TAG: My Make Up Story

I saw this on another blog and thought it was really interesting. If you haven't done this yet, I tag you!

1. How old were you when you first started wearing makeup?
I think I was around year 9 so I would have been about 14. It was just a bit of concealer for my dark circles and then later got onto a teeny layer of mascara. I used to sneekily apply my make up because we weren't supposed to wear it to school and I thought my Mum would tell me off! Gradually I started wearing eye liner after seeing an Asian girl putting it on in the girls toilets and watching her to learn how to do it.

2. How did you get into makeup?
At first I just wanted to disguise my dark circles and blemishes. I just wanted to enhance my eyes a little and feel a bit prettier (I got picked on a lot at school about my looks and was always self conscious). I wore basic make up until I was in the 6th Form and reading a thread on the Lush International Forum about make up inspired me to get a bit more experimental so purchased the Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol II. It has gone from there really.

3. What are your favourite brands?
MAC is probably my favourite. I also really love Chanel recently, I love the quality of them. Illamasqua and Bobbi Brown are other brands I like to dabble in.

4. What does makeup mean to you?
I feel more alive, more like me. I feel healthier and it perks my mood up. It allows me to play around with colours and be creative. I just love make up shopping and playing with different products. I don't wear make up every day but if I go out, even to walk the boyfriend's dog, I like to put some on just because of how it makes me feel. It also helps me be more confident and daring which are things that I am always trying to get better at.

5. If you could only wear 4 products on your face what would they be?
Concealer, eye liner, mascara and blush. They are my basics.

6. What is your favourite thing about makeup?
The creativity of it. You can make yourself/someone else look so different. Whether it be every day looks to wild crazy stage/film make up. Then when you don't want to look like that any more, you just take it off. Nothing is permanent so it makes it fun to play, just like small children like face paints, it is like grown up face paint!

7. What do you think of drugstore makeup vs high end?
I have tried so many drugstore things in the past and often been disappointed. BUT there are some absolute gems out there too. Sleek and Barry M do some really good budget make up and Collection 2000 have some good bits too. I think it is just as important to read reviews on your drugstore purchases, just like you would do for high end things so you don't end up wasting your money. The thing I cannot stand about drugstore make up is the testers, ugh! They are often just so disgusting that I wont even touch them which ultimately means I wont buy the product.

8. What is one tip of advice you would give to a beginner?
Start at the basics, mascara and neutral toned gloss/balm is a good place to get started. Spread out into neutral tones as they are harder to mess up and go for palettes with a good colour selection such as Urban Decay Book of Shadows if you want to use colours as a lot of them will work well together and they are very good quality. Go buy some decent brushes, they don't need to be expensive but rubbish brushes which shed and don't pick up colour will be hard to use. When buying a foundation/concealer, get yourself colour matched if possible and then walk outside into natural light to check for yourself, store lighting is not good to make sure it is the right shade. Read reviews/watch Youtube and be selective, try not to get overwhelmed.

9. What is one makeup trend you never understood?
Too much fake tan. I love the bronzed look but there is no need to go overboard. Pick a bronzer that compliments your skin tone without being too dark or orange and apply it lightly!

10. What do you think of the beauty blogging community?
I love it, I've learnt so much through reading blogs and watching Youtube. I really enjoy blogging too, I'd been lacking creativity since leaving school even though I work in a creative job but since starting my own blog I feel spurred on to get more creative. There are bloggers that I find so inspirational and really look up to and respect.


- Jennifer

Les Fleurs D'Ete De Chanel Summer 2011 Collection - Mimosa & Morning Rose Review

Hiya! I hope everyone in the UK is enjoying their start to the Bank Holiday weekend, sucks if you are working though :( Thankfully I am staying at my boyfriend's house which is nice to have a little break from London for a few days.

L-R: Morning Rose, Mimosa

L-R: Morning Rose, Mimosa

Today I have a review of two of the Chanel Summer nail polish colours, the highly anticipated Mimosa and beautiful Morning Rose. There was also another shade released called Beige Petale but that didn't appeal to me at all, I loves my bright colours! As soon as I saw the press releases for these I just loved the yellow shade. I only had one yellow polish, Barry M yellow - do not recommend unless you want to have finger that look like they've been dipped in a pot of American mustard... bleugh, not a good look and I was actually told by somebody else that is what my nails looked like :( Chanel's offering looked much more flattering.

