#QuickReview – Diorshow Mascara

We love a little luxury here at thebeautyobsession, and whilst we know there are many, many budget brands that offer fabulous products at great prices, sometime we just can’t help ourselves from going a little high end! 

Diorshow is one of the many mascaras we have on the go at any one time, but it’s also one of the few that we’ve repurchased time and time again.

To start with, it’s Dior! Like we’ve said, there’s something very indulgent about trawling the makeup counters at your nearest department store and knowing that you can buy with confidence. Not only are there some knowledgeable assistants on hand to help, department stores are normally very good at accepting exchanges if you don’t like a product – we’ve done it a number of times. Plus it’s nice every now and again to feel like you’re treating yourself! 

Diorshow comes with a large thick brush, which at first look does seem a little too big. However, it picks up just the right amount of product and is great for creating a dramatic effect. The mascara isn’t too wet, but is easy to apply across the top lashes. If you’re worried about the brush, it does take a little getting use to so that you don’t get any product on the lid, but placing a finger behind the lashes does help with this. 

It is a little harder to use this one on the bottom lashes, due to the size of the brush. Then again we normally use a different waterproof mascara on the bottom lashes anyway.

The pigment in Diorshow is fantastic, it really is the blackest black and the formula helps create real volume in the lashes. We think they look instantly thicker, and wouldn’t be without this for our nights out or days when we want to make a big impression! 

We have also tried the newer version; Diorshow Blackout, which is supposed to give your lashes even more volume. However, we found the formula far too wet and quite difficult to apply. It left our lashes quite clumpy, so we promptly returned it and exchanged it for the original. We have yet to try the rotating version so would be really interested to hear any feedback or reviews.

Have you ever tried Diorshow, if so what did you think? Have you got a favourite product where the newer version hasn’t been as good in your opinion? 

Diorshow lowest prices – £19.55 from escentuals, £17.95 from ClickFragrance

Our Top 5 Favourite Products this week….!

Here’s our round-up of our favourite five products from all that we have featured in the last week……

Magnetic Attraction

We featured three magnetic polishes in our review of this fab trend – and we loved all three of them! Take a look here…..and here!

Tools of the Trade

Finally we’ve managed to find some really good quality brushes that are really reasonably priced!

Read it Now!

Nurture your Skin with Nurture’s Nourishing Rescue Balm

Perfect for winter skin this balm is great for saving you from dry, sore skin. 

Read it Now!

YSL Shocking!

Want long, dramatic lashes? We really liked YSL Shocking, take a look and see why…

Read it Now!

Sleek Contour Kit

If you want to define your face with the fabulous trick of contouring, it’s so easy to do with this palette!

Read it Now!

YSL Shocking

Unfortunately not all of us are blessed with luscious long lashes. Some of us are on an never-ending search for a mascara that actually does what it says on the tube and gives us enviable longer, thicker lashes!

We’ve heard a lot about Shocking by YSL so we decided to give it a try. Here’s what Selfridges had to say about it:

“Yves Saint Laurent’s new Luxurious Mascara Shocking Volume for a False Lash Effect coats lashes instantly with outrageous volume for a scandalous, seductive look. Mastering a perfect cut, Yves Saint Laurent reveals an innovative brush that includes: an ample helix cut capturing an ideal dose of formula, multi–directional bristles draw the formula to the brush for an instant release. While its asymmetric shape is designed to capture all lashes for amazing length and curl. The advanced formula thickens the appearance of lashes for the most shocking false lash effect.”

Bold claims we’re sure you’ll agree. So now here’s what we think…..

As always with YSL, we love the luxurious packaging. We also liked the look of the brush. It’s straight and thin with soft, pliable teeth. We chose Shade 1, Deep Black, and the colour is really strong.

The mascara itself is quite wet, which means that it does have a tendency to overload onto the brush. We do find that it applies better if we wipe off the excess on the edge of the tube.

Once you’ve removed the excess it is easy to apply without getting any on the eyelid, and the brush does pick up even smaller lashes. It definitely separates and lengthens, but its not a particularly volumising mascara. We found that it does have a tendency to clump after any more than two coats, but if you’re not a complete mascara junkie like us, you should be fine!

