I’m a fairly fickle makeup artist as far as gel and cream pot liners go.  I rarely, if ever, use them under eyes, preferring to use them as top liner optical illusions, so when I was shopping at the Pixi Store in London a few months back, and in need of a new black gel liner, I was more than happy to select theirs, simply called Gel Liner.

It’s been in my pro kit ever since, and has been used on every eye and eye shape since!

I particularly like the creaminess of this, its very like Clinique’s gel liner, both of which have such a lovely consistency that one swipe is enough to do one eye.  No-one likes to have to keep going back to a pot for more product, and those of us who are sticklers for hygiene don’t want to have to use 4 or even 6 brushes on one client to avoid double-dipping.

So for the first time, in a long time, I will choose to restock this liner rather than just buying any old gel as and when I need it, based on the shop I’m standing in, I will make the conscious effort to rebuy the Pixi one (I quite fancy the Jade one!)!

but my eyeliner purchasing didn’t stop there.  I also bought one of their Endless Silky Eye Pens in no 2, Blue Black.

This is one of those clever/quirky/strange/wierd (delete as appropriate) products that has changing colours.  Its not a duochrome, its something different.

The pencil looks black at first glance, but when you swipe it, it appears to have deep blue sparkles.  Get it in sunlight and it takes on a purple hue of Cadbury proportions!

Its very creamy and whilst it does become smudgeproof, the initial creaminess means its workable and blendable meaning it’s a shadow style too.

What a good job I’m back in London in a few days, I certainly intend to get more shades of both the gel liner and the silky pens, I particularly like the look of Black Tulip and Deep Plum, but Black Cocoa looks equally nice… maybe I should buy them all?!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

I’ve been testing this for MAF for about 7 weeks now and feel happier about my eyes than I have in years.

The Crystal Clear Rollaway Serum is designed to reduce dark circles and firm skin, thus reducing the lines and wrinkles.

It’s not an overnight product, you do have to keep at it, but even in the early days, when there was nothing to see, just the feel of this under my eyes made me feel more confident about how I look.

Sometimes, just feeling good about yourself is enough, but the added bonus of this product actually working, and geuninely softening the lines around my eyes makes it a great buy from the first moment you put it on.

Having been blessed with baggy eyes, those didn’t shrink as such, but the crinkles and wrinkles (as Sam calls them!) have definitely shrunk, and my skin feels less saggy and a little tighter.  Concealer goes on much better now, and it doesn’t seem to sit in the lines anymore.  Probably because the lines are smaller.

Okay, so its not one of these instant shrinker spanx-for-your-face products like Genie or Eyesential, but the critical me can see the difference, and that’s okay.  I don’t need the world sticking their faces right upto my nose to see how different I look, feeling better and knowing that I look better is enough for me, and I shall definitely be buying this again, and I want to thank Sam for letting me be her guinea pig at trying this, even if she did have to keep nagging at me to write this review…

Helen Lawson

xjenniex2008 aka http://all-that-glitters-and-sparkles.blogspot.com/ and @jennifer1986!  a long standing MAF forum regular, and product tester, Jen’s been doing quite a bit of testing for MAF over the last few weeks, and this is just one of them!

I tested this in the shade Blancmange. On first impressions the packaging is quite cute, it doesn’t look cheap. It smells very sweet, you know how in America you get a lot of Grape flavoured things? It smells like that which is actually quite nice. I would say this is more of a balm it doesn’t make my lips glossy at all and my lips seem to soak it up quickly, but it does have vitamin E in. 

The only place I know where you can buy Miners is their own website and these sell for £2.99.

Kylie Toft tries out The Balm’s tinted gloss.

This is a really lovely product and I’ve loved testing it. The flavour is awesome, reminded me of banana shrimps! Yum yum. 

My lips are very dry but this product has really helped them and they feel in much better condition. It stays on for quite a while and I loved the slight tint to it- I used ‘Girly Girl’. 

On the downside it costs about £14 so is out of my price range.  However if money was no object I would definitely buy it again.

StruckbyaStar is one of MAF’s regulars, and has kindly shared her product review, with brave pictures, on the Forum.

“Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs

I got this on Amanda’s recommendation and I love it! I’m nearly through the can I bought in September. I got it in Light Glow, which is perfect for my skin tone and makes my legs look like they have a “soft” tan. 

This is part of the reason I wanted something to cover my legs with: 

And this is how that same spot looks with the spray: 

When I have it on, people do comment on my legs; I’ve been asked if I’m wearing tights and where I go to get my legs waxed! 

The leg at the top of the photo is the leg without spray- you can see the difference in the skin tone… 

Sorry for all the images, but I wanted to show how well it does cover imperfections! It costs about £6 in Superdrug, but I would definitely recommend it and buy it again because it works out lots cheaper than “pro” products like dermacolour. 
x”

Kylie Toft is one of the Moderators of the MAF forum, and is a regular contributor to the testing panel!  Here she tests a couple of Pat & Rub’s body products.

