Getting your lines blurred?? Maybelline Gel Liner 24H reviewed...

When I was a teen I used to love those columns asking celebs the contents of their make-up bags and their one "could not live without" make-up product. For many many years mine was Dior's Waterproof Trinidad Black pencil eyeliner. However as I dipped my toes into the world of liquid and gel liners I now find my kohl is simply just not intense enough and am always on the hunt for the perfect gel liner...

The Detail:

The catwalks went crazy with gel eyeliner in A/W12 and so far S/S12 is showing no signs of it disappearing. This lead to every brand and her granny releasing their own version of gel liners and the good news for us is that this includes the more affordable high street brands. Maybelline's offering with a ridiculously long name, Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner 24H, comes in at a well priced €8.65 for a small pot (size not listed anywhere on the packaging as far as I can see but I reckon its about 3g). A bonus for some would be the inclusion of a brush for application but as ever with these freebie brushes I tend not to like them and opted to use one from my ever growing collection of make-up brushes! The jar itself reminds me a lot of Bobbi Brown's Ink which indicated a positive start!

The Images:

The packaging and product alongside it

The gel in jar and a swatch

An unwilling model - me with newly applied liner prior to any alcohol and dancing!!

... a few drinks and 8 hours later the liner is still looking well!

The Sciencey Bit:

Eyeliner is worn primarily to enhance the eye's natural shape and size or in many cases to change the apparent shape of the eye. The more intense the colour the greater the effect. Eyeliner actually originated in ancient Egypt where wearers used makeup to protect their skin from the sun. Eyeliner was believed to do this and also to protect eyes from a multitude of potential eye ailments. Wikipedia tells me that research also showed eyeliner, in particular, was worn to protect the wearer from the Evil Eye!! Technically speaking "kohl" is liner made in ancient times using ground lead sulphide. We continue to use this word in the modern day to describe black pencil liner but obviously lead is no longer an ingredient.

The Conclusion:

Well as mentioned above I started out as a kohl/pencil liner girl. My brief foray with liquid liner in my teens was pretty disastrous and while I have finally mastered the use of it now I still find the smallest tremor in your hand can lead to an absolute make up disaster. Liquid liner requires one smooth swoop to look its best where as gel can be built up and I reckon it is perfect for beginners and those with shaky hands looking for that more intense effect than pencil can provide. It's also great for achieving more dramatic liner looks.

So is Maybelline's Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner 24H worth trying if you fit any of the above catagories?? In my opinion most definitly! It's consistency is great - super creamy and not too wet like some of the other budget brands offerings. This means it goes on really smoothly and also dries in seconds becoming smudge proof and also preventing the need to keep your eyes closed for AGES after application in the hopes of avoiding murky brow bone smudges. Another major eyeliner issue I have is it slowly sliding it's way off my eyes and down my face as the night progresses!! As you can see from the above pictures while my powder clearly needed topping up my liner was still in place 8 hours later... I was incredibly impressed with this and for me it's sealed the deal! The final pro was it slid off easily with my cleanser not leaving me with my usual panda eye look the following morning.

Prior to trying Maybelline, I found all the good gel liners were over €25. While that may not seem like the highest price point the problem is you get a relatively small pot of product and even worse it dries out much before you get to the end of the jar (and believe me NO amount of Inglot's Duraline fully restores  BB's Ink or MAC's Black Track). I'm really impressed and reckon its the best dupe out there for BB's Long Wear Gel Liner shade Ink. My only disappointment is that Intense Black is currently the only shade Maybelline have on sale here. In the states they have an Aubergine one so fingers crossed they will extend this range in the coming months.  For me I reckon this one's a keeper cheap as chips and super long lasting!

Sod the rain... I brought some summer to my fingertips!!

Right well it's the 1st of May and everything feels just a bit dull and I'd almost go so far as to say grim!! The weather out there is like a wet November evening but there is no santa coming with sacks of presents in under 8 weeks time. Sadtimes.  This being the case I decided my nude coloured top with neon pink trim teamed with tailored trousers would brighten things up while conforming with "office attire". My nails were sporting a lovely nude colour anyway and I also have a great pair of slipper like quilted satin nude ballet pumps which suited my craving for comfort this morning.

