Yves Rocher | Smoky Eye Challenge

I was recently challenged by the lovely people over at Yves Rocher to create a smoky eye look using their products.  Not one to shy away from a challenge I thought I'd step up and see what I could come up with.  The only thing I didn't know until I opened the parcel was what colour eye shadows I'd be getting.  To my delight they were green (one of my favourite colours to wear).  I thought instead of just creating a look and going 'tah dah!' I'd do a bit of a step-by-step tutorial on how I created it too, that way you could try to recreate it if you wanted to :)  

This is pretty much the way I create most looks - as in light colour on inner third, medium shade on outer two thirds, and dark colour on outer v and blended into the outer third - then blend it all together :)

Before I get into the tutorial I thought I'd talk a bit about the products I used.  I prepped my skin with my usual base, my Bourjois Radiance Reveal foundation, setting it with Witch Anti-Blemish pressed powder.  I used my Anastasia brow wiz on my brows and that's it.

I've used Yves Rocher makeup products quite a bit over the last year and have always liked them, they're a decent brand with some lovely quality makeup.  I was pleasantly surprised just how good the eye shadow primer was (£12.50*), given how oily and hooded my eye lids are, it takes quite a lot of work to get eye shadow to stay put on me and this did the job well - at least 6 hours with no movement at all.  The eye shadow quad in the shade brilliant green (£25*) was like the others I've used, really nice quality, well pigmented and very blendable - I like how these colours weren't boring, there was a nice combination of brightness, darkness, matte and shimmer, a beautifully balanced palette.

The kajal liner (£15.90*) was great too, slightly on the waxy side, as opposed to being crazy soft, which I actually prefer as it tends to stay put better when it's more waxy (I find).  That being said, it blended really well with a fluffy brush when used under the eye too.

The mascara (£22*) was lovely, I actually reviewed this quite a long time ago (you can read my review here).  Their signature reservoir on the volume vertige works really well to grip the lashes, coating them well with mascara, giving them great definition and volume.  All in all a really nice mascara.

Here's how I created the look:

The finished look :)  I hope you the look I created - I tend to wear darker eye makeup and always have, so to me, I'd be happy to wear this out in the day, but I know that's not for everyone :)

I really like Yves Rocher makeup, I think they're lovely quality and I've been pleasantly surprised by some of their pieces more than others.  I think some of their products could have slightly nicer packaging for the price, but the quality of the actual products is on point.

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GOSH | No Limits Mascara

It's no secret that I love reviewing mascara, I thin it's because I see results very quickly, and the pictures aren't really open for interpretation - lashes either look good with the mascara, or they don't -the pictures never lie, despite how much we might love or hate a mascara.

I'm actually thinking about writing a massive mascara review post, pulling together all my previous reviews to find the best mascara I've ever tried - good idea?

Anyway, off on a tangent again.  Today we're here to talk about, and look at pictures of, the GOSH No Limits mascara.  This is probably the biggest mascara I've ever seen - not necessarily the wand, but the whole thing, it's massive!  The wand is fab, it's made up of small rubber spikes spreading out into a wave shape.  This gripped my lashes really well, applying the formula evenly over my lashes, not making them spidery.

What I will say, you don't need more than one coat of this to get the most out of it.  You can see in the picture below, there's pretty much no difference between one and two coats - only really the bottom lashes benefit from a second coat.  I do think they look great with just the one coat, looking instantly defined, curled, black and with more volume.

No Limits Mascara comes in at £7.59*, which makes it sit pretty much mid-way on the high street between the likes of budget brands like Makeup Revolution, and the pricier end of the high street like Max Factor and their clump defy (around £12).  Do you get what you pay for?  I think you do - my lashes look lovely, and given that I don't 'need' to add a second coat, it'll last me a bit longer than a conventional mascara too.  Another plus is that without extra coats, it'll be easier to remove too.

What do you think of this mascara?

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Maybelline Lash Sensational

One of the most coveted mascara's to be released recently on the high street is the Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara.  I've always adored Maybelline for mascara's, for my money, I don't think you get much better on the high street, and Lash Sensational really proves that point.

It comes looking like any other Maybelline mascara in the same packaging shape, but with a different wand.  It's firm, rubbery and curved with short bristles to help really get in there and grip the lashes.

What I love most about this mascara is that it really gives volume at the base of the lash - in the last pic of 'two coats' you can really see how much thicker my lashes look at the root.  My lashes are longer, much more curved (they're usually quite straight) and nice and black.  This actually reminded me a lot of the new Benefit mascara, Rollerlash (pic below for comparison) which I reviewed here. The only difference is, I actually prefer the lashes Lash Sensational gives me - they're darker, longer and have more volume, as you can see for yourself.  Don't get me wrong, Rollerlash is lovely, I really am a fan of this mascara, but Lash Sensational just has a certain je ne sais quoi that Rollerlash is lacking and it's only since comparing the two pictures that I'm really seeing that.

Boots is selling this for £7.99 at the moment, which is a great deal - I mean, just look how awesome it is!!! So often you have to pay £25 for a mascara like that, and even then I'm not sure it could compete with Lash Sensational.

Benefit Rollerlash - two coats

What do you think about the comparison to Rollerlash?

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Collection Volumising Mascara

I picked this up in my £15 high street challenge in January for about £3.50, it's actually an annoying story how I came to own this which I won't bore you with, but I will say I had high hopes.  With a claim of 10 times the volume (it's volume I need more than length), they had a lot to live up to.