I recently did a post on OPI's Fiercely Fiona which is a really pretty yellow but Mimosa is quite different, it is brighter and is shot through with a pretty golden shimmer which gives the colour some depth so it doesn't look flat. Chanel are very good at putting trendy colours out there but making them flattering.

Morning Rose is a jellyish colour and again shot through with gold shimmer although bigger particles in this shade. I wouldn't say it was a proper jelly because it is quite opaque but you can see the shimmer floating within the polish just like in a jelly finish. I found capturing the glitter difficult for both of these colours because the sun refused to come out and it has been horrible in London for the past few days so I couldn't re shoot the photos unfortunately. The pink is a nice flattering shade, it is a medium pink and has slight peach tones in it. Both of these colours are perfect for Summer.

Application was smooth on both, Mimosa needed a third coat to get true bottle colour and I used a third coat of Morning Rose because I didn't paint the second coat very well but I think a third coat gives it a bit more depth with the extra shimmer going through it. The polishes retail at £17 so they are expensive but Chanel often bring out really unique shades which you can't get elsewhere. The bottles hold 13ml/0.4fl oz of lacquer.

Here are a few pictures at different angles, hopefully the shimmer is visible in some of them. Mimosa isn't quite as bright in real life, I'd say one shade lighter but Morning Rose is pretty accurate on my screen.

L-R: Mimosa, Morning Rose

L-R: Mimosa, Morning Rose

L-R: Mimosa, Morning Rose

Mimosa

Morning Rose

I think they are sold out online now which is a shame so if you would like these colours I would call/visit your local Chanel counter to see if they have it there.

- Jennifer

Oooops! A few extra MAC Surf Baby bits...

I said I wasn't going to buy them in the first place, they just didn't appeal to me... but then came the swatches... Oh dear, well I completely changed my mind.

Whilst I was in Tumbridge Wells with my boyfriend a couple of weeks ago, I saw that they had My Paradise in stock. I'd seen numerous bloggers and Youtubers swatching this and it just looked really pretty, not how I'd imagined it. I told myself to stick to not buying it because it has an overspray but then I found out that it was quite thick and when it runs out that Gold Deposit MSF would do as a substitute to put over the blush colour - more about that later. I swatched it on my hand in store and bought it.

My Paradise

My Paradise

My Paradise

It is a very pretty colour, when mixed with the gold overspray it turns into a gorgeous shimmery golden peach. The blush colour itself is very coral and matte/satin - I'm not sure but there doesn't appear to be shimmer in there. It would be a great colour for Summer skin (well duh, it is a Summer collection lol) and is surprisingly wearable. I've seen it work nicely on fair skin too but it would be worth checking in person. It is sold out online but you might come across it in store. Temptalia has some dupes listed on her site, NARS Luster appears very close to the mixed blush.

My Paradise: L-R Base blush colour, overspray colour, mixed, mixed blended

Then I noticed that Debenhams had 10% off beauty. I'd seen swatches of Short Shorts (frost) and Saffron (Satin) and thought they were nice. Whilst at the MAC counter I noticed that the MAs were wearing Sun Blonde with Saffron and I loved it but they didn't have it on display. When I saw the Debenhams sale I ordered them both along with my concealer and correcter which I was running out of.

L-R: Short Shorts, Saffron

L-R: Short Shorts, Saffron

I'm really glad I did because they are beautiful. I can't get over how pigmented the eye shadows in this collection are, they are amazing. I really hope that MAC continue to make them like this from now on. I didn't have a terracotta shade before and I was a bit scared of how it would look on my eyes but it is actually very flattering and versatile. I've used it with Sun Blonde so far which makes a lovely yellow-orange-terracotta gradient. I'd also use it with neutrals, pinks and browns and I think it would be fun to try with blues and greens.

Short Shorts

Saffron

L-R: Short Shorts, Saffron

So like I said, I read that you could dupe the gold overspray of My Paradise with Gold Deposit MSF, well I'm not sure. My Gold Deposit hasn't got much veining in it, it is mainly a deep gold copper colour with very little gold in it. I did swatch the gold area against the overspray of My Paradise and they are very very close. If this is what you want to do, I would suggest going to MAC and picking out your own Gold Deposit with the most gold veining and then swatching it against My Paradise to check how it looks. I'm not going to buy another one to use over this blush but the one I have would still look good over it although a little different. You might even be able to find an eye shadow in the same colour to use over the blush instead. Or you could just accept, like me, that once the overspray has gone, it is gone. I might go to buy NARS Luster at a later stage to replace the mixed My Paradise colour and then use My Paradise as just the base colour.

