Benefit They're Real Mascara and Eyeliner Swatches: New Shades Brown, Blue, Green and Purple

Benefit Cosmetic's They're Real! Mascara and Push Up Liner now comes in several new shades, and I just had to swatch them for you! In addition to the current line up of basic black, Benefit is launching the They're Real! Mascara in Blue and Brown, and the They're Real! Push Up Liner in Blue, Brown, Purple, and Green. Looks like Benefit's mascara and eyeliner have been popular enough to warrant adding new shades - I was told at the event I swatched these at that the They'e Real Mascara is a classic, and the They're Real Eyeliner is selling well too.

This post isn't going to be too long, so without further ado, let's just get straight into the swatching fun!

Clio Salon de Cara Review: Mascara That Styles Your Lashes

Clio, the popular Korean drugstore makeup brand, has launched a line of three mascaras, called Salon de Cara (I suppose Cara is a contraction of "mascara"). The entire collection is touted as being inspired by hair tools that style the hair - these mascaras aim to style the lashes, too. There are three different mascaras, each with different brush heads, and they are supposed to perform different functions - there's Hair Roll Cara 001, which is inspired by hair rollers, Roll Brush Cara 002, which is inspired by hair brushes, and Finger Cara 003 which is inspired by the fingers of hairstylists.

Clio Salon de Cara Review: Mascara in three different styles!

Interestingly, each of the mascaras have different functions, too. Hair Roll Cara 001 (pink) is supposed to mimic hair rollers for extra volume, Roll Brush Cara 002 (yellow) is supposed to mimic a round hairbrush for a curling effect, and Finger Cara 003 (orange) is supposed to mimic stylist's hands with "bristles that part three ways at the tip" to lengthen the lashes. Sounds intriguing, right? I agree that the concept (mascara that styles your lashes the way hair salons style your hair), right down to the collection name of Salon de Cara, is definitely one that's new to me!


Clio Salon de Cara Review: Inspired by hair tools that style your hair, these mascaras claim to style your lashes
So anyway, I figured I just had to put all three of the Salon de Cara mascaras to the test, to see if they really lived up to the hype! But before I start, here are some shots of my bare mascara-less eyes. As you can tell, having long, lush and naturally curled lashes aren't my strong point at all! It's been a long time since I've reviewed a mascara (my mascara reviews are all here), and I think it's because my lashes are so puny and wimpy that even the best mascara doesn't work the magic that you see in the ads - I think I've been complaining about mascaras since my first ever mascara review on the blog from way back in 2010 (the then-super-popular Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara). In any case, I suppose my lashes are so wimpy, they really do make the perfect test candidate for mascaras of all sorts - curling, lengthening, volumizing. Just bring it all on, goodness knows I need every kind of benefit!

Sleek Lash Out Mascara Review

Sleek Makeup has released their Lash Out Mascara, pitched as both a volumizing and lengthening mascara with an innovative brush to give you lush, long lashes. What, a new mascara? You know I'm all over it like white on rice!

The Lash Out Mascara comes in a long, pink tube, with black print. It also comes in a pink and black box. Pink and black? Me likey.

The mascara wand on the Lash Out Mascara is pretty small. I'm used to big brushy wands, so to me, the size of the wand doesn't really matter (ha, ha, I know what you're thinking at this point. I'm talking about mascara here! :P). Some of the mascaras that have worked better for me, in fact, have hugeass wands, so I think I've pretty much mastered the art of using a big wand on my tiny, puny Asian eye and lashes. It's a skill, you know. Still, I appreciate a small wand that allows me to rotate, move, and maneuver the wand. The wand has tight, short nylon bristles.



So far, so good. But the real test of mascaras comes when you actually test them out. And particularly if you test them out on my puny, tiny, bald Asian eye with sparse, short lashes, that grow pointing DOWN (you have to see it to believe it). I kid you not. This makes me possibly the most demanding mascara user ever to have walked the planet. And I'm not shy about it - in fact, one of my most popular blogposts of all time is this post in which I ranted lyrically (by my assessment, of course) about how this famous Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara, which was "the" mascara product at the time it was launched, really sucked. I know that darn mascara was getting rave reviews everywhere, but on me it was a smudgey mess. (For the record, I continued using the mascara up until it dried up a few months later, and no, my lashes didn't grow either.)

So anyway, where was I? Oh yes, my lashes. They're short, sparse, pointing down, and just generally wimpy. Here's a photo of my lashes with no product on at all, from not one but three angles, so you can see what I'm talking about.



