The Tuesday Review: Bourjois Volume 1 Seconde Mascara

Mascara and concealer were the first types of makeup that I ever begun wearing, so it's safe to say that I've tried a fair few mascaras in my time. Yet still, the unique brush that this mascara has was new even to me, but I loved it! Why has no brand ever used a brush like this before? The plastic wand has tiny little balls on the end of some of the spokes to help coat all the lashes in mascara by reaching around and between lashes. This helps to give your lashes a hell of a lot of volume and a fair amount of length too.

I have the waterproof version of this mascara; I always use waterproof as you never know when rain or tears may strike. I find that the formula can make lashes clump together a bit if you're not careful so two sparingly applied coats is generally better than one, more heavily applied, coat. Towards the end of the day my lashes do begin to droop a bit but that is the least of my problems as my oily skin plays havoc with my base. The mascara is a bit stubborn to remove, but not so much so that it puts me off it.

Overall I do really like this mascara, though admittedly it is mainly because of the wand, so if another brand brings out something similar, I'll be straight there! I've heard that the normal version performs exactly the same as the waterproof one so to be honest, unless you really hate waterproof mascaras, you may as well get this one for extra protection against the elements.

Have you been trying out a new mascara lately? What did you think?

emma x

The Tuesday Review: Topshop Brow Pencil

Heys guys! For this weeks review I will be talking about one of my current everyday staples, the Topshop Brow Pencil. It is very reasonably priced at just £6, and comes with a really good spoolie on the end for combing through your brows.

I have been using this pencil for just under a year now and have never regretted purchasing it. I have the blonde shade, which is called Vicious Circle, as I have very pale eyebrows. I had been finding it hard to find a pale brow colour in the likes of Boots and Superdrug, but for me this is perfect. It is slightly darker than the colour of my brows, but I like that because I have medium brown hair so I like to make them a bit darker than my natural colour.

I find this pencil really easy to apply and get natural looking brows. First I use the spoolie to tame the hairs, then I use small, light strokes to gradually fill in my brows, focusing on the tail and any other sparse areas. Once I have finished filling them in, I go over with the spoolie again to blend the pencil into my eyebrows to make them even more natural looking.

I love the formula of this product as it is soft enough that you don't have to press hard, but not so soft that you end up with harsh, unblended lines. I also find that this lasts really well, even on my oily skin, and my brows will stay on up until I take my makeup off, even after dealing with rainy weather or intense exercise.

Overall I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a cheaper brow pencil, especially people with lighter eyebrows who are struggling to find a suitable colour match.

emma x

Kiko Haul

For today's post I wanted to share with you what I bought on my first ever trip to Kiko, which, for those of you that don't know, is a cosmetics brand that can't be purchased in other retailers such as Boots. I was very excited to have a browse around the store as I had heard a lot of amazing things about the brand, and I was overwhelmed with the amazing range of products. There was so much more makeup than I thought there would be, a surprisingly large skincare range, and a good selection of brushes. I went to the flagship store on Regent Street (it's basically on Oxford Street though as it's on the corner where they meet), so there may not be as greater selection in other Kiko stores, but I was truly spoiled for choice. It's a miracle that I didn't buy more than I did, but I managed to restrain myself, and tried to pick the cheaper products rather than the 'pro' versions.

The prices in Kiko are really good and are equivalent to the middle range of the drugstore, with most everyday products ranging from £3 to £8. Some products, such as setting sprays and complete brow kits were more expensive, but that's the case with most brands. For the price you get excellent quality packaging, and a lot of the products came inside boxes which makes the products, and store as a whole, seem more luxurious.

The first product I got was an eyeshadow in the shade 143 which is a really nice pale pink shade with a little glitter in it. This is a good colour for a quick wash over the lids when I don't have time to do anything special. From the couple of times I've used it, I've found that it applies really nicely. It creases slightly throughout the day but because it's not a bold shade you don't really notice. For £2.90 I think this is a good eyeshadow and is perfect for travel if you only want to take a shade or two.

