The Answer To My Liquid-Liner Prayers

Now I'm a self-confessed liquid eyeliner rookie. I've always been the girl who opts for a smokey eye for a night out because I just couldn't get the hang of eye liner, and I'd tried so many products and techniques. However recently I found something that has me on board with the winged liner: the Stile Stay-All-Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner.

It's one of those felt-tip style eyeliners and the nib is a little longer than some and comes to a really nice sharp point that makes doing liquid liner a breeze. The formula is great too, it's super black and smooth so it aids the application. I also find that when it dries down it's not too shiny so it gives amazing definition to the eyes. The waterproof claim seems to be pretty fair too, I haven't noticed any smudging with the formula and it doesn't flake off either so really long-wearing.

To apply the liner, I just lay the nib along my lash-line and press it down, then draw a little triangle flick on the end and colour it in if needed. Being an eyeliner novice I must admit I generally just do a three-quarter line (rather than starting the line from the very inner corner of my eye, I usually start it from where my iris starts if I'm looking straight forward. Generally I find the smaller you make the flick, the easier it is to keep both eyes relatively symmetrical. And trust me, If I can do it, anyone can.

Makeup Tips for Glasses Wearers

I've always been a big fan of eye makeup, so when I got to the point in life where my eyesight had gotten bad enough to have to wear glasses all the time, I opted for contact lenses initially. After a few years of them not really working for me (I'd tried dailies, monthlies, only wearing them for a few days a week - my eyes just don't really like them) I resigned to actually wearing my glasses and have found ways to still make makeup work for me, so here's some quick tips for those of us who don't get on with contacts.

Choose your frames carefully. When I picked up my glasses I've gone for a shape that's really flattering on my face, they're oversized with thin pieces of metal surrounding the lenses in a burgundy colour ( I found black frames to be a bit too harsh for my features) and the actual shape of the frames is slightly cat-eye shaped. They're just like a larger version of the shape I normally wear my eyeshadow in. The frames I've got give me a lot of lid space for eyeshadow without having to blend outside of the frames - which brings me to my next tip:

Try to keep the colour within the frames. Eyeshadow on glasses wearers can start to look a little messy if it's blended outside of the frames. When you're doing your eye makeup, the easiest way to make it look polished is to treat the frames of your glasses as the frames for your eyes.

Keep things balanced. Like I said, my frames are quite oversized so they cover up a bit of my eyebrows, I always make sure that I fill my brows in as it offers some balance to the face. I also think a toned down eye and a really bold lip looks great with glasses, your frames are already giving your eyes definition so mascara and a bold lip always seems to work nicely.

And finally - beware of false eye lashes. I personally don't bother with falsies if I'm wearing glasses as they just end up brushing up against the lenses and going a bit wonky. If you are going for false lashes, I'd recommend going for shorter ones and using a really good glue to make sure they're 100% secure.

The “I’ve Been Crying” Eye Fixer

I've been meaning to get some more review posts up on here for a long time. While I'm enjoying the post ideas I've been coming up with, I've been thinking about how I use the blogs that I read and generally, I find review posts really helpful so I've been wanting to give you guys some more reviews. So today we have my tear-y time skincare saviour: the Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels.

Skyn Iceland as a brand seem to market themselves for "stressed skin" and as I've mentioned, I've had a rough time this January. Trying to get used to being back at work after a bit of time off over Christmas coupled with some personal-life issues has had my stress levels a little higher than usual and that sent my skin into temporary panic but it's all good now and trust me. After all of that, I can say I've put these to the test.

I apply these to a freshly cleansed face before any kind of toners or spritz or anything and can leave them on for way over the recommended 10 minutes. The gel pads are very flexible and adhere to the skin well. They're so cooling under the eyes and if you have any issues with puffiness these will help reduce that a lot. Also the change in temperature under the eyes is supposed to help with drainage which is understandable, I do think my under eye area looks refreshed after using these.

As much as the gel pads are cooling under the eyes, there doesn't seem to be any liquid residue on them so while they do adhere to the skin I can't detect any additional benefits other than the cooling effect. They will bring down puffiness but don't seem to do anything for redness, nor do they seem to have any moisturising quality to them.

All in all, they seem to work very similarly to other products aimed solely to cool the under eye area. Jade Rollers specifically come to mind but the gels seem to be the lazy-day mask version. However for value for money, the gels come in a pack of 8 gels for £25 and a small Jade Roller is £20 and that can be used over and over. I really do like these and if you've got some serious puffiness going on these might be great for you but for me they don't seem to do enough for me to justify a repurchase. Will be saving the ones I have left for special occasions.

