Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes mascara in 'Intense Black'

I don't like to go too in-depth in Glossy Boxes as it ends up being the entire blogging world reviewing the same products .. however I felt it would be a general waste of products to not at least review a couple. I was interested in the Fairy Lashes mascara from Jelly Pong Pong, purely because its their first ever. I've only ever tried products from this small cosmetics company through various Glossy Boxes, and to be honest i've never been too thrilled about them so didn't have very high hopes for this product.

It's described as a mascara 'not for the faint-hearted' and claims to make lashes thicker, curvier whilst maintaining softness. Hmm, we'll see..

Don't you agree that the packaging is just a tad too big for the product? It looks more like perfume packaging?

 

When I first used the product, I thought the wand was broken! I then thought it may be designed that way for convinience .. but as I look at other reviews it seems to be that my mascara may just have a wonky wand? Either way, it didn't help at all. I found the overall quality of brush to be very low and it didn't distribute the product very well. I found it was very difficult to apply the product in the corners and on my bottom lashes. 

First of all I want to apologise for this picture. My eyebrows need to be sorted desperately and I was testing a terrible liquid eyeliner which explains how horrible it looks! However, as you can see, the mascara makes next to no difference - especially against eyeliner. I found my lashes felt spindly and thin, and it made it look like I had less lashes? 

Throughout the day the product began to wear off, and what was left was very difficult to remove. It almost felt like my lashes were going to snap off, so I wouldn't use this product for this reason alone. Its designed to be water resistant, which I could completely believe, but that hasn't widened the appeal in the slightest. For £15, I am shocked that this product even made it into the boxes. There is no intensity, no volume, minimal curl and the removal makes you regret even putting it on in the first place.

You can purchase Jelly Pong Pong's Fairy Lashes mascara from their website here.

Benefit's 'She's so... Jetset!'

First of all, I want to apologise for my absence. I've been going through some personal things, amoungst moving back home for Christmas from University and going on holiday for my birthday (I will be sure to do a post later on!), so i've been extremely busy. However, i'm now home and have made sure I will get this blog back on track as we move into 2013!

With my holiday fast approaching along with my 21st, my friends thought it was fitting to give me an amazing travel-themed giftset from Benefit - 'She's so...Jetset!'*. This is one of their limited edition Christmas sets and I feel really fortunate to have amazing friends that understand just how excited I get over these things!

 

 (Sorry for the bad sizing of the images, can't seem to suss it out!)

'She's so... Jetset!' is a compilation of Benefit goodies in convenient travel sizes. Perfect for girls on the go, this kit is everything you need to stay vibrant and fresh-faced during your travels. I love the vintage feel of the box, complete with air-stewardesses and little planes dotted around the edges. The kit contains:

• The POREfessional - Primer (7.5ml)
• Eyeshadow Pallette - 'Champagne Please', 'Gold Card', 'Pretty in Mink', 'Elegant Expresso'
• 'First-Class face powder' - Blush and highlighter combination
• They're Real! - Mascara (4g)
• 'Life on the A-List' - Lip gloss
• Double-ended applicator
• Powder brush
• Instructions

Shocking how much can fit in such a small space! I've linked in previous reviews and will review the remaining items in-depth in a separate post, i'm just wanting to give a general overview! The 'in-flight instructions allow quick application, and give hints to achieve amazing results (For example, tilting your head back to easily find the crease in your eyelid - may seem a simple one, but you'd be surprised how many people fail to find it properly!) along with instructions to go from day to night with the eyeshadow palette. Unfortunately, being a blogger I didn't have time to photograph it in time to be able to take it on holiday with me, but as i'm constantly travelling this little kit is going to fit snugly in my handbag and with the enclosed mirror I can apply frequent touch-ups!

The set is quite pricey at £29.50, but any Benefit user will know that this is a standard price for them. With the travel-sized 'They're Real!' being approximately £13 on its own, its understandable. The POREfessional is easily one of my staple products, and the lip glosses are of high-quality and achieve fantastic pigmentation. This shade will be perfect for the day-time, allowing an natural look that is essentially effortless!

Overall this is a great little gift for anyone whose going away in the new year, or spends more time on a train than they do in their house (Yes, that's me!) - a great combination of high quality products that's bound to score you major brownie points at Christmas!

You can purchase 'She's so...Jetset!' from your local Benefit counter or online here.

Dainty Doll Mascara & Eyeliner Duo in 'Good Golly Miss Molly'

The holiday season is almost upon us, and that can only mean one thing: Parties!
Christmas, New Years and in my case a few birthdays - meaning glamorous dresses, sparkle and flawless makeup. When packing your party clutch with essentials, double ended or multi-use products are essential to save crucial space, making this mascara and eyeliner duo* a must-have for your bag.

Being a pale girl, Dainty Doll automatically intreged me. Created by fellow english rose Nicola Roberts, Dainty Doll aims to cater for fairer skinned girls with a variety of quality makeup and skincare products. Its so irritating when well known brands luxury brands don't stock a shade light enough for me, so it's great to have a brand that I can instantly go to and know they have the right products for me. I have 'Good Golly Miss Molly' - a jet black, perfect for a sophisticated cat eye or to accompany a classic smokey eye.

The duo come as a double ended applicator wand/brush, with screw-top bottles either end that contain the product. A classic combination of black and gold, the packaging is sleek and perfect for the festive season! Both products contain vitamin E, beeswax and natural plant wax, ensuring that these two staple products are as skin-friendly as possible.