We think Shocking gives a dramatic effect, and our lashes definitely look longer and more defined, which would be great for a night out but if you’re looking for volume over length this probably isn’t the one for you. We’re thinking about purchasing it in brown to use as an everyday mascara, as the more natural brown might fool people into thinking our lashes are naturally this long!

As with all lengthening mascaras, we wouldn’t recommend this one for those of you lucky ladies who have already been blessed with long lashes, unless you like the spindly spider look!

YSL Shocking is priced at £23 and is available from various stockists.

Here’s our before and after, what do you think?

 

Let us know your favourite mascara or if there are any you’d like us to review.

B is for…………….Benefit

Next in our #AtoZBeautyFaves series is Benefit. Benefit is a brand that really needs no introduction. Arriving in the UK in 1997, this fun and fabulous American brand is one thebeautyobsession can’t get enough of! Allegedly started when its two founding sisters created Benetint as a nipple tint for an exotic dancer, there is now a Benefit stand or pop up in almost every department store in the country. In 2003 they launched the Benefit Brow bars so you could get a shape and tint at the same time as buying your Brow Zings. Now if you’re lucky enough to have a Benefit Boutique near you like we are, you can even get a tan and a leg wax at the same time! And as the whole shop floor is purely Benefit, we often behave like little kids high on sugar when we visit!

You might already know that we have a passion for packaging (we don’t get out much) and Benefit are the type of brand you buy so you can look at them as well as use them. Or is that just us? We love the product names and the Benebabe characters. Sometimes makeup and beauty can be taken a bit too seriously and Benefit is the perfect anecdote to that.

As well as their individual products, Benefit sell a number of kits which we find invaluable, they can show you how to create the look in a few easy steps. Get smoky eyes with Big Beautiful Eyes, wake up your face with Finding Mr Bright and now you can create a whole look with their How to Look the Best at Everything kits.

So here are our top 5 Benefit Beauty product of the moment:

Confessions of a Concealaholic – We can’t live without this little kit! As much as we all like to think we’re natural beauties, we do have the odd parts we like to hide. The kit contains a mini That Gal primer (see full review later), two shades of Boing Concealer, which we use to cover everything from undereye bags to blemishes, and we swear by it for covering redness around our nose. There’s also a mini pot of Erasepaste which is a heavier concealer for really bad days or nasty blemishes! We also use the Lemon Aid which is a yellow eyelid primer – the yellow helps minimise any darkness in the lids, and Eye Bright which we put in the inside corners to give us a more awake look. Buy it for £28.50

High beam – This was the first product we ever bought from Benefit and we still swear by it now. We use this as a highlighter on our cheekbones, browbones, bridge of our nose and cupids bow as it really lifts the face – we can’t do without it after a heavy night. It blends really easily and you can apply a little for a subtle glow or build it up for a night out. Buy it for £18.50.

That Gal – If you haven’t guessed already, we need a lot of help brightening up in the mornings! We love That Gal as it helps us do just that. Used as a brightening primer we pat it onto our skin (not rub) before applying our base and it gives a light glow throughout the day. If we’re feeling really dull then we’ll also pat a bit on over the top of our foundation. As it sits really nicely on the skin and feels really light, we like using it either way. £21.50

Cheek Tints – We actually have two joint favourite products; Benetint and Cha Cha Tint. Both are lip and cheek stains and both work in the same way, but they’re two very different colours. We love Cha Cha tint’s mango/coral colour for the summer (or when we want to feel like it’s summer!). Benetint is perfect for a flushed look all year round. We recommend applying with fingertips to the apples of the cheeks and blending well before it stains. Don’t paint it directly onto the face with a little brush as it will leave brush lines. We do sometimes use a buffing brush to apply them for a really natural look. We also use them as lip stains, on their own for a natural look or underneath lipstick so that you have some colour remaining when your lipstick fades. We like how you can build up the colour to get the look you want, night or day. £24.50 each.

They’re Real – This is something else that needs no introduction. They’re Real seem to have featured in every magazine and blog since it was released and whilst we don’t like overhyped products, this one genuinely deserves to be talked about. The mascara really does coat individual lashes without giving a spider effect and the shape of the brush means you can get even the little lashes.

