Rimmel Waterproof Kohl Kajal VS Urban Decay 24/7 Liner

Top - Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof  Kohl Kajal
Bottom - Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil

Two popular eyeliners, both good. I like them both and they do have very similar formulas. But which is better?

Starting with the obvious, Rimmel is cheaper. Their eyeliner is £3.99 whereas Urban Decay's is £15.50 - quite a difference.

Urban Decay, however, has a whole lot more colours than Rimmel. There are 7 shades from Rimmel and 37 from Urban Decay. You can get almost any colour that you could possibly need from Urban Decay - perfect if you need something ununsual!

Although these eyeliners are different colours (Rimmel = 001 Jet Black, Urban Decay = Stag - a fairly dark brown shade) Rimmel's is far more intense than Urban Decay's. I find that I get immediate and powerful colour from Rimmel but have to press much harder and spend more time applying Urban Decay. Strange considering the price!

I actually don't rate either of them particularly highly in terms of lasting power. Rimmel isn't waterproof as it claims, I find it underneath my eyes later in the day when I use it on my waterline - not ideal! It does still leave me with eyeliner in my waterline though. Urban Decay doesn't give me the eyeliner under my eyes issue however it does fade throughout the day meaning that I'm eventually left without any colour there at all. Again, not ideal.

Overall I'd recommend either or these eyeliners but given the price I would have to give Rimmel the crown. Sorry UD - I still love your eyeshadows!

Thanks for reading,
Eleanor xx

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Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Oil Review

I've gotten a little bit obsessed with skincare recently so it's only natural that there should be some kind of review of a product that I'm using up on the blog, right?

Clinque "Take The Day Off" Cleansing Oil; £22; 200ml has been my cleanser of choice these past few weeks. It's simple to use, with just one or two pumps you can take all of your make up off (including eye make up!). All that you need to do is to massage it into your face and then remove it - and your make up - with a flannel/cotton pad.

Initially, I hated this cleanser - it actually dried out my skin and made putting make up on the next day hurt! But I persevered and now my skin has no complaints with it. I'm still slightly wary of the effects of this on my skin because of that incident however nothing more seems to have happened so I'm hoping that nothing more will.

My make up seems to be 100% removed after using this which is obviously one of the most important things for a cleanser. My skin looks slightly clearer as well which is also nice. I don't think any of my skin issues (spot scarring + redness are my main troubles) can really be solved with a good cleanser and I'm not exceptionally spotty so I can't comment on whether it would help in that respect.

For reference, I have Combination-Oily skin. As it initially dried my skin out I don't know whether it would be any good for skin that is already dry in the first place however it's always worth getting a sample if you can as in my opinion it is a pretty great cleanser.

Thanks for reading,
Eleanor xx

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MAC Studio Finish Concealer Review

As dark circles are the bane of my life (I'm sure some of you will relate!) trying out new concealers - regardless of price - is something that I'm always willing to do. Having heard good things about MAC's Prolongwear concealer I headed to the nearest counter and had it tried on me. It didn't cover my dark circles (which was unsurprising, but still disappointing) so I ended up trying EVERY SINGLE MAC CONCEALER. I was there for more than half an hour. And by the time I'd tried all of them I discovered that none of them actually did what I wanted. Great. But I did find and purchase what I (and the lady trying all the different concealers on me) considered to be the best.

MAC Studio Finish Concealer, £15.50, 7g; comes in a small pot and has quite a thick formula. I have it in the shade NC20 as that is my skin tone however you could potentially buy it in NC or NW depending on the colour you want to balance out (like a corrector).

I've been using this concealer for a few months now and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it. The coverage is decent (I meant to get a with/without concealer photo to demonstrate however you actually couldn't tell the difference in any of them, so I guess this isn't a good concealer for photos?). I definitely look less like a sleep-deprived zombie with this on. That's the most important thing, I guess.

The annoying thing about this concealer is the staying power. It's not the best. I'd say it vaguely conceals under the eyes for the whole day but it is definitely more than three quarters gone (and kind of cakey where it still lingers) by the time I get home.