I’ve been testing two products from the Pat and Rub range which is one I’d never heard of before. 

Cool down and Glitter Body Balm 
I’m the kind of girl who loves a bit of sparkle so I really like the little gold flecks in this. It’s great to put on your legs now it’s summer and you don’t want to wear tights, your legs have a lovely sheen to them and it looks really nice when the light hits the gold particles. I didn’t really get the ‘cool down’ bit as it didn’t feel massively different from other body creams I’ve used and my appreciation is much more from an aesthetic point of view. 

Revitalising Body Oil 
Again, I used this product on my legs to help get them looking fab for summer. It made them very shiny- if a little greasy and helped them to feel silky smooth. However, I didn’t like the smell, the cranberry and lemon combination didn’t work for me and reminded me a bit of body odour! I also learnt very quickly not to use this straight after shaving my legs as it stung like mad. 

As much as I liked the look of the body butter and the smoothness of the oil I don’t think I’d rush out to buy either of these products again. The body butter is £25.70 and the body oil is £20.10 which in my opinion is way to much to pay for something that didn’t blow me away. I wish the body butter was cheaper because I did like the sparkle it gave me and how long it stayed on but it really isn’t worth that amount of money. 

All this said, Pat and Rub has got my attention and I would be keen to try some more of their products.

At the risk of sounding boring while I bang on about bronzers all summer as I meet and fall in love on a daily basis, I’ve decided that rather than cover MAF’s front page in articles about them, I’ll collate some of my favourites and put them all here for easy review!

I’ve already enthused about Clinique’s and Estee Lauder’s bronzers, both of which I’ve been using for a number of yeras, but the following have all passed by the MAF offices, one way or another, over the last few weeks.

Barbara Bort Summer Fever Tanning Earth.

An enormous palette, larger than the palm of my hand, this is not dissimilar to MAC’s mineralise skin finishes. It’s a feverish swirl of coppers, browns, coffees and chocolates with a light swirl of shimmer. Most definitely a product for use on face and body, and it doesn’t rub off on clothes!

Boots No7 Sculpting Bronzer

This years limited edition colour, you’d be forgiven for taking a glance and thinking it too pale to be a bronzer. Please stop and look again, it’s a sculpting bronzer – perfect for etching in some highs and lows to the natural contours of your face.

Urban Decay Baked Bronzer.

Please apply sparingly! Don’t do what I did on first outing of this… I splooshed it on, as I would any other bronzer, but whoops, far too dark! It wasn’t orange, but way too dark, I would have fitted right in with the kids outside my local corner shop. On the upside, with a lighter hand, this gives a gorgeous halo-like glow to your face, a warmth that you can only get after a day catching a few rays. Applied sparingly, its definitely a warming colour that I’d recommend. Just do what I didn’t do, and read the suggested ways of applying that Urban Decay carefully put on the back of the pan…

Lancome Tropiques Minerales

Have you checked this out yet? At first look, it looks like 5 toning shades of blush and bronze, but did you spot those golden dividing lines? Have a look at the picture again. Very clever Lancome! Sneaky way of getting the shimmer-shy to try it out, but I’m fairly certain they’d be converts.

NYC Mineral Bronzer.

Like the Urban Decay baked bronzer, you can tend to overdo the tan, and because its in the barrel-and-brush packaging, there doesn’t seem to be much you can do about this, but if you have a spare brush, dust off the excess until you’re used to how much it dispenses.

Ruby and Millie Cheek Glow

Creamy and dreamy, these are quite sheer bronzers that add more shimmer and shine than colour, but that’s perfect for paler ladies. Who wants an over bronzed face and a pale white body? And despite these being creamy, they last incredibly well, around 12 hours both in and out doors!

Barbara Bort Hypnotic Bronzer

Bronzing balls with modern technology! Bronzer, Highlighter and blush in triangular wedges. Pick out individual colours, or swoosh a brush through them all. Either way is gorgeous!

Smashbox Fusion Softlights

I can’t tell you how many years I’ve been using Smashbox Fusion softlights. 6, maybe 7 years? A bit like Barbara Bort’s above, they are highlighters, blushers and bronzers all in one, but their added bonus is the almost invisible hint of shimmer. Why is that a bonus you ask? Well it adds a 3D element to a face in photographs. Not flat blocks of cheek colour, but a face of depth and warmth that comes off the page.

Rituals Natural Bronzing Powder

As with all of Ritual’s products, this too has gemstones in it. Amethyst in this case. It adds a blurred edge to your face, in a good way of course! Sort of diffusing how your face appears, less angular, softer, yet with a fresh edge to it!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

If there’s anyone who’s going to take a seasonal trend of colours, and make it literal, it’s going to be www.findmeagift.com who do it.