I'd be really interest to try the Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Detox Depuffing Eye Cubes. At £34 for 6 sets, the price-per-use seems to be a bit pricier than the Skyn Iceland gels, but as far as I can see these are something that will melt and leave something behind for the skin to absorb so watch this space for a review on those in the future.

October Favourites

I can't believe October is pretty much over already (I know this is a bit earlier than I normally post my monthly favourites but that's the way the schedule fell due to other posts I've got lined up). I've been testing out a few new bits this month and I think I've found some good picks for this one.

On the make-up front, I know I gave these an honorary mention last month but I just wanted to mention that the Fluer De Force Lip Gloss has been a true favourite this month, I've worn the shade "Written In The Stars" at least twice a week since I picked it up and it's just a great fuss-free everyday neutral.

With me keeping it simple on the lips I've been going for a bit of a stronger look on the eyes and have been gravitating towards my Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon in "Golden Quartz for Hazel Eyes Day" it's a great rusty bronze with golden shimmer that seems to give a subtle hint of green to the lids and I love the uniqueness of the shade. The formula is great too, nice and quick to apply and lasts well.

My final makeup favourite for the month is the Bourjois Sourcil Precision Eyebrow Pencil. I have the shade "07 Noisette" and it's a great eyebrow pencil. It's a bit waxier than other formulas and I find that I don't need to use a brow gel with this one as it's got a little hold to it and my brows aren't particularly unruly. My only bug-bare with this is that the brush on the lid is a bit pants, if they swapped that out for a good spool-y brush this would be perfect.

Possible TMI here: as it's been getting a bit colder I've been finding that my feet have been getting a bit gross looking/feeling. I've been popping on the Soap & Glory Hell Genius Amazing Foot Cream under my socks on a daily basis and it's sorted out any dryness or general winter-woes pretty quickly. A great SOS product.

For skincare I have two new favourites, one high end and one budget. For high end I've been loving the Skyn Iceland Pure Cloud Cleanser. It's a lovely, cooling creamy cleanser and while it can be used both day and night I find that the cooling sensation is just exactly what I want in the morning to wake me up.

My budget skincare find is the Nspa Oil-Free Moisture Gel, this is an insanely good product. I'd moved on to using oils instead of moisturisers 9 times out of 10 because moisturisers just weren't cutting it for me. Having oily but dehydrated skin made it really hard for me to find something hydrating enough but that wasn't too heavy or greasy to wear under makeup but this product has it down. It's a nice hydrating cream that sinks in almost immediately.

And there we have it, I still can't believe how fast this year is going.

The Friday Review: KIKO Lash Growth Mascara

I've had this one in the working for a while but the packaging said it takes 30 days of consecutive use to work and with it being a lash growth product I thought it would be more fair to follow the directions for use. I've recently gotten quite into using KIKO products and I'm super excited to hear that they're opening a location in Manchester soon (although I will soon be penniless I can imagine), and this really intrigued me.

The packing for the product is nice, it's quite a standard size for a mascara and the metallic finish on the tube is a nice touch. You get 8ml of product and it's around £8 a tube which is a good price for mascara, considering brands like MaxFactor and L'Oreal are charging £10+ for mascaras these days.

Since it's supposed to be worn as a regular mascara I figured I'd mention how it wears. The effect on the lashes is very natural so if you're someone who likes big fluttery lashes this might be a disappointment but I used this as a base coat and often went in with a more dramatic formula on top and this gave me the look I liked whilst still being able to use the lash growth. It didn't flake or smudge on me either.

In terms of it's effectiveness as a lash growth serum, I'm not sure. I tried to take before and after photos but it's actually really hard to photograph your own lashes and I'm not at the point where I have a cameraman to help me with the blog so I don't have anything to compare but my ashes do seem to look a tiny bit longer. It's definitely not a dramatic growth and if you have short lashes to begin with (like me) you might not see much of a difference but I feel like my mascaras are sitting on my lashes better these days.

All in all, it might be a bit of a gimmicky product and I'm not sure the amount of growth I've got from the mascara made it worth the 30 days of extra effort applying my makeup. If you're really struggling with short lashes though it might be worth picking up, I suppose mascaras always work differently on different people.

A Thing For Eyeshadow Sticks

I've loved eyeshadow sticks since the days of MAC Shade Sticks and while my original cream shadow stick is long gone it's nice to see that the format is coming back and other brands are releasing their own take on this convenient, multi-purpose product. In this post I'm going to have a look at some of the highs and lows of what's on the market at the moment.