I tend to apply using my fingers and tap gently to blend as it definitely gets swept away by either swiping to blend or by using a brush. Having to rub my fingers into the product each time seems somewhat unhygienic to me. As it's quite a heavy concealer it's quite difficult to use without foundation so on a light make up day I definitely wouldn't go anywhere near it. It is pretty good on spots, though - so it is a multipurpose concealer!

To sum up -

PROS:

• covers dark circles reasonably well
• can also be used on spots
• decent amount of product in pot so will last me a long time
• SPF 35

CONS:

• not much staying power
• can't really be worn without foundation
• quite expensive
• fairly difficult to blend

Overall I would say that it's a good concealer, not my holy grail concealer by any means, and I might repurchase it in future if I don't find something better. I would recommend it, but it would be best for short uses rather than all day in my opinion.

Thanks for reading,

Eleanor xx

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Kiko Water Eyeshadow Review

Kiko Water Eyeshadow (Shade 209)

Finally trying out a brand that you've been eyeing up for a while is always great - more so if you end up loving the product that you pick out. Which is exactly what has happened here (hurrah!) so I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on this gorgeous green eyeshadow from Kiko.

Kiko's Water Eyeshadows (usually £8.90, currently on offer at £4.40) can be used wet or dry and are available in 32 shades. I went for 209 Olive Green, a gorgeous green shade which I absolutely love.  I found from testing it that the colour easily transferred to my brush and to my eyelids, plus it stayed on very well throughout the day. The product is unusually shaped in the pan, it looks a bit like a fingerprint but is absolutely gorgeous.  I discovered from swatching that it is slightly more intense in colour when used wet:

(swatches taken in natural light)

The eyeshadow gives a more even colour when wet and fades much more slowly than when dry. It could be used to give a more subtle effect when used dry if that's what you prefer. Kiko themselves say that it has "a highly adjustable finish, for an effect ranging from sheer to full and intense" which I would agree with - you could easily apply it slightly differently in order to alter your eye make up look.

Although I mostly wanted to talk about the formula as shade colour is more of a personal choice I will say that this is a very pretty shade that gives a pop of colour whilst still being fairly neutral (I find this a lot with green - my theory is that the Naked 4 will be made up of mostly green/mossy shades). If you're looking to buy one of these shadows I would highly recommend this shade, but I did also like 203 Burgundy, 205 Chocolate and 229 Pearly Gray.

I am very pleased with this purchase and am looking forward to trying the other product I got (a shadow stick - also green - which I might do a review of once I try it) so am very excited to try more of Kiko's range in the future!

Thanks for reading,
Eleanor xx

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How To Keep Your Lips Soft

One of the worst things about it getting colder is dry lips and the problems that they cause, particularly in the lipstick department. Lipstick looks awful on cracked and uneven lips no matter how well you prep them and I have often given up on trying half way through application and taken it off again.
I'm very thorough with taking care of my lips, and the number one product that I would recommend is the LUSH Bubblegum Lip Scrub (£5.50, 25g).

Bubblegum Lip Scrub

This is one of the best selling products from Lush and it's very easy to understand why. All you do is take a small amount of the scrub and rub it on your lips before licking off any excess. Once it is all gone I find that I can genuinely feel the difference in my lips before and after. I do think it's a bit pricey for something with only 6 ingredients but you don't really need to use much each time so it should last you a while. You can may DIY scrubs if you want to though, you can easily find instructions with a quick google search. Also, if the Bubblegum flavour isn't really to your liking they have Mint Julips and Popcorn all year round and Santa's Lip Scrub at Christmas time so you're sure to find something you like. This is a product I would repurchase again and again so if you haven't got round to trying it yet head out to your nearest Lush immediately!

After using the scrubs I like to use some Vaseline (£2.18, 20g) or another lip balm just to add a little extra moisture. Some others that I like are the Maybelline Baby Lips or Nivea Hydro Care Lip Protection.

