Current Mascara Line Up 2017

March 28, 2017July 27, 2018 - Vicki 3 Comments

Lancome Doll Eyes Mascara

I have been loyal to Lancome mascara’s for years, although I usually opt for the Hypnose I felt like a change recently & I’ve been using the Hypnose Doll Eyes this year. 2017 is a year of makeup changes. It is different from the rest of the Lancome Mascara’s but in a very good way. This is a mascara that really opens your eye and fans out your lashes, it very much gives them that doll eyed look & I love it. The formula is quite dry and jet black, It is quite natural in that it’s not heavy or clumpy on the lashes and it gives a little drama but I wouldn’t recommend it if you like your lashes to look false. The wand is fantastic and the tapered end means you can get right in to the corner and apply mascara to even the shortest of lashes. So if you like fluttery, long, fanned out lashes then you need this Doll Eyes Mascara in your life, I am thrilled with it!

Essence Forbidden Volume Mascara*

Essence Mascara’s are some of my favourites because they’re affordable and fantastic quality. I haven’t enjoyed this one as much as other mascaras I have tried from Essence but I do like that you can build it up to be quite dramatic. I found the formula to be a little wet and it transferred on to my eyelid. I do recommend checking out this brand if you haven’t already, their lipsticks, nail polish and face powders are incredible. Just maybe give this mascara a swerve.

Tarte Tarteist Mascara

I love the plastic wand on this mascara, it separates and lifts my lashes too. This formula won’t give you drama or too much volume but like the Lancome Doll Eyes it will give you long, pretty flirty lashes. This is a great daytime option & it also works well under other mascaras as a first step to more voluminous lashes. I liked this a lot more than their Better Than Sex offering. It lasts all day on me without flaking and it is epic at holding a curl too.

Rimmel Volume Shake Mascara*

This new release from Rimmel features a first-to-market patented shaker system that refreshes the volumising formula and promises to extend the life of your mascara. I’m not 100% sold on either claim, I will have to test it out further to make up my mind. Off the bat I will say that the packaging is noticeably heavier than any other mascara I have owned, it is so weighty. I like the wand and find the bristles grab my lashes and lay down a lot of product quickly. The jet black formula does have fibres in and these do help give your lashes length but I am not overly impressed with the volume. The formula is quite wet too and I found it hard to get a clump free finish, especially when applying more than one coat. I prefer the Scandal Eyes Mascara from Rimmel but it is cool to see brands pushing the envelope, however this isn’t the mascara for me.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Reloaded Mascara

The version I like out of the two Scandaleyes Mascaras is the Extreme Black one – I hate it when my mascara is not jet black and this version is super intense Black. The wand is perfect, big, tapered and the bristles work magic at giving your lashes volume like no other! This wand works the mascara in to every individual lash but without clumping them together, it lengthens and gives volume so it is an epic all round mascara. One of my favourite affordable mascaras for sure. Even with a few coats this doesn’t flake or weigh your lashes down, it has great staying power and of course I love the extreme black colour.

YSL The Shock Mascara*

This is the latest addition to my makeup bag and I am pretty excited about it. The packaging isn’t what I would have expected from YSL, it doesn’t look or feel as luxurious as the price tag but I am willing to overlook that because the product itself is amazing. The wand is quite long but not bulky, it gives volume and drama without having to apply layer upon layer. It does have a tendency to clump but if I apply whilst doing that magic trickery of wiggling the brush through my lashes it helps separate my lashes and ensure the product is applied from root to tip giving the ultimate high impact look. I love the jet black formula and think this is a fantastic mascara for evening and making the most of your natural lashes without the need to apply falsies.

What are your favourite mascara’s at the moment & have you tried any of the ones I have mentioned in my Mascara Line Up?

* This post contains PR samples

Current Mascara Line Up

March 15, 2016 - Vicki Leave a comment

Current Mascara Line Up

Like most beauty addicts I always have more than one mascara on the go at any one time & right now I am using some of my absolute favourite mascaras. I like my mascara to help my lashes look long, hold a curl and maybe give the illusion I was blessed with more lashes than I actually have. What mascara are you loving right now & which should I avoid?

Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir*

This is the newest mascara in my collection and I have to say it has been receiving the most love too. If you like subtle quite natural looking lashes then this is not for you at all. This is one of the best false lash effect mascaras I have ever tried. It adds such volume and length to my lashes, I love it. Its jet black & absolutely smudge proof so you can rely on this mascara to stay put! If you love fluttery lashes that have that false lash effect then this is one to add to your wishlist. I also think at £20 its very well priced.

Maybelline The Falsies Volum' Express Mascara

Maybelline Volum’ Express The Falsies

Not a massive fan of this, it clumps on my lashes and after a couple of hours It seems to end up halfway down my face! So much fall out under my eyes! This is not a mascara I would recommend, I found it very messy and hard to remove. It does give volume but I just don’t like the formula so I am looking forward to parting ways with this mascara.

Lancome Hypnose Mascara Wand

Lancome Hypnose Mascara

LOVE this mascara and until the Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir came into my life Hypnose was my go to mascara. It still is the perfect mascara for fanning out your lashes and making them look healthy, long and fluttery. This isn’t as dramatic as Velvet Noir but I do wear this more during the day and I love the brush and how it grabs every individual lash and coats them all with product without applying too much and weighing them down. Hypnose is still a front runner and I always recommend this mascara because it has never let me down.

Max Factor Velvet Volume Mascara

Max Factor Velvet Volume False Lash Effect Mascara*

I like this because my lashes never feel crispy when I’m wearing this, no matter how many coats I apply & there is no fall out or smudging. It has a big plastic wand and the different sized bristles helps coat every single lash, the formula is also great at holding a curl. No clumping or fall out, this is another fab mascara from Max Factor and one of my favourite everyday options. Oh & I have been using this for almost 3 months now & it hasn’t started to dry out, so that pleases me.