HOWEVER... the bleak weather outside and a reasonably stressful morning resulted in my mind wandering to all things beauty and particularly nails (very common occurrence for me!) I decided I needed to funk them up a bit as the neutral nude talons were boring me rigid... So hunting in my makeup bag at lunchtime I found my neon pink polish I threw in the other day and gave my nails some french tips!! After quite a bit of nail doodling I decided to do an accent nail also on my ring finger - with hindsight  possibly killing the original "low key" bright and office smart aim of the project. Sod it... I liked the results and got a little grin from them with every email I typed for the rest of the day!!

The Details:

I used 2 polishes for this look, one from Essence and one from a brand I only stumbled upon last week called Flormar. 

1. Essence

Range: Nude Glam

Shade: 07 Café Olé

Size: 5mls

Cost: €1.29

Stores: Penneys, Dunnes Stores, McCabes Pharmacies and many other good pharmacies.

2. Flormar

Range: Super Neon Colors

Shade: N008

Size: 11mls

Cost: €2.49

Stores: Grabbed this at the till of an A|ware store in Dun Laoghaire last week. Further investigations show it to be a big brand on in Europe, www.flormar.com , having been founded in Milan in 1970.

The Images:

The 2 bottles of polish:

The result of my lunchtime mani efforts:

The Conclusion:

I've got to say I LOVE it. It's a little cheeky but I reckon without the accent nail that it is completely passable in most offices, granted maybe not for some customer facing companies. I love matching polishes to my outfits and really like how close the two colours are to my top. In fairness unless I can find another clean neutral outfit in my wardrobe it's probably coming off this evening but definitely added a bit of cheer to an otherwise dull day!

As a result you have probably gathered I'm not really reviewing the lasting power of these products or indeed even looking into any "science" behind the products. Just a bit of frivolous fun to enjoy. Let me know what you think ladies... would you get away with this? Would you even try? Love or Hate I want to hear it...

Pulling your hair out?? Check out this Tangle Teezer Review...

Well as my recent blog Homemade "fix my broken hair" Hair Mask highlighted my poor hair is dry, weak, knotty and generally in bad shape following years of colouring, straightening and blow drying. Now while I have steadily been improving it with hot oil treatments, deep conditioning and ahem, homemade masks I did invest in a Tangle Teezer a long time ago following a recommendation. I have been meaning to blog about it for ages so here you go!!

The Details:

Well it's taken the hairdressing world by storm and there has been an awful lot of people raving about it so despite my reservations about it's (in my opinion) ridiculous price tag I figured my increasingly knotty hair lended itself to a product review! Tangle Teezer is the brain child of British hairdresser, Shaun Pulfrey. He came to public attention via Dragon's Den where his presentation was greeted with a less than enthusiastic reception. He looked for £80k for 15% of the business but walked away with nothing after a grilling.  He pushed on however, bankrolling it himself, launching it at Salon International in October 2007 and the company has gone from strength to strength since.

The idea came to Shaun while working as a colourist and realising that there was a need for a better detangling tool. Four years in the making and the Tangle Teezer was born. They now come in a variety of colours and designs all which can be viewed on the company website. I opted for the original in bubblegum pink for this review.

This usually retails at €9.99+ (depending on where you are purchasing - Hair Salons seem to charge more!). I picked mine up in the ever wonderful McCabes Pharmacy as part of a promo paying only €5.99, reduced from €9.99. I checked out Boots to see what they are charging  -  in their OMNI Park branch it is €14.53 but even worse it's €15.24 in their Dundrum branch. My advise on this one - shop around if you are keen.

The Images:

The Tangle Teezer in it's new packaging:

 

The new hair care guide that comes with it

 Out of it's packaging:

A side view so you can see the teeth:
 

Not pleasant I know but a direct comparison of hair pulled out by Tangle Teezer versus my paddle brush over a similar period of use (you actually can't see the base of my paddle brush for all the hair - ick!!):

The Sciencey Bit:

The brush is completely made of plastic with specifically spaced out teeth of 2 different lengths. These teeth flex through knots and tangles without locking or pulling. It's claimed that this process also helps smooth the hair's cuticle which in turn protects the inner cortex from damage. Reduced cuticle damage can result in reduced colour fade and indeed more lustrous locks.