I found the eyeliner extremely difficult to use. It claims to be able to effortlessly glide onto your lid, but I found it was extremely watery - so much so that it sort of spread out over my lid, making a straight line almost impossible. I'm not the most fluent in applying liquid eyeliner, but this was just ridiculous! Once applied it looked lovely, but as you can see its not exactly neat! It took a few tries to get the bold black it promises, so I had to go over it a few times and therefore the line slowly became messier and messier. I also found that the liner didn't stick well, it fades quite quickly due to its thin consistency.
I'm much more of a fan of the mascara! It fans out your lashes without clumping them together, making it perfect for the daytime. I personally prefer mascara that thickens the lashes in the evening to make more of a statement, and this mascara simply elongates them! I think i'd use this during the day, but I only really use liquid eyeliner in the evenings to make more of a statement so the combination doesn't really work for me! I definitely don't think its worth the extortionate price of £17.50. A pretty average product that achieves minimal results, however I do like the double ended wand and how compact and convenient it is. Let's hope Dainty Doll's other products aren't as disappointing as this!

You can purchase Dainty Doll Mascara & Eyeliner Duo in 'Good Golly Miss Molly' for £17.50 at your local Boots, and view other products in the Dainty Doll range from their website here.

Review: Avon 'Super Extend Extreme' Mascara

Oh, how I love a good freebie. And if it so happens to be a makeup product, well that just makes it even better.

 Free with this months Marie Claire magazine is one of three mascaras from popular cosmetics brand, Avon. I will admit, i'd always thought Avon was for older people, purely because i've never really seen it advertised and i'd never heard of anyone my age buying from their local Avon representative - but I am now aware that that is simply not the case.
Avon have been providing a wide range of beauty products to over 100 countries for over 125 years (How many brands can say that?), including skincare, nail polish, beauty tools, and make-up. With these credentials, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on one of the mascaras to see what all the fuss was about!

There were three different mascaras available as a free gift alongside the magazine: Super Shock Max, Super Curlicious and my chosen mascara, Super Extend Extreme. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the packaging before I threw it away, but it illustrated that each mascara had a different purpose: Either thickening, curling or lengthening and I chose lengthening as my eyelashes are naturally tiny.

 Can I just ask, why would someone choose to make the packaging of their product luminous yellow? It might be just me, but I do think that makes it look slightly cheap. However, as each mascara is worth up to £10 I had high hopes for it.

 

 As you can see, the wand makes the application very messy. It's really big and bulky, and even though the thin neck of the tube removes most of the excess product from the wand, it's not enough to stop the product clumping on your lashes.
I will admit that my top lashes do look slightly longer, I have really small lashes so it does take quite a lot to elongate them, but it hasn't done much to thicken then. It smudged slightly throughout the day, but overall my lashes stayed looking quite reasonable (After cleaning up the mascara around my eyes!).

Overall, I wouldn't have paid the original price of £10 (Although at the moment this particular mascara is on special offer for £3.99, which sounds more like it!). The results weren't anything to get excited about, but I will continue using it whenever I want to keep my makeup simple and natural. I do think this is a great freebie though, and it is worth the £3.70 you would usually be paying for the magazine alone, so it's worthwhile purchasing. I do hope Avon have better quality products online, because at the moment i'm not really won over.

You can purchase Avon 'Super Extend Extreme' and any other of the free mascaras on the Avon website here, or free with August's Marie Claire magazine at your local supermarket or newsagents for £3.70.

Review: Benefit's 'They're Real!' Mascara

I know what you're all thinking: "Not another Benefit review!" But..whatever!
Today i'm reviewing Benefit's 'They're Real!', the newest Benefit mascara. I was hesitant to try this at first because i've been so used to using Benefit's BADgal mascara, and it's worked so well for me. But after my regular browse at my local Benefit counter, I decided to let the sales assistant put some on me! From then on, I was hooked.
First of all, it looks like the queen of all mascaras in its appearance. It's sleek, shiny and modern, with a lengthy brush handle and a comes in a gorgeous packaging that also demonstrates the product on a model:

The statistics and photographs on the packaging are not normally found on Benefit products; it seems as though Benefit swear by this mascara so much that they must prove it at a customers first glance of the product.



Another unique feature of this mascara is the wand. To be honest I always think to myself: "How many ways can you shape a mascara wand? Don't they all do the same thing?" But in this case, the specially designed brush has a circular end so you can pull the lashes up and seperate them vertically, which is something I have never seen before.


When applying, it recommends that you wiggle the brush horizontally from base to tip to ensure an even coverage. However, I also like to apply a layer by holding the brush close to the lashes and blinking so that the wand coats the ashes evenly. From then, you hold the brush vertically and use the curved end to seperate the lashes and to coat hard to reach areas such as lashes close to your inner eye or smaller lower lashes. Here is a before and after:



As you can see, my lashes are now jet-black, and double the length. By using the brush, I spread out the lashes evenly and it really enhanced the colour of my eyes. It's so easy to apply and is also smudge-proof, so I don't have to be worried every time I rub my eyes! Since I purchased this product, I have not worn another mascara. This can be worn both during the day and when going out at night. It's easy to layer, so I just add a few coats when I want my eyes to look fuller and even thicker. Only one application a day is needed - no top ups necessary, which means you'll get more for your money.

Unfortunately it isn't waterproof and only comes in black, but I am optomistic that, like BADgal, other colours will be available.

Benefit's 'They're Real!' mascara retails at £18.50 for a 8.5g tube.