and only one one set the Lash Genius. I then took a damp cotton pad and wiped my eyes with it.

Lash Genius//Just Mascara

As you can see the Lash Genius did actually smudge more on my face, however on the pad there was hardly any product compared to the just mascara eye, the smudged mascara however stayed put on my face until I used proper make-up remover. And trying to get it off, was really tough, maybe it was just the force of my hand?

I then decided to test it after a shower, as you can see, I had no smudging, which was a plus, but I definitely lost my mascara look. 

To be honest, neither of that bothered me, but it is something to think of if that is why you would like it.

The way it made my mascara last though, was something I was pleasantly surprised with. It didn't change how my mascara looked, but my goodness, it helped keep my mascara on.

As you can see the mascara lasted so much longer, and stayed exactly the same whilst it was on, which I found super impressive. I put the mascara on at about half past eight in the morning and took it off at around nine in the evening. I didn't however, put any on my lower lashes, and they had definitely faded. Which shows it's a really great product for helping my mascara last.

I also tested this out on my eyebrows, and my eyebrows stayed in place and looked nice and full all day.

Overall, I really like this product, I think to buy it would be if I had a job that required long hours and I wanted my mascara to last. With this I'm going to save it for special occasions such as nights out, or the odd days when I need my mascara to last. I would also recommend it if you have oily lids and mascara always smudges, and your favourite mascara does not come in waterproof, this makes it perfect for summer!

You can it from here for either £7.50 or £14.

What do you think? Do you use this product?

Laura xoxo

*This product was given to me free for consideration, I am under no obligation to blog about it, and all opinions and thoughts are my own. I would never be anything but honest, as aside from the fact that it is obvious when people lie, I believe that, through my blog I have gained your trust, and would not want to ruin that for free products. I accepted this product as it was something, that I myself had seen and wanted to try, not just to gain a free product. 

I am not being paid for this review.

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

From what I can gather, this is one of the blogging world's go to Mascara's. I've mentioned enough that I love my Max Factor High Definition Mascara, but curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to give this a whirl. (There was £2 off the price, who could resist?)

The brush for this mascara is very fat! It took me quite a while to get used to it, but I grasped it easily enough! The bristles are quite short, but I find that if I wiggle at the base of my lashes and bring the wand upwards it gave my lashes a full coating.

I wouldn't class this as making it look like I have a pair of falsies on, but it does coat my lashes well and gives them extra length, separates them and makes them look fuller. I was pleasantly surprised with this mascara, and I do like it. I can see why people like it so much! However, I do have quite good lashes to begin with, so I like volume and length from my mascara! 

As you can see, this mascara does just make my lashes more defined, which is nice, and I am considering getting this in brown, for 'natural' make-up days! (Oh the irony!)

Therefore I do favour my High Definition mascara, just because it gives me more volume and length, and makes my lashes look more dramatic, so I do think it wins slightly over False Lash Effect, and it is cheaper (all round win!)

So overall, I like this mascara, and would recommend it, but it's just not the best for me!

Do you like this mascara?

Laura xoxo

Benefit - Tan About Town

***Bargain Alert***

I was in my local Boots, as I usually spend most of my time there apparently, and was at the till to pay, I only had two bottles of Pepsi Max in my hand and an Eat Natural bar (I love those!) and saw this little package for a mere £9, so into my hand it came, and it followed me all the way home. (I did buy it, just to clarify!)

This is how it was lovingly packaged! I love it when things are organised like this, it pleases my OCD mind!

So inside this little kit contains, a Bad Gal Mascara, Hoola, and some foundation which I don't really get. But I think it's still worth it for the Bad Gal and Hoola.

Foundation type thing. I think it's a bit too dark for me, but going to look into in summer.

I think this mascara is really good. I think it's just as good as my favourite mascara (Max Factor High Definition) but the price difference will be having me going back to Max Factor, but if you've got the cash to splash, go for it!

I really, really like this. I think it is a really good contour shade, it's slightly orange in this picture, but it looks so good in real life (if I do say so myself.) I really want to get this now. (Can you hear my purse screaming? Step away from the Benefit counter)

Also I feel like I should say, I love the size of this. I think that high end companies should sell their products for cheaper and this size, as some times, we are never going to finish the big packages they get, and we will be able to buy and try more. Maybe one day?

So this is my face of Benefit, I also have a the new Hello Oxygen foundation (review to come) on and my Hervana blusher.

What do you think of this pack? Bargain, or not bothered? 

Laura xoxo

Mascaras

It appears I have acquired numerous mascaras over the last few months, so being the sharing person I am, I thought I would do a comparison post of all the mascaras I own, and my opinions of them. Now I think I've only actually bought two of these mascaras, (Max Factor and Maybelline) the others were freebies or gifts, so I don't feel too guilty for owning this many! Unlike my little lipstick addiction!

First off, my go to mascara of choice, it appears in quite a lot of my posts and it is the Max Factor High Definition Mascara:

I really love this mascara. I found it in November and have pretty much been using it daily since. It separates and lengthens my lashes and, well, gives them great definition. I'm not that fussed about Volume in my daily look, and this gives the perfect balance, creating length and just the right amount of depth, leaving me with good natural looking lashes.

Next up is Maybelline's The one:

Now this was my go to mascara before I found my Max Factor one, and I must say, I can see why I used to love it. It is a mascara that I have re-purchased a lot, however stopped using it in favour of my Max Factor one, but to be honest, I really like it again now. (At least I've helped myself, if no-one else finds this post useful.) It gives great volume and length, and I think it is the perfect mascara for nights out, when Volume is a must, for me anyway.

The next two mascaras are freebies from magazines, but need a mention anyway. Firstly I want to talk about the Clinique High Impact mascara (free in April Edition of Cosmopolitan.)

I tweeted about this mascara a while ago when I first got it and said that it may be taking the place of my Max Factor one. It really elongates my lashes and gives a gorgeous natural finish, and I love it. It is £15, whereas the Max Factor one is around the £8 and can usually be gotten in deals, so just for that fact alone I think Max Factor will win, however this is a truly great mascara.

The other freebie is one I'm sure you're all aware came in an issue of Elle, the Soap & Glory Thick and Fast Mascara. I did a mini review on this already, but thought I should pop one here too.

I find this to be an okay mascara. I wouldn't spend £10 on it, but I think it's perfectly fine for giving some definition to your lashes. I find that it doesn't really help with curling or holding the curls of my lashes, but it's not a bad mascara either!

Now these last two mascaras are both No.7, and I received both for in sets (thank you Grandma.) First up is the Lash adapt mascara in Brown/Black (all other mascaras are in black.)

I tend to use this mascara on days where I don't feel like wearing much make-up, or am wearing a very natural eye. It feels very light weight and just coats my lashes gently. I think it does adapt to my lashes, however it doesn't have as long a staying power as the others, which is fine because as I said, I wear it on my less make-up days. I do like this mascara, but probably won't be re-purchasing it, as there is more make-up I would rather like than a mascara I wear on less make-up days if that makes sense?

Finally, the other No.7 mascara I received was the Exceptional Definition.

I really like the brush with mascara, it has little bristles at the end which is really good to get the outer lashes and smaller lashes. I don't think it's the best mascara, but it's not a bad one either. I think it does give good definition and volume, but not lots of definition and lots of volume, if that makes sense?

What is your favourite mascara? Do you use any of these?

Laura xoxo