So there you go... a little bit of naughty extra shopping :P hehe!

- Jennifer

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Island Oasis Eyeshadow Palette Review

Outer packaging.

Hiya! I bought this palette from the Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Collection about a month ago-ish. It contains six shades plus an applicator and a mirror in the top. It retails for £31 but Debenhams have a sale on at the moment so you can grab it for £27.90.

Actual palette

The description for the palette is:
Shades of paradise.
Highlight, define and dramatize your eyes with the shimmering metallics and sunlit satin shadows of summer.
Luxurious compact contains 6 complementary shades to wear alone or together–the possibilities are endless

The shades in the palette are a blackened olive with bronze/gold shimmer, a yellow gold, a bright turquoise blue, a pink golden bronze, a copper and a greyed blue silver. The colours have different finishes, mostly shimmers apart from the blue which is matte and the silver which is frosty. All colours are well pigmented and the shade range work well together. I particularly like the yellow with the olive shade on my green eyes. The pink bronze seems like it has a subtle duochrome effect as it appears to change colour from a pink bronze to a gold pink in different angles according to how the light hits it. It is a very pretty colour. I think this palette is universally flattering on all skintones and ages and it is perfect for Summer. You can use it for subtle looks of brighter and more dramatic looks so is a good all rounder.

  

The packaging is nice, it is sleek and sophisticated, classic like all Estee Lauder products. It should appeal to all ages. The outer is made of a faux leather feeling material in a coppery orange shade, and embossed in gold. The applicator is useless to me, as all applicators are. If you do like the applicators in palettes, this one has a little brush on the other end for blending.

Value wise, I think it is worth it, you get six colours for £31 so that is just over £5 per shade. Considering that they are well pigmented and I have got a lot of use out of it, I am glad I bought it.

- Jennifer

OPI Fiercely Fiona

This has been on my want list for a while, it is from the OPI Shrek Forever After Collection which came out last Summer. I have a few of the other colours and love the formula so decided to get this one too as I didn't own a good yellow. I got mine from ASOS on sale £7.35. I love it. The formula is just how I'd hoped it would be, the same consitency as the other Shrek polishes I own - all two coats. It doesn't streak at all and applies evenly and levels itself out. The colour really appeals to me, I think it works well on my skintone and isn't too yellow, instead being more of a primrose yellow, making it more wearable. I've taken it off today and I miss it so I think this is going to become a favorite for me. Yellow is also a trend colour for this Summer with Chanel bringing out their yellow Mimosa nail polish soon.

So do you like yellow nail polish?

- Jennifer

Marie Claire Magazine June 2011 - The Body Shop Body Butter Free!

Hiya everyone :) I just wanted to let you all know that in the June issue of Marie Claire has a free Body Shop Body Butter in the choice of three fragrances. Shea, Mango and Dreams Unlimited. I picked Shea as I don't like heavy frangraces on my skin and I love shea butter.

The body butter is nice, really thick and absorbs quickly, however, I don't like the smell. I'm not sure if Shea actually smells like it does in the tub, I normally buy L'Occitane's Shea Handcream which smells really good. This one smells quite florally, not horrible but the reason I don't like it is sometimes florals give me such a headache. I wish I'd picked a different one now but nevermind, it is a great deal as they usually retail at £5 in store for a travel size and the magazine is £3.60.

- Jennifer 

Surf Baby FOTD

I played with some of my new Surf Baby products today, I was quite happy with how it came out. I also really like yellow on my eyes, this was the first time I'd tried it.

What I used:

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation

Bobbi Brown Corrector and Concealer with powder.

Collection 2000 translucent powder through t-zone.

MAC Lush-Light Bronze Studio Careblend Powder on cheeks, into hairline, up to temples.

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC Sun Blonde Eye shadow all over lid

MAC Surf USA Eye shadow through crease, blended into the yellow and then blended upwards to get the true colour. Also along lower lashes.

Urban Decay Virgin Eye shadow under brow bone and blended into Surf USA.

