Tag Challenge: Day 16: A Song that makes me Cry

Day 16: A Song that makes me Cry

I was going to be really cliche in my song choice, and choose Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" (don't you think that song was really ahead of it's time, with the txt tlk haha...I've never noticed that before!!) But, earlier today I was actually reminded of a more powerful song that never, ever fails to create the Queen of Blubberville.

The thing is though, that I cry at anything: films, soaps, songs...EVERYTHING! So, I'm amazed that I managed to get this down to just one song.

Buuut, unfortunately, I am going to be cliche in one thing: Yup, my choice comes from a video game, and yup, it is a Final Fantasy....who would have ever guessed!!

1000 Words by Jade from Sweetbox (Final Fantasy X-2)

Everytime I hear this incredibly powerful song, and it hits the final chorus, I just can't help but cry. It is just so incredibly sad (in more ways than one!) And the funny thing is that you don't even have to listen to the English version to truly appreciate the song, although it helps. Koda Kumi's Japanese version is just as immensely emotive.

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Quick Haul Blog

Hey Guys,
I know, I haven't written a blog in days, but I unexpectedly went home for the weekend, and didn't come back as early as I'd expected (apparently trains run whenever they feel like it, but that's another story). But anyway, if I hadn't gone home, I wouldn't have been able to tell you about all the lovely, lovely goodies that were sat waiting for me to rip open and coo over.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from the lovely Victoria who runs Lily loves Lola  telling me that I'd won a Miss Bollywood Eyebrow Shaping Kit! Now, I have a confession to make; I have never actually plucked my eyebrows. In my defence, I don't exactly have a heck of a lot of hair that make up my eyebrows, and if anything they just need tidying up and defining. The lack of much hair, is one of three reasons that I've never plucked, the other two being:

• I don't entirely fancy the self-inflicted pain
• I have no idea where to even begin plucking...I can imagine me ending up looking ridiculous, hence why I have never even attempted to touch them!

So, the Miss Bollywood Kit is guaranteed to be a learning experience, as I'm hoping that the stencils will help me out a bit. Honestly? I'm a little bit scared!

Hannah from Little Miss H has been holding a Blog Sale recently, and after a lot of umming and aahing, I decided to buy Garnier Eye Roll-On. I've been keen to give this a try for quite some time, because I have hideous dark circles, and I've recently been suffering from sensitive dry eyes, that have ultimately been resulting in headaches, so I was looking for something to soothe and eye around my eyes.
Image via WikipediaIronically, last week, I won a bunch of goodies from Psychologies magazine, courtest of Body Shop, and would you believe that the set included an eye roll-on! Just bloody typical haha! But, I'm enjoying comparing them both, so I'm quite chuffed really.I received three items in the post from Body Shop, and I have to say that I am veeeery excited about trying them all out. I could tell you what they all are, but I think I'll keep you guessing ;-P
Consider it something to look forward to, hehe x

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Ultimate Eyeliner: Barry M

Hey Eyeliner lovers, and welcome to Day Three of:

As promised, I'm going to be swatching and testing eyeliners from Barry M. I don't really have that many pencil eyeliners from Barry M, as I tend to favour their liquid liners, but I still wanted to include these in the challenge. I'd also like to point out, that the black and blue liners are part of a Limited Edition Duo Pencil liner that I own, which is why they are bothered numbered: 4.

The First Test: Initial Smudging

When we apply eyeliners we usually have two things in mind:

a. Prominent look that makes our eyes really stand out, or
b. Smokey statement look.

So, this first test challenges each eyeliners ability to create the perfect smokey look; meaning that where the liner is initially placed stays prominent, whilst the surrounding area has a lovely smokey effect.

Results: 

• 4. Black smudges into a really nice smokey-like way, with the black fading but not too much.
• 4. Blue took a little effort, but did smudge nicely, with the blue fading in a similar way to the black. 
• 23. Pink was a little harder to smudge, but did eventually, and looked quite nice, although I felt that the pink faded a little too much
• 10. Gold smudged completely, leaving no sign of where it was initially placed, although smudged doesn't sound quite right...but it didn't really fade, it more dispersed, I guess than anything. I don't think that I've known a liner do that before!