Generally I'm a fan of Collection products, they've come a long way since I was a young teenager and delving into makeup for the first time (the cheap brands really weren't great back then).  Their fast stroke liner and eye shadow palettes are pretty decent.  This also had the type of wand I like, rubber bristles - the wand is large similar to the Cover Girl Lash Blast too (one of my favs), so again, I was expecting a lot.

Can you see where this review is going?  Yeah... for me, it was quite a disappointment - there's no way I'm getting 10 x the volume.  Yeah it doesn't look totally terrible with 2 coats, but when you compare it to the new Benefit Rollerlash (picture below), there's a massive difference.  With Rollerlash I get definition, length, curl, volume and in general it looks like I have loads more lashes, they just look better. At best, I'd say this Collection mascara is decent enough for wearing to School/College/Uni, but I certainly wouldn't wear it on a night out...

... scrap that, I doubt I'll reach for it again, end of.  There's much better budget alternatives out there, like the Makeup Revolution Viper mascara (pictured below), very decent and only £3 (cheaper than the Collection one) - so if I were you, I'd spend my money on that one instead.

Well, I had intended this review was more positive than that, but after looking at the pictures long and hard, I can see just how rubbish this mascara is.  Sorry Collection, you really missed the mark with this one :/

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Benefit Rollerlash

NO COATS

ONE COAT

TWO COATS

The latest Benefit product to be getting lots of hype, partly due to an innovative release, is their new mascara, Rollerlash.  The launch was in association with Elle magazine - they had small, sample size mascaras with each one, ahead of it being available to purchase.

As you can see from the pictures, it's a fantastic mascara, my lashes have more volume, are longer and more defined - what a difference between no coats and two coats!  The formula really reminds me of They're Real - the way I can tell, with They're Real, if I wear it on top and bottom lashes, and squish my eyes together, my lashes almost stick together for a second, and it happens with this one too.  The way it's different is in the brush, it's smaller rubbery bristles and curved on one side to fit around the lashes well.

If you're not careful, it is easy to apply too much of the product, resulting in very thick lashes, it's not a look I like on me, so I'm careful not to apply too much product - so remember, less is more when it comes to this :)

I do prefer this to They're Real, I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but I do find it easier to remove (They're Real is seriously stubborn to take off!), I'm definitely a fan of this mascara, I like the wand, I like the formula, and I LOVE the lashes it gives me - just look at my lashes in the two coats pic, they look fab and not over done, well done Benefit!

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Cover Girl Clump Crusher mascara

ONE COAT

TWO COATS

I'm a big fan of Cover Girl mascara, I just WISH we could get it over here in the UK.  I had the lash blast a couple years' ago in a box swap and loved it.  Then, in desperation, I tried the Max Factor clump defy mascara, which is decent, but is it worth the price tag (£11+) for a high street mascara? Probably not.

When my good friend Laura (A Scottish Lass) went over to New York for her 30th in Nov 2013, she brought this Cover Girl back for me, don't worry, it's stayed sealed in it's card and plastic packaging since then so it's still good!

Anyway, I've cracked this open because I want to use it before it's too late, because lets face it, I'm only going to get 3-6 months of use out of it anyway.  The pictures may not do it justice, but this is one of my favourite mascaras, I love the wand with the little rubber bristles, it grips the lashes so well, gives volume, length and really separates them out. I really should stop wearing liquid eye liner when I take mascara review pics, you might actually be able to see my lashes properly then :P

This is a fantastic mascara and I can't recommend it enough to all you lovely people out there who have access to buying Cover Girl - if you're over here, you might be able to pick it up on eBay, just make sure you're buying it in a sealed pack :)

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Makeup Revolution Viper Mascara

2 COATS WITH FINISHED MAKEUP

In the past I've not had great experiences with cheap high street mascaras.  My go-to high street option has always been either Maybelline The Falsies, or Max Factor Clump defy, both fantastic products.  So when this landed on my door step, priced at £3.00* I had some reservations.

I hastily unwrapped it, photographed it (as every blogger does before they use their makeup!) and applied my first coat... at this point, I wasn't overly impressed. My lashes looked ok, nothing to write home about.  After letting it dry, I went and added a second coat, this is where it really came to life. It gave my lashes great volume and decent length, but mostly, it darkened them and just made them look fuller, which is what I really look for in mascara as I have quite long lashes anyway.

In all the times I've used this (lots!) I haven't had any crumble off onto my cheeks, giving it great staying power too.  While it may not be the best mascara I've tried, it's certainly the best that I've tried of that price bracket.  That may not seem like quite an accolade, but it really is.  Their counterparts, i.e. MUA, Beauty UK, NYC etc have pretty rubbish mascaras, in my opinion, they're certainly nothing I'd replace, but this I would.  For £3 it makes a great budget alternative for when purse strings are particularly tight.  It's also a little different to you're everyday mascara in that the wand is shaped like a cobra head.  It's also not made up of rubber bristles, but normal ones, lots of them :)

Oh and if you're wondering what I used to create the look I'm sporting, it was the Makeup Revolution Euphoria palette in Bare, it's a really pretty palette, my full review of that is here if you wanted to take a peek :)

Next time you're at the Makeup Revolution stand and you're looking for a new mascara, perhaps give the Viper a try :)

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