The cheat's way to get rid of tired looking eyes in the morning..

Many a morning I wake up, look at myself in the mirror and wonder why I didn't go to bed earlier the night before.  Then I get distracted by what to wear and what the weather looks like outside and of course, the typical English dilemma of whether I should or shouldn't take a coat with me.

When I'm truly tired, I get puffy eyes that don't really look too sexy.  Until recently, I didn't really know how to get rid of them and to make myself look half awake.  I'd pile my makeup on and just get to work but you could see the underlying tiredness from a mile off.

I recently lost a lipstick and whilst searching for that, I came across a product that I haven't used since I got it as a freebie in Glamour magazine. And if you think it's a Benefit product, you'd be right.  Now I have never been Benefit's biggest fan and even now, I'm still not a fangirl.  I like some of their stuff but wouldn't go as far to call them must haves.  This might the closest I ever get to calling a Benefit product a must have.  Click here to see what else of Benefit's I have reviewed.

Anyway, the product I found was Benefit's eyebright.  I have used this a few times in the past as an inner corner highlighter but the colour was just far too stark against my skintone.  If you're white or Chinese, you can easily get away with using this as an inner corner highlighter but for us Indian, black and olive skinned gals, it's a no go.

I decided to try it on my waterline to see what it did and to my surprise, it managed to look quite natural.  I think Benefit are missing a trick not marketing it that way, I've read on their website and they say that you should apply it to the inner and outer corner of your eyes and blend.  Well, I say do that if you're not of a darker skin colour.  If you are of a darker skin colour then whack it on your waterline.

I team this product up with my trusty eyelash curlers (reviewed here and going strong on their second pad replacement), any mascara that is close to hand (I've been using the Prestige one as my other bottle finished and this is the last one I have left..and seeing as Boots have discontinued it, I won't be able to buy more, despite it being a fantastic thing and one of the first products I ever reviewed on this blog).  I also use this Natralift Firming Eye Roll On from The Body Shop which I feel makes a difference..and the ball is very cooling on the skin.

If you've got more time then you could always put a decent inner corner highlighter on too, but as I am yet to find this, I have a bare inner corner.  The other thing that I tend to do once at work is line my upper lashline with some black eyeliner.  No flick though, I'm at work, not out knocking back the finest cocktails known to man.

And here's how it looks in its most basic way..

I'm not apologising for my eyebrows, I'm growing them out after someone f**ked them right up...

Now you might remember me hyping up Stila's Kajal pencil which is still all well and good but in the Summer months, it tends to be a bit too soft.  Fantastic for Winter though!

Talking of cocktails, I must warn you that if you like a decent citrus-y mojito, don't go to the Smollensky's in Canary Wharf as the people working there can never ever get this right.  Every time I go and ask for more citurs than mint, I end up drinking liquid toothpaste.  It's horrible and I have now given up asking for mojitos and I just stick to a bog standard glass of Chardonnay.

DO NOT BUY: Prestige Kabuki Bronzer Brush

This was a total impulse buy.  I had a list of things to look for..all of which I forgot.  I forgot (yet again) to check out the Topshop makeup range, didn't get to look at any brown eyeliner pencils, the 17 lipsticks I had my eye one and the Lancome counter didn't even register (I was looking for their liquid liner).

This was on offer for £3 something.  It looked the perfect size for bronzing and thus it was bought.

The hairs on this brush are super rough and scratchy.  Rougher than any brush for makeup application should be.  The blurb says that it is made from the finest hair.  I say if this is finest hair, what's the worst hair like?  The photo shows you how the hairs are all odd lengths and the domed part isn't even cut properly.  How this passed quality control is beyond me..

Steer clear of this if you see it on sale anyway because you will be sorry if you pick it up.  I thought this might be a bad one but even the one on display was as rough as this.  The quest for a bronzer brush continues!

Review update

I was putting my face on today and realised that my current mascara (which is now no longer HG) wasn't really doing anything for me.  I remembered how thick my lashes were when I used my L'oreal mascara..I also remember that I said I wouldn't buy it because it made my lashes feel hard and that it smelt..so why was I reaching for it this morning?

So, with this in mind I decided to do a review of my reviews.  It' worked out pretty well because I have been using these items and my mind has changed about some as time went on..I think this kind of thing is useful for those of you, who, like me, take ages deciding whether or not to buy something and also equally useful for those who don't want to trawl through all my posts to find out about certain items.

By the way, if you click on the link it will take you to my original review.

Sleek palettes

• Still in love with these, falling more and more in love with them as the days pass.  I don't think theres an occasion where you CAN'T use them.

Benefit Badgal mascara

• Still not loving this, have tried it a few more times since the review but it has done nothing at all for me.

Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara

• Have been teaming this up with the Maybelline Colossal and also using it alone.  I'd still buy it again as it makes my lashes longer.  No patent shine though.

Prestige My Biggest Lashes mascara

• Used this time and time again when I needed knockout lashes and it still works.  I have to remind myself that 2 coats is the magic key.  I'd still buy it again.

