Secret Beauty Blog -

As a bit of a liner addict, it’s very rare I’m without my cat-flicked lined eyes. Having only embraced the look in the past year or so thanks to sponge-tipped liquid liners I’ve struggled in the past with traditional liner brushes and have never given gel liners a second look, reasoning I wouldn’t be able to get on with the brush application. The only other gel liner I’ve tried is the ELF Studio gel liner and I hated it! It was thick, waxy and went on patchy. I do think liquid liner does require some training, everyone has their own technique and this time last year I wasn’t very confident and had inch-thick flicks that took me about an hour to do, using the ol’ dot to dot trick which is a popular method shown by make-up artists. Illamasqua’s Precision Ink has been my weapon of choice since it’s release, the soft sponge tipped applicator makes lining my eyes a breeze and literally takes a 2 second sweep, the only downside is the price (£17.00) and the fact with everyday use I get through them pretty quick. Whilst browsing my local Boots I came across the Maybelline stand …

My boyfriend has his moments with his beauty products, I’m always buying him lotions and potions and every now and again he has a big pampering session. The face scrub I got him way back when we first started going out (3 years ago) is still 3/4 full, much like the other face products he has gathered from Christmases and birthdays. The only products he really gets excited about (and uses!) is fragrance. He gives anything a go scent wise, but his all  time favourite is the chav choice Issey Miyake, closely followed by Paco Rabanne Ultraviolet.

On being presented with Boss Orange he didn’t think it was Hugo Boss as the bottle was square, and not round like most Hugo fragrances. He loves the feel of the bottle, he found it sturdy and comfortable to hold unlike some fragrances where you need two hands to use it. He loves the look of the bottle, with the ‘6 pac’ pattern and the bold square shape with chrome decoration he has it proudly displayed on his shelf and has no qualms about getting it out in public! With top notes of crisp apple there is a slight whiff of DKNY …

Me and my hair have never had a happy relationship. It’s a frizz puff away from being curly yet the wave is so strong if I was to straighten it and tuck it behind my ears the ‘kink’ would stay and just look like I hadn’t bothered. I’ve been a very big fan of Kerastase since I started getting into beauty and had a bit of money to spend (I had my first job at 16). I’ve always found Kerastase to work really well for my hair, I was faithful to the Oleo-Relax line on and off for many years but as I go through shampoo & conditioner really quickly it was a bit hard on my pocket. The serum is absolutely amazing, and to this day I haven’t used anything better to tame the frizz!

My hair’s suffered many a drama, from the hazy teen days of Sun-in to the drastic afro-relaxing treatment I put my poor hair through when I was 18. I also sported peroxide blonde highlights for around 3 years so I think it’s fair to say my hair has been put through quite an ordeal! Although I’ve recovered my hair to the best condition …

Created by Jimmy Choo’s founder Tamara Mellon, I knew this scent would smell as sexy as the shoes look. Everything from the advertising visuals, the bottle and the scent itself just scream class (which is not my usual choice of fragrance, haha).
Tamara Mellon, OBE, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Jimmy Choo oversees the creative vision of the Jimmy Choo brand. From the time she founded the company nearly 15 years ago as the ultimate shoe brand, her dream has always been to fully accessorize and capture the hearts of women around the world, by building a complete luxury lifestyle accessory house – synonymous with Oscar winners and the Hollywood’s A-list.
The bottle is absolutely gorgeous, a heavy luxe glass design that would look amazing on any dressing table, and definitely fits the vibe of the brand. Very reminiscent of Viktor & Rolfs infamous Flowerbomb not only by looks as you are immediately hit with a burst of sugar sweetness thanks to the top notes of pear nectar and sweet Italian orange. The initial sweetness mellows down into a complex blend of musk and floral, it’s very hard to describe as every time I take a sniff I get …

I don’t know why but I’ve never actually purchased anything from Benefit before make-up wise. I’ve had the Maybe Baby perfume and the freebie Bad Gal eye liner, and a mini Bad Gal mascara (that came free with magazines) but I’ve never handed over my hard earned cash on a Benefit make-up item. I think it was always the high prices and bad reviews that put me off, I wasn’t impressed the ‘cult’ Bad Gal mascara & liner and everything else just seemed like a gimmick? Anyway, browsing the Debenhams online sale I spotted this beauty for just £16 .67 and as I was going to buy Coralista anyway I thought this was a right bargain, seeing as the RRP is £25 and I get to sample the infamous Dallas which I was also keen to try.
The ‘Powder Time Lover’ blush palette features a cute mini version of Benefit classics – Dallas, Coralista & Dandelion all housed in a sturdy cardboard palette with a mini blush brush. The powders are 3g each, which is a perfect to sample seeing as the full size powders are 11g. Who gets through a whole blusher anyway? Not me =)

Swatched L-R Coralista …

”This Christmas step out from the shadows and into the limelight with a little help from VIE at home.
Introducing the new colour collection – BEDAZZLED. Feel magical this holiday season with
bewitching shades, sparkles and illuminating tones.”

