A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I like food, I like photos… I like making you hungry.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen… or Burger World as my very good friend calls it.

I like early evening nonsense.  I’m hungry.  What’s for dinner at your house tonight?

If you’re all indignant and annoyed that you clicked and didn’t see makeup… here, have a peek at tomorrow’s mascara series post.

My lashes always look so puny in the before pictures, I think I have their mousey brown colouring to thank for that.

Have a lovely evening ladies!

When I saw the Clinique High Lengths Mascara wand a few months ago…

It gave me a shiver.  And not in a good way.  It looks freakin’ terrifying!  Organic… like it’s gonna whip me or bite me or something slightly kinky.  And I repeat, not in a good way!

Still… yano… I had to buy it anyway *blush*

I generally find Clinique’s packaging a bit fud… am I the only one?  My Mum has skirts with those big floral prints on ’em.

You can see the extent of the curve to the wand… it’s serious… and takes a little bit of positioning to get it to align with my lashes.  Infact, it doesn’t align THAT well at all on me, it’s obviously something that’s going to be hugely dependant on the shape of your lashline…

The green bit is flexible and despite it’s odd curvature, doesn’t cause me any problems taking it out or pushing it back into the tube.  It’s also worth noting that the brush seems to pick up a perfect amount of product each time it appears from the neck of the tube.

Once I’ve got the wand positioned the best I can manage, things get a lot more interesting!

Those spiky little teeth grab my lashes and I can FEEL the pull as I wiggle the wand through from root to tip.  There’s some proper resistance there as I comb the wand through… it’s almost poetic.  The effect is beautiful separation and definition.  I’ve never used a wand that does this so well.

Clinique High Lengths Mascara is a lovely lengthening mascara that (after a couple of run throughs) coats each lash with just the right amount of product and really does allow you to get right to the root of the lash without splodging product allover your eyelid.

We’re not talking false lash effect mascara superstardom here, but it’s a great product for lovely long lashes and one that I’ll happily repurchase.

Clinique High Lengths Mascara is a very reasonable £14.50 (considering high street mascaras are approaching that figure now!).  You can buy online or on counter.

As previously threatened, I went and picked up the new Bourjois Elastic Mascara yesterday. I ended up going to Superdrug to make the most of the £2 off promotion and ended up paying £6.99 for mine.

I know some of you think it’s daft.. but I kinda love the packaging! I have a billion mascaras, so being able to spot the one I want immediately is always useful. It does look a bit like a toilet brush holder though (well spotted Rhamnousia!)

The brush is one of those spikey bristle affairs… ideal for separation and lengthening, not so good for volume. The emphasis on the Bourjois Elastic Mascara is on lengthening, so I wasn’t surprised to see this brush design.

What I was surprised to see was the amount of product the wand picked up in those reservoirs. Too much. Combine this with quite a wet formula-ed mascara and I knew I was going to have issues with application before I’d even lifted the wand past my nose.

I was right. It actually reminded me a lot of the issues I had with the last Bourjois mascara I bought (1001 Lashes). Admitedly, 1001 Lashes has actually grown to become one of my favourites… but it took 3 months for the formula to dry out enough for me to fall in love.

I love the brush on this Bourjois Elastic mascara. It actually ‘grabs’ my lashes. I can feel the pull as I drag through from root to tip. It keeps hold of them like no other brush I’ve tried. So if that formula thickens up a bit after a couple of months, I could have an winning combination on my hands!

Having said that, once dried… it’s a slightly crusty mascara, this doesn’t really bother me – but I know some of you prefer more flexible and soft finishes. It doesn’t actually *look* crusty… but you can feel the crispiness going on!

The weird handle is actually another thing I love about the Bourjois Elastic Mascara. It makes me more ‘light handed’ with the wand and I find myself applying with fluttery light but sweeping strokes as opposed to my usual ham-fisted, poke yourself in the eye efforts.

Another cool thing about the handle is that you can ‘twizzle’ the wand whilst applying to get maximum coverage. Didn’t think about that did you?! Rolling the wand between my thumb and forefinger feels quite a natural action as I’m pulling the product through the lashes. Unfortunately, the action just encourages this damn formula to clump… I’m still clinging to the hope that with a bit of age, the formula transforms into something amazing.

Definitely lengthening… not volumising or even very defining (I’m blaming the formula).

I’m on the fence with this one.

Something I’m not on the fence about?

