On time! Sort of. yeah.

The big thing this month, for me, has been wipes. I love wipes. After a long day at college and an hour or two or three or four or yeah spent doing nothing productive on the Internet, you realise you have three pieces of homework due in the next day and so stay up until 5:30 doing them, sleep for an hour and then up to go to school again (yes, this has happened to me. On more than one occasion.) In this situation, makeup wipes save your skin from taking that hour long nap smothered by your makeup. Even though recently, I've been wearing my homemade BB Cream, it's not an actual cream - that is, you still need to remove it like you would regular makeup, especially if you put powder over the top like I do. It can still clog pores. So a quick wipe down with one of these minature blankets of goodness and maybe a quick rinse/cleanse if I remember, and that is all too often, my nighttime skincare routine.



I finished one packet of these Primark wipes and still have another to go...can't say I'm that keen, in all honesty. Their smell really puts me off, and they feel a little abrasive once you're done with them - I can't tell whether my skin feels strongly exfoliated or a little raw. If you don't moisturise immediately afterwards, your skin feels incredibly dry. All in all, I'm not keen. These are a pound for two packets of 25 wipes (so essentially, a pound for 50 wipes) which is good value for money. I suggest you try them and see whether you like them for yourself, but if you don't like strong smells then steer clear.



This Elizabeth Arden toner doesn't actually come with a spray pump, I fixed one on. I can't say I really know what to look for in a toner...(yes, that is a cop out) but this one seems nice. It gets off any remaining makeup on my skin, which is what it's for, right?



Lastly, these Tesco Value wipes. I personally prefer these to the Primark ones any day. They don't have a strong, unpleasant scent; they're soft and gentle on my skin, and leave it feeling slightly moisturised (or at least, not as dry). 25 wipes cost around 28p, I believe - clear winners here are Tesco. When I take that inevitable leap into University life, my student finances will welcome these.

What makeup wipes do you use?

You know when a product gets so many things right, yet so many things wrong?

This is one of those products.



Before I launch into my review, firstly I am very sorry about not blogging recently - between school and work and everything, I really haven't had enough time :( I want GCSEs back!

Right, so from a totally objective point of view, the design of this mascara makes it look more expensive than it is. The huge, chunky black tube brings back memories of Elizabeth Arden's Natural Volume Mascara, though it's less weighty than its high end counterpart. Again, the brush is similar - chunky, unwieldy, hard to use and really messy (for me at least). The formula is wet. Very wet. Those that are fans of multiple coats may like that - I, pioneer of the 'wave it in the general direction of your eyes and go' technique, am not. It ruins my eyeshadow and gets all underneath my bottom eyelashes, ironically, just like the far more expensive but equally annoying Natural Volume mascara.

Does it supply volume to my lashes? I find this hard to judge, as the mascara is so hard to use anywhere near the base of my lashes that it's impossible to judge simply from application to the middle and the tips. It doesn't have much of a lengthening effect, but does make them blacker and thicker. Not by an incredible amount, but you can tell the difference.

This would have ended up being a 'so so' review if not for a serious incident on Saturday. If you've been reading long enough to remember this, my chief complaint with the Elizabeth Arden mascara:

The final, unforgiveable act of this mascara is that it left me weeping and broken on the floor of my bedroom. No lies. I was applying it and somehow managed to get it in my eye (who knows how? I don't) and within seconds I was a sobbing, mascara covered mess. Oh God, the burn. THE BURN. It hurts so much. It was like napalm in the eye. NAPALM, I TELL THEE.

How history repeats itself.
On Saturday, I was happily lifeguarding, wearing a couple of coats of the MUA Pro 'Extreme Volume' mascara for the first time. Up on the flume towers, happily watching ten year olds scream like they were at Thorpe Park while riding the tamest water slide to ever exist...when suddenly, disaster struck. Some combination of the moist, chlorine tinged air and the heat must have led to some of the mascara entering my eye, and I felt the most hideous, burning pain one could imagine in beauty terms. Worse than having your favourite lipstick being ground into the carpet by an unruly three year old niece or nephew. Worse than your pressed powder breaking inside your bag and spreading all over your homework due in for next period. WORSE THAN NAPALM IN THE EYE

Weeping, sobbing and getting looks from concerned customers, I bravely tried to fight it out for all of three minutes before breaking down and waving blindly at a collegue to cover me for five minutes so I could hose the offending substance out of my eye. After that experience, no. Just no.

Sadly, not everything that I bought this year was up to standard...

Urban Decay Loose Pigments in Asphyxia and Graffiti

I'm not as butthurt over these as I would be if I'd bought them at full price, but the applicator that the packaging forces you to use is just so irritating I don't feel like using these that often - which is a shame as the actual eyeshadows are gorgeous and buttery soft! I think Urban Decay is discontinuing these anyway now.

Consider if: You'd use these more to highlight the inner corners than all over the lid.

Chit Chat (Poundland) Concealer Stick in "Dark"

Dark my ass. Please. It's barely a shade darker than their medium and light concealers. It doesn't cover up spots or scars at all, creases like a mofo and is just all around disgusting. It looks beige/brown in the tube but turns an atrocious shade of yellow on the skin.

Consider if: Don't. Unless you want a very, very cheap concealer to do a mediocre job on your under eye circles. It creases as well.

Elizabeth Arden Lengthening Mascara

I don't know the exact name of this mascara as the packaging has worn off...not something that I expect from a high end mascara. It's the formula of the mascara that I hate. It's insanely wet and gets everywhere, including your freshly applied eyeshadow which you then have to reapply or take a cotton bud too. It sucks for the lower lashes as well, and the wand isn't really to my taste but that's quite a personal thing. After a month or so, the formula manages the impossible and stays wet but clumpy? So you have mascara that's wet and gets everywhere and the amount that has managed to stay on your lashes is clumpy. Gross.

Consider if: you're buying it as a present for someone that you don't like very much.

Elizabeth Arden Eye-Fix Primer

I find this product only holds shadow for about eight hours or so, which, while not horrible, isn't anywhere near say Urban Decay Primer Potion's performance and they're around the same price...also, eyeshadow begins fading around the four hour mark.

Consider if: you don't have access to anything better.