MAC Spiked brow pencil

Bobbi Brown Longwear Gel Liner in Black Ink

Chanel Imitable Intense Mascara

MAC Hibiscus Lipstick

I felt very summery today :)

- Jennifer

MAC Surf Baby Studio Careblend Powder and Skinsheen Bronzer Stick Review

This is my last part of the Surf Baby reviews!

In the Surf Baby collection, MAC have released two new kinds of bronzers, a cream bronzer in a stick format and new Studio Careblend Powders in tanned colours. I was in the market for a new bronzer as I only owned Golden by MAC which is very light and barely shows up on my skin. Originally I ordered the Skinsheen Bronzer Stick in Tan Tint because I'd seen some cream bronzers used by Youtubers and this one looked nifty even though I ordered it completely blind as I'd not seen any swatches or reviews. After reading about the Careblends, I ordered Lush-Light Bronze which is darker than Tan Tint so then I had a little bit of choice of colours that would actually show on my skin.

Read on for Review...

MAC Surf Baby Lipstick and Lipglass Review

In the Surf Baby collection, MAC have released four shades - Bust Out! (dirty violet - lustre), Hibiscus (orange coral - cremesheen), Mocha (peachy brown - satin, Permanent) and Naturally Eccentric (creamy white nude - lustre). I purchased Bust Out! and Hibiscus - I actually bought two of Hibiscus because I loved the colour so much, I am waiting for the second one to be delivered.



L-R: Bust Out!, Hibiscus


Bust Out! is nice and creamy and can be applied semi sheer to semi opaque by building the colour up with a second swipe. It isn't a bright purple on my lips as shown in the tube but it is more blue based than recent purple lipsticks released such as Style Curve and Playtime, comparison swatches are at the end. Being a lustre it gives a glossy look to lips.

Hibiscus is a beautiful shade of orange coral, very very creamy and easy to apply evenly. It is verging on opaque in one swipe. It is a great colour for Summer without being too bright such as a true orange so if you are afraid to wear orange really bright, you could consider this instead. It is quite warm toned but I think it could still work on cooler skintones and I think it would look really nice on fair skin with the contrast. I have seen cool toned fair skinned women wearing oranges and they still look great so if you like the colour, go test it out to see.

Continue reading for lipglass review and comparison swatches!

MAC Surf Baby Eyeshadow & Crushed Metal Pigment Review

I'm going to split these reviews up into sections like I usually do but I just don't have time to put them all up today so bear with me, the rest will go up tomorrow and Wednesday if I don't finish them tomorrow. I've been swatching and testing things since I got in from work and the lighting hasn't been the best so I had to do it outside but then it was too windy so I moved into the greenhouse haha!

First of all, there are five eye shadows in this collection and two Crushed Metal Pigment stacks. I picked up two of the eyeshadows, Sun Blonde (mustardy yellow - frost) and Surf USA (green teal - frost) - both unique to everything I own. I also chose the Crushed Metal stack in Surf The Ocean which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. Surf The Ocean contains four shades of pigment (the crushed metal pigments are different to regular pigments), a bronze gold, a black-navy blue, grey silver and a seafoam green.

L-R: Sun Blonde, Surf USA

L-R: Sun Blonde, Surf USA

The eye shadows are some of the most pigmented MAC eye shadows I have come across. They are just beautiful. They are so soft and effortlessly blendable and if these colours appeal to you, I would recommend getting them because you wont be disappointed. According to Temptalia, the other three eye shadows in this collection are equally brilliant (I haven't swatched them myself). These two have frost finishes but they aren't chunky or chalky like some frosts can be, they are just perfect. As soon as I swatched Surf USA I wanted a backup but that would just be silly because it will take me forever to finish it but it really is that good! I'm so hoping this is where MAC will be going with their future eye shadows.

Surf The Ocean comes with two stacks of pigments which can be stacked all together if you wish. There are two screwcaps so you can take one to travel with and the ones left at home still have a screwcap to seal them. They each have a little plastic insert, similar to the ones in full size regular pigments but it lacks the tab to help lift them. They can be a bit fiddly so be careful when removing them.

Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack

Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack

Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack

The actual pigments are a bit different to regular pigments. They are chunkier and very soft so they can end up sticking together. The gold and seafoam green are chunkier than the navy and silver, the gold being the most where it looks like little nuggets of fools gold in the pot. They don't apply like a regular pigment as the texture seems different, these seem so soft and feel a bit fluffy when applying whereas regular pigments feel like an eye shadow but just loose. The other difference is that these are very metallic in finish. They are very pretty and should look really good as a soft metallic eye or going heavier and smokey with the darker colours. Like all pigments, these can be used wet or dry, mixed together to make new colours, used on eyes, face, lips, hair or to make custom nail polish. If using them dry, you will probably want to choose a sticky base to help them adhere better.

L-R: Surf The Ocean Crushed Metal Pigment Stack - seafoam, silver, navy, gold,
Sun Blonde Eye shadow, Surf USA Eye shadow

- Jennifer

OPI Fashionista Today's Special Value from QVC

I am a real fan of QVC's beauty TSVs, they often bring some really gorgeous things and fantastic prices or exclusive products. On the 4th May, QVC had an OPI TSV which was another fantastic offer and I loved.

L-R: Nail Envy, Houston We Have A Purple, Guy Meets Gal-Veston,
You Don't Know Jacques, Silver Shatter
Front:Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go.

This set contains 3 15ml nail lacquers, 1 15ml Original Nail Envy, 1 7.5ml Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go Pen aaaaaannnd the best bit... 1 15ml Silver Shatter! All of this came for the TSV price of £28.78 plus postage. It is still available on waitlist for £35.00 plus £4.45 postage, so if it is something you like the look of, you will need to order it and if it comes back in stock they will send it out to you. It is also available on auto delivery where in 3 months time a second set will be sent out to you with different colours and then in another 3 months time a third set will be sent out (you can cancel at any time). Here is the link for details. I went for this option because I really liked the look of the colours coming out with the next sets and the third one has the new Navy Shatter due for release.

Continue for review...

Instyle Magazine June 2011 - Free Nails Inc Polish!

Hey all! Right, I haven't had time to swatch the Illamasqua polishes I promised you yesterday because I've been quite busy with other things but I will do them this week. I thought I'd bring you this today to replace it seeing as I think this issue of Instyle will fly off the shelves pretty quickly.

This isn't the first time Instyle have teamed up with Nails Inc to bring us some freebie colours, this is just the first time I have seen colours I have liked. There are three to collect if you fancy them all. Orange Candy is a bright orange, like the colour of a real orange. Electric Teal is a greeny ocean teal. Fashion Fawn is a light taupe sandy colour - I didn't purchase this one because I have colours in the same family and I just don't wear them enough to need another.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture the true colour of these in a swatch, the orange came out too bright, verging on neon weirdly and it just isn't. The teal came out far too blue but it is a gorgeous green teal and I actually didn't expect to love it but I so do. When you see them in the bottles, they do come out true to the bottle colour so you could just place it next to your skin to see how it would work.

These are the first Nails Inc polishes I've tried so I have no idea how they are formula wise normally but I thought they were pretty good. The teal was thicker than the orange which looked quite watery in the bottle but was fine in use. The teal covered perfectly in two coats, the orange looked good in two but I would have preferred a third because I could see my nail line faintly but if you have short nails and don't really get visible nail lines, two would be just right. The brushes were thin for my liking, I'm so used to OPI's wide brush that I always find thinner brushes difficult but that is just me. The bristles were all fine, none were splayed out. I haven't tested them for wear but regardless, for the price of the magazine, £3.70, I don't think you can go wrong. Of course if you are a regular reader of Instyle, unlike me who just bought the magazine for the freebies, you wont even be paying for the polish!

Like the colours? Get down to the shops before they are all gone!

- Jennifer

Bobbi Brown Rich Colour Lipstick Review

When these were announced I was quite excited to try them so when I had a chance a little while ago, I went down to Selfridges to take a look. I ended up coming home with two shades, Bikini Pink (soft white pink) and Mod Pink (bright pink). I didn't have anything like Bikini Pink so I was drawn to that shade and was pleasantly surprised at how it looked on. Mod pink was just a really pretty colour so I got that too. In fact, all of the colours in the line are lovely wearable shades so there should be something to most, if not everybody's taste.

Here is what it says on the Bobbi Brown website about these lipsticks:

"Bright, get-noticed colour. Introducing Rich Lip Color SPF12. Lightweight, yet intense, Bobbi's latest formula combines pigments with a clear base to deliver pure, crisp colour with just one swipe. Plus, it's creamy and moisturising, so lips feel as good as they look."