So lets just get the most disappointing pick out of the way shall we? I'd heard lots of great things about New Look's recent beauty launch and some of the face products I've tried have been lovely, but their Pure Colour Eyeshadow Sticks didn't hit the mark for me. The colour is so sheer that I can't imagine anyone would be satisfied with the colour pay-off enough to leave it as it is and i just needs to be topped with a powder shadow. With that in mind it's been really ard to test the actual lasting power of the product, because really it doesn't manage to last through the blending process, never mind the day.

I had a very similar issue with the NYC City Proof 24hr Waterproof Eyeshadow. I couldn't really test the lasting power or the waterproof claims of this products because it's so sheer that for me it's an eyeshadow base rather than an actual eyeshadow. This product also has the disadvantage of having the worst packaging for an eyeshadow stick, the lid isn't secure at all and will 100% fall off if you tried to travel with it.

The No7 Stay Perfect Shade And Define eyeshadow sticks are a little better. A decent colour selection and the colours show up nicely on the eye but these one's struggle with wear time. If you're out for a couple of hours this might be an option for you but it does crease even when set with a powder shadow after a relatively short amount of time.

Things are starting to look up with the Bourjois ColourBand Eyeshadow & Liner. These are actualy really nice, creamy to apply, nice pigmentation and wears well on the lids. The only problem I have with these is the shade selection is quite small. They do have classic black, brown and champagne colours as well as a few wearable brights but the colours are generally a bit shimmery and they could do with expanding the range a bit more to include some more unique colours.

A comparable product to the Bourjois is the Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleons. These are great eyeshadow sticks that are pigmented, easy to apply and last well on the eyes. The thing that sets the Colour Chameleons apart for me is the shades, I have the shade "Golden Quarts for Hazel Eyes Day" and it's so unusual. I'd pitch the shade as a rusty gold with green-ish undertones and it has flecks of golden glitter and it was just love at first swatch. They also have an amazing green and a gorgeous smokey purple that I may have to pick up in the future. At £19 each they're a treat but hey aren't too crazy for what they are.

If you're looking to really treat yourself and are looking for an eyeshadow stick, you don't have to look any further than the By Terry Ombre Blackstars. They've been mentioned on the blog before and whilst they are unbelievably pricey for an eyeshadow pencil, they are also really nice. The shade selection for these is so on point, there doesn't seem to be a single colour that doesn't look pretty and they're so unique that I can just about justify spending the money on them.

However my top eyeshadow pencil pick is the KIKO Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows. They're pigmented, long-lasting, easy to apply AND they're £6.90 a piece. So you can pick up 4 of these for the same price as just one of the By Terry and they're so comparable. Last month in my "Highstreet VS Highend" post (clicky link here) I mentioned KIKO's "05" being a pretty perfect dupe for By Terry's "Misty Rock" and with 31 shades in the collection, I can imagine they'll be something for everyone.

The Friday Review: Eyes To Mesmerise

So I've been having a bit of a cream eyeshadow moment of late, they're just so easy. It all started when I picked up my first By Terry Ombre Blackstar and has become one of those things that I just keep picking up, and I found myself gravitating to this little beauty:

I was actually looking to pick up one of the Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleons, but after spending around 10 minutes trying to decide on a shade (my eyes are that not-quite-blue-not-quite-green colour that was giving me a hard time to decide) I spotted the Eyes to Mesmerise, particularly the shade "Veruschka" and it was love at first swatch. I've really gotten back into khaki-greenish tones on the eyes and this one is lovely.

The texture is slightly whipped-feeling, it's almost a mousse eyeshadow rather than a cream, and I find that it applies best with a slightly fluffy, but firm-bristled, synthetic brush. You have to work at it a little to get the colour intensity to a full colour which makes it difficult to go overboard with but after that little bit of work it looks great. The only thing I'll note is that the lasting power isn't amazing. I'll wear it for work but if I'm going out after work I bring it with me knowing a quick touch-up in the toilets will be needed before I leave for the night, so if that's a deal breaker you might want to steer clear.

All in all if they're all the same formula they might be a tad expensive for what you get but the shade on this one is just wonderful.

High Street Heros - Skincare

Part two of the High Street Heros series is going to be focusing on skincare. There's a range of products in here from the products that I'm considering buying back-ups for to the ones that I don't use often but they do what they should.

So I'll get this one out of the way, because we all know it's coming: the Superfacialist by Una Brennan Vitamin C Brighten Cleansing Oil is my absolute favourite high-street cleanser and it's the product that I use to take of my make-up pretty much every night unless I'm trialling something or trying to use up other products. Love.

