L'Oréal Miss Manga Mega Volume mascara

I stumbled across this in Boots yesterday and I just couldn't resist the super cute advertising, and the promise of big anime eyes. Already being a L'Oréal fan, I just had to give it a try.

My overall impressions are..... it's quite good. It's a perfectly fine mascara, but doesn't really offer me anything I can't already achieve with my current mascara, and I certainly don't look like a Japanese cartoon character. The brush is a bit flimsy, and bends a tiny bit when you're using it. It's also a bit tricky to get a good bit of traction to get good separation. But it is the perfect shape for getting lovely, fanned out lashes. The thin nib is great for getting at your corner lashes.

I found this mascara gave me lots of  length in just one quick coat but not a huge amount of volume. It took a fair bit of building up to get the length and volume I'm used to. But I do love that it comes in unusual colours such as turquoise and purple!

Miss Manga is currently on introductory offer at €8.99.

From pink to blonde!

Finished product with some Hairspray clip in extensions

After months of being pink I decided it was time to join the realm of the fully fledged grown ups and dye my hair a natural colour. I did toy with the idea of an autumn red colour, but after years of running away from my ginger roots, I finally decided to go for blonde.

Before

The process of going from pink to blonde was always going to cause damage to my hair, so before reaching for the bleach I spent weeks growing and washing out the pink. There was a lot of pink build up so I would shampoo my hair twice every time I showered. The day I bleached it there was barely any pink left from the ends up to about my ears, but my crown was still fairly pink.

To bleach out the pink I used a powder bleach and 12% peroxide I got in Terrisales. I left it my roots and crown for about 7-10 minutes,  then brought it down to the ends. I new the result was going to be a bit yucky, yellow-y, a real mish mash of colours. After washing out the bleach I used the John Frieda full repair mask on my hair just to minimize the damage.

After the first bleach (also make up free, gasp!!)

I knew I wanted to darken the colour, it was just far too bright for my skin tone. I settled on this L'Oreal Preference dye in 9.13 light beige blonde. I picked this because it was darker than the colour my hair was, but still a nice light blonde. I left it in for the 30 minutes as stated in the instructions. While it was developing I was convinced my hair was getting a greyish tinge and started to get very worried! But it washed out blonde. 

And below is the end result! It's going to take some getting used to, but I do really like it! I think im going to stick with natural colours from now on. .... but I've said that many times before! 

After L'Oreal Preference Beige blonde

My hair had repaired itself quite a bit while it was pink, because the bulk of it was only ever getting touched up with Crazy color,  which is a conditioning colour. I was worried about undoing all that progress, but thankfully it doesn't look or feel to bad at all!  It'll be getting lots of extra tlc over the coming weeks. 

SBBC Day 18- Desert Island beauty

I'm fully aware that half the products I'm bringing with me to this desert island are useless without modern technology, but the desert island I'm going to comes equipped with hair dryers, straighteners, tanning mitts and make remover. Got that? Okay lets go!!

 1- Sudocrem- There's been a tube of this knocking around my room since I got my first ever pimple, and there will always be a tube of it somewhere. Got a pimple? Put some Sudocrem on it. Get a little burn? Sudocrem that thang! Arm fall of? Sudocrem will fix it! Magic stuff!

2- Schwarzkopf Got to be Oilicious- I only bought this recently, but I really like it. I put it on my hair once it's dry and find it makes my hair really manageable and soft. Also gives it a nice shine.

3- NYC Liquid eyeliner- Are you starting to figure out that I really REALLY love this eyeliner?? It's just the bomb, I'm never without t!

4- Essence eyebrow pencil- This is almost a staple item for me, so cheap and effective, and much handier to carry around than an eyebrow kit.

5- Mascara- I have SEVENTEEN Back Lash mascara pictured there, but basically whatever mascara I'm favouring at the time I'm abandoned on this devil island.

6- Cocoa Brown- One would think that one wouldn't need fake tan when you're stranded on a desert island..... but one would be very, very wrong. I could live on said island for a thousand years and still wouldn't tan. Can't beat a bit of Cocoa Brown for a quick sun fix.

