MASCARA REVIEWS: A.K.A COSMETICS & GIVENCHY

Hi there cherubs. I am back with another post today including a couple of mascara reviews. 

TOP: A.K.A COSMETICS MASCARA BROWN

I was first introduced to the A.K.A Cosmetics brand at their launch back in May 2012, Link! They have lots of gorgeous products which make-up lovers should check out for sure. This brown mascara was gifted to me at the event. I don't wear brown mascara too often, but you can see how it looks on in this FOTD post. On the lashes it is very natural in appearance and separates well. The bristle brush head is the usual mascara shape that tapers towards the tip. I forgot that I had this until recently. I have been using a brown mascara for my eyebrows which had just ran out so I thought that I would give this a go. It worked perfectly and the fact that it had dried out a little meant that it worked even better holding my brows in place. The writing on the packaging has worn off quite a bit though.

BOTTOM: GIVENCHY NOIR COUTURE MASCARA NO.1 BLACK SATIN

I received this mascara in my May 2013 GLOSSYBOX. This mascara made promises of curl, length, volume and care. It actually gave a nicely shaped curve and volume to the lashes with added length. I wouldn't say that there was any change to the condition of my lashes, but they are in a healthy condition anyway. This mascara had a deep black pigment and was very buildable to give a fuller effect. It did smudge under my eyes on the lower lashes, but I think that most mascaras do that I have been trying lately. I didn't really get much clumping with this mascara until it started drying out towards the end of use. The three bobble head bristle brush design is quite unusual and I wonder if this had something to do with the mascara not clumping together.

I am trying out another mascara at the moment and so I will update you of my thoughts on that soon.

What are your favourite mascaras and why? Let me know in the comments below.

Love to you all

Vicky xx

CLICK HERE TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!

Vanilla Paris Wish List

Hey there people. How are you today? I am loving my break from work so far, but I wanted to get this post up for you. I was asked by Kat from Touch Media to write a post introducing you to the brand Vanilla Paris. 

Vanilla Paris handbags are made in France from real leather. They are glamorous yet affordable. The motto is 'get the designer look for less' without compromising on quality. The girls from Made in Chelsea have been sighted in the shop on a few occasions and the new collection has just come out. 

There are some great bags and accessories on this website with varied shades. Here are my favourites :)

Oxford 6 Pink £99.00

Roxanna Tan Leather Bag £75.00

 

H Purse 3 Blue £45.00 

H Apollo Bag Tan £95.00

H Wallet 4 Pink £45.00

For a designer look without the price tag I think that Vanilla Paris has some great quality products to offer. There are some real classic staples that would make any outfit look that bit more expensive.

What are your favourite pieces from Vanilla Paris? Is there a designer handbag that you have been lusting after that Vanilla Paris have a similar style of? Let me know in the comments below.

Love to you all

 

Lips Of The Day: Sexy Pout Temporary Lip Tattoos By StarGazer

Hey loves. Happy Sunday to you. I have the house to my self today so I thought why not try out some temporary lip tattoos as you do. 

StarGazer Sexy Pout Temporary Lip Tattoos In Top: Red Hearts, Left: Red Cheetah & Right: Pink Tiger

I was sent the designs Red Hearts and Pink Tiger quite some time by StarGazer for free. They did not ask me to review them at the time, but I gave the Red Hearts design a go and was unsuccessful.

Kat from Touch Media recently sent the Red Cheetah design along with the Temporary Eye Tattoos which I recently reviewed here. I hate being beaten and not understanding how a product works so I gave this design a try.

Application:

• Ensure your lips are dry and clean as well as free from any other other lip products like lip balm or make-up.

• Pop the lip shapes out of the packaging. Snip to adjust the design to fit your lip shape and size. I found these designs quite large for my lips and although there are guidelines on them telling you not to cut from the top of the top lip or the bottom of the bottom lip I cut all around both in the end as they were just to large and an awkward shape to fit to my lips.

• It's not in the instructions, but you must peel the plastic from the front of the design and place the sticky side against your lips.

• Press a damp cloth or flannel against the design and try to keep the tattoos in place. This was a little difficult to do. I will warn you that it does feel weird and you will be trying not to drool (nice).

