March Empties

Hello folks!

It's been a little while (Like, y'know, a month...?) since I last wrote about the products I've used up, so I bring you an empties post today. It's one of the good things about a spending ban; you start to use up some of the products in your stash as well as weed out the products you liked and the ones you don't...

I love my little empties tin! So cute. And now for its contents...

Hair and Body:

Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Natural Curls Styling Spray (Travel size): This is my go-to scrunching spray when I want curly, messy, bed-heady hair. Smells lovely, and even the travel size lasts ages. I will be picking this up again imminently, my hair isn't the same without it!

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel (Discontinued) - Well discontinued for now, it'll be back at Christmas. I liked this at first, it reminded me of the pear drops that I'm so fond of. But like pear drops, after a while I start to find them to be so sweet that they become sickly and I can't have any more lest I vomit. Strong words, but as such I won't be buying this again when Christmas comes around.

Skincare

Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner - I enjoy using this toner. I believe it's appeared in a few of my empties posts now. At the moment however, I've swapped it for a Dr Jart toner (to see if Dr Jart's pore refine range can do anything for my face), so for now I won't be repurchasing.

No.7 Pore Refining Serum - Another weapon from my arsenal that I've used up in the fight to kick my craterous skin into touch. I definitely didn't notice much difference in my skin whilst using this, so for that reason I won't be buying this again.

Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream (Travel Size) - This is a lovely moisturiser, but it's obviously for those with drier skin than I, as I found this sent my oily skin into shiny overload. Not good and not for me sadly!

Lush Cupcake Face Mask - I really enjoyed using this face mask, its divine scent made me crave chocolate every time I used it. I would buy this again, but only if I had run out of my current masks... and if I was near a Lush. Which is a rare occurence for me sadly. Sigh...

Make-up and Nails

MUA Nail Polish in Frozen Yoghurt - This technically isn't an empty. While I was on holiday in September, my clear top coat exploded in my make-up bag and went all over the cap of this. Gradually this has rendered this poor polish unopenable. I would buy this again though; it's only £1 and it's a lovely colour.

MUA Matte Perfect Primer - I am not a fan of this primer. At all. I've reviewed it here and that is all I'd like to say on this matter.

Estelle and Thild Raspberry Lip Balm - I loved this lovely balm of loveliness from the moment it popped out of my Selfridges Beauty Box. It soothed my ever-chapped lips and gave a delicious fruity favour to boot. However, it is a whopping £14 to buy and that's a wee bit too much to spend on a lip balm for me. So I shall wave a sad goodbye...

Well that is my beauty stash considerably lightened this month! What products have you used up this month? Anything that you're sad to say au revoir to?

Christina xo

Make-Up Academy Matte Perfect Primer

I picked up this primer in MUA'S 50% bonanza (I actually picked up 2 - my previous primer ran out before my order arrived so I nabbed one in my local shop to tide me over). 

 

 

 

At first glance, it seems to me that this primer is trying (and in my opinion, failing) to be a dupe for Benefit's Porefessional (which I like). I like a primer that can mattify and, to an extent, control oil on my face, as well as trying to smooth over and minimize what I like to call my 'Moon Face' i.e. craterous pores. Benefit are capable of this with Porefessional, but can MUA do it with their offering?

 

 

Short answer: no. It does mattify my skin before I apply my foundation, but beyond that it doesn't seem to do much else. It just... sits there. Doing nothing. Lazy bastard (not sure why I'm anthropomorphizing my primer but ho hum...). In all fairness, for £4/2 in 50% sale is a small price to pay for a primer that does half the job I need it to so I shouldn't complain too much. I've included some before and after pictures of my skin with and without primer. WARNING: My skin is not pretty at the moment... :P

 

BEFORE:

 

 

AFTER: 

As you can see, there's not an awfully big difference; some of my pores have been blurred but there are still a lot of visible pores (as well as a few annoying spots that have popped up, yuk!)

 

As I said previously, I shouldn't complain too much considering how cheap this is, but I won't be purchasing MUA's Matte Perfect Primer again, sorry.


Christina xo

Top 12 of 2012 - My favourites

As the year draws to a close, I'm going to jump on the blogging bandwagon and share the products I've loved in 2012. Hope you don't mind, but have a gander and see if you see anything you like!