7- L'Oreal True Match- My favourite foundation, and probably the only one I'd trust for a night out. If it can last a boozey night in O'Rielly's, a desert island will be a breeze!

8- PRO:VOKE Touch of silver brightening shampoo- When my hair is blonde, which it will be again by tonight, this shampoo is my best friend. It really gets rid of any yellow tones and is a bargain at €4.19.

9- John Frieda 3 Days Straight- Ever since I got a bottle of this to try at a Slattery's Communications event I've been absolutely in love with it. It's just marvelous stuff! I'm all fingers and thumbs when it comes to straight blow dry's, but even so my hair is lovely and straight until it's next wash! I'm nearly through my second bottle now!

10- Eyelure Dyelash 45 day mascara- I was afflicted with exceptionally fair brows and lashes so unless I tint them they're snow white and I look like an alien! Don't get me wrong, some people can absolutely rock fair brows, but I just can't, my face needs the structure. I use this on both my brows and lashes and find it great, it's really easy to mix and the colour is really long lasting!

So there we have it, my 10 desert island items..... It was like Sophie's Choice :(

SBBC Day 17- BB Creams smeebee creams!

Remember when they first came on the scene and everyone lost their collective minds because they were meant to be the BEST thing to happen to foundation in years? Well..... They lied!

First, lets start with the more budget brand BB's, think Essence, NYC, Collection 2000 etc, all next to useless.

These brands just completely forget the cool toned pale girls. The only way any of these would be remotely wearable on my skin tone would be if I diluted it heavily with moisturoiser, but then it's basically just a tinted moisturoiser and offer no where near the coverage I'd want. That said, you aren't going to be going far above €6 for any of them, so if you're a warmer skin tone, probably worth a look!

Lets take it up a notch and look at offerings from the likes of L'Oreal, Rimmel, Garnier, and Maybelline. Again, the exact same problem as their cheaper counterparts. The L'Oreal Nude magique BB Cream seemed really promising at first, and I got quite excited that it was going to adapt to MY skin tone.... well I don't who's skin it was adapting to, but I was left with a ring of shame that would rival any full coverage foundation. As with a lot of their face products, Rimmel once again underestimated how pale one can be with their BB cream. The Garnier 'fair' shade is actually almost hilarious in how un-fair it is!

The one and only BB cream that has ever even remotely come close to matching my skin tone is the MUA one in the lightest shade, and to be fair, it really is quite good. I'm never going to be a BB addict, because I'll always prefer a full coverage, but if I ever was to wear one it would definitely be MUA.

SBBC Day 7- A make up look

Believe it or not, the above would be a fairly standard day look for me. If I'm going for a bold lip, I tend to keep my eyes very simple, and vice versa. Some days, you just need lashings of pink lippy to make tings better.

The products I used for the above look are

Face-
L'Oreal True Match in Rose Ivoire applied with a flat foundation brush
Collection 2000 pressed powder
Benefit Boi-ing concealer under the eyes
Essence Guerilla Gardening cream to powder blush in Mission Flower

Eyes-
Essence Creamlylicious eyeshadow in Iced Chai Latte
NYC Liquid Eyeliner
SEVENTEEN Dolled up mascara
Essence brow designer eyebrow pencil

Lips-
Rimmel Apocalips in Apocalyptic

As it's a day look, it's fairly quick and easy, and very easy to adapt into a more dramatic night time look if the occasion calls!

SBBC Day 6- What I'm never without

A lot of my make up is little extra's that I'd buy for a night out, or to incorporate into a particular look, and I love trying out new products so my staple products do have a tendency to change from time to time. Except my foundation. I've been using basically the same foundation for about 4 years. L'Oreal True Match in Rose ivoire is ALWAYS in my make up bag. I do try new foundations from time to time,  but inevitably go back to my old reliable. It's never steered me wrong colour wise, and I love the coverage.

A few more recent additions to my Never leave the house without collection are my SEVENTEEN Dolled up mascara, my NYC Liquid eyeliner, Essence pressed powder in Translucent, a brow pencil to touch them up in an emergency and a trusty tin of vaseline. Once I'm out of the house I tend to be very relaxed about how my make up looks so my make up bag is very minimal, only the bare essentials!