The Conclusion:

Well in all honesty I'm not convinced. It definitely has less of my hair on the teeth after brushing than any other brush I use but it doesn't exactly glide through my wet hair as I had hoped and expected it to. Instead it remains a battle with me having to slowly work through my hair section by section from the ends all the way up to the roots. It's lack of a handle does not help whilst doing this. However, on my dry hair it is great, really great! It glides through my hair and detangles quickly and painlessly. 

I have heard many people rave about this product which piqued my interest originally. Especially influencing for me was the review of a mum of a little beauty with a head full of curls - she said prior to the Tangle Teezer brushing hair was a total nightmare with tears and tantrums guaranteed with each and every attempt.

While I can see that it does work I'm still not convinced re. the price versus payoff. More often than not I reach for my super large Head Jog paddle brush to sort out my wet hair if in a hurry and yes it takes out more of my hair and probably does more damage but its faster! Where it wins brownie points for me is its size and design lend itself beautifully to be a perfect handbag brush. Furthermore its rather unpleasant and almost garish plastic design is a bonus in this regard as it is easily washed and dries quickly. Personally I find handbag brushes seem to get clogged up with all sorts of crap so this is a big bonus in my opinion.

All in all I'm undecided, it disappointed in the very area I was hopeful yet provided other benefits I wasn't expecting. Do any of you have them? If so, let me know your thoughts...

I am a woman posessed I tell ye!

OMG I just have to post to vent because in my sheer stupidity yesterday I popped into Boots to see if anything new was happening. Obviously it was - there is always something new in that magical place to tempt me. I was very good though and tested loads of stuff but bought nothing. However, the Bourjois Sweet Paris Spring collection did catch my eye. Within this range are 2 new shades of their  10 Days, No Chips polish bang on trend being soft and lovely pastels:  #25 a pastel coral & #26 a pastel lilac. 

Now I LOVE my pastel nails and have been sporting a ridiculous amount of Barry M's Peach Melba so far this spring but this coral... oh my! It's much bolder than normal pastels but not quite a pink or red... just a delightful cosmopolitan coloured coral. I swatched some of the tester on my thumb nail and despite its loveliness walked away thinking my nail polish collection is full to the brim and that I have a lot of peaches, soft pinks and corals. When I got home however not one of my polishes came close (and that's a challenge!!).

So now I'm a woman possessed - I have to have this - all I have thought about today is this amazing coral colour and despite it's high pricetag of €8.12 I need it!! I've been on the road all day today and am again tomorrow. The earliest I can get to a Boots is if I do a quick lunchtime dash on Monday.... Think it just has to be though. I'll make sure to take a picture of my beautifully polished nails when I finally get my hands on this.

Have you ever abstained from an impulse purchase only to regret it later?? Let me know below if you have but only stories with happy endings please.... until i get my desperate little mitts on #25 anyway! 

Budget Benefit dupes courtesy of W7

Right well my regular subscribers and readers will know I'm a big fan of a bargain. BIG FAN. However, for some reason, and I'm not really sure why but I'm a total blush and bronzer snob. It may be because I used to be terrified of blusher and bronzers and only started wearing them in recent years or maybe its something to do with that memory of clown like red/pink cheeks on pale pale skin from multiple ballet performances that has left me scarred! Anyway, I digress, regardless of the reason why it's a fact that my blush bronzer collection has always been full of MAC, Estée Lauder, and Benefit goodies. That was until I stumbled upon W7's Africa...

The Detail:

Definitely not a high end brand but the products come in Benefit style boxes with a similar brush enclosed also (fyi the brush is equally as rubbish as the Benefit one and gets binned just a quickly!). I originally picked up the Africa Bronzer over a year ago and was so impressed with it that I went hunting for the others in the range and grabbed them all as soon as I found them!! Now my W7 goodies are usually fruits of my Northern Ireland make up hauls and I have rarely found the brand here. It is the type of brand that pops up in discount stores, New Look occasionally and also TK Maxx so keep an eye out if you are keen. Ebay has buckets of them available also. My stash all came from NI costing between £1.99 and £3.95 each so worth a try if nothing else..