Verdict: The Gold is definitely not suitable for a smokey look, and the Pink faded quite a lot. Therefore, I declare the black and blue joint winners...kind of ironic!

The Second Test: One Hour Later...

For me, another important factor for eyeliner is knowing that it isn't going to have smudged everywhere within an hour of applying it. So many eyeliners leave me with smudginess especially under my eyes, which I find really irritating, so I'm going to leave the colours for an hour, before rubbing them for smudging. From yesterday's expermiment, I came to the conclusion that the swatches should be tested for longer than an hour, therefore exactly as with yesterday, I'll be rubbing the swatches periodically, before washing my hands to simulate moisture from the eye.

Result: Unsurprisingly, the Gold didn't take long to fade at all, and barely two hours into the test, it had completely gone, barely surviving the "Washing Hands" part of the test.

The Pink, Blue and Black all fought a tougher competition, which I was surprised about, because all three of them lasted quite a long time, each gradually fading, but none really disappearing. This inevitably forced me to keep pushing to see which one stayed put the longest, and let me tell you, the three of them did not want to budge, no matter how much blood, sweat, tears and spit went onto them (not all of those literally of course!)


Verdict: The back of my hand is feeling a bit raw from all the scrubbing, but the Blue was the first to really start fading, so it become a two-horse race, of which the Black (only just) won, being a little more vivid inthe end to the Pink

The Ultimate Barry M Eyeliner: Black

Tomorrow: It's Bourjois' turn, as I continue in my challenge to find the Ultimate Eyeliner! 

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Ultimate Eyeliner: Rimmel

Afternoon Eyeliner Lovers,

It's Day Two of my challenge to find the Ultimate Eyeliner, and today I'm trying to find the best eyeliner (out of the ones that I own) by Rimmel. To keep it fair, I'll be doing the same tests as yesterday, in order to find:

 

 

The First Test: Initial Smudging

When we apply eyeliners we usually have two things in mind:

a. Prominent look that makes our eyes really stand out, or
b. Smokey statement look.

So, this first test challenges each eyeliners ability to create the perfect smokey look; meaning that where the liner is initially placed stays prominent, whilst the surrounding area has a lovely smokey effect.

Results: 

• 081. Loveable Lilac didn't really smudge, more faded into oblivion, with the colour disappearing almost completely.
• 031. Jungle Green was very smudgey, the main area of colour was still prominent although quite faded
• 011. Sable Brown doesn't smudge, but fades instead, despite the fading the colour is still prominent.

Verdict: The Lilac and Brown both faded more than smudged, with the Lilac fading the most. The Green smudged, but I wasn't quite convinced that the colour at the area where the liner was initially drawn was prominent enough to create that great of a smokey-eyed look. However, the Green still performed the best overall, so I declare it the winner of this round.

The Second Test: One Hour Later...

For me, another important factor for eyeliner is knowing that it isn't going to have smudged everywhere within an hour of applying it. So many eyeliners leave me with smudginess especially under my eyes, which I find really irritating, so I'm going to leave the colours for an hour, before rubbing them for smudging. From yesterday's expermiment, I came to the conclusion that the swatches should be tested for longer than an hour, therefore exactly as with yesterday, I'll be rubbing the swatches periodically, before washing my hands to simulate moisture from the eye.

Result: I was actually really disappointed with how poorly each of the Rimmel shades performed. All three are very, very faded, with the Lilac being pretty much gone at the end of the experiment, other than a mark that you'd really never guess it was originally lilac! The Brown and Green are still there, and you can tell what colour they are.

Verdict: The Brown and the Green are the joint winners, although neither should be proud, because they certainly didn't hold as well as I'd like for an eyeliner.

The Ultimate Rimmel Eyeliner: Begrudgingly, I declare the Jungle Green, as the Ultimate Rimmel Eyeliner, not because it performed particularly well, but it wiped the floor with the Lilac, and since it was the only liner to (just about) pass the smokey-eyed look test, I have to place it just ahead of the also rubbish Brown.