Another product I've mentioned a few times on the blog that's become a staple in my skincare rotation is Serozinc by La Roche Posay. It's a spray-mist zinc-sulphate solution that I use in the "toner" stage of my skincare routine and it's great for clearing up the skin if you have any break-outs or blemishes.

One that I absolutely love but I don't mention so much on here is the L'Oreal Revitalift Filler Renew Serum. This is the one that comes in the bottle that looks a little like a needle, but don't be put off by the packaging, it's lush. It's a hyluronic acid serum similar to the Sarah Chapman Skinesis Hydrating Booster and Hydralyron by Indeed Labs and while I must admit that Hydraluron is my favourite of the 3, the L'Oreal is a good pick for those with a slightly tighter budget as it's under £15.

My budget facial oil pick is the B Replenished Facial Oil. Facial oils are one of those products where you get what you pay for and obviously, this oil isn't going to do what more expensive oils do for your skin but it's a nice pick and I do use this on quite a regular basis. If you have a bigger budget a few more pricy picks I like are the Clarins Lotus Facial Treatment Oil, Sarah Chapman Morning Facial and MV Organics Rose Plus Booster.

My go-to evening eye cream is the No7 Beautiful Skin Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm, it's a lovely hydrating eye gel that does the job. I use it overnight because I think it could be a little too thick for under make-up although I must admit I haven't tried it under make-up yet.

A good does-the-job product is the First Aid Beauty Foaming Cleanser, in texture, this is very comparable to the Omoravicza Cleansing Foam and the only reason I'd repurchase the Omoravicza is because for me, smell is a big part of my skincare ritual and that's the one thing the First Aid Beauty version is missing. Other than that, it's lovely.

Speaking of First Aid Beauty, their Ultra Repair Cream, is available in a generously sized tube for under £15 and it's my miracle cream. Whenever my skin is sore or irritated or generally unhappy, I reach for this and it brings my skin back to normality. Can't be without the stuff and have recommended it to lots of people. Love.

The First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads would have also had a place in this lineup, but unfortunately, they were slightly outside of my £15 budget for this post, but a very comparable product that's even more affordable is the Nip & Fab Glycolic Exfoliating Pads. These are so similar to the First Aid Beauty version but come in under the budget for a good amount of product, they're a pre-soaked acid toning pad that exfoliate the skin gently.

Another pre-soaked-pad product from Nip & Fab that I've been enjoying lately is their Dragons Blood Hydrating Pads. Now I'll admit, being a Targaryen fan girl (sorry for all non-Game-of-Thrones fans for that reference) I may have seen the Dragons Blood reference and been intrigued on the name alone, but I did notice that these also contain hyluronic acid, which we've already established is an ingredient that my skin particularly enjoys. For me these are a hydration layer that I'd use if my skin was more in need of moisture than exfoliation, I wouldn't use them in conjunction with an exfoliating toner.

I've been enjoying the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask for a while now and was keen to find a dupe and with me being a big fan of Una Brennans Superfacialist products already, I picked up their Rose Hydrate Mask to see if it was comparable. While it's not strictly an overnight mask if you apply it thinly it soaks into the skin and wont need removing but I just use it as a 5-minute-fix and it works well. Not quite a dupe but it's still a nice pick.

And then the rest of these are products that I don't necessarily use in my rotation all the time, but if you fancied a new budget item these are pretty good. I've actually gone through 2 bottles of the Good Things Miracle Mattifier Moisturiser before developing a love for facial oils that has left most of my once-loved moisturisers feeling a little unloved. This is specifically for an oily skin and it was great at keeping you hydrated whilst also providing some oil control.

While I really love the Omoravicza Deep Cleansing Mask, it's eye-wateringly expensive and I'm currently trying out a lot of clay masks at the moment but a budget option that works well is the Aroma Actives Skincare Deep Cleansing & Purifying Clay Mask. It's an almost skin-coloured clay mask that feels cooling and slightly tingly on the skin and dries down quickly. It doesn't leave my skin as dry or tight feeling as other that I've tried but it does leave me wanting to apply some kind of moisturising product afterward but it's a nice pick for around an 8th of the price of the Omoravicza.

When I'm feeling lazy and a proper cleanse isn't on the cards I have 2 products that I whip out. The Garnier Micellar Warer is great for those mornings or evenings where you just can't be bothered, it's gentle on the skin and not stripping at all but it removes make-up and general grime from the skin quickly. I do have a confession to make here. While I don't agree with using face wipes to cleanse all the time, sometimes, a good old face wipe is just what you need. Maybe your on the road or maybe it's just been a late one and you just want to get straight to bed, but when I'm reaching for a face wipe, I'm reaching for the Soap & Glory Off Your Face 3-in-1 Daily Purifying Cloths. Remove makeup nicely, gentle on the skin but still have a slight bit of an exfoliation to them. A good one to have on hand for emergencies.