SKINCARE

Clarins - Water Purify One-Step Cleanser. This is a relatively late entry into my favourites (only bought it at the weekend.) but already really enjoying using this. It has mint so it really freshens the skin as it removes make-up and cleanses.

Superdrug - Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot-Cloth Cleanser. I bought this to see if I could get along with a hot-cloth cleanser without paying out too much for either No.7 or Liz Earle. I never will now because I love this offering from Superdrug too much! My skin feels squeaky clean and I've noticed an improvement in my skin's clarity since I started using this.

Benefit - It's Potent Eye Cream. I got a sample of this a few months back, and have just received the full size at Christmas. This is the only eye-cream (bar Body Shop's Elderflower Eye Gel) that has made a difference to my eyes, and the Benefit is the only one to make a difference to my dark circles, which are sizeable. I'm very impressed with this.

Lush - Cupcake Face Mask. This is another product which has made such a big difference to my skin. This had significantly reduced the oiliness of my skin, and has made my skin look less blotchy too. Plus it's chocolate. This is always awesome!

MAKE-UP

No.7 - Summer of Dreams Bronzer. This was the bronzer that made me realise that even ivory beauties like me can pull off a little bronze. This is light and buildable enough that I never look like I've gone overboard.

Guerlain - Sun in the City Compact. I am so glad I paid for this on holiday. This is a highlighter, body shimmer, eyeshadow all rolled into one beautiful, pearly compact. I love using this, it's so pigmented and full of mother of pearl and the gold shade looks so luxurious. Love love love!

Max Factor - False Lash Effect Mascara - My favourite mascara. Ever. That's pretty much all I can say!

MUA - Lipstick in Shade 12. I love all the MUA lipsticks, but this shimmery pink is the perfect perk-up colour for me. It has the slightest hint of glitter to it, so it's good for day-time glamour.

Estelle and Thild - Raspberry Lip Balm. This has really helped with my chapped lips this year. It has lasted ages, has the lightest hint of raspberry and is very moisturising for the lips.

Chanel - Rouge Allure Velvet Luminous Matte Lip Colour in L'Exuberante. This is my holy grail of lipsticks. Its rich colour, creamy texture and matte look means it is unlike any other lipstick I own. I always feel so classy and glamorous wearing it.

Benefit - Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in Believe in Me Ivory. I thought, until I spoke to my local Bene-babe, that my skin was purely oily, and that I should only use matte bases. After seeing the difference this makes to my skin when I wear it, I wonder how I lived without this. I look glowy and healthy wearing this, and I've never had such a good skin tone match from any base I've ever used. Win!

Urban Decay - Smoked Palette. Another late entry to my top 12, as this was a Christmas present from my lovely boyfriend. So far I haven't used all the shades yet, but they all look divine, and the ones I have used shimmer and accentuate my eyes so well. It's hard to imagine life without this palette now!

So those are my favourites of 2012. I'd love to know your thoughts on my favourites, and what your favourites are too. Have a brilliant and successful 2013 when it arrives! :)

Christina xo

Hauling from home...

There seems to be a pattern forming... every time I go home to Glasgow for a weekend, I end up picking up loads of make-up and beauty items! Well, technically this time some of it was online shopping that happened to arrive while I was away, but still, I've accumulated loads more stuff in a short space of time!

First up, I had placed a Body Shop order recently. They were offering £20 off if you spent £40, plus free shipping over £30, so I stocked up on some skincare (with a few Christmas presents for others thrown in!)

 

From L-R we have: Seaweed Clarifying Toner (in both 30ml and 200ml sizes). I buy both sizes so that I can travel with one instead of lugging a bigger bottle around.
Seaweed Pore Cleansing Facial Exfoliator - I'm in need of a new facial scrub, so I thought I'd try this. It seems to have had many positive reviews, so fingers crossed!
Elderflower Cooling Eye-Gel - I'm always hunting for something to reduce the dark circles and bags underneath my eyes, so time will tell if this will work. I'm keeping it in the fridge too to see if this enhances the cooling properties!
Vitamin E Moisture Cream (15ml) - I needed a travel moisturiser, so thought I would try the much Vitamin E range.

Next up, I made an order from MUA whilst everything was on 3 for 2, so that I could pick up some gifts for my friends...and a few for myself too! (I'm so cheeky haha!)

