New Avon Mega Effects Mascara

Avon have recently launched a revolutionary mascara, changing the mascara ward as we once knew it into, what I initially described as a small paint brush. On further inspection, the brush bends for ease of application and claims to add 40% more mascara to the lashes.

I am lucky enough to have gotten my hands on one, due to my Mum being an Avon Representative. I called her a couple of weeks ago, having seen a couple of other Beauty Bloggers talking about the Mega Effects Mascara and asked if she could order one for me. It turned out that the product had not yet been launched, but going through her information she had been sent one to introduce to her customers.

How does it work?

The brush is able to be moved so that you can use it straight or tilted, I imagine this would be good to use on either yourself or if you were doing another persons make-up, but personally I enjoyed tilting the brush so that I could get from root to tip of my lashes with ease.

I found the Mega Effects really lived up to its claims of providing corner to corner, thick lashes. The product also claims to be flake-proof and sweat-proof, which again testing the mascara out during our recent warm weather, I can confirm is true. 

The Avon Mega Effects Mascara has now been launched in Brochure 15 and is retailing at £10.00. I will be very interested to see whether this brush now sparks a trend for other companies to follow suit with their mascara's, but I for one am certainly sold on this product and will re-purchase in the future.

         

Bedside Cabinet Essentials

My bedroom at the moment is filled with all pine furniture and I am really tempted to transform it into the shabby chic picture I have in my head. The reality of that is that it will entail me spending hours sanding down each piece and then re-painting each one in white paint. I'm the kind of person who has all these wonderful ideas, but in fact I would normally leave the hard work to my boyfriend or my Dad and I will just make them endless cups of tea! 

I have started to have a change around in my bedroom to see if that will inspire me a little without having to resort to getting out the sanding pads, so for the moment my current set up looks like this.

I'm still not happy with it, so this is by no means the finished article.

My current items on the cabinet are a lamp - essential for me as I am a massive book worm and often read well into the early hours of the morning. I have the latest copies of the 2 magazines that I am subscribed to - Glamour and Cosmopolitan (both in travel sizes) my latest edition to this is my Kindle, I was bought this a couple of weeks ago as a birthday gift from my parents and so far I'm enjoying reading in this format. A big plus with the Kindle is the back-light, which means I can keep the lamp off! I also have an Emma Bridgewater Hearts Tin - I am a massive fan of the Emma Bridgewater Hearts Range and now have pretty much all the items in my collection. As I've mentioned before in previous posts, I adore hearts and could not resist this tin to store all my night time beauty products.

Inside the tin are: 

• Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask - a lovely treatment when my skin is feeling dry.
• Origins GinZing Eye Cream - this brightens, refreshes and depuffs eyes.
• L'Occitane Immortelle Precious Cream - a thick night cream.
• Burt's Bees Muscle Balm - to soothe aches and pains.
• Elizabeth Arden Fragrance Free Eight Hour Cream - ideal as a lip balm.
• Lacri-Lube Eye Ointment - I use this ointment every night to prevent a condition I have called recurrent corneal erosion from coming back.
• This Works Sleep Breathe In - a blend of Frankincense and Eucalyptus to clear the head and to help you breathe easier.
• This Works Sleep Deep Calm Pillow Spray - A fusion of calming oils including Lavender, Vetivert and Camomile to relax and calm.

What essentials do you have beside your bed? Do you swear by any particular night-time treatment?

Empties #1

I have decided to start collecting my empty beauty products, ready to review every couple of months on how I got on with the product and whether I would re-purchase them or not.

I personally enjoy reading these kinds of posts as I think it gives a good indicator of how somebody really feels about a product, particularly as you can start off by liking something and then go off it after a while, and vice versa.

Batiste Dry Shampoo  - Fresh, Cherry and Blush

Over the last 3 months or so, I have used up 3 cans of dry shampoo. I tend to use all three of them at different times of the week, hence them all running out at a similar time.

I enjoyed using the Fresh scent as it is quite subtle, but my only complaint about this particular one is that it seems to leave a residue in my hair that I did not notice with the other two scents. 

The Cherry scent has become my favourite of the three, as it has such a lovely fruity fragrance. It leaves my hair feeling fresh and clean, and most importantly does not leave white powder marks.

