Maybelline The Falsies Flare Effect Mascara

Hello gorgeous people :) Hope you are all well today, I have had a very productive day between studying for uni, going food shopping, getting my currency for going away and going to meet a representative for the brand Tropic Skincare. I got a free facial and ended up buying myself an amazing body scrub, could not resist! But that's for another review, today I'm doing a review of a mascara which I would probably never have bought, but it arrived through my door in an envelope for me!

This isn't a PR gift, apparently I had voted for Maybelline in some sort of beauty awards thing online and was one of the lucky people to win a mascara for doing so! BONUS. Anyway, I'm a bit of a mascara snob usually so I don't tend to buy drugstore brands (bad, I know). But if it's free I'll always give it a bash!

Sorry if this looks a little beaten up, I've been taking it around with me in my handbag for a couple of days to give it a proper testing, and it seems to scratch rather easily. So this is the latest offering in the Volum'Express range of mascaras, which have been about for quite some time now in various formats. There seem to be 9 in the range at the moment, all in this funny tapered tube but in different colours. It is a very teenage-friendly tube, bulky, bright, easy to use but not very elegant. Cheap and cheerful but fairly pretty, it's only around the £8 mark so you can't expect too much. Plus if you're like me it will get ruined soon enough anyway getting lugged about in your handbag!

This is the brush, it's not a plastic one like we are seeing more and more of, but the interesting thing about this one is one side is straight while the other is curved. Ok, maybe not interesting but you catch my drift. You are supposed to use the "spoon side" against your lashes then the flat side to flare them out. Does this really work? I don't know about the specific sides etc but the effect is really very good for a drugstore mascara, I was very impressed with this! Check it out:

Before.

After!

I think the effect is quite impressive! Almost as good as Benefit's They're Real, the current bestselling mascara in the UK, if not as good. I really can see the flare looking at these pictures, and my eyes seem to have opened up almost instantly. Weirdly, I only recently found out that I have hooded eyelids, and not deep-set eyes as my mum used to say. Basically my eyelids aren't visible when I look fully straight ahead, even though I do have an eyelid crease. This is different to the monolid that many asian people have, but still leads to me being asked about my ethnicity sometimes. I don't mind at all, I love looking a bit different! I was watching a Pixiwoo video tutorial about makeup for hooded eyes and I was like OMG that's me! It's a bit annoying as if you put shadow on it can't be seen properly, or transfers higher up the lid than it's supposed to be.

Rant over haha.The main aim of this review was to talk about the mascara, got a little distracted there! 

10/10 for this definitely. Although a sneaky 5/10 for the packaging, sorry Maybelline but it's a bit garish.

Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush

Good morning everyone! I've got a little US ebay purchase for you today, I'd seen this blusher on a couple of blogs and international swaps and was instantly intrigued by how...squishy it looked! I couldn't quite get how you use it if the product just bounces back when you touch it. I decided on the shade no 20 Peach Satin.

It's more of a coral than a peach colour I think? The packaging is your bog standard Maybelline but is quite study and does the job!

This is what it looks like when you push your finger onto it isn't that crazy? It doesn't actually seem to bounce back up as such, but if you push another bit down this comes up again, if that makes sense. Also if you just push down on it none comes off on your finger which makes application a little difficult, you need to really drag your finger into and across the product to get any off.

I don't know if you can see it properly but some of the product comes off in little bits which is a tad irritating. However, all that aside, this product feels beautiful on, very silky and smooth. It is a stunning colour and lasts well on, I put this on to swatch it and it would not come off for hours! I think if you ignored the finger application and used this with a stippling brush it would rival the best cream blushes in the business. If you fancy a break from the norm, get yourself onto ebay and order one of these.

7/10 but only because the product is so hard to get out of the pot and onto the skin