From my online order, I picked up: Intense Kisses Lip Gloss in Stolen Kisses (a plummy deep pink/purple), Mystical Glitter Nails in Seahorse (A green/gold glitter, it's lasting very well on my nails at the moment), and the much-lauded Undressed palette is also now in my possession! Looking forward to trying it out :)

Lastly, whilst I was out with my friend Lisa, I visited Superdrug, and we all know what happens next...

Barry M had an offer where if you spent £6 you received a free nail polish, and can I resist? Can I fuck! I bought Dazzle Dust in Mushroom (The most beautiful shimmering taupe shade), Nail Paint in gold glitter and a free Nail Paint in... It doesn't appear to have a shade name, my bottle just says "Superdrug Xmas" so this might be a limited edition offer from Superdrug. However, this is a lovely turquoise shade, with gold and silver shimmer through it, a very fine glitter almost. It looks like a middle ground between Barry M's foil effect polishes and their Glitter polishes. It's gorgeous anyway!

Lastly, from MUA I bought an eyeshadow trio in Innocence, Lip Pencil in Brooding Plum (it pulls more red than plum, but still a lovely shade.) and Mega Volume Mascara in Brown/Black. Because I also spent £6 on MUA, I received a free Artiste Palette, which I gave to Lisa since I already own said palette.

So that's my haul! What have you been buying yourself lately? Are you prone to treating yourself at Christmas while you buy presents for others (like me)?!

Christina xo

What's a Liebster Award?

I was pootling about on my emails yesterday, and saw one telling me I'd received a comment from the lovely Chloe Leonard (http://chloeleonardmakeupartist.blogspot.co.uk/) telling me she'd nominated me for a Liebster Award. I have to admit my first reaction was WTF is a Liebster award? So I went and had a look at Chloe's (rather lovely) blog, and found out that the Liebster Award is a nomination for bloggers who are new to blogging and have less than 200 followers. The word "Liebster" means 'beloved' or 'dearest in German and it's a term of endearment. Thank you very much Chloe, glad you like my blog! Hopefully you all do, but it's nice for someone to say so!

In order to be able to accept the award and to be able to display the badge on your blog, you have to do the following:

1)  Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.

2)  They must answer the 11 questions the tagger has set for them.
3)  They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they tagged.
4)  They must then choose 11 bloggers to tag with less than 200 followers.
5)  These lucky bloggers must be told.
6)   There are no tag backs.

So here goes nothing...

11 Things about me :)

1) I'm a support worker for adults with autism spectrum disorders. Challenging job, but one I love! (I love it so much I'm abseiling down the Forth Rail Bridge to raise funds for the charity. Sponsor me here: http://www.justgiving.com/Christina-May)

2) I have 2 degrees from the University of Glasgow: A Master of Arts in English Languages and Literature and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching. I was only a teacher for 3 months before deciding I didn't like it!

3) My favourite writers are: Edwin Morgan, Alasdair Gray, Tennessee Williams and Oscar Wilde.

4) I used to be an Irish Dancer. Never wore the wigs though, or the fake-tan, which is why I never fitted in with the other dancers :P

5) I love Brewdog beers. I always pay a visit to the Glasgow branch when I'm home. Check them out http://www.brewdog.com/   Also if you're in the UK, watch Food Unwrapped on C4 and you'll see the Brewdog co-founders James and Martin, being themselves and generally taking the piss :P

6) My boyfriend and I have been together for 2 and a half years. And he's still as awesome and lovely as the first day we met (baaaaarf)

7) I'm a bit of a closet geek. I quite like Doctor Who, Torchwood, CSI, Ultimate Spiderman, Batman, Firefly/Serenity, Red Dwarf, House, and anything Batman.

8) I have a birth-mark on my back which looks a bit like a UFO.

9) I hate Ed Sheeran. He is awful. Compared to some of the extremely talented unsigned singer-songwriters I have seen over the years (and I've seen a lot), he is a little toad. 

10) My favourite singers at the moment are Joshua Radin and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (aka Sam Duckworth). Both fabulous lads and brilliant musicians. Go check them out :) 

11) I love playing Xbox sometimes :)


11 Questions from Chloe Leonard:

1) What do you love most about the summer..?

Being able to sit outside with a cool drink (preferably a nice G&T). And that's about it, I'm not that big on the summer-time...

2) What's your favourite t.v show/movie..?

My favourite TV show has to be Gossip Girl, and my favourite movie would be Some Like it Hot. At least for now, I'm fickle and will probably change my mind in half an hour...