Tomorrow: It's Barry M's turn, as I continue in my challenge to find the Ultimate Eyeliner! 

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Tag Challenge: Day 15: A Fanfic

Image via Wikipedia

When I was at Uni, I used to read a lot of online comics (the only one that I still read is called Count your Sheep, so funny, so cute, check it out ;-D), but one of them I used to read/watch was a fanfic of the old video games: Secret of Mana. I have to admit that I haven't looked at that fanfic in years, so I don't know if it still exists, but I couldn't find it at all when I did a (very) quick Google search for it, but I'm not really certain what it was called, or even where the author hosted it. But I'm fairly certain that the author had taken proper in-game footage and added his own "talk" to it, it was really clever, and as somone who had never played the games, that comic made me want to! The sign of a good fanfic!

Image via WikipediaAs a writer, Fanfiction is one type of writing that I have just never been able to "master". Long before I played the Final Fantasy and Disney crossover games Kingdom Hearts, I actually attempted to write my own fanfic using characters from Final Fantasy VII, VIII IX and X, in a world where they all existed together. Unfortunately, my fanfic didn't get very far.

My problem is that for a fanfic, you need to take someone elses settings, their characters and their characterisations. But, being someone who  gets a huge amount of pleasure from creating characters, I found it incredibly difficult to mould myself around these characters, rather than moulding them around me, as I normally would.

For that reason alone, I have the utmost respect for anyone who can write Fanfic well, and when I say well, there are an unfortunate amount of "writers" who write poor fanfics, so finding a true gem is such a special thing.

One issue I have with writing fanfics, is that even if you write the best piece of literature since War and Peace (open to great debate, of coure especially since I've never read the book and have no intention of ever reading it!! Life'stoo short haha!), you will never really get that much recognition for all of your hard work. Even if people like it, you just know that you could never get it published because it's legally someone elses creation, with your words. And, unless the original (probably very wealthy) creator is feeling generous,they're unlikely to actually let you have the copyright to use it. It's a huge shame.



But, like what I was saying in yesterday's Non-Fiction blog, about buying Gaming games, and owning merchandise, writing fan fiction is like shouting to the world about how much you love something, and it kind of helps to keep it alive long after the book/film/game has ended and for a lot of people I think that is really quite special.

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The Ultimate Eyeliner: Urban Decay

Yesterday, I did a review of a variety of Bourjois eyeliners, which really made me question my year and a half allegiance to Urban Decay's 25/7 liners. So, I decided to test all of my eyeliners, with the mission to find:

And, of course, it makes sense to start with Urban Decay. So, I'll be testing several colours to see which ones passes the ultimate tests, because in this test, colour means nothing. This test is about stay-ability, anti-smudging and waterproof...um...ness:

The First Test: Initial Smudging

When we apply eyeliners we usually have two things in mind:

a. Prominent look that makes our eyes really stand out, or
b. Smokey statement look.

So, this first test challenges each eyeliners ability to create the perfect smokey look; meaning that where the liner is initially placed stays prominent, whilst the surrounding area has a lovely smokey effect.

Results:

• Yeyo (White) smudged a lot, making it a less prominent white.
• 1999 (Dark shimmery pinky/brown or Plum) very smudgey, which resulted in the glitter being more prominent.
• Stash (Dark Green) Smudged nicely, perfect for a smokey look.
• Graffiti (Light shimmery Green)  Smudged too much for my liking, green almost gone and glitter very prominent
• Corrupt (Rich shimmery Brown)Similar to Stash, this smudged nicely so again perfect for smokeyness.
• Ransom (Cadbury Purple) Faded to much for my liking, which is not good for such a vivid colour.
• Eldorado (Metallic Shimmery Gold) Fades more than smudges, into a much less vivid shade of gold.
• Zero (Black) Very smudgey, black less prominent, but ideal for a smokey look
• Binge (Dark Blue) Very inconsistent in the smudging, and faded a little too much more my liking
• Oil Slick (Shimmery Black) Very smudgey, which I'd like except it caused the glitter to clump together and left the liner looking more silver then black.
• Rockstar (Dark Brown w/dark pink undertone) Very lightly smudged, with a little fading of colour.

