ladiesfirst • beauty
TRIED and TESTED summer
essentials
Our readers each put a bronzer, lippy and mascara through their paces
Rating: 5/5
Tester: Claire Bevan, 20, Team Manager Product: Estée Lauder Limited Edition Exotic Lip Gloss in Wild Orchid, £15 Beautiful colour! This gloss looks quite bright at first, but when you put it on it appears quite pink. It is very silky on and doesn't feel sticky like many lip glosses. The brush is great if you've got lips that are quite small or uneven. As time goes by and the gloss starts to wear off, it leaves your lips coloured pink which is great if you haven't got time to keep topping up your lip colour.
Tester: Marie Durbin, 42, Bank Manager
Rating: 5/5 00
Product: Benefit BADGal Waterproof Mascara, £15.50 This mascara is great for defining and lengthening your lashes. It looks very glossy when on and really separated my lashes, so would be perfect for both short and long lashes. It was most definitely waterproof too, although I did find it difficult to remove, and the colour seemed to drop under my eye after a while leaving a slight grey tone. Overall though, a good mascara.
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 3/5
Product: Givenchy Limited Edition Fleur de Frangipanier Illuminating Powder in Natural Tan, £32.50 This is now my favourite new product! It’s beautifully packaged, and comes with a mirror and small blusher brush. I applied it with a larger powder brush and found it gave a golden glow without being orange. It felt silky smooth against my skin, and the powder didn’t break away like with some brands. It gave enough coverage to use without foundation for a warm summer glow. I would definitely use it again.
Rating: 4/5 Product: Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Shimmer Brick in Beach, £29.50 Perfect for the summer, this bronzer has five tones in the compact with one shade acting as a highlighter. The highlighter helped to really define my cheekbones and gave a lovely shimmer. It felt very light on the skin too, which is great for summer when you don’t want heavy products. Product: Daniel Sandler Limited Edition Micro Bubble Lipstick in Flamingo, £12.50 Packaged in a smart pewter silver case, I found this lipstick easy to apply and it glided on without drying my lips. The product stayed in place until lunchtime, and didn’t have a nasty aftertaste like some lippies. I would definitely choose the brand again but in an alternative shade perhaps as this one was a little bright for me.
Product: Estée Lauder Sumptuous Waterproof Mascara, £18 I tried the brown shade here, whereas I always wear black, and was pleasantly surprised with the more natural look. The mascara felt smooth and was fine to use, and lengthened my lashes too. I didn’t notice if it made them any thicker, but it was easily removed with my usual make up remover. The mascara stayed put when I went swimming and only slightly smudged. This is a good buy for a natural daytime look.
Rating: 4/5
ladiesfirst • beauty
Rating: 4/5
Tester: Hannah Dickenson, 29, Charity Director
Rating: 3.5/5
Product: MAC Splashproof Mascara, £12.50 I had high expectations with this product because I’m a MAC fan, but I have to admit - at first it didn’t blow me away. The applicator is quite hard so it takes a little longer to get an even look, and it wasn’t a full-on ‘look at my crazy eyelashes’ mascara, but nor was it an ‘I’m a natural beauty’ either - so good for day-to-night and I really like the fact that it’s splash-proof. It even survived me rubbing my tired computer eyes when I forgot that I had put it on!
Product: Illamasqua Bronzing Duo in Glint & Burnish, £20 Bronzer is never the first thing that I reach for when I put on my make-up, as it’s not an essential for me, so before I used this product I was slightly cynical. However, for a bronzer, it is everything I would want – subtle, not too shimmery, and very silky to the touch. The two tones are very complimentary to someone with uneven skin tone (i.e. the majority of us). I have a strange skin tone where I’m naturally pale but tan very well, so it is always hard to match beauty products with this quality - but the Illamasqua did a very nice job.
Product: Dior Addict Ultra Gloss Flash in shade 686, £19.50 I’m a bright colour kind of gal so this product was right up my street. I usually find with lip gloss that the colour is never quite as bright as it looks in the tube, but with this – it’s pink! It lasts longer than other products I’ve tried with no re-application needed for about four hours. It’s very sparkly and after the initial application wears off slightly, you can feel the almost gritty sensation of the glitter on your lips. Personally I think that it’s worth putting up with for a really luscious look.
/5 Rating: 4.5
Tester: Natalie Canning, 28, Hair Stylist
Rating: 5/5
Product: Sisley Phyto-Touches Sun Glow Pressed Powder Coffret, £64 Great product, very easy to apply, and it has makeup tips on the back of the coffret package that are very helpful. The compact has both a highlighter and a bronzer that combined to give me a lovely sun-kissed glow. The coffret includes a nice sized mirror to fit in your handbag and small applicator brush. This product was very luxurious.
Product: Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Fuchsia, £7.99 This lipstick went on smoothly, felt very moisturising, and the colour was great for any skin colouring. After wearing the lipstick for a while though it started to bleed a little around the edge of my lips, and did go onto my teeth 5 4/ g: Ratin when I spoke. It gave my lips a real colour Rating: 3.5 /5 burst, but was perhaps a bit too moisturising which If you’d like to get involved in a Ladies First review, join our ‘Over To You!’ caused it to spread. club at www.ladiesfirst.co.uk - just log on and register your details! 00 Product: Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Waterproof Mascara, £15.00 This was really nice to apply because the wand has a large, full bristled brush. I needed to apply a few applications to build it up so it was noticeable but once I did that you could definitely see a big difference - my lashes were thicker and longer. I did the waterproof test in the shower and it didn’t budge, but came off easily when I used eye make-up remover wipes. I was very impressed - my lashes actually looked the same when I got out of the shower as they did when I got in - no black smudges!