Posts Tagged ‘mascara’
Today beauty blogger Rucksana Hussain is a guest reviewer for Just Nice Things. The Birmingham beauty junkie kindly agreed to try a selection of eye make-up from George at Asda.
Whenever I go to Birmingham, I always call in on Rucksana who is like a little devil sitting on your shoulder, egging you to buy more make-up from Selfridges’ in the Bullring. Her blog Walking in a Beauty Wonderland is one you must add to your list of blogs to follow. Without further ado, let’s see what Rucksana thought of George’s offerings.
I have been keen to try the George make-up range but my local Asda doesn’t stock it annoyingly, so when Sheenie asked me to review some products I jumped at the chance. I was given a selection of 4 single eyeshadows to try, which are a mixture of textures with variable results.
First up is Jellybean, a blue toned lilac. This is the kind of colour I am always attracted to. However I was left a little disappointed with how it performed. I used this all over the lid on top of MAC’s painterly Paint Pot but discovered it wasn’t true to the colour in the pan. It’s very sheer so to get a good depth of colour I had to build it up with a few layers. Jellybean is a shimmer eyeshadow but gritty in texture though it did blend fairly well.
Next up is Yeti, a red toned brown which is a matte eyeshadow. I am always on the search for a good cheap matte eyeshadow and this delivers nicely as it’s well pigmented, smooth and buttery to work with. Yeti blends beautifully and works well for a smokey look.
Panther is my favourite. Firstly I love the name as it reminds me of my black cat. It is a very deep slate grey shade with the same texture as Yeti, and has a silver sparkle. I used Panther in the crease and it looked so pretty and sultry. It also serves well as an eyeliner when used with a damp liner brush.
Snowflake is the final shade I tried. It is a pearly white iridescent shade and rather frosty which is quite apt for its name. I used this as highlighter on the brow bone but found it to be way too stark. It is exactly the same in texture as Jellybean, a shimmer but not smooth and quite gritty. Unfortunately it is the one I’m least fond of out of the 4.
I tried all 4 shades over MAC’s Painterly Paint Pot for around 6 hours. There was a fair amount of fading especially with Jellybean which had lost a lot of its vibrancy but there was no creasing.
Overall the eyeshadows are pretty good quality and the design of the packaging is sturdy and secure fpr £2.50 each so you can’t complain.
The final product from George is Volume Lash, a waterproof mascara. It claims to thicken lashes and add volume. It definitely added volume but didn’t really lengthen them much. It is a dry formula and if too much product is applied it clumps the lashes together. I favour my mascara to add length, volume and to fan out my lashes so they look, full, fluttery and voluptuous. Volume Lash didn’t give fanned out lashes but spiky instead.
Volume Lash comes with the ubiquitous bristle which I prefer over plastic applicators. The other thing that stands out is the yellow packaging, which bears a similar look to Maybelline’s eye-catching Colossal mascara.
All in all, I do like Volume Lash. It is very good value for money at just £3.50 and outperforms some major mascaras I’ve tried that cost more. George really does offer some absolute gems, I just wish it was more accessible in their stores.
George make-up is also available online at www.asda.com.
Rucksana Hussain
*PR samples*
Thank you so much, Rucksana for your honest opinion. Have you tried these or other products from the George range? If so, what do you think of them? Do you have any favourites you could recommend? Let us know your views by commenting below.
17 has just launched a new mascara called Blow Out. It features an oversized brush that promises to sculpt and tease every lash from root to tip increasing the volume by up to 12 times, revealing bigger, bolder and bouffant lashes. It is also enriched with Vitamin E and Argan Oil to help condition and promote healthy lashes.
The selection includes: 17 Blow Out Mascara in Black, Brown/Black (£6.29) and 17 Blow Out Mascara in Blackest Black (£6.29). They are both available at Boots stores and at www.boots.com. Please note Blackest Black is not out until 5th September.
To celebrate the launch, we have 5 Blow Out Mascaras in Blackest Black to give away. To be in with a chance, simply post your name and email address in the comments box below by 9th September. Five winners will be selected at random.
Competition rules:
1) You must be aged 18 or over.
2) This competition is open to UK residents only – sorry!
3) Multiple entries will not be accepted.
4) Closing date is Sunday 9th September 2012.
5) Five winners will be randomly selected and will be contacted by email to supply their postal address, to be forwarded to the PR company for 17 in order for the prize to be dispatched.
6) Your email address will NOT be used for marketing or mail-out purposes by Just Nice Things and 17.