Verdict:  Stash, Corrupt and Zero all performed well as they smudged a lot, which was ideal for a smudgey look, however, they all lost a lot of their initial colour. Therefore, I have to declare Rockstar the winner of this test, as it smudged beautifully, without losing too much of it's initial colour.

The Second Test: One Hour Later...

For me, another important factor for eyeliner is knowing that it isn't going to have smudged everywhere within an hour of applying it. So many eyeliners leave me with smudginess especially under my eyes, which I find really irritating, so I'm going to leave the colours for an hour, before rubbing them for smudging.

Results: Ahem, well, this test actually took threehours, not because I forgot, because seriously, when you have eleven colourful scribbles on your hand, you really don't forget! But, I decided that I wanted to see if they'd last longer, mainly because absolutely none of the colours had faded that much at all, over the space of an hour.

I should also add that the liners were subjected to me washing my hands,in a bid to simulate the idea of being worn off by moisture (or sweat, if we're being less polite).

But, anywho, I'm actually impressed (and immensely relieved) that all of the Urban Decay liners performed fairly well, with the exception of 1999 which has, quite honestly, almost gone completely. I have to say, that I'm really surprised that that one has faded so much. Although, Ransom isn't actually that far behind, but it's kind of weird, because half of it has nearly disappeared entirely, whilst the other half is just starting to fade...I tried to rub all over equally, and none of the others appear to have faded in this way.

Stash, Corrupt,  Zero and Binge are all beginning to fade. Amazingly, considering the results of the first test, all of the glittery liners (Graffiti, Eldorado and Oil Slick) appear to have performed incredibly well, still looking quite prominent, although the glitter is definitely shining through brighter than when it was first applied.

Yeyo and Rockstar both stayed put incredibly well, fading a little, but were still quite vivid which I was very impressed with.

Verdict: Whilst Yeyo did stay put, I decided not to rate it highest, because I don't about anyone else, but white is a colour of eyeliner that I only use on the waterline and inner corner so it doesn't seem entirely fair for it to win over shades that are used actuallyon the eyelid (lame reason, maybe, but I'm sticking to it). But, in all fairness, Rockstar just pipped it anyway, because it was just a lot more like its original colour than Yeyo.

Ultimate Urban Decay Eyeliner: Definitely Rockstar...it smudges perfectly on first application, but "sets" if that's the right word just right so that it doesn't fade with use too much.

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Tag Challenge: Day 14: Non-Fictional Books

Day 14: Non-Fictional Books

It's been a while since I did a Tag Challenge post, and I'm not really very confident that I'll have finished the challenge by the end of August (next week!), but nevermind.

I don't really know why, but I've never really been a big reader of  non-fiction books. Maybe it's because no non-fictional subject is capable of holding my attention for 200-odd pages, or maybe it's more of a subconcious thing relating to non-fiction being strongly associated with education.

My GCSE History lessons consisted of an hour and half of making notes from a chapter of a text book and then answering the questions at the end, whilst the teacher drank cans of Diet Coke and checked her hair for split ends...no joke! Personlly, I think that this is poor education, and it certainly isn't teaching. Plus, I'm positive this played a huge role in my dislike for non-fiction.


In general, non-fiction really bores me. It's not that I'm not interested in things in real life, because I can not go a day without checking out the BBC news pages, but I'm not a fan of  "Based on a true story" or "Based around real events" type books and films either.

Despite that, I'm  not really sure if this counts as non-fiction, but I am a bit of a collector of gaming guides for Final Fantasy games. This isn't really a shocking revelation, because I am an uber fangirl of those games,which is evident through my buying of the guides, because 9 times out of 10 I don't really need the guides, in fact, I've been known to buy the guide for certain games (FFVII and FVIII) after I actually completed them. But, it's not necessarily about helping me to complete the game, it's about having this piece of merchandise, I guess, that represents that love for the game, in the same way as people express love for films and bands with posters, keyrings etc. Unfortunately, merchandise like that has always been incredibly rare in the UK, so the Guides are the only thing that I really have, besides the occassional free gift that comes with the game, and I mean occassional!!