I'm reviewing all 4 here:

1 Africa Multi Bronzing Face Powder 8g (more recently discovered in New Look Blanch and Omni for €4.99)

2 Double Act Bronzer & Highlighter Powder 8g (possible dupe for Benefit's 10 7g)

3 Honolulu Bronzing Powder 6g (possible dupe for Benefit's Hoola 8g)

4 Candy Floss Brightening Face Powder 6g (possible dupe for Benefit's Dandelion 7g)

The Images:

All 4 Lined up:

An individual box so you can see it's shape properly:

Swatches:

The Sciencey Bit:

Right well there isn't a huge amount of science to it really. However, as ever, I spent quite a bit of time comparing ingredients between these products and the products they mimic and without boring you with too much detail here's what I found:

1 Africa

8 ingredients, 2 of which are parabens. It also contains a list of 8 "may contain" ingredients, 6 of which are colours. While I am a little concerned about the uncertainty of their presence I'm hoping it may be like the "may contain nuts" you get on products produced in the same factories as nut products... if you get me?

[Parabens are chemical preservatives used regularly in cosmetics and beauty products. While officially they are considered "safe" there are a number of concerns surrounding potential carcinogenic and estrogenic effects associated with their use. Many people with sensitive skin also have paraben allergies which may result in rosacea or dermatitis when in contact with parabens. Finally, Methylparaben applied on the skin has been found to potentially react with UVB rays causing increased skin aging and DNA damage] 

2 W7's Double Act v Benefit's 10

Double Act has few ingredients listed with 8 in total, 2 of which are parabens. It also has a note stating it may contain a further 7 ingredients 5 of which are colours.

10 contains 28 ingredients, 5 of which are parabens.

3 W7's Honolulu v Benefit's Hoola

Honolulu  has 13 ingredients with 2 parabens. It also has a note saying may contain a further 3 ingredients all of which are colours.

Hoola has less ingredients at 12 with the same 2 parabens as Honolulu.

4 W7's Candy Floss v Benefit's Dandelion

Candy floss has a total of 8 ingredients of which 2 are parabens with a further note saying it may contain up to 7 more ingredients, 4 of which are colours.

Dandelion has a whopping total of 38 ingredients (many the same as Candy Floss) with a total of 5 parabens

The Conclusion:

Well I really am a convert - I love these products. The consistency is great they blend well and the pigment is great. Africa was the product that started my love affair with W7 and it remains a strong favourite. Ironically when I wear it it tends to get a lot of compliments more so than any of my pricier counterparts. Likewise one of my friends grabbed these bargains too and every time she has Africa on I ask her what bronzer it is!! It reminds me quite a bit of the Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess limited edition Exotic blush from a few summers back..it was a light tan with pink zebra stripes running through it. This W7 bronzer though has more depth and gives a pleasingly darker glow.

I use Double Act least of the four. The bronze half of this is quite glittery with not so subtle gold glitter particles which are just too large for my liking. I probably wouldn't buy this one again truth be told. I do like the pinky colour quite a bit though.

I like Honolulu but its incredibly dark so you need to use it carefully or you just end up looking dirty. As it's matt I use it more often as a contour powder rather than bronzer but only if I am looking for a very strong contoured look. If you are contemplating it as a dupe beware it is definitely darker than it's Benefit counterpart, Hoola.

Candy floss is lovely and probably the best dupe of the lot. The peachy pink colour is light and sheer and provides a lovely brightness on application. The pigmentation is great also.

To round up I'd have to say they are some really decent products and for the cheap as chips price you'd be mad not to give them a go if you stumble upon them. They have great pigmentation and the colour payoff is great! Once again I've found that the cheaper products don't always mean poorer quality with 2 of the Benefit equivalents containing over double the parabens and 2 containing far more ingredients also :O

My current fav shower gels...

Picked one of these up in Tesco's about a month ago and loved it so much that when I found them in ASDA for £1 a pop I grabbed both.... limited edition so if you see them grab them!

Kept meaning to post about them and realised this morning they were disappearing fast so figured I'd post while there was still some left!!

Salt Therapy at Lemons Beauty Salon

Well I've heard lots about salt therapy but never tried it before last week. One of my favourite beauty spots when I fancy a treat is Lemons Beauty Salon in Clontarf and while they added a Salt Therapy room in September I haven't gotten around to trying it until last Friday.