 Clearasil Pore Cleansing Pads and Boots Time Delay Balm

• I finished one tub of the cleansing pads and am half way through another.  I won't be buying these again, not because they don't work but because I've found something much better and also that the smell of these is VERY strong.  They're excellent if you have really oily skin and are prone to spots.
• I haven't finished a tub of the Boots balm as I have been using other cleansers but I have three backups which I will get through in time.  If I didn't have them, I'd buy it again.

Urban Decay eye shadows

• I loved these then and I still love them now.  The Illegal shade has been getting some serious love from me recently.  It's nice and matte and is my "my eyes but better" go to shade.  I'm going to incease my collection of these.

Biore Warming Blackhead Fighting Cream Wash

•  This was my lover back then and it still is now.  It's the only face scrub/wash that I've used consistently for more than a week.  I have half left and will buy it again.  The only issue I had with it was the fact that it gave me tiny whiteheads all around my nose..maybe because I used it despite having no blackheads? Anyway, if you do like me and do this, do not fear because I've found a cure..the things I do for you guys!

 MAC paint pot in Indianwood

• I wasn't too happy with how this looked in pics before but assured you guys it looked good IRL..which it did.  I tried it on many times since with varying amounts of UDPP and it just won't stick to my lids.  The colour is gorgeous but I just wish it would stay put! I won't be buying another one of these when the tub is finished.

Boots 17 Bronzed and Gorgeous palette

• Probably my all time fave freebie.  My current HG shadow has well and truly hit pan and I've been using my 17 palette for a while now and I'm loving the goldeny shade in it.  If they brought this out as perm, I'd buy it...or I'd buy £5 worth of products to get it free.

Boots No7 Eyeshadow Colour and Contour brush

• My thoughts on this brush are still exactly the same.  It's the shizz.  It's fluffy (but not too fluffy), it helps you blend like a pro and because the hairs are white, you can tell how much product you've picked up.  I'm buying it again when this one fails me.
  

Anatomicals Help the Paw hand cream and Badger Balm

• Nearly finished one "packet" of handcream and the Balm has well and truly finished.  Glad I bought backups of the hand cream, the sweet smell hasn't put me off yet!  I'd buy the Balm again too.

L'oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara

• I said I wouldn't buy it and honestly, I don't think I would.  It smells funny (this coming from a girl who has both the Colossal and Stiletto) and it made my lashes really really hard.  I wouldn't call it HG as I have Prestige for that so my opinion stays the same.
  

Review: Prestige My Biggest Lashes

I've been out and bought yet more mascara bringing my grand total of mascaras up to about 9-10. However, the good news is that this mascara works great and is different to the rest I have. The newest one is Prestige's My Biggest Lashes.

I have found my four HG mascaras, using any of them makes me happy. The Prestige one is one of them, the other three are:

• Boots 360 Lash
• Maybelline's Colossal
• Maybelline's Stiletto

As I said in a previous post I was looking to spend my Boots points and I'm saving adding any colour to my collection until I can figure out what I actually can wear on a daily basis and what suits me so all eyeshadows were off limits. I saw that myface cosmetics had an offer on their makeup, buy 2 for £14 but as nobody I knew had tried it, I stayed away from it and it's good that I did as further enquiry has told me that nobody really likes them. I will say one thing for their blushers though, they are the smoothest blushers I have ever felt :)

Anyway, I'm going off on one which is the norm really..I decided to get MBL with my points and they had two mascaras for £8 which was reasonable enough.

The mascara:
I like things which are out of the norm and a coloured mascara tube for a black mascara is quite out of the norm. The only other one which has this much colour is the Colossal. The bottle (?) is a nice fat shape and the pink and black colouring is appealing enough. Also, the lid fits on properly and there's no funny gap like you get with the Colossal. I tell you, the amount of times I've thought I haven't shut it properly and have had to check..


The brush:
Looks quite similar to the Badgal brush here but IRL they look different, this has less bristles and they aren't as tightly packed as the Badgal. As I said before, I usually check the wand and see how well the mascara will apply and as this looked more like the Colossal and the mascaras that work, I picked it up.


My eye:
All three photos are after two/three coats by which I mean two on the underside and one on the top side. The only issue I had with the mascara was that if you only put one coat in, it will smudge under your eyes. I'm sure you can see the adidas stripes I'm sporting in the second photo? They came from when I only had one coat on but after that it was all good.

I wasn't really convinced with the mascara when I had one coat on but with three, I was blown away! Also, the mascara is quite dry but you can wet it up by adding some Optrex but I find that the thickness gives me nice, sooty lashes which is something I've never had from a mascara before. The mascara does not flake at all which is a huge plus point. I also found that it made me look like I had criss cross fake lashes on which was nice as it was the first mascara which promised the fake lash look and actually delivered.

Repurchase?
Yes, yes and yes again. I think this mascara has overtaken the Colossal in my mind but I have to apply a few coats of it to get that smoky look that I'm in love with but hey, it still gives me something.