October Giveaway Winner

And the winner is... Kim Neville! Congratulations - this is a fantastic prize (i'm a little bit jealous). Please email me your address and I'll get them out to you as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone who took part and see you back here in a couple of days for the next London Makeup Blog Turns 10 giveaway!

Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara

I have a lot of make-up samples knocking about the house and it's got to the stage after two children and two house moves in two years that I get a bit hazy on where everything came from. My sample tube of Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara found it's way into my every day make-up stash and hasn't left. When it runs out I will rebuy it. Secretly it has become one of my top mascara's without me really noticing.

This is an old fashioned type of brush but with an excellent curve to it (which I've tried to show in the picture, which I should mention shows a sample size of this mascara). This could be completely lash dependent but for me it makes it really easy to get from top to the bottom of all my lashes. You can use the back edge of the brush to come through the lashes.

There isn't really a pointy end so you have to run the risk of a blob if you are doing the inner-corner - which I do and it doesn't bother me. If you are someone with very fine lashes then this is probably not going to be a great brush for you. Which is a shame as it's a great formula for adding length and volume. The curve shapes gives help to the curl of they eye lash for those of us too lazy to curl every day. I know I should. But I don't.

Cruelty Free and other updates

As well as reviewing products, doing videos and writing features I'm constantly tweaking and updating old posts. Checking the info is still valid and up-to-date among other things. Something I've started adding is whether the product or brand is cruelty free, vegan or vegan friendly.

Cruelty free means it is not tested on animals and not sold in China. Vegan means vegan, vegan friendly means some products from the brand are vegan but not all. There will be tags for these and an explanation in the 'What You Need to Know' section as it can get a bit convoluted. For example, Urban Decay is cruelty free but owned by L'Oreal which is not.

Other updates will be at the end of the relevant posts with the date they were updated.

Face of the Day - 20th October 2016

This is not only a look I've been wearing a lot recently but I've adapted it so it uses a lot of high street products and those more expensive ones that I know some people struggle to get the most out of. Hope it's useful.
Products Used:
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Yoghurt
NYX Prismatic Eyeshadow in Girl Talk
Rimmel Millionaire Eyeshadow
Houglass Ambient Lighting Edit
L'Oreal Superliner Perfect Slim
Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara
Maybelline Better Skin Concealer
Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder
Eyeko Fat Brush Mascara
NYX Wonderstick 
Blistex Lip Brilliance

Product Reviews:
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit
Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Some links are affiliate links which means I will get a small commission if you click through and buy from them. There is no extra cost to you and if you are not comfortable with that then do feel free to open a separate window and google the product for yourself

Babyliss Big Hair

I have never before been fully in love with an electrical product before... except maybe my digital radio. But the time has come and I'm obsessed with the Babyliss Big Hair my mother got me for my birthday. And it's not just me. Everyone keeps telling me my hair looks amazing. Everyone. It did look pretty rubbish before to be fair.

This caused a bit of a stir when it first came out - loads of people loved it. Caitlin Moran and such were all over it like a rash. I nearly got one then. Then disaster struck. The original version had a rotating head. The next version didn't and did not get the seal of approval. I thought I'd missed my moment but the third version had both options - you can rotate it both ways or not at all is you so desire.