And finally, while I normally use a moisturiser/facial oil and then a separate SPF, for days when I'm in a rush I like the Sainsburys SPF 15 Day Cream. It's a light moisturiser that plays nice with makeup and has a decent amount of SPF in for the weather we usually get here in England, and it's super affordable at around £2 a tube.

June Favourites

So it's favourites time again and I really can't believe how quickly this year is flying by. I've been trying a lot of new things this month but only a small selection have found a spot in my weekly rotations so I thought I'd let you in on what I've been loving this month.

I have quite a few make-up favourites this month and one that I've already mentioned in a post this week is the L'Oreal Infallable 24 Hours Matte Foundation, which I picked up as it seems to be warming up a little bit in England now and I've been wanting to try some more long-lasting foundations in an attempt to mark 2015 as the year I finally escaped the shiny-nose-syndrome that I've suffered every summer since birth. While it hasn't quite managed to keep me 100% all day long it's definitely the best foundation for oil control I've tried to date from the high street.

Another product type that I don't always gravitate to but I reach for a lot in the summer is bronzer, and the one I've been reaching for this month is the Bourjois Maxi Delight Bronzer. This thing is massive so I can imagine it'll be in my collection for quite some time as I only use a little bit in the place of blush to warm up my complexion a bit for the summer months.

My final make-up favourite for the month is my No7 Stay Perfect Shade and Define in the shade "Cool Mink". This isn't my favourite texture for a creamy eyeshadow stick (I much prefer the By Terry Ombre Blackstars but trés expensive) but the colour of this is a lovely everyday neutral that you can just smudge on and go. I would still use an eyeshadow primer with this product just because it can get a little crease-y after a long day without one.

Now for some skincare, a product I've reviewed on here recently that I've been using like crazy this month is the Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil which is an oil that is specifically targeted toward those of us who have a combination/oily skin. I've been using this most days in the place of a morning moisturiser as it's hydrating enough for m skin but sits really nicely under make-up and seems to help with oil control throughout the day. Love.

A skincare favourite that I can't believe hasn't made it into a favourites post before is the No7 Beautiful Skin Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm. I did post a dedicated review post for this a while back but I've been loving it for a while now and looking back through my favourites posts I can't find it so it seems to have slipped under my radar. It's a lovely eye cream tat I use pretty much every night that it moisturising but not too heavy.

The Weekly Review - RMK Point Make-Up Remover

So we all know that I love the Superfacialist by Una Brennan Vitamin C Cleansing Oil, but I still love trying out new cleansers and make-up removers, if only to prove that my love for the Una Brennan is the real deal. So when I saw that Birchbox has sent me a sample size of the RMK Point Make-up Remover, I was all kinds of into trying it. The sample size is actually great, 50ml which is over a 3rd of the product you'd get when you purchase the full size, but it's still small enough to be great for travel.

This product was released to replace the discontinued Eye Make-up Remover Ex, and is a standard bi-faze make-up remover that has 2 layers that you shake together, pour onto a cotton pad and then sweep over the face to remove make-up and SPF before going in with a second cleanse. Personally I'd say this would have to be used as a first cleanse as it does leave a slight oil-y residue on the skin that makes me want to go in with a second cleanse afterwards but if you have particularly dry skin, this might not bother you so much.

As far as it's make-up removing skills go, I don't wear waterproof mascara and generally wear a light to medium base and the occasional bright lip and it gets everything off just fine for me but I still prefer my Una Brennan. That being said I can imagine I'll be whipping this out a lot for travel for the convenience of not needing to pack flannels/wash cloths and because it's so dinky that it barely takes up any space at all.

No7 Beautiful Skin Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm Review

So recently I've been looking for a nicer eye cream to add to my skincare stash. Since hitting 22 I've noticed that the skin around my eyes has become a lot drier than it used to be back in my teenage years and I'm beginning to feel the need to use more preventative products on my skin as I slowly creep towards 30 *sigh*.

My friend has super-dry, super-sensitive skin and she uses the No7 Beautiful Skin Overnight Revitalising Eye Balm and so I gave it a try and it's lovely. It's a clear gel consistency that sinks in quickly and feels nice and hydrating for a night-time eye cream option. With it being No7, it's nearly always on offer in Boots and at under £15 for 15ml, it's much cheaper than some other eye creams I've tried.