Vaseline

I'm not sure there's much I can say about Vaseline apart from that it's effective and that I find that it helps my lips. At the moment it's being sold in cute little Vintage pots which I quite like too. I want to try some new lip balms as I haven't really tested that many so if anyone has any recommendations let me know! I just thought I'd include Vaseline as it is what I typically use after the scrub and it seemed like it fit in nicely to the post.

Have any of you tried the Lush scrub or have any even better solutions? Having soft lips is something that I think is quite important so be sure to let me know!

Thanks for reading,

Eleanor xx

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Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer VS Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer

I struggle find a good concealer. Dark under eye circles are a pain, anyone who struggles with them will tell you. In my time I've tried a few concealers so I thought I'd post a quick comparison between two pretty well known, popular concealers. I chose affordable concealers as these tend to be the most hit and miss.

Left: Collection Lasting Perfection
Right: Rimmel Wake Me Up

The two concealers the I'm comparing are Collection Lasting Perfection Full Cover Concealer and Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer.

Collection Lasting Perfection

Rimmel Wake Me Up

Price: Collection Lasting Perfection

Both of these are budget concealers, but at £4.19 Collection's concealer clearly beats out Rimmel's for price.

Coverage: Collection Lasting Perfection
There's a reason beauty bloggers and vloggers love it so much. It really does give great coverage and covers up pretty much everything you need to cover. I often use it to cover up the worst parts of my skin and then skip foundation. The only reason it doesn't give me complete coverage is because my dark circles are SO BAD. (Any other dark circle concealer recommendations would be great - price not an problem within reason).

Packaging: Rimmel Wake Me Up
The words stay on, for a start. If I forgot the name of Collection Lasting Perfection I would have no idea because my tube no longer says anything! Also, I really love the orange top - really stands out in my make up collection.

Colour range: Rimmel Wake Me Up
Technically, there are the same amount of colours but I have found that they are more usable and varied colours. Collection Lasting Perfection tends to be a bit orange and Rimmel's just seem a bit more natural to me.

Appearance: Rimmel Wake Me Up
For a similar reason to the last, the Rimmel colours look a lot less orange. Although saying that, they are a bit sparkly so you may struggle not to look like Edward Cullen if you go out in the sun. It's also not as thick so is less likely to settle into lines if that's a problem that you have.

Lasting power: Collection Lasting Perfection
While 16 hour wear may be a bit of a stretch, this concealer does stay on for ages. Lasts through the day.

OVERALL WINNER: COLLECTION LASTING PERFECTION
Although it's technically a draw, I feel like Collection Lasting Perfection wins where it counts. It's a great concealer from under the eyes and blemishes both and has got me through a few skin troubles. Absolutely love this concealer, definitely a favourite of mine.

I hope this post has helped anyone pick a concealer if they were struggling and as I said earlier on in the post if you have any recommendations for concealers (especially for dark circles) I'd love to hear them in the comments!
Eleanor xx

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AUGUST FAVOURITES

August has just come to an end so I thought it might be time to make a post of the products I have been loving throughout the month. Favourites videos are common on YouTube but I see them quite often on blogs and thought I'd try my hand at it.
Because I'm trying to keep it fairly short and sweet so I don't bore anyone, I've only picked 5 of products to talk about.

Left to right: Body Shop Coconut Hand Cream, VO5 High Volume Hairspray, Bethany Mota Perfume, Models Own Fruit Pastel Nail Polishes, 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in the colour Flirtini

Coconut Hand Cream; The Body Shop; £3.50; 30ml

As it was buy 1 get one half price on these hand creams I decided to get a couple (the other scent being strawberry) and I have really been enjoying them. Although I hate the taste of coconut it is definitely one of my favourite scents and this cream smells really strong as well as being moisturising on the hands. I use it everyday and will definitely repurchase when it runs out. Very good price, too!

