Reusable silicone mascara wands - a MUST HAVE for every makeup artists kit!

I'm excited to share todays post with you! As a makeup artist, I must use disposable mascara wands on clients for hygiene reasons. I usually pick up the packs in Flair. However I find these cheap looking and basically rubbish for putting mascara on someone. But now, my prayers (to the god of makeup) have been answered! Behold, reusable silicone mascara wands!

I've put the word reusable in italics as this is my favourite part about these. Ordinarily you have to throw out your mascara wands after one go, but these can be easily cleaned with hot water and antibacterial soap making them much more economical. The wands come in various styles. The silicone material also makes it incredibly easy to coat the lashes in comparison to the fluffy crappy wands we're used to! :)

These wands were created by makeup artist Nichola Graham and are available starting at 3.00 for a pack of 20. Trust me, you need these in your kit. :)

Till next time,

Toodles,

L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara

I'll be the first to admit I love nothing more then picking up some new makeup, whether it's repurchasing old favourites, or trying something new. However, I'm never too adventurous when it comes to one product: mascara. 

I usually stick to the cheaper brands (namely Catrice) when it comes to mascara as I feel most are pretty much the same. My lashes are reasonably full (on one eye anyway!) and long enough. I don't feel any super formula or new style of brush is going to really change this!

Earlier this week I was in Boots and the stand for the new L'Oreal Miss Manga mascara caught my eye. I threw caution to the wind and decided to give it a go :) It comes in black, turquoise and purple. I stuck to good old black.

The most interesting thing about this product is the wand. It's their first '360 degree flexible cone shaped brush'. It also contains collagen spheres and a trilogy of polymers for hold and staying power.

So all these claims aside, how did it fair? Well I have to say I really like the shape of this wand. I find it easy to cover all my lashes, even the smallest. However if you are too heavy handed you can end up with spider lashes so tread lightly. With regards to the flexible wand, in my opinion it's pointless. You would need to push the brush quite roughly against your lashes for it to bend at all, so to me it seems like a pointless gimmick. The formula doesn't flake during the day, and it is a deep black colour which I'm happy with. And about it's claim of 'mega volume'... judge for yourself:

Overall I'm not too impressed with this mascara. I mainly only picked it up as it was on sale for 8.99. It's regular price will be 13.49, which I think is more than it's worth. I really don't feel it's that much better than my usual 4.49 one! Although I will use this tube, I won't be repurchasing.

Till next time,

Toodles,

Maybelline's Color Tattoo 24HR Eyeshadow

Over the Christmas I picked up, and received, quite a few makeup bits. Admittedly, I don't ever really need an excuse to buy new makeup, but it's nice to have one anyway...

So although I was a bit slow to pick up these next bad boys, now that I've gotten my hands on them I can't do a makeup look without them! I'm talking about Maybelline's Color Tattoo 24HR Eyeshadow.

I picked up two colours as they were on offer. I chose 'Permanent Taupe' and 'Pink Gold' as I wear a lot of natural colours day to day. 'Permanent Taupe' is a matte taupe (duh) while 'Pink Gold' is a pink toned shimmering gold (again duh). So they do what they say on the tin! Seems good so far.

Immediately I loved the colours, although they don't show up too true on camera with the flash. The 'Pink Gold' isn't quite as shimmery in real life... The flash gave it a bit of an extra kick!

So that's all well and good, but how do they last? They're a dream to apply. I used a fluffy brush to sweep them over my lid and into my crease. I tested these both with eyeshadow over and without. They work beautifully as a base, and my eyeshadow didn't budge at all, all day! I was more wary to try these by themselves as they are cream shadows, however they lasted amazingly well! After about 8 hours they started to slightly crease, however with a little blending of my finger, my eye makeup was good as new!

I'm a huge fan of these, and at €10.49* in Boots I think these are brilliant value as they will last you a long time. I'll definitely be picking up more colours soon.

Until next time,

Toodles,

* I was in Boots today (7th Jan) and these are priced at €7.49, not €10.49 as said on website