Countdown to Christmas - Day 15: Diego Dalla Palma Ciglione mascara

Yawn! Morning Sparkles...

Diego Dalla Palma Ciglione mascara
(M&S Beauty Advent Calendar 2017)

...the morning after the night before is never the easiest. Add into the mix the man arriving at my door at 8am to put in a new gas and electricity metre. Groan.

However, the next in the large bottom row boxes has produced a lash booster mascara by Diego Dalla Palma. The Italian range is one which I'm most used to seeing in the M&S Beauty Halls but can also be bought in other department stores and online retailers.

I've seen pretty good reviews for some products but this will be my first foray into the brand, hopefully it can help my peepers look brightened and Bambi-like, regardless of the cocktail of cocktails imbibed last night...

...watch this space on Insta later today to see how it fares overall. At £17.50 for the full sized tube it's more expensive than my L'Oreal go to, and about £6 cheaper than my Elizabeth Arden love (along with other Chanel, Dior and YSL mascaras).

Have any of you tried this brand? Will it give my lashes the va-va-voom of '70's Sofia Loren, or leave me in a smudge puddle?!

Christmas kisses and wishes

xx Josephine xx

Countdown to Christmas - Day 8: Eyeko Black Magic mascara

Fri-YAY at last Sparkles! 

Eyeko Black Magic mascara
(M&S Beauty Advent Calendar)

I'm off out with pals for a delicious Kenyan-Indian meal tonight in North London, which will be supremely tasty and great fun as always. 

My peepers shall be even more party ready than usual with a quick slick of Eyeko's Black Magic mascara. Promises include the delivery of drama and curl, with added volume and an extreme carbon black finish which will be water resistant. 

That's a big list for such a little tube! 

Based on the performance of the waterproof mascara included in the summer beauty box this year, I have no doubt that Eyeko have more than an even chance of delivering on all these claims - but make sure to check out the Instagram for my follow verdict! 

One thing I'm not entirely sure of is the curved brush - generally I find I get on best with a straight brush, with bristles rather than silicone spikes. What's your favourite mascara - either for formula or applicator?

I'm a huge fan of the L'Oreal Volume Million original wand, so much so that I clean it off when I start a new tube of the mascara with one of those silicone wands. Another much loved is the Elizabeth Arden mascara - the brush looks like *nothing* and yet achieves everything I want in a mascara - separation, length and curl! 

Christmas kisses and wishes

xx Josephine xx 

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Lash Enhancing Mascara

Morning chaps and chapettes!

Happy Humpday :) 

Taking us from the dreary start of the week into the party half and weekend is a new mascara discovery I've made. Entirely by accident.

This is Elizabeth Arden's Beautiful Color Lash Enhancing Mascara - I never would have picked it up on my own because of the teeny tiny brush. I love my L'Oreal Collagene fat brush and the fairly full brush of Illamasqua's Masquara.

FOTD: Black glitter liner

Complete look - with and without
filter on Instagram

Morning guys and gals

Today's look is brought to you thanks to my looking forward to seeing the latest Hunger Games film since Katniss came from District 12 - coal mining (not to mention an obsession with all things glitter in the run up to the party season…or any time of year really). I like the larger glitter flakes and the way they give a bit of a more subtle glitter look.

I think even for those of you who don't like to wear a ton of make up this look should be easy to adapt to the level you are comfortable with. I've included a step by step below…any all the glitter products are very affordable (plus should be accessible on the High Street).

Getting started series #6 Mascara

Good morrow, Beauty Addicts and Explorers

Today is a day I've kind of been dreading. I think that mascara seems to be one of those things which just ends up so differently from person to person. For me, I've got almost poker straight eyelashes, but there's quite a few of them and they're long - so I'm always questing after volume and curl. I know for others it's going to be length which they're after most of all, so apologies if I'm not as complete as I should be, but please leave your HG / recommendations in the comments below and let's start the debate!!!

My favourites are:

- L'Oreal Volume Collagene (left)

- YSL Effet Faux Cils (courtes of a very generous Santa Friend last year!)

- Mally volumising mascara (from www.qvcuk.com)

- Diorshow

- 2000 Calories from MaxFactor

Note: I have a personal dislike for silicone type wands, preferring huge bristled wands instead. L'Oreal do have certain versions of Volume Collagen with silicone wands - which are also oversized as with the rest of the range's applicators. I'm sorry for the incompleteness of this posting for those amongst you who are silicone wand fans, but I've never gotten along with one of them and I didn't want to include them in the fails purely on that basis.

I have tried and did not get on with:

No7 Lash Impact (red sparkly tube - right) - amazing write-ups, bought on the strength of reviews only to be underwhelmed by a wet product that didn't really seem volume focused. 

Jemma Kidd mascara - again, too wet which didn't lend itself to volume boosting in the way I'm accustomed to!

L'Oreal telescopic - I think you'll pick up a theme to those I don't enjoy using!

Maybelline Collosal - Too. Wet!

For me, the L'Oreal Volume Collagen only marginally pips the YSL to the post because it's so much cheaper and doesn't tend to dry out so quickly - however it is harder to remove than the YSL (as in, total pain in the touckas even after Bioderma applied with a cotton bud). 

If you can afford it, mascara is one of those things which I think really does perform better when you spend a little more on it but I think the list above really shows that there are some great options available on the High Street. Do bear in mind (before falling in love with a  super expensive version) that mascara should be replaced ideally every 3 months or so - but on the other hand £20 for 90 days of luscious lashes may not seem too high a price to pay ;)

Much love and lash boosting fun 'til next time kitty cats,

xx Josephine xx

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