Eye Of Horus Goddess Mascara

This is a great one for quite natural looking lashes, not in a no makeup kind of way but more of a, my lashes look long, healthy and they’re all natural kind of way (am I making sense?). Its a pretty mascara for daytime and will add length to short lashes and give them definition. Its understated but always makes me look awake and my lashes long! The formula is the perfect consistency and it has very good staying power. This is a reliable mascara and one you can wear everyday for pretty natural lashes.

Essence Plump No Clump Mascara

What a budget beauty this Essence mascara is – plump no clump indeed. Look at that massive brush, it leaves no lash out & gives them a coat of jet black mascara leaving them looking full, volumised and long. This is another mascara with a pretty big brush, I think we are seeing a common theme, I like big brushes & I can not lie. This is an affordable mascara but it works, it works very very well.

For false lash effect the Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir is a must buy & best budget friendly but also incredible quality the Essence Plump no Clump is one mascara you need in your collection

*PR Sample

Marc Jacobs Beauty Exclusively at Harrods

February 17, 2016 - Vicki 4 Comments

Marc Jacobs Beauty

I only ever hear positive reviews of the Marc Jacobs Beauty range and since its launch 3 years ago its been near impossible to get your hands on it in the UK, but a little birdie tells me that Harrods are now exclusively stocking Marc Jacobs Beauty in store and online. So we can finally see if the hype is justified, I have a wish list as long as my arm.

I think the first thing that strikes me about Marc Jacobs Beauty is the attention to detail right from the sales counter to the packaging down to the actual products, everything has been well thought out. Its luxurious makeup which makes you feel like you have invested in a lifestyle. The sleek black packaging looks minimal and beautiful and the products are just as beautiful and very hard to resist!

Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Mascara

I have been trying out the new Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Volume Mascara* which is inspired by Marc Jacobs’s first beauty memory, of his mother carefully shaving fibres from a velvet ribbon to create her own couture faux lashes. This mascara gives your lashes a coating of jet black mascara, the formula is quite wet but once it dries down it leaves your lashes looking extremely full and long.

This mascara can look pretty good after just one coat for more of a daytime look or if you want to go for that epic false lash effect then 2 – 3 coats will make your lashes really stand out. The jet black pigment is smudge proof and won’t transfer throughout the day. This is a mascara that will keep up with you and still look great at the end of the night. No panda eyes here.

New Marc Jacobs Volumising Mascara

The packaging is everything you’d expect from this brand, its simple, classic and very sleek. Its jet black tube is very weighty and feels luxurious. The hexagonal shaped tube is very different but its a nice shape to hold and it feels comfortable in your hand when applying the mascara. The brush is an hourglass shape and quite big, which makes it easy to get in to the little lashes in the inner corner and right down to the lash line for that full dramatic lash effect.

I thought this would be a lot more expensive than it is, for a high-end luxurious brand its priced very well. At £20 this is well worth trying out and I guarantee you will love the volumising effect. To say I like this mascara wouldn’t do it justice, I am very impressed and think its going to become a favourite very quickly indeed.

What Marc Jacobs products are you excited to try? I have always wanted the Lolita Palette, its become such a cult product and the neutral shades look gorgeous.

Marc Jacobs Beauty is available in the UK exclusively at Harrods.

*PR Sample

Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp Ultra-Volume Mascara

April 24, 2014May 9, 2018 - Vicki 3 Comments

I’ve only tried one other product from Yves Rocher and I bought that in Amsterdam, it was their Micellar Water and I really liked it. So I was excited to try their Sexy Pulp Mascara. I have been using it for a good few weeks and been pleasantly surprised. I have to say when I first took the wand out I thought it was going to be far too big & hard to work with, I have quite small eyes and I like to coat every lash & really get in to the corners too and normally can’t use a larger brush, like the Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara (I hated that brush). I seem to have figured out a way of making this large brush work for me.

I’ve poked myself in the eye with this brush on a couple of occasions but I think that’s more because I’m clumsy than anything else. I tend to put my makeup on when I’m still half asleep. This mascara is a very deep intense black, so if you like your mascara on the dark side then you will like this. The brush as I’ve said is very large, it has dense bristles which grab every lash which I like as it makes them very defined.

I stop after one coat mostly for a daytime look that gives me enough volume and I find that I don’t get clumping. If you do want to build this up for a more dramatic look just make sure you take the excess product off the wand as you will get a little clumping (although I know a few people that like that look).

I found the formula easy to work with and once I figured how to use the brush without sticking it in my eye I found it defined my lashes and made them look full however I wouldn’t say this was massively volumizing. It gave my lashes nice length but nothing out of this world, that’s not why I really like this mascara. I like it for the fact it wears all day with no panda eye effect, not flaking or smudging & it separates my lashes which is the look I like.

After wearing this all day I found it easy to remove with my Garnier Micellar Water, so that is always good, I hate it when I remove stubborn mascaras & I pull out lots of lashes.

The packaging is also nice the tube is deep purple with pink writing and although the brush is huge the wand is quite light and the tip is slightly tapered so you can get into the corners so every lash has product on. I have liked using this mascara & even read that its quite a blogger favourite & I can see why.

Yves Rocher Mascara* £18 – but its currently 50% off via Yves Rocher Online

I think £18 is quite a stretch for this mascara but at 50% off I say stock up while you can. Have you tried this mascara or do you have any recommendations for other Yves Rocher products that I should try?

Products that are marked with a * have either been sent to me for my consideration or I’ve received at events. I’m under no obligation to review them on my blog. However, if I do, the reviews are 100% my own.

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