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the cute nail polishes and lip gloss pencils, and having not tried anything from the brands makeup collection I was pleasantly surprised. I snob in me was expecting Avon-esque (sorry Avon!) quality, you know… Fancy packaging and glossy images but in reality a bit poo =0/ but I haven’t stopped wearing the bronze lip gloss pencil and am currently sporting the red glitter polish on my toes.
Here’s the cute nail polishes, as a collection of 4 these make a lovely stocking filler and at just £12 that’s only £3 per polish. The colours are all wearable and perfect for the Christmas season, I LOVE the red glitter and dark blue! The silver is slightly sheer and definately a 3 coater, and I can see the duochrome being very popular.

All swatches are just 2 coats, no basecoat or top coat I was applying pureply to be taken straight back off but I found the application …

So after seeing Eyeko blasted all over the blogsphere and being invited to their London event a few weeks ago, I deceided to see what all the fuss was about as I hadn’t used anything from the brand before. Apparently they used to be in Superdrug, but now are only available online from their website, ASOS and a few independent sites.
I ordered the Big Eyes mascara after seeing a few positive reviews and actually quite like it! I love the tube packaging, and the wand does a great job of getting to every lash.
”Long & luscious lashes in 1 easy squeeze.
Transforms lashes in the twinkle of an eye! Lash friendly formual combining natural oils and silicones with added Panthenol (Vitamin B).
Designed to prevent dryness, premature breakage and to promote lash growth. The brush has widely dispersed bristles for evenly coated perfectly separated long lashes.”

I love love love the packaging, it’s so cute! The tube is a quirky touch but I’m not sure it’s the most practical, I bet I will waste a lot of product as the wand can’t get to it =0/
The brush is also quite unique, the helter-skelter style bristles really latch …

ARK skincare work in a very clever way, rather then range their products to your skintype the products are designed to work with your skins needs depending on your age. There are 3 groups, age repair (teens to early 30s), age maintain (mid 30s to 50s) and age repair (50+). The products are all laid out well on the website, making it easy to what your skin needs and there is also an online skin assessment feature where you will receive a £10 discount towards ARK products! I think that is a fantastic idea, not only do you get the discount but you get a real feel for the right products for your skin and what you should be using in your regime. As I fit into the ‘age repair’ catagory I have the Skin Refining exfoliator and as an extra treatment for my mild acne-prone skin I have the Ckearing Skin Response Serum.

Age Repair Skin Refining Exfoliator £27.70

”This exfoliator refines texture and clears pores, leaving skin smooth and soft to touch.

Gently removes dead skin cells, debris and grime from the skin’s surface.
Contains anti-bacterial Margosa Leaf, natural sloughing particles of Loofah and active Bentonite clay beads that …

Ultra-feminine, glamorous and excessive…The Lady Million woman embodies the ideal woman. No man can resist her and the best won’t ever be enough for her!

Indeed…!
If you know (and love) the male countrpart this will be right up your street! I adore the original ‘1 Million’ but unfortunately my boyfriend doesn’t share my enthusiasm so I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to try Lady Million. I don’t know about you but I don’t like the idea of wearing mens fragrance, I don’t know why, I just don’t.
I’m also not too keen on the packaging, to me it just seems cheap and is quite difficult to spray on, you have to hold the base with your fingers and spray the whole of the top with your thumb. It’s a bit awkward and I prefer a more traditional bottle shape. It also sits at a funny angle as the bottom is a diamond shape so it can’t sit flat. Hmmm. The liquid inside is yellow, well yellow gold which reminds me of a really strong old lady scent. No not that, I mean something like Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers, ewww! Not …

I’m so excited to show you all this, I have had such good results!
I’m not going to lie, after seeing a few other bloggers’ bad experiences with it I was a bit hesistant but I only had a few hiccups in the beginning. My eyes were a tad itchy within the first week of use, nothing major just a tickle and I also got some slight redness. It wasn’t enough to make me stop using it but everyone reacts differently, I didn’t notice any lash loss at all during my entire trial so don’t let the horror stories put you off! Please read my original post here for all the facts etc. They recommend 8 weeks is the best time to see significant changed, so this is my review at the 8 week period.
Here’s my lashes at the start of the trial, completely bare:

And this is after 8 weeks of using Rapid Lash, again my lashes are completely bare:

Wooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again bare lashes at the start of the trial:

And with mascara after 8 weeks:

So there you have it! I am so impressed, I love my long eyelashes =)

I’m going to let the pics do the talking, all you need to …