The next product is a nail varnish in the shade 363, which is a dark reddish pink. I really like this colour as I think it's good for summer because it's bright, but the deepness of the shade makes it suitable for winter too. The brush is quite wide, which I like as it makes application easier. I haven't used it yet so I can't comment on the formula, but I'm really excited to use it. These nail polishes are £2.50 which I think is a good price for a nail varnish.

The next thing I bought was an eyeliner from the Smart Eye Pencil range. It is a lovely turquoise blue colour in the shade 813. I thought this was perfect for summer to add a pop of colour to my eyes. From swatching it on my hand, I found that it was a little on the solid side, but for £2.50 I can't really complain, and I will only be using it on odd occasions. They do have similar shades in their other eyeliner ranges though, if you are interested in a slightly softer pencil from the brand.

I also bought a lip liner from the Smart Lip Pencil range as whenever I go for a bold lip, it's nearly always a bright pink, so I knew it would be worth it as it will be a shade I use often. The shade in question is 708, which as I said, is a bright pink. Because I will be wearing it under lipsticks and glosses, the exact tone of the shade doesn't matter to me too much but I do really like the colour so I could potentially wear it alone.

Lastly, I picked up the Glow Touch Lip and Cheek Colour in the shade 102 Wave Hibiscus, which is a lovely peachy coral colour. I have been wanting to try a cream blush for a while but wasn't sure if they would be for me, so I figured that this would be a good solution because even if I didn't like it on my cheeks, I could use it on my lips. What really lured me towards this product is the gorgeous packaging which is unique to their summer collection. This was on sale for £4 so I would hurry if you want to try it as they won't be around much longer.

I hope you enjoyed this haul as I haven't posted one in a while. I will be sure to review most (or maybe even all) of these products after I have tested them for a couple of weeks. Be sure to leave a comment telling me whether you've tried anything from Kiko and what you thought of it.

emma x

The Tuesday Review: Garnier Skin Naturals

Hey guys! As you can see from the title of this post, I've decided to add a new weekly feature to my blog called 'The Tuesday Review'. This is for two reasons; 1, I'm hoping that it will keep me motivated to blog more regularly as I will post one review per week, in addition to another post every Friday, and 2, I have bought a lot of new products over the last few months while I haven't been blogging as much, and I want to share my thoughts about them with you. So without further ado, on with the review... (see what I did there?)

Starting with the packaging, both of these products have very similar packaging, only the micellar water has a larger bottle. Both of them have good lids that seal completely shut, which is great for travel, and when opened, it is easy to control how much product is dispensed, meaning minimal wastage. I like the labels on the products too, simple yet still attractive, with the perfect amount of colour.

The Garnier Skin Naturals Eye Make-up Remover costs just £3.49 and is a biphase product. This means it has the addition of oils to make it even easier to remove waterproof mascara and other stubborn eye makeup. Having previously raved about the Johnson's Eye Make-up Remover, this had a lot to live up to, but for me this is even better! It removes my eye makeup super efficiently and the skin around my eyes feels really fresh after using it, with no sign of any residue. I've also noticed that I've lost less eyelashes since using this, a strange observation I know, but important to me nonetheless. I'm so pleased that I picked up this product because it is so much better than the one I was using, and I thought that was amazing!

The Garnier Skin Naturals Micellar Water costs £4.99 which is an amazing price when you look at the size of the bottle. For the same price as many other products of its type, you get 400ml of product, whereas most are only 200ml. This is the first micellar water I've tried so I can't say its better than any of the others, however for me this has been a complete game changer. I use this as a quick initial cleanse to remove the majority of my face makeup before I use a face scrub, and it is perfect for this use. One cotton pad of this and nearly all of my makeup is removed. It's just so effective. Another great use that I've found for this is as a quick freshen up on no makeup days. When I'm having a lazy day and not wearing any makeup, my skin gets oily very quickly, so about halfway through the day I like to give my face a quick swipe of this so I feel fresh and clean again. On garden days when I'm sunbathing I'll use this when I come in to quickly remove the residue of any suncream before I apply my makeup for the evening.

Overall, I'm so impressed with both of these products and would definitely repurchase them. Whether I will or not is a different matter though because I love trying new things haha. But I will know in the future that these are a safe bet if I need to pick something up in a hurry.

emma x