• You will see the design start to slip away. Gently peel off the backing after about 30-40 seconds of dampening. Use your cloth or flannel to gently press against the design now on your lips to mould it to your lips.

•  I applied the top lip first, but it's up to you which way you do it. Apply the design to your other lip in the same way trying not to let your top and bottom lips meet as these tattoos take 5 minutes to fully dry and seal.

• I applied these before any of my other make-up as I thought it would be easier. I had a little overlap on one corner which I managed to manoeuvre in place and then I applied the rest of my make-up. 

• To remove use gentle make-up remover or baby oil. Oily food may cause the design to be removed.

As you can see the design could be a little bigger on my lips, but I found it difficult to size and get a great fit. Nice attractive ring around the mouth (not).

Open mouthed to show you how it looks on the inner parts of the lips.

 

I do think these are a really fun and creative way to make your make-up stand out. However I think these are too fussy to apply and get the right size and shape for your mouth. I have been wearing the look while writing this post and already it's peeling from my lips dues to the saliva in my mouth as I haven't even had a drink. They are meant to last all day, but I don't see how they will stay in tact. I have one more of the designs to try which I will probably reserve for a Halloween look on my blog this year as I wouldn't feel comfortable or attractive when out in public and these start peeling away.

Other products in this LOTD/FOTD are:

Pure BB Cream (Light)

Helen É Cosmetics Miracle Concealer*

 

 E.L.F. Studio Translucent Matifying Powder

E.L.F. Studio Cool Bronzer

 

NYX Cosmetics Eyeshadow Base (White)

 

E.L.F. Mineral Eye Liner (Black)

 

 No7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara (Black)

HD Brows Brow Beater

*This Helen É Cosmetics Concealer was a PR sample that I reviewed in a FOTN post here.

There are many designs of these temporary lip tattoos which are available for £4.00 each here.

Are you a fan of temporary lip tattoos? Do you know how to make them stay on the lips for longer without peeling? Are there any products from StarGazer that you recommend? Let me know in the comments below.

Love to you all

Glam Bunny FOTD: Featuring StarGazer Eye Tattoos

Hiya Everyone. Happy Easter Sunday to you. I hope are enjoying the weekend so far. Today I have some interesting eye products to show you that were sent to me for free to review by Kat from Touch Media.

StarGazer Sexy Eyes Temporary Eye Tattoos in Left: Flourish & Right: Flames

I have been meaning to try out some eye tattoos as I was intrigued to see how well they work. They bring so much drama to the eyes so they seemed right up my street.

These looked a bit large for my eyes and I thought they might be a little fiddly to apply so I just used part of one set. I used the smaller section from the set Flames on the right to add a firey wing to my eyes.

My skin was clean. Free from oils and make-up. Make sure that yours is the same when applying these or they may not adhere to the skin properly.

I cut around the design carefully with some small, sharp scissors cutting off as much excess as possible so that they would be easier to apply. 

I removed the clear protector and placed the design facing downwards against where I wanted it on my eye.

With a damp cloth I pressed firmly against the tattoo ensuring it had wet through the whole design.

I could see the paper sliding away and some of the design appearing on my skin. I was worried that I may break or smudge the design so after about 30 seconds I removed the paper gently.

I used the damp cloth to gently press against the tattoo to make sure it sat nicely on the skin.

I have to say it came out perfectly with no smudging or splits in the design. I then applied the other eye tattoo in the same way, trying to match it at the same angle as the other eye, but in reverse.

I then applied my make-up being careful to use smaller brushes around the eye area. 

 

 

 

Other products used in the FOTD post are:

Pure BB Cream (Light)

Helen É Cosmetics Miracle Concealer*

Helen É Cosmetics Powder Blush (Candylicious)*

E.L.F. Studio Translucent Matifying Powder

E.L.F. Studio Cool Bronzer (Two Darkest Brown Shades)

Vera Valenti L'ombre a Paupiere Margarita Palette (Cream Shade)

NYX Cosmetics Winter In Moscow Palette (Black Shade)

No7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara (Black)

HD Brows Brow Beater

Fearne Glossy Lips (No Name, But Pink Shade)

E.L.F. Studio Mist & Set

*These Helen É Cosmetics products were both PR samples that I reviewed in a FOTN post here

I wanted the tattoos to be the main focus of the make-up and so I made the rest of the make-up quite simple. I went over the whole of the eyes with a cream shade, using a small angle brush around the tattoos. I used a black shade to define the crease and line the eyes so that the tattoos would join to it nicely. I went over the tattoos with this black shade just a little to deepen it a bit more and so it matched the eye lining. I did not apply any product other than clear mascara to my brows to keep the eye tattoos the focus.

