Full ON lashes, Full ON lady!

Yesterday I woke up feeling totally blahhhh, like really blahhhhhhh. I knew the only want to snap myself out of this whirlpool of self-pitty and procrastination was to do my makeup, not just do my makeup but really DO my makeup!  

Starting with a heavier base than normal and then doing my eyebrows with precision and not just scraping some pencil through like normal, moving on I did my eyes like proper with the crease and everything then I was on such a roll I thought LASHES! Why not!?! So I popped on a bit of liner on  and then fiddled around trying to apply a pair of MAC #20 Half Lash numbers to the outer corners and boom! Instant lady, I felt amazing like I could flirt with every man in the world. I strutted around the house waiting for someone to notice but no one did, so me and my lashes went to the shops to buy some lunch and no one noticed either. I even took my lashes out for a run with me later that evening, my mood had completely altered from feeling like it was the worst day ever to being a productive day and it was all due to my mood lifting lashes. 

Here are a few lashes for newbies to the wonderful world of lashes:

MAC's #20's Half Lash $20.00

If you are unsure about using a full strip of lashes outer corner half-lashes are a great option, they are much easier to apply and giving length and flutter to the outer lash line while also opening up your eyes making them appear wider.

Available from MAC www.maccosmetics.com.au

Dolly Wink Lashes No.4 Feminine Style US$13.50

Lashes are extremely popular in the Asian beauty market, they can be simple verging on natural or played up as a big feature and very doll like. Dolly Wink is a big cosmetic brand across Japan, Korea and China available from pharmacies and cosmetic chains like Sasa. The No.4 lashes are longer than the Mac Half Lash they span 3/4 of your eye, they are extremely wispy and flirty. These are not natural looking, people will know you are wearing falsies but they are very flattering and cute.

Available from Sasa www.sasa.com and various Asian Beauty Supply Stores.

Shu Uemura Slant Lashes in black US$21.00

These are strictly big event lashes - unless you are a cast member on The Only Way is Essex because those girls would just wear these down the shops.

I like these for topping off a very perfected and precise winged liner a'la Jaime King in Hart of Dixie, for an updated 50's look. Shu Uemura offer lash application at their counters if you want to learn from the experts before attempting lash application yourself.

Available at Shu Uemura counters at David Jones and www.shuuemura-usa.com

Eylure Individual Lashes Black $14.99

These are first ever lashes I learnt to apply, my good friend Makeup Artist Molly Oakfield gave me a pair of tweezers, a packet of individual lashes and a tube of Duo glue pushed me towards the bathroom mirror showing me how to carefully place and stick these little guys and I was hooked! Single lash clusters are a good way of filling gaps in your natural lashes and building up the outer corners to create a more dramatic look. If you have naturally quite short lashes there are 3 sizes to chose from which is great and a lot easier to blend in with your natural shorter lashes. Only downside is that individual lashes are a lot harder to re-use than strip lashes.

Available from Priceline www.priceline.com.au 

Ardell Accent lashes #305 $7.95

These are full on pin up glamour styles, make sure you have loaded your lashes with mascara before applying these bad boys. I am pretty sure you could flirt all they way to heaven wearing these lashes.

Available from Crush Cosmetics www.crushcosmetics.com.au

Katy Perry Lashes created by Eylue 'Sweetie Pie' $14.99

Celebrity lash lines are big at the moment, Girls Aloud have one which is available on ASOS and it is also fab -  you too can look like Cheryl Cole/Tweedy with a simple lash application! I haven't tried Katy Perry's line of lashes yet but am desperate too, because I am obsessed with Katy Perry and her makeup at the moment, if anyone has seen the Katy Perry documentary 'Part of Me' you will get it, she completely transforms with makeup and they girl knows a good pair of lashes I'm sure.

Available from Priceline www.priceline.com.au

Millie Mackintosh Soho Lashes £8.99

Another celebrity lash line I am really excited to try out, Millie Mackintosh from the reality show 'Made in Cleasea' has surprisingly been the break out entrepreneur from the Chelsea set - although maybe not the most charismatic as you can see in the you tube video below. The lashes look very soft but definitely pump up the glamour and will give your eyes that certain false lash intensity which I love.