Now, here's the "After" photo. This was two coats of mascara. One coat didn't really seem to have that much of an impact on my lashes, so I didn't bother with one-coater photos. I think it's just me though, I don't think I ever can get away with just one coat of mascara. And have I mentioned that my lashes are special and demanding? Now you see what I mean. This is what the much-raved-about Lash Out Mascara looks like on me:



As you can see, the Lash Out Mascara is alright on me, but not all that fantastic. I appreciated that it did lengthen my lashes and gave them more definition and volume. Overall, it seemed decent, but it wasn't really anywhere near the effect I had seen and read about on other blogs. To be honest, I felt a little underwhelmed, since almost every single review I've read on the Lash Out Mascara (except mine) has been overwhelmingly positive, and some reviews had really awesome "after" photos. I guess I'm just the odd man out when it comes to mascaras.

And as I've said this in my previous mascara review/rant, most mascaras don't work on me. Only 2 or 3 mascaras out of the many I've tried have made me happy, and it's not even the "Wow this is GREAT!" type of happy, just the "this seems to be the best I can find for now" kind of happy. This makes me kind of sad, because I don't ever think I'll find the perfect mascara. But based on my experiences, my take is that this mascara would give you good length, a good amount of volume, and some ability to hold a curl.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara: Really Worth the Hype?

Rimmel has brought out a shiny new mascara with the most tantalizing of promises - not only does this is this supposed to make your lashes look longer and lusher, it's supposed to contain ingredients that promote lash growth, thus making your lashes grow and actually be longer after 30 days of use! Just check out their press release, which has these grandiose claims: "Instantly, lashes appear up to 80% longer. What's more, with continued use, they look fuller, stronger and lusher – up to 117% longer after just one month. Don't want to wait? Well, take a look at this figure: Consumer test results show that 88% of women saw longer, lusher and more numerous lashes after 1 week of usage."



That's a tall claim, and you know I love a challenge. And indeed, with my puny Asian eye and wimpy lashes (you know, short, sparse, and they GROW POINTING DOWN. WTF), I do personally believe that when it comes to mascara, I am a tough, tough customer. I have a few favourites, but none that I can call my true love, and so I'm always fiending for the next new thing. So while the jury is still out over whether I'm going to see longer, lusher, or more lashes after usage, I can tell you if, as a mascara (instead of as a treatment), it sucks or not.

The packaging of the Lash Accelerator is in a nice slim black tube, with holographic print declaring the mascara name. The cap is green. The outside is really sleek and pretty. The brush is your normal brush tapered at either end. Nothing special, really. But of course, the special thing about this mascara is not the brush, but the lash-growing formula, right?



First off, here's a picture of my eye, with no mascara at all. Try not to laugh, OK? I already said I had puny wimpy lashes! As you can see, my lashes are generally not my best feature. They're short, thin, and because I have what I like to call a "hooded lashline" (you know, when the lashline is covered by a fold of skin, much like the way some crease lines are hooded because they're covered by a fold of skin - it seems to mostly affect Asian eyes as far as I know), my lashes grow pointing downward. Thank goodness for lash curlers.



Because of my eye's, ahem, unique features, I end up being a very demanding mascara consumer. I want length. Lots of it. I also want volume, and lots of it too. Oh and did I say it also had to hold a curl? I don't particularly care if a mascara is waterproof or not, because my eyes aren't smudgy by nature, so I generally don't have problems with mascara smudging. Washable mascara's just fine by me, and it's easier to remove too. It just seems that washable mascaras don't hold a curl as well as waterproof ones, which is a perpetual source of sadness for me.

So, this demanding consumer, with excited, bated breath, held up the glorious wand which promised her lash growth and lengthening. And she applied the mascara, carefully, attempting to reach every last lash (hey, if it really does help my lashes grow, I'm going to coat every darn lash there is!). And this was the result:



Umm, okay. I guess the hype for this one had blown my expectations out of proportion, because as a mascara, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, It lengthened decently, and it volumized well enough, and it did hold a curl after a fashion, but honestly, I can think of other mascaras that worked better for me. It made me sad, it really did, because I was so excited to use it.

And you know what else? This is on the smudgy side for a mascara. I guess this has to do with Rimmel mascara formulas, which tend to be on the "wet" side (I have previously noted this when using Rimmel's Extra Super Lash Mascara). You can see in the close up photo of my eye that there are specks of mascara on my eyelid - those are NOT because I can't apply mascara properly, but they're there because when I opened my eyes after applying the mascara, it smudged onto my eyelid. And I don't even have oily eyelids. So when applying this one (as with other Rimmel mascaras), you might want to leave some time for it to fully dry before batting your lashes excessively.