3) Who's your favourite you tube guru/ blogger and why..?

My favourite You-tube guru probably has to be Kandee Johnson, just because she's so full of energy and is always so happy. It's contagious :P my favourite blogger would have to be my friend Claire (http://eyeliningobsessions.blogspot.com) because she inspired me to start writing my own blog, she's honest, and she's just all-round lovely.

4) Who is your Celebrity crush..?

It used to be Johnny Depp (until my ex was mistaken for him in a pub by 2 well-known local actors, and caused a world-wide shit-storm with people thinking Johnny Depp was secretly partying in Scotland... Yes really. Apparently being too lazy to shave or get a hair-cut makes you look like Johnny Depp, who knew?) I think now my ultimate celebrity crush would have to be Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Mainly because he seems more intelligent than the majority of the Hollywood crowd...

5) What is you favourite meal..?

Steak. I love me a big slab of red meat still slightly bleeding in the middle, served in a mushroom and red-wine sauce, with chunky chips and loads of veg. Mwah!

6) What do you do to stay fit and healthy..?

Not an awful lot. I walk everywhere, but that's about it. Should get back into swimming when I have the time, but because I work crazy shifts I don't often get the chance.

7) Whats your favourite item of clothing..?

My Aldo court shoes. I have 2 pairs, in pink and blue, and I love them! They are my party shoes. High heels, platforms, comfy and classic. Love them!

8) What's your favourite perfume..?

A the moment, it has to be Valentina. I bought it on holiday and it's just gorgeous! Also loving Paco Rabanne's Lady Million and Black XS, and anything from Marc Jacobs :)

9) What's your favourite makeup brand and why..?

My favourite designer brand is Chanel. It's worth paying the money for the beautiful products and outstanding quality. Plus I always feel utterly classy when I'm wearing Chanel! For their value and the quality of their make-up, my budget favourite has to be Make-Up Academy (MUA).

10) What's your go to makeup look, if your in a hurry and cant be bothered..?

Hehe if I can't be bothered then I don't wear make-up! (I know, gasp!) But if I have to put some on, I go for neutral smokey eyes with a little pencil liner, and just some lip-balm on my lips.

11)And last but not least: have you any regrets since starting your blog..?

Not really, though I feel I should try to post more often...

And that's it. No offence to anyone, but I can't really be bothered with the whole tagging another 11 folk thing. If you want to do the quiz, please feel free, you can let me know and I'll generate 11 questions for you to answer. I enjoy doing these things but it doesn't necessarily mean everyone else does. Plus I follow so many blogs that it would be impossible and unfair to choose just 11 to nominate. So have a go if you like :)


And with that, I bid you adieu!


Christina xo

Make-up Madness - My MUA Collection

Recently on their Facebook and Twitter profiles, Make Up Academy (MUA) have been sharing pictures of fans' enormous MUA make-up collections. I felt a little left out, so I thought I'd share my fairly sizeable collection with you and tell you about some of my favourite products...

It's not huge but still quite a lot of make-up there! It's just so easy to get carried away when you're ordering from MUA's website because everything is so cheap. But with MUA, cheap does NOT mean bad. Not at all, I love MUA make-up, it's affordable and the quality is just amazing. With that in mind, here are my top products from MUA's range:

1. Lipstick in shades 3 and 12 - MUA's lipsticks are a little slice of heaven! For £1 you get a lipstick that is moisturising and creamy, with a great range of colours. I have 6, but my favourites are shades 3 and 12, seen below with shade 3 on the left and 12 on the right:

Aren't they pretty! Shade 3 is a warm deep pink and 12 is a light pinky nude with a little sparkle through it. Great colours, reasonably long-wearing, LOVE!

2. Eyeshadow palettes Glamour Days and Going for Gold - I love MUA eyeshadows, they last really well and come in a fantastic range of colours. My two favourites are Glamour Days, which is perfect for injecting a little bit of colour and shimmer to your daily make-up, and Going for Gold, a limited edition palette of shimmering metallics designed especially for the London 2012 Olympics. Glamour Days is pictured on the left and Going for Gold on the right: 

3. Professional Eye Primer - This stuff is MAGIC! My first eye-primer, and I don't think I'll get another, because this is just amazing. I once came in drunk from a night out, passed out on the sofa straight away, then woke up to discover my eye make-up HAD NOT SHIFTED OR CREASED. Incredible durability! (Although I would not advise getting so drunk you forget to remove your make-up. Bad Christina...)