The Details:

A bit of background info?? ok then...Salt therapy came about almost by accident when in 1843 a notable improvement was recorded in the breathing of miners of salt mines by a physician at the mine. Then, during WWII Dr. Karl Hermann Spannagel noticed improved health in his patients who hid in the Kluterthöhle karst (a salt cave) in Germany to escape bombing. Spa's replicating this atmosphere were set up and so salt therapy was born!

In I went to Lemons feeling a little stressed to say the least (Friday rush hour traffic not the best time to book a treatment with hindsight) but the lady who greeted me, Tina, was lovely and got me sorted and in quick-fast so there was no delay or loss of time for any of us. I had to fill out a consultation form (so they can make sure there are no contraindications before receiving the treatment) which always gives me confidence in a service provision! Then I was given shoe covers to wear over my shoes and shown into the therapy room. It is a low lit room covered in salt... its piled up on the floor like sand and its crystallized on all of the walls. Lemon's have lovely blue strip lighting around the skirting and twinkly LED lights in the ceiling (and ye probably all know by now, I'm a sucker for a ceiling of LED lights!!) so it looks like a bit of a winter wonderland and is incredibly welcoming. 

There was 5 leather reclining chairs with footstools and fleece blankets each also. I picked a seat and wrapped up in the nice fleecy blanket and tried to settle down as the gentle hum of the halogenerator began. However, like many treatments before I found it hard to relax with my mind absolutely racing (this is how I feel most nights when I get into bed also). Eventually though, about ten minutes in the peace in the room drowned out my worries and stresses and I started to just chill out... I felt all lovely and dreamy lying there all snug with a sea breeze taste of salt on my lips. My nose also started to feel a bit funny - kind of tingly inside is the best way to describe it with it neither being uncomfortable nor pleasant. I obviously dozed off at some stage as when the 45 minutes were up, a bright light came on in the middle of the room and I was jolted awake from what felt like a very deep slumber!

The sessions cost €35 for 45 minutes but right now Lemon's are doing a very special offer of 3 sessions for €49. You can call them on 01 4446385 to discuss.

The Images:

The treatment room when the lights go down...

Here it is again but with the lights on as when you start/finish treatment just so you get a clearer idea of what it looks like (the snow like blurry bits in this photo are actually tiny salt particles)....

The Sciencey Bit:

Salt therapy and treatment rooms were set up to replicate the micro-climate within salt mines/caves The atmosphere of the salt mines/caves include stable air temperature, humidity and an absence of pollutants. Lemon's treatment room was designed to simulate the Ukrainian Allergologic Hospital (UAH) which is located in the foothills of the Ukrainian Carpathian mountains. Lemon's micro-climate is formed naturally through the convective diffusion from the salt walls combined with the controlled temperature and humidity to simulate that of the cave which creates a hypo-bacterial and allergen-free air environment. 

The salt micro-particles pumped into the room via the allergen filtered air are so small (1-5 micrometers) that they are easily inhaled. The particles reach the upper and lower respiratory tract with smaller particles reaching right down to alveoli (air sacs found in the lungs).  As the salt is inhaled it travels through the sinuses and respiratory tract absorbing moisture, cleansing, clearing mucus and killing bacteria.The salt has anti-inflammatory and anti- bacterial properties so it breaks up mucus easing congestion and relieving inflammation. The salt is also an natural anti-histamine so this treatment is a great natural way to ease the symptoms of hayfever.

The Conclusion:

Well  I have to say I really found this super relaxing as a treatment (like I actually fell asleep!!). Not one to suffer from respiratory problems I was worried I wouldn't be able to offer true feedback. However....one woman who was in the room with us was coughing loads as we left and it was basically all her mucus (lovely I know) clearing!! I couldn't believe it. I did feel really clear headed after, if that makes sense. By far the biggest result for me though, and this is the clincher, was that I slept like a baby that night. I conked out and had one of the best nights sleep I have had in a long long time. I'm told that my snoring stopped too so everyone is happy ;)

I really enjoyed it - I found it so relaxing and cannot believe the effect it had on my usually terrible sleeping patterns. I'm incredibly tempted to take up the 3 sessions deal running at the minute as I know it has a cumulative effect and while one session was great its not enough to improve my insomnia significantly. I have been raving about it all week and this is getting a serious thumbs up!