Regular readers may remember that before Christmas, my friend Becky was a willing guinea pig for Just Nice Things, and has spent the past couple of months testing out Revlon’s Grow Luscious mascara for us. You can read her previous post here… now let’s see how she got on!
In total , I have used Revlon’s Grow Luscious Mascara for two months.
After a month, I was overall very pleased with the results in terms of the appearance of my eyelashes and also its performance as a general mascara for someone with quite thin eyelashes. It is very easy to apply, stays put all day, the brush is good (despite my intial concerns at its size).
Do I think it made my lashes longer? Yes. Althought I did find that it was hard to tell if they were actually longer or if they just looked longer when wearing the product. Having the before and after pictures helped.
Do I think it made my lashes fuller? No. I didn’t feel there was any real change in the fullness of my lashes in general, but they definitely looked fuller when wearing the mascara, without any clumping, which I was happy with.
I usually change my mascara every three months. I use it every day and find that by this point they are past their best and start to dry out and flake on to your face and in to your eyes during the day. However, with this product, I felt that after two months it seemed drier and there was some flaking during the day.
Would I buy this mascara again? Yes I intend to.
Would I recommend it to other people? Yes definitely.
To sum up, a work colleague who did not know I was testing this product out burst out in the middle of a meeting ‘Oh my god, your eyelashes look amazing, have you had them extended?’ to which I was very pleased to reply, ‘No, they are my own!’
Before, without mascara
After without mascara
Thanks for testing this out for us! However, we now have a new challenge. Becky is now in the process of testing out M2 Lashes Revitalising Gloss, which we are all rather excited about. More soon!
I swear the one product the beauty industry and consumer is obsessed with is the mascara. The quest for coming up trumps with the one that volumizes, lengthens, de-clumps, thickens, vibrates, makes your tea for you and so on and so forth will never be over. It makes me wonder how many laboratories are currently peering down their microscopes, counting every bristle on the brush and analysing the grip of the wand to ensure your happiness in exchange for your hard-earned cash.
That said, the mascara is something that will enhance any woman’s appearance whatever her skin tone and face shape is with a few key names dominating the market.
Bourjois is surely one of them, and with their latest offering, they have every reason to feel excited. It’s so special that they’ve had the design and concept of the mascara patented so no one else can imitate it.
The Volumizer Mascara vows to enhances lashes up to 11 times more volume with no clumps and it owes its power to its special brush. The formula enriched with encapsulated ceramide, immediately and gradually boosts lash volume with each coating.
With the science bit done, the next thing is down to you and how much volume you want. Yes, you are in control – how exciting!
The brush comes in two parts, so to speak and application requires a two step procedure, which is helpfully labelled on the brush itself. ’Step 1′ is a light, small brush that separates and define lashes.
the 'step 1' brush
Due to the size and capacity of the brush, it is lightly loaded with just the right amount of product to coat lashes to give you a natural volume or daytime look as shown below:
with one coat from the 'step 1' brush
By stepping up to level 2, the second part of the brush (the ‘transformable’ bit), the bristles are larger and heavier, picking up more product to coat the lashes and boost their impact for a ooh-la-la va-va-voom Bambi-esque lashes…and crikey, do they maximise.
the 'Step 2' brush
with one coat from the 'step 2' brush after 'step 1'
Look at that! I mean, really look. My lashes have suddenly magnified in thickness 10 times from application with the larger brush, and the above is one coat with ‘step 1′ and one coat with ‘step 2′. You can then build layer by layer for even thicker lashes if you so desire but I am personally happy to not go further or they will start to clump.
I’ve been using the Volumizer Mascara for a couple of months. The product layers on smoothly and feels nice when you apply it but it also feels like its doing its job. Also, this product has been ophthalmologically tested so contact lens wearers like myself or those with sensitive eyes won’t experience any discomfort.
The concept and design of the two wands is very clever and not a gimmick like the vibrating ones. I find it easier to manage with than having a brush at either end like Bourjois’s Coup de Theatre mascara (the white base coat, the black top coat).
When some of the top of the range mascaras cost nearly £20, Bourjois have done superbly well for creating one that costs under £10. I have a a firm favourite that costs twice as much as Volumizer but after falling in love with the Volumizer giving me lashes longer than a Daddy Long Leg’s er, legs, I could very well be a convert. If anything, it’s certainly going on my list of must-haves.
Available in Noir Maximiser (so that’s an intense black), the Volumizer Mascara from Bourjois costs £9.99 and is available from Boots, Superdrug (and their respective online stores) as well as Asos.com.
Sheenie