The tattoos were removed easily with make-up remover on a cotton pad pressed against the eye for about 10 seconds. You can also use baby oil, but be careful not to get it in your eyes.

I like to blog while wearing the make-up look I am writing about and while doing so I wear my glasses. To show you these tattoos also look great with glasses I just had to show you this photo.

These come in 6 designs at £4.00 per set, Link. They all look great. I would like to try the design Four Eyeliners. I think you could cut that one also to use with one or two flicks at a time if like me you have smaller eyes.

Have you tried using temporary eye tattoos? Which ones are your favourites? Let me know in the comments below.

Love to you all

 

FOTN Using Proto-col Natural Mineral Cosmetics

Hi my beautiful Beauty Addicts. I hope you are all doing fine this Saturday. My head is absolutely banging, but I am plodding on and trying to take my mind off it so I thought I would write this post.

The lovely Kat from Touch Media sent me some mineral make-up products for free to try and review so here they are :)

Left: Proto-col L.E.D. Lip Gloss (Coconut Ice), £11.95 for 9ml

Proto-col lip gloss collection has a gel formulation for a fabulous lightweight effect on the lips. This non-sticky formulation gives a glamorous shine that really lasts. Available in 5 gorgeous shades all enriched with mineral oil to hydrate and moisturise the lips.

 

When I saw this shade I was excited because it has a duo-chrome type effect. It's a very milky pink with gold and I think a deeper pink running through it. There is a mirror on the back that is a great size, but to be honest the lid is a good enough mirror in itself and the L.E.D. light in the lid is great for nights out. It also comes with a brush applicator. This lip gloss did feel a little bit tacky, but only when applying. It didn't dry my lips, but I wouldn't say it was moisturising. It gave my lips a nice glossy shine, but I think this shade would work better over a lipstick as you don't see the tones of colour as you do in the tube.

Right: Proto-col Baked Mineral Eye Shadows (Olive Trio), £19.95 for 2.2g 

Create an array of stunning soft, subtle or dark, smoky eyes with proto-col''s mineral eye shadows.

With a range of beautiful baked minerals to enhance your colour palette the natural ingredients work to provide a sensational appearance.

Usually I am not a fan of eye shadows in the same palette that are joined together and by that I mean they don't have their own individual pot within the palette. My reasoning for this is that I find some powders can transfer into the other shades which means you apply unwanted shades to your eyes. This is so annoying, especially when they are next to a white, light cream or black for example. I used all three shades for this FOTN and they hardly moved into each other in the palette at all which is great. The texture of these shadows felt really nice to apply to the eye area as they felt velvety. I would say the pigmentation of these are pretty good, but not amazing. I'm not sure if perhaps other shades from this range would show up better. There is a mirror inside the compact which you can see your whole eye in at the right distance, but I prefer a slightly larger mirror to apply my eye make-up as I look back and forth between both eyes to try and make them appear more or less the same in appearance and that would be hard to do with this mirror. The lightest shade is a golden peach that I wish showed up a little more. The right shade is an olive green with gold and the brown shade has a touch of sparkle which I think is gold.

 Neither of these products are tested on animals.

I attended an event last night which I will be blogging about very soon. I wore these products to that event so this is how they look.

From the eye palette I applied the golden peach shade to the inner section of my eyes. I then applied the green shade to the outer portion of my lids, on the outer V and to the underneath of my eye between the golden peach and the the brown. I also applied the brown into the crease of my eyes and outer V. I kept blending the colours and reapplying more where needed until I was happy.

Other products used in this FOTN are:

Model Co Face Base Skin Primer*

Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse Beauty Balm

Natural Collection CoverUp Cream (Light)

E.L.F. Studio High Definition Powder (Translucent)

17 Clear Definition Mascara

E.L.F. Studio Cool Bronzer

No7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara (Black)

E.L.F. Studio Mist & Set

*Sent to me for free and previously reviewed here.
 