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Dictionary: Ophthalmologically Tested

Let's be blunt, Ophthalmological (I hope I've spelt that right!) is a bit of a mouthful, but if like me you can't spell (or say) it, you can blame the Greek for that! The word comes from the Greek "ophthalmos", meaning (shock, horror) eye, and "logos", meaning thought. Together, the term literally means "the science of eyes". (Wikipedia)
The term (please don't make me type it again), should be found on all products that are used around the eye area, so thing like:

• Eyeliners
• Mascaras
• Eye Creams
• Eye Gels
• Eye Drops

should all be Ophthalmologically Tested, which means that they have been certified safe to use around the delicate area around the eye.

My Bourjois eyeliners are actually the first products that I've noticed this on, which makes me wonder how many beauty products really are tested effectively as safe, because I don't know about you guys, but I always worry about the health of my eyes, especially since mine are so sensitive.

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Bourjois Assorted Eyeliner Review

I have to thank the boyfriend for these lovely beauties, because he won these (on my behalf), for being one of the first 70 people to follow Bourjois, so huge thanks to him. The fun part of winning, was the not knowing what we were going to get (I say "we" to be polite hehe, I don't think the boyfriend was at all impressed!!) But, anyway, the little package arrived yesterday morning, and I was veeeery happy to have six new eyeliners...woo!!

I have to admit that I swore that I'd never use any other pencil eyeliner after receiving a set of Urban Decay's 24/7 pencils for my 25th birhday, because I love how soft they are, and how long they stay put without smudging or rubbing off completely. Despite that, I was really chuffed with these ones from Bourjois, because I've never tried anything of Bourjois, other than their fantastic brush foundation, so it was really good to be given an opportunity to try something else of theirs out. And to have six to try was just really lovely.

To be honest, I don't even know where to start with this review, but here goes anyway.

Okay, so I received three from their Regard Effet Duochrome range:

58. Noir bleute - This one is, of course, the hand bag essential black eyeliner and as I'd expect from a good blackliner, it's perfectly dark black (I really hate the ones that seem kind of "off" black, for me they really need to be black-black). However, there's apparently a little twist to this one, because in different light's it is supposed to be navy blue, however, when I swatched it, I couldn't actually see the blue, but perhaps I just had bad lighting! 

Weirdly, I couldn't find this specific liner on the UK Bourjois website, so I'm not sure if this is currently available.

**I've actually been wearing this liner forthe past hour, during which my eyes watered, and I now have puffy black eyes...not a good look!!**

60. Gris Perle -This one is really weird, because the pencil looks lilac, however it's kind of a greyish colour with lilac undertones, which isn't what I was expecting at all. I'm also not really sure what I think about this...it's certainly interesting, but Ithink I'll have to wait and see if this will grow on me.
 
61. Vert dore - The Vert Dore is definitely my favourite of the Duochrome pencils. The green colour is actually incredibly gorgeous (then again, I am a huge lover of green eyeliner...I haven't worn any in ages however, so I'm really excited to wear this one). It has a very (very) subtle undertone of a lime-yellow kind of colour, which I really like.

Overall: I like the fact that these pencils all have undertones, I'm just sceptical as to whether of not the Noir Bleute really has blue in it at all! They all apply really smoothly, and are really creamy, making them a great deal like Urban Decay's 24/7 liners. However, what really lets these ones down, is that unlike their UD rivals, the Duochrome's smudge too easily for my liking, and it didn't take long for them to fade into oblivion completely.

Other Shades: Tilleul Dore (Lime/Green), Brun Mordore (Brown/Peach)
Available: Asos
Price: £4.20 each

One Regard Paillete Sparkling Eyeliner:

36. Lagon ensoleille - I love the translation of this pencil's name, which in English, literally means "Lagoon Shines Upon". It's a beautiful name, and it really does mirror the greeny-blue colour of this eyeliner, with it's pretty glitter that's quite sparkly, and adds the shine that the title suggests. The sparkle makes this a perfect liner for special occassions like nights out, and for when you're feeling like you need a little sparkle in your life.