I couldn't agree more with this, they are so pigmented, you really do get the colour that is in the tube on your lips. They are really comfortable to wear and last a really long time. Darker shades, as always will last longer than lighter shades but I was impressed at how long Bikini Pink lasts on my lips and gradually fades before I need to reapply. I didn't see any bleeding or feathering during wear, they really did stay put.

They have a semi matte finish which helps to keep the lipstick on but they are not drying at all. I found that they can sometimes apply a little dry looking but a few seconds later the lipstick warms up and becomes lovely and smooth and creamy feeling without actually being a creamy lipstick which doesn't last very long. You only need one swipe to get true colour so they will last ages and being so pigmented and firm in the tube, it is easier to get a neat line around your lips (not demonstrated in the photos as I just quickly put them on). It is also nice that they have SPF 12 in them, great for this time of year so you can protect your lips well and not need an SPF balm or sunscreen underneath.

They are scent and taste free so should appeal to everyone. The packaging is typical Bobbi Brown, matte black plastic tubes with the usual Bobbi Brown typography running along it. They twist up smoothly and feel sturdy and well made. The packaging isn't luxurious but I like that because Bobbi Brown is a makeup artist and other artistry brands such as MAC and NARS both have that sleek plain black packaging which doesn't need all of the bells and whistles, the products inside do the talking and there is really no need for expensive packaging. I also like that they are rectangular so that they don't roll off of tables!

I'd like to get a couple of other colour from this line in the future, Guava looks really nice, as does Heather Pink

Swatches after the break...

April Favourites!

I am soooo soo soooooo sorry for not posting in so long, I just haven't been in the mood for blogging (in other words, just plain lazy) and I had a cold so didn't want to post pictures of my awful blotchy face and crusty nose haha. Anyway, I'm back now and I have attempted to organise myself a bit better, I had a tonne of photos in my Photobucket account and I was getting confused as to where to start with them so I cleared it all up so it makes more sense to me so hopefully I will be able to get through them and finally post them here. So today I have a belated April favourites and later on I will be posting a review of some Bobbi Brown lipsticks. Tomorrow I have the latest OPI Today's Special Value from QVC that I recieved today. I will also post a review of the Illamasqua Toxic Nature nail polishes (old news now but they are permanent) and next week I will post a review of the cream pigments. Also the new MAC collection - Surf Baby which I had planned to do this weekend but it hasn't arrived yet. Let's get started!

This month I have been using all sorts of things, just playing around and trying to use some of my older products which have been neglected a bit. Therefore, there hasn't been much makeup that I have repeatedly used. These are the things I have really enjoyed using.

Firstly, Philosophy's Hope in a Jar moisturiser. I got this in a Philosophy gift set for Christmas and have been using it quite often along with a couple of other moisturisers. This month I have really noticed how nice my skin has been since I started using it both day and night every day. It is such a gorgeous product and I have hardly used any. It sinks into my skin really well, no oily residue at all. I don't get flaky skin like I used to and my skin tone has been getting more and more even where I barely use any foundation now. It also leaves my skin feeling soooo soft and plump and dewy and smooth... ahhh I love this stuff. I have a small size but the full size is £34 for 56.7g which I am willing to pay because it works so well for me.

Next is my MAC MSF in Stereo Rose which I have featured before. I really love this and it works so nicely in the summer, the perfect corally golden sheen to my cheeks.

Miss Dior Cherie EDP. This is my favourite perfume, I love it and wear it most days. It is so sophisticated and girly and feminine at the same time. The bottle is so pretty too. It just makes me feel pretty wearing it. I will do a full review on this soon.

Chanel Imitable Intense Mascara. This is a new product for me and quite frankly, the best mascara I have ever used. I had these awkward lashes that just would not curl up even using eyelash curlers but this has made them right. It doesn't flake or smudge and the brush is fab. It makes my eyelashes really defined and voluminous, a definite repurchase for me.

Lastly, another Chanel product. Rouge Coco Shine in Romance. This has become one of my favourite lipsticks and I really want to get a couple more colours from the range. They are so moisturising on my dry lips and they look so sophisticated. I like that they are sheer and glossy. The colour range is great too, something for every skintone. Expensive, yes, but I think they are worth it because I really enjoy wearing this.

- Jennifer