The Blush scent is a subtle floral fragrance and again does a great job for my hair.

Re-Purchase? Yes, but I will avoid the Fresh scent in future.

L'Oreal Elvive Nutri-Gloss Light Shine Shampoo

This product claims to illuminate and smooth hair for a mesmerising shine whilst also leaving hair free of impurities, leaving it looking healthy and weightless. I really enjoyed using this product, it has a lovely sweet smell and makes my hair feel really clean, soft and manageable. I have to say that I only notice the shine if I blow dry my hair, when I do leave it to dry naturally it never seems to have the same look, but I'm still happy with the end result. I also used the Conditioner in conjunction with this product and would recommend the pair for long hair in need of a boost.

Re-Purchase? Yes,

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Luscious Long Deep Treatment

This product has been raved about by so many people, it is supposed to care for dry and damaged hair by penetrating and nourishing each shaft of hair, but I have to be honest and say that I did not notice any difference using this product. Yes, it is a nice conditioner and it leaves my hair soft and easy to comb through but I would not say it was any better than the normal conditioner I use and I would not consider it a treatment.

Re-Purchase? No.

The Body Shop Coconut Body Butter

I absolutely love this body butter. It claims to hydrate skin for up to 24 hours and although I'm not sure of exact timings, I would definitely agree that hours after application my skin feels soft and hydrated, any visible dry patches of skin are gone and I can still smell it on myself. The Body Shop have so many different scents that there is one to suit everybodys taste.

Re-Purchase? Yes.

The Body Shop Merry Cranberry Bath Cream Sensation

This is another product that I absolutely love. I was bought it for Christmas last year and have really enjoyed using it, the scent lingers in the bathroom for such a long time after I have finished bathing and countless times my boyfriend has commented "you've used that lovely bath foam again". It feels very luxurious and would make a perfect gift for someone.

Re-Purchase? Yes.

Nivea Sensitive Balance Shower Gel

This shower gel is soap free with natural chamomile extract that makes it perfect for people with sensitive skin. It has a very subtle fresh scent and leaves my skin feeling clean and smooth.

Re-Purchase? Yes.

                                         

Sanctuary Body Scrub

This body scrub contains patchouli and orange oil with natural pumice to polish skin, leaving it awakened, invigorated, soft and with a natural glow. I really enjoyed the product, it has a lovely scent and used with a bath lily, my skin is left feeling exfoliated and smooth.

Re-Purchase? Yes.

Gucci Guilty Eau De Parfum

I was bought this perfume for my birthday a couple of years ago and have fallen in love with the scent. The fragrance is classified as a floral / oriental, with notes of mandarin, pink pepper, peach, lilac, geranium, amber and patchouli. I would describe it as an evening scent, although I personally do tend to wear these fragrances during the day too.

Re-Purchase? Yes.

Kim Kardashian Eau De Parfum Natural Spray

I chose this perfume to wear as an everyday scent for work. I have enjoyed wearing it, but the fragrance does not seem to last very long on me and I have to re-apply throughout the day. The fragrance is classed as a floral with crisp notes of mandarin, honeysuckle, orange blossom, jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, tonka bean, jacaranda wood, vanilla orchid, musk and sandalwood. 

Re-Purchase? Yes.

That's everything I have used up recently - what products have you been using? Do you have a 

particular product you always re-purchase?

MAC Satin Taupe

This is the first ever MAC Eyeshadow I have bought. I do not have a local MAC counter so I chose this, with fingers crossed, that it would turn out as nice as it looked on the Internet. I decided to go for the colour Satin Taupe, as it seemed to be the perfect brown for me.

This product has certainly not let me down. I absolutely love the colour, with its hints of both brown and purple, I can use it subtlety throughout the day and then by adding more product, can carry it through to an evening out, by making a smoky eye look.

The colour is very pigmented and stays on for a good 8 hours without any problems. 

I now need to decide which other MAC eyeshadow will complement the Satin Taupe, and can be added to the duo palette alongside it. If you have any recommendations, I would really like to hear them please.   

What do you think of MAC Eyeshadows, are they worth the hype?