Overall: I'm not a huge fan of glittery make up, because I always find that it ends up all over my cheeks and I love like I'm 11 years old again, but despite that I actually think that this is a gorgeous colour. It's not quite as smooth on application as the Duochrome liners, however it does smudge exactly the same as the Duochromes. In fact, during my testing, this was the first pencil to rub off completely, leaving glitter behind, which was really annoying.

Other Shades: Noir Eblouissant, Brun Flamboyant,
Available: Boots
Price: £4.29 each


One Contour Clubbing Waterproof Eyeliner:

44. Golden Grey Session - I'm not too sure about the accuracy of the title for this, because personally I don't think that it's golden or grey. On initial application, it looks more of a creamy metallic green colour, that is a more "subtle" colour than the Lagon Ensoleille pencil. However, swatched beside the Vert Dore it doesn't look green at all, instead more of a metallic greeny-bluey-silver, which sounds a little more like the name could suggest!



Overall: This is definitely the creamiest of all of the eyeliners I got, and applies beautifully. I really love the colour, and it had the best stay-ability out of all the liners. Since it's a Clubbing eyeliner, you really do want a liner with good hold, that's for sure. It also claims to be waterproof, so it should withstand sweat (gross!), but funnily enough I didn't do that test...hmm...maybe I should wear it to the gym!!


Other Shades: Blue Remix, Bleu Neon
Available: Asos
Price: £4.20


One Regard Effet Metallise Eyeliner:

77. Brun Alliage - This may be the last liner, but it certainly isn't the least. Alliage means "alloy" in English, which seems oddly appropriate for this metallic brown crayon. It's a very creamy pencil, and the the colour is very rich as a result. I would definitely say that this was the creamiest and smoothest out of all the pencils swatched. It did smudge a little, but I was impressed that even though it smudged, the colour didn'tfade too much.



Overall: This was definitely my favourite pencil for colour, staying-power and smudge-proof (ish), and Iactually thinkthat it was a little creamier than Urban Decay's 24/7 liners, which was quite impressive.


Other Shades: Noir Effet Miroir (Silvery-black), Bleu Clinquant (a very bold blue similar to Urban Decay's Peace eyeshadow), Vert Pepite (Silvery-green).
Available: Boots / Asos
Price: £4.29 each / £4.25 each
 





**Please note: Pictures courtesy of Bourjois**

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Sunday Tips: How NOT to get Volume

Man, I can't believe that I nearly forgot to do a Sunday Tip today. Meow! Bad Cat! Bad Cat! (Hehe, leave a comment if you know what I'm referring to ;)) But, here it is anyway!

As you might just guess from this blog's title, this is the sequel to last weeks tip, which was about giving your hair instant volume. But, today's is a little more of a what not to do if you want volume, and was actually inspired by a You Tube video (that fortunately for the creator, I can not remember who did it), where the girl was giving apparent "tips" on how to get volume if you have fine and lifeless hair.

She showed you to do this, by putting so many products in her hair, (and I mean absolutely LOADS...like root boosters, hair mousse, hair spray etc), that would allegedly give you all this volume....hmmm....

All I have to say is....if you have fine hair, DO NOT load your hair up with products, especially if you're hair is relatively long (shoulder-length or longer), because this will do nothing for your hair, other than making it really heavy, resulting in...yep, you guessed it limp, lifeless hair...so, in other words you just basically wasted your time, not to mention money that you spent actually buying the products.


Don't believe me? Take a look at a strand of your hair, and you'll notice how incredibly fine each one is, especially compared to someone with thicker hair. The fineness means that a lot of products, especially heavy mousses, will weigh it down which inevitably causes that lifelessness that irritates so many of us.


Instead, make sure that any products (especially shampoos) that you use are light-weight, so that your hair isn't bogged down at the roots. As a result your hair willbe full of bounce!