I am intrigued by the nutritional and skincare products on the proto-col website so thank you Kat for introducing me to this brand.

Are you a fan of any proto-col products? Which ones do you recommend or even dislike and why? Let me know in the comments below.

Love to you all

NOTD: Monochrome Butterflies

Hey lovely Beauty Addicts. As always I hope your week has been superb. I haven't been up to anything particularly special. I visited my Mum yesterday which is always good. We made pancakes as she will be on her own pancake day and I didn't want her to miss out. Today I have a NOTD post for you so here it is :)

Left: White Shade from the StarGazer Diablo Manicure Set which I was sent for free as a PR sample. Reviewed here.

Right: Claire's Nail Stickers £3.00 for 1 sheet

I applied one coat of my Rimmel base coat followed by two coats of this white shade. I really wanted a plain background so that the butterflies would stand out and as the monochrome trend is here to stay for a while I thought I would embrace it. Once the nail polish had dried I used tweezers to carefully place stickers on alternate nails, pressing down carefully. I sealed the manicure with one coat of the clear top coat that comes with the StarGazer Diablo Manicure Set shown in the link above.

So here is the finished look. I think it's really pretty and simple. It has a kind of innocence about it. I think this would be a nice look for Valentine's Day. I really like the Valentine manicures that you always see about at this time of year with red, pink and/or purple shades, but I think this is still suitable for the day and something a bit different. It can of course be worn any time of the year though.

Do you like using nail stickers as nail art? Any tips for newbies that haven't used them before. Let me know if you have created any Valentine nails in the comments below.

Love to you all

FOTN: New Year's Eve & StarGazer Lashes Review

Hi my special Beauty Addicts and Happy New Year's Eve! Today I wanted to show you a look I have created that could be worn on New Year's Eve or on any night out really. This look also includes a review of some false lashes that were sent to me for free. Here is the look I created :)

Now let me talk about these false lashes that were sent to me by the lovely Kat at Touch Media. These are the StarGazer Feathered Eye Lash 40. They are described as feathered I guess because they have longer lashes on the band with shorter ones in between. I love the little berries (or at least that's what I call them) that are edged along some of the tips. I applied these before doing any of my make-up because I am no pro at applying false lashes as you can probably tell. These were a little long in width for my eyes so I trimmed a couple of berries width from the inner part of each lash before application. These came with their own glue. It looks almost iridescent blue, but dries clear. It's kind of gooey. I used a cotton bud to apply it along the band and tweezers to place the lashes onto the eyes. These were very fiddly let me tell you, but I do like the overall effect. They are very, very long and touch my brow bone if I open my eyes wide. Because they remind me of berries I think they are perfect for the winter months. I wanted the lashes to be the main feature of this look so I kept the rest of the make-up fairly neutral with a toned down lip and a fairly light smokey eye. I think the headband worn hippy style adds to the New Years Eve feel as it adds that touch of glam with a natural wave to the hair. If I applied these again I would probably use some black liquid liner to cover the glue as it shows up a bit. You can buy these fun and flirty lashes for £4.00 here.

Other products used in this FOTN are:

H&M Shimmer Lipbalm (The Pink One)

Model Co Face Base Skin Primer*

Max Factor Ageless Elixir 2 in 1 Foundation + Serum (Light Ivory 40)

Natural Collection CoverUp Cream (Light)

E.L.F. Studio High Definition Powder (Clear)

Primark Beauty Eye Shadow Palette (Shades Reef, Spear, Bright Eyes, Hustle, Graphite & Night Sky ~ Xmas Present)

17 Clear Definition Mascara

StarGazer Bronzer (Bronceador)**

Blink + Go Long Lasting Black Mascara

Max Factor Smoky Eye Effect Eyeshadow (Citrus Thunder - Bronze side used on lips)***

*Sent to me for free and previously reviewed here.

**Sent to me for free and previously reviewed here.

***Sent to me for free, but not to review. If you would like me to review this and other shades as I was sent those too please let me know in the comments below.

So I hope you like the look. What New Year's Eve/Day make-up looks do you have planned? Link me up with photos, posts or videos in the comments below. Have a great time whatever you get up to tonight and Happy New Year at midnight :)!

Love to you all