My Top 10's for 2010

I spend quite a lot of my time reading magazines, papers and blogs and making lists of products I want to try. I then lose these lists about the house and they turn up months later and then I lose them again... So I decided that this year I'm going to choose ten beauty products and ten make-up products to try out this year - one of each a month starting from March. The first one is Barry M Fine Glitter Dust - voted top eye colour by various magazines - which has just arrived. I've wanted to try out some glitter on my eyes for some time now and then realised after ordering that I'm going to need some sort of party or something to be able to carry off the glitter look. Either that or my next trip to Tesco's is going to be uber-glamorous.

The full list will be up soon so let me know if you have any suggestions or anything you've been wanting to try out and I'll add it to the lists! xx

Global Dissapointment

It must be that I'm growing up but I can definitely say that I've found a product that I don't actively dislike but I'm just dissapointed in. I love mascaras - I'm always desperate to help my little stubby lashes out in any way I can (my sister got the lashes in our family - people ask her if she's wearing false ones sometimes. Not fair). When I found out about the innovative new L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara I thought I had to try it. I'm always torn as to whether I like the big brushes that you get with Diorshow and Benefit's Bad Gal Lash (thinking about them I do love them) or the longer, thinner, more precise brushes of Max Factor's Masterpiece or Maybelline's Define-a- Lash (ooo they do get every lash!) so I thought a completely new type of brush might be the perfect happy medium.

I have yet to find a liquid eyeliner that I love more than L'Oreal's SuperLiner so that made me think that maybe their mascara would be the perfect thing to go with it. I was wrong. Oh so wrong...

The Product - L'Oreal's Telescopic Explosion debuts the new globe brush which is exactly as it sounds a round brush designed to be able to get to even the shortest lashes at the corners and useable from any angle.

The Problem - I'll admit that being able to get a good angle with a mascara brush is something that is important - I have a permanent crick in the back of my neck from titling it back all the time - and getting those corner lashes is tricky and sometimes means you spend quite a lot of time wiping a big black blob from the side of your nose. However, I would say don't even attempt using this mascara unless you have a good eyelash comb to hand. The brush is small enough that you have to literally do a couple of eyelashes at the same time which means you go over some a couple of times and this leads to serious clumping. It takes about three times as long to do my mascara in the morning with this (I'm not exaggerating). Give me a normal brush anyday.

Now this may turn out to be one of those mascaras that is perfect once it's been open and unused after three months but frankly I don't see why I should spend £7.99 and then have to wait especially when I've just named four great mascaras above off the top of my head! I'm going away this weekend and having already packed my make-up I've left the globe at home and sneaked in my Define-a-Lash instead. xx

Maybelline Solid Foundations

I have to say I've gone a bit foundation crazy in 2010. In fact I've gone a bit Maybelline foundation crazy. I've been using their Dream Satin Liquid for the last six or so months - it was more affordable than the Laura Mercier foundation I'd got for my wedding and I'd heard a lot of good things about their foundations and bases in general. I really liked it - it was the right colour, stayed on and gave a good even coverage. So when I ran out I thought I'd try their Dream Matte Mousse which came highly recommended by Mumma B. However, while I was in the shop choosing the colour I discovered their new Dream Creamy Foundation and couldn't decide whether to get the mousse I've wanted to try for ages of the new creamy foundation.

Using this blog as an excuse I bought both and thought I'd use them on alternate days make an informed decision about which one I preferred and then review them. That was a couple of weeks ago now and I just can't decide which I prefer. What I love about the Dream Matte Mousse is the amazing ease of application - you literally sweep it on and go its so matte that it feels dry (but not drying) like part of your skin and there is no chance of this caking. The Dream Creamy Foundation is more like your typical base but it really is creamy - again so easy to apply and is fantastic for those days your skin is feeling tight of blasted by this cold weather as it doesn't dry your skin out. It is so smooth and gives a fantastic coverage so you don't need to use too much.

So which should you try? I just can't decide. If you like building up your base then I'd say the Dream Creamy Foundation is the one for you as this is more blendable. If you want something that is amazingly easy to apply and gives great overall coverage then go for the atte Mousse. Or if you are like me and can't decide get one of each - they are both under £10 and you'd pay a lot more for designer make up (which is lovely don't get me wrong but who can actually afford to wear it every day!).

The only problem is that now I really want to try the other Maybelline mousses - highlighters, bronzers and blushers. Watch this space xx

New Year, New Handcream

I always suffer from dry hands - Mr J tells me this is because I use hand cream but I did only start using handcream because they were in such a state so I'm going to ignore him. My hunt for the perfect cream has been going on for years now and every time I think I've found the one it either fails me or stops being made!

So although I know this will probably mean the end of its life on the shelves my latest favourite is by Boots - it's their Traditional Skin Care Hand Conditioning Cream. It looks great as it comes in a rather old school looking tube and you only need a small amount to make a difference and I think it really has had an effect on my dry mits. The only downside is I'm not a fan of the smell, this is not to say that everyone will hate it but I am really not keen. However, I don't care because it works and doesn't break the bank. Perfect start to the not-so-new-anymore Year xx

New Year Cheer

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. It's a really difficult time of year now. Back to work, no Christmas to look forward too, bizarre snowy, cold weather (rather than the permanent 4 month drizzle we're used to)it's pretty hard to feel positive in January. However whilst rummaging through my handbag I found something that literally made my month and if you feel the need to treat yourself or a friend I have exactly the thing.

Now I've mentioned it before but Mac Lipglass is just the most lovely lip colour/gloss around. It doesn't stay on longer than any others, in fact it probably stays on less than quite a few and its definitely not the cheapest out there but it's just plain nice. It tastes good, it looks great, there's a colour for everyone and... well frankly it feels like a treat. I have it in Pink Lemonade which is a real bright pink which I would never normally go for (even more of a treat). It really cheers me up to paint it on in the cold office xx