Available from www.nnouveaubeautygroup.com and coming soon to Selfridges in the UK.

                                   

Don't Believe The Hype : #1

Everything on this blog is my personal opinion - apart from if its a specified spiel from a giant cosmetic company claiming that they can make your lips bigger, get rid of you wrinkles and make you 10 times more beautiful by tomorrow.

Its not serious and I usually don't buy things that I really dislike because I am a 'savvy 20 something that knows how to use the power of the Internet for good not evil'.  My friends and family do it love when I get it wrong because I always give away things that haven't made the cut.

1. Loreal Telescopic Mascara $26.80

This was raved about by one of my favorite YouTube girls Vivianna Does Make up, she was banging on about how she put it on whilst on the tube (British). So I bought it. Its crap, well its not crap, she loves it. Its the brush that's not a brush its a comb and the product is really wet formula which just makes my usually naturally curled lashes point out straight and clump. If you can make this work for you, 10 points and please let me know how you do it.

2. Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stains $16.00

When the lip stain trend was in full force last year I was sucked into that like a tornado, I was one of the cows in Twister - not Helen Hunt. But I survived with the debris of 15 lip stains cluttering up my makeup draws. Firstly the Revlon Lip Stain has a lip balm on the end - mine snapped off within the first use so I have no idea what it was like. It didn't pack the punch of my other Covergirl lipstains which the stain lasts almost all day and definitely have got more colour pay off and they are also $6.00 cheaper. And one more thing I hate that tacky twilight-esque font on the packaging.

3. Shu Uemura Foundations - $64 Face Architect Foundation  (but in general it's all of them)

I really want to like them because its one of my favorite Japanese beauty brands. The problem is that they do not have my colour, white girl is not in the spectrum of shades. Its such a shame because they have this really cool aerosol can of foundation that's really high tech and I am desperate to have it. Please don't let this put you off the brand it is fantastic and if they have your shade then lucky you! Especially the eye shadows they are a dream and the limited edition collaborations are beautiful especially the Tsumori Chitsato sets  from about 2 years ago.

4. Maybelline Great Lash Curved Mascara $8.99

The curved brush really stabs my eyeballs when applying it and the fall out is really bad it had given me dark circles by 10am. This cult product made me look like I was in a cult.

5. Nars Lip Gloss $39.00

I'm not really a lip gloss girl to begin with, your hair gets stuck in it. The Nars lip gloss is so sticky that its hard to even apply its like putting cold honey on your lips. The colours are really good and they have a new plumping formulation which i will try out to see if there is any improvement to the formula.

6. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks $48.00

These are really shimmery, duh its called a freakin' Shimmer Brick! But its the type of shimmer and opacity which should only be going on in eye shadows. It is so shimmery it casts a white glow to your face from the lightest colours and highlights YOUR PORES!!!! I had a really bad time with this in both colours - yep I bought 2 colours - SUCKER!

7. Kiehl's Penthol Protein Moisturizing Face Cream $22.50 

This is a good moistirizer, just not for my face, its since been de-potted and put in travel size containers for legs on holidays. It gets all in my eyebrows and hair line coating them in white cream making me look like Santa Clause and it's impossible to put a foundation on top of it because it peels off like pilling on a cheap synthetic jumper. 

8. Burts Bees Sensetive Eye Cream ($29.95 N/A)

I did not purchase this -  it came free with a magazine. But I had to include it because the story of my single time using the product is very funny. I packed this eye cream in my toiletries bag when going on the first sexy weekend away with a lover, I thought you know its a small sample size and 'natural' kind off not wanting to pack my massive night cream. After coming back from a night swim and a long shower I moisturized as normal before bed, the eye cream was on the bedside table and I applied it in the dark before going to sleep. Morning came and I awoke to my lovers shocked face on top of mine saying that he could 'call a doctor if i needed', the eye cream had turned into a white flaky crust all over my eyes! It came off with a little warm water and my skin wasn't irritated at all but the shocked reaction caused me to bin the eye cream straight away.

So in total I have wasted $225.30 on these products. It is actually a lot more than this but these are the products that I can remember using and not agreeing with. 

What products have you regretted buying? Or what products have you been talked into buying by a very persuasive beauty counter sales assistant like a sucker?