4. Lovehearts Lip Balm - this is my go-to lip balm. It's perfect during the day because it leaves my lips soft and nourished, whilst also injecting a little colour into them, I have the shade Hot Lips, which gives my lips a rosy sheen, swatched below :)

5. Intense Colour Eyeliner Pencil - I would highly recommend this if you're new to using eyeliners. Only £1 each, they come in a great range of colours, are really soft-textured making them easy to apply to both the waterline, along the lower lashline AND the upper lashline, and if you make a mistake, they're easy to remove too. But also long-lasting, which makes for one awesome eyeliner I have one in royal blue, forest green and brown, all swatched below:

Out of all MUA's amazing product, there's only one that I'm not keen on, and that is their BB cream. Mainly because it's not really a BB cream, more of a middle ground between a medium coverage foundation and a tinted moisturiser. It's ok for days when I'm heading into work, or entertaining at home, but it doesn't last very long, not enough coverage for me, and it doesn't do a lot for my oily skin sadly. A lot of folk have raved about it on blogs, but it's just not for me! It's literally one blip in a collection of make-up that I love!

So go on folks, if you haven't tried MUA before then do it NOW! Seriously, go now, they always have great offers, and at the moment if you spend £8 you get a free 24 shade eyeshadow palette. BARGAIN! As well as their webstore they are also on Facebook and Twitter so get them on their too for updates on offers and new products. You will NOT regret it I promise :)

Christina xo

Foolin' around...

On my days off, sometimes I like to have a play with some of my make-up, experimenting with new and old products, all to find out what suits me, what looks good etc...

Today I did have an agenda though. Tomorrow night I'm going out for a work friend's birthday in Edinburgh, so I thought I'd have a play with colour, since I'm going to be wearing a colourful outfit, I thought I could also reflect this on my face. I love blue so I went for blue pencil liner, overlayed with blue glitter eyeliner (both by MUA) , with a pale gold shadow over the majority of the lid, with a little blue at the outer corners (though you can't see this in the pic sadly.) Both eyeshadows came from the Sleek Original Palette, a palette I really like and should use more often! I also lined along the waterline and lower lash line with my MUA blue pencil liner. For the lips, I bought my 1st MAC lippie at the weekend, a gorgeous coral shade, so I thought I'd try this with blue eyes! (P.S. the mascara is a Yves Rocher Sexy Plump sample, with a touch of MAC Zoom Lashes over the top)

Pretty no? I was worried that putting emphasis on both eyes and lips would make me look very heavily made up, but this seems to work :) It also goes with my dress, so that's tomorrow's night out face sorted! Will post a picture of the whole ensemble at some point if you like...

Next experiment: While constructing the above look, I had all my Sleek palettes out, and I realised that I haven't used my PPQ palette very much, so I decided to experiment with some of the matte shades from this palette to see how I got on. (Also while I was playing, Sleek gave me a Follow Friday on Twitter so as a sign of appreciation, I thought I'd have some more fun with their palettes! P.S. Sleek, if you're reading this, I would looooove one of your new Olympic Pride, Honour and Glory palettes, pretty please? :P)

 I kinda suit a smokey eye, yeah? I used the taupe/grey matte, burgundy matte and the black matte (can never remember the shade names) from the Sleek PPQ palette, with a tiny hint of MAC club over the burgundy in the middle of my eye, with Bourjois Kohl in Gris Ingenieux on the waterline and Chanel Illusions D'Ombre in Mirifique as a liner along both lash lines. Apologies for the ghost face BTW, this was the better light for seeing the eyes.

Please let me know what you think! Christina xo

You just kissed a Boom Boom baby...

Apologies for the snappy title! I'm gonna write a review of MUA's Lip Booms, and when I explained what they were and showed them to my boyfriend, his response was: "Haha! Boom boom!" (Because I have 2, for further explanation as to why we find this funny, see here )

There's been a lot of hype on the web over MUA's collaboration with pop singer Alexandra Burke, Lip Booms, and a lot of folk have been raving over them. I now have 2, so I figured I would tell you lovely people what all the hype is about...