Benefit is definitely a thebeautyobsession favourite. They regularly bring out new products which we love trying when we can, but we think the have some really good staple products that will always be in our makeup bags.

What’s your favourite Benefit product? Have you ever had a Benefit treatment done, if so what did you think?

A is for….Avon!

We thought we should start of the first in our A-Z of Beauty Favourites with an oldie but a goodie. Avon has been around in the UK since 1959, when it was better known for its door-to-door sales and the catchphrase “Avon calling!”

Nowadays Avon is still a household name and according to their website can boast some very impressive stats:

• Avon sells more lipstick, nail enamel, eye-make-up, fragrance and skincare than any other brand in the UK (according to independent market researchers TNS).
• One in three women in the UK is an Avon customer.
• Six million women in the UK see an Avon brochure every three weeks.
• 10,000 Representative orders are processed daily at Avon Cosmetics UK’s distribution centre.

Here at thebeautyobsession, we love searching out new brands and finding innovative products, but we do strongly feel there is also a lot to be said for a proven reputation and that is something that Avon definitely has. We’ve noticed that Avon have been working hard to shake off their more mature image and we were really surprised when we last picked up an Avon book and realised that a; it actually is like a book now – a fully bound mini catalogue no less and b; that they’ve teamed up with stars such as Reese Witherspoon and Alesha Dixon to promote some of their ranges and inject some up-to-date glamour.

We thought you might like to see some of our current Top 5 Avon favourites. They’re a real mix of treats:

 

Planet Spa Indulgence – African Shea Butter & Chocolate Truffle Body Truffle: This is our current favourite body butter, so much so that we ordered three tubs last time just in case they stop doing it! We wish you were able to smell this as we think it is divine. It is a traditional coco butter smell, mixed with a sweet chocolate scent. The butter is thick and creamy but is easily spread onto the skin and soaks in quite quickly. We also like how it leaves a very slight shimmer on the skin.

Anew Treatment Concentrate: The Anew range receives quite a lot of acclaim in the beauty world and we love this product especially. We put it on after cleaning but before moisturising our face and it helps give the skin a lovely smooth feeling without feeling tight. We noticed after one week of using twice a day our skin looked brighter and skin tone more even.  It’s definitely comparable to a much more expensive anti-aging serum.

Magix Face Perfector : We love the feel of this primer on our skin, it gives a satin effect – as long as you don’t get carried away with rubbing it or it will start flaking and peeling and is not a good look! It gives a good base for makeup and does help it last longer than usual, which when considering the price, we think equates to good value. We would say that this does contain quite a lot of silicones, which we know some of our readers don’t get on with, so we wouldn’t recommend it if that’s the case for you.

Glimmerstick’s in Ultra Violet, Midnight Blue & Smokey Diamond: We really like products that do what they say on the tin as it were and we think the diamond sticks do just that. They’re soft, blendable and easy to apply and we love these three colours for something a bit different to the usual black and brown.

SuperCurlacious Mascara: This is one of our favourite “everyday” products. We tend to use the black/brown for a more natural look and the black when we want something a bit more intense. The wand is a good size and the brush a useful curve shape which helps lift and separate lashes and it doesn’t clump even with a few coats on. We’re not talking false lashes amazing, but for the price this is an excellent staple. The only grumble we have is that the tubes do tend to dry out a bit quickly.

Now we’re not suggesting that all Avon products are as great as the above, although a lot are. We didn’t get on with their illuminating under-eye concealer or a couple of their liquid foundations, for shade and texture reasons. However, what we think is hugely underrated about Avon, is their 90-day money-back guarantee! As far as we’re aware, no other cosmetics retailer offers that. If you’re unhappy with a product for whatever reason, even if you have been using it, you can return it up to 90 days after delivery. We think that is pretty amazing and testament to their confidence in their products.

You can buy Avon products online, or find your local representative here and order from the brochure.

 Do you use Avon products? What do you think of them? Any favourites or definitely “no no’s”? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you.

Follow this series on twitter and let us know your A-Z, with #AtoZBeautyFaves

Thanks for reading.

tbo

xxx