VO5 High Volume Weather Resistant Hairspray; Boots; £3.29; 400ml

Hairspray - as well as hair in general - has always been a struggle for me. Most of the hairsprays I try make my hair extremely crunchy, sticky and/or completely flat and lifeless. With this one, however, I found it to be fairly soft as well as being fairly volumising. The volumising effects weren't quite as drastic as I'd like but it was more than I expected for the price. They also do one that does not offer high volume (which also comes in a more reasonably sized bottle - 400ml of hairspray takes up quite a lot of space. The hold is good so my hair stays in place well.

Bethany Mota Fragrance; Aeropostale; $25; 50ml

Popular YouTuber Bethany Mota recently released a fragrance to accompany her clothing line at Aeropostale. This Summer I was on holiday in the States and  picked it up while on a shopping spree. It has a sweet scent with a slight musky undertone and I love it to bits! The bottle is very cute - heart shaped, gold and glittery - and even has a little bow. It lasts a long time on the skin considering the price tag ($25 ~ £15, much cheaper than buying a high end perfume) and everyone who has smelled it really liked the scent too. I think it is available internationally from the Aeropostale website if any UK based people want to try it.

Seventeen Mirror Shine Lipstick (Flirtini); Boots; £4.79; ???

Every now and then I have a sort through my make up and find something that I haven't used or even seen in a while and instantly fall back in love with it. This lipstick in the shade 'flirtini' is a gorgeous shiny shimmery pink lipstick that gives a glossy effect on the lips. It could definitely be passed off as a fairly highly pigmented lipgloss or even a lipstick with lipgloss on top. It has quickly become my second favourite lipstick (after MAC's New York Apple) and stays on longer than many glossier lipsticks do. 17 is definitely one of my go to brands for cheaper lipsticks. I have another one of these lipsticks and I definitely enjoy that one too - it's a great formula. They are now in a different packaging (black with a small mirror inside) but the product and the colours are still the same. I would recommend this lipstick to anyone and is probably my favourite of the favourites in this post.

Models Own Fruit Pastel Nail Polishes (Banana Split, Apple Pie, Strawberry Tart); Superdrug; £5 each; 14ml each

I've always been sceptical of scented nail polishes and these are no different. I love the smells given off when scratching the top of the bottles (there's a scratch and sniff provided) but they are very faint on the nails and fade quickly. Despite this, I love the colours and there's no need for the scent anyway - very few people go around sniffing my hands! They aren't more expensive than the other polishes from Models Own and like I said, the colours are great. I love pastels and I think I will get wear out of these even in the winter (just because it's cold doesn't mean we have to be grey and miserable!). I have worn all three this month and currently have on the Banana Split colour, which so happens to be the one with the strongest scent. Apple Pie reminds me of an Essie colour I wanted but no longer really need - Mint Candy Apple - so I have been saved the £2.99 difference. I'm a big fan of the colours Models Own do and these are no different. I may even get other colours from the Fruit Pastel Collection.

These are all of my favourites for the month, I hope anyone who may be reading found it interesting and maybe even tries one or two of the products!

LUSH Melting Marshmallow Moment Bath Melt

A week or so ago I found myself in Lush, mostly drawn in by the AMAZING smell all Lush shops have without the intention of buying anything due to the quickly decreasing amount of money in my purse caused by all of my other purchases - going to Westfield was probably a terrible idea.
Although I managed to restrain myself somewhat I still came out of the shop with one product: the melting marshmallow moment bath melt, which looks like this -

It had a fairly strong scent while solid which I wouldn't necessarily compare to a marshmallow but was definitely very sweet and obviously a very pleasant scent (although I found that if I sniffed it for too long it became a bit too much).
Being a bath melt rather than a bath bomb it didn't fizz a great deal and took a while to actually completely dissolve and I ended up crumbling it. This isn't too much of a big deal though as it happens with a lot of bath products. It turned the bath pink, unsurprisingly.
This is how it looks in the bath -

It creates a few bubbles and smells amazing, much less overwhelming than when it is solid. Overall it made for a great relaxing bath and I smelled just like the bath melt when I came out of the bath. It also did not stain the bath pink which is a plus. I would recommend this to anyone who likes sweet-scented bath things!