The snappily titled Lip Booms come in 8 shades, ranging from neutrals to bright, vivacious reds and deep plummy shades. Each Lip Boom is doubled-ended: one end being a matte lipstick and the other is a glittery highlighting gloss, and the concept behind this is that you can wear these 4 ways, according to MUA's webstore:

"1. Lipstick alone for a matte look.
2. Lipstick with highlighter applied just to the centre of your lips to create a full volume illusion.
3. Lipstick with highlighter all over for a super-glossy look.
4. Highlighter alone for a sheer pearl finish."

On the left we have "It's a Situation" (all the shades are named after sayings that Alexandra Burke reportedly utters... judge this as you will) and on the right is "Doin' Good." "It's a Situation" is an utterly fabulous shade of plum with a tad of reddy-pink thrown in, with a matching highlighting gloss, and "Doin' Good" is a lovely neutral pink shade. Below I have swatched each shade:

Sorry the light's not great! (N.B. I was gonna show you guys what they look like on, but the lighting throughout my flat was just not playing ball. In the flesh both shades look grand, "It's A Situation" looks incredibly goth-tastic and dramatic on me in particular!) 

My only gripe with these is the gloss. It has a lovely vanilla scent, but it's more glittery than highlighting, and when I say glittery I mean gritty. Used sparingly to highlight the cupid bow, it's not so bad but if you want to use it all over the lip I'd be careful. Having said that, the lippy end is so lovely on its own I just tend to use it without the gloss. The lipstick lasts well, and I found I could go a good 2/3 hours between re-applications. For £3 (currently on 2 for £4 from Superdrug and muastore.co.uk) you get plenty of product, and some rather fabulous colours to choose from.

In summary, fab, longish-lasting lippy, shame about the gritty gloss! Still bargainous though...

Christina xo

The Mascara Maven

Yeah...

I said a while ago that I wouldn't get drawn into the world of beauty blogging. However, the more make-up I buy, the more I wanna talk about it. Normally, most folks would chat to their gal pals about make-up and their preferences, but I live at least 60 miles away from the rest of my close friends, which makes chatting and playing with make-up a bit tricky! So I figured I'd try blogging about it for a while and see how I go...

The first thing I've noticed is that I have rather a lot of mascara, 12 to be precise (I know that some more seasoned beauty bloggers might think "Is that all?" but it feels like a lot). One of my favourite things about my face is that I have naturally longish lashes, so I like to make a feature of them. So here they all are, in order of price:

L-R: MUA eXtreme Volume Mascara in Brown/Black (£2)
Collection Extreme Coloured Lengthening Mascara in Blue(£2.99)
17 Peep Show in Brown/Black (£4 on offer)
17 Photo Flawless in Black/Copper (£5.99)
No.7 Exceptional Definition in Brown/Black (£7.50 with £5 Voucher)
Max Factor False Lash Effect in Brown/Black (£7.99 with £3 voucher)
L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic in Brown/Black (£10.99)
Benefit They're Real in Black (£11.50 with £7 Debenhams gift card)
Beautee/Relian Mascara in black (with fibres) (around £20 at a Girls Day Out show)

And the samples at the bottom: Max Factor Masterpiece in Black, MAC Zoom Lashes in Black and Lancome Hypnose Drama in Black.

My go-to mascara is usually the Max Factor False Lash effect, but recently I've been trying to use more of my mascaras and I've found a few that work pretty well. The MUA mascara is bargainous at £2 but my only issue with it is that it doesn't put a lot of mascara onto the lashes, but it does create a fair bit of volume, so I tend to use this in conjunction with something else to build up the lashes.
The Beautee/Relian Mascara was something I picked up at a Girls Day out (kinda like a beauty, fashion, chocolate, booze paradise for women) and it's lasted me at least 18 months, which is pretty impressive. You basically paint on the "transplanting gel", i.e. the mascara, then paint on the fibres, then repeat if necessary. It really does give you a false-lash look, with very little fibre fallout. AWESOME!

I have no real major dislikes with any of these TBH. The only let-down I have is the Benefit. They're Real is apparently the No.1 mascara in the U.K., if not the World and it's supposed to give you these amazing falsie-like lashes. Well I may have been applying it wrong, but my lashes ended up looking like Clump-Central. Not cool considering it's normally £18.50. However, I have found that if I use it over another mascara, it does add some good length. 

What mascaras do you guys use? If you want to know my thoughts on any of the other mascaras, just comment and let me know :) Generally let me know what you think of this post, it's my first proper beauty post and I like to get feedback!

Christina xo