Catrice The Giant Extreme Volume Mascara

We all know Catrice as a much loved budget high street brand with, by all accounts, some damn good products. But I just never seemed to get into them for some reason! This may be all about to change. I popped into Health Express in Tallaght (on payday coincidentally...uh oh) and they had a huge chunk of their Catrice stand Half price, all stock that's soon to be removed from the line apparently. Naturally I picked up a few bits.....for science!

I picked up their BB cream, a blush, liquid eyeliner and this mascara, which, if I'm to be completely honest, is a bit of a revelation.

The Giant promises bold, dramatic lashes with a nice chunky brush designed to each every lash from corner to corner. Normally with a mascara that offers you the sun, moon and stars it falls at at least one hurdle, but I am SO impressed with this mascara I've practically been forcing it on people.

I found it gave me amazing volume, with fantastic length and separation. It didn't clump and built up really easily. I wore it all day yesterday with no touch up's and while my lashes looked a tad limper by the evry end of the day, I found practically zero flaking!

With one coat The Giant gives beautifully full daytime lashes, but not being one for subtlety I've been lashing it on in 2-3 coats. I'm pretty upset that I didn't discover this little ge much earlier. If it's being removed from the line permanently and not being replaced with a very similar mascara I'll be pretty much heart broken.

I can't remember exactly how much I paid for The Giant, but I'm not talking much more than €2. Even at full price it's an out and out bargain!! It hands down beats some mascara's I've paid €10-15 for!

You'll have to excuse the bandy photo's, I'm currently working off an old phone and the camera is just able for anything! Oh how I miss my Samsung :(

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.

Mini haul- NYC and Essence- 04/02/13

I had a few spare quid this week, so I decided to treat myself to a few new bits of make up! Considering i spent less than €10, I think I did pretty damn well!!

Today's mini haul!

For me, NYC is one of the best budget make up ranges on the market. Bar their foundation, which I can't use because they don't make one pale enough, I have always been pleased with their stuff! So I got NYC Big Bold Curl Mascara in Extra Black for €3.79, and Expert Last Lip Color in 441 Traffic Jam for €2.49. A steal!!

Big Bold Curl in Extra Black €3.79

Expert Last  in 441 Traffic Jam €2.49

I'm thrilled with lipstick! I thought id would be quite a balmy colour judging by the look of it in the tube, but it packs a punch! It feels really light and moisturising on and has a lovely, healthy shine to it. This beats the socks off some of the more expensive lipsticks I have, only downside is the range of colours is great! But hopefully that'll soon change! I know what you're thinking, pink hair, red lips..... lets just say I'm getting in the mood for Valentine's Day!

I haven't tried the mascara yet, I packed on my 17 Doll'd up this morning, so that will have ,to wait till tomorrow!

Now onto the Essence! I've always found them a bit hit and miss. Some stuff is absolutely fantastic, other stuff, particularly in the new Studio Line nail range, is just piss poor! But I have always loved their mascara's, felt liners, powders, eyeshadows and eyebrow pencils!

I got t he new Stays No Matter What Waterproof eye pencil in Stunning Brown. I didn't buy it to use on my eyes, but my eyebrows. There is NOTHING in this world worse than an eyebrow pencil that smudges as soon as you look at, walking around for hours with your eyebrows down your nose and being none the wiser. THE HUMANITY!!!! I have high hopes for this, as I swear by the run of the mill Essence eyebrow pencil. I popped it on when I got home, left it a while, then gave it a little rub, and to be fair, it didn't smudge!! For €1.89, I'm very impressed! They could have been slightly more inventive with the name though!

Essence Stay No Matter What €1.89

I also got Essence Colour & Go Polish in 144 Black is Back. I have had a life long battle with black nail polish. It's verging on impossible to find a budget black polish that doesn't come out like mucky water and need 5-6 coats before it's not see through. This surprised me! It's easy to apply, but goes on a really dense, dark colour, 2 coats and your done! And it dries quick! If it doesn't chip like a bitch like most black polishes I'll be a very smug shopper!

Colour & Go 144 Black is back €1.79

So there ya have it! €9.96 spent in total, and overall i'm very happy. The Essence stuff surpassed my expectations, as did the vibrancy of the lipstick. If the mascara is any good I'll be 4 for 4!!!

17 Doll'd Up mascara and Eyeliner

Get both for €7.59 in Boots!

I've been lusting after a new mascara for a while, but i haven't seen any new ones that get my motor running for a while. I was in Boots over the weekend and found this little gem.

17 Doll'd up mascara, 2 coats

It was on special offer, €7.59 for the mascara, and you get the eyeliner free! Absolute bargain!
Initially i was a bit skeptical, as the brush is one of those hard bristle brushes, which i normally despise, but i gave it the benefit of the doubt and headed straight to the check out. And boy am i glad i did!

I'll start with the mascara, it absolutely exceeded my expectations. Im generally always pleasantly surprised by 17 mascara's, but none more so than this. It promises up to 24 hour curl, and to be fair, it pretty much delivers! Now, i haven't been pulling all nighters to test the theory, but i have been wearing it every day since i bought it. It stays put ALL day and I've yet to notice any flaking. My eyelashes look long and separated. Im even slightly converted to the ways of the stiff bristle brush!

Now on to the eyeliner, what little beauty! I go through eyeliner like nobodys business because i normally lash it on for big chunky cat flicks, and honestly, this is one of the best felt tip liners I've come across!

It has 3 tiny nibs as opposed to 1 thick one, giving you complete control over your look. Thick or thin, it's up to you. And this eyeliner isn't going anywhere. It's on for the day, no smudging, fading or bleeding. I find with most eyeliners that they will fade a lot on the outer corner of my eye, ruining my cat flick, but not this one!

All in all this is probably the best €7.59 I've ever spent in Boots. I couldn't recommend either of them highly enough!

Essence Get BIG Lashes volume curl mascara €2.97

This is a little gem!! I'm super skeptical of mascara's, and find it almost impossible to find one I really LOVE! Essence have brought out about 4 new mascara's, all aimed at big, bold lashes, and all under the €4 mark. This is the first one I've tried and I'm very impressed with it. I'm forever buying new mascara's in the hopes of finding that special one <3 I'm not sure if this is the ONE, but it's definitely the best I've come across in quite a while, and is wonderfully cheap!!

I have no complaints about this! I wore it all day yesterday, and it didn't smudge, clump, or start falling off in little flakes like some cheaper mascara's tend to do! It really separated my lashes, and definitely gave them a subtle, but noticeable curl! Particularly with my corner lashes, gave them a real cat's eye look!

The brush is also a nice big chunky one, which I love!! I really can't tolerate small brushes on a mascara wand. It's just.......wrong. I gave my lashes 2 coats on each eye and the look long, full of volume, and separated. I wouldn't necessarily use this as a going out mascara, I don't trust it enough just yet to put it to the test! But as a day time mascara...It's my new best friend!!