Okay, the demanding consumer thought, unwilling to give up. So maybe one coat wasn't very impressive. But what if I pile on two coats? So she put on a second coat, and combed through her lashes with a lash comb (because you know, if you apply more than one coat of mascara it does tend to get a little clumpy and you have to brush out the clumps). And this is what she saw in the mirror:



I don't know. Are you impressed? I mean, it looks better, but it's two coats. Two coats, and a lash comb. If I'm really honest, I'd say I'm underwhelmed, especially after all the hype, what with Zooey Deschanel taunting me with her overgrown lashes in the promo pics and all (I hate you, Zooey, I really do). And you can see that when I opened my eyes after applying the second coat of mascara, it smudged onto my eyelid again - leaving behind more smudge marks. Sigh.

I'm heartbroken, I really am. I wanted to love this, but I think it's just eh-okay for me. Of course, mascara is highly subjective, so this might just work for someone else. And to be fair, every other blogger seems to be giving it a positive review except me. So maybe it's just me - like I said, my Asian lashes are very special and demanding. Only 2 or 3 mascaras out of the many I've tried have made me happy, and even then not "OMG SO AWESOME" happy, just "this seems to be the best I can do for now" happy. Seriously. Why is it that everyone likes this mascara except me?! *Groans and kicks dirt* Right now, I'm still using it to see how it works as a lash treatment, and I'll update on how it functions in that respect, but for now, the demanding customer's neverending search for a mascara continues.

(This product was provided for review. Yes, it was provided for review and I said it was just okay. So obviously I'm not affilated or paid by the company, and this review represents my honest and complete opinion.)

Budget Beauty EOTD and LOTD: Beauty21's 3-for-£10

Much as I can be a sucker for anything pretty, packaged, and pricey, I do love discovering gems that aren't expensive, primarily because as a student on a limited budget, I'd have to starve myself for a month before I could even bear to entertain the thought of buying a Chanel eyeshadow. I have to admit, with my makeup obsession, I'd be tempted to do that, but I know that with my lousy sense of self-control (hence my immense stash of makeup and nail polish), I wouldn't even be able to starve myself for 5 minutes. So I usually attempt the cheapskate tactic of buying drugstore instead. Fortunately, there are plenty of awesome but inexpensive items out there to keep a girl on the budget happy.

Enter Beauty21, a cheap and cheerful online retailer that also dispenses advice on the side. In addition to being a retailer, they have an "Ask the Expert" section, courtesy of established makeup artist Sara Hill (an actual makeup artist! Not some badly-informed customer service personnel like some other companies *coughMACcough*), and they also have some interesting articles on their site. And shipping is cheap - local shipping within the UK is a mere £1.50, and overseas shipping is £4. That's a serious bonus for me - being a major cheapskate, I can't tell you how many times I've passed over a deal because I didn't want to pay shipping!

And since I've just admitted to being an I-want-that-deal-but-I-don't-wanna-pay-shipping cheapskate, my favourite section in the entire store is OF COURSE the 3 for £10 section (located HERE), encompassing a range of drugstore brands that contains a good array of drugstore products from staple brands (Rimmel, Maybelline, Bourjois, Sally Hansen), covering pretty much all the basics - lipglosses, eyeshadows, mascara, blush, and some nail treatments. I like it; it works out to be cheaper than waiting for the items to go on sale at Superdrug, and you get to mix and match across different brands, which rarely happens during drugstore sales. Some of the items are still in stores (like the Sally Hansen nail treatments, so if you're a regular user of any one of those it's probably cheaper to buy three at a go and stock up), and some of the items aren't carried in drugstores anymore, which is pretty cool if you like finding things you can't easily get in stores.

And since I wanted to prove that beauty doesn't have to cost a bomb, here's a demonstration of what you can get for your £10 in Beauty21's 3-for-£10 section:



I know! Isn't that adorable? It's a pocket-sized eyeshadow duo by the staple brand of European drugstores, Bourjois. This is the Petite Guide de Style Perfect Harmony Shadow and Contour palette. It contains two coordinated colours that you can use in a variety of ways to make your eyes pop. I got the colour 16, Crazy Baby.

Isn't that cute? I know you're going to want to see a picture of the inside of this little palette too, so here you are:



This duo consists of a shimmery vanilla colour and a forest-y ivy green colour. Isn't it pretty?