They’ve taken Ice Cream back to child-like fun! 

6 Ice Cream flavoured/scented lipbalms in Strawberry, Tutti Frutti, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Cookies ‘n Cream, Bubble Gum and Mint Choc Chip!  These mini pots of balm look like miniature tubs of Ben ‘n Jerry’s ice cream.

They even have the words ‘everyone loves ice cream’ on the side, and they’re right!

But taking it a step further, they have a sweet pops trio of lipglosses in Ice Lolly packaging on keyrings!  How much fun?

Flavoured Lemon, Orange and Strawberry, they suggest mixing them together to create your own flavours, a la Jelly Belly jelly beans – Orange and Lemon for citrus tart or Strawberry and Orange for sweet sorbet, or go for the other option of Lime, Fudge and Berry!

Sam Donald.

www.SamDonald.com

Its Wimbledon season, get out the Champers and Strawberries & Cream, we’re in for a hot one! 

Statistics say that Wimbledon catering staff will serve 112,000 punnets of strawberries and 7,000 litres of cream over the 13 day tournament so rather than putting them into your body, put them onto your body with a little help from the fruitiest company around.  Lush!

I remember my first experiences of Lush.  It must have been around 1995/96, I was newly graduated from Uni and working in an office on Guildford High Street.  Opposite my office window was Army and Navy and about 2 doors further up opened this new shop dedicated to all things bath and beautiful.  That year was the year of Lush!  It must have been one of the first stores to open and very few of my friends or family had heard of them, so everyone was gifted with baskets and boxes of Lush goodies.  From office contacts to sisters in law, distant friends in foreign countries, to lots of little ‘gifts’ for me on a weekly basis!

I think it was there that I realised that my love of citrus didn’t have to be recreated in bodycare form in the style of something synthetic or right out of 1983′s scented erasers.  It could be a ‘true’ scent.  Made with the best ingredients and the perfect smell, the bath bombs became my favourite thing.  Regularly copied now, but never quite matched, you won’t find me using a bath bomb or bar that’s trying to be LUSH, it will only ever be LUSH.

And now, with Wimbledon in the air, I turned to LUSH to see what delights they had to offer for those of us who might prefer to lay back in a bath than watch the highlights of the day’s matches…

Yummy Yummy Yummy Shower Gel

This incredibly popular shower gel is a deliciously fragrant strawberry and almond cream for the skin. It is whipped up with wonderfully natural ingredients: fresh strawberries, soothing honey and moisturising almond oil, with a drop of rejuvenating olibanum. Inspired by all those gorgeous 30-something Yummy Mummies of Wimbledon, you too will smell like strawberries and cream – and with all those fantastic skin softening ingredients, you’ll be yummy yummy yummy too.

Strawberry Feels Forever

Our fruity Massage Bar is made with crushed strawberries and an infusion of hibiscus flowers. While the fresh strawberries will get your skin sweetly clean, its scent of strawberries and cream will make your mouth water. Celebrate the strawberry feels forever – it’s even shaped like a strawberry!

American Cream conditioner.

It’s a fruity, creamy double-strength conditioner containing softening honey water, fresh organic oranges packed with vitamins and nutrients to calm the scalp and add shine and some fresh strawberries to help strengthen hair, condition and detangle.

And to make you feel even closer to south-west London’s most famous grass courts, pick up a bottle of Lush’s new Grass Shower Gel. This will leave you smelling like summer itself as well as being nutritious and soothing on your skin as it’s full of mineral rich wheatgrass juice.  Wheatgrass is packed with active enzymes, proteins, minerals, anti-oxidants and chlorophyll – all of which nourish, soothe and calm sore, sunburnt or irritated skin. Perfect after a day’s spectating.

Have you heard of Rituals?  No?  Then why not?!

This very clever and most innovative of companies takes mineral makeup to the next lever.

It is a gentle formula opf minerals, without perfume and parabens, but with gemstones.  Yes, you read that correctly, gemstones!

I’ve previously mentioned an eyeshadow with sapphire in it, and this particular palette is enriched with amethyst.

But is there a point to it, or is it just a way of diversifying away from every other joe bloggs mineral brand that’s currently flooding the market?

I’d say that yes, it is a clever spin, but it’s not pointless, far from it.  I’m not convinced that my eyes have become firmer as Rituals claim, however I don’t really mind that, what I do agree with though, and love, is that the reflection in the mirror is like a soft focus photo.  It most definitely is a very useful product for face and cheeks, and visibly blurs the image in front of you.

This particular palette is a very pretty collection of pinks, chocolates, lattes and creams.  They all have shimmer, so its a ‘use sparingly’ on the face, and ‘buff well’ to avoid the over shine, but on the eyes, it takes on a whole new identity; layered, buffed on, contoured, you name it.

Very pretty indeed!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com