This promo image:

Seriously? Just. Sod. Off.

Bourjois, you may be my favourite high street brand… but you hands down win the sucky Photoshop bs eyelash promo image award.

EDITED TO ADD:

The above promotional image shouldn’t be on the website under Elastic Mascara apparently, some kinda mistake as it’s a few years old.. here’s the correct model image!:

New out this week is Bourjois’ Elastic Mascara… complete with rather funky packaging!

They were putting these out on the shelves of my local Superdrug last Friday but I couldn’t see any testers so was unable to check out the wand and brush – boo!

I was also on my way back from my sk:n appt so I didn’t wanna hang around too long with my uber-flushed red bits on show, but I’m going back into town this afternoon to check it out.

They say…

The new Elastic Mascara achieves 130% more visible length to the lashes with its innovative, ultra-lengthening elastic formula and lash-extending brush.

The brush is the essential partner to the mascara and has two parts: the reservoirs which release the formula along the whole length of the lash, and the long, fine bristles to stretch the formula and visually increase the length of every single lash.  All lashes, even the shortest and finest, are stretched to the maximum leaving them intensely smoothed and coated from root to tip.
I do love me a bit of lengthening mascara, there haven’t been too many new high street mascara releases recently have there?

Boots are currently offering a 3for2 on all Bourjois or you can head to Superdrug for £2 off!

Price: £8.99 / €12.99

****

I’ve recently had a bit of a mascara purge (threw away 7 of the damn things)… so I think I can treat myself to some new mascara love.

In other mascara news, I keep reaching for my YSL Singulier in an attempt to finish it off…  I’m just not that keen on it especially considering it’s price tag.   I’m kinda loving my L’oreal Telescopic Explosion (controversial choice?) but it’s a bit of a faff to apply…

I think I should get back on my ‘mascara series‘ wagon, I’ve been through so many tubes and forgotten to review them – bad blogger!

What are your current mascara favourites and will you be checking out this latest offering from Bourjois?

Yano, it’s not that often we get an exclusive this side of the pond, but check it out:

Givenchy’s Summer 2010 collection includes this beautiful turquoise addition to the popular Givenchy Phenomen’ Eyes lineup of mascaras.  Available in Europe only, it’s a gorgeous looking shade no?

Of course, if you were going to splash out on the blue mazzy… it’d be plain rude not to pick up the matching polish too…

Available from the 1st May exclusively at Harrods, with a nationwide roll out at counters everywhere from the 15th May – thanks to BBB for the release info.

UPDATE: It seems only fair to admit that a month after writing this review, and I’m finding myself reaching for this one daily… perhaps it’s just the colour of the tube rendering me blind to all others in the drawer, or maybe it’s just a bit more awesome than I initially gave it credit for.

Regardless, I thought I’d better revisit this to let any new visitors know that I think I underestimated it a little in my initial review.  It’s a good’un and definitely up there with my other favs!

So, I’d been meaning to try “The Ugly” one for ages, but having 4000 mascaras languishing in my make up collection meant that I had to at least try to be a good girl and not keep buying them until I’d used up a few tubes.

However, I got one of these in my Maybelline goody bag and of course I couldn’t resist trying it out to add to my mascara series.

U.G.L.Y You ain’t go no alibi…

Alright, it’s not THAT bad – but come on, Maybelline do seem to employ an army of Jekyll and Hydes in their packaging design department do they not?

Case in point…

See?!

It’s interesting to note that the well packaged products are the newer ones, so perhaps things are looking up!

Back to The Colossally ugly one for now…

They Say:

Creates 9X the volume, instantly.

• Patented MegaBrush + Collagen Formula plump lashes one by one
• Dramatic Volume with no clumps
• Washable

So basically, it’s got a big brush and it’s volumising… oh and um “washable” whatever that’s supposed to mean?

It’s not bad.  I’m using the Glam Black (00) version and the formula is nice and dark, I agree that it doesn’t clump on my lashes but it’s just not THAT volumising.  It creates decent definition and if anything is more lengthening thanks to that nice deep-coloured formula.

It’s a really nice day-to-day mascara… But I want MORE, MORE VOLUMISING, MORE LASHES!!

This is another solid release from Maybelline, and a great choice for those who like big-boned brushed mascaras – just don’t expect anything too COLOSSAL from it.

Maybelline The Colossal Volum’ Express Mascara is available from Boots, Superdrug et al, priced at around £6.84