Review - The Beauty Blender + cleaning fluid = AMAZE

Beauty Blender. Yesterday. 

Hello! So, despite me never posting this blog ANYWHERE or sharing it or telling anyone about it. It seems I have an awful lot of readers and I have to admit, i'm shocked and very very flattered. 

The Beauty Blender is an oldie, and oft written about, but for such a ubiquitous product in the internet world, I barely know any woman that owns or knows about its talents. Weird non?

Now, there is one point I have to make, this guy is quite pricey, he retails at £16 for on solitary sponge, and £26 for the above kit, which I kindly had purchased for me, which includes the special anti bacterial wash you need to clean him up after usage. 

The Beauty Blender ltd ed white kit with solid cleanser and carrier

Lets see what the press blurb says....

"the ultimate make up sponge applicator. Beautyblender has been created to leave you with a professional finish and a flawless complexion. Forget your fingers or sharp-edged triangular sponges, these application methods waste make up and can leave visible streaks."

I have read a million foundation application products claim that they will do just what the beauty blender says, and I have used everything except an airbrush, in the hope they'll do what they claim. Here's the news, The Beauty Blender does EVERYTHING IT CLAIMS.

Literally. Every single thing.

Here's how to use it - run it under a tap, squeeze out the excess. Put your foundation on the back of your hand. Pick a small amount up with the sponge, and bounce over entire face until you have the finish you desire. Wait for foundation to dry down. MARVEL AT COMPLEXION.

It does what no other tool can, you can easily build coverage over red areas, nip in around the nose, fill in pores, then follow up with concealer under the eyes. If you're feeling fruity, you can also press in your powder with it.

I have to impress upon you, over and over, that this is a MUST HAVE product. MUST. HAVE.

It does give an airbrushed finish, it does make the product easy to distribute, it's easy to keep clean and it's just the most perfect thing I own. Is that a recommendation? Do I sound like a loon? Yeah...probably.

If you want to dive in to easy foundation application, then you can purchase the beauty blender, in all its various formats, direct from the manufacturer website HERE or from Cult beauty HERE 

DJV Beautinizer Volume Lash update

Recently I gave a first impressions review on the DJV Beautinizer Volume Lash mascara that was rocking my tiny world. Well, I just wanted to give you this little update with my thoughts on this mascara.

All you girls who suffer with straight, short, miserable lashes that want some real results, I would not recommend ANY OTHER MASCARA. I'm serious. The Cult Beauty review on the site says...

"Name a potential mascara fault and this genius product solves it. If this mascara was a man, Cult Beauty would marry it!"

And every word of this, I back up, nearly. It's not a clump free miracle as 'such' but frankly, a bit of buggering about with a lash comb for these kind of results, who cares!?

Okay, so here, is a bullet point way to apply this bad boy.

1. Apply to clean dry lashes, a lash primer thoroughly, my personal preference is Diorshow Maximiser (available for a discounted price at Escentual right now £19.55), which not only plumps the lashes superficially, but treats and nourishes them.

2. Then, working on one eye at a time, apply the beautinizer in a zig zag motion to build product up at the roots, whilst tilting your head back and looking down at the mirror. This method gives you maximum space to encourage a curl, whilst also giving you the ability to splay the lashes out, inner to outer corner. 

3. Next, using a lash comb, carefully comb through the lashes. My personal preference of lash combs, and i've tried a great many, are either the Real Techniques Lash/Brow Groomer (currently on offer at a 15% discount at HQ Hair), or my personal favourite, the recently release Mac duo lash comb/brow brush, available for £5 from Mac Cosmetics online. I love this comb more than any other due to it's thicker more spacious comb, which means you can achieve a proper wide eyed sixties look. It's brilliant!

4. Repeat the above steps, two more times if you need to. Up to you really!

5. If there's still not enough curl for you, and here's why I love this mascara, you can then use a lash curler, like Shu Uemura lash curler (£20 from House of Fraser), which really does live up to all its hype, on the roots of the lashes, and that curl will stay ALL DAY. Believe me! If your curl does eventually drop, you can just use the curlers then, with no damage and no stickiness. Amazing. 

As an aside, if you want to go PROPER mental with the length and this isn't crazy enough, you can use some lengthening fibres such as Divaderme Lash Extender fibres, which come in black. They're great btw, so I might just do a separate review. I've been using them for about two years and I have yet to find a better alternative! 

So ladies, go forth, have AMAZING lashes. It makes you feel right lovely!

Review - Djv Beautinizer Volume Mascara

So the other day I received an promotional e mail from Cult Beauty detailing the pro's of 'the best mascara you'll ever use'. Now me, being a mascara junkie, immediately started salivating. I buy ANY mascara if I see a hint of a good review. I have had buzzing, spinning, mechanical, downright terrifying mascaras pass through my ownership. Cult Beauty have said if you, or I, don't love this mascara, we can have a full refund. Now, it's pretty pricey, for my budget, at £18, but I couldn't stop obsessing about it, so Cult Beauty got my £18, and I received my Djv Beautinizer Volume Mascara.

There she is, apparently the best mascara i'll ever own!

A little background on my lashes, they are thin, sparse, whatever you want to call it, and straight, and do NOT hold a curl. My usual routine includes Diorshow Maximiser, Shu Uemura Lash Curler, Diorshow Blackout Mascara and much combing with my Real Techniques lash and brow groomer. So, yes, rather a lot of elbow grease in getting my lashes looking acceptable.

The official website says....

Volume Lash is a lash coating plumper which seamlessly coats each lash with the thick, 3D film-coating formula. Features finer, uniformly sized particles that contain 2.4 times* the ingredients strengthening the adhesion to lashes for seamless volume with one stroke (*in-house comparison).
This quick-dry, budge-proof formula is also fragrance-free and leaves your eyes irritation-free.

So today, I tried this new mascara, without any lash primer, or lash curler, but with a lash comb. See those results.

My pathetic lashes. Look how short, thin and miserable they are!?

And here, again, straight, stubby and thin. Boo!

Lashes with two coats of DJV Beautinizer Mascara on and lash combed.

So, er, it's quite a dramatic change isn't it!? Now, this is the kind of results I like. A LOT. However, it didn't come without it's difficulties. One coat, I could see the claim of 'no clumps' wasn't quite true, as it did clump straight away. I gave my lashes a couple of combs through, and went in for a second coat, before the first dried as per the instructions, and combed again, and this was the result. Pretty impressive no?

Other downsides were that it did flake a little, and I did fall asleep for a little while due to feeling rather poorly, and I woke up and it was clump city. How often do you expect to look good after a sleep though? 

Frankly, I love the results so much, I don't care about the cons, because the pro's are so awesome. Also, taking it off was a breeze, just a warm flannel and off it came! 

If you want to jump on the mega volume train, you can join me by purchasing it from Cult Beauty here for £18, and if you hate it, you can get your money back.  I doubt you'll want to though, it's GRRREAT!!!!