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Rimmel 3 Looks Mascara Review

 I have a confession to make. I got this mascara from Rimmel in a giveaway over a month ago, and I thought that I'd already done a blog, but I realised the other day that I haven't, and I have no idea how this one slipped through at all! Aw well, as the old saying goes: "Better late than never!!"

Rimmel mascara and Me: I am an enormous fan of Rimmel's mascara. I sometimes detour to other brands, but I always seem to head back to Rimmel eventually, usually more specifically towards their Sexy Curves mascara, which I love because it never ever clumps and always looks fab. But, I've tried several in the past, so I was really excited about trying this one out!

Packaging: I'm not really one to get all clucky about mascara packaging, but I really love the packaging for one, because it is so cute and chunky, whereas other mascara's tend to be taller and slimline. I think that it has real appeal purely because it looks different to normal ones.

The Three Settings: As the name suggests, the mascara comes with three settings,which you navigate through by twisting the two part of the bottle. It's automatically set to 3 which is for "bigger" looks, I'm assuming because you get more liquid on the wand, whilst 1 has less product for more subtle looks.And, of course, setting 2 is supposed to be a little in the middle.


I have to admit that I have never used this on the middle (second) setting, because there is such little difference between the other two settings, that it just seems a bit pointless. This is when I really wish I had a camera (ordered in time for Christmas, woo!) so that I could really demonstrate, and see for myself, if there really is a difference between the three settings or not.


The Actual Mascara: On the whole, the mascara was brilliant, just like Sexy Curves I didn't get any clumping on the first setting, although it did clump a little on the number 3. Both settings that I've used made my lashes look long and really wide-eyed, which is always impressive.

Smaller Bottle and Wand: My initial reaction to the bottle being shorter than other mascaras made me think "huh, does that mean it won't last very long", but you have to remember that whilst it's shorter, it's still fatter which makes up for it.



I love the smaller wand, because it is much easier to handle for someone (meaning me) with terrible hand-eye coordination, and I didn't find myself dotting my nose with the end of the wand!


Overall: It's a cute little mascara, that doesn't clump (too much) and loves great, even if there isn't that much difference between the settings!

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I'm a Plus Size....I'm not Eighty

I've always been what you'd consider a larger girl, certainly curvier than all my school friends anyway. Admittedly, the size I am right now, is mainly my own fault, but even if I crash dieted I'm never going to be a super slim super model type of girl. And you know what? I am quite happy with that, because being slim, well, that just isn't what nature intended for me. And losing some weight is a completely different issue, so I'm not even going to mention that again in this particular blog.

To be fair, I've never really been what you'd consider a fashion-minded person, as in I've never followed trends specifically. I'm more into wearing what I like and what suits me. Unfortunately, as I've gotten larger, the shops that I can shop in has gotten more "exclusive", if that's the word to use. But, I've begun to realise that a lack of shops isn't really my issue, as more shops are increasing the sizes that they offer, and the wonder of online shopping is just immense. Instead, it is the actual clothes that they provide.

My annoyance brought out this blog, a mini rant, I guess, about how shops are just getting it wrong. Plus size retailers please take note!!

• First point shops: I am fat, I am not eighty! So many shops seem to think that because I am fat, I want to hide it behind huge cardigans, which is just ridiculous! Do you know how much fatter cardigans make curvy girls look?  This is definitely something that plus-size specialists Evans is guilty of. About 95% of what they sell is just so frumpy, and unflattering that they'd haveyou looking like an even bigger sack of potatoes.

• Why is it that shops seem to think that everyone who is fat has huge BOOBS. I don't even want big boobs, but for some reason because I' fat, I obviously must have them! Well, I don't! So,  some low-cut tops are just way too baggy around the cleavage, or they're too low because my boobs just don't fill them, as I think I'm expected to.

• I am one of those unlucky sods of whom is unfortunate to have a long torso, and short legs, which means that regular length trousers are just too long for me, so I do better wearing short or petite trousers and jeans. However, most ranges don't do short-length in plus sizes, and petite ranges very rarely go higher than a size 14 either. 