And it even comes with a tiny little mirror. I'm not sure how useful a mirror if this size is, but gosh it's cute:



That's only one out of three items though. The next item I got was Rimmel's Extra Super Lash Mascara:



And here is a close-up of the brush. This is your typical mascara brush with a tapered end:



And for the last item, my personal favourite, Rimmel Stay Glossy Lipgloss in Mauve Addiction. You know I love mauvey, rosy lipgloss shades, so this is definitely up my alley:



And a look at the brush. This brush is pretty interesting, and I don't think I've seen a brush like this one yet. It's a modified doefoot applicator, where both sides of the applicator can be used to apply the gloss to your lips, instead of just one side like your typical doefoot. I think that's kinda cool.



That photograph shows just one side of the applicator. The other side is also similarly slanted to allow you to apply lipgloss with both sides, instead of one. Nothing groundbreaking, but pretty nifty. Then again, doefoot applicators are my favourite, so I'm biased.

Of course, it would be immensely cruel of me to post pictures of these items and not show you how they look once applied. So, I did an EOTD and an LOTD using the products above!

Here's my EOTD. I have to admit I cheated on this one, and supplemented it with a brown shade from the Sleek iDivine Safari Palette. But you get the idea:



The highlight and lid shades were from the Bourjois Crazy Baby duo, the crease/contour colour is a shimmery dark brown from the Sleek Safari Palette (for those of you who want to know exactly which shade it is, it's the shade all the way at the bottom right corner). And then I lined with Stila Smudgepot in Jade. The mascara is Rimmel Extra Super Lash.

Not too shabby eh? I did find that the Bourjois duo was not particularly pigmented - it was decent, but required a couple of layers for the colour to be true to pan. The shimmery vanilla shade was also less pigmented than the ivy green shade, but it's nothing that is too difficult to work with. I did notice that the instructions said you can use the shades wet, though, so perhaps if foiled they might be more vibrant, but I didn't try them on wet. These were all worn dry. I really should try out the ivy green wet though, it looks like it could be gorgeous when wet.

The mascara was just okay for me. I wore it a few times, and I think it's better at adding length than it is at adding volume. It was decent, but not spectacular. I think it might work best on girls who have lashes that are numerous but short. Of course, mascara is very user-dependent, and one person's holy grail can be another person's trash bin item (case in point: Maybelline Full n'Soft mascara. It's universally loved, but did jack squat for me). It does generally seem to get good reviews, though, which is why I tried it in the first place. *Mutters* Stupid wimpy Asian lashes...Makes finding a mascara so hard...*Kicks a rock* The consistency of this mascara is also on the wetter side, so I do think this will get better with more use as it dries up slightly and takes on a more creamy consistency.

Wear time on both items was pretty good. I wore this EOTD out for one day, and at the end of the day I experienced neither smudging nor creasing, and only slight fading. The mascara stayed put and didn't smudge. They actually fared better than I expected!

Anyway, on to the lipgloss! I somehow knew I would love this by just looking at the picture on Beauty21's website, and what do you know, I was right! Do I have lipgloss telepathy or what?

First, here's a picture of my naked lips, just so you can see how beautiful the lipgloss is and really appreciate it on me:



So now that I've made you suffer by looking at my naked lips, here is what Mauve Addiction looks like on:



Isn't it a beauty? I totally hearts this. It's a beautiful glossy wearable shade of mauve. When Rimmel called these Stay Glossy, they weren't kidding - these are really glossy! I can imagine these looking totally awesome with matte makeup everywhere else - the glossiness of the lips will contrast the matte makeup nicely. And I generally hate glitter in my lip products with a passion, but the glitter in this one doesn't show up much at all, so I think it's still work-appropriate. I also really like the formula of the lipglosses - they are similar to the Revlon Super Lustrous lipglosses, but slightly more tacky, which is a plus for me, because I do find the Revlons a little bit too "wet" for my liking, and wears off a little too fast. But they're similar enough, so if you liked the Super Lustrous range, you'd probably like this too.

In terms of weartime, these were pretty good, as far as lipglosses of this nature get. They didn't last past a meal (but then again I've yet to find one that does), but they definitely lasted longer than the Super Lustrous did on me, and they basically stayed on as long as I didn't eat. I really like this gloss, and the Nude Signature colour looks really pretty too...

For £10, I feel this isn't bad at all. It's almost a complete look - all we're missing is the blush. What do you think? Good value for £10?

(The three featured products were sent to me for review. I am not paid for this review. This review is my full and honest opinion.)