• Did you know that the majority of shops (on and offline) that offer plus sizes do not sell Maternity clothing for anything above a Size 16? I know it's not necessarily healthy to be pregnant if you're carrying excess weight, but that is not the point! As a plus sized girl, it makes me worry that if I should get pregnant anytime soon, I'd have to stay at home because my bump wouldnt fit into anything worthy enough to step out of the door, which is just disgusting. The only store I found selling plus size maternity clothes for above a Size 16, was Next, but unfortunately that is only available online and is incredibly limited.

• My last gripe with plus size shopping is do shops realise how demeaning it is to be served in a plus-size shop (take note Evans) by a size 8 Sales Assistant? Surely, the Sales Assistants job is to promote the brand, but how can they promote it when they don't fit into the clothes that they are selling? You don't see Size 20 women working in Top Shop or Bay Trading, because they wouldn't squeeze into the clothes, so why should it be any different the other way around? It just makes so sense what-so-ever!

Where should larger girls be shopping? 

If you're a larger girl who still wants to look good at affordable prices, you should check out New Look's Inspire range, which has a great range of fashionable outfits that look incredible, and aren't overpriced tat.

Asos' Curve range also has a lot of larger sizes on offer that are the same as many items available in smaller sizes, plus postage is free. However, make sure that you order the right size using their Size Guides.

Dorothy Perkins offers great clothes upto a Size 22, which again are the same ranges as the smaller sizes.

Remember: You might be fat, but that does not mean that you don't deserve to feel good.

 

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First Impression: Betty Hula Samples

A couple of days ago, I received my samples of a couple of things from new company Betty Hula (hence the badge above), so my mum, boyfriend and I have been deliberating our first impressions of both the products I received which were:

Betty Hula Kiwi and Lime Shea Butter Moisturising Cream
Betty Hula The Secret Anti-Ageing Oil

Obviously, I can't comment on things such as packaging, as these are samples, so I don't have full tubs/bottles to mention.

Kiwi and Lime Shea Butter

This has a really strong smell that smells quite natural to me. I like this, because you often find with products that purport to be natural, smell like the chemicals that are used to disguise the natural smell of an ingredient, which does them absolutely no favours. The cream is very smooth, whipped, and is similar is texture to Nivea's potted moisturisers. I really like the aroma that wafts around when you're rubbing it into your skin. But,the weird thing is that it smells completely different when on the skin, to when it was in the pot.

Betty Hula The Secret Anti-Ageing Oil

In the bottle, I couldn't really smell that much, but rubbed into the back of my hand it smelt quite nice, and again not at all chemically. I was curious, however, as to where exactly you are supposed to use the oil; is it for the face? Entire body? Not sure. But my mum and I were both quite impressed with how non-greasy the oil was, which does make a change.

I can't really comment on whether or not either product works, because Ive only hadthemfor a couple of days, but they certainly smell delicious. My only issue was the fact that both samples stated that full ingredients lists could be found on the website, but there wasn't, so I can't really comment at this point as to how natural the products are.

Would I buy them? I hate to be harsh, but no. BUT, only because the Moisturising Cream only comes in a huge container that is priced at £17.99, whilst the Oil is £19.99. I just think that for a lot of people that is incredibly expensive. Personally, I feel that it would be of a greater benefit for a new company to offer smaller jars/bottles of products at first to build up buyer confidence,and allow people the chance to maybe work up to the larger sized products once they have decided for themselves that a product works for them.

I also cant help thinking that the lack of ingredients information on their website incinuates that they have something to hide. I mean, the information given for the Oil states:

"Secret ingredients to help roll back those years." (correct at time of writing 19th Aug 2010)

Unfortunately, in a time when consumers aren't as daft as some companies still seem to think we are, and have wisened up to ingredients in beauty products, it is very naive to think that saying "secret ingredient" and thinking that we'll be kept happy with that, because we won't. We want to know EXACTLY what is in our products, and what we are putting on our skin.

However, I think that if they're more open with offering their Ingredients Lists (without bloggers having to approach them for the information), and if they offer moreoptions in size and actual products, I do honestly think that they have huge amounts of potential, because they smell divine.

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